*NO* Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword 'Bamboo City Jive'

[Gario]

Hello OCR,

I'm a big fan of all of the music that gets put on display on the site, and have always enjoyed good remixes of some of my favorite tracks from game's past.  With that being said, some time ago I had submitted my take on the Zelda Ocarina of Time's Sheik theme, and was graciously turned down.  With much more experience under my belt, and a deeper understanding of music theory, and sound quality/mastering, I hope to see my name amongst the great composers of some of my favorite remixes on this site.  

I decided to do a bit of a clean hip hop style to this track, and I am pleased to see it turn out as well as it did, as short as it is.  It might be a little too close to the original, as I didn't do much to rearrange the track, but hopefully with the way it sounds - its repetition - and the smooth flavor of the flute/koto I decided to use, I hope it is still at least considered to be added to the robust library of music on here.

Thanks for everything guys!

Tony "Dasaki Kasanagi" Elliott

 

 

[Gario]

Funny enough, I think this actually isn't too conservative for OCR. It IS conservative, but it does take the source in a different direction in style and presentation. Those things count for something, which I think makes it just distinct enough.

The issues that hold this back are EQ related, as well as the static presentation of the arrangement. This whole track is heavy in the highs and almost completely lacking in the bass end, which makes the whole track sound empty and top-heavy. The instruments utilized don't fill the right EQ spaces, which makes this sound incomplete. Not the worst thing in the world, since the drums could easily fill that space if they were EQ'd with the proper amount of bass, but it's an issue nonetheless.

While I said the arrangement wasn't conservative, it does still have the issue of being static and relatively unchanging. The same textures play throughout the track, which get old after three minutes. The fact that the instrument carrying the theme rarely changes only compounds the issue; changing up the arrangement so that it doesn't have the same textures and instruments going all of the time would help make these textures sound more interesting and engaging when they ARE present.

While it's firmly a NO, I think the idea of making a hip-hop version of this track is a good one, and this is a decent base to work from. I do hope he works on this some more and produces something even more interesting and cool from it.

NO

[MindWanderer]

I personally feel like the EQ is tolerable; it's a little top-heavy, but the tubular bells cover enough of the low end for my satisfaction.  But the static textures are indeed an issue.  I like what's there, but it needs a little more variation interspersed to hold the listener's interest.  Throw in a breakdown or bridge with some different instrumentation and I think this would be fine, but as it is I agree with Gario's

NO (resubmit)

[DragonAvenger]

Not really anything to add that hasn't already been said. I'm worth Gario here that the lack of a solid back end combined with the heavy use of that flute synth makes the track feel pretty top heavy, and I would like something else in the lower end to balance the track out a bit more. The other issue mentioned is that the instruments remain pretty static and I definitely agree there. I think the flute is the biggest offender both because it is used a lot but also because it sticks out so much. I think switching or the instruments for others here and there would make a good difference. 

Hope you do some revisions here, I think you're in the right track. Good luck!

NO (resubmit)