OCR03696 - *YES* Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker "All I Want for Christmas Is Grandma's Sweet Elixir Soup"

[Gario]

This is a remix I made for Another OverClocked Christmas Album Vol. 11. Whoah.

Source:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJsviRJ4voc

 

ReMixer: Ridiculously Garrett

Name of game remixed: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

Name of source remixed: Outset Island

Title of ReMix: “All I Want For Christmas is Grandma’s Sweet Elixir Soup"

 

I figured hey why not submit it. I’ll run my chances. It’s a fairly simple track. But it’s pretty jammin, you know?

 

[Gario]

Ooo, this IS pretty smooth. Not as familiar with the soundtrack personally, but upon a quick listen and comparing it to this I think I can hear enough in there. Might be beneficial for someone else to check, though.

As far as the arrangement otherwise goes, I like the two contrasting parts that act to divide one another up - that piano part and that jazz synth work - though the piano part is too quiet in comparison. Ideally, if we could get something that's about twice as loud for that piano part that would be ideal. That ending is also pretty weak - fading out on new material is always such a tease.

The production on this is smooth, like the arrangement is. During the synth jazz parts the melody tends to be mixed behind the rest of the arrangement for some reason, but it's not a debilitating issue in it's own right. Otherwise... yeah, I like the production on this.

I can see some issues that might get this held back by other judges, but I think the good outweights the bad, in this case; I'm all for a postin' this.

YES

[MindWanderer]

The syncopation is a little odd in places, hard to get used to but not objectively bad.  And yeah, the lead is quiet in a lot of places.  There's some pumping (1:09 really stands out), and I found the sidechaining in the climax distracting.  Fade-out ending, blargh.

More importantly though, I think source usage is a problem.  What I get is:

• 0:04-0:26
• 0:57-1:24
• 2:21-3:01 (drastically transformed and unrecognizable out of context)
• 3:54-4:24

Total: either 119 or 79 seconds out of 280 seconds = 42.5% or 28.2%.  And I feel like that third section is an extreme stretch to count.  Otherwise I think this would probably be OK, but unless someone can point out more source, I have to give this a

NO

[Liontamer]

There's definitely more source usage involved. The track was 4:37-long, so I needed at least 138.5 seconds of source usage to consider it dominant in the arrangement.

:00-:29, :54.75-1:38, 2:00-2:12 (:46-:55 of source), 2:21-2:41.75, 2:42.75-3:03, 3:54.5-4:25.75 = 156.5 seconds or 56.4% overt source usage

Just noting some things about the track, the dropoffs/pauses can seem needless, but I wasn't bothered by them. The instrumentation was somewhat vanilla (not in a way that made the judgement close though), but the sleigh bells were a nice accent and, most importantly, the personality and creativity of the arrangement were super strong. Loved the very involved Outset melodic variations that Garrett used throughout; it was slowed down and there were a TON of grace notes, but nothing that broke up the melodic structure when you listen carefully; nice work and a fun Xmas treat!

Been waiting to finally get Garrett posted as an official OC ReMixer, and this one's gonna make it happen.

YES

[Chimpazilla]

What an interesting take on this source!  Very groovy and chill.  I don't care for the long pauses, especially when they fade to more than a second of complete silence, but like Larry I am not bothered by them.  My main gripes are: 1. the Christmas bells are too loud and up front when paired with the snare, and 2. fade out ending.  Still, unique, creative stuff here.

YES

[Sir_NutS]

Beautiful.  The soloing is sweet and attention to detail is top notch.  The structure is kinda broken up by the pauses, but they add a really nice touch to the arrangement.  The harmonies are woven in really well to complement the melodies.  This was super enjoyable, and fans of songs with jazzy sensibilities will enjoy this greatly.

YES