ReMix:Final Fantasy IV "The Might of Baron" 5:59

By audio fidelity

Arranging the music of 5 songs...

"Epilogue", "Kingdom of Baron", "Main Theme of FINAL FANTASY IV", "The Airship", "The Prelude"

Primary Game: Final Fantasy IV (Square , 1991, SNES), music by Nobuo Uematsu

Posted 2010-05-25, evaluated by the judges panel


It took a long time to get a fixed encoding of this Echoes cut from audio fidelity - Jay writes:

"I never initially had the desire to remix Baron, but I felt compelled to contribute to the project; and I am extremely happy with the people I have met in the process and the things I learned along the way. This was the game that started it all for me when I was 5 or so. With Baron, I wanted to keep it faithful to the original and just have it blown it up into metal march of sorts with full orchestra and synths to fill out the texture. The SFX (stomps, airship noise, bombs, and reverse fx) came later, I know there is a fine line, but I think it really adds to what's going here. The Airship theme felt appropriate to mix in here because of the relationship to Baron. I also got in all of my favorite themes from the game in brief appearances throughout the mix. I hope you enjoy it!"

FF4 holds a rather dear place in a LOT of gamers' hearts, and I think that's why any album that attempted to cover it in its entirety was bound to have some detractors, but look here: THIS IS THE 18TH REMIX WE'VE POSTED FROM THE ALBUM. That's pretty awesome, because the judges are not warm-and-fuzzy folk, and the same standards are applied to album mixes. Each mix we've posted off Echoes deserves to be on the site in its own right, and I'm glad we've had so many opportunities to spotlight the variety AND quality that OA & company achieved. Cain writes:

"So this is epic. That has got to be the longest pick slide I've ever heard in the intro. I've just played and completed this game for the first time over the last week and its easily in my top 5 games ever, and this remix just filled me with many joyous/epic memories. Great arrangement, and i know mixing guitar with orchestral elements is very easy to get wrong production-wise, but this does an admirable job. Very inventive theme treatment, submit more remixes."

BGC adds:

"This is pretty epic across the board. This mix is also a great example of how to *properly* use non-HQ samples. Just goes to show you kids that you CAN make decent stuff without QLSO, if you do it right."

Actually, some of these samples sound pretty good to ME :) There's a LOT going on in this mix, and most of it is bombastic/epic/anthemic, so I was glad for the reprieve at 2'43" with softer dynamics and fewer cymbal crashes, as mallet runs accompany solo flute and bassoon into a nice ritardando - bonus points for appropriate tempo fluctuations, definitely stays organic and helps tell a story. Jay has a lot of ideas, in a lot of different genres, and with this mix manages to combine many of them into a cogent vision that's encompassing but still has enough scope to retain sufficient focus. Been a long time comin', but I'm glad we're finally posting this!

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Algamest
on 2011-08-20 22:19:13

Ahh i was addicted to this song for aaagess, just like i was the DS version of the game :)

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DimeTower
on 2011-08-19 01:55:35

A huge success!!! You do justice to an epic tune, and even more impressive, show some pretty fantastic range while doing so. Very, very high quality remix, and a staple of what I think is the best total album on OCRemix to date. WELL DONE!

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Nateconq
on 2010-06-03 00:26:42

awesome! love the feel of this remix.

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Red88Rex
on 2010-06-02 03:20:44

This may be my favorite remix of the album. As I said on Facebook, from the first time I heard this song I felt it perfectly captured the "might" of Baron's military force...I think all of us were waiting to hear something this epic...awesome job!

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JenZ
on 2010-06-02 01:37:04

Congrats having this up Jay! I was extremely happy for you when this finally got posted. Can't wait to hear your other work!

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Moguta
on 2010-05-31 14:50:16
"It took a long time to get a fixed encoding" -djpretzel

I wonder what exactly is meant by this. Is this OCReMix somehow different than the track in the FF4 project album? Or was the original MP3 encoding broken in some subtle way?

That aside, awesome song. Soundscape could've used some dynamic relief at points, but it's a small gripe. :)

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audio fidelity
on 2010-05-29 18:41:30

thank you to all the kind words from my awesome friends

you guys make it more than worth it

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Cyril the Wolf
on 2010-05-28 11:30:09

This is actually my first time listening to this with my new monitor set up.

Holy s***balls. This has some of the most amazing mixing of any epic orchestral tune I have heard. For realz, there's really cool subtleties going on with this.

I would also have to disagree with those who say the song drags. That ending is great, its like the denouement to the second climax. The sweeping, the subtle layering that bring it to its close. Its got a Appian Way ending for certain. Don't forget that the guitar scale is totally on point. ;)

Maybe Jay and I have similar tastes in music, or rather, I know we do. After all... I am Zeromus. ;)

Great work bro. Hope to see you next mag, and may we have more musical adventures!

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Level 99
on 2010-05-28 11:01:25

Nice work, Jay. Incredible first solo-mixpost. It's clear you have a huge passion for the game, and you poured your heart into this mix. Explains the long length of it as well, and how many different themes you incorporated.

Not much to say. "Epic", while over-used, fits the description well. It's almost theatric in it's scale, as it could easily pass as movie production music. Awesome work.

*thumbs up*

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Crulex
on 2010-05-28 10:25:05

The only thing I can do after hearing this is echo the other reviewers: This is one of the best tracks off the album and it's absolutely epic! Loved the bells and marching.

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Mirby
on 2010-05-26 03:15:55

I think SoulinEther just suffered from epicity overload. It's not a good thing. Luckily, I have gained a slight tolerance to the high epicity levels in this track since I got it on the album. It is quite awesome, and does indeed capture the military might of Baron. It's a great track, and one of my favorites from the album. Great work, audio fidelity! ^_^

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SoulinEther
on 2010-05-26 03:01:42

bells? epic. marching? epic. screaming guitar? epic. brass? epic. the climax at ~1:44: epic; being followed by the guitar taking over as lead: epic. 2:30-2:35, another climax. epic. the breakdown following it? epic. airship and it's climax? epic. the soloing? epic. alright, at 4:50 it does start to drag. prelude isn't enough to save it, but the presentation of the main theme does. ending? epic.

at this point i'm not even sure what "epic" means, ...but don't make me bust out an epic stopwatch. lol

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Master_Yoshi
on 2010-05-26 02:32:50

This track overstays its welcome like a couple other on the project. And even a good chunk of remixes posted to the site in general. The last minute and a half could be excised from the track and nobody would be any bit the wiser. "OH BUT ITS MY FAVOURITE THEME GUSH GUSH GUSH." Okay, fine. But there is an issue with how you have constructed the track. You have two climaxes in it, one at 1:45 and the other somewhere at 4 minutes.

After four minutes you haven't done anything new or interesting. 4:50 and you have a good place to end the track, even though it has drug on a bit more. What is going on for the last minute and 10? Just... more referencing? I made criticism to zircon's electrodispenser and bLiNd's Jade Catacombs (both tracks that I love and tend to put on repeat for a good half hour each - Jade Catacombs sometimes a bit more) but at least the disjointed ending portions are INTERESTING enough to warrant it, even if it breaks up track cohesion. In this track, unless I am listening for the individual sources and not treating the track as a singular musical work, it sounds like you didn't know how to end things and decided to just keep going... and going..... and going......

I honestly wonder how many people whose comments of "Epic" apply only to the first 3 or so minutes, which are balls tighteningly MELT-YOUR-FACE-OFF-LIKE-IN-RAIDERS-OF-THE-LOST-ARK epic, and then seem to gloss over the last portion.

Oh, and yes. I meant what I just typed out - the first few minutes are that good. I was introducing a friend to the project and used the first bit of this remix to convince them how awesome the project could be.

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avaris
on 2010-05-25 14:57:07

This def pulls of the feel of the original song and game x10. Awesome stuff dude! (it's pretty funny that the tags for this review read "epic, flute") :lol:

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OA
on 2010-05-25 10:19:05

I think if there was 1 song i'd pick to give someone an idea of what Echoes was all about, it'd be this one. It's sweeping, bombastic, and instantly recognizable. Add to it that Jay made it sound effortless to pull off, and it's a real standout. I'll be listening to this song for years and years.

Thanks, Jay. :-)

Sources Arranged (5 Songs)


Primary Game:
Final Fantasy IV (Square , 1991, SNES)
Music by Nobuo Uematsu
Songs:
"Epilogue"
"Kingdom of Baron"
"Main Theme of FINAL FANTASY IV"
"The Airship"
"The Prelude"

Tags (7)


Genre:
March,Rock
Mood:
Epic
Instrumentation:
Brass,Electric Guitar,Flute,Orchestral
Additional:

File Information


Name:
Final_Fantasy_4_The_Might_of_Baron_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
10,399,657 bytes
MD5:
1246f0c196b1bd3ecedc528fbbf49190
Bitrate:
229Kbps
Duration:
5:59

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