ReMix: Final Fantasy VI 'Little Painter Girl'

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Newcomer Adam Dachis writes:

"I submitted another version of this about ten months ago. It was piano and drums back then. Now it's more of a "film soundtrack", as the people on the WIP boards are saying."

I can't begin to tell you how glad I am Adam reworked this piece, and how much of an improvement I think this new incarnation is. Taking Relm's theme and working it into an uplifting, cinematic (as correctly described) vision, Adam's second version employs some unique alterations to the rhythm of the original melody that give his arranging style a unique feel. It's mostly piano-driven, but there are strings, harp, flute, and orchestral percussion along for the ride, and sample quality and production are on the whole strong. If there's a weakness to the whole enchilada it's the arrangement decision to feature a rolling snare as the sole percussive element for considerable spans of time - I think something more elaborate could have worked. Whether the ReMixer knows it or not, there's a very Thomas Newman vibe going on here, especially at 1'38", where a quick key change and resolution varies it up a bit and tempers the overall bubbly, positive vibe with a little quirkiness. Next to the way Adam's played with the rhythm of the melody and layered it inwards upon itself, 1'38" is actually my favorite arrangement decision - Larry, Jesse, and Shariq all thought the notes sounded bad, out of place, awkward, or all of the above, but Gray and Harmony didn't. I think familiarity with Newman's work might help here; he's made it "okay" to blend in some pretty unusual changes into more conventional, major-key contexts. Being familiar with and appreciative of Newman's style, not only would I not call the resolution at 1'38" awkward, but I think it's one of the mix's key strengths and that it'd be less memorable and interesting without it. This is definitely a cinematic and not classical style of orchestral arrangement, with plenty of moving parts and a great ear for layering and transitions. It's interesting to see so many different opinions from the panel on this one - if only for the lovely moving flute part at 2'06", I can't see not giving this some arrangement kudos for simply having some interesting, compelling ideas. That's the mix's main strength, I feel - it has more than a couple interesting, provoking compositional ideas going on. Some of those ideas, as Jesse notes, are repeated quite a bit, perhaps mebbe a smidgin' too much, but hey, at least they're good ideas, representing dramatic, substantive changes to the original phrasing that really work. As a fan of Newman's approach of course I'm gonna enjoy the most Newmanesque submission we've seen to date; Dachis is certainly his own man, and I'm not suggesting this is emulation or imitation, but there's definite similarities, all of them positive in my book. There's also enough differences for the arrangement to stand on its own. If I'd tried to ReMix the Relm theme and come up with this, I'd personally be happy, I know that much. This also represents one of the most dramatic reinventions of a previously submitted (and rejected) piece I can recall; the submission/resubmission process isn't bulletproof (no process is), but here it worked out really well. Good stuff.

― djpretzel