Evan Arnett

Thanks guys. This project was a blast and I learned so much from it. The only things that would have been different if the piece had been finished is that the ending would have been louder (actually, I was out of headroom so it might be more accurate to say that the first 3/4 would have been softer) and I would have replaced the sampled solo trumpet with a real trumpet and real horn. If any composers are interested, here what I used, as well as I can remember. (It's been almost 2 years since I wrote this) String/brass- Symphobia, VSL Epic Horns, possibly Project Sam trombones Piano- Native Instruments Steinway Grand Trumpet- Samplemodeling "The Trumpet" Percussion- Tonehammer Epic Toms, Heavyocity Evolve, maybe Stormdrum 1 Lexicon Reverb The clicky percussion was done in FLStudio with various samples I tweaked a lot, but the main thing was sequenced and mixed in Cubase 5. Ozone 4 for the mastering.

Thanks for all the comments guys. I know I've kept you all waiting a while, and I'm sorry for that. At the end of last year, my home was burglarized and I lost a lot of my studio equipment, including the computer with my Metal Gear remix. It was so close to being finished. I was about to schedule a few brass recording sessions at my university's new recording studio to replace the somewhat blatty trumpet solos. Now it looks as if all I'll be able to do is submit the last version I posted here which was uploaded to my site. Although it's not all it could have been, I'm still proud of it. I worked really hard over 4 or 5 months on this thing off and on, and I really hope it will be accepted.

Alright, the site is back up. The link was also leading to an older version of the track, and I fixed it. Still trying to book a horn player to replace the trumpet lines, but I've been busy with school. It should be done in another month or so.

Yeah my site went down for a little bit : ( Currently trying to recruit a horn player from my university to record, to replace at least one of the trumpet solo lines.

The piano is NI Akoustik piano Bosendorfer. Thanks for your comments.

Okay folks, it's about 90% done! I've updated the file again. It's full length now...I never expected it would be over 7 minutes! The mixing still needs some work, and I might change one of the trumpet solos over to solo horn. Any other suggestions? http://www.evanarnett.com/audio/downloads/mgs8-15.mp3

Thanks for all the nice replies. Emunator: I took your advice and turned down the brass since the last version! No Escape: I hear you on the piano. Not sure why it sticks out sonically, it has the same reverb as everything else and the sustain pedal is play in a standard way- changing with the harmony. It does sound a little bland though compared to that other metal remix by that Reuben Kee guy, so maybe I'll just leave the piano to him. I really liked his snake vs dragon mixes...hopefully he'll post some new stuff soon.

Okay, so..the link has been updated again, and it's almost done. The last two minutes are still pretty rough. The piano at the end is probably going to be more elaborate and the entire second half of the melody is going to be fully orchestrated. It has a crazy basstastic interlude...doesn't quite fit perfectly yet, but we'll see what I can do with it.

Thanks for all the great replies and advice! I just finished a session with a classical guitarist yesterday for the project and am going to be recording a mezzo-soprano today reminiscent of the vocals from the opening scene of the original psx game.

Link updated! I'd say it's about half finished now. I'm almost to the beginning of the climax where the melody of the theme comes in full force. A few parts sill sound a bit too sparse to my ears. I've done a lot of thematic development and alteration/combination of the themes from the game, and I hope the panel will appreciate it.

This is going to be a combination of the "Encounter" from MGS and the main theme. I don't care about the "controversy" (nor do I want to discuss it in this thread) I was very disappointed that the main theme has been dropped from the MGS series after 3, and that the original encounter theme was never used after the original MGS. My original intention was to do a version of the main theme that would fit in well with 4, but now I think I'm just going to have fun with it and write the arrangement the way I want to. The final version will be more than twice this length. Thank you for your feedback. http://www.evanarnett.com/audio/downloads/mgs8-15.mp3

Okay, I can't let this comment pass. You are completely wrong and just absurd. Because I know for a fact that it is impossible to vomit from putting too much cheese in your ears. Tried it last week. Seriously.

Colorful orchestration, excellent composition and treatment of the themes, and expert handling of the samples make this easily one of the best OCRemixes I've ever heard.

Well, Greensleeves was on the Xenosaga OST, so maybe it's okay!

Could anyone recommend some tunes on here similar to the work by Jeremy Robson and Steffan Andrews? I can understand the site owners not wanting to narrow down the music into established genres, but when I hear a remix I like, it can make it a bit difficult to find similar remixes. So I thought I'd ask the community for help. This is not intended to be a "favorite" thread, so please don't discuss who is better or worse than whom. There is a wealth of talent on this site, and I'm looking forward to discovering even more new talented arrangers than I've been able to find on my own. Thanks in advance! -Evan

Thanks to all the folks who said nice things about the tune, I'm really glad you liked it! For those that didn't care for it, thanks for at least being constrictive with the criticism. I'm impressed you guys caught the Twilight Princess stuff in there! I liked the two orchestral pieces in that soundtrack, (it was pretty easy to borrow from them since the melody is thematically related to the hyrule field melody anyway.) although I did change the melody a bit in my version. Ace: I actually haven't played Minish Cap. I tend to be more partial toward the more "serious" styled Zelda games, but hey, good music is good music, so I'll make sure to check it out! Yeah it would be great to hear my arrangement live, but I actually got to hear a better arrangement (The Orchestral Game Concert arrangement) played live by the DSO at the Dallas Video Games Live concert, which was amazing. Have you guys heard that version? I thought it was a little weird that they borrowed the buildup from John William's Superman theme, but it's basically an ABA form, with A being a triumphant orchestration the original zelda theme, and B sort of a development. Anyway I really like what the arranger did with the B section, the harmony is really rich and the melodic development is clever. Anyway I hope I get time to do another tune for this site. I'd really like to another overture type thing eventually. Maybe, something Yasunori Mitsuda?

Ah, thank you so much! That makes me feel good! I just found out that the file is .5 MB too large! Doh! The limit is supposed to be 6 MB. So I guess I'll need to render it down to 128kbps. Darn, I really prefer 192!

Okay! I'm pretty sure it's finished now. I filled out the bass and added percussion, taking ideas from the in-game arrangement and doing variations. I also added a bit more exciting stuff at the end that takes some ideas from the Twilight Princess orchestral peices and the orchestral game concert arrangement. I also redid the way I mastered it so that it's not so completely saturated by reverb and is panned a little better. Here it is! http://www.evanarnett.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/zeldaoverture.mp3 You guys think it's ready to submit? -Evan

I first heard the whole "great composers steal" as attributed to Stravinsky, which is funny given his incredible innovations. I've also heard it attributed to Picasso, replacing "composer" with "artist". Anyway! I know what you're talking about re: pizz bass, I'm sure I've heard that before here and there. I tried it in the track...and it works beautifully! I also went back and listened to how Kondo handles the percussion in OOT Hyrule field and MM Termina field, and I've got some good ideas. I might add some more Twilight Princessy stuff at the end, too. An update is coming!

Thanks so much for the nice things you guys said! Hylian- Thanks for getting me noticed. : ) Drum- I studied music at a local community college for a couple of years, and then transferred into the University of Texas at Arlington. It's not a really prestigious school for music or anything, but my teachers are all really good people. You have a great ear! I know exactly what you mean about the texture thinning out at 1:28. I mean, that's when it gets exciting, so it should feel MORE, not LESS intense than the mysterious introduction. That ostinato is, I think, written in 3 part harmony with vln 1 and 2 on the top two lines, vlas on the bass, and cello doubling an octave below (or maybe playing the chord roots, I forget) I guess I could go back and rewrite it in 4 part harmony with appropriate doublings and the CELLO taking the bass line instead, with the Cbass an octave below that. Or maybe the strings could just play sustained with the brass taking the rhymthic staccato ostinato. As for percussion, a snare line would proably make the most sense there, but I don't want it to sound cheesy, so maybe I'll see if I can introduce it halfway through or something. Oh yeah, samples are EastWest Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra As for the complex harmony and counterpoint stuff, well, I've taken all the classes, but I guess I still have a lot to learn as a composer as far as actually integrating all that into my music successfully. : )

Hi guys, I'm new here. I'm a 23 year old indie game and film composer and classical composition student. I've always been a huge Zelda fan, and decided to create an orchestral arrangement. It's conceived as a piece of dramatic concert music that could be performed by a real orchestra. Rather than being based on one single Zelda tune, I took a few of my favorite themes, developed and combined them. So the point was more to communicate an overall feeling of "Zelda" with my own musical fingerprint, hence the label "overture". I'm excited to be joining this community of fantastic musicians, and am looking forward to the feedback I get! http://www.evanarnett.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/zeldaoverture.mp3