ReMix: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past 'A Link To The Piano'
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- Game: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Nintendo, 1991, SNES)
- ReMixer(s): Zoola
- Composer(s): Koji Kondo
- Song(s): 'Ganon's Message', 'Opening Demo', 'Overworld', 'Princess Zelda's Rescue', 'Sanctuary Dungeon', 'Title'
- Posted: 2005-11-20, evaluated by the judges
Lost power for half a day yesterday - flipped all the circuit breakers, still nothing, but all my neighbors were hooked up a-okay. Turned out one of the main lines to my house is gimp, they need to dig to fix it, and in the meantime I get a small thermonuclear device in my backyard as some sort of temporary measure. Also saw m.o.v.e. live at Anime USA, which, while the acoustics sucked and the lighting was weak, was still a good show. We hung out around back and pretended to talk to the security guy so I could at least give the keyboardist the props he deserved. So, picking back up again, we've got yet another Zelda 3 ReMix from yet another newcomer to OCR, with Zoola (aka John Torkington) sending in a solo piano medley to keep Tepid's piece company. For a change, I'm gonna start right off with a quote from Brandon:
"I’ve thought a lot about this mix. Listening casually this mix is amazingly expressive, soothing and unimposing in all the right ways. A careful listen however reveals that this mix is expressive, soothing, unimposing but really quiet. Honestly though, I think there is too large a disparity in volume between the loudest sections and the quietest sections. That’s not too terrible a transgression considering all that there is to like about this mix.
The selection and composition of source material is a real highlight. The themes are made to flow seamlessly together and the arrangement, though conservative in spots, is creative. The performance is generally nice as well. My largest gripe there is that the accented chords during 0:47-1:19 are a bit harsh and jerky. The second part of “opening demo” from 1:20-1:43 is handled much better. Nice resolution with the epic overworld theme."
Ditto. That's pretty much what I have to say, particularly on the rather low recording level and at 0'59" specifically the jerkiness Brandon alludes to. The strength of the arrangement is not, however, in its articulation or prevalence of technically impressive passages, but rather the progression, harmonic changes, and very fluid, pensive fashion John's weaved everything together. It's a somber, dark, rich tapestry of themes that have been creatively homogenized, and the tone ranges from stark, to intimate, to tentative, to dramatic, and back again. Larry Oji prognosticates:
"Out of the bevy of source tunes involved, I was particularly impressed by the arrangement of "Princess Zelda's Rescue" into a subtle, melancholy feel. The whole package was well put together and set a good mood. And, as our community is full of overly enthusiastic fans, I expect someone in the ReView thread to note how they cried to this."
Somewhat different style of solo piano arrangement here, more chord-heavy; there are some minor mastering/production issues, but this is still an evocative and deep composition and a mature first submission from Zoola.
Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the - Ryu2Wolf on January 6, 2009
- Serenade on May 1, 2007
What I like is that you definitely keep true to the chords in the original pieces. It takes a great ear for that, and I'm not sure even I could get those down, unless you're like me and you paused the game over and over... or just got a hold of the original SM files... GREAT work in hitting those chords.
What's kind of a let down in this arrangement is that you only choose low, quiet works; nothing too exciting. It doesn't really take advantage of your playing ability, unless... you chose those tunes on purpose to keep to your ability... not that there's anything wrong with that...
Also, I don't like the dynamic articulation in this recording. I felt there was too much emphasis where there shouldn't have been. Too much hamming up... Where you should have been lower, piano, and slow, you were speeding it up a little too much, and playing a little too loud.
Don't get me wrong. This sounds like it could be a great arrangement, but I think it needs a little more work. Don't ham it up. Slow down and try to play pianissimo. The tracks you chose are soft, low, and delicate, and they're easily ruined when you try to show off. Playing them faster/louder doesn't make them sound better.
- KogeJoe on February 1, 2007
- lady zelda on March 31, 2006
Zoola wrote: Thanks, Larry. I'm sorry I had to trouble you with this. Glad everyone enjoys the tune.
Nah, no problem at all. aubrey hooked up the replacement of the Supertux-hosted version very early this afternoon. Hope everyone enjoys.
- Liontamer on December 12, 2005
- Zoola on December 12, 2005
- Master Harpuia on December 12, 2005
OmegaDonut wrote: The thing is, OCR doesn't really accept revisions once songs have been posted. The submission guidelines say "one second audio glitch", but the volume boost affecting the entire song is a much bigger change. I don't think the resubmission will go through on this one.
The best thing you can pretty much do in this situation is send the revised version to people who really want it, or just host it somewhere and put the link somewhere in the topic.
[quote=Currently in the judging process]Minor fixes that do not alter the arrangement itself (e.g. eliminating clipping, new encoding, fading out a track with an abrupt cutoff) are acceptable.
John didn't change the arrangement or sounds here, he just raised the volume where needed. Since he let us know about that very soon after the mix was posted, we replaced the OCR version. The Supertux version will be replaced as soon as possible as well.
- Liontamer on December 12, 2005
The best thing you can pretty much do in this situation is send the revised version to people who really want it, or just host it somewhere and put the link somewhere in the topic.
- OmegaDonut on December 12, 2005
Zoola wrote: Thanks, will. Glad you enjoyed it.
Anyways, I have the revised version done with the heightened volumes, where / how do I submit?
You should submit it as you did before I would assume (looking at the submission guidelines), just make sure to state it as a revision.
- Spoom on December 11, 2005
Zoola wrote: Thanks, will. Glad you enjoyed it.
Anyways, I have the revised version done with the heightened volumes, where / how do I submit?
Great! Could you send me the MP3? I'm PMing you the address.
- Zipp on November 27, 2005
I fascinate over the effort put into various chords.
Nice work,man! Not too much to say, but that is all.
- Salluz on November 26, 2005
Anyways, I have the revised version done with the heightened volumes, where / how do I submit?
- Zoola on November 25, 2005
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