OCR01364 - *YES* Zelda 64: Ocarina of Time 'Anthem of a Misguided Youth'

[djpretzel]

I've got another OCR hopeful ready to go, and I like the way it turned out. Here's the link (you can leave it active in the Judges' Descision thread):

|- Contact Info -|

I'm already an existing ReMixer in the database: chthonic

|- ReMix Info -|

Name of game(s) ReMixed: Zelda 64

Name of individual song(s) ReMixed: Gerudo Valley

|- My Comments -|

(Taken from my VGMix write-up)

This one's... different. Lots of stuff in here that screams "I'm trying new things! Look at me!" Anyway, the main theme I was trying to get across with this piece is the fact that the Gerudo people are all theives, not knowing any differently. This is their anthem. All of the sorrow, guilt, and weight of immorality is balanced with a sense of sisterhood and acceptance, which is what I tried to convey with the "happier" sections of the piece.

Anyway, like I said, it's definitely a stretch from my norm (which isn't well defined to begin with). For one, it has a hip-hop feel to it, mostly due to the nature of the percussion, and that's not what I usually do. It also has LIVE acoustic guitar, played and improvised by me. There are some liberties taken with the chord structure, and I think I left out some of the motives from the original. I never actually went back to any form of OST for reference, because I know the source tune so well.

At any rate, this is definitely my most emotional piece; most of the improvisation stemming from the grief following the end of my 7-month relationship with my girlfriend. It's groovy and fun; powerful and interesting...

...just listen to it. Enjoy!

-chth

[danny B]

As someone who tried to do his own thing with this theme, I commend you for your take on this over-covered tune that is both technically impeccable and musically intriguing.

I don't really have a lot to say about this yes vote. If the readers of Judges' Decision forum want to get something out of my decision, it is this - Learn from chthonic.

YES

-D

[Harmony]

The intro had me a little worried. The claps and the strings just didn’t sit well with me but when that first PHAT warm bass note fills my headphones at :14, everything comes to life. This has a wonderful smooth latin jazz feel to it created by a triangle, congas, claves, and a guiro clicking away behind the simple but beautifully played classical guitar. The samples aren't amazing but they are all used quite effectively. This all fuses seamlessly with the synth elements. Props for 2:12-2:33 man and great use of the game samples at :56, :58…

Rearrangement is right on. Not a significant departure from the vibe of the source but this is certainly nothing less than a show of even more of the chthonic creativity that brought us Fleeting Ecstasy.

Very enjoyable. Is it this simple to make a cool mix or does chthonic just make it look like it is?

YES

[Liontamer]

http://www.zophar.net/usf/lozusf.rar - 68 "Gerudo Valley"

http://www.zophar.net/gbs/zelda.zip - Track 47

I actually liked the clap intro; thought it was a different way to intro the track. It certainly caught my attention when I played it on VGF53. Very cool combination of sounds, including a phat bassline and cool synth xylo stuff. Classy use of the Lil' Link voice samples at :53. The whole handling of "Gerudo Valley" was nothing but stylish, including the inspired-by original section from 1:13-1:44, followed by the guitar work transition into "Ballad of the Wind Fish". Things circled back into Gerudo with some additional seasoning at 2:56. Solid acoustic guitar/clap fade-out for the close. Nothing much to say but well-done. Great sophomore mix from Ben as far as I'm concerned.

YES

[GrayLightning]

I think it's a good arrangement concept, especially near the two minute mark - outside that it borders on too straight forward for my taste.

I think the synths and samples are a bit dead sounding, there's a lo-fi intentional sound in some sections that don't sit well with me. The production here is vanilla in my book. Could have used some more reverb and delay or creative automation and other processing to spice things up - particularly on the live guitar. Which is a shame as that to me is the highlight of the mix, would have been nicer if the texture of the guitar had more body.

It's an enjoyable listen, but let's not forget in this case it's slightly reliant on the superb source material - which isn't to take away from the good here. Nice mix. YES