Kefka's Domain

Final Fantasy VI (1994) was the first of the series to branch out of the traditional medieval fantasy setting. Instead, it is set in a sort of “Neo-Victorian” steam age, a thousand years after a devastating conflict of mythical proportions known as the War of the Magi.

The setting is interesting, the story is compelling, the characters are more developed than in previous installments, and the music is memorably thematic and eclectic. The story and the music have more emotional depth than before, and it was the beginning of a new medium of storytelling.

I have also had an ongoing infatuation with the whole package that has recently been revived from dormancy. And an impetus I had many months ago (but of course never followed through on) came to the foreground:

For the past several days, I have been making transcriptions and arrangements of Nobuo Uematsu’s score to Final Fantasy VI.

This isn’t just a masturbatory “fan-boy” waste of time, though. I have already seen benefits of doing this project:

1) Keeping my Aural Skills sharp. Proving to myself that I do have something going for me.

2) Hammering out some technical problems and know-how in Logic that previously stymied my efforts in other projects.

3) Keeping myself from going insane with boredom and lethargy, taking my mind off of the pain.

But yes, it is ultimately an indulgence. It’s just plain fun, and it has put me in a good mood these says, and there’s something to be said for that.

I mostly want to stay “true to the originals,” because I was always slightly annoyed that the few orchestrations out there decide to “improve” the music by altering it, which is not always for the better. Mainly, the purpose of this project is to see what the original score would sound like with the Garage Band Symphonic Jam Pack, but I have also sketched a few original arrangements based on the themes. And the ones I do remake verbatim I take artistic license with a development and/or coda instead of just loop the whole piece and fade out, so it’s still a creative process of sorts.

There are three CDs’ worth of music, so it’s a huge endeavor if I end up trying to remake all of the cues plus my own inventions. But I have discovered a whole new level of control freakism—perhaps what Peter Jackson felt while he was bringing his youthful escapism to life. Except mine isn’t “to life.” It’s softsynth. Dang.

But it’s a lot of fun picking apart the components to a musical playground that actually contributed to my interest in becoming a composer. Gotta love leitmotifs. I remember, back in the day, thinking, “I wonder if someday video games will be fully cinematic?” Oh yeah, kiddo. We’re there. It’s a good time to be a composer.

So that’s what I’ve been doing lately.