# Final Fantasy VIII - "Don't Be Afraid" by Nobuo Uematsu (Remake) Updated



## dhmusic (Jul 1, 2021)

Thanks so much for all the encouragement in this thread. It's been incredibly motivating and I can't wait to share the rest of the tracks I've been working on 

I'm working on these before moving to another installment/series - probably in this order:

- FFVIII -
Don't Be Afraid (Complete)
Force Your Way (Complete)
The Man With the Machine Gun
The Landing
Only a Plank Between One and Perdition
Liberi Fatali
Premonition
The Legendary Beast
Maybe I'm A Lion
The Extreme

Hoping to have them all finished by the end of July


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## Pixelpoet1985 (Jul 2, 2021)

Sounds great! Which libraries?


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## mybadmemory (Jul 2, 2021)

Beautiful sound! What are you using for it?

I kind of miss a big drum kit and electric bass on top, but I realise that's not what you went for here.


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## Illico (Jul 3, 2021)

Very nice cover. You seem to have worked a lot on this project. Can I ask you how long you spent on it?


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## dhmusic (Jul 4, 2021)

Pixelpoet1985 said:


> Sounds great! Which libraries?





mybadmemory said:


> Beautiful sound! What are you using for it?



Thanks so much! Aside from some Berlin Percussion it's all Metropolis Ark IV



Illico said:


> Very nice cover. You seem to have worked a lot on this project. Can I ask you how long you spent on it?


I spent about 4 hours preparing the project and 12 hours on the programming side. I did it in a day, which is pretty rare for me. I'm really happy with it and although there are some improvements that could be made I'm glad I didn't wait or I might not have released it at all haha. 

Thanks for listening!


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## Artemi (Jul 4, 2021)

Really enjoy this song


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## emilio_n (Jul 4, 2021)

Wow! sounds great! Listening to your remake makes me back to the time I played the game


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## Geomir (Jul 4, 2021)

Really nice! Very impressive! It sounds so intense and alive! Most people will think it's a real orchestra performing.

Congrats on honoring the great composer that is Nobuo Uematsu.

My all time favorite FF will always be FF VII, including its OST. But FF VIII comes second in my preference, very close to VII.


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## Skony85 (Jul 5, 2021)

Sounds like real orchestra. Awesome!


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## freecham (Jul 5, 2021)

Really enjoyed this track ! I agree with the comments about the impression of a real orchestra ! I like the sense of space. Congratulations !


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## Vladimir Bulaev (Jul 5, 2021)

dhmusic said:


> Aside from some Berlin Percussion it's all Metropolis Ark IV


Wow! I really thought it was a real orchestra, too. A powerful performance of a powerful track from a powerful library! 100% getting into the list of one of the best mockups. Well done!


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## dhmusic (Jul 7, 2021)

Vladimir Bulaev said:


> Wow! I really thought it was a real orchestra, too. A powerful performance of a powerful track from a powerful library! 100% getting into the list of one of the best mockups. Well done!



Thank you so much, Vladmir! Man that's really quite a compliment. I'll do my best to keep delivering on that level! Btw your Swan Lake mockup is so good - it's really convincing and expressive. Keep it up!



freecham said:


> Really enjoyed this track ! I agree with the comments about the impression of a real orchestra ! I like the sense of space. Congratulations !



Hey Freecham! Thank you so much for listening. The new one is in a slightly different tonal direction but I hope the sense of space still comes through as a positive 



Skony85 said:


> Sounds like real orchestra. Awesome!



Thank you! This really is the best kind of compliment. I hope you enjoy the others just as much. They might veer in different stylistic directions but I aim to make them all sound like they're part of the same sonic world.



Geomir said:


> Really nice! Very impressive! It sounds so intense and alive! Most people will think it's a real orchestra performing.
> 
> Congrats on honoring the great composer that is Nobuo Uematsu.
> 
> My all time favorite FF will always be FF VII, including its OST. But FF VIII comes second in my preference, very close to VII.



Hey Geomir, thanks so much for the attentive listening and feedback! I'm torn between VI and VII but I know what you mean. I'm working up to those, especially with how awesome the FF7 Remake was - I'll have to be extra creative to come up with something new to offer.



emilio_n said:


> Wow! sounds great! Listening to your remake makes me back to the time I played the game



Thank you! That's great to hear. I want to do different takes on the soundtrack without alienating too many listeners.



Artemi said:


> Really enjoy this song



Thanks so much Artemi! I hope you like the others too



mybadmemory said:


> I kind of miss a big drum kit and electric bass on top, but I realise that's not what you went for here.



Dude Reading this inspired me to take a totally different direction than I was going with "Force Your Way". It kind of has a Jojo's Bizzarre Adventure vibe going now. It's still pretty different I guess but I made sure to keep the classic drum part and I used the ensemble to play off of it it some interesting ways.


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## Trash Panda (Jul 7, 2021)

Wow! That sounds incredible. 

Great job! Did you transcribe these by ear?

I cannot wait to hear what you do with The Landing.


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## cet34f (Jul 7, 2021)

Trash Panda said:


> Wow! That sounds incredible.
> 
> Great job! Did you transcribe these by ear?
> 
> I cannot wait to hear what you do with The Landing.


I would like to others' approaches, too. Sometimes I look into the Square Soundfont files, but that's for tracks I really like. Final Fantasy has very few officail full scores, and I think they are for renting only.

BTW, the OP has restored my faith to Metropolis Ark. I've always hated that library.


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## dhmusic (Jul 9, 2021)

Trash Panda said:


> Wow! That sounds incredible.
> 
> Great job! Did you transcribe these by ear?
> 
> I cannot wait to hear what you do with The Landing.





cet34f said:


> I would like to others' approaches, too. Sometimes I look into the Square Soundfont files



Thanks I appreciate it! The older games have really solid MIDI files available so I start with that in a separate folder for reference, usually on a simple piano patch. It's helpful to make sure I'm not missing any important parts and is really useful for planning a different orchestration. The newer games require a lot more transcribing though.



cet34f said:


> BTW, the OP has restored my faith to Metropolis Ark. I've always hated that library.



All of them or just Ark IV? It's a really different library I admit. I find it's quirkiness to be a strength I guess.


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## cet34f (Jul 9, 2021)

dhmusic said:


> Thanks I appreciate it! The older games have really solid MIDI files available so I start with that in a separate folder for reference, usually on a simple piano patch. It's helpful to make sure I'm not missing any important parts and is really useful for planning a different orchestration. The newer games require a lot more transcribing though.
> 
> 
> 
> All of them or just Ark IV? It's a really different library I admit. I find it's quirkiness to be a strength I guess.


Thanks for sharing.

What I've hated is the Metropolis Ark 1 and their "fortissimo is the new sexy" philosophy.

I don't know much about Ark IV, but it sounds lovely compared to Ark I.


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## dhmusic (Jul 13, 2021)

cet34f said:


> Thanks for sharing.
> 
> What I've hated is the Metropolis Ark 1 and their "fortissimo is the new sexy" philosophy.
> 
> I don't know much about Ark IV, but it sounds lovely compared to Ark I.


Ah gotcha! I'll have to put Ark I to use on the track I'm working on. I actually really like the Strings, Choir, and Percussion from that library but I think I see what you mean. I think that's why I find Ark IV so satisfying - It isn't quite as easy to use out of the box but it's been really rewarding getting to know it better over the last year and since I layer everything kind of densely the smaller ensembles help balance out my bombastic impulses... a little. I have most of the catalogue of Orchestral Tools libraries and I'm pretty sure that's my favorite.

Gotta say - I think VSL might have claimed the sexiest articulation category with "Sforzandissimo" though. I'm a fan.

Anything beyond that will just have to have a modifier like "+10 Sforzandissimo with 50% Fire Resist"


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## QuiteAlright (Dec 6, 2021)

Hey there, I'd love to hear "the man with the machine gun" if you're still intending to go through more of the FF themes. I've never played any FF game personally, but there's a wonderful acapella cover of that track in particular on YouTube which really put me on to the soundtrack.


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## dhmusic (Dec 6, 2021)

QuiteAlright said:


> Hey there, I'd love to hear "the man with the machine gun" if you're still intending to go through more of the FF themes. I've never played any FF game personally, but there's a wonderful acapella cover of that track in particular on YouTube which really put me on to the soundtrack.


I was about halfway done with it a while back. I was working on the Distant Worlds version for live orchestra. It's great but I got distracted by other tracks before I finished transcribing it. I have a bunch finished that just haven't posted yet for whatever reason. I'll def get to that one eventually, thanks for listening


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## FredericBernard (Dec 7, 2021)

...the memories!! (for the best Final Fantasy in the whole series, IMO) 

Excellent work, absolutely love this! 

-Frederic


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## dhmusic (Jun 16, 2022)

Updated link:


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## VSTHero (Jun 22, 2022)

Amazed you did all this in one (very long) day! Sounds great!


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## Jita (Jun 23, 2022)

Fantastic rendition once again, you're very good at this! It reminds me of the time when I played this game for the first time. The game wasn't that good IIRC but the music was marvelous.


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## FredericBernard (Jun 23, 2022)

Jita said:


> Fantastic rendition once again, you're very good at this! It reminds me of the time when I played this game for the first time. The game wasn't that good IIRC but the music was marvelous.


Holy moly, yes! Pity that only three (?) tracks (Intro, Ending, Eyes on Me) were actually realized with a real orchestra. 

Legendary game, as well as the cover by the OP.


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## FauxGreer (Jun 24, 2022)

Wow, I really love how the texture/details of the strings aren't lost in the mix! Grace note additions to the melody line are handled really well, too.

My only suggestion would be to consider adding cymbal crashes for punctuation.


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## Per Lichtman (Jun 26, 2022)

I enjoyed listening to your rendition. Would love to hear your take on “Force Your Way” but the link in your signature leads to “Don’t Be Afraid” at the moment. 

I’ve been to three Uematsu/Roth concerts (one from the Dear Friends tour and two from Distant Worlds), interviewed Uematsu, listened to the Distant Worlds and Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec orchestral recordings more times than I can count and spent hundreds of hours listening to the track in game. VI,VII and VIII are my favorite three FF games and scores.

In my opinion lots of things about your rendition work quite well already - especially the first 37 seconds or so, which I think you did a really good job with.

The main thing that stands out as a mock-up in comparison to the live performances/recordings I’ve heard is that there isn’t much variation between the way the sections are performing similar passages at different times in the piece and that the energy levels of the sections don’t always match.

Part of that can be handled with a mixing rather than MIDI solution, if you want to give it a try.

As one example, around 0:58 the live string players tend to amp up the energy significantly in this section leading to a bit of a “feverish” quality that can be imitated with EQ automation curves using bands in either the high mids or the highs or both.

If you end up giving it a try, feel free to let me know what you think.


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## Per Lichtman (Jun 26, 2022)

FredericBernard said:


> Holy moly, yes! Pity that only three (?) tracks (Intro, Ending, Eyes on Me) were actually realized with a real orchestra.
> 
> Legendary game, as well as the cover by the OP.


But that’s why the Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec CD was so great - we finally got to hear so many more of them. 

Setting aside logistics and budget for realizing the full score with an orchestra in game, the data itself would have been an issue. Since it was still on CD and shipping on multiple CDs already, the sheer number of different tracks that would have had to be accessible would have presented lots of challenges in terms of the disk swapping. The game might also have had to ship on more disks - possibly at a higher price.

Would be a great addition if they ever did a proper remake (though I pray it wouldn’t pull the FFVIIR narrative shenanigans).


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## Trash Panda (Jun 26, 2022)

Per Lichtman said:


> But that’s why the Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec CD was so great - we finally got to hear so many more of them.
> 
> Setting aside logistics and budget for realizing the full score with an orchestra in game, the data itself would have been an issue. Since it was still on CD and shipping on multiple CDs already, the sheer number of different tracks that would have had to be accessible would have presented lots of challenges in terms of the disk swapping. The game might also have had to ship on more disks - possibly at a higher price.
> 
> Would be a great addition if they ever did a proper remake (though I pray it wouldn’t pull the FFVIIR narrative shenanigans).


All tracks were audio files. Outside of the three actual orchestral performances, the remainder of tracks were audio renderings of the romplers of that era. The only real restriction was the budget of hiring a real orchestra.


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## Per Lichtman (Jun 26, 2022)

Trash Panda said:


> All tracks were audio files. Outside of the three actual orchestral performances, the remainder of tracks were audio renderings of the romplers of that era. The only real restriction was the budget of hiring a real orchestra.


No, they were chiptunes using samples - not recorded files other than the 3. They took up tens of megabytes instead of hundreds as a result.

You can look at them yourself.








Chiptune/Archive: Final Fantasy VIII


Chiptune/Archive: Final Fantasy VIII (PSF, 82 Songs, 12.47MB) [PlayStation, 1999, Square]




ocremix.org


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## FredericBernard (Jun 26, 2022)

Per Lichtman said:


> But that’s why the Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec CD was so great - we finally got to hear so many more of them.
> 
> Setting aside logistics and budget for realizing the full score with an orchestra in game, the data itself would have been an issue. Since it was still on CD and shipping on multiple CDs already, the sheer number of different tracks that would have had to be accessible would have presented lots of challenges in terms of the disk swapping. The game might also have had to ship on more disks - possibly at a higher price.
> 
> Would be a great addition if they ever did a proper remake (though I pray it wouldn’t pull the FFVIIR narrative shenanigans).


Why? Wasn't all music in the same audio format? I don't think they've used midi anymore, although some tracks sounded like it. Can remember all the akward disk switching though, lel. But it was totally worth it. Not comparable with FF7 (never liked the setting), but that is of course totally debatable.


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## Per Lichtman (Jun 26, 2022)

FredericBernard said:


> Why? Wasn't all music in the same audio format? I don't think they've used midi anymore, although some tracks sounded like it. Can remember all the akward disk switching though, lel. But it was totally worth it. Not comparable with FF7 (never liked the setting), but that is of course totally debatable.


I agree that the disc switching was totally worth it - I love that game. 

Much like the SNES Final Fantasy games before them, Final Fantasy VII, VIII and IX on the PS1 all stored the bulk of their music tracks as chiptunes containing custom samples. You can look up the chiptune parts of the soundtracks by searching for the .PSF files (OCRemix being the place I linked above).

The difference was that while SNES Final Fantasy games were limited by the Sony designed SPC700 chip’s 8-voice polyphony (well, 8-channel but I want to be less ambiguous), 64KB of audio RAM and rudimentary delay effect to mimic reverb, the Playstation’s audio chip and system design allowed up to 24-voices (channels), larger sample pools and more FX (including dedicated reverb as opposed pseudo reverb). This made it easier to include some ROMpler samples in the chiptunes themselves (including several recognizable Roland ones) leading to the confusion.

Using chiptunes for game music persisted longer among many Japanese game developers than it did with most American ones and the Final Fantasy Playstation trilogy were among the most prolific soundtracks they released. I haven’t done a comprehensive comparison but to the best of my knowledge FFIX had the most tracks of any turn-based JRPG up to that point in time by a single composer (over 100 tracks in PSF format alone) - even more than VIII (over 80 tracks in PSF format alone) - and the workload was so intense that it contributed heavily to Uematsu bringing in additional composers on X (for which he’s credited with 51 tracks).

That is to say, while Square sometimes used a ton of recorded audio for games with more limited track counts (Einhänder’s OST CD has under 30 tracks for example and it’s a single CD game) chiptunes were more common in games like FF, Parasite Eve, Xenogears, etc.


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## Trash Panda (Jun 26, 2022)

Having spent the evening trying to wrangle Metropolis Ark 4 to play nice with Edgar and Sabin’s theme, I have to once again tip my hat to you for how well done this is. 

Those articulations are so damn particular.


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## Jita (Jun 28, 2022)

FredericBernard said:


> Holy moly, yes! Pity that only three (?) tracks (Intro, Ending, Eyes on Me) were actually realized with a real orchestra.
> 
> Legendary game, as well as the cover by the OP.


I think there were other tracks like Balamb Gardens, I really loved this track but this university seemed so empty in the game!

Yes that was in the Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec CD like @Per Lichtman mentionned!


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