Following on from my article introducing this project, I wanted to talk about some of the concepts behind it.
1. Bring the MIDI-instrument songs to life
The original PS1 Final Fantasy scores (VII, VIII, IX) were created by Nobuo Uematsu entirely using MIDI sequencing and Rompler instrument tones, so there are no real recorded instruments heard on the OG scores (in the vast majority of the OST tracks, anyway).
In my research trying to find out what Nobuo Uematsu used, I’m pretty sure many of the game’s instrument tones and sounds come from this absolute grandad of a unit, the Roland SC-50 Sound Canvas.
Now mostly obsolete, the particular sound of this unit and things like it have such an elusive quality. I’m also pretty sure it’s the source of tones from many memorable videogame themes from the time from titles like FF, Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill, Zelda: Ocarina of Time and things of that era.
It’s very easy to find free MIDI files online for FF songs. This is ‘Aeris’ Theme’ in Logic, and you can see how it’s all put together with software instruments. These are automatically assigned by Logic using its own built-in library of sampler instruments, so they sound quite different to the Roland SC-50 patches.
My basic concept with my FF covers project is to learn these MIDI arrangements and MIDI-instrumental parts from the original games and play/record them using real instruments & eventually, a real live band:
I play guitar, bass, a bit of keys, drums and vibraphone, and I also do vocals a bit — For the instruments I don’t play such as brass, winds & strings, I’ve used software instruments or re-arranged certain parts for different instruments; for example, converting a strings part to a synth part, or a synth part to a guitar part.
2. Preserve the Nostalgia
A huge part of why I love the PS1 FF soundtracks is specifically because of the slightly janky, late 90’s sound of MIDI instruments from the Roland SC-50.
There’s few things quite as haunting and weird as this keys patch. I really love these short ditties and oddities on the FF OSTs, almost over the famous bangers like One-Winged Angel.
Not including or trying to match some of those distinctly 90’s sounds and textures, for me, kills the heart & soul of a lot of these tracks. This can easily happen if everything is recreated using real instruments, or more modern Kontakt sample instrument libraries, for example.
There’s such a distinctive quality, I think, to the sounds from boxes like the SC-50 that is so specifically 90’s. It’s not quite full-on 8-bit retro like Gameboy/SNES-era music, and it’s not quite yet at the point when things like Kontakt or orchestral music libraries took over & started to sound more realistic — It’s this weird in-between state, which to me gives the OG scores this slightly ineffable quality.
As a quick example of what I’m on about, check out the original track ‘Crazy Motorcycle’ from FFVII:
I love how fun and silly this little techno jam is. I think the sound of that opening synth part, the tone and everything, is so distinctive and an important element to emulate for this track.
Here’s a remake I found of this track on Youtube:
Covers like this partly motivated me to start my own FF covers project.
The problem for me with this version is it sounds like it’s been entirely recreated with modern Kontakt instruments or the sorts of Orchestral sample libraries that get used for generic film or game scores a lot.
As a result, it’s completely lost the charming quality of the original 90s version, in my opinion, and this approach to covering or ‘remaking’ things just makes this cover sound quite lacklustre to me.
I felt it was important to try & nail some of those old-school sounds, or at least attempt to emulate how they sounded with the newer, more modern tools and sounds available to me.
My version of Crazy Motorcycle; I spent a lot of time trying to match synth tones as closely as possible to the originals, and have also infused the track with Breakcore & Metalcore embellishments where it feels appropriate. The song is called ‘Crazy Motorcycle’, after all.
The E-MU Proteus 2000
I came into possession of an E-MU Proteus 2000 purely by chance. This box happens to contain many of the identical kits and sounds present on the Roland SC-50, enabling me to authentically source certain key instrument and FX patches to use in my versions!
I’ve painstakingly scoured through hundreds of presets and kits on this thing to find some of the identical percussion, FX or other instrument sounds Nobuo Uematsu used on the OG versions.
This has turned out to be an extremely useful tool in my arsenal for this project. I was close to selling it at one point before I realised what it was, and I’m so glad I didn’t.
As a quick example, check out the original version of the Battle Theme from FFVII.
There’s a particular percussion sound in the right channel at around 12 seconds in:
I was quite happy to find this exact sound on the Proteus 2000, and you can hear it in my version:
In this case, it’s a pretty small detail, but one that I think really matters with covers like this. Hopefully, for other long-time fans like me, I’ve managed to nail little details like this.
I’ll go into more detail about my implementation of the Proteus 2000 in some future articles breaking down specific tracks and the patches that specific OG sounds come from.
3. Update the existing OG genres on the FF OSTs
This is possibly a contradictory element to the project, given I’ve just banged on about nostalgia and preserving old tones.
An approach I’ve adopted is to implement more recent stylistic choices in the genres Nobuo Uematsu originally used; basically, the difference of 90s Jazz Fusion to how today’s Jazz Fusion bands sound.
It’s kind of like, ‘what would this track sound like if Snarky Puppy or Yussef Dayes was covering it?’ in regards to the jazzier tracks from these games.
With the darker or more heavy and ‘scary’ tracks for villain’s themes and so on, I’m kinda thinking ‘how would this sound if maybe Periphery or Architects tackled this?’
RIP Tom Searle.
I also feel there’s some overlap with certain aggressive or particular styles of electronic music with Metal; of course, the DOOM 2016 soundtrack springs to mind, but so does some work of Amon Tobin & also SOPHIE.
In the softer and more atmospheric places I’m thinking of artists like Sigur Ros, Jeff Buckley, Hip-Hop & Jazz artists like Group Home, Souls of Mischief, Takuya Kuroda and more; seeing if I can find ways to basically combine elements of all of these kinds of music together, through the vessel of FF tracks.
Some of the original drum arrangements are very simplistic — there’s a lot more a really skilled drummer could do with some of these parts to make a live show more exciting, or more of a sick groove from things.
This creatively leaves a lot of room for artistic re-interpretation of these tracks. Here’s the original version of ‘Lurking in the Darkness’ from FFVII:
I love this sleazy lounge lizard groove. The weird chords, the Weather Report-like bass riff run, that random Pink Panther-ish bit that comes out of nowhere, ahhh.
You can hear for the percussion section the original features this constantly-looping and very basic hi-hat pattern.
There’s a lot of really cool Jaco Pastorius-ish, Jazz Fusion riffs and fun rhythmic things happening in this track, that I think a more modern drummer or Jazz Fusion band would play off of.
Here’s my version:
With this track, I was vaguely trying to go for a sort of Snarky Puppy + Animals As Leaders vibe.
I’ve added an entirely fleshed-out drums part meant to emulate a kind of jazzy or prog-fusion drummer like Nate Smith or Matt Garstka, as well as electronic production elements and ambient textural details.
I’ve also beefed up some of the Jazz Fusion double-bass riffs with more of a Metalcore sensibility to them to make them really pop out, and recorded a real vibraphone for the MIDI vibes parts:
4. Create a musical ‘journey’
I feel tracks like ‘Opening Bombing Mission’, ‘Those Chosen by the Planet’, JENOVA and so on sound pretty menacing, so I have doubled down on their menace by chunking them up with Metalcore guitars and Mick Gordon/DOOM-inspired industrial bass synths:
My version of the JENOVA Theme. I made this imagining it as a live recording of a real show, and the final track of the FFVII part of the set. The intro jam is kind of a cheeky reference to opening stabs in the track ‘Son et Lumiere’ by The Mars Volta, combined with the rhythmic stabs in this track to simulate a live band jamming on this tune.
Elsewhere, I felt genres like IDM, Hip-Hop and softer Acoustic or Post-Rock vibes were more appropriate to the particular tracks, such as Hip-Hop or Jazz for Red XIII’s Theme, and experimental Drum ‘n Bass and Breakcore for tracks like ‘Reunion’ and ‘Crazy Motorcycle.’
“Call me whatever you wish.”
Red XIII’s Theme x Hip-Hop + Jazz Fusion.
The idea is to explore a lot of different genres to switch up the set as it goes on; so rather than presenting this exclusively as a ‘Final Fantasy Metal’ or Hip-Hop for example, there’s almost a bit of everything here.
In the context of seeing a live band play a show of this music, I personally think it’d be really fun to hear things go through a spectrum of styles to compliment each track and somehow try to tie all of it together.
At the same time, I’m trying to be very careful with preserving the nostalgia and original tones whilst doing this, so the fun challenge is trying to strike a balance between the old & new.
In the end, I hope I’ve managed to make each track’s key melodic or rhythmic hooks stand out more to showcase or highlight some of the genius things Nobuo Uematsu did, presenting them in a way that ideally makes them more palatable to modern ears.
5. Turn this into a live band
The final goal will be to actually realise all of this on-stage in front of an audience, and this aspect of the project is a continuing adventure I’ve set myself on. If you’ve read this far, then you are cordially invited on this journey.
Any support you can give to this project obviously helps massively; if what I’m talking about is something you’d like to see happen, consider ye liking/subscribing/following on the various platforms I post on :)