Editing Final Fantasy VII (section)

===Music===
{{Main|Music of the Final Fantasy VII series}}
[[Image:Nobuo Uematsu.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Nobuo Uematsu]] composed, arranged, and produced the entire soundtrack for ''Final Fantasy VII''.|alt=A 46-year-old Japanese man smiling directly into the camera. He has black hair going to gray around the temples and a graying mustache.]]
{{listen
| filename    = One-Winged_Angel_sample.ogg
| title       = "One-Winged Angel"
| description  = "One-Winged Angel", the theme used during a part of the final battle against Sephiroth, is recognized by many as one of Uematsu's best works. The track uses high-quality digitized voices, a first for the series.
}}
The musical score of ''Final Fantasy VII'' was composed, arranged, and produced by [[Nobuo Uematsu]], who had served as the sole composer for the six previous ''Final Fantasy'' games. Originally, Uematsu had planned to use [[Red Book (CD standard)|CD quality]] music with vocal performances to take advantage of the [[PlayStation technical specifications#Sound processing unit (SPU)|console's audio capabilities]] but found that it resulted in the game having much longer loading times for each area. Uematsu then decided that the higher-quality audio was not worth the trade-off with performance, and opted instead to use [[MIDI]]-like sounds produced by the console's internal [[sound chip|sound sequencer]], similar to how his soundtracks for the previous games in the series on the [[Super NES]] were implemented.<ref name="Hist of FF7">{{cite web|url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2008/05/01/ign-presents-the-history-of-final-fantasy-vii |title=IGN Presents: The History of Final Fantasy VII |page=1 |work=[[IGN]] |publisher=News Corporation |first=Rus |last=McLaughlin |date=April 30, 2008 |accessdate=January 11, 2017 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140128130134/http://www.ign.com/articles/2008/05/01/ign-presents-the-history-of-final-fantasy-vii |archivedate=January 28, 2014}}</ref><ref name="RPGFOST">{{cite web | author1=Schweitzer, Ben | author2=Gann, Patrick | title=Final Fantasy VII OST | date=June 17, 2006 | publisher=RPGFan | url=http://www.rpgfan.com/soundtracks/ff7ost/index.html | accessdate=July 28, 2008 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116214810/http://rpgfan.com/soundtracks/ff7ost/index.html | archivedate=January 16, 2013 | url-status=live}}</ref> While the Super NES only had eight sound channels to work with, the PlayStation had twenty-four. Eight were reserved for sound effects, leaving sixteen available for the music.<ref name="VHSvii">{{cite AV media|author=[[Square Enix]]|year=1997|title=SquareSoft on PlayStation Collector's Video|language=ja|medium=[[VHS]]|asin=B004FD5BLQ|publisher=Square Enix}}</ref> Uematsu's approach to composing the game's music was to treat it like a film soundtrack and compose music that reflected the mood of the scenes, rather than trying to make strong melodies to "define the game", as he felt that approach would come across too strong when placed alongside the game's new 3D visuals. As an example, he composed the track intended for the scene in the game where [[Aerith Gainsborough]] is killed to be "sad but beautiful", rather than more overtly emotional, creating what he felt was a more understated feeling.<ref name="PolygonRetro">{{cite web |url=http://www.polygon.com/a/final-fantasy-7 |title=Final Fantasy 7: An oral history |last=Leone |first=Matt |work=[[Polygon (website)|Polygon]] |publisher=[[Vox Media]] |date=January 9, 2017 |accessdate=January 11, 2017 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170109201832/http://www.polygon.com/a/final-fantasy-7 |archivedate=January 9, 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> Uematsu additionally said that the soundtrack had a feel of "realism", which also prevented him from using "exorbitant, crazy music".<ref name="famitsu_interview">{{cite web |title= Nobuo Uematsu Interview |url= http://www.rpgamer.com/news/Q3-2000/070800b.html |publisher= RPGamer |date= July 8, 2000 |accessdate= August 5, 2008 |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20120930075859/http://www.rpgamer.com/news/Q3-2000/070800b.html| archivedate= September 30, 2012 |url-status= dead |df= mdy-all}}</ref>

The first piece that Uematsu composed for the game was the opening theme; game director [[Yoshinori Kitase]] showed him the opening cinematic and asked him to begin the project there. The track was well received in the company, which gave Uematsu "a sense that it was going to be a really good project". ''Final Fantasy VII'' was the first game in the series to include a track with high-quality digitized vocals, "One-Winged Angel", which accompanies a section of the final battle of the game. The track has been called Uematsu's "most recognizable contribution" to the music of the ''Final Fantasy'' series, which Uematsu agrees with.<ref name="PolygonRetro"/><ref name="DitL_interview">{{cite web |title= A Day in the Life of Final Fantasy's Nobuo Uematsu |last=Mielke |first=James |url= http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=0&cId=3166165 |website=1UP.com |date=February 15, 2008 |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20120716121043/http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=0&cId=3166165 |archivedate=July 16, 2012}}</ref> Inspired by ''[[The Rite of Spring]]'' by [[Igor Stravinsky]] to make a more "classical" track, and by rock and roll music from the late 1960s and early 1970s to make an orchestral track with a "destructive impact", he spent two weeks composing short unconnected musical phrases, and then arranged them together into "One-Winged Angel", an approach he had never used before.<ref name="PolygonRetro"/>

Music from the game has been released in several albums. Square released the main soundtrack album, ''Final Fantasy VII Original Soundtrack'', on four Compact Discs through its [[DigiCube]] subsidiary in 1997. A [[special edition|limited edition]] release was also produced, containing illustrated liner notes.<ref name="RPGFOST"/> The regular edition of the album reached third on the Japan [[Oricon]] charts, while the limited edition reached #19.<ref name="ORIOST">{{cite web| url = http://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/artist/67810/products/music/239084/1/| publisher = [[Oricon]]| script-title=ja:Final Fantasy VII Original Sound Track |language = ja | accessdate=June 24, 2010 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022014538/http://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/artist/67810/products/music/239084/1/ |archivedate=October 22, 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="ORIOSTL">{{cite web| url = http://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/artist/67810/products/music/239083/1/| publisher = [[Oricon]]| script-title=ja:Final Fantasy VII Original Sound Track |language = ja | accessdate=June 24, 2010 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022014554/http://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/artist/67810/products/music/239083/1/ |archivedate=October 22, 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref> Overall, the album had sold nearly 150,000 copies by January 2010.<ref name="Oricon">{{cite web| title= 『FF XIII』サウンドトラックが初日TOP3入り | publisher= [[Oricon]]| date = January 28, 2010| url= http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/rankmusic/72857/| language=ja | accessdate = February 3, 2010 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120065208/http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/rankmusic/72857/ |archivedate=January 20, 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref> A single-disc album of selected tracks from the original soundtrack, along with three [[arrangement|arranged]] pieces, titled ''Final Fantasy VII Reunion Tracks'', was also released by DigiCube in 1997,<ref name="RPGFREUNION">{{cite web | last=Gann | first=Patrick | title=Final Fantasy VII Reunion Tracks | date=June 23, 2000 | publisher=RPGFan | url=http://www.rpgfan.com/soundtracks/ff7reunion/index.html | accessdate=July 28, 2008 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116213205/http://rpgfan.com/soundtracks/ff7reunion/index.html | archivedate=January 16, 2013 | url-status=live}}</ref> reaching #20 on the Japan Oricon charts.<ref name="ORIRT">{{cite web| url = http://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/artist/67810/products/music/239092/1/| publisher = [[Oricon]]| script-title=ja:ファイナルファンタジーVII／リユニオン・トラックス |language = ja | accessdate=June 24, 2010 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022014634/http://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/artist/67810/products/music/239092/1/ |archivedate=October 22, 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref> A third album, ''Piano Collections Final Fantasy VII'', was released by DigiCube in 2003, and contains one disc of piano arrangements of tracks from the game. It was arranged by [[Shirō Hamaguchi]] and performed by Seiji Honda, and reached #228 on the Oricon charts.<ref name="RPGFPC">{{cite web | last=Gann |first=Patrick | title=Piano Collections Final Fantasy VII | date=February 25, 2004 | url=http://www.rpgfan.com/soundtracks/ff7piano/index.html | publisher=RPGFan | accessdate=July 28, 2008 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116213734/http://rpgfan.com/soundtracks/ff7piano/index.html | archivedate=January 16, 2013 | url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="ORIPIANO">{{cite web| url = http://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/artist/67810/products/music/525242/1/| publisher = [[Oricon]]| script-title=ja:Piano Collections Final Fantasy VII |language = ja | accessdate=June 24, 2010 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022014656/http://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/artist/67810/products/music/525242/1/ |archivedate=October 22, 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref>