ReMix: Xenogears 'Xenosphere'

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Xenogears

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.

― djpretzel

Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
Anyone find similarity to Donnie Darko music when it comes to the voice?

- Catharsis on September 11, 2008
Gets kind of repetitive. 0:50-1:07 I'm not fond of, though I'm very familiar with the sound. 1:07-1:24 I like quite a bit. Reminds me of the good cathedral-ish strings from Xenosaga Episode III, and some of Final Fantasy XII, and possibly an area of Star Ocean III. The section after is pretty good. The voice I'm not crazy over. The percussion at 2:33 is reminiscent of a particular track in XS Ep.III within a darkened corporate facility, which has now become a recognizable favorite of mine, so nice touch there. Overall, though, while a slow and smooth constant ambient groove can be a good thing, I really wish the chord progression changed just a tad while still sounding good. I mean it's already a thought-provoking type arrangement/song anyway; might as well have varied it up as opposed to thinking the same thought for 3 minutes or whatever.
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
This mix is absolutely amazing. I have been listening to it off and on for months and it never gets old.
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
The vocals in that song are all done in what is called the Whistle Range. Whoever recorded the original was incredible.
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
being one of my three fave Xenogears remixes (the other two being Pillar of Salt and 7 Years Broken) I definitely recommend this one, a definite 11/10 on my scale

- YearXero on August 23, 2005
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.

- 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
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)

- Geoffrey Taucer on July 7, 2005
I love this mix, as my vote shows.
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
My god. This is absolutely one of my favorite remixes ever. The mood is just so great in this song. Everytime I hear it I think of a perilous night sky (though I haven't played Xenogears so I don't really know when this song plays). But when the strings came in at 00:34, I already told myself "God damn. This is gonna be an awesome mix right here". Magnificent (how many times do you see that word?) job Oceanfire, 10/10, I can't find anything I DON'T like.

- SynthesizedStampede on May 28, 2005
this song has the 2nd highest playcount on my list (109 plays) it's SO perfect. Very dark sounding, and the vocals are stunning.
10/10, a GORGEOUS remix oceanfire!!!

- dollerzOC on May 12, 2005
It's been said, but I figure repetition can't hurt... this is incredible. I wish it were longer.
The section with the vocals reminded me of a particular track from Uru: Ages Beyond Myst, which contained a similarly beautiful and floating female vocal segment.

- Asterin on March 17, 2005
This is my first time posting about a specific song. This song is just beautiful. I have been playing it on repeat for about 3:45 and I'm still not tired of it. This is one of those songs that just relaxes you, and makes you think, and man I love it. I love this type of music because it helps me write.
The vocals, they are small, but so powerful. Does anyone else think they sound A LOT like the ones from a song on the movei Donnie Darko? Thats a good thing though.
ANyways, I'm not a music major or anything like that, but I know what I like. This is beauitiful.

- DarkOmenDKA on March 3, 2005
This is great, very hunting like the organial.
I like what you did with it, and looking forward to more of the same...

- Duncan on February 28, 2005
One more thing: 'Omen' has always been one of my favorite Mitsuda songs. It was very haunting to begin with. Hearing it with (beautiful) vocals seems more like what it should have been, but couldn't be in-game due to technological limitations of the time.
Sorry to obsess so much over the vocals, but good golly by George they rock me. :)

- Ventrex on February 26, 2005

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