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I am a band director at a small town somewhere in Texas (there are about 30 kids in band there). The title sums it up pretty well. If you were in band in middle/high school, etc, what do you wish your director would have done differently? Yelled less, been more strict, played more, anything. I'm just curious, and figured this would be a good thought experiment. If you have a story you connect with your thought, feel free to share.

Submitted!

Huh, well I've got some commentary on this too, though it's going to come from a different direction than my peers. The grit, the dirty lo-fi effect on this... I'm not a fan, but I'm not going to hold that against you - not liking a style doesn't mean there's anything wrong with it. I will, however, agree with MindWanderer on the static nature of this track. The combination of the repeating harmonies, the overall similar textures used throughout, etc., does wear on the listener over time. Doing different things with the instruments provided, changing up the texture patterns more, etc., would help alleviate this. If that were all I'd probably still pass the track, but most of the synths and textures seem to also be restricted to the midrange EQ area, which makes the whole track sound squished. I can chalk up the bitcrushing overall to style, but there's no reason to be squishing the EQ range of your mix like this. Lift the floors and ceilings of your low & high passes (respectively) on your instruments and give them room to breath, since right now they sound unpleasantly squished. Great ideas otherwise, though, and with some minor tweaks I could see this being a solid pass. Tweak it up and send it back our way! NO

Oh Snap now that's hot. Yeah big improvement. I could listen to this all day. let me know when you release this.

I submitted something but I did not have awfully long to work on it. Been busy as of late.

My bonus mix is in!

Glad you liked it and thanks for supporting the Cinematica albums; in fact I posted this piece on Kickstarter publicly several months ago so it was indeed heard there first, however I gave permission for this track to be used for this album so they could fill in the slot for the main theme since I was just too busy to make something exclusive for it and had already completed this overworld medley piece. So things worked out in the end, and for those who do like the music and aren't familiar with my own Zelda Cinematica album, perhaps they'll be interested in that as well when it is released in the next month or two.

I actually was one of the people to back both Chrono Cinematica and Zelda Cinematica. Surprised that Sam posted this publicly as (from what I recall) it was a backer/supporter only track. Though i personally don't mind, Sam Dillard does amazing work and I glad that others who might not have been able to back his projects can listen to his work.

For some reason I've been thinking of this remix recently, as it was one of those very early remixes that inspired me in my early days. To my surprise (and after thinking about it, not that suprising) this remix is by the amazing Danny B., whom I didn't remember being one of the authors of this one. Simple remix but this is all about those buildups and breakdowns such as around 1:34. Even 15 years later and after several "bar raising" in the judges panel, this would be a borderline vote, which speaks volumes about how damn talented Danny B. is. TLDR: BUMP

I'll be cooking something up for this one too Edit: Bleh i don't think i'll have time for this one actually, have been quite busy these days. Sorry guys

Good lord this brings back some memories! I remember playing Zelda II before I had even learned to read! In retrospect that might explain why I never got very far into the game, it being an RPG and all...

I think this is pretty close, although in the end I do agree with MW here. I like the grittiness of the track, but I think it gets to be too much grit when multiple instruments that are gritty are combining. The arrangement overall is pretty fun as well, though I agree it can get repetitive. I think, though, that if there weren't other elements bringing this down the arrangement would be OK in the long run. A more definitive ending would help, though. The biggest element to me is toning down (not completely removing) the grittiness, especially in the busier sections. Hope to hear this again! NO (resubmit)

I'm not sold on the dirty, garage-band style here. Several of the instruments come with background static, and in the busier sections it builds up to quite a bit. The low-fi synths add to the dirty quality of it. I know it's a deliberate stylistic approach, but I find it unpleasant, and it makes it harder to listen to the complex layers that are going on. The cymbals in particular seem to come with an unnecessary amount of grit. It also feels fairly repetitive. The direct repetition is very slight, but the limited variety of synths make even variations sound similar to each other. I keep thinking I've heard what I'm hearing before, even though I can't go back and find it exactly. The fade-out ending also exacerbates the feeling, since it's a loop too. The lack of presence in the bass synths also meant that variations in the bass line didn't help me hear things as different. Sorry, but while there's a lot of fun stuff in the backbone of this arrangement, I think it's being significantly held back by the synth choices. I think swapping the sounds out would help with a lot of my concerns all at once, though. NO

I love Bridge Zone. I kinda hear what the other judges are saying about the eq, but it's not bothering me, or taking away from the track on my end. There are some odd choices for some of the sound that feel a bit wacky for the soft atmosphere that is present in some parts of the mix, and that contrast was more off-putting to me than any non-ideal eq balance. Even then, I think those don't really bring this down below our bar. What I found here was a very nice arrangement that brings Bridge Zone and Green Hill together in obvious, but transformative ways. The arrangement was at its best in points such as after 2:30 where you can hear touches of both themes, as well as some small but nice touches with the drum writing. The Lo-fi elements are added tastefully throughout the track, and can be heard in some lead instruments as well as in the Organ-sounding pads. Overall, this is a solid track that didn't really blow me away production-wise but that is quite lovely when you look into the arrangement. YES

Overall I think this works out. The sources are definitely obvious, and the arrangement ideas are pretty sound. I think overall the track feels a little stiff, but that also feels intentional. I think the lack of highs and the overall subdued nature works for what Eino is trying to accomplish here, so that doesn't bother me as much. Nice work overall. YES

My opinion of it is pretty similar to what it was for the album - very interesting arrangement, with some reservations about the lack of highs throughout that makes the track feel rather dull overall. I still feel like the production could/should be brightened up considerably with the use of more highs, myself. It's a tough call. I keep wavering between passing and rejecting this, based on the EQ issues that I still am concerned about. There is improvement between versions, but I'm not 100% sold on it being enough to post. I'll wait and see what others think about this, and make a decision then. EDIT (4/28): Yeah, I can see what Deia's saying. It's not what I consider ideal, but I'll be damned if I didn't say it sounded intentional. Since it's otherwise a pretty cool track, I think it'll be alright to pass this as is - nice work! YES

I already checked this out for the project, and this is an improved version. The low pass that was on the last version has been lightened up quite a bit, adding some life without changing the melancholy mood. It could probably stand to be tweaked further in the same direction, but I don't think it's enough of an issue to hold this back. It's a creative interpretation that stands on its own, more great work from Eino. YES