OCR04318 - *YES* Final Fantasy 4/6/7/9, Super Mario Galaxy & Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past "Empress Waltz"

[Rexy]

Not one single source (and by extension, game) is present for more than 25% of the track's running time, so this'll be difficult to file under a specific game.  We'll cross that bridge if the track passes.
-Rexy

RebeccaETripp
Rebecca Tripp

http://www.crystalechosound.com/
ID: 48262

Game(s): Mario Galaxy, FF4, FF6, FF7, FF9, Zelda (series)
Song Title: Empress Waltz

Songs Remixed: Rosalina’s Observatory, Troian Beauty, Flowers Blooming in the Church, Zelda’s Lullaby, Garnet’s Theme, Wedding Waltz

This is a giant medley of several themes from various video games, including Super Mario Galaxy, Final Fantasy 4, FF6, FF7 and FF9, and The Legend of Zelda (series).  The original songs used in this arrangement are Rosalina's Observatory, Troian Beauty, Flowers Blooming in the Church, Princess Zelda's Theme, Garnet's Theme and The Wedding Waltz.  It is a collaborative suite featuring live instrumental and vocal performances from 11 different very talented female musicians.  The medley, which I've named "Empress Waltz" (an indirect homage to Strauss II's Emperor Waltz!) is meant to be a celebration of female virtuosity.  I chose to include a variety graceful, Venusian, "queenly", feminine VGM tracks.

This medley represents just over a year's worth of work between the 11 of us; there was a lot of love and care (and countless hours) put into this.  For this reason, if you're reading this, I want to encourage you to explore everyone else's work, if you haven't already.  Each person in this medley is an incredibly talented, dedicated musician, many of whom have themselves composed and arranged massive bodies of live VGM covers, in addition to various other interesting projects they've each worked on.

The credits are below:

Harp 1 - Samantha Ballard
Harp 2 - May Claire La Plante
Flute 1 - Brooke Ferd
Flute 2 - P2 Sue
Oboe - Brooke Ferd
English Horn - Kristin Naigus
Violins  - PitTan
Violas - Michelle Eng
Vocals 1 - Tiggs
Vocals 2 - Julia Henderson
Vocals 3 - MatcHey
Vocals 4 - PitTan
Vocals 5 - May Claire
Composition/Mastering - RebeccaETripp

I know this one would be a little weird to categorize if you decide to post it, so I’ll understand if you don’t want to use it.  Technically, the longest tracks in it are the Mario Galaxy and FF4 ones, so it makes sense to file it under one of those games if it does make the cut.
 

[Emunator]

I'm grateful for this submission and the talent that it represents, both in Rebecca's arrangement and the quality performances put forth by every artist involved. This must have been a monumental undertaking, but the effort was undoubtedly well worth it. It's hard to pick highlights, but if I had to name a few, the harp duet and the choir of voices are some of the standouts to me. Truly though, there are no weak links in terms of performances. The trove of live instruments featured here mitigates any of the sample quality issues that may have been present in Rebecca's past submissions, and even the production and mastering quality feels like a step up from previous submissions as well! The transitions between each source are solidly executed, which keeps this from ever feeling like a patchwork of different musical ideas that were stuck together at random. Overall, a stellar effort from everyone involved. Bravo!!

I am hearing a number of rendering pops throughout this export however, and it marks a singular nitpick in an otherwise solid track (such as 0:05, :15, :22, :25, etc.) It would be fantastic to get these ironed out if we can. I don't hear as many of them as the track progresses, but it was noticeable enough in the intro to call attention to it. 

YES (conditional on fixing pops)

EDIT: Changing based on LT's feedback, which I agree with - it would be lovely to get those ironed out but this track is way too good to not pass if those can't be resolved!

Edited July 31, 2021 by Emunator

[prophetik music]

wow.

what a great celebration of skill and quality musicianship. this is a superb effort.

this checks all my boxes. the transitions are delicately handled, the realizations are scaled well for the ensemble, the performances are excellent, and the orchestration is nuanced and enjoyable. there's really some excellently-voiced parts in here, probably my favorite is the realization of "crossing those hills", which uses ongoing movement in the supporting parts alongside floating choral sustains to simulate motion - which is a great example of story influencing the musical setting, since this music is used on the main map in FF9.

if i'm going to complain about anything besides the little pops that emunator mentioned, it's that we don't sit anywhere long enough to really dig into it, and by extension the ending is a little abrupt for a 7:45 track. but these are nitpicks.

i do think that the pops should be fixed (should be easy, either automate some silence there or delete the broken waveform bit by removing the last ms or so on those tracks), but this is a superlative work that i can't wait to see on the site.

 

 

CONDITIONAL on removal of pops.

update 6/7 - based on LT's comments, i will change this to a YES. i do want the pops at least silenced if possible before shipping but it's not enough to prevent it from being posted IMO.

Edited June 7, 2021 by prophetik music

[Liontamer]

The pops are definitely an issue, but if there was no re-render available, I wouldn't go conditional on this vote; the minor pops there wouldn't preclude me from passing this as-is, so it's very important to keep that thinking in mind when applying conditional YES votes. If the track simply can't be passed as-in without tweaks, only then should you go conditional. No matter what, we should still try to get a version sans pops, but nothing's holding this back from unqualified approval, IMO.

This was a well-structured medley, and I enjoyed both the flow of it and the story behind this special all-women collaboration. Nice work, y'all!

YES

[MindWanderer]

I don't even hear these pops.  Maybe my music player is smoothing them out.  I do hear a faint white noise hiss that comes in and out; I think one of the performances may have been recorded with not quite enough gating.  It's minor, though, and I only heard it when I turned up the volume to try to hear the pops.

It's definitely a medley, which I come down hard on, but the transitions are smooth and there's no question about it being a cohesive piece.  A beautiful arrangement and stellar performances.  Onward and upward!

YES