 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2004-06-17 19:09
Well,
Just thought it'd be interesting to know that the LA Philharmonic will be performing music from the VERY well known (amongst gamers communities) Final Fantasy series at the E3 convention on May 10th (Walt Disney concert hall).
http://wdch.laphil.com/tix/program_detail.cfm?id=879
As a video game "amateur", I'd like to say that this particular series was know for it's very good music and I was surprised to see that the LA Phil is going to perform it at the largest USA gamer's convention. Wish I could be there (but 3000 miles isn't something I can at this point in time go to on a whim).
But for you Californians, this may be well worth checking it out. Especially considering that this is one of the ONLY game series I have ever heard of that has put out CDs, piano arrangements (which you can also buy the sheet music to), and also its very own internet radio dedicated SOLELY to the playing of music from the FF series.
Just thought it was interesting. I believe this is the first time I've heard of an orchestra of THAT level performing video game music . . . .
Alexi
PS - It really is beautiful music. Very well composed and I hope it was well orchestrated.
US Army Japan Band
Post Edited (2004-06-17 19:11)
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Author: John J. Moses
Date: 2004-06-17 19:30
Hi Alexi;
You ask:
"Just thought it was interesting. I believe this is the first time I've heard of an orchestra of THAT level performing video game music . . . . "
Actually:
The New York FilmHarmonic has been doing the video game thing for a few years now. I have been the solo clarinetist on several well known European video games, including "Merregnon 2," which was voted the best music from a video game in 2003.
Check out:
http://www.merregnon-studios.com/
JJM
Légère Artist
Clark W. Fobes Artist
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Author: mkybrain
Date: 2004-06-17 20:25
heh, strangely i remember random things like this, but while u run around on the map(or battlefield, w/e it is) in Final Fantasy XIII, there is a clarinet solo, anyone know who played that?
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2004-06-17 21:04
I knew that people were hired to play for a video game, but I had never heard of a video game having a concert dedicated to it! Unbelievable!
Thanks for the info JJM. Checked out the website and that IS good music.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: Ralph G
Date: 2004-06-17 21:06
I heard that somone recorded the sound of Drucker shifting in his seat at a rehearsal and used that as the dot-eating sound on Pac-Man.
M
________________
Artistic talent is a gift from God and whoever discovers it in himself has a certain obligation: to know that he cannot waste this talent, but must develop it.
- Pope John Paul II
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2004-06-17 21:27
I highly doubt it. Pacman is so old that they probably just used the game code to create sounds. Not actual "recordings" and "playbacks". It was much simpler back then to type somewhere in the code, "Beep" and at a certain pitch.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2004-06-18 01:27
You do realize that the concert was last month?
And the concert was timed to be played in conjunction with E3, but not "at" E3, which is in the convention center (not exactly orchestra friendly) and requires special passes for entrance.
In any case, the tickets were sold out within a couple days, and I was busy that day anyways, so I missed it.
I think you're taking Ralph G's comment far too seriously.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2004-06-18 02:24
Nope. My mind didn't comprehend the order of months for some reason. Guess it's all said and done.
And Ralph, should it have been a wisecrack, sorry. I didn't catch on.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: Ralph G
Date: 2004-06-18 04:22
Hey, Pac-Man is nothing to joke about! You eat the dots and avoid the monsters or you DIE!!
Okay, I was joking a little...
________________
Artistic talent is a gift from God and whoever discovers it in himself has a certain obligation: to know that he cannot waste this talent, but must develop it.
- Pope John Paul II
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Author: John_May
Date: 2004-06-18 05:05
Nobuo Uematsu is still composing the FF music, aparently. The last few games have been weak in the musical department. E3's a pretty big deal, though. Of course, the FF series always gets a decent orchestra, it's the composer who's under the gun.
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Author: diz
Date: 2004-06-18 05:36
Hey, if it pays the bills and wages, why not.
Sydney Symphony just did three sell out Lord (Bored??) of the Rings - Orchestral concerts ... erk.
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2004-06-18 07:25
BTW Ralph (off topic),
I just read that someone has recently (within the past month) aquired the world record (and highest possivble score) on pacman. A fast food restaraunt owner. He also happens to hold the highest possible score on Donkey Kong. I bet he's a very proud man!
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: LeWhite
Date: 2004-06-18 10:48
LOL, I know the Final Fantasy series all too well - the latest ones - X and XII - have great music and cinematography. Did I mention that these are VIDEO GAMES?
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Author: John_May
Date: 2004-06-18 18:35
VII had far better music, and it was all midi. IX had a lot of good stuff. X... I wasn't a fan. Of course, this is all "video game music"... so... what do you really expect. How have you played XII? It isn't out yet. Or do you mean X-2? That was a fairly ridiculous game, I thought... dressing up the characters, seemed dumb.
Mkybrain, i'm guessing you mean VIII, not XIII (which hasn't even begun production yet), and as that game had some of the worst music, orchestral and otherwise, of all time... Well, I've blocked it from my memory. Sorry.
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Author: mkybrain
Date: 2004-06-18 20:01
well, thats an opinion, not a fact, but, prolly the reason why i like it so much is that FF ****VIII**** was my first FF game
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Author: Igloo Bob
Date: 2004-06-18 21:43
Quote:
Mkybrain, i'm guessing you mean VIII, not XIII (which hasn't even begun production yet), and as that game had some of the worst music, orchestral and otherwise, of all time... Well, I've blocked it from my memory. Sorry.
Liberi Fitali?
Laguna's Theme?
Standard Boss Music?
The Oath?
Just to name a few. If anything, I felt that VIII and X were really the pinnacle of Uematsu's work. VII usually gets upped by fans because of One Winged Angel, which admittedly is a very cool song, but I don't think it's any cooler than Liberi Fitali from VIII. In any case, I think it's fair to say that for the most part, Uematsu's work has gotten better since the move to 32-bit and beyond systems. But then, most of the best music from Square didn't come from Uematsu at all! Chrono Trigger has long been considered by fans to be _the_ square game soundtrack, and Uematsu had almost no hand in those songs whatsoever. FFTactics also has nice soundtrack, and Uematsu played no part in that game.
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Author: LeWhite
Date: 2004-06-19 00:59
John_May - there are plenty of preview movies of XII floating around. The soundtrack seems great (just from the limited part that I heard)
Also, in X, there's the theme song, sung by (Japanese) folk singer, Rikki. I have no idea what the lyrics actually are, but it's such a pretty song!
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Author: John_May
Date: 2004-06-19 02:32
The difference between these two games and any other in the FF series was that VIII and X had points at which I found myself muting the TV so that I wouldn't have to listen anymore (though in X's case, this was often due to the voice acting). There are a couple of good tracks from VIII, but much of it is downright unbearable, especially in the context of the game. Liberi Fatali was good, but hardly used at all. The Oath was alright, but I found it kinda cheesy, much like it's Chrono Cross counterpart (those two songs sound almost identical). I don't remember any track titled Laguna's Theme... do you mean Julia's? It was forgettable. Fithos Lusec, which was average to begin with, was overused and became really tiresome. Overall, the good tracks were few and far between, and others that might have been good if used to better effect...weren't. Now, I genuinely regret having to do this, but I'm forced to remind you of Eyes on Me. That was nearly enough to make me vomit.
IX was much better than VIII, and is often overlooked. 'Vamo alla flamenco was awesome, especially at the begginning of the game, Freya's theme and others from Burmecia were very good, Kuja's theme was possibly the best villain theme in any of the games, Eternal Harvest is great on piano, and Loss of Me is a much better song in the style of The Oath (Nobuo's "Cheesy Tear Jerker" music). Not perfect, but they actually added something to the game, which is something I didn't often find while playing X. In the case of VIII, the opposite was often true.
That being said, I don't know which of those three was the better game, although I'll say it probably wasn't X. For all their technology, the storyline was disappointing. I have high hopes for XII, it looks cool. Does anyone else think it's been way too long since there was a feamle protagonist in an FF game? FF6 was the last one, and that was proabbly the 2nd best out of all of them. Come on, squaresoft! Equal opportunity!
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Author: Igloo Bob
Date: 2004-06-19 06:29
Actually, I was referring to Laguna's battle music. A personal favorite of mine.
Ouch, you brought up Eyes on Me! Yes, that was crap, but then, so was IX's Melodies of Life! Indeed, the only vocal music I find myself enjoying from Square is Radical Dreamers from Chrono Cross, and I'd probably hate that one too if it wasn't in Japanese and thus out of my level of comprehension!
Out of curiosity, when you talk about Cross's counterpart to the Oath, do you mean "Those Who are Gone", the play on the Termina Dragoon theme? Just curious. Speaking of Cross, I feel that it is also a definite major player in Square's music, at the very least on par with some of Uematsu's better work on the FF series. Star Stealing Girl, Omnidragon theme, People Imprisoned by Destiny, and Orphan of Flame were all solid songs that I enjoyed. And really, though shorter, I think Time's Scar can easily compare with One Winged Angel or Liberi Fitali.
Now I also did enjoy IX's music, just not as much as VIII's. There were definitely some solid songs in there. But some of the more popular ones I have trouble gaining respect for. Amarant's Theme was a ripoff of Shadow's Theme from VI, and You are Not Alone, while not a bad song, is by no means the One Winged Angel of FFIX as some people have tried to say it is.
The thing with X is, yes, there were a lot of crap songs, as you said. I just loved that for the first time in the series, the music truly felt like background music (perhaps it was the voices). The music to Macalania Woods and Besaid Island is nowhere close to magnificent, but it seemed to blend into the environment very well, and let me enjoy the game while trampsing around waiting to be hit with a battle. Not that there's much game to enjoy in the second half, but the game being disappointing isn't Uematsu's fault.
Honestly, the female character issue doesn't bother me much. I've heard a lot of people complain about it, but when was the last time we had a black main character? Or a homosexual main character? I think they make male, straight, could-be-construed-as-asian-or-white characters because that's the largest audience their games will appeal to anyway. Doesn't hurt my feelings, I'm a white, straight male. But one of these days, they need to make a left-handed main character. Oh yeah, that would be excellent. I suppose we're all a minority in some way or another.
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Author: John_May
Date: 2004-06-19 16:57
Yeah, I don't remember Chrono Cross very well, but I think the song was People Imprisoned by Destiny... I remember Time's Scar, though. That was really very good, as was a lot of the music from that game. I agree, it really was on par with pretty much any title from the FF series. As I look through some midis here... there were some wierd crossovers, like Fragments of Memories from FF8 showing up there, and Dream Fragments (come up with some new names, guys), which is basically the same song as melodies of life. Maybe I should play this again if I find the time...
You're not alone was a ripoff of Red/Cosmo's theme from VII, to far greater extent than Amarant's theme was stolen. Amarant was basically a bad playable character who, the abundance of which was one of the major problems with IX (he also had little to do with the story). They need to go back to VI... how many PCs were there, 30? Speaking of which, VI is another source of good game music. Particularly Kefka's theme (sounds really cool orchestrated) and Forever Rachel and Terra's theme when arranged for the piano.
The reason I'm all in favour of a female lead isn't really for any PC reason, but rather because the recent male characters (IX, X, and now XII) are all basically the same guy. A little variety would be nice, and it worked so well with Terra. Besides which, Tidus was so goddamn annoying that I wanted to personally injure him... anyways, I don't think we'll be seeing a gay protagonist anytime soon, given the target demographic of the games
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Author: Synonymous Botch
Date: 2004-06-19 18:10
It's worth noting that video games (platform and PC combined) outsold theater tickets in 2003...
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Author: LeWhite
Date: 2004-06-20 15:27
I think video game composing is going to begin to come into popularity - with so many games that 'play like movies' it's probably needed. And the gamer just wants more and more out of it, so this Final Fantasy thing could just be exactly what the future is made of...?
Perhaps an upcoming game will feature Glass' music, directed by Stephen Spielberg (spelling, I know...) haha don't call me crazy, it COULD happen!
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Author: Thomas Boecker
Date: 2004-06-27 08:27
Dear all.
I just came across this message board, and I found it quite interesting to read your comments.
Please let me introduce myself to you, my name is Thomas Boecker, I am the Executive Producer of the Merregnon - project (www.merregnon.com), additionally I am the Event Producer of the first Symphonic Game Music concert of the world, outside of Japan, in 2003, and the second in 2004 (to be held in August this year - www.gc-germany.de).
The concerts are a part of the official opening ceremony of the GC - Games Convention, Europe's leading trading fair for video games.
We feature(d) music such as Final Fantasy, Super Mario Brothers, Medal of Honor, Shenmue, Metal Gear Solid, Harry Potter, EverQuest II, Mafia, Secret Weapons over Normandy - and the list goes on. We were working with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra in 2003, in 2004 we contracted the FILMharmonic Orchestra Prague (www.musa.cz), which consists of the best players from such orchestras as the Prague Symphony, Prague Radio Symphony or the Prague Chamber Orchestra. Mr Andy Brick (www.andybrick.com) from New York is going to conduct again.
The concert last year was sold out, and we are expecting the same for 2004. The event takes place in the famous Leipziger Gewandhaus (www.gewandhaus.de). No matter what you are thinking about this kind of music, for me it was such a beautiful experience to see all the young people coming to a concert with a live orchestra, often for the first time in their life! And yes, they understood how special this is, how breathtaking it can be to sit in a concert hall. I am not saying that all of them ran to the next CD shop afterwards, buying classic CDs etc. - but I can tell you that at least a few really got more interested in orchestral music in general, for me this is a great success yet. Plus: For the first time game composers from all over the world met - Uematsu - san from Japan, Christopher Lennertz from the USA, Allister Brimble from the United Kingdom - and so on, and so on. It was a very special celebration of game music at this evening, and I would strongly suggest you to consider to come to Germany in August, I would be most happy to welcome you there.
For all of you who are more interested in the background of the first concert, please have a look at here:
http://www.andybrick.com/images/gamasutra_gc2003_1.pdf
http://www.andybrick.com/images/gamasutra_gc2003_2.pdf
Thank you very much for your interest, and the very nice discussion.
With best regards from Tokyo
--
Thomas Boecker
http://www.merregnon.com/
Post Edited (2004-06-27 08:59)
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