ReMix:Final Fantasy X "Guardian's Sending" 5:25

By Sal

Arranging the music of 2 songs...

"At Zanarkand", "Auron's Theme"

Primary Game: Final Fantasy X (Square , 2001, PS2), music by Junya Nakano, Masashi Hamauzu, Nobuo Uematsu

Posted 2004-02-07, evaluated by the judges panel


Wow... my initial listen to this must have been under weird circumstances, because I don't remember being as impressed. Newcomer Sal gives us a mature, dramatic arrangement from FFX with a big emphasis on dynamics. Most of the arrangement is acoustic guitar, cello, oboe, some piano, and strings. Towards the end there's a large, emphatic brass push w/cymbal crashes which seems a little forced, but the rest of the arrangement flows like butter, and in particular the repeating acoustic guitar riff effectively evokes a classic rock motif being fused with orchestral in a pleasing manner. Stereo imaging is paid attention to, strumming on the guitar is believable, and overall this isn't cookie-cutter orchestral and has some interesting things to say arrangement-wise while not slacking on the sound quality, either. The ReMixer writes:

"This is more of an arrangement than anything else. As the title suggests, it's meant to go along with a scene in the game so i've concentrated much more of the mood of this rather than the technical aspects so intrumentally, it's fairly minimalist. It's meant to be a 'story in music' so it's more of a piece that should get you thinking rather than it just being something to listen to. Whether i've managed to pull it off well, that's what the judging's for. Made with Guitar Pro 3, Cubase, Edirol Super Quartet, Edirol Orchestral & Sound Forge 6."

The Edirol VSTis may not produce jaw-dropping sound quality, but I find their results pleasing and sometimes - esp. when combined by someone with a little know-how - downright impressive. While some judges felt the flow at times wasn't as smooth as it could have been (the dropout at 2'10" is the only good example I can come up with of this), Protricity succinctly summed up his opinion, while disagreeing with the mixer's own self-applied "minimalist" label as well:

"I wouldn't call this minimalistic. There is a lot going on for the most part in every section of the song. Missing percussion, but percussion would lose the feel. Indeed this is a good mix of original and originality so to speak."

Definitely some excellent dynamics work here, and an arrangement that clearly did involve some planning out and coordination. Compelling first submission. Recommended.

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
avatar
Marmiduke
on 2011-10-21 10:42:33

Really enjoy this. The samples stick out a little, but it surprisingly doesn't get in the way of the emotion in the piece. It comes through quite strongly; the strings and brass aren't the best sounding things in the world, but they are used extremely well. The arrangement of the themes is top-notch... though transitions were notably neglected.

Honestly, I don't think To Zanarkand was needed at the end at all, definitely not as developed as it is. It's a much weaker tail-end of the mix, with much less interesting arrangement going on that I think lets the rest of the track down. Still, it's a solid and at times stunning piece of music, even though it suffers from some unfortunate compartmentalisation. Truly great work, regardless.

avatar
WesternZypher
on 2010-11-03 13:12:12

Definitely liking the 1st half more than than the second, and both tunes don't feel as well integrated as they could be. Still, anything than showcases Auron's tune is a welcome addition.

avatar
OA
on 2008-04-18 11:47:21

Nice samples, but things sound pretty mechanically sequenced. I think the arrangement is pretty nice, and there is a good progression through to the end, with a good amount of variety. The strange fades and low brass transitions made me frown :-(, but when the sending theme came up I smiled. :-)

I love that theme, and the way you handled it was pretty great, but that transition into it was pretty weak. A decent listen, but somewhat forgettable for me.

avatar
Aristobulus
on 2006-08-25 00:21:03

Awesome.

You captured the emotions perfectly - and that's really no easy task. This so perfectly brings up what I was feeling when I watched that scene in the game, even moreso because Auron was by far my favorite character.

This does it even *better* than the game, really, because the game just kindof breezed past that part focusing more on Tidus/Yuna. This lasts, you see.

Hard to believe this is a first submission, it's that good.

avatar
Xx~~Zangetsu~~xX
on 2006-02-02 15:45:59

hmm..yea its good i like the beginning part better than the rest of the song but thats just my opinion

avatar
lady zelda
on 2006-01-08 23:17:05

First you got that awesome guitar work, like that of a solitary warrior. After that, you have this small moment of silence and then before you know it, it's as if the clouds opened up their passage to the sunlight and you feel an immediate rush of strenth go through you. In short, it's a heartwarming remix.

avatar
Keiseth
on 2006-01-07 03:09:00

Possibly my favorite OC Remix (Well, I've said that to a lot of them now, ranging from DJPretzel's FF9 "Dubnofantasyaloneman" to Hermit's Link's Awakening "Seaside Lullaby"...)

I'm surprised Sal has only one submission! For this is some remixin'/arrangin' done right. Real right. I actually like the first half of the remix better, but not due to any downfalls on the second half; just personal taste... Very well done! I want to hear more from Sal! =)

avatar
Bummer
on 2005-10-03 03:19:42

Very great stuff from Sal here, Auron´s theme should and always shall be played with a nice guitar or at least an instrument with some strings. I recognized an other song too, that one around the end, that´s sounds like the ending theme. It does sounds like Zanarkand too of course, they have the same melody, BUT the piano beginning from 3:14 is from that one, I´m sure it is.

To sum it all up, great work from Sal, you can hear he´s a pro, and....what do you mean he´s a newcomer?

avatar
JimSelve
on 2005-09-21 15:20:17

I really love the athmosphere of this mix. This is the perfect ending theme: imagine you are watching the credits of the game and this wonderful piece of music comes up... damn!

And this fading piano at the end...Nice work. Thanks very much, Sal.

avatar
jordex
on 2004-12-28 22:50:49

Damn beautiful this is...

This song couldn't be made any better

There's the nice Zanarkand theme around the 4 minute marker as well

This is just amazing!

avatar
Tear
on 2004-07-20 19:48:26

Wow...This is a really amazing piece, I listen to this all the time, great job man

avatar
Krythan
on 2004-07-20 11:39:53

Beautiful! As someone already mentioned, this piece brings out the emotions you experience in the game. Kinda makes me sad to listen to it. And I gotta say, I almost let a tear drop at 4:41. :oops:

avatar
Brinnswf
on 2004-02-10 22:58:27

my only complaint, if you even want to call it that, is that it stops around 2'09 and changes theme this kind of hinders the feeling, great emotional epic (which happen to be my personal favorite) with alot of highs and lows overall a excellent mix

avatar
Lithium
on 2004-02-09 16:56:54

I'd just like to start this review off by thanking Sal. Auron was by far (and I'm talking in terms of light years) the strongest character in the game and my favorite, and his theme was one of the stronger tracks on the iffy FFX OST.

Very good stuff here. Nice and simple, but powerful remix of Auron's Theme. Thanks for this most importantly. The rest of the song is equally as powerful.

And I noticed you couldn't resist a touch of To Zanarkand. Fine by me. :)

avatar
†pikachu†
on 2004-02-09 05:48:33

Aw, this is very good, no techno, trance... this is something I haven't heard in awhile from OverClocked. I love this style, and you did a great job, congrats on the mix.

Keep up the good work!~

Sources Arranged (2 Songs)


Primary Game:
Final Fantasy X (Square , 2001, PS2)
Music by Junya Nakano,Masashi Hamauzu,Nobuo Uematsu
Songs:
"At Zanarkand"
"Auron's Theme"

Tags (0)


Genre:
Mood:
Instrumentation:
Additional:

File Information


Name:
Final_Fantasy_10_Guardian's_Sending_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
5,287,479 bytes
MD5:
e189b0ff5c3350cc260cf52f102278a7
Bitrate:
128Kbps
Duration:
5:25

Promotion

8-bit Jazz Heroes - Press Start
View All

Latest Albums

View All

Latest ReMixes