ReMix:Final Fantasy VI "Event Horizon" 4:06

My 50th ReMix on OCR was an arrangement of this theme, posted over a decade ago back in 2002, and it was zircon's 5th posted ReMix back in 2005. For Balance and Ruin, fellow judges OA & Palpable join the club and offer up their own version, opting for upbeat electronica/pop that puts Andrew's electric guitar to excellent use; Vinnie writes:

"Though I have fond memories of FF6 (probably my favorite of the series), I have more nostalgia for some of the other FF soundtracks. There wasn't any particular song I had an arrangement idea for, and I dawdled on claiming a track when Andy opened up the project. Fast forward a month later: I was putting together a BT-ish beat for an original track, but found that one of the open project tracks fit really well over it, so it became a remix. The intro, chorus, and verse came pretty quickly, but I stalled hard after that. I lamented my loss of inspiration in the staff channel, and OA came up big, with a bunch of ideas to keep it going. They juiced my interest in the track again, and I was pretty quick to finish it after injecting some of that hot OA action. He even played the badass guitar parts. zircon also gave advice on the mixing and chipped in a few more ideas, so props to both Andrews."

Hot OA adds:

"This was one of the most fun and easy collabs I have ever done, and I managed to finish in just a few hours. Thanks to how Vinnie left things off, It was easy to come up with a lot of sweet ideas that complemented his already great base, and after sending it out, he put it together. Loved working on this. Vinnie is a true bro!"

Sounds like these two bros should collab mo fo sho, yo. Kill me. But seriously, nice to hear the collaboration was seamless - let this serve as a persuasive public service announcement that sometimes the best cure for writer's block is sharing the burden & getting some back-and-forth going with another artist. It's been awhile since we've heard from Vinnie, this is his first collab with OA, and their styles and ideas have resulted in a mix that's easy to like and hard not to; McVaffe writes:

“Palpable and OA start this one off with some Silent Hill-esque strumming with a chilling amount of reverb and atmosphere before leading into a fantastic, catchy synth groove. The devil's in the details with this arrangement, which offers up tons of great elements that at times make it sound like Gaga in one part or Depeche Mode in another. The mixing is perfect, and all of the disparate elements seem to fit together just right in this one. Catchy, spooky, and fun.”

I especially appreciate how the two tackled the verse, and also dig the additional harmonies added to the chorus in later iterations, as church bells ring & a choir shines through the clouds. The melodic variations clearly didn't occur to me at the time I did my own arrangement, and I wish they had, as it's a very smart way of keeping multiple repetitions of the motif interesting and infusing more momentum. Overall, this is a very polished ReMix that tackles the source with energy & class, never gets old, and injects a lot of creativity from both artists into its bloodstream for an accessible but still very substantive ride!