ReMix: Final Fantasy XIII 'Blue Skies'

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Final Fantasy XIII

Yeah, we JUST posted a bLiNd track, but he also JUST finished this brand-spankin' new FF13 electronica mix, our first, in time for his wife Jade's birthday, so we jumped through some hoops to get this out SAME DAY. Mr. Aguirre writes:

"Ahh, the things that love makes you do...

I have been wanting to remix this song from FF13 ever since the game came out. Probably my favorite song on the soundtrack. Can't remix it as trance though, had to do drum n' bass. I don't think there is enough dubstep on OCR either, so I added that in there too. I think the combination works better, since most dubstep can get boring and overbearing after a while...

Ashleigh is back for this one. Reason? It is another song for Jade. This time for her birthday. So happy birthday, my love, my wife. You are the best thing that ever happened to me and I can thank OC ReMix for that and God for giving me the gifts that lead you to me. This song's lyrics are to express the hope we have for our future together.

The original song has a few lyrics, but I took the liberty of changing them (there are some similarities though) and Ashleigh pretty much belted them out in less than an hour. She is getting married next month (June 2011), so her name is changing from James to Coryell. Congrats to Ashleigh, and, of course, to my beautiful wife. I love you all on OCR as well. <3"

1...2...3... [Collective "Awwwwwww....."]

Damn good bday present, I'd say; while I'm in the camp that was less enamored of FF13 as a game (for me, the storytelling & English voice-acting were very problematic), I was definitely digging the music, and I'm actually surprised it's taken as long as it has to show up on these shores. This is an airy, open arrangement with cool, layered/delayed vocals that have a lot of verb on them, for an angelic, floating feeling, contrasting against pressing breakbeats, percolating synth patterns, and later on the edgier dubstep textures Jordan mentioned. This change-up definitely adds some textural variety, extends the life of the mix, and like bLiNd himself says, it makes things a bit more interesting. It's not like switching from rap to polka, as the two styles (and most electronica variants) have more in common, but it's definitely noticeable and, in my opinion, works quite well.

Great job from Jordan, another excellent vocal collaboration from Ashleigh, congrats to her, and happy birthday to Jade!!

― djpretzel

Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
Holy crap! I saw drum and bass in the write up, and I wasn't expecting something beautiful like this. The vocals are wonderful, Ashleigh has an amazing voice. I really liked the use of effects on the vocals about halfway in, and of course bLiNd's mixing is masterful. Very nice.

- Crulex on May 10, 2012
bLiNd, the dubstep is awesome. This song made me appreciate dubstep as a musical element. Before I listened to this song, I disliked all dubstep, but you've proven dubstep is downright FUNicular when you use it as a musical element rather than the entirety of the track.
Beautiful balance. It's been keeping me entertained for ages.

- Koriantor on March 2, 2012
I'm a huge fan of Final Fantasy XIII's soundtrack. This is a daring interpretation of Will To Fight.
This is one of my favourite tracks on the OST, and now it has an OCR to help it be more awesome.
Those vocals are great, much more warm than the original.
And of course the instrumentation is different.
Come 1:30, I instantly fell in love. It's incredible. Nothing more. Nothing less.
END OF STO-
But I haven't talked about the section starting at 2:13. And why?
Because it's great. We don't need to talk about it. We all know it's good.

- Tuberz McGee on December 25, 2011
I remember seeing someone on the OCR Facebook group post a comment that one of the best new songs on the site is this one, so I definitely have been looking forward to it. The source is one of the more notable ones from the FF13 OST, and Jordan doesn't aim small, as expected. Lots of processing effects are used throughout the song to help keep things fresh and add more of a dancing feel. The vocals are done perfectly for the trance/drum & bass style. The song doesn't rub off as a cheap beat thrown on top of a source that is tempting for others to do out of laziness either. Jordan is just phenomenal at his craft and this is just one more song out of a long lineage of only the best electronic video game mixes.

- Bahamut on December 19, 2011
Overall a beautiful soundscape, but I feel the vocals are a bit buried in everything. Arrangement is ace, with a lot of interesting stuff going on, and the breakdown was sweet. Overall, really strong. Awesome work as usual, Jordan! :-)

- OA on December 12, 2011
I wasn't really a fan of this when I first heard it, but I really should have given it more of a chance.
It's definitely one of my favorite songs on the site now.

- Kuolema on December 12, 2011
Am I stupid for liking this so much? Did I just cum? Why? I love you bLiNd, make a remix of this remix.

- Master Spram on December 5, 2011
I tend to treat dubstep with a degree of suspicion, but in this track, it works pretty well. Not exactly my favourite parts of this mix, but certainly not off-putting.
Delighted to finally have a XIII mix, and that it's a great one. Here's hoping for more!

- Sorceror Nobody on July 27, 2011
I think the dubstep elements work very well, because like it's been said, it's not too grating. I agree with the fact that sometimes dubstep can be a little overbearing, but it's toned down here and I like the way it changes up the sound a lot. Great work!

- DinosaurJones on July 24, 2011
There's just one word for this: professional. That's what it sounds like.
Pretty much the best thing to come out of OCR in the last few months IMO. Awesome beats, and the vocals...man, the vocals. More of that, please.
Absolutely amazing. I haven't been able to get it out of my head for about a week now (mostly due to the vocals).

- Martin Penwald on July 19, 2011
I'm glad someone tackled this soundtrack and with a (part) dubstep mix of all things. I hope to hear more remixes from this game and more from the genre aswell.
The vocals are phenemenal. Really captured the beauty of the original's.

- Vidilian on June 17, 2011
From all the feedback it seems there is a pretty fair amount of people that don't like dubstep at all. Honestly I don't either too much, that's why I toned down the dubstep feel in the track. I REALLY do not like skrillex at all. His music is too grating. But, I do like some bass sounds of dubstep because they are close to the electro house basses in the remixes I have been producing this past 2 years. Anyway, I tried to give this song a beautiful charm and keep the dubstep as an element instead of a genre because I tend to agree with a lot of you about the style plus it keeps drum n bass interesting if you use it as the climax of the track...

- bLiNd on June 10, 2011
As usual, another good one from bLiNd. One of the few reason I log into the forums to say anything.
Could have done without the dubstep, though. Never understood why that junk is popular, but hey, to each his own.

- Catharsis on June 10, 2011
I didn't like the dubstep parts. In my opinion song would be more beautiful without them.

- Skazothnick on June 6, 2011
This is one of the most beautiful things I've heard on OCR in some time. It's like we've [i]all[/i] been given a present. :)

- sephfire on May 31, 2011