FictionJunction 4th Single - distance/eternal blue

[alarictay]

wow !


I thought yuki composed her musics using her feeling trying to imagine a sound that good to hear

well, what i like fom yuki's song is because i feel yuki put more emotion to her song compared to other mainstream musics who dont

Emotions play a big big big part in music composition.

U can compose a song without any emotion in it... Beethoven is an example of a composer who normally composes his song based on composition techniques like (Repetition, sequences etc etc) and also planning the chord progression out first before writing the melody, however such pieces tend to be very very technical (i'm not saying they don't sound nice) and tend to be very detailed, very complex with alot of stuff in it. Maybe u wanna youtube Beethoven Symphony no.9

In my opinion, a song composed with emotions is clearer in its message?
For example, "I reach for the the sun" by Yuki Kajiura, i think this is wonderful song as the melody itself already tells u a synopsis of the entire song, moreover with the meaningful lyrics, its such pure wonder

I do it instinctively, lol.
Probably why my compositions are awful, eh?

Nah, i always think my composition suck like crap, but when i let my classmates and friends listen to it, they all think its great.
Let someone listen to it ^^ you will never know

And also, i compose instinctively, and often based on emotions and the chord progressions are random...but i apply composition techniques when i feel my pieces are too short or lack of some "punch". Yuki~sama obviously ran out of ideas and applied techniques for Stone Cold, where she had Kaori sing the extra verse during the bridge.

 

[Mwhlr]

Just a note for everyone - Ear buds/Ear phones DO NOT damage your hearing. Prolonged exposure to high levels of sound damages your ears. Yes, maybe you need to be a little careful with the in-ear ones but, ultimately, we turn music up because of background noise, which the in-ear ones tend to cut far better than buds.

Just be very conscious of your ears when listening to music - We all like music to be loud, but just turn your volume down to a point where it's very comfortable to listen to - You get used to the volume. Also, take breaks every once in a while, especially if your ears start to feel fatigued.

And wear earplugs to gigs... really.

Nah, i always think my composition suck like crap, but when i let my classmates and friends listen to it, they all think its great.

I think we need a thread to share compositions! Had a search and don't think one exists on the forum.

 

[Kobalos]

^ I support the composition thread idea! I'd love to hear other people's stuff.

tbh the only thing that makes me wish I had a Mac is that composing program, because I had a lot of fun with it. Both making something that I like listening to and making the absolute worst-sounding music that was possible.

 

[alarictay]

Re:

^ I support the composition thread idea! I'd love to hear other people's stuff.

tbh the only thing that makes me wish I had a Mac is that composing program, because I had a lot of fun with it. Both making something that I like listening to and making the absolute worst-sounding music that was possible.

I wish i had some device to compose on...
atm i'm stuck with 3 equipment for music composition...
Piano, paper and pencil

 

[Mwhlr]

Re:

^ I support the composition thread idea! I'd love to hear other people's stuff.

Consider it done! I will post that up later tonight!

I wish i had some device to compose on...
atm i'm stuck with 3 equipment for music composition...
Piano, paper and pencil

I think that's a great way to compose music. Writing sheet music by hand is a real challenge. Something I will probably never be able to do.

Have you considered using Notation software? I bet you there are some decent free ones. A quick Google search got me:

http://musescore.org/

(I don't know what that's like. It might be trash!)

Imo its all about bad mixing.

Sounds logical! But, then, why does the similar-sounding Manten pack that punch while Distance doesn't?

I know that I said Hikaru's powerful and harsher voice contrasts really well to Wakana's smoother sounding tragic voice, but that can't be it...

Distance is hard to work out, because it has all the Manten ingredients. To my ears, it doesn't sound as powerful in the composition - It's more flowy than Manten, especially during the chorus, which I don't think it nearly as good as Manten's (just my opinion).

Doing a comparison between the 2 chorus, the Distance rhythm section definitely isn't as prominent. It just cuts through a bit more. On top of that, the electric guitar is much more obvious in Manten's chorus - Who doesn't love big overdriven chords!?

That's all I can really come up with, but it's all subjective. I used £30 earphones to compare, as that's the closest I have to what you guys are using. I'll try it out on better equipment later!

In Eternal Blue, it's very straight, to the point where it sometimes merges into the background. Eternal blue is also quite spacious in its arragement - there aren't lots of parts playing simultaneously.

 

[Kobalos]

^ Ahhh, I see. I'll have to defer to your superior experience, but for what it's worth, your rationale seems very reasonable to me.

I wish i had some device to compose on...
atm i'm stuck with 3 equipment for music composition...
Piano, paper and pencil

I have a bass guitar, which is only really good for rhythm rather than anything else.

If you're curious, the program I was playing on in all of my music lessons was GarageBand.

 

[LianaIlia36]

The more I listen to Eternal Blue the more I like it. I really enjoy the part at around 2:00, and I think Wakana does a really good job in this song, since she is mostly the lead singer, and it is a faster paced song. The weird guitar part is a bit strange, where it kind of jerks (I guess would be a good word for it). I guess the most of what I like about Distance is that they all have a part, and I like Keiko in both songs but she does sound a bit nasaly this time in EB.

 

[Yukito]

Still waiting for the PV
Btw, I listend to both songs nonstop today with my cellphone. Almost memorized the lyrics ♥

 

[casarina26]

Off the topic~

Someone uploaded the 2 songs on youtube.

Distance has 84 views. Eternal Blue has 259.

apparently people want to watch EB more than D.

 

[ritardando]

^
Maybe that's because eternal blue is the long awaited song from FJ. Tbh, since I've got my hands on the CD, I only played distance once (to hear the full version of the song), but I played Eternal Blue in loop (and the instrumental one) non-stop since yesterday.

[edit]
Having a major tie-in actually isn't really helping the sales amount. It seems that Kalafina is far more well-known than FJ. Distance/eternal blue only placed on 24th place on Oricon Daily Singles, whereas for example Kalafina's moonfesta, which is only used as a 5 minutes program song placed far better on the first day. Not to mention Distance/eternal blue has two tie-ins.

 

[Cerise]

Just popping in to say that I like both songs, and thanks for the links guys! Will post more thoughts later when I have time

 

[Hime_Wakana]

I have listened both songs and I like them! But there are a "typical" FJ songs, I would like to listen new vocal combinations (for example Keiko+Yuriko) in the next songs *______________*

 

[Cerise]

So, overall, I liked Distance more than eternal blue, probably because I just personally enjoy songs that tend more towards the ballad side than upbeat, even though Distance is quite fast for a ballad.

I agree that it sounds incredibly similar to manten, but it's still distinct from manten because as people have said before, it evokes a different sort of mood. Distance feels 'lighter' to me, probably because of Kaori's 'lighter' voice, whilst manten has a darker, moodier feel, probably because of Hikaru's voice. Both Distance and manten sound sad, but whilst manten is dark, heavy tragic, Distance seems to me more 'uplifting' or 'swelling emotions' tragic.

Distance:
- LOVE LOVE LOVED the strings
- Kaori's wailing parts in the background were spine-tingling
- the bridge (I'm not sure if that's what it's called - the part after the kajiurago from about 2:31 ) really liked Wakana's high notes there
- I loved Keiko's chorus parts where (I think) she was singing some sort of a counter-melody thing? (Sorry, don't know the technical term ^^")
- and finally, the kajiurago was heavenly

Eternal Blue:
- Wakana <3
- Kaori's solo starting from around 2:55 was nice
- I loved Keiko's several lines before Kaori's solo as well
- the kajiurago was lovely too as well as that violin and piano

Upon hearing the instrumental for Distand though, during the opening I was like, "omg manten, is that you?! They're really way similar But since I don't actually know what manten instrumental sounds like, I can't say for the rest of the song. Either way, I really enjoyed the instrumental for Distance, probably because of the beautiful strings

Also...did Yuriko get a line in Distance in the bridge part at around 2:40 in "inori ga mirai eee" just before Wakana's "todoku madeeee", or was that Wakana/Kaori sounding not like themselves?

Eternal blue does sound a bit generic for an FJ song (but even if it's generic FJ, I still like it ) Actually, it partly reminds me of TTB although I don't know if that's because Distance reminds me of manten and my brain is therefore weirdly making EB sound like TTB I liked Keiko's lines in EB more than her solo in Distance. The singing was great in both (and yeah...Wakana in EB sounds much more relaxed ) She still sounds a bit different to me, though, like in stone cold...I dunno...she sounds younger? And it seems poor Yuriko was neglected again, although she did a fantastic job in the kajiurago

I think I'd love these two songs more if I could hear them sung live

 

[joel_jman]

is this single successful in penetrating top 20 of the oricon chart?

 

[LianaIlia36]

I actually thought eternal blue was going to be a bit slower, but everytime I listen to it, it seems really fast. Like somehow they sped up the song. heh The beginning is kind of slow, that's what gave me the clue.

 

[Alphard Sokaina]

Re:

^
Yuriko looked so old.

Old and tired

 

[joel_jman]

FictionJunction Distance / eternal blue
#24 on the first day

 

[Kagaribi no Hanabira]

I saw someone noticed about the colour of FJ CD's cover that it's been blue for so many singles.. I think it's mentioned around YK Live4 that the colour of FictionJunction is blue.

Haven't listened to the song yet..., will give my review later..., but I have some opinion about the tie-in thing. I don't know much about EB, but for Distance, it may be even a bad effect.

Let me remind you that it's a Remaster of Gundam SEED, not the Gundam SEED itself. So it's like a better quality RE-broadcast of a famous animation, not a CURRENT famous animation.

Moreover, the fact that it REPLACED Mika Nakashima's 'Find the Way' which is one of the most fans' favourite from the series even made some fans HATE Distance. So....I don't think that having GS tie-in can help that much....

 

[ritardando]

Re:

FictionJunction Distance / eternal blue
#24 on the first day

I've wrote this 1 or 2 pages ago...

Ah, I see what Kagaribi means. But some people said that they prefer distance more than Mika Nakashima's. Well, let haters be haters and lovers be lovers...

 

[joel_jman]

sorry sorry!! >o<
i thought that was the 29th but its the 28th

thanks for correcting me.

i agree with what kagabiri-san said. that's why i thought they shouldv'e at least change the ep animation and storyboard

but no24 is relatively good