So… something happened with the last audio file and post… not really sure what, but the ending was cut off for some reason, so I’m just going to re-post the show and I really hope this works!”
Thanks,
Kenley
“Good evening, listeners of video game music! I hope that you really enjoy this episode, as it’s on my favourite VGM score of all-time, Square’s 1994 release of “Final Fantasy VI” with an epic, evocative and memorable score by Nobuo Uematsu! In this episode, we study character themes, also called “leitmotifs” and how influential they are in the score. We also see how Uematsu has taken these themes and changed their meaning according to how he’s arranged them… quite interesting stuff!
Also, lots of arrangements as well as a guest who is a phenom of a vocalist! Her name is Jillian Goldin and she is a judge at OverClocked ReMix, a ReMixer herself and also has a new album coming out on Earth Day of 2008! That’s next week! Also, she used to host VGDJ, which is the podcast that got me podcasting… quite important stuff! She’s great!
Go check her out here: http://www.jilliangoldin.com! Please buy her album, it’s wonderful.
Also, forgive the overwhelming number of “Terra”s in this episode… it’s a bit extreme and I didn’t realize it until it was done. Also, the editing isn’t as good as it usually is, heavy time constraints and even now as I’m posting this, I’m in Banff, AB, Canada with my Senior Band and Choirs… quite busy!
Enjoy and leave comments! 
Kenley
Eh Kenley! Another fantastic show! I listened to it for a 3rd time last night, listening again now, always like hearing you analyze the music to the fine details. You’re doing SMRPG next!? Aw man, that is going to be amazing :D.
Good thing I didn’t ask you to be on this months show, we have had not 1 single piece of news on FFXIII yet this month, and we record in 1 week! Haha, this.. should be interesting xD.
Hi, just wanted to say how much I love and appreciate the care and effort you’re putting into the podcasts - I’ve just finished the FF6 podcast, and plan to listen to the rest of them in one go today
Kenley, I found out about this show from the FXN podcast, and it is now one of my favorite podcasts of all time. I have learned a lot about videogame music, and have even learned about some great games with some great music (like Cloud.) All i have to say man is to keep on trucking, because you are doing some real good. Represent.
Hey there, Kyle!
Thanks so much for commenting! I’m so happy that you dig the show - it makes the music so much more enlightening when a person learns more about how it’s put together. I’m also really pumped that you mentioned “Cloud”, because it’s got some incredible music, but I’d put money on the fact that very few people would ever play the game (let alone hear the music) if there weren’t shows devoted to that kind of thing!
That episode is also a bit dear to my heart because Vince Diamente is a buddy of mine now and he does some incredible work - another great soundtrack that he’s done is for a video final at his university (University of Southern California) and you can find it here:
Anyways, it’s all good! New episode is coming out as we speak! Definitely keep commenting and get the discussion going!
Talk soon and I really appreciate your commenting!
Kenley
Hi Kenley;
I recently found your podcast from I-don’t-remember-where, and have been plowing through the backlog. My favorite episodes have been 3, 4-6, 9 (I’ve got to find that arranged album), 15, and this one.
One comment about something you said early in this episode: the connections between Terra’s name and various connections to the planet and walking on the world map are great, but that’s just her English localized name. In Japanese, she’s Tina, so I doubt that those allusions were in Uematsu’s mind when he was originally composing her themes. They may well have been in the minds of the translation team, though.
Anyway, minor nitpick in an awesome podcast. Keep up the great work!
Hey there, Ben!
Thanks so much for the comment! I agree that the ones you picked have been some of the best shows - the Chrono Triple Tech was SOOO much fun to research and write about. I also picked up both piano books this past year and it’s awesome to see how all of the keys are related and how cohesive the score is on a more theoretical level too!
You’re right about the localization thing, somehow that slipped off the radar! Wow, that does de-rail my argument a bit, but it still is interesting, I think. I also think that it may have been in the back of translator’s minds, because “Terra” is a very uncommon spelling for a very common name (”Tara”), and seeing as there is a direct relationship to the Earth there, it does seem to make sense. If not; well… good effort, team
Thanks for your kind words and feel free to comment on any other episodes, I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Kenley
The version of Forever Rachel you played on this show–It’s beautiful. Unfortunately, I can’t find it ANYWHERE. All the versions that I’ve found are different. It makes me sad… but otherwise, it was an AMAZING podcast!!!
Kenley says it was “taken from the Final Fantasy VI OST and it’s called ‘Forever Rachel.’” at around 60:00 so anyone who might have an idea, as it is actually really good. Sounds like the playstation could have done it, but as far as I know the PS remake just emulated the original game, and there is also no album I know of with this arrangement.
I know what he said, but I’ve looked at the OST and at least the one I found on the OST was different. Not as pretty. Any help would be nice, though. That one is my favorite version.
Hey guys - sorry for the late reply, I didn’t see these comments show up in my notifier.
This is actually a really bad mistake - while the arrangement is beautiful, it is definitely not the original (as both of you have mentioned). I’m not sure where I got this arrangement, but I had it named “Forever Rachel/Final Fantasy IV/Nobuo Uematsu… so I just grabbed the wrong one. By the time I actually put the episode on the air (late, because it’s twice as long as every other one), it was too late and I couldn’t replace the track.
Thankfully, the musical material is the same - the arrangement was very true to the original, so none of the analysis and teaching is compromised. However, it is NOT the piece that I said it was - really sorry, team, that’s a mistake beyond my usual random slip… not cool, I’ll make sure that that doesn’t happen again. Thanks for bringing it up, though - you keep me authentic!
Kenley