Chimpazilla Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Hey OCRemix! Long time listener, first time mixer here. My name is Christian Michael Poynter, artist name Arth4da. The piece I decided to remix was "Song of Healing" from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. When I heard my friend playing a piano version of the piece I lit up, Inspiration struck me and I stole his printed sheet music. I remembered playing the game as a kid but I had forgotten how beautiful the song was. Cycling between playing this song on piano and listening to way too much deep house music, the synthesis was inevitable. In the project I strived to create a dreamlike track that you could almost fall asleep to, were it not for the heavy house percussion firmly grounding you in the ambiance. Because of a terrible affliction for puns, I called my submission "House of Healing" (bahaha get it?). The buildup to the source material is long, with everything except the chord progression being original until about 2:00 when the melody shows itself for the first time and remains a prominent part of the song in various ways through the rest of the track. I tried to keep a deep house feel in mind, so at times the melody is almost obscured, and made into a part of the mix's essential structure; Punctuated by melodic lines fading into the front and then back into obscurity. My motto to myself while working was something like: "Song of Healing is way cool, but what would it sound like if Kaito wrote it?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpazilla Posted September 23, 2014 Author Share Posted September 23, 2014 Other than the chord progression from the source, which is pretty simple, this track does take a long time to get started, all the way until 2:00 when the source melody begins filtering in, but it is nearly a 7 minute track. I am enjoying the extended filter-opening tease. The instrumentation is good, mixing is well done except I find the claps too loud and dry. Some delay would work well on the claps, and at the very least quite a bit more reverb on them. Or, how cool would it be if the claps were sometimes dry, other times super delayed and wide panned? The arrangement is straightforward, source is easily identifiable, although the majority of source use seems to be chord progressions rather than melody, but that fits this deep house style. Often the melody line is played by what I would consider backing instruments and for the most part there is no lead. Again, fits the genre. I like the breakdown beginning at 4:00, soft yet spooky. Some harmonic dissonance begins creeping in around 4:30 and by 4:45 it is quite pronounced. I like this and find it interesting, not sure if everyone will though. Breakdown lasts about a minute and a half, a good amount of time for this track. My only real gripe on this track is the claps. They are so integral to the track, and they are so centered and dry. Not enough to put me off this track though, I can totally zone out to this. Trippy and cool. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beatdrop Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 This is groovy. I can get behind some deep/progressive house action. Not very much of that on OCR as far as I know. This takes quite a while to really get going, and at the same time, it never really gets going, but at the same time same time, it's constantly going. That probably doesn't make sense, but that's the style. The source is pretty innocuous itself, so I guess it couldn't be avoided. There's no question about the representation of the original; it's all here. Picking up on some major Steve Porter vibes. Production quality is stand-out. Well-mixed. I have no gripes about any of your sound choices; they all fit perfectly. The only negative in this regard that I could pick out is that, unlike Chimpazilla, while I like the clap itself and think it's appropriate for it to be dry and centered, it's just a tad too loud. If it were more subtle, the dryness and centeredness wouldn't stick out. The only other complaint I can make is that it's too long and repetitive given the content. While I get that it's a stylistic choice, I don't think it's warranted here. My recommendation would be to trim some sections down, particularly leading into the 2:45 mark. Everything up to 2:45 could probably be cut down to half its length without losing much. That aside, this is still good enough for me. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutritious Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 Not much to add to what's been said already. Source connections are quite clear throughout. Nice use of various sounds and effects to give this an ethereal feel. Claps could've blended better for sure with the rest, but a minor gripe there. I agree it also could have been trimmed down as things take a long time to develop, but at the same time, I don't feel like it's repetitive or dragging on. On the contrary, it's quite relaxing and a fun listen. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 (edited) From the beginning, there is a nice full textured soundscape. Some nice filtering to lead us in. You have a good grasp of keeping the stereo soundscape interesting. However I'm finding things a tiny bit repetitive on the arrangement side in places, although adequate changes are made in time to hold interest. Creative use of source in this chill environment. I think for me the biggest problem is your track takes a little long to cut to the chase. It's not something I'm going to no the mix for, but taking 2 mins for the track to really get started can make the listener impatient. The drums also feel a bit too loopy throughout, some variation in sections would have been nice. A fairly chill track throughout. As mentioned, would love to have had the track start sooner, but things are good enough here. YES Edited October 1, 2014 by Jivemaster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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