[Liontamer]

Contact Info
Your ReMixer name: Abadoss
Your real name: Kenneth Edward Keyn
Your email address: Abadoss@yahoo.com
Your website:
http://www.warnerpacific.edu/personal/kkeyn/index.htm
Your userid (number, not name) on our forums: 2642


ReMix Info
Name of game(s) ReMixed: The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time
Name of individual song(s) ReMixed: Epona's Song
Additional information:

While taking a break from working on "Let it Rain", I came up with this piece. It's short, relatively simple, but sounds really nice. From what I could tell, the thing most people seemed to have a problem with, in the WIP forum, was just its length. However, to add any more would violate the length-content ratio, so it's the length it's going to be.
Considering that was the only particularly major problem, I was given a lot of hope for its success.

I came across the idea of arranging Epona's Song at work, actually. I was pretty bored one day and started fiddling with the melody a little (with improvised lyrics, of course) and came up with the nuances for it that are currently in the piece. Before starting, I had thought about actually using the lyrics I had come up with for it, but I liked it better without.

The name, "Epona's Pastorale", is somewhat of a play on words (pasture/pastorale).

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http://www.zophar.net/usf/lozusf.rar - 28 "Lon Lon Ranch" (27 "Ocarina ~ Epona's Theme")

The samples were a bit exposed and rigidly sequenced with the piano from :22-:39 but that was a minor snag. Even until :59, the samples were a bit too exposed, a bigger than usual drawback when going for such an intimate, purposefully sparse soundscape.

Otherwise though, the arrangement was nothing short of excellent IMO, and the production was solid enough despite the samples sounding weak in spots. I loved the several emotive variations on the source tune. The changeup at 1:55 with the strings moving toward the close was beautiful stuff and a strong resolution. A brief mix but with excellent dynamics, it says a lot in a little time. Nice work, Kenneth.

YES

[Vig]

The samples hurt but the arrangement is very strong, particularly the second half. The piano sequencing is a bit dry, as is some of the string/horn partwriting. lots of parallel octaves.


On the whole, very enjoyable.

YES

[pixietricks]

This is so, so, sooooo close to passing for me. I'm going to make a suggestion that I think could really make a world of difference:

Ask a pianist in the community to collab with you.

Dhsu, bladiator, Reuben Kee... All would make excellent choices. It just needs that extra push, you know? The arrangement is there, but everything is sequenced so rigidly as it stands. It's the same kind of problem as you've been having with Let it Rain, except this one feels much closer to the bar.

I also want to point out that although you've made some nice personal touches here, everything still feels a little repetitive for such a short piece. I'm not quite as impressed as Larry and Vig, apparently. Just a few basic things to work on...

NO RESUBMIT!

[zyko]

hmm

on one hand, i'm a sucker for zelda music and especially epona's theme. this is very cinematic in that early 20th century sort of way. i feel as though i'm watching a cecil b. demille film... epic and deeply moving. the arrangement is killer - it is intelligently interpreted and skillfully altered. very easy to run out of ideas with a short source material - not the case here.

while i hear the issues with the piano, i don't think it detracts from the quality of the piece which is head and shoulders above the bar. while the piano is rigid, it isn't frigid and is still warm enoguh to work for the listener and at least not enough to reject it.

aside from the piano, the one thing that really leaped out at me was the intro... it jumps right into it and while i didn't like it the first couple times i listened, i am impressed by it all the same from an unbias perspective.

all in all, very good arrangement and a YES for me

[The Orichalcon]

Sounds great to me. The piano is fine in my ears. There isn't enough of it in the piece to bother asking someone else to do it for him. I'd imagine Abadoss would rather get this piece through on his own than have to tack someone elses name on as a collab for what would be a max of 30 seconds of piano.

The remix was rather short. There wasn't a lot to work with, but the artist managed to pull off a very focused and solid arrangement. So that's fine.

Nice work.

YES