ReMix:Final Fantasy "Matoya's Hot with Destiny" 3:32

By Shael Riley

Arranging the music of one song...

"Matoya's Cave"

Primary Game: Final Fantasy (Nintendo , 1987, NES), music by Nobuo Uematsu

Posted 2002-03-10, evaluated by djpretzel


There once was man who sang of his groin. He sang of his groin, and of Zelda, and of their similarity. He sang and people listened. That man was and is Shael Riley, whose Zelda 'Music of my Groin' ReMix has achieved notoriety and acclaim the world over. Or at least with people that have visited this site and listened to it. But Shael has moved on, and contributes now a second mix which does NOT feature anatomical comparisons of any kind, and is in fact bereft of lyrics. While we may miss Shael's genital musings, his new style is mcuh more electronic, and highly musical, so do take a listen. What we got is a nice breakbeat techno style, a very dense mix with multiple synths and highly layered drums, on Matoya's theme, replete with filtering, nice breakdown section at 1'33", and some floaty pads and choir patches. A nice ride cymbal sits in the center of the percussion track, an interesting alternative to the standard hi-hat (which does have its bits as well), and the mix starts off fairly centered in the stereo mix but expands outwards as it progresses. The melody is played on a hauntingly high echoed synth with delayed drum hits at 2'20", which was especially well-done. I'm impressed that as much variety and discrete passages were extracted from this original theme, which is tres brief. Good combination of effects, synths, arrangement, and drums from Mr. Riley, who amply proves with this mix that there's more to him than his groin :)

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Marmiduke
on 2009-12-27 20:53:53

This would be so much more awesome if the levels were kept under control. There are times where things get way too high, and times where you strain to hear notes because they are so low and buried under everything else. A bit of clarity would do wonders to this mix.

I do love the arrangement. It's a short melody, but one that is sustained admirably throughout. It goes through quite a few iterations and phases and spits us out at the other side, and at the very least, that's what's great about the mix. It could have been better though. I could have praised it more. And that hurts. Unfortunately, this is a little too all over the place to gain full access to my heart. Awww.

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Polo
on 2009-09-06 02:33:22

Percussion plays its cards wholesomely and vivaciously with drums, dirty cracks/scratches, a shaker, and cymbal taps. No matter how they team up (0:43 = the combo to rule them all), they never sound out of place as they keep the pace. Gremlin-esque swivels also appear at 1:23+ after a brief stint in the beginning, making mischief while countersynths sing new melodies in the interim. I also adore the fairy tale-like flute lead playing the source's 4-bar midriff. It works two half-bars overtime at 1:46-1:57 and shines like a light in the dark when most of the action dims (2:20). My only gripe is the odd panning at 2:58-3:06. If it was brought out more discreetly, it would be a welcome quirk; as is, it sounds like a mistake.

Matoya may be blind, but she's not deaf, and Shael gives her a reason to shake her thang.

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OA
on 2008-01-22 12:25:53

Super creative mix of Matoya's theme, with a huge abundance of additional material. Some of the levels are a bit strange, where some instruments are way louder or quieter than i'd expect them to be, but things just keep progressing and various layers surface and decent throughout. You can cut to any random section of the song, and it will sound different than the section before it, but it's still recognizable as the same song and the Matoya theme is very present throughout the whole thing.

Some of the samples are sounding dated, and the production gets muddy in some sections, but It's still a interesting arrangement and demands active listening to catch all of the layers.

Good stuff for sure.

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PumaJones
on 2006-02-11 12:21:37

1. I like how the whole thing just keeps moving. You added a lot of motion to an originally 8-bit piece of music with excellent results.

2. There is an awessome variety of sounds throughout, and nothing is overdone or overused. This also keeps the relatively short melody from becoming repeptitive.

3. Underneath the whole thing, the bass and percussion lay down a mad groove.

All in all, it's on my winamp playlist and will likely stay there for a long time.

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Shael Riley
on 2006-02-05 19:17:30
This is one of the older remixes, right? I personally don't like this one very much. It came about at a time when Shael was still figuring out his style and I'm glad this didn't become it.

It was a different time.

On a seperate note, was it him that did the Groin song? Now that's a classic for reasons that are utterly unknown to me. Defenitely a classic.

It was a different time.

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Zipp
on 2006-02-05 19:00:27

This is one of the older remixes, right? I personally don't like this one very much. It came about at a time when Shael was still figuring out his style and I'm glad this didn't become it.

On a seperate note, was it him that did the Groin song? Now that's a classic for reasons that are utterly unknown to me. Defenitely a classic.

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Xx~~Zangetsu~~xX
on 2006-02-02 15:37:44
:P Suki!!!!
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Jimstander Drago
on 2006-01-08 20:36:57

Yeah, this is the best version of matoya's cave on the site thus far, it's a good remix worthy of your time. Good job. What more can I say?

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Bummer
on 2005-10-02 09:39:19

This was...alot of sounds dude. How many synths are there, 5? Felt they at some points didn´t fit, but there were some real good moments with some nice techno swirling around.

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ghaleon
on 2005-04-02 20:59:58

This remix was pretty good...I thought the background beat didn't fit very well with Matoya's theme at first, but the more I listened, the more I liked.

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Vash the Stampede
on 2004-05-08 14:56:39

Shael, YOU ARE THE MAN!!! I never heard the original, but you know what, I don't wanna, because I know it can't be better than this ReMix!!! BRAVO Shael!!!!!!! :D

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Shael Riley
on 2003-08-14 05:09:18

I am against fanboyism, but man, i cant help that shaels so freakin awesome. He did a funny song, which i think could always bring some fun to ocr. He does breakbeat. He did the mega man songs with clips from the show and i loved that show. That remix is the best breakbeat i have ever heard. Matoyas theme is my favorite theme. Man, its like shael is like out there to mix for me, lol.

keep it up.

Thank you very much, Mr. Lee. That's some serious high praise. :)

I've been doing some stuff on an old computer and I'm going to reformat my other, better computer and look at my soundcard physically tommorow to see if I can't get back to mixing on the machine I did all those songs on, except Music of My Groin. That was done in like, Goldwave on a 486 ^_^`

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DM Lee
on 2003-03-29 19:51:35

I love this mix, i cant believe i didnt review this before.

matoya is my favorite theme of all time, and this just makes me love it more.

I am going to submit a happy hardcore version of the matoya theme soon after i fix a lot of things in it. I am also doing an IMC mix which starts out with, in my opinion, matoyas theme at its finest. But it switches into the ff1 battle theme, and from there who knows where it will go.

I will submit other matoya mixes in the future as i make them as well.

Matoyas theme is so freaking awesome. I love this mix.

I really really love shaels work a lot. His mega man mix is top notch as is this.

There are issues in this which get to me, but nothing "bad". I love the instrument and percussion choices... except that 80's sounding tom in some spots. I think everyone should listen to this, and this needs more reviews.

Also, i spoke with shail about a month and a half ago to find he was unable to do any mixing, but then i seen a post of his a couple weeks ago, if that long ago, pretty much saying hes mixing again.

I really look forward o more of your work shael.

I am against fanboyism, but man, i cant help that shaels so freakin awesome. He did a funny song, which i think could always bring some fun to ocr. He does breakbeat. He did the mega man songs with clips from the show and i loved that show. That remix is the best breakbeat i have ever heard. Matoyas theme is my favorite theme. Man, its like shael is like out there to mix for me, lol.

keep it up.

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Antics
on 2003-02-23 06:47:14

If there is one thing I can say about this piece, I like the approach that was taken. The various different effects blend well together and don't overbear each other. The only thing that I didn't really like was that some of the instruments in the melody would blend together making a blaring noise when combined, but this problem doesn't throw the melody off as far as the flow of it. This piece shows that the author isn't afraid to use so many effects in one song, and it's even more commendable that the result turned out this well :) It's well worth the download!

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skawttieboy
on 2002-07-07 12:51:10

Fun little techno piece indeed, and just after listening to the other Matoya OC Remix, you can really tell how you can take very different approaches to this piece. But as for this one, a very well done remix as well! :)

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Final Fantasy (Nintendo , 1987, NES)
Music by Nobuo Uematsu
Songs:
"Matoya's Cave"

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File Information


Name:
Final_Fantasy_Matoya's_Hot_with_Destiny_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
3,485,821 bytes
MD5:
add89f00023484d51725c5be4bc9d04b
Bitrate:
128Kbps
Duration:
3:32

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