OCR01417 - *YES* Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages & Ocarina of Time 'Nayru's Love'

[djpretzel]

Hi djp,

It's been a while since I've submitted, but another contest finally motivated me to get my butt in gear and churn out another arrangement (on the date of the deadline, no less). The result, which I call "Nayru's Love," was my entry for RPGamer's "Splendid Performance!"
competition, and is an arrangement of the sadness theme from The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (GBC) with a cameo from the title theme of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64). The composer for Oracle of Ages is credited as "Pure Sound Inc." The original tracks are linked below:

Oracle of Ages - Sad theme:
http://www.vgmusic.com/music/console/nintendo/gameboy/A-sad.mid
Ocarina of Time - Title theme:
http://www.vgmusic.com/music/console/nintendo/n64/Introduction.mid

It's not the most complicated arrangement (if you've heard my other stuff, you know what to expect), but I'm proud of the way it turned out.

Yes, the introduction, is a verbatim cover of the OoT title intro. Yes, that was intentional. Right after that, the Oracle theme comes in, but it's over the OoT (or OoT-style) rolled chords, instead of the original single-note accompaniment. After that, you hear the main part of the OoT theme, and the accompaniment switches to arpeggios. Then it changes to the Oracle theme again, with some subtle OoT references at 1:29 and 1:48. Finally, we come to the OoT ending, which similar to the original but takes an interesting turn at 2:12 (I think it goes to an F# in the arrangement instead of a G).

And that's the song. It's a little simple on the left hand side and a little conservative on the right hand side, but I think if you compare it as a whole with the sources, you'll realize they're significantly different in feel and arrangement.

Oracle of Ages is a very underappreciated game with a great soundtrack, and both could definitely use plenty of lovin'. I hope this arrangement will encourage people to provide just that. Special thanks to Mustin for rendering the MP3 for me.

Edit:
After Larry and DJP had some issues with the old version, so dhsu asked if I could help him this new version. After 3 different attempts with various versions, we're finally happy to submit the final version of it. I helped edit some of the midi aspects of the piece with some tweaking of the left hand sections, and note velocities. I also did the mixing and mastering with some eq, compression, reverb, etc.

Mixers: Dhsu and GrayLightning

[Liontamer]

Indeed, I heard this one over at RPGamer's Sound Test for Splendid Performance. I just don't like how some of the notes cut out unnaturally with no release, for example, :36, :54, :59, 1:03, 1:23, 1:28, 1:49, 2:38. It should really be addressed/fixed if possible. Some of those times were less prominent examples of that happening throughout the piece, as the reverb on other notes served well to cover those up.

Really nags on me to hear stuff like that hurt an otherwise good attempt at realism and dynamics. The arrangement is genuinely engaging and enjoyable, as the two source tunes are stylishly given the solo piano treatment and fused together nicely, but it also should take more creative liberties with the melodies in my opinion. I'd scrutanize that more closely, but frankly I can't pass this as is regardless. If you could do this in a day, you can spend another day sprucing it up and making it even more Splendid! I'd like to see a new Zelda game added to the site, but you or Mustin need to fix it up for a solid YES from me, David.

NO

[GrayLightning]

Dhsu asked for my help and he wants to fix this. Status is on Hold.

[GrayLightning]

I helped Dhsu on this, more info above. Vote is resumed.

[Liontamer]

http://www.zophar.net/usf/lozusf.rar - 01 "Title Theme"
http://www.zophar.net/gbs/zeldaooa.zip - Track 30

The arrangement was on the borderline of reject-ability for me, because the melody was handled in a very straightforward manner, but you replaced all of the support work from the source tune with original and form-fitting left-hand activity. It's hard to make a conservative track feel "expansive" when going the solo piano route.

Starting off with the intro from OoT until :15 here, that was arranged subtly before transitioning into the main source material here from Oracle of Ages. Good stuff, as the themes work seamlessly together and transitioned naturally, but still very much structured like the originals.

Again, the melody was adapted well for the piano, but I'm disappointed at how it takes no meaningful liberties there. The subtle tempo changes in the performance were great, and the dynamics from passage to passage were a beauty. The last section from 2:05-2:43 featured referencing :50-1:14 of the OoT introduction, and then the Sad Theme right at the end.

Not to take away from David here, but Gray's involvement really saved this one from a production standpoint. Nothing against Mustin, but the version he MP3ed for you David was nothing but a rushjob with no attention to any details. The release issues alone made it sound like crap, but at the same token I doubt Mustin would have thought it was ready for any type of submission and was just a quick sketch/WIP rather than a serious finished product. There's no way in hell you should have subbed it in that shape. This version blew the previous away.

But on the arrangement front, while I appreciate the changes/expansion for the supporting work, the lack of interpretation of the melodic content was something I couldn't shake. I had some concerns about the arrangement initially but didn't press on them like I should have in my previous vote. To be honest, the fact that the first version was poor discouraged me from scrutinizing it vs. the originals further, plus I also took it for granted that the arrangement wouldn't be an issue, which is why I mentioned the issue but didn't press it further with Gray. Sorry, but this needs more interpretation going on.

NO (resubmit)

[DarkeSword]

Excellent work here. The two songs are seamlessly combined into one cohesive piece. The fact that the meat of this song is the Oracle of Ages theme done in the style of the Ocarina of Time title theme is enough of an interpretation as far as I'm concerned.

I really like the expressiveness that comes out when the Oracle theme is played, especially starting around 1:30. Very emotive.

It's short, but I think it makes it's point, and in this case, the brevity is justified. Any longer and it may have gotten boring.

YES

[The Orichalcon]

Well, this is a very pretty piece of piano music. The production is great here. The piano sounds like it is played live in a concert hall. As would be expected from a piano piece, it has good dynamics which ensures it goes from the gentle sounding areas to to louder more pronounced notes without sounding overbearing. No issues with the production here.

As far as the arrangement goes. On their own this would probably be considered too close to each source to be accepted through. But in this case, with the two source themes in mind, it's a nice work in melding the two themes together.

A lovely piece to listen to, very emotional and powerful, and I'm sure the people of OCR will enjoy listening to it as well.

YES

[Vig]

perhaps the most melancholy performance on this site. You know if you can break through Vig's icy shell and inject a little compassion into the charred stone that is his heart, you've done good.

doesnt even really need to be longer.

YES

[Harmony]

The arrangement is indeed borderline but I can’t complain much when the two conservatively interpreted themes are blended so well. When the OoT theme is tailed onto the sad theme at 1:30 and 1:47…magic.

The performance is powerful and expressive, the piano sounds amazingly rich, and the production is top-notch. Great work Dhsu, Gray and everyone else involved.

YES