Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Forest Temple

[dimsuM]

Hey guys, just looking for some opinions on this remix that I put together for the Forest Temple theme. Melodically, I'm pretty happy with the contributions and variations I added. In terms of mastering, I'm thinking of bring up the levels of the flute a bit, I feel it's getting a bit drowned out. I'm feeling the bass doesn't have a whole lot of punch to it, might think about bringing that up a bit as well.

Here's the link:

edit: removed the 1st 2 links and added a new, more refined version for your listening pleasure.

Thanks for any criticisms and feedback.

edit: and the source for anybody who hasn't heard it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KUXX9T8Cm4

[Daybreaker]

I like a lot of it, very ambient and relaxing. There's a part near the beginning when there's almost nothing but the drums, that lasts just a tad too long. Towards the end, I wish I could pick a melody out of the vocals or something there, but I can't.

I think you should put in some chimes very briefly at one point or another. I just think it would sound nice with the sound you have.

[dimsuM]

Hey, thanks for the feedback. Yeah, the part at the beginning is supposed to imitate the part in the source material where the flute dies down, but I agree it could be a bit too long, shortening it could be quite the pain though what with all the envelopes. And I'll have a look at it and see if I can fit some chimes in.

Thanks for the suggestions!

[adjacentshadow]

Ohhh, very nice . Maybe a bit less use of drums would help though.

[dimsuM]

Hmm, I was really going for a breakbeat fusion melding the theme with some heavy drums, that was my idea behind making it. I'll admit they get a bit repetitive, but I'm getting fairly lazy with the sequencing. There really isn't much to the song, so it's just of just a theme + variation style remix with a transition after the intial theme. Thanks for the replies anyway, would be good to get some more feedback!

[Rozovian]

The glitchy filtered echo of the first instrument is pretty cool, but most of the instruments aren't as cool. Bass and drums work fine, but the harmonic and melodic ones are a bit bland. The flute doesn't sound good enough to stand in the spotlight, methinks. Strings and choir towards the end suffer a bit from the compression or something bouncing their volume up and down. Detracting, but it might be intentional.

I think you've done ok with a difficult source, but it still feels too conservative for ocr. I could be wrong, tho, so don't let my feedback stop you from asking a judge or submitting it. It's a cool track, nice rhythms, and much of the sound design is badass. Nice work.

[Emunator]

Speaking purely from a non-mod perspective, I really, really enjoyed this. It's a great background track because there's not really much going on and it's rather repetitive (which is why it might have a hard time finding its way onto OCR in its current form) but I just wanted to tell you that I really liked listening to your mix. Good work

[Blackwinged Saron]

roz is right. This is conservative. It's also very good. I like it...as much as i like the source...which is why i like it...it's the source. Even with all the reworking and fantastic display of talent it's just OoT:HD. I'm not hearing an inspired rearrangement so much as a reworking of the original. Which is ok, but not quite hitting the mark that OCR tends to hold of it's posted works. It really doesn't need much work to do so tho. Just a slight injection of yourself, your style, your personality. Go for it, I think after a quick check-up on format, it's ready.

Second opinion after listening again edit: mmm...nevermind. I wouldn't change it. It works, it really does, and I see plenty of interpetation in it. And, honestly it's not as source-ish as I made it to myself. I would rather come back and edit my opinion than let you or anyone else think i was batty b/c I didn't care to go back and fix a mistake. It was a very simple theme and you've added quite a bit of personality to it, and I am impressed with the sound throughout.

[dimsuM]

Yeah, thanks for the responses. In terms of this mix, and just in general when I try out things (I haven't been producing for very long), I get very finnicky, and start to over edit something because I get frustrated with the sound. The end result in this case (I've changed it alot from the OP version), is a cluttered, muddy remix or song with too much going on and indistinct sounds.

That, and it wasn't that different from the source anyway. Might give it another attempt, and steer clear of having too many things going on. Also, mastering is a huge issue for me. I'm not really sure what I want my end product to sound like, so I should probably do some reading up about it. Although I think it sounds okay, I'm just not happy with it.

With this whole music production thing, especially with no connections to the music industry it's simply so very confusing to learn and understand new concepts, particularly when your only learning resource is some youtube videos / articles on the internet(although I suppose that's the situation for many on this forum).

I guess the saying 'less is more' really applies to my approach to things, so I'll try to clean it up and have it sounding better.

I appreciate the responses anyway.