ReMix:NiGHTS into dreams... "The Desert Had a Strange Dream" 3:21

By Dj Mokram

Arranging the music of one song...

"The Dragon Gave a Loud Scream"

Primary Game: NiGHTS into dreams... (Sega , 1996, SAT), music by Fumie Kumatani, Naofumi Hataya, Tomoko Sasaki

Posted 2012-06-08, evaluated by the judges panel


From newcomer Dj Mokram comes a funky ethnic jam off of Lucid Dreaming:

"I'm a big fan of some in-house composers at Sega, namely Fumie Kumatani, Hideaki Kobayashi, Kenichi Tokoi and Naofumi Hataya. Lucid Dreaming is a project I'd wanted to join, but didn't think I had what it took to either be a part of it, or honor the composer(s). When the source re-opened very late in the project lifespan, I quickly expressed my interest in tackling it. I wanted to take the song as far away as possible, and noticed that the verse's melody had kind of an oriental feel to it. Immediately, I thought of using instruments from the Anatolian folklore. Dumbeks, darbukas and tablas for percussion. Zurna, baglama and kanun for strings. Added a layer of indian folk with some tremolo sitars coupled to a bar violin and a sarangi for good measure. Then, I introduced a contrasting Asian flavor with some ehru and doubled kotos, playing for a bit with the NIGHTS hook. Later on, I included some orchestral and electronic elements, such as gregorian choirs, a 5-strings lakland bassline and some synthetic drums to complement the piece and make for a more interesting/varied listen.

Thanks to the feedback and encouragements from Stevo, DiGi and others, I managed to find confidence in myself to deliver this little arrangement."

Definitely a cornucopia of world (i.e. non-traditional/Western) instrumentation here, and it all gels together cohesively for a piece that takes NiGHTS - along with the familiar 'Dreams Dreams' motif - for an exotic, cultured ride. halc writes:

"this is probably the most polished mix I've heard from you in terms of samples and sequencing. coupled with (as always) a strong arrangement, I think this one is passable on both fronts. the mixing does get a bit muddy at times but I really enjoy the overall product a lot. nice work."

Emunator adds:

"Very unconventional direction to take such a weird, difficult-to-mix source tune. Definitely enough source in there when you take into account the Dreams, Dreams cameo. The remix itself make very good use of some unique samples I don't hear very often/ever in remixes. Nice percussion lines too. The ending is kind of a copout, but overall this one's a YES."

It's not easy to sequence all of these instruments into a believable, expressive whole, so there's props due on both the arrangement and the production, which benefits a great deal from sample fidelity, attention to panning, and some licks/phrases that sound sampled themselves, lending the proper articulations for heightened realism. Overall, a new watermark for Mokram & an excellent, unexpected & distinct contribution to Lucid Dreaming!

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 14 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Black_Doom
on 2015-12-10 22:48:32

Ethnic jam, you say? Heck, why not! I really love how Dj Mokram handled the source, giving it a sort of Arabian Nights vibe. The hand percussion was probably my favorite thing in this mix, he certainly nailed it. I also like how the cameo of Dreams Dreams was thrown in here. Simply amazing 3

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Crulex
on 2013-11-06 10:38:44

An ethnic jam eh? Well, alright. It does have a very distinctive Arabian or Middle Eastern feelings to it, which has always been a sound I've liked. Kinda adds to the wondrous world-view of NiGHTS in general. Pretty damn good, liked the cameo of Dreams Dreams as well.

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DiGi Valentine
on 2012-06-12 17:22:25

Ah-haaa! Mokram, man! I'm so happy for you and i'm glad to see this one get posted up. This was always one of the ones that stood out to me more on Lucid Dreaming. I told you way back when we first met at the beginning of the project that the ethnic mood felt very Arabic and with my Turkish heritage i instantly felt the vibe on your tune. You nailed the source too, which made someone like me extremely happy. I'm thankful this got posted on it's own because it deserves to have it's moment in the light separate from the rest of Lucid. It really does hold it's own well.

Anyways, in short - Nice one, i'm happy for you dude :)

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pu_freak
on 2012-06-12 09:38:47

Yeah, Mokram as an official OC ReMixer! Congrats dude. This song (despite it's for the NiGHTs album) always reminds me of Prince of Persia, but nonetheless it's a great mix

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Mikeaudio
on 2012-06-10 14:58:56

Congrats on the submission acceptance!! I am lovin the direction you took this mix. It has a dreamy feel, almost like this would be a level on a Nights video game. Great work!

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Dj Mokram
on 2012-06-10 11:55:40

Gotta admit I choked a bit when this one popped up in the RSS feed. ;D

Mad props to Stevo for giving me the opportunity to be a part of Lucid Dreaming.

Apologies to Andrew and Deia for wasting their valuable time with my low self-esteem.

Huge thanks to Larry for the eye-opening reality check. *bows respectfully*

Lasty, reading djpretzel's kind words gave meaning to this 3+ years musical adventure.

Maybe (just maybe), I wasn't only making worthless crappy music all this time.

@Guifrog: This humbles me to say the least. I'm nowhere near as good as you make it sound.

But if this little song inspired you to delve further into world music, then I couldn't be happier.

We should collab someday. ;)

For anyone interested, I made a music video for the arrangement a while back: http://vimeo.com/26786498

The positive response to the mix gives me strength to overcome my disability and keep on improving. :)

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Guifrog
on 2012-06-09 22:12:12

Hey, MokraM!! That's one hell of a debut into OCR, dude!

Must confess: I've never really got much into the deep details of world music, and this description of yours just confirms how much I still have to learn. I suppose I'm not dedicating myself as much as I could, but still, I'm eagerly looking forward to develop my skills further, so I can successfully apply my ideas as well as you do here.

Killer, crisp, sandy percussion work btw. Choice of instruments n' style reminds me of my own way of mixing things xD

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Trism
on 2012-06-09 10:03:42

Yay! Great to see Mokram get a mix accepted. Excellent song as always :)

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evktalo
on 2012-06-09 02:08:47

Our 1.5 year old 1-person judge panel is helping me with the feedback today, and gives this a smile, an applause, and a

DANCE

--Eino

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Melbu Frahma
on 2012-06-08 20:56:19

Congratulations on getting finally posted, Mokram. :nicework:

I was sold at "funky ethnic jam."

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Gario
on 2012-06-08 20:00:34

Oh sweet, a Dj Morkam (Mokram... I can never get that right, to this day) remix.

The ethnic sounds in this track are clean and well used. There's a clarity to this track that I don't normally hear in your tracks, and I like it. This is a sexy beast, and I hope to hear more get posted by you, man.

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Kuolema
on 2012-06-08 19:42:57

Congrats on getting posted Mokram!

Love this track, and it goes so well with the rest of the album despite being very different stylistically.

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DusK
on 2012-06-08 19:28:15

This is one of a very small number of remixes that I freaking love while having never heard the source track. I've known Dj Mokram works wonders with world instruments since we made "Zenpyo!" together, but with this track, there's really no doubt that this guy knows how to make remixes that are so different from what we normally see in VGM remixing, and it's all the more awesome for it.

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djpretzel
on 2012-06-08 18:42:21

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
NiGHTS into dreams... (Sega , 1996, SAT)
Music by Fumie Kumatani,Naofumi Hataya,Tomoko Sasaki
Songs:
"The Dragon Gave a Loud Scream"

Tags (2)


Genre:
Mood:
Instrumentation:
Additional:
Regional > World
Time > Tempo: Fast

File Information


Name:
NiGHTS_into_dreams_The_Desert_Had_a_Strange_Dream_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
6,109,471 bytes
MD5:
397d85bb3fbebb360bbf146c3e7a3da3
Bitrate:
239Kbps
Duration:
3:21

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