ReMix:Final Fantasy "Find Your Way" 4:06

So alt rock! Much nineties! Darangen (Michael Boyd) returns from 3+ year hiatus with a vocal rock arrangement of the classic Final Fantasy "Town" theme that'll blind your third eye & twenty your matchbox something good:

"After MAGFest, I started listening to a lot of 90's music again, thanks to Vinnie's 90's flashback guitar playing - so I blame him for this remix. So one day, I was messing around on the guitar, since I couldn't sleep, and played a C chord followed by E7, and it brought me back to the town theme. And, thus, it began.

Originally, this was going to be completely instrumental, but I purchased iZotope's Nectar 2 plugin (which I HIGHLY recommend anyone mixing vocals picks up) and had to try it out, so I thought "What better way to try this out other than writing and recording some lyrics?" With that said, it's a lyrical remix, and while I've done lyrical mixes before, my vocals were always my obvious weak point; so I spent more time on them than any other element. While they're still not perfect, I like to think I've come a long way since "Falling Back." The chorus is original and the verses, bridge, and solo carry the source. The bridge is very liberal with the source while the verses and solo are straightforward, but if you listen to the bridge the right way, you'll hear the part of the source I got it from.

For the inspiration for the lyrics, I tried to take it from a villager's perspective. A few Warriors of Light stroll into town after a weary day on the battlefield, only to know that the next day will be more grueling than the last. As someone who played Final Fantasy when it was first released way back in the late 80's, I remember needing to return to the towns quite often to heal up, replenish magic charges, and restock on potions. So I wrote from the standpoint of a villager telling them to stick through the tough times ahead and come back when they're weary.

As always, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did creating it."

Very cool! Thanks to Vinnie for the inspirational catalyst; great to see Michael doing his thing, and I think iZotope's Nectar 2 plugin is definitely helping on vocal production. I was reminded of Josh & Ryan's classic "Onward (The Travelin' Song)" since it was also a vocal arrangement of the same theme, but where that was genre-blending and on the goofier side of things, this is straight-up 90's alternative/earnest. The chorus being completely original threw me for a bit, but it does blend very nicely both with the arranged source material and with the overall aesthetic. Sir_NutS had some vocal nitpicks but was generally feelin' the vibe quite a bit:

"I loved it. LOVED IT. This definitely takes me back to the time where mtv still was about music videos. The mix is balanced and all the elements are clear, so no qualms there. I thought the vocals were slightly exposed and dry, they could've been mixed so they would sit on the mix better. The vocals weren't always on point and some parts could've used more emotion behind them but it's nothing that takes away from the overall quality.

The alt rock arrangement is on point. Specially liked the bridge at 2:32, reminds me of RHCP for some reason. I'm impressed on how well this theme lent itself to the genre, the chorus melody and solos feel natural and this could easily be something meant for radio. Overall, this is a great arrangement full of personality and put together in a seamless manner that would make people not even notice it's remixing a videogame."

Well said; other judges echoed Mike's vote, with Vinnie himself adding:

"Right from the intro, I was loving this. I guess if I inspired it, that's no surprise! Melodic rock is a perfect genre for this song, and the partwriting sounds so natural, it's hard to believe most of it is not in the original. Chorus took it up to another level (though I didn't immediately realize the connection to the source - that chiming guitar), and I melted when I heard that sweet chorused guitar part added to the second verse."

So there you go: This mix melted Palpable! Seriously great genre adaptation, in a style we don't actually hear too often, perfectly capturing the musical spark of a bygone era. Excellent to hear more from Darangen, very glad he decided to make something new & send it our way, and hope to hear more!