ReMix: Final Fantasy VI 'Lost Forever'
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- Game: Final Fantasy VI (Square, 1994, SNES)
- ReMixer(s): Krank
- Composer(s): Nobuo Uematsu
- Song(s): 'Searching for Friends'
- Posted: 2010-08-08, evaluated by the judges
Newcomer Dj Bjra, aka Brett Jones, gives us a nice FF6 jam with a hip-hop/breakbeat groove and some silky lead synths:
"I wanted to retain the sad yet spaced out feel to the song, so I used a crisp oldschool hiphop break, and spacey saws arranged in guitar-solo like melodies, with soothing pads flooding the mix. I also fleshed out some of the more epic parts of the song, as evidenced in the breaks, and reinstrumented it, adding several new harmonies and counter melodies to add to the diversity of the track. Overall I went for a crisp and bassy mix with a recessed, yet lush mid range. Enjoy it!"
Pretty much; there's nothing too outlandish here, and the style actually reminds me a lot of what we saw back in the early years of OCR, but it still works, and is well-executed. Vinnie had similar impressions:
"This isn't the most unique mix, but all the parts were clicking for me. The drums and bass provide an insistent backbeat for the piano and leads. Great sounds chosen, sort of an old-school OCR sound, and the synths have a lot of natural ex
pression. The additions to the songs added a lot while not overpowering the original melody. My only criticism was in the reuse of sections, but I didn't think that was enough to say NO to this. Excellent work, I'd like to hear more."
Mr. Butterfield adds:
"Not bad, not bad. The additions to the first half of the melody and different modifications to the second half are pretty good. Arrangement could have been more adventurous, but this is interpretive enough. Production is clean, and I like the synth choices. More drum variation would definitely have been nice, but the mix switches between sections enough that I didn't think it was a major problem."
I too was a bit worried the drum loop would be overplayed & wear out its welcome, but I think Brett did a pretty good job avoiding that, and the overall style works really well with the source he chose. From a production perspective, I'd like to hear some less orthodox additions in the future, but what's here is solid, and he's clearly taken time in thoughtfully modifying & adding to Uematsu's original. Straightforward and enjoyable debut mix from Dj Bjra, establishing a foundation I'd love to see him build on with future mixes.
Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the I was not disappointed, especially being partial to hip hop and breaks. This one's definitely going in the whip. Great justice was done here, thank you.
- metaphist on March 15, 2012
Anyway, expecting even better mixes from this guy in the future. Keep at it, man.
- Villainelle on September 11, 2010
Great job. I'll be listening to it more.
- Flare4War on August 31, 2010
I do wish the final stretch of the song would've changed things up a little bit more, but it isn't that much of an issue here.
Nice debut remix; hoping to hear more from you soon.
- Martin Penwald on August 22, 2010
- AkumajoBelmont on August 11, 2010
This is actually very soothing with a very reflective feel to it. The first person that comes to mind when listening to this is DJ Shadow. The drums have got an Organ Donor kind of feel. The synthetic work reminds me of Protricity's stuff mixed with old skool Shael Riley drumwork. A little more variety would be nice on the drum loop, but the groove is held very well. As for repetition, the source after the second repeat could have been replaced with something else, but I'm very happy you played around with the harmonies on the piano and whiney synths.
The fade in and fade out only adds to future ideas for usage for this track. I had it on repeat and when the track replayed from the beginning again, I discovered that if Final Fantasy 6 was made into a movie, this track would be great for a teaser trailer or for the title menu music of the DVD.
Bottom line: If you love grimey Golden Age drums with a soulful fun recognizable arrangement of the original, this one should be a keeper on the hard drive. Who knows? With DJ Bjra and Nobou's permission, you can use the track on your next video project.
8/10
- A-RoN on August 10, 2010
A great effort!
- Jaredin on August 10, 2010
The only thing that brings this down in any way is the reuse of sections and the canned beat. The breakdowns are transcendent though, and strongly compelling.
Excellent work for a debut! :-)
- OA on August 9, 2010
I agree the mix could have been fleshed out some more though, it does feel a bit underdeveloped but then again, that's fine in some cases. There's a strong enough idea here to carry the mix forward, and while more could have been done it didn't really have to be done. Take that as you will.
- Master_Yoshi on August 9, 2010
Either way it's still awesome, and if my opinion means anything to anyone (Which I doubt it does :<), go download it now. It's nothing fancy, but at the same time it's sexy musical goodness.
- RDX on August 9, 2010
Also really liked the synth lead
- Chris | Amaterasu on August 8, 2010
Everything worked together to just click my head to "maximum enjoyment" mode.
I don't normally feel inclined to comment on remixes either. :D
- Neblix on August 8, 2010
I, unfortunately, am not completely familiar with the source, so I can't say anything about how well the add-ins worked. However, I still think this is worth a download, and becoming part of my ever-growing OCR library.
... I am a bit biased. I love FF. I love piano... Its a great mix! And I don't mean the FF/piano combo.
Great job, and I'm hoping to see some more from you!
- Geexter on August 8, 2010
Maybe the only part I might have wanted to hear something different was the outro, fading works, but i guess I might have liked to see the synth go even a little more nuts and end in some sort of more deviated way, but this is hardly a complaint, I dig what we've got here, period.
Great debut mix, and I hope we hear more soon!
- ZealPath on August 8, 2010
