 The music of Lightning Returns was composed by Masashi Hamauzu , who composed the music for Final Fantasy XIII , Naoshi Mizuta and Mitsuto Suzuki , who co @-@ composed the music for Final Fantasy XIII @-@ 2 with Hamauzu . Japanese band Language was also contracted by Suzuki to help with recording and remixing . Several of the musicians in Japan had worked with the composers before on XIII @-@ 2 and The 3rd Birthday . Recording took place at the Mixer 's Lab recording studios in Tokyo . The Video Game Orchestra , founded by Shota Nakama , was contracted by Hamauzu to perform , record and mix the orchestral music at their studio on Boston . According to Hamauzu , they were his first and only choice for recording the score . Nakama received the final score in April 2013 , and Hamauzu was regularly at the studios to help with the recording process . Nakama was told by Hamauzu that he was allowed to do as he wished unless he did something " really wacky " , with Hamauzu relying on Nakama and mostly interacting and working on their tracks if he disliked some aspect of them . The orchestra worked on nearly all of Hamauzu 's music , including the opening and ending themes . 
