ReMix:Skies of Arcadia "God's Ambition" 6:25

By Deedubs

Arranging the music of 2 songs...

"Armada", "The Battle with Armada"

Primary Game: Skies of Arcadia (Sega , 2000, DC), music by Tatsuyuki Maeda, Yutaka Minobe

Posted 2019-10-28, evaluated by Liontamer


I don't know how an omniscient, omnipotent, & omnipresent being could really be ambitious per se, but I *DO* know that this symphonic drum n' bass (!!) ReMix from Deedubs (Mike DeWeese), off Arcadia Legends, is FIRE:

"I was very excited when I received an invitation to contribute to this album project and even more excited when I learned that my favorite track from the OST, "Armada Battle," was still available. I was eager to see what I could do with such an up-tempo and intense source. Combined with the melodically-similar-to-a-point "Armada," there was plenty of material to work with. I especially had fun working with the unique melody from "Armada," which you'll hear plenty of once the brass fanfare comes in.

Originally, I was going to go for a strictly orchestral film-score feel, but an orchestral/drum and bass combo was ultimately decided. It was a big challenge for me, combining something very familiar to me (full orchestra) with something less familiar (electronic music) and getting both to gel properly. A big thanks to timaeus222 and Chimpazilla for their helpful feedback on the mixing."

We've seen a fair number of orchestral & EDM hybrids over the years, but rarely is the latter half d'n'b, which makes for a very agile, intense, & rapid-fire pairing. Larry Oji writes:

"Mike's arrangement was strong stuff, really buoyed by orchestration that delivers tons of dynamics and momentum. Interesting challenge too in presenting something different with "The Battle for Armada," which itself has its own breakbeats. Deedubs' breakbeats didn't fully gel with the overall texture of the piece, IMO, which could have been done with a denser and less generic sound, but that doesn't detract from the overall majesty of this piece. I wanted the beats to hit harder in tandem with the orchestration, but this still soars and reminds me a lot of Nutritious's style. As attested by album director Darkflamewolf, Mike vastly, vastly over-delivered for Arcadia Legends, so be sure to check out all of his contributions on the album to fully appreciate his productivity and range! :-)"

Orchestral elements are dominant, here, and done VERY well, such that the beats - while still immense & intense - can seem secondary. That's a good thing, in the sense that they don't obfuscate the lovely, powerful symphonic work going on, but I can see where Larry's comments are coming from; some additional processing glue, or more prominent synthetic element, might have wed the two worlds with a tighter knot. Hybrids are tricky, especially when you want the acoustic/classical elements to shine, as they do here, and ultimately this ratio is preferable to an inversion where electronic bits cloud everything else. I think Mike more or less nailed a symphonic mix with a dnb backstory, and the grandeur & scope of the more emphatic sections really punches through; as Larry writes, all of his contributions to Arcadia Legends are compelling and well-produced, and this is no exception. Excellent!

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 5 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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CJthemusicdude
on 2024-04-18 13:59:50

I was expecting a pretty run-of-the-mill orchestral remix at first, but when things ramped up, they REALLY ramped up. The DnB intense drums really helped drive the intensity along with the strings. Great stuff!

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Modus
on 2019-11-19 10:36:21

I love this one. I feel if there were an official remake of Skies, we would be hearing stuff just like this. Cinematic as all get out and retains the electronic elements.

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Darkflamewolf
on 2019-11-12 16:48:58

@Deedubs was one of the first onboard with the album and this was the first track he picked and finished. He immediately went gung-ho on his idea with little input from me. He finished it in a few short weeks. However, it went through a crazy polishing phase where we handed it off to the faux-judges (since it wasn't supposed to be an official panel critique) of @timaeus222, @Gario, and @Chimpazilla(at the time, she later dropped out due to real life). I do believe it went back and forth between @Deedubs and judges at least three times with not so minor edits, but all that hard work and touching up on this track turned it into something very strong, powerful and memorable. One of the first tracks to be completed for the album and one of my personal favorites!

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timaeus222
on 2019-10-29 00:06:57

This is absolutely phenomenal. I have no other words.

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Liontamer
on 2019-10-28 11:16:53

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

Sources Arranged (2 Songs)


Primary Game:
Skies of Arcadia (Sega , 2000, DC)
Music by Tatsuyuki Maeda,Yutaka Minobe
Songs:
"Armada"
"The Battle with Armada"

Tags (10)


Genre:
Drum and bass,Symphonic
Mood:
Energetic,Epic,Suspenseful
Instrumentation:
Brass,Orchestral,Strings,Synth
Additional:
Time > Tempo: Fast

File Information


Name:
Skies_of_Arcadia_God's_Ambition_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
10,832,742 bytes
MD5:
0c3b4771904069c6f3c13762207c3e8d
Bitrate:
223Kbps
Duration:
6:25
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