OCR03831 - *YES* Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker "Pajarito Paisa"

[Gario]

Contact Information

• Remixer Username: Furorezu
• Real Name: Daniel Florez
• Preferred E-mail: 
• User ID: 33297

Name of games arranged: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

Name of arrangement: Pajarito Paisa

Name of individual songs: Dragon Roost Island

Source materials: Dragon Roost Island

Comments:  I wanted to make a remix in the style of Afrosound, a Colombian instrumental band that has been described as having a hybrid cumbia sound. Having grown up listening to them around Christmas time (particularly "El Pesebre"), I was hooked on their music once I finally found out more about them and the rest of their music. I ended up choosing Dragon Roost Island as the song to mix because its chord progression was ripe for translating to the I-V-I progression used in songs like "El Pesebre" and "Danza de los Mirlos", which is evident most in the bass guitar for that style of music. I've worked on this mix for a better part of the year since it is very tough to find a balance between keeping it fresh but not wandering from the motif too far, since I felt that that would stray too far from the style I was going for; Working with percussion loops rather than the instruments individually also played a factor. Hopefully it meets the OCR criteria, as this music style should become more known outside of Colombia and is very near and dear to me.

 

 

[MindWanderer]

Thanks for providing links to the "genre" you were trying to emulate (if you can call the unique music of one band a genre).  I wasn't familiar with it, and it's a very specific sound to go for.  It has a very thin soundscape, a unvarying percussion line, and a limited range of sounds, which in isolation would have counted against your mix.  It's definitely successful at imitating that style, including the repetitive structure with slight transformations that characterize it, very much like progressive trance.

Unfortunately, the similarity of your mix to El Pesebre in particular does count against it.  0:31-1:10 and 1:50-2:09 don't sound like Dragon Roost Island at all to me, but do sound a whole lot like El Pesebre.  2:29-2:39 does a better job of mimicking Afrosound's style without actually using their music, but it still doesn't sound like Zelda in any way I can hear.  I'm of two minds about whether this close-but-not-quite-exact copying of Afrosound's sounds constitute using a non-VGM source.  I do definitely hear Dragon Roost Island in 0:02-0:30, 1:10-1:49, 2:09-2:28, and 2:39-2:54 (fadeout), which is 101/174 seconds = 58%.

It's weird for sure, but overall I think it's a successful experiment.  I think it's just different enough from El Pesebre to not count it as actual source usage, though it's close, and the arrangement quality, while not normally something we'd go for, is a match for a legitimate style of popular music.  I don't think it'll get too many downloads, but that's no reason not to post it.

YES

[DragonAvenger]

This is a tough one for me. As MW mentioned, there's a few aspects of this arrangement that would normally give it some dings in regards to our arrangement, but when that is the intended style it is another story. The repetitive nature is the biggest part that is throwing me off. The drums and bass are especially the culprit though the guitar gets stuck in some loops as well. I think even with the style you are going for I would have liked some more subtle changes in the various instruments and parts. 

The arrangement feels sparse, despite MW's breakdown. To me there aren't enough elements that are tying in to the source. A lot of times it is just the melody, and even that is spread thin. It's like the arrangement to be brought a murky closer to the source either through chords or more prominent melody.

If this came down to just the repetitive nature or just the melody use i think it would be good to go, but both issues brings this a little too far for me. I hope you rework the source into this a little more because I think the style emulation is fun even with the repetitive nature. Good luck in the rest of the votes.

NO (resubmit)

[Liontamer]

The track was 2:54-long, so I needed at least 87 seconds of source usage for the VGM to dominate the arrangement:

12.5-30.5, 1:10.5-1:49.75, 2:10-2:30, 2:39.5-2:54.5 = 92.25 seconds or 53.01% overt source usage

Going for a pretty apparent (but legally different enough) soundalike of Afrosound's "El Pesebre" was interesting; I do wish the homage were more interpretive than mostly the note changes.

I definitely see where DragonAvenger was coming from with her vote. Dynamically, there could have been more going on, and the dynamic curve was narrow, but for me there were enough subtle changes in the texture and energy level due to the different instrument timbres and combinations for some different sections. Being inspired by the samey structure & sound of "El Pesebre" explains what Daniel was going for there, not that that lowers the bar. To me, there was enough of an alteration in the style of the source tune here that I thought mitigated the downside of the flatter dynamic curve and repetitive sections. Even in the sections whether the writing repeated, the performances actually weren't cut-and-pasted, and that needs to be acknowledged.

Smaller thing, but props to the bassline for always having a good presense. I agree that it should have been more varied, but it did its part as an additive part of the background; I actually listened to the HD version of "Dragon Roost Island" first that Daniel linked in his sub letter before going back to the original version of the song, and one YouTube comment that struck me was how the HD version -- for whatever reason -- eliminated the bassline from the song, an important detail that a lot of people would miss.

There certainly could have been more pronounced dynamics and variation, but they were in fact there, and the arrangement was sufficiently interpretive. The "El Pesebre"' inspired sections did initially stick out as disconnected from the VGM arrangement side once you listen to that song, but everything ultimately pieces together just fine when you get used to the flow of the track. Good stuff with the final section around 2:30, which the track could have used more of besides that one quick original flourish. All that said, I can roll with this as is.

YES

[Sir_NutS]

Ah Latin American music, something I am very familiar with.  One of my pet peeves is that when someone tries to make a remix labeling it as salsa, cumbia or any other latin american genre, then they add some rhythm that's nothing like the real thing, but that would pass as one of those genres to a casual listener from outside LAN.  So that being said I think you nailed the cumbia rhythm pretty closely, with all the right tambora and guarachaca (or guira) beats.  It does make the arrangement as a whole feel a bit static, as that's the nature of these rhythms that are meant for people to dance, but there's enough melodic content to make up for it.  I feel like adding tons of melodic content would break the illusion a bit for me, so what's there is enough.

I think the adaptation and the interpretation are enough to bring this up to the front page for me, though I can understand if some people will feel it's too static.  I think the pro's balance out that aspect and makes for a pretty enjoyable arrangement.

YES

[Jivemaster]

Reminds me of something out of a Tarantino film. Guitar twang and all. The arrangement while fairly minimal, has a reasonable amount of changes. Some things repeat at little too much for my taste, but I think they change enough to maintain interest. The fade-out at the end could’ve been done differently, but I do like how things changed up for that final section.

Production quality is ok here, mostly passable. I felt the percussion on the right ear was quite loud but things weren’t too off balance. I agree some of the percussion patterns were a repetitive and stiff at times, the lack of humanisation there detracted a bit from the overall presentation, but not so much to ruin the track overall.

I think this gets the job done. It’s certainly a unique take on the original.

YES