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Zelda Wind Waker Ocean Theme


MX-Z8
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I don't really have a lot in the way of critique, but I just wanted to say you did an amazing job with this track! I love how clean the instruments sound, and I'm always a sucker for jazz arrangements. I can envision myself kicking back on a beach sipping on fruit smoothies to this track.

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AT FIRST LISTEN ON BAD SPEAKERS:
The drums are too far forward in the mix, most of the time.  They should provide more punch. I LOVE THIS ARRANGEMENT, though.  This sort of doubletime bit has a lot of substance.  I am not a fan of the pacing of the piano part, but it can do more than block chords every change in harmony - also, I think it is mixed a scoche too loud until 3:07.

Dude, good job with this.  The harmonies in the solo sections move things forward and make me want to listen more.  They ENGAGE.  Good job.

10/10 preem.  Would listen again,
- Hank "The Spank Tank" Jankerson -

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Hey thanks!!!  Yea, I've been finding things here and there that I have been tweaking but great feedback nonetheless!! I really appreciate that!  Hopefully I can submit it soon and there will be a permanent download link to the final product!  Ill try and post an updated version soon.

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  • 3 months later...

Hey Everyone,

I finally got around to working on this again (finally got my little home studio setup!!) and changed a bunch of things but still have some work to do on this but I think it is coming along nicely.  I'm having way too much fun doing this!!

 

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Nice, I like the double-time feel of this. I would prefer that the bass part be more interesting before 0:43; the octave jumps are rather simple. The vibraphone feels like a soundfont (particularly with the phase resets and sample skips on the fast runs at 2:22 - 2:55). It just feels kinda thin and dry and could use more reverb to fit in the mix; there's also a sample glitch at 2:06 on the vibraphone. I would definitely try to find a better vibraphone VST.

I also think that this has gotten rather long. The drum patterns start to feel same-y by the 3-minute mark, so the dynamics just all blend together a little too well, and I just get lost in determining where the piece is actually going. i.e. it feels repetitive in the sense that I can't tell when the dynamics are changing and the arrangement just feels directionless/meandering.

The raw composition though is excellent. I think the main issue is really in the vibraphone sample, and the dynamics could use more variation to provide more obvious contrasts. You may want to shorten the arrangement as well, to focus it more into a proper direction.

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  • 5 months later...

Okay, so. First of all. I really like what you did this thing. It's al very breathy. I've heard breathy things are good for zelda. A few things that I noticed:

 

I'd say the drums are really really busy. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing at times, but I think it's a bit much here. I think that it fits at the beginning, and is also nice for a climax kinda thingy at the solos. But, since it's busy at all times, the whole thing stays static and it kinda distracts from the rest of the song. Since you have a classic bossa bass rhythm going on, I'd recommend using a 3-2 son clave as your foundation during the theme and then build up from that. This will calm the whole thing down, give it a more dynamic range and will make the nicely implemented busy drum parts stand out more. 

I also think the solo's are a tad too long. Or rather, that there's too little happening in the solo section besides the solo's. Like Timaeus also mentioned, it gets static after a while. I think calming the drums down at the beginning will already help a great deal, but you can also differentiate at other sections. What I personally always do during solo sections is repeat parts from the original theme and put them as backings for the solo to solo over. I mostly do this with horns, but it would also work with the piano during the vibraphone solo for example. Try putting the original cello D-A-D-E-D theme in the low register of the piano and put it softly underneath the vibraphone solo. I'm not sure whether it will work, but you just have to experiment with things and see how it works. But giving cameos of the theme and/or backing in general in the solo section will make the listener remember what it actually is that they're listening to besides a bunch of solos, and will also give the section an intensifying effect. 

During the first theme, you could space the harmony in a better way. What I mean with that is this: The theme in itself is very focused on the one. The melody really works towards it, and then stays quiet for a while before beginning another pick up line to the one. That's basically what it does the whole time. It's what makes the melody so breathy and spacious. So, if I were to play piano for this piece, the one place I definitely would not play is the one. Since it's already so full. There's so much space after it, which would be a great place to dump some nice voicings without actually distracting from the melody. So, try giving the piano more diversity in a the horizontal sense of the word. See where in the track there's space, and use that space to fill in the harmony.

I'm assuming that this is not the actual end of the track? Because it'd make a lot of sense to first go back to the original theme before ending this. And not ending in a fade out is also always a pro. But I assume that that's what you're planning to do.

 

That's all I think. Overall I really like it. It's pretty close to the source, but the instrumentation and laid back feeling make it different enough for me to stand out. In a good way that is. Nice work!!

 

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  • 5 months later...

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