ReMix: Final Fantasy IX 'Black Magic Synthesis'

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Final Fantasy IX

SyteManiac gives us a little bit of everything with this epic techno/breakbeat/dance/industrial Final Fantasy 9 ReMix that also goes classical for a bit and features some crazy-beautiful DSP processing tricks, beat slices up the wazoo, great and very spontaneous drum programming, layered synths, and a general vibe of being willing to take some risks and transition wildly. There's also samples of "Klaatu Verada Nicto" which judge m68030 cited as being from "Evil Dead" but I recognized as originally being from "The Day The Earth Stood Still" (Evil Dead was referencing it as an in-joke - both movies are worth seeing if you haven't) - no one was really gung-ho on the usage of said samples - it wasn't on any of the judges' list of favorite aspects of this ReMix - but I suppose it works well enough to not significantly detract from the more kickass portions of this six-minute plus endeavour, at any rate. This is apparently an older submission that for one reason or another is appearing now, but it's held the test of time well. Specific highlights include the piano-and-choir break at 2'30" (love the choir patch and the way it's filtered at the end for the transition), as well as the cornucopia of effects the ReMixer uses, especially at the end. If you want to hear a variety of digital effects applied liberally but musically, this is your gig. Also, the distant, verbed synth panned right that's used for the catchy main melody is perfect, and helps the whole thing stick in your head hours after listening. Innovative, unique stuff from SysteManiac, who weaves a schizophrenic sonic landscape around the original melodies and ends up with some enjoyably mutated yet still very muslcal results.

― djpretzel

Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
I was looking at the list of FFIX remixes today and saw an error on the OCR page. This song is "Black Mage Village", not "Vivi's Theme." I know some have already mentioned it, but it hasn't been corrected yet...

- JaDE ARaN HaRuNo on July 22, 2009
It's fun to see Shnabubula give some love to this track, as the production definitely reminded me of his tracks. While this isn't as wild as those in the rhythm and melodic and harmonic reinterpretation.. and stuff.. the production wildness is definitely up to par.
Great source (I'm playing the game at the moment..), and the industrial treatment fits it very well! The actual melody is quite buried much of the time, but it's audible. Many of the synth textures are quite gorgeous (esp. with the reverb).
I'm not overly fond of the vocal snippets, I think they're mixed surprisingly up front. They don't feel "pasted on" but somewhat underworked. The piece also feels a little on the long side, but not overtly so. Good track!
--Eino

- evktalo on January 21, 2009
lawlz for extremely late reviews. But I had to review this one...I just now sucked up all of Dan's remixes since...that's how I function when I hear one thing I like...and whoof. This one was fantastic. The random cuts and percussion bitch-slaps are among my favorite remixing qualities (when executed well as in this case)...and at 4:35, when that synth orchestra progression comes in, it was very Rob Douganesque and that immediately makes me squeal like a little school girl and hit Rewind a good five times. Highly recommend this one if you like long mixes with a damn good variety of elements.

- Lone on November 20, 2006
I pretty much agrees with pretzel, this is plenty much of everything. And that orchestral part was sweet. For the rest, yeah, that was more industrial onfluenced techno and trance, tons of beats and synths swirlin around, created a very chaotic atmosphere to this mix. There may be an another track to it, around 4:20 there´s something new, but that may also quite be Daniel mixing some of his own music to fill it out some more.
Overall, nice done, liked those synths.
And by the way, it´s not Vivi´s theme, it´s Black Mage Village.

- Bummerdude on November 2, 2005
This song rules considerable FACE. Ive always loved the blackmage theme. You've just reinforced it with STEEL. This song is unbreakable. Whicked sweet.

- Platinus on March 17, 2005
AWESOME JUST AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!

- Sam Ascher-Weiss on October 6, 2004
The Black Mage village theme from FF9 was a neat little ditty to begin with, but this mix turned into a cool, if not unique, remix. I'm impressed. :wink:

- Dragonblade on October 3, 2004
The sample is from the movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still" it came from the "spaceman" telling the woman "If anything should happen to me, repeat these words to Gort." Even though I don't like how the samples are morphed etc. This mix is really good. Vivi's the fav of Final Fantasy 9. My sister also thinks he's cute. Anyway excellent remix loud buzzes, and killer industrial kits. This puppy's a keeper.

- fetusboy on September 10, 2004
One nitpick: The line "Klatuu Nitktoo Verada" is actually from [i]Army of Darkness[/i], not [i]The Evil Dead[/i]. :P
As for the remix, only one word I can think of can aptly describe it. One, appropriately, made famous from [i]The Evil Dead[/i] movies. "Groovy."

- DarkPrimus on July 15, 2003
To be honest, when I first downloaded this, I only listened to the first 30 seconds or so and I didn't really like it that much. But after I downloaded a couple of other remixes I decided I'd go back to this and listen to the whole thing and actually give it a chance. ;)
I think it's that I didn't actually pick up on the Black Mage Village music being in the first part the first time I listened that I didn't really get the title.. but when I listened more carefully I could hear it in there, and my opinion totally changed. BMV was one of my favourite tracks in FF9, and the more I listen to this remix, the more I appreciate and like it. Nice one. :D

- Berrik on July 5, 2003
I really like the percussion and bass in this one. It reminds me a lot of Front Line Assembly, especially with all the sharp gating effects. The rest of the peice though, seemed a little dull and "blippy" to me. It could have used more depth and dynamics, like the percussion has.

- Nines on July 3, 2003
SPACE-COWBOY wrote: this is real artwork. what is added to the original track perfectly matches it, as well as the variation of the mood from industrial to ambient.

The melody is nowhere as close to the original track. It's better!!!

- A-RoN on May 9, 2003
Wow. Just sheer wow. Took me 15 minutes to download this on dial-up and my jaw hit the floor when I began to listen. I was pulled in immediately with the remixed original song ... then blown away by the sudden spiralling and booming effects and shoved back in as the song begins again!
Heck, I put two other songs on my win amp, began to listen to them, selected all and deleted, and put this one BACK on for a third shot! And then I put it on repeat!! I check the time not to see how much of it is over, but to see how much is left to savor and then let the repeat continue.
*Bows to the remixer* Nice.
And I love the voices. They were a surprise that brings me back to the music when my mind wanders while crunching HTML. :D

- alexia_dark on May 9, 2003
this is real artwork. what is added to the original track perfectly matches it, as well as the variation of the mood from industrial to ambient. even if you're on a 14.4K modem, this is worth the download.

- SPACE-COWBOY on May 5, 2003
Ooh! I like the main melody - from the other reviews, I'm guessing it's Vivi's theme. Reminds me of Conquest of Paradise: 1492 by Vangelis. Harmonic minor = mad propz. ;)
Noisy industrial, but lots of interesting, complex effects. I love the bass at 0:16 and would have liked to see more of it. A lot of effort was obviously put into it. Not quite my cup of tea - I prefer more anthemic pieces - but the melodic parts were the shizz. :nicework:

- Old Omen on April 30, 2003

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