DS Music | Final Fantasy XIV - "Crimson Sunset" [Flute & Piano Duet] (ft. GameroftheWinds) || DS Music @DSMusic394 | Uploaded February 2021 | Updated October 2024, 5 hours ago.
With Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker just recently being announced, I'm so excited to finally get the share another Final Fantasy XIV Piano Collections track that I've been working on for months! Huge thanks to GameroftheWinds for gorgeously playing the flute part of this duet based on the Kugane theme from Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood.

Check out GameroftheWinds: youtube.com/channel/UCQFIzKI61fxibPgfPKeJQxw
Stream on Spotify: [Coming soon]

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I never seem to get enough of the Final Fantasy Piano Collections, and the album for Final Fantasy XIV is full of stand-out tracks. From the relaxing "Serenity" which I covered last year (youtube.com/watch?v=PJ_0Q8uJF6g) to the intense piano duet of "Ink Long Dry", there's just so many different moods and colors present in it. "Crimson Sunset" is especially beautiful since it's originally a duet for shakuhachi and piano. Along with re-orchestrating the source track to have a much more dynamic/scale-drive piano background in the first part (which I like to call "arm-day" for pianists, playing in C# major is mega yikes), the second part beefs up the intensity into almost a battle track. I definitely think the original arrangement by Keiko captures the bold crimson color of the port town of Kugane beautifully.
However, I ran into one small problem when I wanted to play this track: no official sheet music exists for any of Final Fantasy XIV Piano Collections! Transcribing by ear from just audio is something I'm not a stranger to, but it was definitely an interesting challenge to distinguish some of the intricacies of the lush piano harmonies and fast-paced scales from just the reverb-washed recording (tho tbh I too subject my piano mixes to way too much reverb). A cool thing I learned during the process though is that the new piano VST I'm using (the Garritan CFX) is sampled off of the same model Yamaha CFX that was used to record the piano collections, so in a way I'm playing the same piano as in the recording (at least, as long as I can mix it to sound similar enough haha)!
Another challenge with getting this piece together was finding someone to fill the shakuhachi part. While I couldn't find any shakuhachi players, GameroftheWinds was able to beautifully emulate the inflections of the shakuhachi just through the flute part. He even added in his own little counter-melody at the end which I thought meshed really well with the vibe of the piece! Super happy to have had him onboard.
After months after transcribing and practicing, I'm super happy to finally share this with y'all. Even if Final Fantasy piano covers don't always perform as well on the channel, I'm still happy that the people who do listen to these covers enjoy them as much as they do. Can't wait to hear the new FFXIV Piano Collections tracks added in the "Scions and Sinners" official arrangement album as well! Catch you guys again next week.
Your pianist,
DS

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Game name: Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood
Song title: Crimson Sunset
Original composer: Masayoshi Soken, Yukiko Takada
Arrangement by: Keiko

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🎤Equipment used:
Electric keyboard: Yamaha P-80
Piano VST: Garritan Abbey Road Studios CFX Concert Grand
MIDI to USB: iConnectivity mio
DAW: Logic Pro X
Camera: Samsung Galaxy S20+
Video Software: Adobe Premiere Pro
Microphone: Tonor TC-2030

youtu.be/9CfPtZdZwGY

#FinalFantasyXIV #Endwalker #Stormblood #PianoCollections