*NO* Legend of Zelda 'Medley for Symphonic Orchestra'

[djpretzel]

Hi. I'm a first time submitter. My nickname would be Robo.

This is a medley of the upper and lowerworld tunes from Legend Of Zelda (the 1st).

It was my examination composition from the Music Conservatory of Stockholm 2000.

It's intended and written for a symphonic orchestra. How nice wouldn't that sound compared to my Roland XP-10.

Anyways. You'll find it at:

Tell me if you need some info about me or the songs.

Btw. Don't show my e-mail.

ys :: mattias

[The wingless]

As ever, I let sample sounds slide because I don't expect hard-working twenty-somethings to shell out a billion dollars for Mr. Fatman's Glory Hole 2005 JigaSamples deluxe Negro League edition. Still, after that first suspended note, I was literally CRINGING.

After taht point, the piece gets progressively more enjoyable, and the Roland sound because less and less distracting.

And then the actual arrangement captures the ear, and it is absolutely lovely (and multifaceted like a goddamn diamond). Final project or not, this has dedication written all over it. And beyond that, you really get a sense the author enjoys the subject material. That's something I don't thing readily translates in many mixes.

Really, the only thing going against this guy is the fact he's done this all on a Casio-001, and it is to his goddamn CREDIT that he's able to get such a sound out of such... humble 1950's technology.

Magna Cum YES

[Protricity]

I wouldn't vote yes on a song due to the author's inability to make his samples sound good. There are many examples of great songs on this site that used shitty samples well. There are also many resources for free samples.

I hope we don't see any more of this kind of justification.

As for the song. Very cool intro. Then it gets into the main theme and doesn't stop for a while. During this session, theres just a lot of crappy arrangement, simple notation, annoying mastering, and really nothing special going on. Really liked that intro though. Nothing improves beyond that session. Its more of the same simplistic notation with some pretty elaborate, confusing transitions.

I can tell a lot of work went into the song. Would have sounded better played live by an orchestra, no doubt. Nevertheless, notation issues really bring this song down.

Cool ending.

NO

[Liontamer]

Like Prot said, I definitely liked the intro going up until 1:20. Good stuff. After that, I heard some nice transitions and a few hope spots for actual rearrangement early on, but generally everything for the first few minutes was just source themes with marching drums and orchestral stuff placed underneath it, which is really generic. People have to learn to do more with the Zelda Overworld theme beyond simplistic orchestration. It's been done, and it's been done a lot. Once it got past 4:30 and Robo started rearranging things, I enjoyed this much more.

Both Unknown & Nixdorux already have the Zelda orchestral side of rearrangement covered, so ANY Zelda mix in this style's gonna need a lot going for it, including sample strength. Like The Wingless said, I do hear the effort and dedication involved here, but I felt the rearrangement presence needed to be much heavier. Of course, the samples need improvement as well, but I wouldn't YES if the samples were professional. Nonetheless, Robo should hit up the ReMixing forum and check out Greg Kennedy's "Mixing For Free" guide for some sample help. In any case, I'd like to hear something more thought out from 1:20 to 4:30. The rest was pretty commendable, sample quality aside.

NO

[GrayLightning]

There are parts of the piece where the instrumentation is a bit sparse, but as a whole I wouldn't call this simple orchestration. This is without question beyond the bar as far as I'm concerned, and I've heard only a handful of orchestrators at this site that can even claim to compete with this one.

Considering he uses a Roland XP, I'm guessing he doesn't use soundfonts anyway, so the mixing guide for free will be of little help.

Not the greatest orchestral mix, but there's a lot to like here. Loved the ending sections too. Technically I found it very sound in various aspects. Enough for a

YES

[DarkeSword]

Unfortunately, this is a pretty good concept marred by some shoddy execution. Sounds like it's run straight through the synthesizer. Not a lot of attention paid to the balance between the instruments throughout the piece; like Prot said, poor mastering. The samples sound unprocessed and don't mesh well. The whole thing comes off sounding very unnatural; but since the piece makes an attempt at an organic sound by using 'acoustic' instruments, it's gotta have that humanized element. There are just too many points where I feel like I'm playing a PC game from the EARLY '90s.

Such a shame though; it's a damn good arrangement once it gets going. I disagree with Prot's claim of 'simplistic notation.' There's a lot of nice melodic play going on that really shows an understanding of the source material.

NO, but I want you to work on sampling and mixing and try for a resubmission.

[danny B]

The rearranging done here is enough to impress me. Very creative running harmonies, countermelodies, etc.

Percussion is neither omnipresent nor lackadaisical. I'm hearing no problems with instrumentation or melodic/harmonic shortcomings. The arrangement is unique, skillfully executed and utilizes the full dynamic range of the orchestra. The consistently innovative reiterations of the original main theme stir up John Williams feelings in my tum-tum. GJ.

3:30 gave me chills. Straight up. Excellence.

The sound quality is, however, on the far side of badness. There are few samples that don't grate on my soul. But this is to be expected from such archaic "technology". Normally, such a sound quality shortcoming would not cause me to reject it outight. However, there exist several parts that sound far too MIDI and seem to reduce down to the more unnacceptable side of sparseness.

While the arrangement kicks my ass to the curb, I simply can't see a track with such low production values on the front page.

But tell you what - Get someone with even a slightly improved soundset, use some slightly more sophisicated DSP, and make this arrangement more clearly sing its gorgeous tune unto the world.

Hell, contact me, and i'll run it through Orkester and some VSTs I have. I'd gladly do it, and i'm sure there are plenty of other musicians who would love to have a hand in this BRILLIANT arrangement in any manner possible.

So for now, i'm afraid I must use the power of NO. You have my contact info. PLEASE get someone to help with the sound quality. I adore this arrangement far too much to see it dwindle into the annals of NOosity.

-D