Part of the game when Cloud first meets Aerith.
Note--U.S. version spells her name Aeris

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr0pNEnJ2dI

[2020 note: This was made 3 years before the FF7 Remake, and pleased to say they did a much better job with it.]

[PS1] Final Fantasy 7 - Flowers Blooming in the Church (Aerith's theme Part 1)

original version by Nubou Eumatsu:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CK2hx377iU

[2020 note: This was made 3 years before the FF7 Remake, and pleased to say they did a much better job with it.]

[PS1] Final Fantasy 7 - Aerith's Theme (cover)

Based on the original track:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AZ5XZHIDh0

[Update 3-1-17]
Currently working on a Bloody Tears remix:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIi6zdGsXaM

[NES] Castlevania - Vampire Killer (Matt Canon remake)

Based on the original version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H58lhgcc-nk

I always felt that this theme was one of the more underrated ones from the game. Whether this is an improvement upon the original is for you to decide. As a fan of the game, I can only hope this does the original justice and captures the essence and spirit of the original material. 

Update [3-1-2017]
For those who have asked me to redo the Bloody Tears theme, I've decided to give it a shot as a electronic dance music remix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIi6zdGsXaM&t=3s

For a little 0.02 editorial on that... 
Originally I wasn't going to cover Bloody Tears. One reason is that at least ten remakes of it have been made since Simon's Quest, and some of the most recent like the version in Castlevania Judgment are pretty good. If I were to make an upbeat cover of it, that's how I would of done it.

So, rather than try to reinvent the wheel so to speak, I'm going to take a different approach. The feel is inspired by MUSE - "Isolated System" heard in the World War Z soundtrack. For those that 'hate' EDM...don't worry, I intend to keep the percussive and fx elements subtle and have the melody be the focus. I have no interest in trying to make a club banger out of it; just a version that fans like myself might can enjoy.

[NES] Castlevania 2, Simon's Quest - The Silence of Daylight (Matt Canon remake)

Audio Download: 24bit, 44.1hz
Length: 7:15
Released: 2015-10-22
BPM: 138
Key: D# minor
Genre: Uplifting Trance
Label: N/A

 
If you are a listener or a music fan:
This is a free download. If you like this track enough, feel free to repost, like and comment. I put many long, fatiguing hours into what I do, and your support is what lets me know my time wasn't wasted. I also do not believe in spamming my music unsolicited all over the internet...I don't like it when other artists blatantly do that, so I hold myself to this as well. Word of mouth tends to have more credibility.

If you are a DJ:
Here is the copyright permissions in layman's terms: Do not make any money with this song....and do not tell anyone the song is yours. If you want to use it in any demo mixes or free radio shows; proper credit is all I ask for should anyone want to know it. I know that most DJ gigs at the local and state level don't pay anything more than "exposure, two drink tickets and/or a +1" so I'm not too worried about that. -- If there is a gray area and you are being paid and you are "unsure"...send me a message and we'll get it sorted.

To any record labels:
Or persons interested in using this track "for profit".... I will attempt to reply to any and all business inquiries at the earliest possible convenience. Please be very clear in your message regarding your intentions, what you need from me, and what you are offering in return.

Lastly...
Unless this song is released on beatport or itunes, 24bit WAV is the only available format at this time. If you need the file size to be smaller, such as an MP3, there are a variety of encoders available for Mac, PC, etc which are very easy to use.

Resolution (original mix) (Free Download)

This was one of my favorite songs from the Super Nintendo game Secret of Mana, also known as Seiken Densetsu 2 in Japan. For those familiar with the game, it was featured toward the end with the sunken continent show in the photo.

10/25/2019: I have replaced the file with a newer version made from scratch (by ear). This one is heavily inspired by the 2017 Remake for the PS4. While most of the remake didn't quite meet expectations; I did like a handful of the soundtrack remixes. Their remade version of this song had great instruments, I particularly like the added horns and the percussion... it could have been mixed and mastered better. -- So this is why I attempted my own version to make it sound more like I feel it should.

--I should note that I'm still making adjustments this one. I very recently purchased Omnisphere and all of the EastWest libraries (ComposerCloud+), and am still in the process of getting more familiar with them. Once I do I will be revisiting all of the video game remakes to look into improving them further. 

It's my goal to make them sound as cinematic while true to the original source. In my opinion, this is where many of the songs on the Secret of Mana Remake went off the rails. Staying true to the original isn't just for nastolgia's sake, the thing is that the original Secret of Mana songs were written to match the story, scene, and environment. When the remakes are jazzed up in unecessary ways, it feels out of place as a soundtrack to the given scene. -- Just my thoughts on it.

[SNES/PS4] Secret of Mana Remake - Star of Darkness (2019 Rework)

Without Her (Extended Mix)

The title and inspiration from this song comes from an alternate history novel called Weapons of Choice by John Birmingham. More info on that book can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/Weapons-Choice-Axis-Time-Book-ebook/dp/B000FC1QBK/ref=sr_1_4?crid=IVJ858MXI2L3&keywords=john+birmingham+axis+of+time&qid=1576435177&s=digital-text&sprefix=John+Birm%2Caps%2C182&sr=1-4

The book description in the link regarding a UN aircraft carrier battle group in 2021 being accidently sent back to Midway 1942 is what inspired the track. It was a book that was very hard to put down starting with chapter 2.

The 2021 fleet emerges at night within close proximity to the 1942 American fleet on its way to Midway to engage the Japanese fleet (Battle of Midway). Unfortunately, the closest of the 2021 ships to Admiral Spruance's aircraft carrier Enterprise, is a modern day JMSDF (Japanese Navy) destroyer....and thus its assumed the rest of the unknown ships are the Japanese fleet. The 1942 Fleet opens fire and all hell breaks loose. The crews of the 2021 ships were initially incapacitated by the time travel affect; and as the ships begin to take damage and casualties; the upgraded computerized battle systems go online to devastating affect.

"Unknown Fires" was a description by a radio operator. Back then, cruise missiles didn't exist, so none of the 1942 personnel were certain of what they were seeing when verticle trails of white fire ascended from the decks of several of the unknown ships (guided missile destroyers and cruisers). Seconds later, the radio chatter turned chaotic as all of the 1942 ships and aircraft had zero chance of evading or defending against the fire from the 2021 armada. By the time the crews of the 2021 ships managed to recover and re-assume command; the American Pacific fleet had been reduced to two ships. 

This song covers those events. 
-- And for those that actually read books and want to read this one. This isn't a spoiler, its more of the prologue as the actual story starts with this event.

Matt Canon - Unknown Fires (original mix)

This version is a Radio Edit based on the original arrangement of the OST. I am currently working on extending the track by a few minutes. I am also working on an alternate 4/4 progressive version which will be 117bpm. 

Original SNES version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1EGNaPTACc&t=2s

-- Downloads have been enabled, but be advised this is the lossless 24bit WAV which is 64mb. The good thing is it sounds much better than the 128k MP3 that soundcloud streams everything at.

[SNES] Jurassic Park - Mountain Range (Matt Canon remix) [Breaks]

Based on the original OST by Hiroki Kikuta:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3hwaxdHlQk

[SNES] Secret Of Mana - Kakkara Desert (Secret Of The Arid Sands) (Matt Canon Remix) [Chillout]

2-3 Years ago I made remakes of the Vampire Killer theme from the first game and the Silence of the Daylight theme from Simon's Quest. Since then, I've gotten requests to redo the Bloody Tears theme that is more well-known. 

Originally I declined. Not because I dislike the song or feel its beneath me; its not that at all. I like the song; however its already been remade in a dozen or so sequels since Simon's Quest. -- Now most of the versions I heard got a bit carried away; but I did like this version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5MAazLzrto heard in Judgment. -- If I was to do an upbeat remake, that's how I would of did it. But since its already been done, I'm respectfully not interested in trying to reinvent the wheel. 

Therefore, I'm taking a different approach that I don't know if people will like or dislike until I see enough feedback. I'm taking some inspiration on theme heard in World War Z called MUSE - Isolated System for the darker groove, energy and feel of this one.

Some trivia:
I kept the intro arp the same notes, though they're playing at half the tempo and I used the piano/guitar sound in Isolated System as inspiration when I designed mine. -- The basslines had to be completely rewritten from scratch. -- And while I wanted to try to keep the main melody recognizable in some way; its the part I've been having the most trouble with. The percussion has also been tricky as this isn't intended to be a banger and I'm following the less is more approach. Its actually harder than it sounds, as I have more experience with harder-hitting vs subdued and dark.

So...I hope everyone enjoys what they hear. I'd really like to complete this, so any and all feedback will certainly help that. I'm talking a few days break as just writing this much, namely the sound design and automation involved, has taken the last two weeks.

[NES] Castlevania 2 Simon's Quest - Bloody Tears (Matt Canon Remix) (WIP)

This project had 125 channels and was one of the most difficult to mix down. It's my hope everyone enjoys what they hear, especially those who are as much a fan of Final Fantasy 7 as I am.

[2020 note: This was made 3 years before the FF7 Remake, and pleased to say they did a much better job with it.]

[PS1] Final Fantasy 7 - Main Overland Theme (cover)

I don't have to words to express the amount of loss I feel over Robert Miles passing at such a young age. So with an very heavy heart, I tried to make a tribute cover of his Children track in his memory. 

I decided to go to go the 'unplugged' route for this one. Rather than using synth sounds, I used various guitars for the leads and basses, and symphonic choirs and strings in place of the basses. The original track is in the key of F-minor, while this is in E-flat minor.

I made this entirely in his honor. I'd rather Robert Miles get entire credit for it. All I did was rework it to reflect how hard his passing hit me. I hope everyone enjoys.

Robert Miles - Children (Unplugged Tribute Cover by Matt Canon)

Just a mix of my current favorites. -- Downloads enabled (Lossless WAV format)

Tracklisting:
01 - Alex MORPH, Den Rize - Angelic feat Natalie Gioia (Original Mix)
02 - Ali Wilson, Chris North - Unification (original mix)
03 - Paul van Dyk, Aly & Fila - Guardian (feat Sue McLaren) (original mix)
04 - James Dymond - Painting with Light (original mix)
05 - Chris North - Seraphim (Original Mix)
06 - Arman Dinarvand, Nitma - A Way to the Future (Original Mix)
07 - Paul van Dyk - Lights feat Sue McLaren (Giuseppe Ottaviani Remix)
08 - Reverse - Distant Destiny (Magnus ReMix)
09 - Future Antics - Lunar (original mix)
10 - Paul Trainer, Amir Hussain - Synergy (original mix)
11 - Paul Miller - Oasis (Original Mix)
12 - Second Sun - Empire (Alan Banks Remix)
13 - Paul van Dyk, Plumb - I Don't Deserve You (Giuseppe Ottaviani remix)
14 - Chris Montana, Chris Bekker - Berlinition (Paul van Dyk Club Mix)
15 - Chris Bekker ft Tricia McTeague - We Can Be (Paul van Dyk Club Mix)
16 - Paul van Dyk, Jessus, Adham Ashraf, Tricia McTeague - Only In A Dream feat. Tricia McTeague (PvD Club Mix)
17 - Jose Amnesia - The Eternal (Scott Bond & Charlie Walker Rebooted ReMix)

Passion 3 (136-140)

This is the original it is based off of:
https://www.beatport.com/track/never-ending-story-original-mix/9088425
NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED WHATSOEVER
I'm just paying tribute to a something that inspired me 34 years ago.

I really would have preferred to use the original vocals, so I did the best I can. To be clear this is a cover intended to stay true to the original. This is not an "EDM remix", none of the cliche fills, risers, FX... you won't find them in this.

What made this one challenging is that the song is in 4 different keys throughout, and it required me to use similar kicks tuned to different keys to make them compatible with the tonic of the basslines.

Giorgio Moroder ft Limahl - Neverending Story (Instrumental Cover)

Still working on this. Goal is to stay true to the original while making it dancefloor friendly.

Vangelis - Blade Runner (End Titles) (Rework) (WIP)

For the fans that recall, this song was featured directly after the Golden Saucer scene where the group is pursuing Dyne through the desert prison. -- I included the melody from Final Fantasy X - Someday The Dream Will End as an experiment. 

[PS1-2) Final Fantasy 7&X - Sandy Badlands + Someday The Dream Will End (Matt Canon rework)

It's starting to get unbearably hot in Houston again, so I felt inspired to cover this in a way that was more true to the original (1993 SNES version)

While my remix is more lively by comparison, this more directly captures the plight the characters were in. An analogy would be lost in Death Valley, on the hottest day of the year, at noon, with no shade, water or civilization for miles. Scorching hot winds with harsh sand, dry mouths, sunburns; but they press on and stay focused to find civilization (or a passing sandship) before dehydration and exposure gets them.

Secret Of Mana OST - Secret Of The Arid Sands (Cover)

Also known as Seiken Densetsu 3, this theme plays in a few of the caves.

Original version by Hiroki Kikuta can be heard here:
https://youtu.be/QV0ec134lh4

[SNES] Secret Of Mana 2 - Few Paths Forbidden (Cover)

This is a remaster I made of a remake I particularly liked. While Jeremy Soule made the original heard in the game, I do not know who made the remake to give proper credit.

As much as I loved the instruments and arrangement, there were a few shortcomings I corrected. The low end bass has more warmth and presence, reduce muddiness, the highs more sparkle, and automated in a reverb focused to make the flute sound more lush. 

The tools for the remaster were the Waves RBass, MAAG EQ4, Lexicon PCM Reverb (hall), Slate Digital VCC (trident), Ozone 9 Imager, Flux Alchemist, SSL buss (Duende) and FabFilter L2 set to transparent and -12 to -9 LUFS. If I knew where the unremastered version of this I'd link it, but by comparison this sounds more lush and lifelike without overdoing anything.

--
One final note,
Many artists and content uploaders seem to not understand what the word "Remaster" actually means and what it involves (and doesn't involve). -- The word is often incorrectly applied to what should actually be called a cover, remake, remix, rework, edit, depending on how different it is from the source material. -- A remaster means that a finished and finalized song is enhanced using a number of tools and methods to sound better, more balanced, clearer and more lifelike...but essentially its the same song in terms of instruments and arrangement. Nothing is added, replaced nor taken away, that isn't remastering.
So to be clear, this particular song is my remaster of a remake made by someone else. They had the right idea, I would have used the same instruments, my efforts just made them 'felt' a bit more.

[SNES] Secret Of Evermore - Greek Temple (remaster)

I'm uncertain on how many people younger than 30 played Super Metroid, or how many that did play it remember the song. So here is a link to the original version as it is heard in-game:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyFcSHHdIQE

I don't normally produce Dubstep, though the idea came to me while listening to the original. Like all video game remixes, regardless of genre I wanted to remain true to the sound and feel of the soundtrack in the game.

[SNES] Super Metroid - Brinstar Depths (Matt Canon remix) [Dubstep]

Original version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os_bSG5zSbM

Wanted to see if I could do anything with the original melody, this is what came out.

[NES] Dragon Warrior (Dragon Quest) - Unknown World (overland theme) (rework)

Does anyone even read these? 
If so, I grew up in the 80s and 90s playing video games, and listening to movie scores instead of the pop music everyone else listened to. In the year 2000, I started attending electronic events and initially learned how to DJ to make my own custom mixes, and played events up until 2017. I started learning how to play keyboards in 1990, inspired by the new age music by Kitaro and Vangelis. Even though I wanted to start learning how to produce electronic music since 2001, due to a lack of money, mentors and other hobbies, I didn't truly get my start until about 2011, as far as doing more than just edits and mashups. Despite everything I have learned so far, I am always learning new things, and still very much consider myself a student than a producer, engineer, or whatever.

I'm not yet on any labels, for the same reason I'm not married. I prefer to do music entirely on my own terms because I enjoy what I'm doing. When something isn't enjoyable because its too stressful or frustrating, it isn't worth it to me. I don't need to make money with music, because I get a monthly check from the VA for my military service. And I couldn't care less about being popular anymore than I did in high school. I had my go at that in 2004-2010 opening for the legends, and it was mostly an overrated experience where it was hard to tell whom your true friends really were. I'll leave it at that.

So....some might ask why most of the music on this page is a remake of a videogame track. Well here is why. As I said, I grew up in the 80s and 90s playing these games and listening to film scores. -- Back then, the sound technology in the original Nintendo and Super Nintendo, sounded nothing like music composed for film...yet still had melodies that would work if it had been. I'm talking more Legend of Zelda, Castlevania, and Bionic Commando instead of Super Mario Bros and Duck Hunt. The Playstation 1 with Final Fantasy 7 was certainly that much closer, but the technology didn't get caught up until the Playstation 2 and PC games. -- So on many of the songs featured on this page, I had always wondered what they might sound like without the limitations. I will not say whether mine are better, I only compete against myself and worry about if I can make any of my reworks sound even better than they currently are. So I do re-upload a lot of the songs. -- The Secret of Mana - Star of Darkness rework for example, I think I might have re-uploaded 10 times in the last 8 years, and I'm not sure if I'm full satisfied with it. Needless to say, its far more difficult than using a midi file as a template and changing the instruments.

Latest update [October 2019]:
I just recently purchased Omnisphere and a ComposerCloud+ subscription with EastWest, which lets me access $15,000 worth of the best sounding instrument libraries. So I will be redoing all of the videogame music as I get more familiar with all of it. Currently, most of the older reworks use Nexus2 and factory Kontakt5 libraries. While I did manage to get the results I did get...I can make them sound even better, so stay tuned.

Matt Canon

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