ReMix: Final Fantasy VII 'Rare Square'

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I've hung with Wilbert "bustatunez" Roget, II on at least a couple occasions and am always impressed by his innate musical talent; some people are just born with musicianship in 'em, and can't begin to hide it, and that's him. At VGL in DC he treated us all to some awesome impromptu piano versions of classic Yoko Kanno anime themes, and he's also beginning to seriously break into the industry - check out his site at www.rogetmusic.com for the latest and greatest, and here's hoping he remembers the little people when he becomes the next John Williams, eh? The judges panel's own Lee Barber was finally able to persuade him to get something onto OCR:

"I'd wanted to contribute to OC ReMix for quite some time, so when I was approached to collaborate with Lee on this track, I jumped at the opportunity. Basically I provided the strings and other orchestral elements, giving the track an independent hook while also tying it in with other themes from FF7 and incorporating my own "gestural" approach to orchestration.

Any resemblance to the Bond franchise is purely coincidental. ;-)"

Lee himself, aka The Orichalcon, writes:

"I started working on the remix of Countdown Begins as a challenge to take one of the cinematic tracks and turn it into what might be useable as background music. There wasn't really enough material in it, so I also included the Great Northern Cave music. I needed someone who could do some proper cinematic-style strings and instrumentation for the piece, so Andy recommended bustatunez. I sent the track to him, and he very quickly came up with the awesome strings for the track as well as some other parts. We shaped it out a bit further going back and forth, and ended up with Rare Square."

Finally, to explain the mix's title, last but never least, Larry Oji writes:

"I titled this track. When I heard the end result, I got a similar vibe as the GoldenEye 007 soundtrack (only with upgraded sound quality). What if Rare's sound team had arranged a Squaresoft piece? I could only reason that it would sound very similar to what Lee and Will made, hence the name 'Rare Square.'"

Gotta say, I love these multi-quote writeups, because - especially at three in the morning - they really make my job a lot easier! As a side note for those following OCR perhaps a little too closely, this flood of FF7 mixes just surpassed the previous record holder, the great Radical Dreamers flood of 2001. Groovy. This is so cinematic you feel like you should be eating junior mints and pop corn and chugging down a "small" coke that for some reason is still huge and costs ten dollars and telling some kid behind you to shut the hell up and stop kicking your chair and waiting for those annoying ads they're putting before the trailers to stop. It's THAT cinematic. Save yourself the cash and make out with your significant other while listening to this mix instead; it's just as cinematic as anything you'll see in theaters, and you don't have to compete with the likes of Brad Pitt or Daniel Craig. Suffice it to say that the combination of Lee's ever-improving beatsmithing and ambient/fx work with bustatunez's orchestral work makes for a Grade-A Hollywood soundtrack experience. Interesting indirect collab that Andy was wise to facilitate; good stuff.

― djpretzel