Warsaw Symphony Orchestra performs FFXIII's orchestral music

[Ram]

According to the website of orchestrator Yoshihisa Hirano (who did such a great job on DoC) he will return to orchestrate Masashi Hamauzu's score for Final Fantasy XIII. The music will be performed by the Warsaw Symphony Orchestra from Poland.

http://www.yoshihisahirano.com/

Also, Hamauzu revealed this about the music:

Aside the regular battle theme and event music, most of the soundtrack was composed in just the past year. Due to that tough schedule, Hamauzu solely determined the direction of the score and involved other staffs only in the post-composition process (e.g. mixing, recording, or orchestrating). The method he took was to work on 20-30 tracks simultaneously in one month and to submit them in bulks to the director. By starting to working on another track once he got stuck with one, he apparently could quickly finish composing a couple dozen tracks without a slump.

Pretty intense schedule, isn't it?

[gmoya909]

very nice i cant wait for the soundtrack.

[Zuraith]

very nice i cant wait for the soundtrack.
Same here. Oh did anyone watch that Orchestra special on the 12th? I missed it.

[Shanana]

fdfsadfdasfdsafas These guys are brilliant. <3

Oh. This is wonderful. <3333

[jinotokyo]

What worries me is that the soundtrack sounds very.....rushed.

[Sabin]

What I have heard so far from the game has been rock solid. Warsaw Symphony Orchestra? Talk about Square Enix going all out. I really think this game will have a great soundtrack.

[Ram]

What worries me is that the soundtrack sounds very.....rushed.

Oh, no. Composing 1 track a day without being involved in post-production is not hard really, if you're only doing composition.

Heck, Motoi Sakuraba once said that he composed 20 tracks a day for the Tales of series and works about 20 hours a day. Then again, he is sometimes more robot than human.

[Hynad]

Some people here were giving Uematsu shit for not doing the whole work himself (letting an other person handle the Orchestration) yet they're praising Hamauzu for the same thing... ¬_¬


*sigh*

[Ram]

Some people here were giving Uematsu shit for not doing the whole work himself (letting an other person handle the Orchestration) yet they're praising Hamauzu for the same thing... ¬_¬


*sigh*

No. What Uematsu does (since Blue Dragon, that is) is just writing a melody on piano with chords etc, then sends it to the arranger who does the rest. Hamauzu just composes everything, every instrument etc. but the orchestrator just makes everything playable for orchestra and writes out a score. ;) Just like everyone on this planet.

The problem in this case is the definition of arrangement and orchestration...

[Hynad]

Any source?

As far as I know, he makes everything using a Keyboard. He used a Korg Keyboard for most of his work. Not sure what he's using now.

In any case, most professional composers use a piano to compose the whole music, and point out which sections are for which instruments. In the end, composing music using computer programs and giving the end result to an arranger to handle the Orchestration is the same as doing everything on a piano and giving the end result to an arranger. What the composer gives to the arranger isn't exactly what the listeners will hear in the final product.

Why take away the merit of Uematsu but not the one of other composers? As far as I know, he's the composer and producer of most projects he works on, so he supervises everything and isn't only involved in the composition aspect of the work. Just like most famous film music composers.



EDIT: Oh, here's a 2009 interview where he clarifies that he's indeed using a computer to compose his music. He also states that he gets help from arrangers.

http://www.destructoid.com/destructoid-interview-final-fantasy-composer-nobuo-uematsu-128986.phtml
Uematsu: I compose on a computer [...] Interviewer: Back in the days of the Nintendo, you created sounds exactly as they would sound to the user. Now, with CD quality music in games, do arrangers and orchestrators make your job any easier? Do you still feel like you have complete control in how the sound comes out in the end?
Uematsu: Now that I have more opportunity to help me out, like, if I'm working on something like jazz, I can ask a professional jazz musicians to arrange it. I'm not doing this because I want less work. I'm trying to expand the music.
Now it's even better than before. Back in the day I would actually have to go somewhere to get someone to arrange it for me, and then get there to hear it. But it would be too late because it's already being arranged. I can't ask the person to change it. But now, because of technology, if I make something and ask somebody to arrange it, if I don't like it, he gets it right back. I have better control now.

[Ram]

For one, I can't give you a source directly, but I know this from a guy who read a japanese digital music magazine called 'DTM magazine'.


OSV: So now I have a really philosophical question. Technology has changed so much over the years. Back on the Famicom and Super Famicom, you used to be single-handedly responsible for the sound that the end user heard, but now that we have live music in games, you have a team of arrangers, orchestrators, and performers, and so on. Do you feel that having this team that helps you create a live sound detracts from your musical expression and do you feel you have less control over the final sound?
Uematsu: Well, this team makes it completely limitless and actually expands my musical expression because I can’t do everything. And even if I could do it all myself, it’s still better to have people because sometime’s it’s like one plus one equals three. We can add more ideas and be more creative and come up with more ideas. Creating things by yourself is not quite possible these days. There are limited things you can do, and you have to rely on other people to do certain tasks. It’s a team approach. Maybe you can do certain tasks, but with a team, you can do even more.
OSV: So I guess the perspective that I think of sometimes, because a lot of our readers on the site are hardcore fans, or very serious fans of your music, and if you have a team of people creating the music, that it almost feels like this end product isn’t “you.” It’s this person and that person. We’re not getting “pure” Uematsu-san.
Uematsu: It will sound horrible if I make it on my own! [Laughs]
OSV: [Laughs] That’s not true!
Uematsu: It’s like I make the heart of the person, and the other arrangers and orchestrators and mixers dress up the kid. So sometimes it’s great, and you take a new arranger, he will put new clothes, and it’ll look good. So it’s different every time.
OSV: So if you make the heart… who makes the brain? [Laughs]
Uematsu: [Laughs]


Look, Uematsu makes everything on a piano or electronic piano patch without any proper instrumentation (maybe he gives some advise, though) and then says to the arranger like 'well, work this out for me in an orchestral sounding track'. He doesn't feel combortable with today's sequencers, samplers and VSTi's.

As for Hamauzu, let's take this track:

YouTube - FFXIII OST - Patriotic (Hanged Edge, Resistance Front)

It's 100% synthesized, but comes straight out of Hamauzu's studio (except for some mixing which is done by the synthesizer operator/manipulator).

When tracks get orchestrated, he sends tracks like these to the orchestrator and says 'transform this into playable sheet music for the orchestra' so the final track will be still very close to the composer's idea.

--------------

For example, soundtracks now say "composed & produced by Nobuo Uematsu" and "composed, arranged & produced by Hitoshi Sakimoto/Masashi Hamauzu".

[Hynad]

I really like how you don't post any sources. :rolleyes:

Here: I didn't find the english version of that interview yet, the original link isn't working anymore. So I'm still looking.
RB : Pouvez-vous expliquer vos processus de création pour Unlimited SaGa ?
MH : Il y en a deux : 1) composer plus ou moins seul [...].


Translation: RB: Can you explain your creation process for Unlimited SaGa?
MH: There are two: 1) To compose more or less alone [...]

http://squaremusic.ffworld.com/?comp=hamauzu&page=interview2.htm

;)

[Ram]

This thread: http://www.squareenixmusic.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6416
And more specifically this post: http://www.squareenixmusic.com/forum/showpost.php?p=97232&postcount=16

There you have it, and while it's not a direct source, it seems pretty legit, especially when you see the arrangers credited in the CD's.

[Hynad]

You're posting an other forum discussion as a source?

Are you kidding me?



In any case, when it comes to merit, I'll bring in the fact that Hamauzu graduated from the Tokyo National University of Fine Art and Music, while Nobuo Uematsu is self taught. ;)

[Eighty88Eight]

I'll take the self taught man, thank you very much. Hamauzu is hell of a talent though. No qualms about him, and I'm thrilled that the Warsaw Symphony Orch. is getting involved with this. I have an SACD of them(Yavok Kreizberg serving as conductor) performing some of Wagner's hits and they're magnificent. They have the greatest rendition of my personal favorite piece of music Tristan and Isolde: Liebstod.

As they say, this is all sorts of win.

[Ram]

You're posting an other forum discussion as a source?

Are you kidding me?



In any case, when it comes to merit, I'll bring in the fact that Hamauzu graduated from the Tokyo National University of Fine Art and Music, while Nobuo Uematsu is self taught. ;)

I'm bringing up a guy who read it in a official japanese magazine that we will never read. Whether it's true or false depends on you, but I don't see any reason to don't believe it.

http://www.dtmm.co.jp/ This is that magazine.

---------------------------------------------

On topic, I may have mistaken "Warsaw Symphony Orchestra" for "Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra". :)

[Shanana]

Same shit, different name. I knew who you were talking about, fuck whatever confusion others are feeling, their strings section is to fucking die for. <3333