ReMix:Final Fantasy V "Into the Horizon" 2:03

Short & sweet from H36T, as we continue our Game Set Mash!! compo spotlight! H36T deftly mooshes together Final Fantasy V & VIII in a bright, introspective package:

"Hey, there! Back again, but this time with my first mashup mixing two songs, "To the North Mountain" from FFV and FFVIII's "Fisherman's Horizon"! Why these two songs? Well, there is an FF mashup competition going on at OC ReMix and this song was one of my entries. It was just changed a bit from Game Set Mash!! before I subbed.

I wish I had some more substantive to say, but this really was mostly a creation off the top of my head without any deep thought. I don't have anything to really say about my vision with it as I kind of just went along with how I felt. The most I can say creation-wise is I tried to make the two sources play nicely with each other and I ended up with something that I didn't expect, hahaha. I've had people say it sounds like a game intro. I can't say I was going for that... but, then again, I wasn't really going for anything in particular! I just hope people enjoy it and that's good enough for me! Go forth, little song. Into the horizon!"

Hey, there's nothing wrong with not knowing where you're going as long as you're happy with the destination. :-) H36T opened things up super conservatively, though with a meaningfully different sound palette. I initially thought it was an awkward transition at :11, but I got used to it as I looped this more, and I very much dug the movement & liveliness provided by bassline until :35. There were subtle, understated electric guitar chugs from :45-1:09 working alongside the bassline that also filled out the background well, demonstrating nice attention to detail. Like all of us on the judges panel, MindWanderer found the potential for expansion, yet had to respect the development involved in this blink-and-you'll-miss-it cue:

"As for length, yes, the treatment certainly does lend itself to something larger in scope. There's 44 seconds of build-up and 28 seconds of conclusion, leaving only 52 seconds of epic cinematic meat on a 2:04 piece. It really does feel like it was originally something longer and was trimmed down to trailer length. [...]

The arrangement is such a smooth use of the two sources that I had to go back and listen to the FFV piece a few times to remind myself that this wasn't all Fisherman's Horizon, and it's definitely not. It's a great orchestration with a great sound. From me, this earns a YES."

This man gets it! Short tracks CAN provide a lot of substance in a brief timeframe, AND they can leave a genuine & lasting impression, echoed by judge Emunator:

"This is a stellar arrangement[...] just stunningly emotive and beautiful. At 2 minutes long, it still feels like it has enough time to say everything it needs to say without dragging on."

"Stunningly emotive" is apropo when you bask in how well the strings & vox were produced to provide a pretty full sound! Definitely take the time to also listen through both source tunes, so that you can fully appreciate the overall orchestration and theme interplay throughout. Big props to H36T for packing a lot of arrangement ideas and textural dynamics in the runtime. :-) This one's an exemplary piece creatively showcasing the mash-up format of Game Set Mash!!, all in ONLY 123 seconds!