ReMix:Final Fantasy VI "Behind Enemy Lines" 3:43

By Nutritious

Arranging the music of 2 songs...

"The Serpent Trench", "Under Martial Law"

Primary Game: Final Fantasy VI (Square , 1994, SNES), music by Nobuo Uematsu

Posted 2009-12-03, evaluated by the judges panel


This is Justin's seventh mix posted in 2009, which is all sorts of impressive. It seems several artists this year have managed to be both prolific AND terrific for a solid revolution of the Earth around the Sun; I remember the good ole days when I had more free time to make music myself, but on the other hand I've had some sick degree of fun coding & redesigning the site, so it's all good. Mr. Medford writes:

"This is not part of any project (amazingly enough). This remix was created in response to a post in the request forums for a new take on Martial Law. It's a very memorable theme from FFVI for me and very fitting for the point in the storyline where it's played. I tried to capture some of the same feeling as the original with the duets near the beginning, but also bring more dynamics to the piece with more full-on orchestra later. Eventually, I was starting to exhaust my ideas for takes on Martial Law and felt like the piece needed to have a contrasting section from the first half or so. Serpent Trench seemed to be a great fit for the mood I wanted to set in the next section, so I'm pleased with how the themes turned out together."

So it's FF6, but it's still seldom-tread source material - always cool when folks go exploring the lesser-known nooks and crannies of otherwise hugely popular soundtracks. In this case, in contrast to 'The Masked Man', we've got a straight (but lush) orchestral arrangement, complete with the patented Thus-Timpani'd-Zarathustra conclusion. Shariq was all about this joint:

"Wow, the transition between Martial Law and Trench is seamless. Really nice writing. :D I'm really into this. Lots of dynamics and development"

Vinnie adds:

"You're making orchestral stuff sound totally effortless at this point. Very refined writing and usages of instruments, you can barely tell where your writing begins and Uematsu's writing ends. Loved how the strings handled the chord change at 2:24."

Justin's definitely a force to be reckoned with; he keeps churning out awesome mixes one after the other, but none of them feel rushed or slight in any way. If he had released all of his eight mixes over the course of four years, I'd still be mentally high-fiving him for consistently bringing it, so it's sorta spooky that it's been less than two. Great stuff!

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Crulex
on 2012-04-16 15:51:18

Two words that I can think of to describe this ReMix would be "grand" and "epic". It really does sound like a war movie theme, especially with those drums and ascending strings. Such a great orchestration of the themes here. Awesome ending as well.

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42
on 2009-12-27 00:28:19
the whole thing sounds like it's from a soundtrack to some epic WWII movie (or maybe a game like Valkyria Chronicles).

O_O

Now that you mention it, I can't quite stop imagining it that way. That's really cool, thanks. :

It does help put this track into some atmospheric/mood perspective to think of it that way. I've always liked this track and now I've found another reason. woo!

As for everything else, the orchestration is wonderful, grandiose, and fun to listen to, and this is simply a wonderful track.

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Martin Penwald
on 2009-12-16 12:11:31

The prospect of listening to yet another orchestral remix of FFVI didn't sound very appealing to me, but I have to say that it turned out to be quite the positive surprise. The arrangement flows very well, the samples sound good (at least to me); the whole thing sounds like it's from a soundtrack to some epic WWII movie (or maybe a game like Valkyria Chronicles).

Nice work.

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Triad Orion
on 2009-12-09 13:34:11

Wow. You blew me away with this one. Beautiful, rich sounds covering two awesome tracks seamlessly. The segue into the Serpent Trench is awesome. This is a top quality remix, and I'm disappointed in myself for not getting here sooner.

Keep up the great work!

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EC2151
on 2009-12-08 13:40:37

I find this to be a pretty damn enjoyable and listenable song, with great texture and sound quality...

But outside of a few parts (like at 1:00), I have a hard time finding the original melody in all of this. Under Martial Law was a pretty simple track, so with this remix, a LOT has been added to it. An above poster was right; this makes it sound like a companion of sorts to the Gestahlian Empire, which is a track I think should also be remixed (because it's so good).

This is a really well-made song, but like I said, it can be pretty difficult finding the original placed within.

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Level 99
on 2009-12-08 12:21:47

This thing ended up sounding intense to me. You really took the source kinda all-over-the-place, but it still works. Not my favorite mix of yours but it showcases your talent with writing appropriately.

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Arcana
on 2009-12-08 01:13:26

This is a track, very varied, lots of dynamics. Overall a lot of stuff here to keep the interest level up. It's very traditional, sounds almost film-score.

There's not much low-end in this one, it seems a bit mid-range heavy, but still extremely expansive.

I love the increased pace at 1:05. Some of the instruments sound a bit weak (especially some of the high strings), but I don't really think that detracts from the mix.

1:55 gets a bit dull, production wise - not as bright as some of the other areas of the mix where it's more bombastic. The slower "Trench" part in my opinion is definitely weaker than the "Under Martial Law" parts, but that's just me. It helps illustrate the contrast in this track from the fast-paced portions and I think the resulting thrills coming back up at 3:05 is where I get most of the enjoyment from this track. Hearing it all build back up to that point was extremely satisfying.

This is awesome. You should also come back to compos and kick all of our butts again :)

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Proven Paradox
on 2009-12-06 19:50:50

FFVI has an astounding soundtrack, but Martial Law is one I always felt underwhelmed by. It just faded into the background next to all of the stronger tracks, I guess. This does an excellent job of bringing it into a more epic feel, and it merges with the Serpent Trench theme well. I've heard a lot of mixes hampered by weak brass sounds, but yours sound quite good. This one's on my playlist to stay. Excellent work.

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ChaosisDelightful
on 2009-12-05 01:11:43

Very nicely done. I'm big on collecting FFVI music but this piece can easily stand on it's own. The Orchestra arrangement flowed effortlessly and at first I thought this was a remix on Cyan's theme but I was in for a pleasant surprise. Keep up the good work!

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Bahamut
on 2009-12-04 21:15:42

This is quite an interesting orchestral take, and seems longer than it actually is. I thought how the song started out was fairly odd, as it starts off boisterous, and then subdues as it goes through "Under Martial Law". The Serpent Trench bit has more of an attack than you might expect as well.

I think I would've preferred a little more development in each of the segments, but otherwise not bad.

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avaris
on 2009-12-04 11:33:02

Love the serpent trench theme. This is a very interesting take on it. It adds alot more energy to a seemingly laid back ethereal source tune. Really enjoyed the ending, felt like the ending of the original star wars film. :)

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ella guro
on 2009-12-04 03:32:14

I'm not sure if it's the mixing or what, or just that a lot of the instruments could use some stronger articulation. Like the strings are slow to attack, but it's not that...things in general seemed to muddle together. The percussion is also kinda thin.

I recognize this as being well arranged, but it left almost no impression on me. I dunno, it kind of passed right by. I don't know how to say it. I'm gonna listen to this again.

Ok, yeah. I think there's just not a lot of tension and release...something to grab me and get me interested. But it feels like there are good ideas here. Maybe it's a just the production? You know, it's probably just the style of interpretation Nutritious chose that isn't hitting me as much. That's just a personal taste thing, I suppose.

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OA
on 2009-12-04 00:26:15

This really nice stuff, I hear a bit of Williams in here, along with maybe like some Goldsmith, and a touch of Medford. The switch between themes really did feel natural, and if it was a more obscure source, as opposed to FF6, I don't think many would even know there were 2 sources.

Nice stuff, and I had no idea he did 7 mixes this year, that be crazy.

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SwordBreaker
on 2009-12-03 21:32:27

Nice ReMix. While I'm not a huge fan of "Under Martial Law" per-se, the epic feeling you gave it likens the track to its more cinematic counterpart, "The Gestahl Empire", which is one of my favorite tracks of the game. I get goosebumps every time I listen to it. I'd really like that track to be remixed more...you somewhat filled in that void for me even though you did not intend to.

Glad you're tackling relatively unremixed tracks of FFVI. Great transition to "The Trench" indeed.

Keep it up, man.

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Sir_Downunder
on 2009-12-03 21:24:10

It's almost hard to believe this is Nutritious' seventh mix for the year, but he's still going strong as evident by this track.

The strings really accentuate both the tense moods and soft sections, and the transition between the two sources was seamless and fluid. It's a shame these sources aren't covered more (Serpent Trench needs more love), but it's good to that they've been done proper justice here.

Another solid track from Nutritious, and definately worth a listen.

Sources Arranged (2 Songs)


Primary Game:
Final Fantasy VI (Square , 1994, SNES)
Music by Nobuo Uematsu
Songs:
"The Serpent Trench"
"Under Martial Law"

Tags (2)


Genre:
Mood:
Instrumentation:
Orchestral,Strings
Additional:

File Information


Name:
Final_Fantasy_6_Behind_Enemy_Lines_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
4,714,835 bytes
MD5:
ddc94a4da95471423100992aa5b4a0b5
Bitrate:
165Kbps
Duration:
3:43

 

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