ReMix:Final Fantasy IV "La Fin de Zeromus" 5:33

Rockos (Roch Côté) follows up his SMW mix from 2012 and Bionic Commando from 2013 with this third outing, a chiptune+dubstep take on "The Final Battle" aka ZEROMUS from FF4:

"My friend always loved this song among all the FF series. It is his favorite. And one day, as we were doing music, he asked me: Could you remix this song? I would really like to hear what can be done with it. But unfortunately, nothing came out.

It took about 3-4 month before I had an idea of what I could do. I just then opened a project and inserted some basic chiptune synth and wrote the whole song. I found it interesting hearing this song as chiptune. I decided to keep the intro as is and add a little bit of my own! At start, I was not sure about the chiptune all over dubstep, but it turned out well.

I tried to do something different, like the drum pattern where I roll the kick in some way. I also played with different bass sounds to have more customized synth. Oh! There is a lot of automation! It came out like this. 3/4 dubstep and 1/4 dance. The last part looks more like the world map song but retain the Zeromus theme within it. So, in the end, I really loved working on this and I still improve each time I write something! Hope you guys enjoy it as much as we do!"

I love it when a plan comes together; it may have taken Roch awhile to get the gears turning, but once he did the wubs really flowed. This source really just naturally lends itself to dubstep, with its menacing & grand refrains, and the chip stuff integrates well. Palpable writes:

"Endless dubstep tweaks on the source material kept this an interesting listen from start to finish. It also helps that the original is so multisectional, so there is a lot of material to work with. The more straightforward 4 on the floor section was a good way to spice it up, when the approach was becoming predictable. More solid work from Roch!"

Very true; the source essentially precludes sitting on autopilot for any extended period of time, flamboyantly pivoting like a mini-opera unto itself, and this unique structure works interestingly with an EDM treatment. The judges DID have some critiques on the drums, specifically, which could be more-or-less summed up by Clara Peller's immortal inquiry: "Where's the Beef??" - but this was in no way a deal-breaker; Chimpazilla splains:

"The rest is amazing. Chiptune and epic wub work, great arrangement, really unique and varied ideas and sounds, cool glitching and plenty of source. The entire mix could use a touch more brightness. But wow, just a great mix here. Love it!"

Glad to see more from Rockos, and hearing "Zeromus" done in dubstep+chiptune feels like one of those source-genre combinations that was inevitable, but fortunately handled really well here by Roch. Thanks to Rockos for another great mix AND to his friend for the inspiration/challenge that we all ended up benefitting from!