Ocarina of Time: Intro

[Steven.Bonnell.II]

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EDIT: current version:

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So, a little backstory, then a question, then a possible remix?

I've always loved music, since I was in high school I decided this is what I want to do with my life.

I have a friend who plays piano, I play the saxophone (alto), and we both get together and just play a lot. We choose a couple chords, then we just play and move from there.

Anyway, we were playing few days ago and I was excited because I just got some new mics and a new mixer and was really pleased with the result. I knew a bit of the intro theme to Zelda, Ocarina of Time, and knew it would work over I M7 - IV M7 and had him start on those two chords. You can hear me play the theme over the chords in the beginning...

My question, is, would something like this be "submittable" to OCRemix? I guess, I would essentially play the melody once, then just improv the rest of the way through, return to the melody at the end and close somehow.

We drift away from (perhaps completely leave behind?) the original melody, so I'm not sure if this even qualifies as a "remix" of sorts, or if it's just way too far out there. I guess, in comparable terms, I imagine this being in a similar ballpark as Vigilante's "May Fortune Smile Upon You" remix.

Any thoughts/feedback would be great! I know the playing itself isn't top-notch, this was at the end of our session and I was way too tired for another 10 minute track!

[PhiJayy]

I'll let someone else answer your question. But.....

This is awesome! The zelda intro is way too short, but overall I like this alot.

If you want to submit though try remixing the whole intro. Just a suggestion...I haven't really taken a look at the rules on submitting here. So don't take my word for it, sounds like you guys have made skillz.

I'm impress.

[bardofawen]

Wow. Great stuff!

In regard to your question, my gut feeling is that you need to tie this in more closely to the source material in order for it to be considered. I suspect your gut is telling you the same thing, or you wouldn't be here asking this question.

Don't get me wrong. You that your friend have a great sound, and I suspect the judges would really like this. It's my impression that the judges here are a little bit more lenient with jazz interpretations and other forms that typically focus on improvisation. You also have a distinct advantage in recording (talented) live musicians. Live performers tend to stand out amid the sea of synthesized submissions. In short, I think they will like your sound a lot, and if you sent them a cleaned up version of this, I think you'd have at least a 50/50 chance of it being selected.

When it comes down to it, however, this isn't a piece so much as a riff. It's a really good riff, and you should be proud of it, but if I were a judge, that's the one thing that would keep me from voting yes. Take this riff, put some more thought into it, and make a piece out of it, and I suspect the end result will proudly join the ranks of OCRemixes.

[Steven.Bonnell.II]

I'm almost embarrassed to post this, but me and my friend get so little time to play together, his schedule is so busy before he has to go back to school after break ends!

So basically, my plan is to treat this almost like how you'd play a tune out of a real book.

We'll play down the form once (the melody, in this case, over the same progression), then open it up for improv, where that takes us, with me, then he'll improv on the piano, then after that we'll bookend it with me playing the head of the tune again.

I think if we shorten up the middle solo section (less time spent on the sax and piano solo, more direction/less wandering), the "bookending" idea could work? The track will still come in pretty long, I think, probably around 7-9 minutes, but encoding would keep it up under thay 7 MB limit.

Any thoughts/suggestions? The improv this round was REALLY sloppy! I would have done another take if we'd had time! I'll get to play with him again on Monday and I'll see what we turn out that time, based upon what feedback I get here.

I've never done any of this remixing stuff before, but thanks for any/all feedback and advice!

[Lie Mf B]

Don't be embarrassed!!!

This is so refreshing, so laid back and wonderful sounding! Playing and sound is top notch! It's alive and dynamic and packed with feel.

There is way too little of this sort of stuff in the video game music community.

As you can see, you've received some big props already, and I think this music can remind more people of how much they really love a great spontaneous improvisation. You don't have to tweak your beats and arrangements and mixes for days to make for a great listening experience.

The judges might however give you a "no" because the song is lacking a "song structure", etc. But bardofawen is probably right in that the live setting of this song will give it an advantage to something synthesised with the same arrangement.

If you don't pass the judges, why not distribute it elsewhere, on VGM communities like VGMix and Da Sauce, or on Myspace, etc.

Another question: Would you be interested in collaborations -- e.g. to play some sax on a tune that someone (such as me ) is working on?

[Steven.Bonnell.II]

We did another run through of it today, trying to stay a little closer to the melody, or at least reference it more while playing. I'm pretty happy with the playing here, though I still plan to do one more take (on Wednesday) which will (hopefully) be the last.

This should have ended like two minutes earlier, but Alex (the piano player) wouldn't stop playing. -___-

Other than that, final thoughts/comments? I'm pretty happy with the recording quality, though the piano mics sound a little noisy for some reason today, and the playing wasn't as sloppy as it usually is

We'll probably do one more run down of this on Wednesday, hopefully the most polished version, with hopefully some more references to the main melody.

Any final comments/thoughts would be greatly appreciated, thanks so far for the help guys!

[DarthStar]

This is really great, definitely nice. I think that instead of just bookending (even though that's a good idea), you could maybe touch on another part of the song during the improv, for you or him or both. I also thought that the section from 3:25-5:55 had muddy parts, where you and the piano were fighting for attention, but maybe that's just me. It was also very long.

However, this is exactly the kind of thing I wanted to do in high school and never got the chance to, so I have to give you mad props. plus, your set up sounds really nice. what kind of studio do you have?

[Rophell]

I want to say submit it now, but Im not sure if it would go through. If you were to redo it, the main theme could use more playing, but its really fine as it is..maybe a different ending... The quality of the sound alone eclipses most ReMixes Ive heard.

Really my only request is that you post more music here in the future. That was really good.

[Steven.Bonnell.II]

Alright, to answer a few questions...

Would you be interested in collaborations -- e.g. to play some sax on a tune that someone (such as me ) is working on?

Of course! I love playing, and I have a somewhat decent set of recording gear, so I'd love to play for anyone who needed it!

what kind of studio do you have?

I'm recording using two rode NT1-A's and then two mystery condenser mics in the piano (one above the high strings, one above the low strings) in a local church (nice reverb/sound in the worship area!). I'm not sure what kind of condensers are in the piano, I can't find a name on them, I just know the church uses it to output the piano sound to a monitor!

As far as the song goes...

I think it's coming along nicely. As far as it sounding muddy/the piano fighting for attention, I think I just need to tweak the gains on the piano and have it turned down a bit, so that when he starts to really play/move with me, dynamically, it doesn't completely drown out my sound. I think I did a better job this time of quoting the melody a little more, I think ending purely with the melody and nothing more would solidify this as a "remix" more. Otherwise, I'm pretty happy with this playing, though I botch an idea up once or twice.

We're probably gonna run it down one more time on Wednesday (tomorrow), I really appreciate all of the supportive feedback, but I really want more criticism, as harsh as it can be, I won't cry!

There are a few pitchy problems that I know of (that are common on the sax - I have no excuse to miss some of those pitches!) and I know that my vibrato is inconsistent in some areas and my technique gets a little botchy sometimes (a result of both sloppy playing and having two people try to play rubato, together, at the same time!). Any and all feedback is appreciated, and be harsh if you must!

Thanks again, you kids are wonderful! ^^

[glasfen]

This take on the opening theme is crazy good. The piano is so... emphatic I guess is the right word. Meanwhile, the sax is smooth as ice, hot as (blue) fire, and generally awesome. I didn't notice that the second rendition was 10 minutes long; I regretted that it ended so soon!

Anyway, this is a very beautiful take on the source. Kudos!

[Lie Mf B]

I love playing, and I have a somewhat decent set of recording gear, so I'd love to play for anyone who needed it!

Cool, great to hear! I'm working pretty intensely on an album of retro rock NES covers right now, but I don't have any plans for a sax part yet. Anyway, it could sound awesome in the right place. I'll PM you here on the forum soon with my mail address for future use.

Good luck with the jamming!

[Gario]

Everyone's said it before, and I'll say it again. Great song, great improv.

If you want anything to improve, again, I'll echo that there needs to be more than the first two chords repeated... I hear something different come in every once in a while, but not often enough to get the C7 F7 sound out of my head. Use some substitutions of C7 and F7 to add flavor without screwing with the improvisation too much (Em6 or Am9 come to mind for C7... are those right? Am9 - A,C,E,G,B? Jazz notation isn't my thing...). Also, there are places where the sax doesn't come out over the piano enough. Next recording I'd recommend coming out a little more when you carry the improvisation.

I think there is enough original material to get by, due to how often it is referenced in the improv's. More references in the piano wouldn't hurt, though .

Great piece! Can't really say much more than this - get the last recording and submit this!

[glasfen]

Was Romantic Beginnings the submission for this mix? If so, is there an update in the works?

[Psychol0gist]

Gonna nit pick a fair bit so bear with me.

At the 3-min mark, the piano and the sax seem to mash in just a tad too much so there's a sort of presence clash. Needs to tone down one or the other by about a quarter of what presence it has now.

Too liberal with your soloist approach. The spirit is there but there are times to return to the source with minor improvs to it more often than not. A suggestion could be a small but transit break/pause to let them absorb it for a moment then continue once more. Otherwise, taking in all of the piece becomes... a tedious task.

Something to take note on is the Zelda OCRemix called "SOS". That's the kind of rhythm to be portrayed that this piece needs.

Otherwise, it is a really interesting piece with it. Does need its tweaks but if you can support it then it should go with flying colours even with the long duration on the song.