ReMix:Spyro: Year of the Dragon "Acoustic Fields" 4:02

By Arceace

Arranging the music of one song...

"Midday Gardens"

Primary Game: Spyro: Year of the Dragon (Sony , 2000, PS1), music by Ryan Beveridge, Stewart Copeland

Posted 2014-12-03, evaluated by the judges panel


Happy 20th Birthday to the PlayStation!!

To celebrate, we've got out FIRST ReMix from the Spyro series, as Arceace offers up a bass-driven EDM arrangement from Spyro: Year of the Dragon, the third & final outing for the series on the PS1, where it began back in 1998. Ben writes:

"I find it rather surprising that there isn't a single Spyro the Dragon remix on OC ReMix. The original Spyro trilogy holds many fond memories for me growing up. The music was always my favorite part of the games, and I sometimes enjoy playing those old soundtracks when I'm busy with my school assignments. "Midday Gardens" was a rather odd song out of Spyro 3, but that doesn't make it any less awesome! The seemingly random assortment of instruments seem to work together perfectly to create a cool, chilled out atmosphere. In this remix, I just wanted to enhance some of the cool drum patterns, and give it a more melodic spin. Enjoy!"

First off, a quick word about Stewart Copeland, one of the two composers of this specific Spyro game, along with Ryan Beveridge. The Police are one of my favorite bands, a huge part of their sound was Copeland's impeccable & brilliant drum work, and his post-band career as a composer has been really successful, with excellent work in both film & games. I was psyched to see a member of one of my favorite bands of all time pursue composing for games, and at the time I think his doing so actually had a legitimizing effect for the profession. I'm glad to have both him & the Spyro series finally represented on OCR!

As for the mix, not quite sure why the title is "Acoustic Fields," as this is a slower house/chillout sorta jam, with organ stabs & riffs peppering a four-on-the-floor kick groove, syncopated percussion, & an unapologetic saw bass that filters, bends, and remains a focus for the majority of the track. Liontamer writes:

"Texturally, the opening layerered claps were a lil' thin, but serviceable. I really appreciated Justin's arrangement breakdown, which made it easy to clarify and co-sign on the source usage. Writing-wise, the dynamics were subtle but solid. The overall energy here was pretty understated, but the elements that were there glued together nicely for a reasonably full soundscape. Nice job, Ben!"

Agreed; this isn't an aggressive/foreground ReMix that demands your undivided attention per se, but it's got a very comfortable groove that it works with, modernizing the source tune's jazzier atmosphere & centering attention around DAT BASS. Good, unexpected stuff from Arceace, just in time to ring in 20 years of PlayStation!!

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 8 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Chernabogue
on 2015-12-29 14:41:39

Spyro? Yes! That title was misleading, there was no acoustic instrument here! LOL

There's a big Daft Punk (early) / French electro vibe in this track, and I love that. The choice of synths/organs was on spot here, love the sound of all those instruments. The production is super clean, and the track is ultra groovy. Aw yeah, nice job! :)

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bladex
on 2014-12-24 23:51:23

i'm also amazed astounded even that there aren't more spyro mixes here. spyro 1-3 have some of the best music of the psx era.

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Crulex
on 2014-12-12 14:46:06

So another thing I love about OCR is how I learn things about the video game industry (usually in the music side of it), like about Stewart Copeland. Never knew the drummer for the Police had anything to video game music, let alone Spyro. That's actually freaking awesome, so nice nugget of info, DJP. As for the ReMix itself, it has a damn good beat that I'm truly feeling, and I would have loved to have heard this playing while I playing the Spyro games way back when. It doesn't seem to be a track that goes for the knockout blow, but it is jabbing away with the bass and the dance elements that threaten to bust out on their own. Not bad.

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Black_Doom
on 2014-12-04 14:09:41

This mix sounds like Ben's debut mix off Temporal Duality, mostly because of the drum patterns, though, this one sounds more upbeat. Anyway, this is a very nice break from the Sonic-themed mixes. Sweet jam.

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melodicmadness
on 2014-12-04 01:47:53

the original Spyro games have some of my favorite video game soundtracks. I'm so glad you finally brought a Spyro remix to us. It sounds great! I haven't stopped bobbing my head to it.

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Rexy
on 2014-12-03 18:19:07

I remember complimenting this on Facebook when I saw it get approved by the panel. Might as well copy-pasta for significance - I'm very pleased with this outcome, Ben!

Midday Gardens totally fits his groove-based approach from what I had seen in recent months as well. If Bingo Highway (re: SZRC 2014) and Special Stage (US) were balls-hard to work with in the first place, think about what would've happened when later Stewart Copeland work came into consideration.

Having transcribed some of the PS1-era Spyro MIDIs, I can understand the difficulty of being able to work with something more riff-driven, and Midday Gardens is what I feel is even more restricting than the rest of the soundtrack. But regardless of the outcome, I'm really glad we've got some Spyro love on OCR - big love there!

(...and I'm sorry Larry for not stepping up my game on this yet =()

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OverClocked PodCast
on 2014-12-03 17:54:54

The original Spyro soundtracks never did much for me, and I despite this much snazzier go-around of the purple dragon drums and bass, I'm still not feeling it. The song is solid-- toe-tapping, I might even say-- but it kind of goes in one ear and out the other.

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Liontamer
on 2014-12-03 11:18:42

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

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Spyro: Year of the Dragon (Sony , 2000, PS1)
Music by Ryan Beveridge,Stewart Copeland
Songs:
"Midday Gardens"

Tags (7)


Genre:
House
Mood:
Chill
Instrumentation:
Electronic,Organ,Synth
Additional:
Time > 4/4 Time Signature
Time > Tempo: Moderate

File Information


Name:
Spyro_Year_of_the_Dragon_Acoustic_Fields_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
5,899,587 bytes
MD5:
12a3a5102ea45ea257d0662dc2370e9b
Bitrate:
192Kbps
Duration:
4:02

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