*NO* Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening 'Know the Truth'

[Gario]

Contact Information
ReMixer name : Reuben6
Real name: Reuben Spiers
E-mail: 
 

Submission information
Game: The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Name of arrangement: Know the Truth
Name of original song: Southern Face Shrine

 

 

Edited May 2, 2017 by Liontamer
closed decision

[MindWanderer]

For record-keeping purposes, "Tal Tal Heights" and "Ballad of the Wind Fish" are uncredited sources that play brief cameos here.

Interesting approach.  I was certainly not expecting it to turn into a rock ballad halfway through.  It comes across as an extremely lengthy introduction for a very brief main section (1:25-2:15).  I'd extend that middle section, which is the highlight and centerpiece of the overall arrangement; alternatively, shortening the intro would help (you could move part of it to the end, as well, but take care that the middle section remain the main section).  

It's also a little odd that the lead guitar that comes in after the main section is treated completely differently than the way it was before.  It creates an unnecessary discontinuity between the different sections.  I personally felt that the later section was a little too loud and piercing, but just a hair.  If you match sounds in the end section more closely to thouse in the intro, the result would be a more cohesive arrangement and more effective bookending.

The vocalizations are frequently flat.  Since they're used as backing, a little bit of auto-tuning would clean that right up.

The reverse reverb on the spoken verse is maybe a bit too strong, making the words difficult to understand.

I don't think there's any one dealbreaking issue here, but the off-key vocals and the strange overall organization are both pretty substantial.  I would love to see this back with those addressed, though, as I really do like the concept, the individual arrangement choices, and the musicianship here.

NO (resubmit)

[Gario]

Whoops, forgot the sources there. Thanks for pointing that out.

This track is rather interesting - it seems to want to tell a story. The form of the track is pretty heavy in introductory material, though (it takes more than 50% of the track to build to the meat of it). If nothing else, this makes the arrangement sound fundamentally unbalanced - that much build should have considerably more payoff (rule of thumb: intro should be no more than 25% of the track).

Aside from that, there are elements in the intro that don't quite click with me, either. The piano is pretty dry and mechanical, while the guitar & vocal parts are very wet by contrast. The reverb needs to be better balanced between the parts. The vocals are also consistently flat, as MW mentions, so beware of that.

I think it's a good idea, but the imbalance of the intro-to-body ratio of the piece makes this feel incomplete. The reverb balance issue and vocal tuning also throw this off a bit. I think there's a great idea in this, though, and would like to hear it again with the issues addressed and the arrangement extended a bit to compensate for such a long intro.

NO

[Liontamer]

I don't agree with Gario's assessment of long intros or his guideline on how long you can go to max one out. I take this stuff on a case-by-case basis, and the main things I'm concered about are the interpretation of the source tune and track development. I didn't have any inherent problem with the build here being nearly half the track because there was development and contrast throughout the way. Songs come in all kind of forms, and there was nothing inherently problematic with this piece's structure vis-a-vis our Standards. I break on the side of leaving artists flexibility with how they want to write.

Onto the track analysis, that opening is just... oof. The sound quality of the opening piano and then drums were basically General MIDI-type quality. Just robotic-sounding, bone dry, and super fake. C'mon, bro, let's not settle for stuff like this.

The quick intro speech at :20 was cheesy too, but we'll let that go for now.

The guitar work at :26 sounded better. Agreed with MindWanderer on the vocalization brought in at :30 & 1:36 being flat in a lot of places, even though the delay was able to somewhat mitigate that.

Oh, the spoken work stuff comes back at 1:08. Well, I'll say this; I like the effects on it, but the voice doesn't really have much presense; it's somewhat nasally/chipmunky the way it's produced now.

The electric guitar coming in at 1:25 added some good depth to your texture, but the drums writing (while not too simplistic) still felt plodding and metronom-ish.

I didn't agree with MindWanderer's criticism of the electric guitar being produced differently at 2:17 vs. 1:29. They have two different tones, but what's the problem? Calling it a "discontinuity" sounded pretty overblown to me, and the bookends approach of the closing section compared with the opening sounded just fine from a writing and sound perspective.

Apologies for not saying much about the writing and arrangement. Conceptually, this arrangement works fine and was a creative take on "Southern Shrine," but the execution needs refinement, so most of the issues are production-related. The drum writing felt pretty plodding, and you've also got to improve the sound quality/realism of the opening piano and your drums, and tighten up the notes of the choir work. The spoken word stuff could use a little more body to it.

That said, you have a decent base here, Reuben, but it would take a fair amount of work to shape it up. Do what you can via the Workshop forums here or any other resources to given this one another shot, at least to see how far you can improve it. Even if you don't get this one posted here in some form, you show good potential and your creative ideas are well in the right direction for what we're looking for with interpretive arrangements.

NO (resubmit)