#Nobuo Uematsu

[scalefeathers]

Thinking once again about how Nobuo Uematsu and Masayoshi Soken are both completely amazing composers but in completely opposite directions let me explain

Disclaimer I am not a music theorist; most of music theory is black fucking magic to me. I barely know what a chord is and the circle of fifths makes me quake as though before an Elder God. I just really like both of their works and sometimes I have thoughts about things. Also this is all just my opinion, it's fine if you don't agree, etc.

So: Uematsu is first and foremost, in my opinion, an absolute master of melody. I believe it's what makes his work so iconic and makes so many of his pieces so instantly recognizable. The Final Fantasy theme, the chocobo theme, Dancing Mad, Vamo'alla Flamenco, fucking One-Winged Angel--Just from seeing those names, you've probably got one playing in your head already. You could start humming it right now. Maybe you are already.

And it makes perfect sense when you consider the era he was working in, because back in the 8-bit and 16-bit era, the melody was all you had. When you have such a tiny amount of storage space to work with, you can really play only one, maybe two notes at a time. You can't do anything that's layered, because you only have one layer to work with. I think that's why so much video game music from that era is so memorable and iconic. It's not just because you played so much Street Fighter II when you were a kid that the music is indelibly seared into your brain (though that probably doesn't hurt); it's also because Yoko Shimomura wrote really solid melodies that had nothing else competing for your aural attention (apart from the in-game sound effects, which are probably also seared into your memory). (Yoko Shimomura, btw, also composed the music for Final Fantasy XV, the entire Kingdom Hearts series, and like 50 other games over the past 40 years, another fucking icon).

But back to Uematsu: like I said, melodic genius. Even when his work is upscaled into full orchestral arrangements, that core melody is always front and center. And his affinity for melody makes even more sense when you consider that before he got into video game composing, he was writing commercial jingles. (Younger folks may not be aware, but there was a time when practically every product had to have its own theme song, and the best ones were short, snappy, and instantly memorable--and for that, again, you need a strong, simple melody. Ba da ba ba ba, I'm lovin' it.)

Compare: Soken. Soken only started at Square 12 years after Uematsu, which isn't that long in human terms (to me at least, cos I'm old), but it is a long fuckin' time in video game years. By the time he started composing for games, there was so much more you could do with game music in terms of layering, complexity, and sound, and you can tell from his work that he takes full advantage of that. His work is complex and dense, a rich layer cake of themes and motifs, all beautifully merging and weaving together, often to extraordinary effect.

And again, if you look at his pre-music career, it makes a lot of sense that he'd have that approach to music, because he first got into the games industry as a sound designer; I believe that he is the sound director for all the FFXIV expansions, as well as being the composer. So of course he'd be very aware of not just how a sound (or piece of music) works on its own, but of how it fits into the greater whole, and of how to layer and balance lots of different sounds to create something greater than the sum of its parts. And of course it makes sense that he'd bring that approach to his compositions as well.

As a consequence of this approach, though, his music often lacks the memorable melodies that characterize Uematsu's work. Like, I ground (grinded?) Dun Scaith a lot the last time it was on the Mogstone rotation, I know all the boss themes extremely well and can recognize each of them instantly. But if you asked me right now to hum one? I don't think I could. (This isn't a deficiency, to be clear; music doesn't need a prominent core melody in order to be good.)

And that's also not to say that all his music lacks iconic melodies. His vocal tracks, pretty much by definition, have to put a single melody front and center; and then on top of that (or rather, behind it), you have all that trademark Soken richness and depth. Which is probably also why his vocal tracks go so fucking hard.

I think that's also why, out of all the expansions, I like Heavensward's music the best. Most of Heavensward's score is written by Soken, but the main theme is Uematsu's, and you may notice it's basically a tasting menu of like 5 or 6 excellent, very recognizable melodies, one right after the other. And basically every piece on the Heavensward soundtrack incorporates one or more of these melodies. So it really does give you the best of both worlds, and gives the overall score a cohesion that I don't see as much with the other expansions.

TL;DR, Uematsu and Soken are both amazing composers with very different and complimentary styles that reflect their differing backgrounds and the different eras of games in which they have worked and I just think that's neat.

[salmalin]

I love this beyond words.

[vg-music-i-like]

Theme of Courage // Fantasy Life

Fantasy Life came out in North America 10 years ago today!

[sarahalainn]

嬉しすぎる流れなんですけどー

今夜続けてぜひご覧ください！！

_______

本日はNHK BS放送です！2曲披露します！🎤

#映画音楽は素晴らしい

４曲目はキャッツ🐱　

番組最後のシンデレラ👸を歌い終えた後はなんと、

植松伸夫さん出演の「レジェンドゲームヒストリー #ファイナルファンタジー 」

そのまま続けて是非ご覧下さい！！

So straight after I perform Cinderella, there’s a show on video game music featuring Final Fantasy legends including Nobuo Uematsu. Uncanny!!

A very Happy start to the New Year!

Con TIKI sistersの投稿😍

本当に運命を感じるー

[theghostavocadoe]

shout out to Nobuo Uematsu for creating the most banger theme song imaginable for Kadaj

this shit goes harder than diamonds (also fun fact if you listen closely there's a CELLO in this song and apparently the dude played it so hard that his bow almost broke)

[blueonwrestling]

WHAT A THEME LADS, LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO KENNY BI GOD ALL MIGHTY OMEGA.

[jasper-rolls]

Song: feel-Remix Artist: ユウナ (青木麻由子) [YUNA (Mayuko Aoki)] Composer: 植松伸夫 [Nobuo Uematsu], Eiji Isomura Album: FINAL FANTASY X VOCAL COLLECTION Producer: Square Enix

[ipsens-castle]

Been listening to the FFIX ost - which I sometimes try to avoid bc my mind is so saturated with its sounds - and I have come to find more respect for a track that I was never very enamored with, perhaps even regarded as one of my least favs: the Iifa Tree's theme.

The way it could fit into a Metroid ost is striking. The game suggests an alien origin for Iifa's organic feel long before we ever question it. The choir croons to us like beckoning souls trapped in the Mist.

[nintendocafe]

FANTASIAN Neo Dimension

Creator of Final Fantasy, Hironobu Sakaguchi & composer Nobuo Uematsu return to deliver an original RPG story.

$49.99 https://amzn.to/41KcHFJ

[hyperfocusfeatures]

(Mon) Ami artwork by John McGuinness

https://twitter.com/mcguinnessjohn

[rizno]

Forest Spring - Final Fantasy IX

[finalfantasymusicdaily]

No Promises to Keep -LOVELESS Ver.- Sung by Loren Allred Composed and Arranged by Nobuo Uematsu

[vg-music-i-like]

Summit of Mt. Snowpeak // Fantasy Life

[algernoninwonderland]

The Suteki Da Me scene still holds up so damn well. The Macalania woods are such a great location, and everything about that cutscene remains basically perfect to this day, and it goes without saying but the music is among Uematsu’s best work.

As far as romance goes, Final Fantasy peaked in 2001.