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Announcing the Winners of the Heavensward Music Contest!
We are pleased to announce the winning entries of the Heavensward Music Contest! After a rigorous judging process that included reviewing more than 150 melodious entries, Sound Director Masayoshi Soken has hand-picked the winners—no easy task!
Regarding the Heavensward Music Contest
Grand Prize Winner
Character Name | Jael Delphinium |
Message | Heavensward is filled with the emotions of loneliness, sadness, evanescence, and small drops of hope… This piece was played with a ton of heart, and the melody was fully expressive of the emotions that shroud Ishgard. Coupled with the stunning arrangement of this song, so many things sprang to mind when I first watched the video, and without realizing it I found myself crying. It’s truly amazing that sound has the power to move a person’s emotions. I felt that both the arrangement and the performance of this piece were phenomenal. |
Runners Up
Character Name | Lena Silt |
Message | This song cleansed my soul! I always think that the harp is such a strange instrument. It has a massive Esuna effect. There were many requests for the sheet music during the span of the contest, and while we released it partway through, this entrant uploaded their entry video before they were released. In other words, they had to spend a lot of effort getting the music down, and even so, the quality was superb! I’m super curious to hear what other songs would sound like on a harp when played by this person! |
Character Name | Yakkun Mercury |
Message | I’m not quite sure who said it, but music is the enjoyment of sound. When you are regularly creating music, sometimes it’s easy to forget about this important adage. This video is the embodiment of this, and it reminded me of how important it is. Thank you! The obbligato of the guy playing the pianica on the right was very striking! |
Character Name | Pooky Pookster |
Message | There were quite a lot of vocal entries for this content, and amongst them all, this person’s voice resonated the most in my heart. The arrangement of the song and the way it was played to support the vocals was astonishing. These two pieces fit together and became an amazing entry. I wonder who wrote the lyrics! |
Honorable Mentions
Character Name | Kinokowood |
Message | Using each of the original motifs of the song while mixing in uniquely-created portions to make an arrangement of this song made this a very well-done entry. The song has quite a feeling of sadness, but I was blown away by how passionately it was played, which surpassed the level of this being a simple cover! |
Character Name | Dathius Eventide |
Message | This was super cool as it expressed Ishgard in all of its glory through symphonic metal. The sign of the horns at the end made me really happy! The intro had an elation that something was about to take off, and sure enough as we headed into the main portion of the song we got a full on performance. This entry clearly demonstrated how much fun they had making the piece and I was thrilled. |
Character Name | Chachamui Tetemui |
Message | What I would like to give the most praise for performing this as an orchestra is how amazing the musical transcription turned out! Adding to this, it’s a big undertaking to arrange and allocate the music for each instrument for a large group of people. Everyone’s love for Ishgard was thoroughly communicated with this ensemble and it was really amazing! |
Character Name | Oni Xia |
Message | This was an entry that skillfully studded various motifs from the original work with various instruments such as strings, wood, brass, percussion, and chorus. Each section featured a prominent instrument arrangement, and it was a very well-made song worth listening to for its diversity! |
Character Name | Yuman Frogers |
Message | This was just simply cool! Though simple with a single guitar and a skillful hand, the structure of the song was really pretty with the soothing first half and the fervent second half. I felt that the fine techniques used for the percussion and the way they changed the way their hand struck the strings were really spectacular. |
Character Name | Bartleby Adrastos |
Message | This is an arrangement that I personally loved. I especially thought that the everyday feel of playing in their room was really cool! Instead of expressing the sad imagery of the original work, this arrangement gave a feeling of relief, which I thought was superb. Next time let’s play a session together! |
Character Name | Ayasuke Takasugi |
Message | Both the original segment created where the piano was absent in lieu of the chorus and flute, as well as the portions where the piano returned, elicited a sad feeling. This was a simple arrangement that split the instrumental composition into different segments, and it beautifully expressed the feeling of Ishgard’s vigil at night! |
Character Name | Yynuh Simpanno |
Message | This entrant is all around masterful at playing all percussive instruments, which is normally difficult to master even a single one. This entry left an extremely lasting impression with how they were able to do that as well as create the piece silently through overdubbing. It’s extremely rare to see a song expressed purely through percussive instruments, but the entire sound staff was very surprised to see such a unique way of seeing the world expressed through both the performance and arrangement. It was magnificent! |
Character Name | Momo Shiger |
Message | I’m astonished at how well this could be expressed with only a single bass guitar! From the beginning to the end, both the selection of sounds and the composition expressed freedom of the spirit, and the mellowness that is not found in the original song is remarkable. This was a great arrangement and performance that made the best use of the instrument’s warm tones. This entry was extremely well-received by the sound team. |
Character Name | Megane Yasan |
Message | This was an edgy arrangement and it made me think the same energy would carry on until the end, but it was very nice how it transitioned to the crystal theme for a really pretty finish! Despite this contest revolving around sound, the way it was shown off in the video was very cool and I’m jealous of their video editing skills! They are also really great at playing the bass! |
Character Name | Naren Valek |
Message | This song’s tone had a soft feel that was similar to Celtic music due to how the entrant was able to skillfully use a multitude of techniques on a single guitar. The obbligato was finely wrapped with the simple flow of the hardly unchanging chords, and it’s a very distinct song that has a beautiful harmony. The performance was filled with heart, and it was very cool. It once again makes me feel that the most important thing when creating sound is heart. |
Character Name | Pharrell Nefertiti |
Message | Creating a rhythm by stylishly combining the crafting sound effects and vocals was extremely cool! When listening to this song, it evokes an image of everyone working in the town, and it’s almost as if the sound effects and songs that are separated in-game have become one with this entry. While the sound volume is super low, it’s great how the sine waves in the background are performing the prelude! This was a favorite amongst the FFXIV sound effects team. |
Character Name | Sharm Lavellan |
Message | The quiet background orchestra utilizing strings and a harp as well as the use of vocals is the height of simplicity, which is one of the motifs of the original work. Though vocals were most prominently used for this arrangement, the reason why this piece came together so well is clearly due to the angel-like voice! It’s almost as if she’s been forever receiving the effects of Shroud of Saints! |
Character Name | Subaru Luxen |
Message | This arrangement had an impressive melody that deviated slightly from the original work, and while there was a quick musical passage, the gentle voice was soothing. Even the uniquely created segments really felt like they belonged there originally, and it was a wonderful entry! |
Character Name | Eo Kel |
Message | The way the sounds are made along with the soft touch of keys display a very high level of skill, and I was surprised how stylish this piano arrangement turned out. This is an arrangement I don’t think I would be able to pull off. It was truly wonderful. Along with how I’m driven to listen to the sounds due to the magnificent display of the performance, as well as the stylish arrangement of the crystal theme to finish the song, I was impressed up to the very end! I’d really like to play like this… This is one entry that I personally loved very, very much! |
All Other Entries
To view the rest of the amazing entries, please click here.
(http://sqex.to/Q4Z)
(http://sqex.to/Q4Z)
Prizes
Grand prize winner
The grand prize winner will be awarded the following prizes:
One (1) decorative plaque signed by FINAL FANTASY XIV Sound Director Masayoshi Soken.
One (1) in-game item package that includes one (1) Noble Barding chocobo barding, one (1) Ahriman Choker, one (1) Mandragora Choker, and one (1) Bluebird Earring.
One (1) in-game item package that includes one (1) Noble Barding chocobo barding, one (1) Ahriman Choker, one (1) Mandragora Choker, and one (1) Bluebird Earring.
Runners-up
Three (3) runners-up will each be awarded the following prizes:
One (1) “Heavensward: FINAL FANTASY XIV Original Soundtrack” poster signed by Sound Director Masayoshi Soken
One (1) in-game item package that includes one (1) Noble Barding chocobo barding, one (1) Ahriman Choker, one (1) Mandragora Choker, and one (1) Bluebird Earring.
One (1) in-game item package that includes one (1) Noble Barding chocobo barding, one (1) Ahriman Choker, one (1) Mandragora Choker, and one (1) Bluebird Earring.
Honorable mentions
Fifteen (15) qualifying entrants selected for honorable mention will each be awarded the following:
One (1) in-game item package which includes one (1) Ahriman Choker, one (1) Mandragora Choker, and one (1) Bluebird Earring.
The Heavensward: FINAL FANTASY XIV Original Soundtrack website can be found here.
(http://sqex.to/Fce)