ReMix:Xenogears "Dale of the Wind" 2:06

By Dale North

Arranging the music of one song...

"Valley Where the Wind Is Born"

Primary Game: Xenogears (Square , 1998, PS1), music by Yasunori Mitsuda

Posted 2001-08-14, evaluated by djpretzel


Slick as shit ensemble instrumental from Mr. North which I think you will enjoy. Clearly, the man is digging having high quality sounds at his disposal, and is letting us know :) This is a slow, very touching track from Xenogears that features a piano and strings. No wait, scratch that - a VERY nice piano and VERY nice strings. Beautiful Gigastudio work. The interesting point to be made here is that when the sounds are this good, does it mean the ReMixer has to work less, or deserves less credit? I think not - arranging is just as difficult, regardless of your sonic capabilities, and Dale does a fine job. The excellent timbres certainly don't hurt, but make no mistake - sounds alone do not a ReMix make. Fantastic and absolutely professional work.

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Necrox
on 2015-12-21 00:30:37

Wow, the production is nice for how old it is. I like how dynamic everything is; it sounds live. The piano fades out too fast and the mix is too short. Oh well, good work.

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timaeus222
on 2015-12-20 23:21:46

The strings have a lot of weird swells, and the piano volume dips weirdly near the end, but oh well. Great work, especially for 2001. I bet back then it was well-received.

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Rexy
on 2011-12-11 10:13:45

Dale North's works really stand the test of time well in regards to production quality. Sure, nowadays the string samples may not quite cut it, but the handling of them along with the delicate piano work had been done with such care that could almost compare it to the mellower works of Tenpei Sato.

Arrangement-wise it may be straightforward, but what tracks from 2001 weren't? The structure coupled with the little Arni Village cameo at the end was more than enough to show acknowledgement for Mitsuida's PS1-era material, and coupled with the musical viaion made it a pleasant sounding track from start to finish.

It's a shame you don't do music that often these days, but when you do chime in it's usually made of gold. I like a lot of other OC Remixers hope that you'll keep chipping into the site within the foreseeable future :)

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Bahamut
on 2009-10-29 01:00:05

I always had a place for the original song with its heavy strings at the beginning.

This sounds fairly coverish to me, with a more dainty direction from the piano usage. Definitely dig the reinterpretation despite it in large part replicating source material.

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Marmiduke
on 2009-04-21 09:18:08

Simple approach, but effective. The Xenogears soundtrack lends itself very well to the small chamber music sound; almost sounding written specifically for it. String samples have held up, despite being quite ancient by OCR standards, and piano is nice too.

Not much else to say about this one. It's a more than adequate recital of a fairly emotive piece of music from one of the greatest game OSTs of all. Well-suited, nicely presented. Other than more of an arrangement, there's not really much more you can ask for.

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Rozovian
on 2008-12-23 15:48:31

Dale North knows his stuff, this is beautiful. One of those gems from way back. Short and sweet. Great strings sound, especially during sustained notes, could be smoother during shorter notes. I wish there was more stuff like this getting posted these days. Highly enjoyable.

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DragonAvenger
on 2008-10-25 23:26:16

A very nice, peaceful track. More people need to comment on this one. Sounds are still good by today's standards, and the arrangement is nice. Nice CC reference, made for a great ending. Keeping this one.

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OA
on 2007-06-05 11:09:13

I'm surprised to see a Mitsuda + North mix have less than a million comments, but I suppose this is a short mix with not much reinterpretation. Though it follows the original almost completely, it's very well played and the samples are very high quality, and the ending is very classy. Much preferred over a fade out.

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SoC
on 2006-09-22 23:43:19

I didn't discover this one until recently, when I reformatted my HD and bittorrented everything to reorganize my collection.

Short but sweet. Has a great nostalgic feel to it. Definately a staple of my new OCR playlist.

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Nip
on 2003-08-13 20:08:22

It's just too Beautiful for words......

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Joshua Morse
on 2003-08-10 22:16:26

*sniff *sniff Beautiful man... just beautiful...

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Dark Heart
on 2003-02-17 12:31:31

....I'm surprised not many people aren't rushing to this song... :x oh well there loss if they dont dl this song!

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Kaleb.G
on 2002-08-17 00:54:04

Very beautiful. That's all that needs to be said. I like how you placed a section of Chrono Cross's "Arni Village" song at the end.

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Shhteve
on 2002-07-21 22:18:32

This is just an utterly amazing track.. I love music that people take time with, especially when it's a slow emotional song. Very well done Dale! I like your work a lot, I've even looked up several other songs by you. Keep hooking up Overclocked Remix with your wonderful sound! :wink:

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Saunders
on 2002-05-26 02:29:34

Xenogears 'Dale of the Wind'

Starting off with strings, this piece of work is really nice and soothing. A very sweet song. This tune actually sounds less like a mix, and more like OSV material. Not a lot to say, as honestly, I’m not really into the song, but it’s a great piece of work anyways. 3/5

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Xenogears (Square , 1998, PS1)
Music by Yasunori Mitsuda
Songs:
"Valley Where the Wind Is Born"

Tags (11)


Genre:
Ballad
Mood:
Romantic,Sad
Instrumentation:
Cello,Piano,Violin
Additional:
Arrangement > Trio
Time > 3/4 Time Signature
Time > Duration: Short
Time > Tempo: Slow
Usage > Wedding

File Information


Name:
Xenogears_Dale_of_the_Wind_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
2,608,646 bytes
MD5:
990a0dfc7e73cba662e62209dc2b0e24
Bitrate:
160Kbps
Duration:
2:06

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