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Dhsu

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Posts posted by Dhsu

    OCR00753 - Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time "Pachelbel's Ganon"

    in ReMix Reviews & Comments

    Posted

    Guhhh...I feel like I'm theory class again. Why must you do this to me, djp?? KHAAAAAAAN!

    Uh, anyway...while I sided with djp based on initial listens, I decided to go ahead and break it down anyway. I might've ended up completely wrong, but this is what I came up with. (Warning: long and complicated post ahead. Skip to the :idea: to get to the important part.)

    :arrow:Here's a diagram I made with Anvil Studio (and a little help from Ms. Paint) to make it easier to read the actual notes.

    First of all, I decided to switch the focus of the comparison to the segment where the melodies (circled in bold red) come in. The accompanying chords are encased in a delightful blue.

    Now, those familiar with music theory should immediately recognize both pieces are obviously in completely different keys (exactly which ones they are we'll discuss later). So, let's play some match-up, shall we? In the original piece, the melody starts at a D, jumps to its apex at a high D, then after some intervening passing tones, falls down to a B. In djp's version, the equivalent segment starts at a C, goes up to the B-flat, then lands comfortably on a G. So immediately, we can acknowledge that conker is right in claiming the melody has been changed...the original goes up a full octave to reach the high note, while djp modifies the interval to a minor 6th.

    Now let's turn our attention towards the sections within the blue perimeters. In Pachelbel's Ganon, the chord in the left hand is a very obvious C minor tonic (C-Eb-G), matching the high C note in the melody. In the original piece, we see the notes in the accompaniment trace out a F-C-F-A-D-E. If you're a good little music student, you'll know that you arrange those notes a bit so that they're in consecutive thirds, resulting in D-F-A-C-E. And BAM...a D-minor (with extra 7th and 9th extensions), which corresponds with the high D.

    But wait! Does this mean djp is WRONG? Has he lost the battle of ears, falling into the rest of the inferior 99.9% of the population while conker emerges the victor?? Don't worry, dear ReMixers, there's still hope for our beloved choker-of-presidents.

    (:idea: Here's where the fun comes in)

    Let's go back to those key signature thingamabobbers I was talking about earlier. We've already established the original goes to a B after the high D. But does it stop there? Oh no...it decides to take it to the XTREEEEM and drop even lower, to the G (as indicated by the dotted lines). So we have a G, an B, and a D...put them together and what have you got? Bippity-boppity-G major! In djp's arrangement, we can tell from the main notes (C-Eb-G-Bb) that it's obviously in C-minor. To be put it simply, this means he completely decimated the original major key, as promised, and replaced it with a minor substitute. In this key signature, the C-minor chord acts as a simple tonic, while in the original key, G-Major, the D-minor would function as...well, I don't even know. Is there a theory major in the house?

    Anyway, in conclusion, while for a moment the two do indeed coincide, one quickly realizes their differences in the context of their respective pieces as a whole. Something that you might not realize, conker, is that just because you can play the original melody of a song over a chord progression doesn't mean it's the same as the original...the fact that every chord consists of three tones means that there are an almost limitless number of possibilities for any given sequence of notes.

    Of course, like I mentioned, everything I just said might be completely wrong. If there happen to be any PhD's reading this, feel free to thoroughly slap me for any, errr..."Fouled Up" Disinformation I've spread. But regardless of who ends up having the last laugh...

    :nicework::pretzel:

    OCR01358 - Final Fantasy VI "Little Painter Girl"

    in ReMix Reviews & Comments

    Posted

    Definitely a big difference/improvement from the previous version...I like the "family time" movie sound you've got going there.

    Also, that's gotta be a world record for the number of times someone's typed "Newman" in a single paragraph.

    As for 1:38, in any other context I would find it perfectly acceptable. However, in this case, it's right in the middle of three minutes of saccharine harmonies. Sticking something like that in the arrangement just makes it sound completely random and awkward. There's nothing to lead up to it, and nothing to follow it up. It's as if he's pretending it never happened. Of course, if this actually were a movie score, and there was an appropriate visual cue to accompany the anomaly, then it'd be understandable.

    But otherwise, I'll have to agree with the "drunk harpist" theory.

    OCR01333 - Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time "Prayer"

    in ReMix Reviews & Comments

    Posted

    Poorly spoken Japanese is a real pet peeve of mine, actually. But when I heard it I was surprised at how good it sounded from someone who had never been taught it formally before.

    The key word being "spoken" Japanese. ;) A lot of inflection/pitch qualities of a language are lost when singing it. Although, of course, there are still plenty of little nuances left over to make it a considerable accomplishment.

    Anyways, for your information, Utada is not -really- a native Japanese speaker; she was educated mostly in the U.S. In fact, in an interview from a few years ago, she claims to write her lyrics in english first, and translates them to Japanese later.

    Hm...interesting. I guess that would explain why "Simple and Clean" sounds so natural.

    Get working on your next work

    And be quick about it! Hyah! ;)

    OCR01333 - Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time "Prayer"

    in ReMix Reviews & Comments

    Posted

    To the negatives: Get a life. If all you have time for it to tear a good piece like this apart, then you've got too much time on your hands.

    Actually, a good artist would gracefully show gratitude to people who put time into giving critiques. Do you think Jill spends so much time and money for vocal lessons to hear her teacher rave for an hour about how perfect her voice is and how there's nothing to be improved?

    Get a life? For some people, being good at pointing out faults is how they make a living.

    OCR01333 - Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time "Prayer"

    in ReMix Reviews & Comments

    Posted

    Actually, I have more of an issue with the C#. It's probably not even anything on your part...I'm not sure if it's the effect of acoustics or the presence of unexpected overtones due to the self-harmony or even if it's possible that the original track is the one that's actually out of tune. But there's just an additional amount of dissonance that wasn't in the original. Whatever the reason, you don't have to automatically assume everyone else is wrong. Have a little more faith in your critics and give them the benefit of the doubt once in a while, eh? ;)

    OCR01333 - Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time "Prayer"

    in ReMix Reviews & Comments

    Posted

    I don't feel that there should be a climax in this song, it's a very mellow song. It sounds almost like an American Indian song, except for the synths and the lyrics. But the way it's sung and the overall mood of the song definitely seems like it could be a tribal dance worshipping a god (or 3 goddesses, in this case), which it is.

    Mmm...these are American Indian tribal dance songs. I think you might be stretching the comparison a bit. ;)

    Sounds more like something that might fit in an anime, or perhaps a Zelda vocal collection album. Maybe that's part of the reason djp took such a liking to it.

    OCR01333 - Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time "Prayer"

    in ReMix Reviews & Comments

    Posted

    I like the sort of dry, chorus marimba echoed but I think the "Oh-eh" part sounds terrible!

    It does get a little screwed up around 3:40, but she's imitating the synth in the game. And ridiculously well. If you can drag your mind bag to 1998, it sounds almostly precisely as the effect in the forest temple.

    I think "almostly" [sic] is the key word here. In music, "almost" isn't enough. A quarter of a semi-tone is all it takes to turn consonance into dissonance. Or I guess in this case, pleasant dissonance into unpleasant dissonance.

    The marimba was also in the original track, along with the "oh-eh"s. In fact, I believe those are the only two elements that distinguish this as a Zelda64 "arrangement" and even then they are reproduced virtually verbatim.

    Like several others, I found the vocals slightly gratuitous, however pleasant they were to listen to. However, I feel this song would be more at home in an "originals" section on her site, considering the new lyrics and composition were obviously and heavily in the majority of the piece. I believe djp direct-posted this for a reason, as he knew not everyone would share his perspective. And that's entirely within his rights and power. I trust his judgment enough to believe that "omg bewbs!" was not the deciding factor.

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