OCR01744 - *YES* Dragon Warrior 'Overture Variations'

[Liontamer]

ReMixer name: trickwaters

Real name: Patrick Waters

Email address: waters.patrick@gmaNOSPAMil.com [remove NOSPAM]

UserID: 10346

Game: Dragon Warrior

Source work: Overture

Comments: I began planning and composing /Overture Variations/ for wind quintet in September 2006, shortly after I enrolled in graduate school. With my education demanding more attention, I set the project aside until January 2007, garnering some recent revisions in June for improved voice leading. Heavily inspired by the works of Brahms, the variations cycle through disparate keys and styles of counterpoint.

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http://www.zophar.net/nsf/dq1.zip - Track 1

Some verb would be nice to flesh the sounds out if no more sounds were added. At times the instrumentation feels too mechanical or exposed, hindering the emotion and dynamics meant to be conveyed in both the writing and the intimate setting. In light of Vigilante's POV below, I realize the production's not a dealbreaker, and the writing and sequencing was obviously very solid.

Having been told by Patrick that Track 1 was the only source tune, I didn't recognize anything from the source in the arrangement material from 1:02-2:55. I wish there was a lot more overt usage of the actual source material, integrated into the wholly original sections, as I'm not a huge fan of this sandwich method of interpretation (source-original-source, A-B-A). But there's enough source material to get by, and that itself was well-handled. Nothing wrong with that approach as long as one doesn't forget where the primary focus should rest.

YES

[Vig]

I don't think the problem here is lack of reverb at all. The problem is that there isn't enough going on in the low range, which leaves a significant hole.

With that in mind, the writing and sequencing is well done. Good dynamics and partwriting. Compositionally this is on a level much higher than what we usually get in the genre.

In spite of the lacking bottom, the arrangement is rock solid. Don't see how I can say anything but

YES

[Malcos]

This is certainly not the kind of thing we get on a regular basis, and adds musical diversity to the site. That aside, the arrangement is very good, mixing in source sections in between original material. I don't have much else to say, other than the fact that this is a

YES

[big giant circles]

Arrangement is on point here. Mixing is not. I've got enough beef with the final render, that my YES is conditional. The EQ needs to support the lower registers, and maybe even boost the master volume a bit.

I took the liberty to twiddle around with it in FL, and here's the output. Not to impose on the remixer's piece here, but this is really how it ought to sound.

www.biggiantcircles.com/OCR-subs/DW-overture.mp3

Otherwise, my vote is a NO. (Not saying we have to use my version--it's an mp3 of an mp3, so I'd prefer we get one from Patrick)

[zircon]

I'm going to echo BGC's vote here. Everything sounds great but the overall volume and bass could certainly be boosted. An easy fix that will make the piece as a whole much stronger. I was definitely impressed with the arrangement and writing; the production was really great. We don't get a lot of small ensemble mixes, and those we do get are usually very fake-sounding. Good job!

Just tweak that EQ/volume..

YES (conditional)

[Liontamer]

Patrick had some potential plans to either resample some existing parts or record some live parts, but he hasn't had the availability. While we'd all agree this could be revised on some level, djp is cool with the existing version, and Pat is also OK with letting this go up in its existing form, so we're going to run with it!

[Palpable]

About time!