ReMix: Final Fantasy VI 'Locke's Theme for Brass Quintet'
- Game: Final Fantasy VI (Square, 1994, SNES)
- ReMixer(s): Vampire Hunter Dan
- Composer(s): Nobuo Uematsu
- Song(s): 'Forever Rachel', 'Locke'
- Posted: 2007-08-07, evaluated by the judges
VHD wins our latest incarnation of the most-intuitive-mix-title ever award. The ReMixer writes:
"This--as the title indicates--is an arrangement of "Locke's Theme" from Final Fantasy 6 for a brass quintet consisting of 2 trumpets, french horn, trombone and tuba."
WYSIWYG, indeed. I'm a former low brass player (euphonium, represent) who also played trumpet for a bit, and one of my sisters played the french horn (the other went the dark path of "woodwind" with the clarinet), so let me just say that it's great to see ensemble arranging for brass hit OverClocked ReMix in such style. If you've ever seen Canadian Brass live, or similarly awe-inspiring ensembles, you know just how vast a range of style, dynamic, and tone all-brass instrumentation can achieve. To fully appreciate the scope of what VHD's doing here, though, you need to fully understand how all the nuance, articulation, and tonality of a brass instrument is inevitably lost to varying extents when emulated using samples, no matter the quality. In this case the samples are pretty high quality, but moreover, the ReMixer uses a wide variety of articulations and velocities, not trying to mask limitations of samples by compromising his arrangement... and it still sounds damn good. Nearly all the judges touched on this topic in their decisions, and in this case the believability of the sounds used is inextricably tied to the high quality arrangement. While not wildly diverting from the original thematically, Mr. Barnaba arranges for brass ensemble in a way that sounds absolutely natural and professional. The conviction, confidence, and authenticity of the individual parts shines through, and production gracefully separates each instrument with a separate panning point and consistent ambience. Waleed writes:
"sequenced brass is the bane of the world, i know - but come on, this ain't that bad! i just listened to some of the fakest brass you can possibly have about two songs before this one and honestly, this is alright. arrangement is on point. it does not venture too far as it does not really need to. afterall this is now being performed as a brass quintent and that's really all the validation it needs as far as that. i think the original parts are very intelligently incorporated into the main body. very nice work on smoothing out the whole thing to being so coherent. the ending is not so abrupt really - its perfect. the build up is moving, the climax is a couple of brass hits and the fade is classic."
Nice synopsis. Something orchestral but very different in nature from VHD which takes some risks in terms of difficulty factor but achieves something singular and refreshing as a result.
- Verile on June 1, 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGnp-lDw4yI
- Vampire Hunter Dan on October 27, 2010
I only wish I could have the sheet music for this. Me(euphonium) and a few friends(trumpet, tuba, and trombone) have been looking for a good piece to learn as of late and this would be perfect. So vibrant and exciting.
- Johnny C. Bad on November 21, 2009
- Lucentas on December 6, 2008
Regardless, this is beautiful work, with a lot of attention paid to each detail. I'm a brass fan, and this one totally delivers.
Recommended.
- OA on April 1, 2008
- SSB on August 24, 2007
Nice work.
- Martin Penwald on August 22, 2007
Now I'm no big brass player, but I respect the sound that comes from brass and adore it when the instrument hits it right. I would also love to see a quintet perform this rendition live and just run around to see how many people have got goosebumps from it :-) I especially love the part at the 1.30min mark where Locke's theme kicks in. Speaking of, this whole remix gave me that awesome tingly feeling that JigginJonT gave me with the muted brass section in his Anthem of Exile remix. Maybe FFVI is the best series to opt for brass remixes? Heh.
Anyway keep up the good work VHD.
- bonsai on August 19, 2007
This was a treat to listen to. My knowledge of the whole library on this site is spotty, but I don't recall a past mix that was so dedicated to the brass among us. I played the trombone for 11 years of my life before a lack of groups to play with forced me into inactivity, and I love this because it sounds so much like something I could have played back in those days. Ah, the work to get a I at adjucation...
As DJP touched upon in his writeup, the trained ear can certainly tell it's not live brass. This is hardly the only mix of which this can be said, but this is probably the most real-sounding use of brass I've heard here, and very skillfully arranged. Each of the parts in the quintet contributes something to the overall piece, without which it would not be nearly the same.
The bulk of it is so charming to listen to that the few moments where you really hear a note that is plainly synthesized can be overlooked. I can almost close my eyes and picture myself and some old bandmates of mine from college performing it on stage. Many mixes on this site tickle my fancy as a lifelong band nerd and musician, but this is the first that has ever gotten me so close as a [i]brass[/i] musician specifically.
Here's this lurker's salute to Vampire Hunter Dan for trying something quite different and coming out with an incredible end product even given the inherent limitations with using brass in a mix. I hope this will not be the last time I hear such great brass work on this site.
- Mark "Moogle" Brown on August 15, 2007
- ShrikeArghast on August 14, 2007
Does a score exist for this? I'd love to see it and maybe perform it live (but alas, the plight of the euphonium player... lol).
Really fantastic job!
- siven7 on August 8, 2007
Unfortunately the 4 minutes of listening to it just fly by too quickly!
- Taural on August 8, 2007
- Less Ashamed Of Self on August 8, 2007
Damn I would love to hear this in a Live Concert
- RenoDJ on August 8, 2007
- Dante L. Wolfe on August 7, 2007