"Double rainbow! Oh my God, it's a double rainbow all the way!"

Viral video fans can instantly trace these words to Paul "Yosemite Bear" Vasquez, who, while hiking in January, witnessed the unusual natural phenomenon known as a "double rainbow" and, wonderstruck by its beauty, broke out his camcorder and recorded his wide-eyed epiphany for posterity.

"Yosemite Mountain Giant Double Rainbow 1-8-10," better-known as the "Double Rainbow" video, can be viewed as poignantly innocent or ridiculously emotional-Vasquez sobs in between exclamations of joy-but either way the clip has struck a chord with YouTube users during the last month and earned 7.2 million views.

11 Viral Video Remixes Worth Watching

Double rainbow mania reached a new level when "Double Rainbow Song," a "remix" of Vasquez' video by alt-rock quartet the Gregory Brothers, premiered in early July on YouTube. Mixing percussion, a gentle piano line and backing vocals with Vasquez' Auto-Tuned hosanna, the 90-second song has been heard 4.2 million times on YouTube and become a sensation in its own right.

The Brooklyn-based group started tinkering with YouTube last April and created "Auto-Tune the News," a 12-part video series that turned TV news broadcasts into T-Pain-esque jams and has earned more than 10 million views collectively. The Gregory Brothers' latest YouTube triumph, "Bed Intruder Song," takes a local TV news interview with Antoine Dodson about the attempted rape of his sister, Kelly, and turns the impassioned speech into a catchy, well-produced pop song. So far, the "Bed Intruder" YouTube clip has been viewed nearly 14 milion times while the song has sold 30,000 downloads, according to Nielsen Soundscan.

Although the Gregory Brothers also release straightforward rock albums, they see just as much artistic merit in their viral video work. 

"A candid moment like 'Double Rainbow' can be more genuine and emotional than something manufactured by studio executives and producers," keyboardist Evan Gregory says. "It was totally real, and when it's turned into music you can feel that effect."

"Double Rainbow Song" is the latest success story of an original track cut from the cloth of a viral video. Incorporating stylized production techniques with ubiquitous pieces of pop culture has proven an effective combination because it offers something both familiar and novel: videos that people know and love but flipped into a new musical format.

With YouTube exceeding 2 billion views per day since May, the site's popularity and accessibility has prompted veteran artists to experiment with a new medium.

"I started remixing videos because I was hungry to do something different, and YouTube seemed like a fresh outlet for my music," Massachusetts DJ/producer Steve Porter says. After issuing standard dance remixes to little fanfare for a decade, Porter started remaking videos in 2008 and created "Slap Chop Rap," a techno take on the popular cooking infomercial with Vince Offer. The clip has received 10.7 million views on YouTube since its April 2009 premiere.

For DJs like Porter, the creative process of chopping a video into an original song comes as naturally as remixing a pop track, but it doesn't require a club-ready beat. Yet the biggest benefit for these artists is the instant identification that comes with retooling recognizable clips for mass consumption. And what better place to post the finished product than YouTube, the site that spawned the original video's success?

"I've been doing similar [video] remixes for years," says San Francisco producer Mike Relm, who has made songs out of dialogue from the film "Office Space" and a clip of President Barack Obama swatting a fly with his hand. "But there was never a great forum. Now, YouTube is the perfect avenue for what I do."

TURNING CLIPS INTO CAREERS

The Gregory Brothers released "Double Rainbow Song" as a single on iTunes after the YouTube video gained momentum, and the track arrived with 4,000 downloads sold in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. While that sales figure is impressive for a YouTube-spawned track, similar artists have had trouble translating a viral clip into paid downloads. Although Porter's "Slap Chop" video currently has more views than "Double Rainbow Song," for example, the DJ has only totaled 3,000 downloads throughout his career.

In concert, the YouTube mixes have quickly become fan favorites. The Gregory Brothers recently started incorporating "Double Rainbow Song" into their live show, and after "having shows where we know everyone in the crowd," they now see sizable audiences singing along to "Rainbow," according to Evan Gregory.

Meanwhile, Porter's DJ set at Coachella last April included a video screen and an inaugural live performance of "Slap Chop Rap" that capped the set.

"It was an unforgettable moment when Vince [Offer] appeared on the screen," Porter says. "This was an infomercial remix at a major festival, and the crowd went bonkers."

Next: Getting Paid To Remix 'Iron Man'