Chimpazilla Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 (edited) Contact Info: Remixer Name - Outset Initiative Real Name - Zeke Fenelon Email: Website: www.outsetinitiative.com Submission Info: Game arranged - The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Arrangement name - A Fistfull of Rupees Song(s) arranged: Dark World Comments: It appears that I've been on a Zelda kick lately. This track is following my Forest Temple remix into the submissions inbox a little over a month later, woo! Imagine Clint Eastwood with his classic poncho and a cigar — got it? Now, put him in the Dark World and see what happens! This is my western rendition of the Dark World theme from A Link to the Past. It actually comes with some Wind Waker styled art and a video as well: Cheers, Zeke ---------------------------------------------- Edited October 1, 2014 by Liontamer closed decision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted September 20, 2014 Author Share Posted September 20, 2014 (edited) What an incredibly cool idea to make this song into a western! I love the idea, and those reversed-sounding string notes are very neato, they give a nice eerie feel. The track builds slowly into a really nice groove as it busts out at 1:04. The trumpet bits are fake as heck (and they get too loud) but they seem to fit although they could use some reverb, the dryness makes them stick out more than they should. The guitar also sounds sampled but you've used it well given the limitations of sampled guitar. The lonely sine in the background is terrific. The track has good flow and dynamics and I'm totally onboard... until 2:15. I'm hoping for a super epic beat section, and the track slows way down. I still hear source from 2:15 onward, and it is used quite well actually, but I'm left feeling like this arrangement is disjointed overall, since the first and second halves are so different. Am I being a grandma if I think this arrangement is odd? I'm going with YES for now, I like the track, but I'm interested in other opinions. edit 9/27/14: I've been thinking about this track a lot. I do like it, and I'm getting more used to the arrangement, it is interesting and there IS plenty of source throughout. But I think I have to vote NO for now, the following are my issues: 1. the brass: it's REALLY dry, which makes it's fake nature really exposed. At 1:01, the brass gets really loud, too loud. Smooth out the volume of the brass for the times it appears, and give it some tasteful reverb, and it will fit in better. 2. the guitar: I'm really ok with this sampled guitar, but some better humanizing wouldn't hurt. If you varied velocities and note start times slightly, it would flow more naturally. Small changes will do, don't overdo it. And as with the brass, a bit more reverb will make it fit in better with the soundscape. 3. the drums: Justin is right, they do feel pasted on top. This is mainly due to how they are mixed (too loud and upfront, especially the snare), but it is also partially due to their style being so different from the genre of the track, and partially due to the short section in which they appear. I think mixing them better into the soundscape (quieter and with more reverb to push them backwards) will solve it 90% if not more. The snare is most problematic imo, since it is the most upfront. I like the fact that the drums are so different from the genre... but they need to fit in better with the soundscape so they don't feel like an afterthought. Justin also had some very good advice about building the action (and therefore volume) in a more consistent manner. I also think you could spend some time addressing the reverb of the track overall, making sure the reverb is consistent across the instruments so they sound like they are in the same space generally. Hopefully these fixes aren't too hard to do, because I'm hoping to hear this track back soon! NO (resubmit) Edited September 27, 2014 by Chimpazilla Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutritious Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 (edited) Very creative approach here. Initially, the mix sounds really quiet to me. The sudden volume increase around the minute mark brings this to a more reasonable listening level. I'd recommend bringing up the intro volume further, while using other elements or methods to try to build the action in addition to what you have here. While the beat sounds cool, it sounded a bit pasted-on-loop to me, rather than integrated well into the track. It's a heavy electro style loop that sits upfront in the soundfield, which contrasts against the slower attack and quieter natural instruments. Not sure that's really working as-is. As prominent as it plays, the plucked guitar lead had a weak sounding tone and a bit rigid on the sequencing. The brass stabs sounded really fakey as well, though they weren't utilized as frequently. Bass synth tone is really basic sounding and doesn't really have the low end frequency presence as it should. Strings were relegated to background show sweeps and don't have a ton of presence, but they're servicable to me. I liked the whistling lead and the delayed flute flourishes were a good idea. Overall, everything sounded pretty dry, which exposes the fakey samples more than it really should. Arrangement is pretty straightforward for most of the mix. Good use of source melodies, with backing additions and flourishes on the lead parts throughout. Thing is, once it gets going, we only get about a minute of content before things fade out, not giving a whole lot of time for the main thrust of the mix to be further explored and kinda kills the energy of the song. The outro section is a cool unexpected touch. However, it's completely original content for 2:28 until the end at 4:14, which is a significant chunk of the song and prompting me to go ahead and break it down: Breakdown: :00 - :10 Heavily modified OST melody line (I'm iffy on this, but leaning no) :11 - :17 Modified, but closer rendition of melody :18 - :27 Lead goes original, but backing pattern follows OST chords :28 - :37 Original :38 - 2:27 Brass stabs playing brass stabs from original going into much more direct source usage for the rest of this section 2:28 - 4:14 Original I count 127 seconds of source usage of 254 total, which is exactly 50% of the track. Really shaving it close here with whether or not this could be considered dominant source usage. To sum up, there's an imbalance between the instrument/sample quality of the various elements used here, which makes it sound incohesive to me. There's a significant portion of the mix that is completely original, which leaves a lot on the table as to potential arrangement work. I guess I'm on the other side of the fence on this one from Kris as I feel like a good amount of work is still needed to tighten it up. Good luck to you . NO resubmit, please Edited September 25, 2014 by Nutritious Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted September 25, 2014 Author Share Posted September 25, 2014 (edited) While I'm still considering my overall vote on this track, I feel I need to point out the source usage from 2:15-4:14. 2:15-2:58 seems original, but at 2:58, he has used the motif starting at 0:46 in the source. He references this motif with the guitar repeatedly until 3:24, then with the flute until end. I'm still considering the production and may flip my vote, but I want to make sure he gets full source credit. edit 9/27/14: I've changed my vote to NO and explained my crits. Edited September 27, 2014 by Chimpazilla Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutritious Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 While I'm still considering my overall vote on this track, I feel I need to point out the source usage from 2:15-4:14. 2:15-2:58 seems original, but at 2:58, he has used the motif starting at 0:46 in the source. He references this motif with the guitar repeatedly until 3:24, then with the flute until end.I'm still considering the production and may flip my vote, but I want to make sure he gets full source credit. Good call on this one, I did miss that but totally hear it now that you pointed it out. Nice touch by the remixer there. It doesn't flip my vote given the production issues, but it does bring it to acceptable source usage IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 (edited) This electronic to western vibe is very intriguing to me. By the 2 min mark you have taken us on a great journey already, and we're only half way. I am really enjoying the guitar work. The pitch bends you've implemented are a little weird in places, but I know you're trying to invoke some feels in the track and I accept that. After a couple of listens I am ok with source use. There is some stuff in there that sounds similar to source, but can't quite be constituted as such IMO, but when referring to Kristina's breakdown and quickly doing the math here, there is enough. Things that need fixing: I'm not a huge fan of that fake brass at the start, something more realistic would really help this mix, considering the beginning is quite acoustic driven before it turns electronic. It's also a bit loud and needs to be blended into the mix better. The intro guitar is also a little too soft and should be upped in level a bit. Your production quality also needs some tweaks to pass I think. You have some decent balance amongst the majority the instruments and everything is quite clear, but your big problem is there are two volume extremes to this mix. The lighter sections are too soft (the intro, as well as 2:20 onwards), and fuller sections are too pumpy compression wise from the drums which begins to break the clarity (1:04-2:05). This divide in volume should be closer together - not so far as to ruin the dynamics across the song (keep the soft bits softer for example), but close that gap in volume so the mix is more cohesive dynamically. NO (please resub) Edited October 6, 2014 by Jivemaster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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