ReMix:Final Fantasy VI "Magitek Research Symphony" 3:49

Very cool & creative orchestral arrangement of FF6 from serial-medleyist RebeccaETripp, who is adept at weaving multiple themes into cohesive & interpretive tapestries, primarily through smart & expressive writing. In this case she focuses more specifically on "Devil's Lab," as the title suggests, but still works in some other FF6 gems:

"This here is my remix of one of my all-time favorite tracks from any game ever: "Magitek Research Facility"/"Magitek Factory" from Final Fantasy 6. I can still remember the intense feelings I had when I first saw this part in FF6. Especially the scene leading up to the Shiva/Ifrit scene. FF6 had this incredible way of making my skin crawl while bringing me to new heights of reverence and joy. I think nothing has or will make me feel quite the same way.

I've been wanting to do a cover of this tune for several years, but I'm extremely glad that I waited until now to do this, as I don't really think I would have done it justice, had I not gained so much experience from doing all those orchestral medleys. The original FF6 track was composed by my beloved Nobuo Uematsu.

Anyway, I hope you all will enjoy my "Magitek Research Symphony"!"

I know the primary source rather well, being a fan of others' arrangements and having ReMixed it myself, and this is definitely a unique take which humanizes the mechanical rigidity of the original a bit, works in some symphonic bombast, and keeps the uneasy & sinister atmosphere while adding a little more grandeur & pomp. Rebecca's ideas are always compelling, and her approach basically requires that she write transitional material (i.e. "glue") and alter pieces for cohesion at a minimum. This one's a little more conservative, but still brings its own personality to the table and does a great job capturing the mechanization with classical percussion; cymbals in particular. Jivemaster writes:

"I'm liking this one. This is a nice arrangement of the original song. While not overly ambitious in terms of changing things up, you have managed to bring the melody into a full orchestral style that for the most part feels natural to me. Yes there are some bits here and there that feel slightly blocky, but I'm not having any huge problems with what you've done. Your cycling of different instruments playing different parts was a "well played" moment for me and enhanced the orchestral illusion. Mixing is pretty good too - things feel a little crowded to me and could be separated more, but everything was audible, and parts that drew focus did so intentionally."

MindWanderer adds:

"...as other judges mentioned, the brief leitmotifs from other themes in the beginning were a high point that would have been great to see more of, but switching the instrumentation regularly kept the arrangement feeling fresh. I thought the ending was fine--the leitmotifs at the beginning suggest that this is actually one movement of a larger work, and this ending would be perfectly appropriate in that context. And even though lots of other artists have used various gimmicks to give this source an industrial feel, you've succeeded in doing it entirely using normal orchestra instruments, and that's a real coup."

Well, darn, I suppose I'm one of them no-good gimmick-usin' "other artists" ;) It IS kinda cool to hear some of the more obvious textural elements for this source be eschewed for a traditional symphonic palette. Nice to see Rebecca hone in and focus more explicitly on a single source, but still put her medley chops to use; this is a milder but still malevolent Magitek that's well worth your time!