# Final Fantasy VI – Phantom Forest – BBCSO Core



## mybadmemory (Apr 1, 2021)

I recently did two arrangements from Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy V, and now it's time for Final Fantasy VI – Phantom Forest. Once again using BBCSO Core and Valhalla Room only, apart from the choir (Berlin Inspire 2), brass crescendo (CineSymphony), and doubled harp (Etherealwinds Harp 2).

Any feedback is highly welcomed! :D


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## SupremeFist (Apr 1, 2021)

Gorgeous! I didn't know the original piece but enjoyed the Bond reference. 👍🏻


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## mybadmemory (Apr 2, 2021)

SupremeFist said:


> Gorgeous! I didn't know the original piece but enjoyed the Bond reference. 👍🏻


Thanks a lot! I actually decided to remove the glockenspiel though, and re-uploaded.


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## Trash Panda (May 14, 2021)

Beautiful take on this piece. I liked the second half the most, as it felt more familiar and closer to the etherealness of the original. You did a great job of capturing the melancholy and longing present in this song.


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## ProfoundSilence (May 14, 2021)

Trash Panda said:


> Beautiful take on this piece. I liked the second half the most, as it felt more familiar and closer to the etherealness of the original. You did a great job of capturing the melancholy and longing present in this song.


I feel left out with this sudden ff6 attention, can we go 3 for 3 with another random user making an FF6 mockup. 

I vote someone orchestrates fierce battle


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## Chungus (May 20, 2021)

@mybadmemory Great work, sounds really good. My only point of criticism is the brass used here. With the score eliciting this mystical sense, I felt the powerful brass was out of place.


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## mybadmemory (May 20, 2021)

Chungus said:


> @mybadmemory Great work, sounds really good. My only point of criticism is the brass used here. With the score eliciting this mystical sense, I felt the powerful brass was out of place.


Interesting! The brass is the only thing not using BBCSO, but Cinesamples. I should try to use BBCSOs softer brass perhaps!


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## proggermusic (May 20, 2021)

Beautiful job, and one of my favorite game soundtracks ever! FFIV and FFVI are masterpieces in just about every way, definitely my favorites of the whole series. (I'm re-playing FFX right now and I forgot how great that soundtrack is, too, Nobuo is a genius.) 

This is a particularly good piece from that game, I love your choice. It shows the BBCSO in an excellent light, too.... might have to get the full version next time it goes on sale. Great work!


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## mybadmemory (May 20, 2021)

proggermusic said:


> Beautiful job, and one of my favorite game soundtracks ever! FFIV and FFVI are masterpieces in just about every way, definitely my favorites of the whole series. (I'm re-playing FFX right now and I forgot how great that soundtrack is, too, Nobuo is a genius.)
> 
> This is a particularly good piece from that game, I love your choice. It shows the BBCSO in an excellent light, too.... might have to get the full version next time it goes on sale. Great work!


Thanks! I’m also waiting for the next sale to upgrade to Pro. Core is my favorite library for slower melodic pieces like this, but I really want the close and stereo mics for certain instruments! Many of them just sound a little too distant for my taste.


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## José Herring (May 20, 2021)

mybadmemory said:


> Thanks! I’m also waiting for the next sale to upgrade to Pro. Core is my favorite library for slower melodic pieces like this, but I really want the close and stereo mics for certain instruments! Many of them just sound a little too distant for my taste.


Your mock up sounds gorgeous. It's going to be hard to resist the upgrade to pro for me. At $330 it's amazing deal for the rest of the library and closer mics.


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## mybadmemory (May 20, 2021)

José Herring said:


> Your mock up sounds gorgeous. It's going to be hard to resist the upgrade to pro for me. At $330 it's amazing deal for the rest of the library and closer mics.


Thanks a lot José! Happy you like it! My only real gripe with Core is the distance of Mix1. Which has lead me on the journey of acquiring a number of other libraries trying to fill that void. CSS, Berlin Soloists, Nucleus, Inspire, and a few others.

What I’ve found is that I still prefer BBCSO over any of them, wondering why I didn’t just upgrade to Pro instead. With the close mics and string leaders I’m hoping that BBCSO will provide what I actually wanted from the beginning.


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## Bluemount Score (May 20, 2021)

Once again convinces me how great even Core sounds... well done!


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## mybadmemory (May 20, 2021)

Bluemount Score said:


> Once again convinces me how great even Core sounds... well done!


Thanks! And yeah, there is something with BBCSO that has me coming back to it. Sure, the brass is a little on the soft side and the shorts are a little inconsistent, but still… it just feels better to play and sounds more real than anything else I get.


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## José Herring (May 20, 2021)

mybadmemory said:


> Thanks a lot José! Happy you like it! My only real gripe with Core is the distance of Mix1. Which has lead me on the journey of acquiring a number of other libraries trying to fill that void. CSS, Berlin Soloists, Nucleus, Inspire, and a few others.
> 
> What I’ve found is that I still prefer BBCSO over any of them, wondering why I didn’t just upgrade to Pro instead. With the close mics and string leaders I’m hoping that BBCSO will provide what I actually wanted from the beginning.


It's very common to do that. I went on the same journey when I only had HO gold. Then I woke up after years of doing that with just bits and pieces of 20 libraries. 

BBCSO is a great base. If you like it the best then getting Pro is a no brainer imo. Then you can use the other libraries you have to fill in where BBCSO may not do it. No one library can do it all but you can lean heavily on the one you like the best. It's good to know one library really really well. For me it is still HO and now HOOPUS. I can just get it to do what I want. It may not even be the best library but it is the one that I know the best if that makes sense. 

Great job again. Very musical rendition.


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## Henrik B. Jensen (Sep 22, 2021)

mybadmemory said:


> I recently did two arrangements from Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy V, and now it's time for Final Fantasy VI – Phantom Forest. Once again using BBCSO Core and Valhalla Room only, apart from the choir (Berlin Inspire 2), brass crescendo (CineSymphony), and doubled harp (Etherealwinds Harp 2).
> 
> Any feedback is highly welcomed! :D



It’s rare for me to be able to just close my eyes and thoroughly enjoy listening to some work made exclusively with sample libraries, but this piece comes close to that. I love the ebb and flow of the music which you’ve achieved here; the cohesiveness of the sound; and just the sheer musicality of the mock up. Well done! I’ve never heard the original piece btw. The only thing that sticks out a bit for me is the solo flute and the flute trills. Does the flute have the correct volume compared to the rest of the orchestra, or is it a bit too high in volume in comparison? I’m not sure if this is what I’m hearing, or if it’s simply a case of the common problem in sampling libraries with exposed instruments: They often sound samplingly (if that’s a word!).

Anyway, thanks for posting!


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## FireGS (Sep 22, 2021)

I forgot I was listening to samples for a moment.


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## FireGS (Sep 22, 2021)

Henrik B. Jensen said:


> Does the flute have the correct volume compared to the rest of the orchestra, or is it a bit too high in volume in comparison?


The more I listen to recordings the more I notice how loud flute (and especially piccolo) really are - especially when close mic'd. I think the volume is perfectly fine here.


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## mybadmemory (Sep 22, 2021)

Henrik B. Jensen said:


> It’s rare for me to be able to just close my eyes and thoroughly enjoy listening to some work made exclusively with sample libraries, but this piece comes close to that. I love the ebb and flow of the music which you’ve achieved here; the cohesiveness of the sound; and just the sheer musicality of the mock up. Well done! I’ve never heard the original piece btw. The only thing that sticks out a bit for me is the solo flute and the flute trills. Does the flute have the correct volume compared to the rest of the orchestra, or is it a bit too high in volume in comparison? I’m not sure if this is what I’m hearing, or if it’s simply a case of the common problem in sampling libraries with exposed instruments: They often sound samplingly (if that’s a word!).
> 
> Anyway, thanks for posting!


Thanks a lot Henrik, such kind words! That cohesiveness is really what brings me back to BBCSO. I saw you’re searching for opinions on it, and all I can say is that in spite of its annoyances (mostly the slow player and inconsistent shorts) I still keep preferring it over most of the stuff I own because if it’s playability and cohesive sound. It just works, at least for the stuff I try to get it to do. 

Regarding the flute I don’t remember if I raised the volume or not. I usually leave all volumes at 0 and balance using dynamics only, but since this is a soloist I might have taken the liberty of pushing it 3 or 6db. Had I done this today (when I have pro) I would have added the Close mic to it, to add detail and make it stand out more. I find with a more upfront sound you can take more liberties with the volume as well, as opposed to the embedded sound of the orchestral seating, which i guess is more important to get exactly right.


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## RogiervG (Sep 25, 2021)

I do hear some James Bond theme chord movements here and there. :D
But it's very nice what you've done!


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## Taron (Oct 10, 2021)

Tehehehe, pattern-recognition lets the little bond moment leap out at everyone, hahaha... But what a beautiful arrangement and your ability to bring out the most moving dynamics makes this a real gem. I also have never "consciously' heard the original, but I'd imagine Uematsu-san should be deeply flattered and moved by it, too! 
Not to mention that anyone should get excited about Core, listening to this! The realism and liveliness is exhilarating, really.


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## mybadmemory (Oct 10, 2021)

Taron said:


> Tehehehe, pattern-recognition lets the little bond moment leap out at everyone, hahaha... But what a beautiful arrangement and your ability to bring out the most moving dynamics makes this a real gem. I also have never "consciously' heard the original, but I'd imagine Uematsu-san should be deeply flattered and moved by it, too!
> Not to mention that anyone should get excited about Core, listening to this! The realism and liveliness is exhilarating, really.


I met Uematsu at a concert of his once. He and his wife had the seats right in front of me so I took the opportunity to shake his hand. Big moment for sure, having grown up with his music. A similarly surreal happening was when I realized Hiroki Kikuta had retweeted an arrangement I’ve made on Into the Thick of it, which was basically the song and moment that got me into music in the first place. For a brief second in time there I felt I had somehow reached though reality and that some kind of minuscule cosmic circle in my life path had finally closed. Haha. 😂


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## Taron (Oct 10, 2021)

Oh that's awesome! But, see, I have a pretty strong believe in universal logic and how things find their way, if you send them on their way. I'm happy for and with you!


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