ReMix:Final Fantasy Adventure "Amanda's Tear" 3:14

By Big Giant Circles

Arranging the music of one song...

"In Sorrow"

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

Posted 2007-07-02, evaluated by djpretzel


Jimmy did an amazing job organizing and coordinating the recent OCR meetup centered around this weekend's Video Games Live performance. This involved getting a lot of different people from a lot of different places to the same place at the same time, more or less. One of those people was his wife Amanda, whom I was meeting for the first time. This piece, the latest in a series of FFA mixes BGC and Ziwtra have sorta coordinated between themselves, shares her namesake, which is kinda sweet. Sayeth Mr. Hinson:

"Here's another old tune I dusted off from the FFA project that fell through. (I promise, I don't have many more of these left). Did this one in late '04, perhaps early '05--not exactly sure. At any rate, I have since tweaked the EQ, removed the former FL Slayer and replaced it with some very 80's power-ballad-ish guitar lead (complete with whammy effect) using a different patch, and adjusted various other minor things--nothing too extreme. Basically, I spit on it, and then shined it up with my sleeve. I wouldn't call this my finest work, but I don't think it's going to cower too far in the shadows of any of the other mixes on the site. Melodically, the arrangement might not seem too drastically different. I remember at the time I made this, I wanted my main form of expression to be in the harmonies and countermelodies, as well as the instruments themselves. 1:03 is a good example of what I'm talking about."

Thing of it is, spit-and-polish BGC is still pretty damn good. This is more orchestral than his previous mixes, but still rocks the electronica beat. There are some fun tempo modulations, ethnic percussion infusion, and of course slick synth leads. The last, isolated piano note is an interesting touch, as are the very prominent ensemble pizzicato bits; good stuff. It's very late or I'd write a bit more; suffice it to say that the meetup was fantastic - in spite of myriad logistical snags, things went surprisingly well, largely thanks to Jimmy's coordination - and everyone present at my place, at the concert, at Burke Lake Park, and at IHOP this morning represented the best aspects of participating in this community. Great people, great times, great mix.

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 14 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Emunator
on 2009-12-19 18:57:46

Yeah, this one's highly underrated. BGC's soundscape (past the intro) is really light and airy thanks to the plucked strings and oboe. During the faster part of the song the percussion is also really good. I'm not digging the guitar though, I think that could have been replaced with a synth lead and fared a bit better in the end :?

Overall, a solid mix, not necessarily as memorable as some of Jimmy's other stuff but still worth checking out :-)

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K.B.
on 2009-12-03 20:50:47

Indeed, Bahamut. Severely underrated remix alert! Utterly dominates the source, it does.

This strikes me as the first part of a suite. Or a prelude to an adventure (a final, fantasic one punhaps?). Not that this is an incomplete work, but rather it is a moving one that remains unresolved, evocative of something more to come.

Dig the earthy sounds; that is, the bowed string work and the tuned drums each have a distinctly... natural feel to them. Not that they're perfectly emulated, but their sound and usage paint an unfolding landscape of rolling hills with mountains in the distance. Or maybe AnSo nailed it and I've just seen one too many movies with stellar soundtracks - and that this track would fit right in place amongst them!

The keyboard, shimmering effects, flute, oboe, and whatnot all give this a delicate, uplifting feel. And plucked strings... always a fan. The guitar works well to offset this: it's short appearance gives a little power behind the music without drowning out the softer side. A view of the long road ahead, with appreciation of all the experiences to be gained in the journey but a resolute determination to overcome any roadblocks that might arise. Yep, soundtrack material right here.

Also, nice triangle!

(I hope I just did to this remix what Christopher Walken did to [Don't Fear] The Reaper).

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Bahamut
on 2009-11-08 14:48:21

A Final Fantasy Adventure song by BGC with few reviews? What blasphemy!

This is a pretty well done song - I love the upbeat mystique that characterizes the atmosphere.

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The_Mighty_KELP
on 2008-12-07 23:18:07

Exactly as I suspected, I've had no time to write nearly the amount of reviews that I would like to. I'm lucky I have some free time to write this following review. Hopefully I'll get less busy after the Christmas season.

Big Giant Circles is one of my more favorite remixers, and this is one of his best. An excellent remix of an excellent source tune from an excellent game (with an excellent title, no less!), Amanda's Tear has some very good points.

I love the opening, and when the strings come in at 0:15, it's simply gorgeous. The percussion at 0:28 is very nice. Sorta distant but with some punch; it fits this style perfectly.

The melody from 0:34 to 1:02 is nice, and I like the synth-y running pattern all throughout. When the backup strings and everything else comes in at 1:02, this remix hits my personal favorite point.

This remix is mostly orchestral, and sometimes I find myself wishing it had stayed that way and not had the electric guitar at 1:43. I do like this other direction BGC took it, though. In fact, I like it better in some ways, although it certainly would have worked as just orchestra.

The electric guitar wavers on the held notes to a point that's juuuuust shy of being obnoxious. Any more and it would've lowered my enjoyment of the piece. I'm glad BGC knows when to quit.

I'm a sucker for a good turn, and the turn at 2:00 is no exception. I love it. So awesome.

When the guitar drops out at 2:11 and the violin takes the melody again, I must commend BGC for not having it hold that note for too long. Again I say, any longer would be obnoxious.

I like how at 2:39 most of the instruments have dropped and it's gotten quiet, and then at 2:53 the strings come back in. I really like the strings in this piece. They're gorgeous.

I don't know why some people think the ending is abrubt -- it seems very well thought out and a natural end result of the melodic line, to me. In fact, I like the ending quite a lot. It's hard to hear on low volume, but the piano notes near the very end (similar to the ones in the introduction) wrap up this entire piece for me.

Overall, it's a very beautiful orchestral/electronic remix that has some very beautiful points and is an enjoyable listen. Highly recommended -- 4.60 out of 5.00.

Reviews written: 3 out of 600+. :|

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anosou
on 2008-12-06 17:07:08

This has "soundtrack" writtenn all over it. Would've worked perfect in a remake of the game. The only thing I don't really like is the guitar-lead, the vibratos are just.. no fun :tomatoface:

Otherwise, beautiful arrangement, great mood, good use of percussion and different instruments.

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DragonAvenger
on 2008-09-29 22:17:04

Yay oboe! This site needs more oboe, if you ask me.

Lovely melody, and a very nice listen. The write-up brings back good memories, too. Whether or not that helps this mix, I dunno, but if it does it's a good thing.

Guitar work is nice, the style seemed out of place at first, but now I'm digging it. Percussion also works very well.

Would have liked a little more out of the ending, maybe a quiet piano outtro. Overall great work.

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Shael Riley
on 2007-08-17 14:10:28

Polished and varied, this mix exemplifies the sound I've come to associate with OCReMix over the years. It's as though the site has spawned a genre, but I digress.

A mix of ethnic and electronic percussion rounds out the bottum, with a melodic drum set pulling double duty as bass. layers of strings overhead weave a complex structure of gently shifting chords and...I'm making this sound like a savanah aren't I? Anyway, it's a good mix.

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Martin Penwald
on 2007-07-20 15:42:19

This remix definitely has a RPG-ish feeling to it, i.e. it sounds true to its origins. Which is nice; you don't get that too often.

As was said before, the transition at 1:30 is pretty sweet. The song could've used more of this, as it is a very interesting change of pace and instrumentation.

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Nobbynob Littlun
on 2007-07-06 06:19:46

In many ways I like this better than your more recent mixes. Namely, it actually feels like it would fit the genre - I could easily see this being a part of the Final Fantasy 10 soundtrack, walking the world... the game had nice world/culture design, and its music reflected that, as would this.

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avaris
on 2007-07-03 15:40:31

Very nice laid back track. Always happy to see more FFA musical goodness.:-D

Guitar was def a nice touch. I wish some of the transitions would have had more a thematic build-up but then again the track would loose some of it's subtle feel.

The sound quality is def good. The string work really added a lot of depth to the sections. Def my favorite out the recent flurry of mixes posted.

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Palpable
on 2007-07-03 12:44:38

I'm not familiar with the source tune, but this was still a really nice piece. The transition at 1:30 really opens up the song, as all these exciting little bits of percussion fly in and the guitar soon afterward - as I was listening to the song the first time, I was like "this could use a really cool transition", and there it was! I feel like it winds down too soon afterward, but you certainly left me wanting more.

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OA
on 2007-07-02 11:17:31

The ending is a bit abrupt, but before that is some pretty awesome work. Intro strings build the chords really nicely and transition into the song proper pretty naturally.

Backing pizzicato strings and pitchshifting synths sound great, and the cameo of The search for the sacred sword was sweet. The ending I really don't understand, as I think it could have used a larger buildup. The ending seems more natural after repeated listenings however.

In conclusion, this is an amazing soundtrack and the more FFA mixes, the better, Mega Man be damned.

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tweex
on 2007-07-02 00:58:32

Very mellow work here. Please don't allow mellow to me mediocre at any level. Very soft and gentle compared to a lot of your work. The dynamic shift works quite well! Congrats again (as though you really need it at this point ;) ).

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djpretzel
on 2007-07-02 00:40:12

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


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

Tags (3)


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

File Information


Name:
Final_Fantasy_Adventure_Amanda's_Tear_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
3,961,032 bytes
MD5:
8fa195ebfc84723f7cb68b55b513bd64
Bitrate:
160Kbps
Duration:
3:14

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