*NO* Final Fantasy 8 'Devotion & Deception'

Heya,

I have a new submission for you here.

After completing the second part of the Cantata for Dancing, Derek and I decided we should take a break from the serious Final Fantasy 6 nonsense and do something different. Derek suggested Final Fantasy 8, so I quickly jotted down a Kaoru Wada-inspired arrangement of Blue Fields and Liberi Fatali with intent on using traditional Japanese instruments combined with orchestra. This was back before Christmas 2007. We worked on it on and off over the months perfecting the instrumentation, listening to soundtracks like Okami, Inuyasha, and Samurai 7 for inspiration.

In the end there were two ideas: a gentle reworking of Blue Fields for small orchestra accompanied by Japanese instruments, and a fast-paced version of the theme punctuated by the well-known "Fithos" chant. In the first half the Blue Fields theme is first stated in its original form with some harmonic and contrapuntal modifications and then the strings take over to do some variations. After the choir comes in and the music reaches its peak, an ambiguous ending slowly fades out telling us that it's not over yet. We've been deceived! Suddenly things have taken a turn for the exciting as the orchestra takes us through another variation of the Blue Fields theme in a more heroic setting.

Overall this piece represents both Derek's and my devotion to game music and we thank OC ReMix for giving everyone the opportunity to express similar kinds of devotion in the form of remixing/arranging game music. Nowhere else do you see the same level of fan involvement without blatant commercialism and exploitation, so doing this is entirely our pleasure.

Derek Says:

"Final Fantasy VIII is the most underrated game of the franchise. Lots of people ask me why I love the game so much and here's why: The storyline is very unique and full of twists and turns. The CG cutscenes were unbelievable for the time period. And last but not least the music that went along with the game is the most beautiful soundtrack of a Final Fantasy to date. And in tribute to this fantastic game and this beautiful soundtrack we needed to raise the bar and release something just as beautiful. Jeremy and I hope you enjoy this piece."

Title: Devotion & Deception

Game: Final Fantasy VIII

Tracks: Blue Fields, Liberi Fatali

Lyrics (approximately):

Tempestas

Excitate vos e somno, liberi mei

Cunae sunt non

Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec

Submission Info:

Name: Jeremy Robson

e-mail: jeremy.robson@gmail.com

website: jeremyrobson.com

forum id: 5955

Name: Derek Oren

e-mail: derako@charter.net

website: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pageartist.cfm?bandID=686739

forum id: 20212

Link:

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http://tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF8_minipsf.rar - 103 "Blue Fields"

Final Fantasy VIII Original Soundtrack - 101 "Liberi Fatali"

Lots of great arrangement ideas here. The first 2 minutes put me off though. There were definitely some meaningful embellishments and new ideas, but the overall feel was too similar to the original "Blue Fields", with a lot of the part-writing being carried over wholesale. I also thought the samples weren't the bees knees. For example, better sounding articulations on these samples would have hooked this up, particularly some of the strings, but it wasn't happening. Stuff like the strings from 2:24-3:05 stuck out to me. As is, the textures also felt very thin despite the strength inherent in the writing.

No meaningful transition at 3:16. A pregnant pause would have worked better; as is, the flow was abruptly broken. The overall texture of the second half was comparatively stronger. Had the sound quality been that cohesive the whole way, there wouldn't have been much of a dilemma. Things were a little thin-sounding still, but good overall. The strings, vox and brass all sounded more realistic. There were also some parts panned pretty hard right in the stereo field that could have used a bit more presence on the left side.

Hate to sound like a hater, but the first half needs to be brought up to the level of the second half. The second half wasn't better simply because it was grandiose. The samples seemed like they were used to better effect. That's the short of it. I know zircon was pretty high on this, but I think it at least needs some touch-ups on the production side for the win. Right now, that isn't realizing its potential. Good luck with the rest of the vote, bros; don't hit me!

NO (refine/resubmit)

Okay, something is definitely missing from this. I actually rechecked I had downloaded the right remix, because I know for a fact you guys can do better then the first half of this. The arrangement ideas are nice, but the execution just felt dry and just generally not as intimate as I can hear it potentially being. You can hear the stylistic interpretation of the melody, and I'm totally feeling the japanese ornamentation but it doesn't sustain itself.

For example 1:55 has this really tender feel with lots of smooth layers, and then suddenly at 2:05 they just cut out and leave behind one really dry string line that just doesn't come close to a realistic violin sound when its that exposed. Whatever reverb is there is too little. Every time there's a nice build its cuts it all down and becomes exposed at which point the samples just suffer. There's more inconsistency with the choir sounds, really generic oohs and ahs at 2:25 are in a totally different league to the ones at 5:03 which are just plain awesome.

It actually sounds like two separate pieces of music by two people put together, there isn't even a transition. The second half is great, its very engaging and epic and I can hear a lot of work put into that just isn't present in the first half. I listened to the quieter sections of Valse Aeris and I'm blown away by the intimacy every time, so at the very least Jeremy knows how to pull that off so I'm confused as to why it isn't here.

Definitely with Larry on this one, whilst the arrangement is great no doubt, the attention to detail in the production of the first half just isn't as good is it could and should be compared to the second half. This is one of those mixes that I really do hate rejecting because the potential is awesome, but there's an issue I just can't ignore.

NO resub plz

Right off the bat everything sounds pretty thin compared to your earlier work. The samples this time around (at least for the first half) leaves a lot to be desired. While I can totally dig the try for a more "ethno" sound stuff like the strings at the left side at 0:44 just sounds very fake. The writing and arrangement is still very good, I don't think it's too close to the source either. As soon as you think so another element or counter melody enters to spice stuff up. 2:14 was fantastic, that's good writing right there.

What bothers me is that during pretty much the whole first part most of the instruments sounds very dry and fake sounding. Some flutes and the harp are absolutely good enough but the strings and woodwinds have an unnatural attack/release and sounds very dry. Reverb and equalization could help but I don't know if it will be enough for something like the violin.

The transition into the next part isn't really much of a transition. It seems sudden and it doesn't even sound like it's the same piece because of the difference in how the instruments sound. There is no room to connect the different instruments so to speak. This second part was however much stronger than the first one. Brass was pulled off nicely and some of strings sounded much fuller. Very energetic writing too although some of it is lost in the thin soundscape.

So yeah, you should really take some time with the mixing and usage of instruments in this one. The arrangement is obviously over the bar but the mixing holds it back. Take some time to really listen to this and you'll probably hear what we hear. When the production hits the same level as the arrangement this will be a no-brainer of a yes, but for now:

NO(resubmit)