I’ve arranged or collaborated on over 20 publicly-available arrangements and remixes from video games since I started producing music. In fact, OC ReMix – a site dedicated to arrangements of video game music – was what got me into composing and producing to begin with! Below you’ll find all of the mixes I’ve had a hand in.
Click on any of the titles below to read more about each remix. Right-click the “Download” link in each expanded box to grab the MP3!
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Source: Travels With Tails: Invitation Screen) – This one has an interesting story. I had never even heard of the “Pico” educational handheld system until someone from SEGA tweeted at OC ReMix asking (half-jokingly) why we hadn’t remixed it yet. I took that as a challenge and created a remix of one of the most popular (?) games on the system, turning a tiny little blip of a source into a full-length downtempo/chillout track. I’m most proud of the fact that I did it only 3 hours, as I was packing for a trip and didn’t have much spare time. If you like Massive Attack and similar groups, you’ll like this one.
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Source: The Evil Lord Exdeath) – My contribution to
The Fabled Warriors part 1, an FF5 remix project. Though I had a hard time figuring out how to work with the source at first, I eventually found my groove and started having a lot of fun with it. The final sound is very dark, thick and heavy, with a pretty dissonant and distorted intro utilizing lots of FM synths. This might be the heaviest remix I’ve done yet with some obvious inspiration from the DNB group Pendulum as well as OC ReMixers AE and tefnek. It’s so beastly that it takes about 5 full seconds to buffer before playing back the chorus – and that’s exactly what a villain as evil as Exdeath deserves.
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Source: Metal Man) – Back in 2006, OCR had a contest called “VOCR”, a remixing competition wherein an instrumental was created and entrants had to write and record vocal parts for them. For the first iteration of the competition, I created the instrumental – a sort of smooth jazz/R&B take on Metal Man – and Jillian ended up with the winning entry. However, I was really fond of Malcos’ vocal work which took it even further into the R&B direction, and decided in 2010 to finally submit it to OCR. Despite the production sounding a little dated (partially intentional), I think it’s a neat little track!
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Source: Theme of Hakan) – As a fairly avid (but unskilled) fighting game player, I was extremely psyched when I heard about the release of SSFIV and the reveal of its infamous Turkish oil wrestler, Hakan. His ridiculously amazing theme song was too much, and I couldn’t help myself; I had to remix it. This track resulted from about three days of straight work, influenced by artists like Juno Reactor and Infected Mushroom, with off-the-wall sounds, enormous drums, relentless energy and a lighthearted feel.
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Sources: Playing With Danger, Right Behind You) – Sometimes, I have an idea for a remix before I even begin work. Other times, like with this remix, I get ideas from sounds. In this case, I was designing some very powerful bass synths and as I played some riffs on top, TF2′s main theme creeped into my consciousness. I decided to roll with it and developed this track to be an electro-house bombshell. It’s loud, it’s heavy, and it
doesn’t rely on gimmicky voice samples from the game!
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Sources: Battle Theme, Boss Theme) – FF6 is one of my all-time favorite RPGs, and the entire soundtrack has a special place in my heart. Oddly enough, while many other ReMixers share this opinion, the game’s battle theme has been generally under-appreciated. I decided to create this synth rock/metal remix to help rectify that, while also testing out my
Shreddage guitar sample library. My first attempt at doing a track in this genre, but I’d say it came out pretty well!
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Sources: Tornado Man, Ground Man) – My final, winning entry into the first “Grand Robot Master Remix Battle” on
OCReMix. I was inspired to attempt this old-school, sample-heavy style by a YouTube video demonstrating how to re-construct Prodigy’s famous ‘Smack My Bitch Up’ track. The majority of the audio you’ll hear on this track is actually sampled from other entries into the GRMRB competition! While the production is intentionally rough and lo-fi, I think it’s a fitting tribute to a legendary electronic group (and a great Mega Man game.)
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Sources: Tornado Man, Metal Man) – OK, I admit, this one is a big homage to fellow ReMixer
Disco Dan, who was one of my biggest influences as an aspiring game remixer. It’s an old-school trance/dance track with supersaw leads, light harmonies, bubbling arpeggios and a melancholic feel.
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Sources: Tornado Man, Cold Man) – Now, this one was a blast to create! My second matchup in the GRMRB competition involved Cold Man’s theme from Mega Man & Bass. Initially, I wasn’t sure how to integrate it with Tornado Man’s theme, but after some experimentation I decided to go with a sort of retro-funk style, a la Daft Punk and
Joshua Morse. I’m really proud of this one, as it integrates lots of drum and percussion solos, funky synth riffs, my own voice vocoded, and a sick bassline.
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Sources: Tornado Man, Ground Man) – Energized by my Christmas break and anxious to get back to work, I poured a ton of energy into this mix, my first ‘battle’ in the GRMRB contest. It’s hard-hitting, uptempo electronica track that integrates both the Tornado Man and Ground Man (Mega Man & Bass) themes seamlessly. Fun stuff.
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Source: Image of Hero) – I created this remix toward the end of my second year playing in the Drexel Fusion Ensemble, a group that helped me hone my ear for jazz playing, writing, arranging and improvisation. I wanted to put all of these skills to good use while also drawing inspiration from the excellent jazz-fusion group Weather Report (and in particular, their song “Havona”.) The “Image of Hero” theme from PSO carries a lot of nostalgia for me, and it’s also a very atmospheric arrangement; the perfect candidate for a fusion remix. This one uses a lot of live-recorded MIDI parts, and all the drums are from my sample library
Groove Bias!
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Source: Maridia Rocky Underwater Zone) – I collaborated with my wife
Jillian on this dark electronic/New Age remix. It was created for a friend, Jordan Aguirre (a.k.a
bLiNd) who was at the time in the hospital in pretty bad shape. As this mix (and its parent tribute project) had to be created on a very short deadline, we did the entire thing in just a handful of marathon sessions… less than 48 hours total. All-in-all, Jill and I consider it to be one of our very best collaborations to date!
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Source: Flash Man) – My first foray into Pendulum-style drum n’ bass, this was another remix inspired by sound design. I remember messing around with some serious synth patterns based on the live version of “Showdown” by Pendulum, when it hit me that I could incorporate Flash Man from Mega Man 2. The rest is history – we’re talking some seriously dirty bass, insane solos and heavy metal guitars courtesy of Sixto Sounds.
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Source: Devil’s Lab) – The winning entry in SquareSound’s
Nobuo Uematsu Arrangement Competition. I was actually having a hard time coming up with a good idea for my entry, and went through several failed sketches in various styles before I settled on something more in my comfort zone (‘mischievous’ orchestral electronica.) I had to really rush to finish it (hence the fadeout ending) but overall I think I did the most excellent “Devil’s Lab” theme justice!
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Source: Red XIII) – One of the few ReMixes on this list I didn’t start! Sixto Sounds brought this one to me as a very early WIP (basic drums and guitars for the first 45 seconds) and I continued it from there, adding the ethnic half-time breakdowns and expanding the arrangement. The end result is very energetic with a lot of dynamics, while the live guitar and drum n’ bass breaks make the whole thing reminiscent of the Advent Children OST.
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Sources: Anxious Heart, Main Theme of Final Fantasy VII) – My first collab with
pixietricks (as she was called back then!) We created this track for
Voices of the Lifestream and decided to take a much softer, ‘warmer’ approach than my usual fare. Jill’s vocals really make the track, despite the fact that they were recorded on some very cheap equipment, and the emotional lyrics interplaying with electronic and organic elements make it a very emotional piece indeed.
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Source: Stage 4: Under Logic) – One of my early collaborations with the mighty
tefnek, whom I consider to be one of my most important mentors as an electronic artist.
Rellik was originally on board but dropped out early on. We just wanted some bombastic big beats to fit the butt-kicking gameplay of SoR2, which is still one of the greatest beat-’em-ups ever. The collaboration was as seamless as possible, with tefnek and I each adding elements and tweaking each other’s drums, breaks, solos and more.
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Sources: Sub Castle BGM, Vanilla Dome) – Quite possibly my most popular remix ever, this one is certainly a fan favorite. I was inspired to remix this theme after hearing another artist’s take on the material as a judge on OCR. It’s such an epic melody and progression that I just wanted to take it to the next level and go over-the-top with suspenseful pads, choir and strings, sound effects and a full orchestra (film score style.) With big beats and heavy guitars, of course. Even though I made this in 2007, I’m very proud of it!
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Source: Roster) – Another remix that started out after the source came to my attention via OCR judging (something I’ll never regret doing!) I’ve never played Eternal Champions, and watching videos of it on YouTube makes me a little nauseous, so I can’t speak to the quality of the game. However, the original theme is pretty cool. I started this mix after a bad hard drive crash and I had only a small portion of my normal synths and samples. I had to improvise some unusual synth and drum choices, but in the end, this mix emphasizes the dramatic elements of the original pretty well.
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Source: Fei Long Theme) – Featured on the soundtrack to Capcom’s
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix! This was originally made for the “
Blood on the Asphalt” remix project, which called for all “urban” remixes. I decided to incorporate breakbeat and big beat elements to satisfy that stylistic requirement, but wanted to stay true to Fei Long’s heritage, so I used a number of Far Eastern instruments as well. It’s big and tough, but graceful, just like Mr. Long himself.
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Source: Lava Reef Zone) – A remix very dear to my heart, created in virtually a single night (December 30th, 2005) after the first OCR New York City meetup. I handled a substantial portion of arrangement and production, while Jill (pixietricks) and Mike Sacco (ShonenSamurai) handled the sung vox, GeoffreyTaucer played the guitar and Steve King (D-Lux) did the rap. It’s definitely on the cheesy side, but it was a real joy to make this acoustic-rock hedgehog ballad.
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Sources: Creeping Through the Sewers, The Hidden Truth) – Without question, this game has some of the greatest video game themes of all time, which is why I keep going back to it. I made this remix after getting the Kontakt 2 plugin, which contains some exquisite orchestral samples. What better way to practice with them than with a Danny Elfman-style orchestral-electronic tune? I wanted to emphasize the lighthearted nature of the originals with bells and strings while incorporating beats and synths for the more dramatic moments. All-in-all, a fun little mix.
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Source: Tal Tal Mountain Range) – I loved playing Link’s Awakening as a kid, despite the fact that I got stuck in it constantly. However, it wasn’t until years later that I discovered how good the “Tal Tal Mountains” theme was (on, you guessed it, OCR.) My approach to this was to keep the energy level high – fast rhythms, soaring lead guitar, breakbeat drums and bright arpeggiated synths – while also interspersing an orchestral breakdown for extra dynamics.
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Source: The Day After) – The second half of FF6 truly has a different feel than the first, not just in terms of level design and dialogue, but also the melancholic mood of the music. I really liked this source tune in particular and wanted to explore it more with atmospheric vocal and orchestral sounds mixed with synth and drum grooves. While the production isn’t vastly different than some of my other orchestral-electronic mixes, I’m very proud of the arrangement for this remix, as I spent a lot of time trying to cleverly incorporate various chords, riffs and rhythms of the source throughout. You’ll also hear some of my first experiments into glitching!
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Source: Kefka’s Theme) – Can you tell I like Nobuo Uematsu? This remix was my first foray into all-orchestral remixing, utilizing some (then-cutting edge) samples I had just purchased. The production might be a little dated, but I still think the Danny Elfman, “Nightmare Before Christmas” mood fits Kefka’s theme like a glove.
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Source: Sewer Surfin’) – My earliest collaboration with tefnek, which significantly helped me improve my production skills (just listen to
Phasma Elementum followed by
Impulse Prime and you’ll see what I mean.) Stylistically, think Fatboy Slim meets Moby; lots of really big beats, glitched breaks, synth automation, badass bass and a VERY happy mood. What could be better than beating up sewer aliens and collecting pizza while listening to this?
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Source: The Last Day of the World) – The fact that this remix (my first ever collaboration) turned out well is probably a big reason why I’ve done so many since.
Tyler Heath (formerly known as… ‘Unknown’) did basically all of the orchestral work here, while I handled all the synth stuff. Not as seamless as many of my later collaborations, but it still turned out to be extremely popular, and I think the way we meshed the styles couldn’t have been more effective. Still a personal favorite of mine.
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Source: Kingdom Trial) – Ah, where do I begin with this mix?! It’s the track that started my career as a posted OC ReMixer, and to this day probably has given me more joy than almost any other remix I’ve ever done. I poured so much time and effort into meeting OCR’s submission standards and getting posted that the payoff was just huge. I had been influenced heavily by Disco Dan’s “
Triforce Majeure” remix at the time, and despite my lack of almost any commercial samples or synths, I did my very best to pull off a frenetic blend of orchestral and electronic sounds while also staying true to the highly-dramatic source material through lots of dynamic and instrumentation changes. After my 4 straight rejections, not to mention a whole mess of substandard remix attempts, the day that this got posted (and the days immediately thereafter) was probably one of the happiest of my life!
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Final Fantasy VII – Deliverance of the Heart
SSF2T HD Remix – Flying Heaven
Phantasy Star Online – Ragol Weather
Streets of Rage 2 – Above Reason
Final Fantasy 6 – Desertion
Super Metroid – Kindred
FF6 vs. Sean Paul – Get Busy on the Veldt
Super Street Fighter IV – Time to Oil Up
Final Fantasy 5 – Vessel of the Void
Final Fantasy VII – Adrenalyne Kyck
Final Fantasy VII – Nomura Limit
Final Fantasy VII – Lunatic Moon
Found out about Zircon through Extra Credits, and I love the remixes! Keep ‘em coming.
Also, very kind of you to share the mp3s :)
Love the new (to me) remixes. Every time I come back to your site it looks different, but in a good way. Glad to see you still make great free remixes even though you compose professionally now. Thanks!
Man i love all your mixes. the OC remixes also got me into wanting to produce my own tracks, that and my love for electronic music. my only issue is i am having problems starting up. would love to know how to become a better producer, im thinking of goin to school for it but im not sure what to research… keep up the good work and again good remixes :D
Your mixes are truly worthy of the gaming gods! thanks a million for sharing them. Dirt Devil from FF6 is the shiz!
I think you should do a remix of all the movements of FF VI’s Dancing Mad, it is probable one of the greatest final boss musical tracks ever produced and I have NEVER heard a even close to decent remix of it. Ever. I think you could do it justice.
You rock man, those remixes are just awesome!! Keep it up !
great remixes, but megaman 2 nukeflash download link is broken :(
sweet work though!!! :)
Great remixes! I haven’t heard some of the originals, but I really like your solos. Also the fullness of your sound is hard to beat :)
What plug-in did you use for the rhythm dist. guitars?
Please, make a remix of every Chrono Trigger song! IT’S SO GOOD. FUCK YEAH.
you guys should make legend of zelda ocarina of time remix
I love your remixes
you are a whoao..!!