FunkyEntropy Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 NEW: Rather than update my original thread for the whole suite like I'd originally planned, I figured I'd just consolidate it into a single thread like I should have done in the first place. So, yeah. This is the whole thing. The first of three suites of music from a whole bunch of Zelda games. Still not completely happy with this version (some flubs here and there), but much better than previous versions. ------------------------- You can download the mp3 for the first Hylian Suite HERE [edit: just noticed that the reverb is causing the pitch to curl whenever there's break in the playing. I have no idea what's causing it, but hopefully I'll be able to get it fixed. In the meantime I'm leaving this up for anyone that wants to list to it anyway since the rest of it sounds fine.] ------------------------- Older stuff: The opening fanfare to the SNES classic, The Legend of Zelda - A Link to the Past, arranged for brass quintet. Probably the most epic 18 seconds I've ever had the pleasure of playing Low Db's for the frikkin' WIN. New version (now with REVERB) available in three formats: mp3 wav aiff See post #13 for more info. Enjoy. [edit] Many thanks to 0x000000FF for providing a link to the source. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn2W7ylZ8hY [/edit] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docnano Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 Definite WIN. Hope you expand on this (as it sounds like you're planning to)! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xarnax42 Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 This had better be a promise of more to come... This is doubly exciting because VHD's arrangement of Locke's Theme is probably one of my 10 most listened-to mixes, and you led me right to your live rendition. Considering the level of performance of a piece NOT INTENDED to be performed live...you've all got chops. If we can hope that the quality of arrangement of this "Hylian Suite" matches the talent of the performers, then please don't keep us waiting for long! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FunkyEntropy Posted February 20, 2011 Author Share Posted February 20, 2011 So in answer to the question, "Is there more of this" - why yes. Yes there is. Currently the only version I have of us playing the whole suite is from an old recording we did about four months ago. It was taken using a single Zoom recorder/mic, in a room with less than stellar acoustics, and at the end of our rehearsal so chops were kinda meh at that point. Anyway, this is how the whole thing is supposed to go: Everyone still with me? Good. Thankfully, that is not the version that will be submitted to OCR. On Tuesday, the same night we recorded the fanfare, we also recorded a couple other pieces. Among them were - Gerudo Valley from OoT, Another Voyage from Chrono Cross, Hunters Chance from FF IX, and the Hylian Suite No.1. So right now we're in the production phase - I need to start going through all the takes and finding what I like, edit it all together, balance, etc. This is complicated by the fact that this was the first time we'd tried using the new recording setup (audio deck + 4 mics) and because we had to eliminate the audio feed for one of the mics at one point (some hiss/crackles) the track names are slightly out of sequence for each mic. Anyway, I felt like posting the fanfare as a stand-alone thing. Sure, it's short, but so what? I think it's worth submitting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darangen Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 I listened to the Hylian Suite first, then the Fanfare in the first post afterward. This has some serious potential! The players are extremely talented, and even with one mic and a less than stellar sound room the skill of the players shine through which means with a proper setup and sound engineer this could be nothing short of amazing. I do hope you pursue this to it's fullest potential! The arrangement is there, the ability is there, it just needs its proper treatment with the recording aspect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0x000000FF Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 This sounds great! Good luck with production! Also, just for reference, here's a link to the title fanfare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FunkyEntropy Posted February 20, 2011 Author Share Posted February 20, 2011 Thanks for the link. Speaking of production, how is the volume level? I'm worried that it's too soft, as I'm noticing I have to really crank up my speakers to get it where I want it. I'm not quite sure how to get it any higher productions-wise since when I pull the .wavs up in Audacity the output meters are already juuuuust outside the red. Normalizing it puts it past that so that there's some noticeable distortion. Suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rozovian Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Yeah, the suite is really quiet. I boosted the whole thing 7dB before a Limiter, no ill effects. The limiter barely has to do anything. I also gave the bass a 4dB boost (might be a little excessive) from 220Hz and down, it put a little more power in the lows. (eq before limiter) As for the full mixdown, there's all kinds of techniques you could use. Can't say what you should use without hearing them, but multiband compression comes to mind as something worth looking into. Don't normalize past the peak levels, instead limit the peaks and normalize... normally. Really cool track btw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darangen Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Thanks for the link.Speaking of production, how is the volume level? I'm worried that it's too soft, as I'm noticing I have to really crank up my speakers to get it where I want it. I'm not quite sure how to get it any higher productions-wise since when I pull the .wavs up in Audacity the output meters are already juuuuust outside the red. Normalizing it puts it past that so that there's some noticeable distortion. Suggestions? There's no quick and easy method to maximizing volume. The main tools that allow you to turn it up without peaking and clipping are compressors, limiters, and eq. Basically, if the track is clipping, a limiter will get rid of those clips and still maintain the integrity of the sound, for the most part. If your track is too quiet, you might consider compression. Compression brings up the quiet parts and puts a lid on the louder parts giving you a more consistent volume level. You don't want too much compression or you'll start hearing the instruments pumping instead of sounding natural. In this style that's even more important, pumping brass is just a huge no-no. EQ lets you single out good or bad frequencies and gives each instrument it's rightful place on the tonal spectrum. For this you probably won't have to boost many frequencies, but you may want to sweep for some dissonant frequencies on each instrument so it doesn't get muddy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FunkyEntropy Posted February 21, 2011 Author Share Posted February 21, 2011 Thanks for the help. Just so that we're all on the same page as to what I'm working with, here's a link to a zip with the individual mic tracks: http://www.mediafire.com/?qk9b7feie1a6w5c If memory serves, here's a list of what I did: - Trim some of the empty space at the start and end - Normalized mics 1, 3, and 4. This put the output just barely in the red, but I noticed only a negligible amount of clipping so I felt the volume increase was an acceptable trade off. - Export as .wav, which compressed the four tracks into a single monoaudio track. I'll have to try your suggestions when I get the chance, but I just wanted to say again: thanks for the assistance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darangen Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 I'm not overly experienced in mic setups for brass, I usually deal with strings. It seems like you basically have 4 room mic's going though, correct? It'll be tough to get a really good stereo image without mic'ing each individual instrument, and even tougher to single each instrument out to give it the tweaks it may need. This is dependent on what hardware you have available to you, but if at all possible it would increase the quality greatly. Best case scenario you'd have an audio interface that allows you to mic each instrument to its own channel/track. If you do have this available to you, use it. Spread the musicians out a bit and set each one up with a decent dynamic microphone pointing right at the sound holes of the instrument. Then have a few condenser microphones around the room for some natural ambiance sound. Worst case scenario, you have each musician perform their track separately. Basically setting them up in a room with headphones and recording them playing along with a scratch track. Either of these options will give you greater control over the dynamics of the overall sound your mix has. There are ways to use the 4 tracks you have now and mix those and make it work, however I have no experience or advice I can offer in that situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swann Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 I can't wait for this to be completed. Awesome work so far! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FunkyEntropy Posted March 3, 2011 Author Share Posted March 3, 2011 Progress report: met with a retired sound engineer to go over some of the finer points of the audio software we've been using (there have been...issues) and so now I'm actually able to figure out what takes I want to use. And now that that's done, I need to find another time when he's available so we can splice stuff together and do all the post-product (or whatever the technical jargon is) fancy-schmancy stuff. Stuff like what we've done here with the fanfare. Ahh, reverb. 'Tis a glorious thing. Add a touch of equalizing to both brighten and add depth to the sound, and voila. You'll have to crank up your speakers, because after having it explained to me compression is a bridge I refuse to cross because of how ruins dynamic contrast. The fanfare might not be the best example, but I work hard to get a good sound while playing pp. Compression ruins that, so I'm afraid you'll just have to crank up the speakers. Unless somebody here is willing to take a crack at it such that they can increase the dBs without affecting dynamics, this is the final version of the Hylian Fanfare. Anyway, I've got it in three versions, wav, aiff, and mp3. The mp3 The wav The aiff While I'm at it, I'm going to update the first post with these links as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FunkyEntropy Posted May 11, 2011 Author Share Posted May 11, 2011 Bump with a link to an mp3 of the full suite. http://www.mediafire.com/?0vkj7p76vvjbqw4 I figure this'd also be a decent place to point out the fact that if you like this piece, you can here it LIVE this Sunday. Details: When: Sunday, May 15th at 6:30 pm. Concert is following a performance by the church choir + organ at 5ish (I think) Where: Church of Our Saviour, San Gabriel 535 West Roses Road San Gabriel, CA 91775-2205 Admission: FREE [edit: just noticed that the reverb is causing the pitch to curl whenever there's break in the playing. I have no idea what's causing it, but hopefully I'll be able to get it fixed.] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonicThHedgog Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 Its quiet..... tooo quiet:nicework: j/k this sounds fantastic, my only prob is that its too quiet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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