Taylor Brown aka Mirby is perhaps best known in the video game music
community for her journalistic pursuits. She has written numerous articles
reviewing arrangement albums as well as interviews with remixers.
Mirby has also collaborated with members of the
community for original material and for VG-based fan works. More recently she
is heading the Final Fantasy remix project Audio Engineering,
covering all the Cid themes from the series. I asked Mirby
a few questions about her influences, her creative goals, and her short-lived ReMixing
Bout compo.
Mirby revealed that her earliest
exposure to music was probably as soon as she came into the world. She
explained that, “My dad was a bassist
in a band, so music has always been a big part in my life. The band was
disbanded before I was born, and due to a drunken mishap they weren't signed.
That said, my brother and all his friends (henceforth referred to as my
brothers) are musicians, so through them I learned all sorts of things. In
fact, if it weren't for them I might not have any interest in making music at
all.” She felt that this early experience influenced her current work: “Since
all my brothers did was jam sessions, all my music is basically just made as I
go. Adding in what sounds good, tweaking things to make it just right... they
definitely influenced me as a musician.”
It's been noted that Mirby’s solo work carries a heavily improvised style,
sometimes implementing on-the-fly keyboard riffing. She elaborated that, “When
I can, I like to mess around with whatever music-making thing I can; keyboards
are usually what I use, but I did recently make a nice rhythm via the ocarina
in Ocarina of Time 3D, and have since
figured out how to play it on a keyboard. When I'm actually recording, I stick
to FL Studio and soundfonts. I've found quite a few
good ones, and am slowly getting more familiar with the track. I also have a
friend who is willing to record live violin, so that's cool too.”
Mirby
has participated in a number of compos, and eventually organized her own, Mirby's ReMixing Bout. When asked
what her motivation for joining compos had been, she said, “I think I first
learned about them because of JHCompo. I'd never
really made music in a short time frame before, so having that restriction
really inspired me. One Hour Compo is also great fun because it's half the time
and thus double the rush.” She also explained why she started her own
competition: “I just have a lot of tracks I want remixes for. That's literally
the main inspiration for it. But thanks to my Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story remix of Plack
Beach, I have been inspired to make my own remixes now instead of purely
original stuff.”
She is currently organizing a Final Fantasy Cid tribute project, and described
the experience of bringing artists together for collaboration: “I have a few
WIPs so far, so it's going well. Considering I got all the main Cid tracks
claimed in just ten days, I'm rather amazed. I guess that everyone likes Cid,
so that's good.” At the time of the interview, the album was simply known as
the Cid Tribute Project. She
joking mentioned she had an idea for a fake cover: “Everybody Loves Cidolfus with FF12 Cid on the front.” It was later
given the title Audio Engineering: A Cid Tribute Project.
Mirby
revealed some of her current plans for her outlets, known collectively as Mirby Studios. “I'm always up for an interview with a remixer. Other projects include the numerous games I've
been working on and have never finished. Whether I do finish those someday or
not is still up in the air.” She noted that her collaboration with Wildfire remixing
Subrosia’s theme from Oracle of Seasons is coming together. Regarding composition
competitions, Mirby concluded that, “Basically,
compos are good. If you're looking to improve on your skills, find a compo and
participate. I didn't learn as much in FL Studio just messing around as when I
had time restrictions. There are plenty of competitions, so it's not hard to
find one.”