Album DescriptionAvailable in:
The Final Fantasy X Original Soundtrack is a four-disc set containing all of the music in Final Fantasy X, composed by Nobuo Uematsu, Masashi Hamauzu, and Junya Nakano.
"With the addition of dialogue, I was able to cut down on the number of tracks. Until now, it was up to the music to enhance the drama of a scene, but with the inclusion of emotionally charged voices, there is no longer a need to continue playing the music throughout the game. In FFX, the music, sound effects, and spoken dialogue are all balanced to tell the story to the player in the most effective way."
-Nobuo Uematsu
Since Final Fantasy X made great strides for the series, Uematsu wanted to do the same from a musical standpoint by trying something new. He has said voice acting would take the RPG genre to a new level by changing the way music is needed. For example, melodies may play along with the spoken dialogue, but very quietly; if the music is too loud it would get in the way, so Uematsu had to approach the music differently. The spoken dialogue is paramount, so when a character starts talking the background music will automatically decrease in volume. Compared to previous games in the series, Final Fantasy X has the most scenes with silence, but it also has the second largest number of songs in a Final Fantasy game.
Unlike previous Final Fantasy soundtracks, Uematsu didn't work alone on the soundtrack for Final Fantasy X, but he worked with Masashi Hamauzu and Junya Nakano. Uematsu would divide and assign the responsibility for the pieces, and ask each composer to work individually. Hamauzu and Nakano were chosen to compose for Final Fantasy X because they can create the type of music Uematsu says he cannot compose himself.
Uematsu rated Final Fantasy X as sounding more cinematic, but old fan favorites, such as the Chocobo's Theme, are also included. Before Final Fantasy X sounds effects were done in monaural, but in in this game they switched to stereo making the effects better add to the atmosphere, and Uematsu noted they are key to the story.
When deciding on the singer for the game's theme song a manager brought the team one of RIKKI's albums, and after just one listen, they unanimously decided she was the only singer they wanted. The album they listened to was Miss you Amami, Rikki's album released on an indie label. Uematsu called the album is a masterpiece, and Rikki's voice "amazing", which made him choose her. Uematsu calls "Suteki Da Ne (Isn't It Wonderful?)" Yuna's theme song, but also that it's essentially the main melody of the game.
Uematsu went about composing the music for Final Fantasy X by setting up a synthesizer in his office at night. At one point he turned out 15 songs in an hour, one of which ended up being the theme song. Uematsu rates "Suteki da Ne" as his favorite from the album, followed by the opening theme.
In an interview prior to the release of Final Fantasy X, Uematsu stated the game would feature approximately 70 tracks of music, however, the game's final soundtrack actually includes just over 90 tracks.
The sound team, Uematsu included, only started testing the game in the latter half of development, which is when they found out how the game designers had used their music.
User Album Review
None...
External Album Reviews
None...
User Comments
