ReMix:Final Fantasy Adventure "Wish Upon a Wendellian Star" 4:21

By Big Giant Circles

Arranging the music of one song...

"Royal Palace"

Primary Game: Final Fantasy Adventure (Square , 1991, GB), music by Kenji Ito

Posted 2006-12-17, evaluated by djpretzel


Interesting; Jimmy goes in a different direction here with some uplifting orchestral-on-tracks work that gets joined by tasteful electronica and beats; perfect for spreading the holiday cheer, as it has sort of a wintry feel to it. Backwards strings intro, followed by some peculiar high-pitched fuzz, followed by a saloon piano with phonograph recording scratches. Notice how the detuned saloon piano is cross-faded with a normal piano so that the detuning effect doesn't go away abruptly, but is smoothly replaced by a cleaner patch; this is the type of detail Mr. Hinson always gets right. This piece was actually what triggered Larry's nomination of Jimmy to the judges panel, where he's been working out fantastically for awhile now, so it's being posted a little belatedly, but hasn't lost any of its sheen. It's also worth noting that Jimmy didn't attempt to use his newfound super-amazing judge capabilities to expedite its posting - with great power comes great responsibility. It's easy to see why Larry was impressed; BGC's former work has been nothing to sneeze at, but I think he reaches new levels of not only production and arrangement, but the synergy between the two, with this piece. There's moments here that are startlingly beautiful, which sound as if they are underwater and crystalline and warm and cold simultaneously. The piece concludes with an extended organ section, but not before it's culminated in a celebratory amalgam of repeated, plucked articulations, swirling pads, and rising and falling monoglide synth lead. It's interesting, because both Jimmy and Ziwtra have paid FFA great homage with their mixes to date, and their styles aren't too awful dissimilar - lots of moving, flowing parts that play off one another, and keen ears for mixing myriad electronic textures into an appealing timbral stew. This ReMix not only adds to that trend, but also continues Jimmy's track record of releasing intricate, thoughtful mixes worth revisiting to unlock all the details.

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Snow Taradien
on 2012-04-26 22:50:03

The intro on this is hella cool. The old vinyl sound you got there and holy damn as soon as it cuts out... just wow.

Buuut. Then I feel that the introduction of that rather poor drum sample then ruined it for me... v-v;

The rest of the song is amazing. But that drum is awful.

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Sole Signal
on 2008-08-31 13:13:58

I was browsing through some OCRemixes here and the intro is precisely what kept me listening to this track. Love the epic grand feel of the track and the warm bass throughout is great. Def can hear the bgc style here. :)

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OA
on 2008-04-10 12:07:15

Sorry haters, BGC nailed that intro.

It has exactly the effect he described, of entering into a completely new world. Absolutely beautiful.

His Bionic Commando track was the first one of his that I started to take notice of his mixes, and this was the first one that completely blew me away. Very creative work on a really good source song.

Production was overall pretty strong, though some of the strings early on had too slow of an attack for my tastes, though some of the unnatural pitch bends are cool enough to give that section some flair. The varied soundscape and instrument changes, as well as nice panning effects and some exceptionally cool moving basslines keep the track interesting. The shimmering effects during the theme of Mana cameo are great, but it's the uplifiting section afterwards that really does it to me.

Some of the sections get a little bit of mud, and start to feel slightly crowded,like the aforementioned slow strings beginning, and the choir-based crescendo part near the ending, but overall things are pretty clean.

Overall this is probably my favorite mix by BGC, it has a very visual style to it, feeling like each section in the song is an individual town district, and that it is being traveled through.

Highly recommended.

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Fridge
on 2007-02-12 23:14:56

Enjoyed this a lot, particularly the intro.. had me thinking of a flashback style movie where they started off showing the people when they were older and then transitioned back into their prime. Yeah, sorry, just what came to mind. Good work BGC

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Martin Penwald
on 2006-12-29 16:48:39

I, for one, love the intro, but that's maybe because I'm into old wild west movies and the likes. The detuned piano and the crackling sounds in the background are simply wonderful, and the change into a cleaner piano was executed very well.

As for the song itself, it's a nice one, and I enjoy listening to it, but it is not exactly what I look for in an orchestral arrangement. I want power, energy, and other things which are linked to these kinds of emotions but I cannot come up with right now.

Nonetheless, I like this song. And just because I want to repeat it, I'll do so: the intro is gold. Pure and awesome win.

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Coucou
on 2006-12-29 07:26:52

Nice work on the intro.

For me, it is a bit long, since I consider it ends @1:16.

The orchestral and synths sounds work well together.

The bass is a pure jewel, from @1:42 to @2:10 and from @2:25 to @2:39

(I'd like it much much louder...)

Thanks.

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Ness757
on 2006-12-26 19:54:52

Classical songs like this one have always been hit and miss for me, but I'm happy to say that this was a hit.

7.5/10

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DMZ
on 2006-12-20 15:31:32

I don't know about you but I find BGC always comes out with progressive stuff that is difficult to listen to right away... but as you click on repeat more and more it slowly grows on you, and low and behold, 3 months later, you find yourself fully appreciating the song while all the other ones from just 1 week ago are long old. Kinda like whine... ages well and tastes better the more you have...

As for my impressions on this song... well I found myself enjoying short moments, hither and hather, nothing long enough to get into, always wanting me to relisten to the song in full to catch a new glimpse of all the different moments. There's just so much going on, it's maybe a little overwhelming... And frankly as for the intro, OCR has had much more bizarre (see also detuned) song [intros] than this one.

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Mr. Fox
on 2006-12-20 01:38:13
I was shooting for--walking in to a majestic, magnificent city from the bleak, troublesome world, and having your weariness washed away by awe.

I was very happy to read this. I always like it when a ReMix is linked to a certain mental image that the artist tries to build musically. In this particular exemple I though the job was done very nicely. Altough it wasn't the imagery that firstly came into my mind when I first listened, the song fits that description perfectly. Lindo.

The intro deserves praise for it's originality and because it doesn't sound gratuitos, it rather builds up very nicely to the main body of the song. And I LOVE that piano sample shift.

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Liontamer
on 2006-12-20 00:09:30
The beginning is...

well...

I'll just say it. Repulsive. It has the sound of a terrible record player. Complete with static and distorted sound.

"It has the sound of a terrible record player"???

No offense, but it's comments like these that make me wonder what the hell is up with some of you guys. Not that you're required to like the intro, but as for it sounding like that...

It's supposed to sound like that.

You act as if he messed something up while making the track. Next thing you know, someone will tastefully use rain SFX and a reviewer will say "Repulsive. It has the sound of terrible raining. Complete with thunderclaps."

What...the...hell.

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big giant circles
on 2006-12-19 11:09:17

Well, let me start by thanking David for such a complimentary and flattering write-up. I hope I'm not the only one who enjoys the good things djp has to say about all the mixes that get posted here. Also, thanks to all the other judges, and particularly Larry for nominating me to the position, which I've enjoyed immensely. Apparantly the intro wasn't mind-grating enough to repel the judgefgts. :D

And speaking of the intro, that brings me to my second of all. With all the gripes about "all the dumb mixes that get posted nowadays are totally predictable and sound the same", I'm a little surprised and ever so slightly taken aback as to the disdain for the intro. Not only do I personally view it as a creative and unpredictable style integration (let's face it, compared to my other mixes, who would have expected a mix to start that way?) but it's absolutely perfect for setting the mood I was shooting for--walking in to a majestic, magnificent city from the bleak, troublesome world, and having your weariness washed away by awe.

Anyway, let me clarify that I'm not insulted by anyone's comments regarding the "omg, ick" intro. However, I would have expected more people to look past it's intentional vinyl, scratchy, detuning (especially after recent debates on remix qualities) and have a little more appreciation for what it adds to the mental imagery it conveys and the track in general. Thanks to Mustin, avaris, and anyone else who has (or might) express appreciation for it.

And despite my ranting, thanks to everyone else for your kind comments. Rock on.

Oh, and thanks to souliarc for your rofl sig :lol:

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Thin Crust
on 2006-12-19 09:00:07

The beginning is...

well...

I'll just say it. Repulsive. It has the sound of a terrible record player. Complete with static and distorted sound. After 0:35, it turns unexpectedly into a beteaful melody which is worth the time to listen to.

No. It's a fleeting moment of happiness *cheezy* that will capture any fan of soft music.

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Mustin
on 2006-12-18 15:23:45

Intro is totally rad. Love the record sound (where are people getting this water business from?).

But that's my favourite part of the song. I wasn't too big of a fan of this track in the game in the first place anyway.

So I just wanted to say that the intro was awesome and nobody's done it better. Rest is great - I just didn't like the source material so much.

Had it been the overworld or the cave or something, I would have shat for you.

3

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Souliarc
on 2006-12-18 09:16:41

Hahaha... GONG!!! XD

I've been checking the judges queue for this song to come up, but it got the direct post treatment, so even better (surprise!).

I love every aspect of the production and arrangement of this piece. I've had my beef with the gong (which gives me the sudden rush to scream "Mortal Kombat"), but apparently it's a reference to within the game so it's all gravy. The initial bass line slide leads in very well and into a wonderfully dreamy setting full of smooth synths and pristine, metallic percussion elements that cut through just enough.

People talk about how their initial visit to OCR brings the strongest emotions... well, mixes like this always keep it fresh for me. Thanks Jimmy.

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Scott Scheule
on 2006-12-18 04:02:38

It's like bizarre took a big bunch of strange and cooked a weird cake.

I like it.

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Final Fantasy Adventure (Square , 1991, GB)
Music by Kenji Ito
Songs:
"Royal Palace"

Tags (3)


Genre:
Pop
Mood:
Instrumentation:
Orchestral,Synth
Additional:

File Information


Name:
Final_Fantasy_Adventure_Wish_Upon_a_Wendellian_Star_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
5,316,547 bytes
MD5:
97a0d724042eb2d2c450d22cd11774f5
Bitrate:
160Kbps
Duration:
4:21

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