ReMix: Final Fantasy VI 'A World of Decisions'
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- Game: Final Fantasy VI (Square, 1994, SNES)
- ReMixer(s): Khemael
- Composer(s): Nobuo Uematsu
- Song(s): 'The Decisive Battle'
- Posted: 2009-12-11, evaluated by the judges
Today officially marks our 10th Anniversary!
Happy Birthday to us! When I started this site in my parent's basement on December 11th, 1999, I thought it would be a fun diversion that could help me get better at making music, but also serve as an outlet for VGM fans everywhere to pay homage to their favorite VGM. When I was much younger, I remember tape-recording the output from my SMS and making mixtapes filled with Alex Kidd, Shinobi, and Space Harrier. I've always loved VGM, especially for its strong original melodies, and this site seemed like a good way to express that. While I didn't have any idea it would become what it is today, I did have a certain faith - faith that there were others like me, faith that the Internet was full of a lot of talented people who would contribute their music and their time and their energy freely, and faith that we could show the world that video game music is an art form.
I never looked back.
I turned thirty this year. Yeah, yeah - stow your old man jokes, I've heard 'em all... Point being, I've been running this site for a third of my life. As we turn ten, I think of how different I was in 1999, how different the site was, what's changed, and what's stayed the same. Through this site, I met Larry, his girlfriend Paige, her friend Cara, and HER friend Anna... who blessed me with her acceptance of my marriage proposal. Jordan met Jade, Andy met Jill, and who knows what lies ahead... but besides all the OCR matchmaking, hundreds if not thousands of musicians and VGM fans met each other, and shared a common experience that I feel is rather unique, even today. One thing that happens when you get older (besides the incontinence, of course) is that you get more sentimental and start speaking in clichés that sound like bad Hallmark cards. Well, sue me: You've made these the best ten years of my life, I'm here to stay, and I can't wait to see what 2010 and the next decade of OC ReMix has in store!
To celebrate, I'll be posting ten mixes, and talking briefly about each year of the site's history before getting into the music. Apologies to the mixers if I ramble a bit; hopefully being part of our super-legendary-decennial-mixflood compensates to some extent. I've already covered 1999, so next up will be 2000... but before we do that, we've got some actual MUSIC to talk about. We're starting things off with a newcomer - after all, the site would be nothing without new music, new artists, and new ideas. Khemael, aka Colin Brigato, writes:
"Hi. Be Aware I'm French, so please excuse any english mistake I might do here. It's been a long long time I was wondering "How could be something new in remixing Final Fantasy VI ?". The challenge there was to not obtain another "Oh no, another Vanilla FFVI Remix", and I think, after feedbacks and feedbacks of OC-Remix members around there, I finally got something.
The Decisive Battle score is simple. Repetitive. The difficulty was to not obtain another "This World of decision was over just when it started", which was what was said at the very beginning of my work. Creating a new Piano Piece of Decisive Battle, with a real taste of novelty was something which took hours and hours of editing, re-editing, refinement and real...decisions. Because the score of Decisive Battle is so simple that it was a real challenge not to over-work the score with too much weird chords and harmonics. Anyway, I'm quite happy with the actual 4-Part style of the overall piece. It start smooth, become fast, staccato, and ends as smooth as it started. There really are Four Worlds here, four Worlds Of Decisions."
A beautiful, flowing solo piano arrangement... at first. Then we get some staccato, almost Latin chords at 0'40", and it becomes clear that Colin's gonna switch things up a bit and keep us on our toes. The arrangement gets pretty liberal, involving some other sources (Prelude cameo of sorts, for instance), and the judges struggled with identifying everything and coming to a consensus. Andy writes:
"2:17 to 2:39 could be called prelude but once again he IS referencing the beginning of Decisive Battle. 3:07 is a drawn out version of :39 in the source. 3:45 is the beginning of the source, same as the other times it was used in the remix. Clearly more than 50% usage here - the arrangement is very creative and well-done, interpretation is certainly there in spades, production/performance is fine."
For a debut mix, Khemael certainly did give the judges panel a workout - a "World of Decisions" indeed. I think the artist says it best himself - FF6 is very popular source material, so doing something new and different, especially with solo piano, is tricky. Colin succeeds, though; I've never heard this source handled this way, and the performance and production both serve to enhance the creativity of the arrangement. Creative, interpretive debut from Khemael!
Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the - Mockingbird on May 31, 2010
Nice job.
- Martin Penwald on December 19, 2009
- jintoreedwine on December 17, 2009
This is a great performance and a great arrangement. Both playful and with a serious tone to it. Sounds like there's a lot of irregular bar lengths in there, which only adds to how impressive it is. Even when parts feels like they're a note or two too long or too short the mix just casually flows on as if it's perfectly normal. :D
Towards the end, it takes on a more melancholic and beautiful vibe, mirroring its intro. Good way to end the mix.
Reading the wip thread, it feels like I had a hand in this, which considering the performance and my lack of piano skill feels awesome. :D Congrats on getting it posted dude. :D
- Rozovian on December 14, 2009
- Bahamut on December 14, 2009
- RedFusion on December 14, 2009
- DragonAvenger on December 13, 2009
- Zarggg on December 12, 2009
- BlackPanther on December 12, 2009
The arrangement is, if not anything, bold, and the transitions between both the frantic and calmer moments and smooth and seamless.
2009 has been a good year for OCR, and this piece is like the icing on the cake.
- Sir_Downunder on December 11, 2009
But I have to admit that I kinda like it. I keep thinking about how the Beatles in Strawberry Fields Forever keeps stating how nothing is real, and I feel this exemplifies that notion and how everything blurs together.... eh...
As for the mix itself, its amazing, stunning, and gorgeous; the sheer simplicity of a piano solo brings out the melody so profoundly.
Nobbynob Littlun;621899 wrote: I think what is key in the performance of this piano piece turning out so well is that the volume of the piano is not constant. Sometimes it is loud, sometimes it is very quiet, which gives our ears and mind a rest before the next "musical push" as it were.
I think that's very important for any song, but especially for solos where you only hear the one instrument.
Very, very well said, and I couldn't agree more.
- 42 on December 11, 2009
And I'm impressed. I love solo piano stuff, and this is definitely no exception! Really an awesome sounding piece. Exceptional playing, great expression; again, it's awesome. Looking forward to more from Khemael!
P.S. Congratulations OCR, 10 years wooo! Huge thank you to djpretzel for creating this incredible community, and to all artists, judges, project managers, etc for keeping it going for 10 years!
Here's to 10 more!
- Jack Polo on December 11, 2009
Oh, and happy 10th birthday, OCR!
- Lucentas on December 11, 2009
:nicework:
- Platonist on December 11, 2009
