ReMix: Xenogears 'Xenosphere'
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- Game: Xenogears (Square, 1998, PS1)
- ReMixer(s): Oceanfire
- Composer(s): Yasunori Mitsuda
- Song(s): 'Ocean Palace', 'Premonition'
- Posted: 2005-02-24, evaluated by the judges
I'm in Oscars mode right now, gearing up for the Academy Awards this Sunday, honing my shouting voice so I can effectively disagree with the Academy via my television in the loudest, most futile volumes possible, so forgive me if my focus wanders or views appear occluded. We haven't seen Oceanfire since the end of 2002, which has to be up there in terms of longest broken hiatuses from ReMixing:
"Hey guys, its been a while since I have done any remix stuff but a few days ago I decided to do one. This song is another cross remix that I wrote as a tribute to Yasunori Mitsuda. The basic structure is Omen from Xenogears but you will hear elements from Presentiment (Chrono Trigger)."
Be glad he felt inspired, as this very textural mix, while perhaps emphasizing production over elaborate arrangement, is drop-dead gorgeous, with a solo female vocal that floats Maria Callas-style over harp, ambient synth textures, simple, dark percussion, and striking orchestral strings and brass. Further in, a more electronic snare is added to the percussion, to give it more forward motion and a more electronic feel, but overall the aura is dark, organic, brooding - it actually reminds me, particularly because of the singing, of some of the selections from the Donnie Darko soundtrack, primarily because of the similarly operatic vocalising and deliberate, processional pacing. zircon wrote:
"While I think some of the power of this mix comes from the pro samples used, I think that one could create a similar atmosphere using free samples. I obviously have no problems with ANY technical aspects here - absolutely beautiful usage of orchestral instruments and percussion, ethnic percussion, synths, vocals, etc.. couldn't have asked for more. I agree with Gray that while you could interpret this as being quite similar to the original, listening closely reveals that it is using new elements and a new structure to create a different style and tone."
Larry and analoq still had some reservations about the arrangement factor, and I can see their perspective - on the surface, there's more than a few similarities to the original, with instrumentation even being almost identical in places. However, like the rest of the panel, I think focusing in on what's going on under the hood yields enough augmentation or juxtaposition to effect reinterpretation. We talked about this one quite a bit, and Larry did a superlative job of voicing legitimate concerns along these lines, so I do wanna give some attention to certain potentially problematic holdovers from the source material, but at the same time, the female vocal alone adds so much additional depth, you've gotta appreciate what Oceanfire's done. It's great to see him back after so long, and I think many will be quite into this deep, swirling arrangement.
Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the Ok, yeah, when direct side by side comparing this to Omen, this mix does play it safe and conservatively but it's still a treat. I still like this a lot largely because it's a lot more subtle in its intentions than Omen is. Specifically, there are a few instances where Omen has some orchestral crescendos, but this has much more milder moments. I definitely recommend checking this out.
- 42 on December 4, 2010
djpretzel;635906 wrote: Yes >> http://ocremix.org/song/68
Note that you can click on songs to see alternate song names and the game they are assigned to.
Sweet, thanks
- a_d on January 20, 2010
a_d;633470 wrote: ...................................................8O
"Ocean Palace" is listed as a source tune, but I can't find a track by any name like that for the Xenogears OST. Is this track from Chrono Trigger?
Yes >> http://ocremix.org/song/68
Note that you can click on songs to see alternate song names and the game they are assigned to.
- djpretzel on January 20, 2010
"Ocean Palace" is listed as a source tune, but I can't find a track by any name like that for the Xenogears OST. Is this track from Chrono Trigger?
- a_d on January 14, 2010
- OA on November 20, 2009
- Catharsis on September 11, 2008
Annoxus wrote: I plead of you, if you're reading this, YOU -MUST- DOWNLOAD THIS MIX. Extremely well-placed, gorgeous vocals, along with an eerie ambience and excellent tune selection... this remix will go down as legendary. Words can't describe its perfection. AMAZING work from Oceanfire. Simply stunning.
Holy shit. You're from the same location as I.
- Audity on October 29, 2006
I wish Oceanfire did some more tunes as his stuff is excellent. To do his style of music well is insanely hard and involves using strong melodies and very high production values. Not many are capable of pulling it off.
Strictly this is friggin epic, I love it.
- avaris on October 26, 2006
Very very nice mix, somehow reminds me of that silly Chronicals of Riddick movie at one part of the song. Not that that detracts from the song at all.
- DJzeles on November 18, 2005
- YearXero on August 23, 2005
- Annoxus on July 8, 2005
Geoffrey Taucer wrote: wow, this is definitely one of my new favorites. Those vocals are absolutely haunting, and sound absolutely real (except at that one point where they go insanely high -- but though they don't sound real at that point, they still sound very beautiful)
An operatic soprano can hit two octaves above middle C without that much difficulty, and that's the highest the vocals in "Xenosphere" go. But for normal humans, yeah, that's HIGH.
- zircon on July 7, 2005
- Geoffrey Taucer on July 7, 2005
Just wanted to add, though, that there's a reason you may have heard the vocals before; the multisample is from the most popular choral/vocal library on the planet, "Symphony of Voices". It comes with some very distinctive samples, such as this solo soprano (which I have used myself on a few songs).
- zircon on May 28, 2005
- SynthesizedStampede on May 28, 2005
