[Liontamer]

Weird structure; will have to marinate on this one - LT

info
* Platonist
* Jonas Loman
* kaylynx@gmail.com
* http://www.reunionstudio.org
* id: 16574

* Zelda IV: Links Awakening
* Mysterious Woods
* -
* -
* ah well i know it's a trackermade song, but i've
postprocessed it to the max
and i know the chance is very low for this to go through
but please. . atleast give it a listen, ok?

LT EDIT (10/25): Follow-up letter from the submitter. I've already voted on 10/24, and there's no new pertinent info for me:

hey, i don't know if i got the chance to tell you everything about the remix i sent. .
i didn't realize it could be posted right away ..

1
the song i remixed is originally called Mysterious Woods but my remix is called "Forest of Hysteria"

2
i made it in Impulse Tracker (or rather- its clone for windows "Schism Tracker")
i have mastered it in Wavelab to gain some/alot of quality, using Eq's and Maximizing .. the mix itself though was made in impulse

3
further comment should be that the intro/the last part of the track is an arrangement of the midpart of the track which sounds disharmonic. . but really isn't if you look deeper into it .. i arranged it in such a way to gain more flexibility in creativity.

hope you read this before the judgement

yours,
--
- Jonas / Platonist

LT EDIT (10/27):

Originally Posted by Platonist

oh .. hah , well it isn't. it's the foundation for zelda IV gameboy. it's the same chords so i arranged it like that .. never intended to do a zelda NES vgm .. :)
well if you think it's there i don't know what to say .. it's not according to me, atleast. but i see your point ;)

Uh-huh. You're lucky though. Indeed sounds like a happy accident more than anything derived from that same Z:LA source. I'll let it ride.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Provided they're sophisticated, tracker mixes are ok. Just listen to Mazedude's Commander Keen 5 "Slick Rippin Keen".

http://zophar.net/gbs/zelda.zip - Track 9 ("Mysterious Woods")
http://www.zophar.net/nsf/zelda.zip - Track 4

After being completely offput by the progression at 3:30 in the arrangement, I couldn't believe that writing was derived from the original. The :26-:47 section of the source is so awful and unmelodic, that most people stay the hell away from it. With that said, the fact that it's carried over into the arrangement makes those sections something I'd rather never listen to again.

As far as the intro goes, I wasn't sure why the pattern taken from Zelda 1 didn't follow the progression of that source more closely, but it was an interesting choice.

Good melodic arrangement at 1:25. Not overly different from the orignal, but uniquely presented. When the tracked picked back up at 1:50, I felt the beatwork and effects overshadow the melodic content, but that was more of a personal preference thing, IMO. The different parts were still distinguishable enough.

Some soloing over the foundation of the original from 2:35-3:20, before moving onto the arranging that cursed section I hate. :'-( Good subtle synth work brought in at 3:44 to supplement that and add a little more substance. Some original writing and bass kicks were brought in on top of that from 4:06-4:53 to escalate the track before also bringing back an arranged version of the source and even thicker beats lasting until the end.

This probably could have ended with a fadeout or resolution around 5:10, but the track kept chugging along. Needless, IMO. Dynamically, the constant wall of sound never let up from 4:06 until nearly the end at 6:01 which I felt just droned on and wasn't varied enough to remain interesting. To me, the further escalation at 4:53 wasn't dynamically effective because the previous escalation at 4:06 already filled out most of the soundfield.

In a perfect world, the sound balance would be better during the fullest sections, the piece would have better dynamic contrast, and the total length would be trimmed down to cut some of the fat. But is Jonas doing a lot more right than wrong in both the arrangement and production standpoints. I think he is. Could be debateable for the rest of the panel, but I just didn't see it being that way myself.

YES

[zircon]

Cool mix. The production is polished and clean, with good mixing/mastering, but at the same time it's got a gritty & lo-fi sound on a lot of the instruments that really works. The texture evolves throughout the course of piece, even though the actual dynamics don't change that much (volume-wise) which gives it a feel of motion - I don't really think it needs to be cut down at all. Arrangement is also great. This mix exemplifies how you can do a lot with not only the melodies of a source, but the chord progression and harmony riffs. The mixer has added original writing that really fits in with the source material and the end result is definitely solid.

My only possible complaint might be a lack of more direct melody usage, but I think there is more than enough arrangement derived in some form from the source tunes (be it an arpeggio, chord progression, backing riff, rhythm, etc.) to qualify it as an OC ReMix.

YES

[big giant circles]

[22:03] zircon: guys an electronic music producer
[22:03] BGC: he's using impulse tracker
[22:03] zircon: so his production is pretty good
[22:03] zircon: nice and full sounding, imo
[22:03] BGC: i'm digging it
[22:03] BGC: his gating on his synth is pretty cool
[22:03] zircon: i guess i'm not up there yet haha, i was checking the sources real quick
[22:03] zircon: but yeah
[22:04] zircon: automation seems to be real solid
[22:04] zircon: nice variations in the beat
[22:04] zircon: by 1:14 though he hasnt done a lot of interpretation yet
[22:04] zircon: until like 1:25
[22:04] zircon: when the melody lead comes in
[22:04] BGC: by 2:33 he hasnt either
[22:04] BGC: wait, here's some
[22:04] zircon: but
[22:04] zircon: heh
[22:04] zircon: fast forwarding a bit
[22:04] zircon: yeah
[22:04] zircon: i like this
[22:04] zircon: creative
[22:05] BGC: his drumloop could use another changeup
[22:05] zircon: mostly like soloing over the original, but he still has the source riff going on, and its over the source chord progression
[22:05] BGC: HA
[22:05] BGC: just as i type that
[22:05] BGC: he changes it
[22:05] zircon: yea
[22:05] zircon: piano is a bit fug
[22:05] zircon: variation on the chord progression there tho, nice
[22:05] BGC: yeah... but it fits the tracker sound
[22:05] DarkeSword: «Listening to: http://www.ocremix.org - Platonist - Zelda: Link's Awakening Forest of Hysteria OC ReMix» «Type !darkemusic to download»
[22:05] BGC: i actually like lo fi stuff sometime
[22:05] BGC: *sometimes
[22:06] zircon: almost at the end now
[22:06] zircon: well, 4:20
[22:06] zircon: this does kind of go on awhile
[22:06] zircon: but its not really that repetitious
[22:06] BGC: i'm at 5
[22:06] BGC: actually'
[22:06] zircon: he doesnt do a whole lot with the actual melodies from the source necessarily, but plays more with the backing riffs
[22:06] BGC: NOW i'm at 5
[22:06] zircon: and the chord progression
[22:07] zircon: 4:57 helps to lock it in a bit
[22:07] BGC: yeah, but i'm grooving to this last section
[22:07] BGC: picks up some intensity
[22:07] zircon: i'm feeling like he might not quite be using enough melody; thats the only complaint i might have
[22:07] BGC: a bit repetitive, true
[22:07] BGC: i dunno. i haven't skipped forward at all, but i still enjoy it
[22:08] BGC: despite the repitition
[22:08] BGC: i love the static on the synth as it fades in at :07
[22:08] zircon: well imo this is a yes
[22:08] zircon: i'mma write down basically what i wrote here
[22:08] BGC: definitely could be stronger re: melody, but still enjoyable
[22:08] BGC: here comes a copy+paste job

it's pretty much all out on the table. i've tinkered around with impulse tracker, and i personally didn't think it was all that easy to use, so I guess props for the quality of the piece. the repetition was a minor issue, but otherwise, i still made it to the end of the track without growing impatient.

YES

[DarkeSword]

(10:09:39pm) (@DarkeSword) Thinkin
(10:09:47pm) (@DarkeSword) Am I not hearing enough source in here?
(10:10:01pm) (@DarkeSword) I mean this sounds like a lot of continuing arpeggios
(10:10:16pm) (@DarkeSword) The Woods Theme isn't really there all that much...
(10:10:42pm) (@BGC) not in the first minute or so, no
(10:10:51pm) (@BGC) there could be more melody
(10:11:06pm) (@BGC) but i think he pulled one of those "run with the chord progression for a bit' jobs for some of it
(10:11:12pm) (@DarkeSword) Well even at like, 2:30
(10:11:21pm) (@DarkeSword) melody disappears
(10:11:59pm) (@zircon) well, its a melody built on chip style arpeggios/gating
(10:12:05pm) (@zircon) but there are still distinct notes and pitches that sustain
(10:12:05pm) (@BGC) but i can hear the backing chords
(10:12:19pm) (@BGC) and what andy's saying
(10:12:21pm) (@zircon) basically original soloing in the style of the source, while having the chords and riffs from the source playing underneath
(10:12:24pm) (@zircon) for that section
(10:12:49pm) (@DarkeSword) hm.
(10:13:09pm) (@BGC) i dunno. i think he's over 50%
(10:13:15pm) (@zircon) then like in the following section, the piano essentially plays a simplified version of the melody for the first part, and then switches to a variation of the chord progression
(10:13:20pm) (@zircon) thats how i lookd at it
(10:13:34pm) (@zircon) he didnt do a lot of direct melody usage though, that i agree with
(10:13:45pm) (@BGC) even if he's only in the 55-60% range, it's still over half
(10:14:38pm) (@DarkeSword) I mean, there's the first part of the mysterious woods theme
(10:14:46pm) (@DarkeSword) the melody that everyone remembers
(10:14:58pm) (@DarkeSword) and then the second part of the woods theme is the climbing sustained pitches
(10:15:15pm) (@DarkeSword) now I can certainly hear the climbing pitches in the mix at points
(10:15:26pm) (@DarkeSword) with that piano-esque sound
(10:16:35pm) (@DarkeSword) however, it doesn't seem to me that the climbing pitches are arranged in any way; they're just there on the first downbeat of the measure, exactly as they are in the original; and everything else, including bassline, is original or soloing.
(10:16:51pm) (@zircon) well remember there are two sources
(10:19:53pm) (@DarkeSword) hm
(10:20:00pm) (@DarkeSword) well that's where the bassline comes from I guess.
(10:20:42pm) (@DarkeSword) i dunno i guess this is one of those rare mixes where I'm not hot on how the source is used, but it's still YES worthy
(10:20:53pm) (@zircon) heh

So yeah, to sum up a bit.

This is a weird mix for me. I like the raw, angry, chippy sound to it (and unlike a pure chiptune, this has a lot of processing and effects that bring it up), but I'm not really keen on how the source was used. I like the gating effects, but I would have loved to hear more of the first part of the Mysterious Woods theme, as opposed to the climbing notes from the second half.

In any case, nice job. YES