DISC 1
Disc1 Commentary on track1-track7
Let us begin with this memorable 1st ever commentary session!
■1. The First Awakening
【Mr. Sekito comments】
The track “The First Awakening” starts off with the most significant Sound effect of “THE LAST REMNANT” for the remnant starting sound effect (The Sound Effect was made by Mr. Mikoshiba). The track originally has a theme played by trumpet. For this version, I deliberately positioned choir part more of upfront in the mix. I also replaced the trumpet part as well. This process was followed by the requirement from the director of “THE LAST REMNANT” Mr. Takai,
Mr. Takai was telling me this from his heart intensely;
”For the role of this track, I would like the track to intensify the emotion of audiences for their anticipation towards the beginning of “THE LAST REMNANT”!!”
By the way, I composed the original version of the track, which has melody played by the trumpet, in a slightly different approach to the version on the soundtrack.
When I composed the track, I had a vision that the battalion was marching off the battlefield, which the vision leads to one of the significant visual part of “THE LAST REMNANT”. The track was written in the beginning of game development.
■2. Cherished Memories
【Mr. Sekito comments】
The track is a theme for Irena who adore her brother Rush, representing the feeling of her brotherhood.
The feeling in the track is also a little sorrowful in some parts that projecting forthcoming incidents of Irena in the game. In a good way, Both “The First Awakening” and “Cherished Memories” are two comparisons of the theme in terms of describing themes for “THE LAST REMNANT”. Those two tracks often appear on the story. Those main themes change their forms and lengths in different variations.
■3. Opening Suite: The Search
■4. Opening Suite: The Chase
■5. Opening Suite: The Charge
■6. Opening Suite: The Assault
【Mr. Yagi comments】
This track is from the opening event. The production of this event itself was spent quite long time during which the event had to be the first ever model of all the other events in the game. As for composing music for the opening event, I imagine that Mr. Sekito also made a huge effort of finishing the music for quite some time to finish with trial and error. The track begins with sorrow feeling,
then it leads into more movement in the track. The track really got me when the music has its well structured movement that involves an audience emotionally into the right in the heart of the story of “THE LAST REMNANT”, without the music intentionally saying too much.
I honestly felt quivering when I first listened to this track. I thought that “we really are gonna win this time!” LOL
【Mr. Sekito comments】
Although the event scene introduces many different characters in the game, I tried to compose music that says not too much about the story. Instead, I concentrated on creating an anxiety and fear feeling in music that this world might be taking unexpected steps toward unknown world. You might be thinking to be left out when you listen to the track. You might say “what just happened there?!?!
■7. Clash of Opposites
【Mr. Sekito comments】
There it starts the legion battle!
Legion battle system is neither less to say the one of the significant part for “THE LAST REMNANT”. The track is mainly structured with the hard-rock style and symphonic orchestration style.
The director of Mr. Takai in particular had an idea for the track, following;
“I would really like the track to intensify emotion that stimulating the feeling to defeat as much enemy as the player can!”
I thought that the music should be going with heavily distorted guitar riff, symphonic orchestrated sound, then the horn player would have a go at you with going all red in his face, saying ”How dare you wrote the music like that! No way that I can play like this! “ ….
Oops, my mind just went somewhere else there…
Honestly, when I wrote the track, I imagined the vision of the music represents the feeling to stimulate for the battle for the player.
How has everyone found our 1st ever commentary session??
I will be updating this blog with following commentary and reviewing for the soundtrack everyday. I hope you have a great moment on this blog.
DISC 1
Disc 1 commentary on track8- track16
Evening! I am Yagi, a event planner of “THE LAST REMNANT”.
How is everyone today? It has just been getting colder and colder as the day goes by!
Please watch out for catching cold, everyone.
“THE LAST REMNANT” has just been released yesterday. How are you finding “THE LAST REMNANT”, everyone?
You might find the first 2-3hours a little slow as the game’s a little easy, but it gets interesting once you can form Unions..
But you would be finding the game rather interesting when the player begins to enable to form Union, which is to organize the formations for the battle.
When you play the game from the beginning, please be ware of being patient without giving up the game. LOL
An apologies for such a long introduction for today. This is the 2nd commentary session!
■8. Truths Revealed
■9. All For Her
【Mr. Yagi comments;】
The event is where Rush meet Emma for the first time in the game.
The theme of the track is for “Capturing the first moment of meeting someone who came from unidentified place or time”. The purpose for the event itself went exactly according to the plan, but I still think that the expression of Emma`s face seems very scary to me. LOL
【Mr. Sekito comments;】
Rush himself is not really being himself as to not knowing the situation that he is in the event, so as Emma is being extremely cautious about Rush in the event. I was really surprised that the expression of Rush`s face was so brilliant that I could read his feelings of brotherhood towards Irena in the event, Even though the event was produced by events that triggered in real-time.
■10. Home
11. Gathering Clouds
【Mr. Yagi comments;】
The event changes dramatically from ordinary peaceful day to an intense moment.
The track is very worth listening to feel the changes during the two counter parts of the track. In Addition, when I gave my briefing to Mr. Sekito about the track “Home”,
I originally set the theme called “a daytime in winter” which I thought the theme was too vague for him to write the music. But I, again, was so impressed by the fact that Mr. Sekito brought music to us with almost finished version of the track “Home”.
【Mr. Sekito comments;】
My impression for the event came from an innocent conversation of Rush and Irena, showing the bond of brotherhood.
The 1st half of the track has a feeling of bright and warm in the track. On the other hand, 2nd half of the track is more emphasized on dark, and fearful feeling that suggests the awaiting incidents that will occur on Rush and Irena later in the game.
■12. Into the Depths (Music: Yamanaka)
【Yamanaka comments;】
When I recall my memory without mistaking it, this track was the first track to compose for “THE LAST REMNANT”. I remember while the game was in the beginning of development, Mr. Sekito told me in sudden that “Yamanaka-kun, you should compose for a dungeon part of the music, already!” The interesting point on this track I think is that I chose the synthesized piano sound for percussion part to get more intriguing sound. The part ended up with metal-like harmonic sounding which I like very much.
■13. Flamedrop
【Mr. Sekito comments;】
The track is for a dungeon part of the game when it goes into the battle mode.
This track has no electric guitar part, which is a rare for this sound track. I wrote the track to be the comparison with the existing tracks of a field part of the game. I tried with the idea for the track that has very subtle but intensive feeling.
The length between intro to the main melody was set to run quite long period of time.
I recommend you to listen to the whole length of the track for intro-to-melody structure should sound quite satisfying in the battle field.
■14. Struggle Eternal
【Mr. Sekito comments;】
This track is for the music for boss battles. It might come across as a little subtle at first with the way of the approach of low frequency of the guitar riff in the track.
I used an instrumentation of hard-rock, symphonic section and acoustic guitar solo for emphasizing darker taste in the track. The track has its own interesting groove despite that the actual tempo is not so fast going.
My favourite part on this track is that the combination of muted guitar riff and intriguing guitar chord voicing.
■15. Sliver of Hope
【Mr. Sekito comments;】
The track is also for the battle mode, especially when the player fights against uneven battle or when the battle goes in crisis. This track automatically switches from normal battle mode to crisis mode, depending on how well the battle is concerned from the players` point of view (it is called Moral-gauge). The initial idea actually came from the director of Mr. Takai himself in the beginning of developing this game. The idea is very simple as it is, so that I thought “what a good idea! “ at fast. The idea took place in the next level when I actually saw what It meant in the battle field in the game. My reaction towards this idea suddenly changed to “what a brilliantly fantastic idea!
■16. The Young Marquis
【Mr. Yagi comments;】
Here on this event, my brief for the music was that in particular, the music needed to have an expression of bravery of David the Marquis of Athlum. This track is one of my favourite tracks that reflect the bravery of David in the music well thoughtfully.
【Mr. Sekito comments;】
David stands somewhere around the entrance of the cave that Rush and Emma had fallen in the previous event. I wanted the player to feel questionable of the situation at first when the event starts. On the track, I composed not-obvious melody for the intro, then after the appearance of David the Marquis of Athlum, I deliberately composed very strong melody for the timing of his appearance.
This is a music cue for making impression that nobody can miss. LOL
I chose the glocken spiel for outro of the track as the event scene introduces the talisman of Rush on close up for the ending of the event. This scene is one of my favourite scene that I nerve wracking followed the next move of Rush in the story, at the same time, I am hoping that he would grow up strongly as the game story follows.
DISC 1
Disc1 track17- track21 commentary!
【Mr. Yamanaka comments;】
Good evening, Yamanaka is here.
How has everybody been doing on a 3 days of national-holiday on the last weekend?
Did you guys played “THE LAST REMNANT” for the last 3 days in a row??
Mr. Sekito, as some of you may know, has just had a live concert with the band “Star Onions” for the Fan Festival of “Final Fantasy XI Vana'diel Festival 2008”. The festival was held at JCB hall in Tokyo on Nov 22nd, which the ticket had already sold out before 22nd Nov.
I imagine that Mr. Sekito would have done MC for his live concert, including an announcement of the release for the soundtrack of “THE LAST REMNANT”?!
Mr. Yagi on the other hand, is on the way to a meeting right now for his latest whereabouts.
Today, we will be introducing the commentary of the tracks for a field part, city part of the game.
■17. The Known World (Music: Yamanaka)
【Mr. Yamanaka comments;】
The track is for the music of a world map mode. I structured this track in small parts, like a sound jingle, for the player to have a rest in between playing battle and their ongoing quests. The guitar part of this track is played by Mr. Sekito himself. I edited the guitar part on reverse with no hesitation, respectably. Mr. Sekito and I actually co wrote another track together, but this particular track became an outtake for the soundtrack and I m thinking that the track might not be able to make it to the world, ever.
■18. The City of heroes
【Mr. Sekito comments;】
The track is from the city of Athlum. The background of the city of Athlum is that the People in the city have been living in a peaceful life. And economy of the city is steady and still is growing even though the territory itself has been passed on by the generations of marquis of Athlum, such as the father of David and a young marquis ”David Nassau”. I wrote the track with my intention of the music being not too subtle to describe the background of the city of Athlum well enough.
I wrote the female choir part to express the feeling of David who has an admiration towards his mother.
■19.A Friendly Ear
【Mr. Sekito comments】
The track is from a city part of the game when the player enters pub. The track is on medium tempo and it has its warmth to the track but occasionally melancholy feeling in the track.
I played an acoustic guitar part on this track. I m pleased about the finished version of this track that deliver a rather better mood for the game.
■19.An Open Mind
■20.Fair Judgement
【Mr. Sekito comments】
The track is from a city part of the game when the player enters guild hall.
I wrote this track to imagine the music that is played in a comfortable indoor environment. During the game playing, I guess that the player can negotiate with all sorts of matter in guild hall. I recommend the player just to listen to the music and enjoy the ride.
END
Translation: Atsushi Suganuma
DISC 1
Disc1 track22- track25 commentary!
Hello, this is Sekito.
The weather has been warm during a day and it is really cold at night lately.
I tend to catch a cold very easily if the weather stays unsteady like today.
Please do wash your hands when you get back home to prevent from catching cold!
Well, Today I am introducing you the sound director of Mr. Mikoshiba for the interview.
Let us begin.
================================================
【Mr. Mikoshiba comments】
Hi all, I am Mikoshiba.
It has been about a week since “THE LAST REMNANT” has been released.
How has everyone been playing with THE LAST REMNANT?
I have just been done until the Disk2 of THE LAST REMNANT”. I can not seem to stop playing
this game!
The track “Reversal!” is so brilliant!
While the game was under development, I used to call this track” Ike Ike battle” LOL
This track is my favorite track out of all the tracks from the soundtrack of “THE LAST REMNANT”.
It looks like that the track ”Reversal” is not just yet ready for listening on the blog page though.
I really hope that the track will be available for everybody to listen from tomorrow.
===============================================
【Mr. Sekito comments】
What a compliment, Thanks Mr. Mikoshiba! LOL
I will be commenting his favorite track” Reversal” for the next interview tomorrow.
Please hold on tight for tomorrow, everyone.
Here are some comments of the soundtrack for today.
■22.Ante Up (Music: Yamanaka)
【Yamanaka comments】
While the game was under development, the track “Ante Up” was used to be called “Chaotic
Guild”.
This track was actually written just after finishing writing “An Open Mind” on Disk1-Track20
and “Fair Judgment” on Disk1-track21.
I remember that we did not spend much time to finish this track.
Because before we began to write “Ante Up”, we had already decided to use a specific
instrumentation for track 20 and track21 to cement the image for writing “Ante Up”.
Although the track starts off with dark and eerie feeling in the track, the second half of the tract
contrasts with very mellow melody.
■23. Creeping Shadows (music: Yamanaka)
【Mr. Yamanaka comments;】
This track is from a dungeon part of the game.
We deliberately did not use obvious phrases from the theme to emphasize intensity and eerie feeling in the track.
I highly recommend NOT listening to the track before going to bed! LOL
■24. Rolling Hills, Sprawling Plains (Music: Sekito)
【Mr. Sekito comments;】
The track is from a field part of the game including Mt. Vackel.
Despite Mt. Vackel has such a beautiful landscape with a clear blue sky, there are a plenty of
enemies everywhere in the field.
So that we thought that it might be an idea to add more intense feeling in the track.
To achieve this goal, we decided to use a closed chord voicing for the piano phrase in the
intro-section to make muddy sound.
After the intro, I deliberately did not introduce obvious melody in the first half of the track to flow
the track through.
Then I structured the 2nd half of the track to make a comparison between the 1st half of the track and 2nd half of the track by adding more open feeling in the track.
■25 Sword Sparks (Music: Sekito)
【Mr. Sekito comments;】
This track ”Sword Sparks” is also from the field part of the game as well.
Originally, the track had already been written while the game was in the beginning of
development.
As we continuously rewrote the track, it became slightly different version from the original one.
The director of “THE LAST REMNANT” “Mr. Takai” noticed the change of the track at the time, and he made a comment;
“The track is losing rough and hard expressions in the track right now, I m afraid…
It would be good if you could intensify the feeling of momentum in the track. “
Me and Mr. Yamanaka agreed with Mr. Takai`s comment about the track, saying that, “ I see, he has got a point…”
Then we chose a hard way of achieving the requirement by rewriting the track over and over. After rewriting the track, we completed with much better and stronger version than the original version of the track.
END
Translation: Atsushi Suganuma
DISC 1
Disc1 track26- track29 commentary
Good evening! Thank all of you who sent us many, many messages!!
I cannot stop hiccups from lovely surprise of all those messages that has been sent to us!
Today, I am introducing you Mr. Isogawa, the dialog editor of “THE LAST REMNANT”.
Let us begin…
【Mr. Isogawa comments;】
Good evening, I am Isogawa, the dialog editor of “THE LAST REMNANT”.
Here I am in the blog page of “Return of Sekito Clinic”, limited edition…
For my comment, I interviewed Mr. Sekito about “THE LAST REMNANT”!
Question.1
Which kind of the guitar, do you play the most lately?
1.Stratocaster
2.Les Paul
3.Acoustic guitar
4.Air guitar
Question.2
Which set of strings do you use the most?
1.D` Addario
2.Ernieball
3.Custom made guitar strings
4.Self-made strings that made from needles
Question.3
What do you use for the guitar lead the most?
1. The guitar lead from Custom Audio Japan
2. The guitar lead from Belden, which he bought from internet auction
3. The guitar lead from unknown brand
Question.4
How did you record your guitar part in the studio?
1. Recorded by in line recording
2. Recorded by one take
3. Reamp technique
4. Mr. Sekito did not play the guitar for the recording in the first place
Question.5
Which magazines do you read the most lately?
1.The Young guitar
2.The Guitar magazine
3.Moe! Magazine
Question.6
Which is the most outstanding joke of yours among other 108 jokes?
1.The first one
2.The 108th one
3.The hidden joke of the 216th
Question.7
Which dialog is it that each character have the least of their conversations in the game of “THE LAST REMNANT”?
1.Rush, saying ”Irena!”
2.Irena, saying ”Rush!”
3.David, saying ”Yes my Lord!”
Question.8
As you consider both the quantity and quality of all, Which product is the worthwhile for you, personally?
1. The soundtrack of “THE LAST REMNANT!” including 3CDset.
2. “Steak lunch” with Ice coffee, only available during lunch time at Sue**ro- restaurant-chain.
【Mr. Sekito comments; 】
Woooooow!
I think that some of those questions might include an answers that only him and myself can answer...Never mind! LOL
I will answer those questions anyway, please sit back and relax until for my answers.
As for Today`s commentary session, I am introducing Mr. Mikoshiba, the sound director of “THE LAST REMNANT”. Today, we will begin with his comment on the track “Reversal!”
■26. Reversal!
【Mr. Sekito comments;】
This track is from a battle part of the game when the enemy is on an advantage in the battle. I wrote the track with the emphasis on rougher and rougher feeling of drumming that has tons of double bass drumming, also I wrote the guitar part with Low B tuned for the extra sub bass effect. Those extra heavily emphasized both drum and guitar part became very, very low harmonically, indeed. I assume that Mr. Yamanaka must have had a nightmare of sound mixing this track… I would have to really thank Mr. Yamanaka for the great outcome of the mix that achieving great tightness and the dazzling speed feel to the track.
■27. Horns of Victory
【Mr. Sekito comments;】
This track is from the battle part of the game when the player wins the battle.
■28. Evil`s Advance
【Mr. Yagi comments;】
The brief of the music for this particular event is the word “dreadful”.
The idea of the word “dreadful” itself is quite simple, but meaningful. I am very pleased with the finished version of both the actual event and what Mr. Sekito has written for the event that describing how Wagram really is an unpredictably scary and horrific character.
I guarantee you would not be able to go to sleep after listening to the track all by yourself at night. LOL
【Mr. Sekito comments;】
I was looking for something slightly different mood to describe Wagram in his own theme. Some kind of mood instantly recognizable in Wagram`s music.
When me and Mr. Yagi had a briefing about this track, I was surprised with the how amazing the narrative of Mr. Yagi was, explaining about the Wagram and the concept of the event. I really thought that Mr. Yagi would be able to write a script for radio drama, for example, only by using his talented narrative skill.
■29. Glittering Gold
【Mr. Sekito comments;】
The track is from a city part of the game when the player enters the city of Celapaleis.
The background of the city of Celapaleis is that Athlum is a territorial city of Celapaleis.
I wrote the track to have a similarity between the track ”The City of Heroes” and “Glittering Gold”, especially the intro and the female choir part on the “Glittering gold”.
I had a mixed feeling of the fact that although Celapaleis is a city with more historical background in the story than the city of Athlum. At that point, I had already written “The City of Heroes” for the theme for the city of Athlum before writing the music for the city of Celapaleis.
【Mr. Sekito comments;】
I will be answering all those questions from Mr. Isogawa very soon.
If you are not so busy, please visit again on this space for my answers!
Thank you
DISC 1
Disc1 track30- track34 commentary
Good evening, the planner of Yagi is here.
Last week, I mentioned about catching cold on this blog with a smile in my face.
This week, I have got a cold badly despite of my own advice, giving it to everyone…
I have a sore throat… really bad one, I have!...mmm,, .
This time, I will really advice you for preventing from catching cold!
Meanwhile, I will be commenting today`s commentary, seeming that Disc 1 is nearly at the end of the tracks. Please enjoy the commentary here.
■30. Dark Secrets (Music: Yamanaka)
【Mr. Yamanaka comments;】
This track is from a dungeon part of the game.
I think that the track has its own horrific feeling reflecting on the melody and structure in the track. I deliberately wrote simple pattern of rhythm section, flattened structure of the track, and also wrote phrases that comes and goes in between the track express the uncomfortable and eerie feeling in the track.
■31. A Special girl
■32. Slipping Through Your Fingers
【Mr. Yagi comments;】
The track “Slipping Through Your Fingers” was written for the brief of “conspiracy”.
As for the reflection of the meaning of the word “conspiracy”, the track is being used for the exact right moment of conversations between David and Wagram who are both spying on every word that they speak during the event. As you can hear the ending of the track, the track ends with feeling of anxiety, like an unfinished business has been left, right at the end of the event. I love what Mr. Sekito has come up with.
【Mr. Sekito comments;】
The graphic of the event is so beautifully done in this event. I emphasized the clear and icy feeling in the track on the 1st half of the track. The event moves from the appearance of Wagram and it goes into the battle just after the dialog of Wagram in the end of the event. The idea for ending of the piano part in the track actually came from Mr. Yagi. I am also pleased with the finished version of both the underscore and the event.
■33. The Bonds of Friendship
【Mr. Sekito comments;】
The track stars off with a simple piano part. I introduced a glance of the track ”The City of Heroes” in the beginning of the track. The idea of a solo piano for this track came from Mr. Yamanaka. The Musical idea like that, I would not have come up with the idea for this track without Mr. Yamanka`s hands on help.
