ReMix:Tales of Symphonia "The Fall of Iselia" 4:31

By TheDeath, Usa

Arranging the music of one song...

"Old familiar scent of Iselia"

Primary Game: Tales of Symphonia (Namco , 2004, GCN), music by Daisuke Suzuki, Motoi Sakuraba, Shinji Tamura, Takeshi Arai

Posted 2010-08-27, evaluated by djpretzel


It's officially the last full day of our honeymoon, and we've had a great time - got to see some lava up close and personal on a boat tour, drove all over Kauai and the Big Island, had some great food, befriended a goat, saw a couple waterfalls, and most importantly just chilled + relaxed. Which is good, because Anna starts her new job next month, we've got PAX coming up, I've got a big project at work, and we've still got a TON left to accomplish in 2010. Time to post another mix, then, this time from Summoning of Spirits; Usa and TheDeath collaborated for this lovely arrangement that's primarily piano-driven but works in some nice accompanying string writing. Javier writes:

"Usa sent me the piano track and then I started changing lots of notes around. The "sad" part is kinda mine, more than the happy one, 'cause I changed more there than on the other part. I practically changed the whole sad part. XD Then Usa got it back and added some orchestra stuff over it. Usa gets way more credit."

I still dig Usa's Kirby collab w/ Taucer from '06, so it's good to see him again; ditto TheDeath, whose debut mix was another track off the album that we posted last year which still resonates. This is primarily Daniel's arrangement, as stated, but I'm glad we captured Javier's contributions. What this arrangement does particularly well is oscillate from happy to sad, pastoral to ominous, light to dark, while maintaining a natural flow & progression. There's narrative direction and development, and the strings - while clearly playing a supporting role - change from legato to more of a marcato to reflect the main melody. The development process - having one artist do the arrangement, another mess around with it a bit, and then the first add more material - can easily end up derailing a piece or making it seem a bit bipolar, but this feels cohesive to me. String sounds could be higher quality and sometimes the dynamics on the piano felt a bit hard, but overall this is an emotive, expressive ReMix from Usa & TheDeath that helps continue showing the variety and depth of Summoning of Spirits.

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Crulex
on 2012-09-11 10:09:35

Amazing piano in this ReMix. Sounds absolutely gorgeous. That dark turn was pretty powerful, especially with the piano still going as this got a little rougher. Strings and piano make a pretty sweet combo here, and it really keeps the attention going, which is always nice. Overall, a very cool ReMix that I will greatly enjoy for a long time.

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Rexy
on 2011-12-29 19:30:59

I remembered Usa's solo version fondly from the album. Guess it's been a long time coming to hear the updated version.

To me, the piano felt rather unchanged from the original mix, and the adaptation to the source material there was still really pretty. It does capture that more serene quality to the town at the start of the game, and played well to Usa's piano arranging strength back at the VGMix days.

And then hearing the moody part come in, in regards to writing, all the sweeping strings that managed to come in seemed to fit somewhat of a clarity to the quality to it. I think TheDeath's contributions seemed to be a completely different mixing down of the string part of the original, though for some reason a lot of the sound quality is very similar to Usa's original handling of it. Even back then it was a great adaptation to a minor key there, capturing the fall to the Desians to a T. And that sweep back into the happy part at the end was still pretty too, seeming to capture that moment of hoping to rise and bounce back against the Desians.

I may have got my thoughts completely wrong though, even down to any mixing differences, but comparing the original album cut with the track description, there comes the $20,000 question - if TheDeath was credited even for some of the writing in the original mix, how come he wasn't credited on this track for the album cut? :| I went in thinking there might've been an overhaul of the soundscape, but it doesn't seem to be the case. Clarification, Kyle?

Still a good track after all these years though, without doubt. Let's hope TheDeath comes back providing sweeping orchestrations soon, and similarly let's also hope Dan keeps upping his game for equally classy arrangements here :)

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Flare4War
on 2010-09-11 09:45:36

What an incredible job guys. I've been coming back to this lately and I just wanted to say again how much I like it.

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KyleJCrb
on 2010-09-02 11:16:39
Gee Kyle, I didn't know you would post IM messages quoting me without asking first XD

I didn't realize Dave and Larry would...

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OA
on 2010-09-02 10:11:09

It was pleasant at the beginning, but when it modulated I was all "damn, that's nice". This really does feel like a unified vision of a track, as opposed to a collab, which I think is actually a pretty good compliment or excellent teamwork. Interesting that this song was completed beore I even started my remixing at all too, and it's finally posted. ;-)

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TheDeath
on 2010-09-01 22:39:37

Gee Kyle, I didn't know you would post IM messages quoting me without asking first XD

Just for clarification I said that the 'sad' part is more mine than the happy one, it is because I did most of the "changes" (which was just some harmonies and some melody notes) on that part. But again, Usa did like 80% of the composing work there (and 100% of the orchestration) :P

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Nutritious
on 2010-08-31 14:51:54

Didn't really hook me that much until the orchestral elements joined the piano (shocking, huh?). Loved the energy the supporting strings brought to it. Good stuff guys.

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Flare4War
on 2010-08-31 01:59:15

Seems to be a lot of piano arrangements about and that suites me just fine.

I really enjoyed this.

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LoKi KhAoS
on 2010-08-28 13:53:02

This song is Beautiful! I never realized how much I enjoyed the songs from the Symphonia episode of the Tales series until now! Keep up the awesome work!

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KyleJCrb
on 2010-08-28 06:36:39

Goin' old school here. I think this was among one of the first songs finished for SoS, waaaay back in '05-'06 before TheDeath was even on board to remix Hydropolis. Just goes to show that Usa's been capable of surpassing the bar for a long, long time.

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phantasia
on 2010-08-28 04:54:33

Very peaceful. Thanks for sharing this is going on my ipod!

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Monobrow
on 2010-08-28 00:04:05

Haha wow, a blast from the past here, besides being on SoS, I heard this a long long time ago. This song is very old lol.

Anyway I thought it was really cool, and Usa IS the bomb, so glad to see this posted (unexpectedly)... The Death is cool too :J

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Brandon Strader
on 2010-08-27 22:33:03

I may be biased because I love Usa a ton, and am working on a lot of stuff with him.. but this is simply incredible. I hadn't heard this before and didn't even know it was up for submission. Really beautiful performance. They're not quite hollywood strings but they sound fine to me. The piano needs a ambient mic. LOL Sorry Usa ;-) I'm kidding!

Post your opinion
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BlackPanther
on 2010-08-27 20:43:37

Wow beautiful, didn't expect this to incorporate orchestral elements midway through, then BOOM! Lovin the sound and the feel of this. The strings work really well with the piano. Awesome work you two!

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djpretzel
on 2010-08-27 19:39:45

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

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Tales of Symphonia (Namco , 2004, GCN)
Music by Daisuke Suzuki,Motoi Sakuraba,Shinji Tamura,Takeshi Arai
Songs:
"Old familiar scent of Iselia"

Tags (4)


Genre:
Mood:
Mellow
Instrumentation:
Piano,Strings
Additional:
Origin > Collaboration

File Information


Name:
Tales_of_Symphonia_The_Fall_of_Iselia_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
6,602,109 bytes
MD5:
2d008ebe9aeaf1e676bc78334713cffc
Bitrate:
192Kbps
Duration:
4:31

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