ReMix: The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening 'The Sad Fish'

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The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

First off, Mr. Nazgul has joined our team of diligent forum moderators, Mr. Lightning recently ended up victorious in a chess tourny on our forums - which makes me feel good because I've actually beaten him once or twice... out of twenty games ;) - and for the programmers amongst you, Eclipse 3.1 finally went final (it's what I now use for any OC ReMix coding in PHP). It's also worth mentioning that I've finally decided to set up my own personal site at www.djpretzel.com, complete with (gasp) blog, some original tunes, etc. - while only tangentially related to OCR, and still a work in progress, some of you might find it amusing. Last but not least, if you're not familiar with Audioscrobbler, you might be interested - it's a personal service that keeps track of what you listen to (you can control this as you see fit) and builds a profile around that, and there's an OC ReMix Audioscrobbler group already set up.

Moving on, Nixdorux sends us some orchestral coverage from Link's portable outings, and yes, there's a bassoon solo, so baby jesus is happy. There's also a good deal of exploration, a variety of instruments, and while the tone is rather somber for the first two and a half minutes, things take an unexpected turn and mutate from melodramatic orchestral to... orchestral jazz? Sure, why not. For some reason I can't put my finger on specifically, this seemed a little Bernsteinish, at least in its resolution/juxtaposition. Could be nothing. At any rate, this certainly isn't filmtastic, bombastic orchestral of the Williamsian variety - it's more the subtle, Silvestri school if you had to pin it to the film world at all. There's a good deal of solo work, percussion is used sparingly, dynamics vary but are overall sedate, etc. Israfel described the arrangement as a bit schizo, which sounds right - the transition is certainly dramatic, going from minor to major key and then tossing in a genre infusion as well. Waleed says:

"the move into a jazz interpretation was key. reminds me a lot of al dimeola's work on World Sinfonia. very nice i approve.

all in all, a good piece and while it goes a lot into french impressionist tones through stretches of it (sounds a bit schiz like michael said), i still think it goes to show a solid understanding of musicality"

I agree in particular with the notion of musicality - it's a bit vague, but for me at least it means that Nicolas has a great foundation and knowledge of how to piece something together and have it work without relying on too many vices or easy outs, and also has a consistently expressive nature to his material. Whether the piece works for you is going to rely to some extent on whether you're feeling the transition. To me, it's a novel concept, risky, and while another path may ultimately have led to a more cohesive overall arrangement, the tradeoff is a unique and memorable blending. It certainly helps that the source material is gorgeous + some of Kondo's best stuff, but the ReMixer doesn't rest on that, and in fact almost deliberately avoids too much gratuitous coverage of the "money" bits. Good stuff from Ferranti, who's got his own sound and style going, which seem to proceed and evolve on their own vector, paying minimal dues to convention and taking some interesting - and musical - risks.

― djpretzel

Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
I was a bit wary at the beginning, as the sequencing of the flute seemed a bit shaky for the first few notes. The oboe response was in the same vein, but it was executed much better, and when the horn and strings came in, I was able to rest easy.
This is a very delicate rendition of a fantastic theme, and though there are a parts I'm left wondering what the intent was (the ultrashrill piccolos at 2:25 for one), the end result is very emotive and lyrical up to the second section. The transition was a bit forced-sounding, but the section itself was fantastic, with a piano joining in with some snare to add some rhythmic interest. I thought that the second section could have been expanded on quite a bit, but it works as-is, though it would certainly feel more cohesive if both styles received equal treatment.

- OA on June 11, 2008
This was ok until 3/4, then it gets chaotic. And I remember hearing an awkward trill

- LongeBane on March 4, 2008
Beautiful. Parts of it remind me of the ambience of the World of Warcraft OST (particularly ~2 - 3m).
My main and mostly only problem with it is at 1:21-25, the first 5 notes of the B section (c# b f# f# g) I would have liked that melody to at least have been.. well.. present. Preferrably with strong, prominent strings. It's kind of anti-climactic the way it builds up and then just replaces the first notes of the melody with a chord basically..
Otherwise, very very well done.

- Miku on June 24, 2007
Pretty good, most of it wasn't that great, but there were a couple of really good bits (such as the oft mentioned jazzy bit) to make up for it. The ending was decent, I guess but you should've held the drumroll for longer.

- LupusCanis on September 3, 2005
I say I agree with most of the people above. The jazz section should have been longer or a completely separate piece. Doing both would be the best bit. Other than that, a very good piece. One of my favorite game melodies, and you have done it justice. 9/10.

- Baruch, Vampire Lord on August 29, 2005
NeoDestiny wrote: Maybe it's just me, but I absolutely LOVED the section around 2:57 where it broke out into a sort of orchestral jazzy movement and I think the remixer should have carried this mix on for at LEAST another minute and a half to capitalize on this more, seeing as how it was the main "remixed" part of this song.
~NeoDestiny

That's my favorite part as well. It reminds me a LOT of the "Thomas Crown Affair" soundtrack (the remake with Brosnan and Russo). Very piano-centric melody with upbeat strings hits in the back. Very cool. I just wish it could have been kept happy a while longer there, cause as soon as the mood darkens again, it loses the panache that it gave me to begin with.

- bladiator on August 18, 2005
Maybe it's just me, but I absolutely LOVED the section around 2:57 where it broke out into a sort of orchestral jazzy movement and I think the remixer should have carried this mix on for at LEAST another minute and a half to capitalize on this more, seeing as how it was the main "remixed" part of this song.
~NeoDestiny

- NeoDestiny on July 31, 2005
The first half of this did nothing for me. Melody+Chords+Harp for the most part. I'm not saying the combination is bad, but with the wind fish melody and the chords you chose was rather boring. 1:34 to 1:35 with the horns was nice. The jazzy section was better, but didn't last very long. Overall quite nice & clean balancing of instruments, however sometimes slightly muddled. Strings have some weird attack issues as well at some points. As for realistic? No, but only a very small amount of orchestral remixes have sounded close to like a real orchestra. The ending would've been a lot more climatic if the forte piano notes were held longer before the last timpani hits.

- BlueEnvy on July 4, 2005
MaGi_TekK wrote: Odd, I'm a big fan of all of your other works. But I can sum up my review of this one in one word: *YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWN*

I have to agree. I love some of your other works (Ghost being a big one .. I think that's the name). This one takes the theme, runs around it and through it just fine, but it really didn't catch my attention very much. Still a show of talent in this one, nevertheless.

- bladiator on July 1, 2005
Odd, I'm a big fan of all of your other works. But I can sum up my review of this one in one word: *YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWN*

- MaGi_TekK on July 1, 2005
Hmmm...more mixes of this artist are really enjoyed. An awesome combination of quality did cool things on the technical composition. Interesting flute, played with a sweet melody. And instruments on the transition are doing a life of music. The arrangement reminds me of peaceful forests with people of a curious imagination. Clouds are coming from the sky and friends have found books about music. Learn music, do music, be music!
This Remix is very pleasant for the imagination. I have found some interesting things here, bumping my capacity for the letters. Nice work!

- Txai on July 1, 2005
You were about to rival Russell Cox until about 3/4 of the way through. I appreciate originality as much as the next guy, but switching gears in the middle of a piece to display it doesn't exactly help the experience. Nice classical, nice jazz, but even better apart.

- progressive on June 29, 2005
Starts out soft, and slowly builds some tension. A few quite dissonant parts in the middle, and a nice powerful (but far too short) ending.
All in all a nice listen.
Thumbs up, Nixdorux :)

- RimFrost the Tourianist on June 29, 2005
There are lots of parts that are very nice, but even more parts that could have used some careful attention. For example, there's inconsistency in the harmonic flow of the piece where at times the harmony is chromatic and full of surprises, but at other times very stagnant, usually around the transitions from section to section. There are also numerous occasions where I thought I heard several "wrong notes" or things that did not fit the tonal makeup of the piece. It could have stranded to be longer to draw out the ideas more, however, it shows potential more than anything, as well as a developing sense of style.

- Sil on June 29, 2005
Now this is peculiar; the judges liked the ending while the listeners don't. Interesting.
Nonetheless, it's good to see Nixdorux make a comeback. I don't know why he spent this long since putting forth Shaolin's Cave just to come up with something else, but for us it's well worth the wait. We all know him well as a Zelda arranger, and it's about time some of his coverage for that series has arrived here too. Bravo.
So yeah, it's time I re-approached my VGMix review on this one.
[b]Production techniques[/b]
As is often expected from Nix, the audience is gestured at an orchestrated piece. Panning has been shown to fit the realistic nature of the genre as such, most notably with the strong positions as shown by the instrumentation at hand. Going towards the processing quality, we have some strong thoughts to ambience and clarity at the same time, all on top of the impressive sample set that he has been cooperating with since he started out. There could have been some further attention to the range of attacks on the woodwind though, but this is still firm enough to take on cue. The overall balance behind the panning has been realized well enough to be able to maintain a sharp amount of interest as a whole, and with enough attention also brought into the EQs this setup is almost flawless. There were some areas that could have done with some sharper elements of compression to further raise the stakes of the sound though, but this is still very sharp stuff all around - one of Nixdorux's better settings in a fair while.
[b]Compositional structure[/b]
The track started off with an atmospheric opening as shown upon a set of woodwind and string gestures towards the listener. Just when you thought the peaceful and major-key nature of the intro would continue by that, the melody was then shown at 0:25 although at a more reflective fashion than once gestured at. I personally felt it was expressed much further by 0:58 where the instrumentation ended up facing a more reflective gesture towards the target audience given the stronger string movements, as well as the variation on the second portion of the theme at 1:19 where the instrumentation was shown to be at a more majestic motion at that moment in time. While I feel that the dynamic curve as shown by then isn't his best, I really appreciate what managed to come around for the intro.
He then brought the piece into a creative motion from 1:47, while at the same time maintaining the subtle emotions that were shown from the past section, so that's firm to be able to gesture at. Even through the creative proportions, I appreciated the tense brass part at 2:30 - in terms of mood that was shown to be deep enough to be able to maintain a hold upon expression. The lead back into the melodic iteration at 2:44 has still cooperated well to link back to the theme, although if anything I will gesture that the woodwind attack as shown at the flourish at 2:50 felt a bit too harsh given the light clip-like nature of the attack there - can be felt to be a technical quirk for what it was, but if that can be looked around it has still worked well to maintain interest.
And it's by 2:57 that the song faced a more rhythmic style upon the overall instrumentation - interesting dancehall movement there as shown upon the overall rhythm, although given the change of moods as shown by the rest of the piece I thought it seemed to come rather abrupt. Yet as shown there the piano's variation on the core theme has worked well to involve some last minute variation on the track as well as enough attention also granted towards the feel behind the overall final climax. Although a bit more dynamic than his usual closures, it's still very good stuff that has managed to deviate sharply from the usual material from him, and it's solid proof that this is a return to the scene well needed.

So yeah, you can tell that I too wasn't too hot on that ending, although for the reason on that it totally changed the meaning behind the track title as established to the 3 minutes prior to that moment. (I can't blame him on the stylistic front - he *is* French after all. ;)) But yeah, it's still got a lot of heart and soul granted into the incarnation as well as much of his trademark sample movements to make his work stand out. In terms of orchestration work, *this* is the guy that people should be seeing into - lots of re-arrangement, plenty of expression and an all around very vivid imaginaion.
I hope Nix comes back with more material soon, because his works are a pleasure to listen to. Bon travail! :D

- Rexy on June 29, 2005

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