OCR03990 - *YES* Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess "The Princess and the Wolf"

[Gario]

Hello there, 

 

Here is the link to my submitted track: 

 

Contact Information

ReMixer name: Danilo Ciaffi
real name: Danilo Ciaffi
email address: 
website: youtube.com/c/DaniloCiaffi 
userid: 34668

Submission Information

Name of game(s) arranged: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Name of arrangement: The Court of the Goddess
Name of individual song(s) arranged: Midna's Lament
Comments: I aimed at a more cinematic vibe, still preserving the original mood

 

Hope you like it!

 

Cheers, 

 

[MindWanderer]

It's a solid orchestration, deep and full.  Most of the instruments are pretty good quality (the reeds in particular are lovely), though the brass edges into the uncanny valley a bit, notably the swells in 2:07-3:00.

My one substantial gripe is that it's fairly short and ends abruptly and anticlimactically.  As a result, it strongly feels incomplete.  However, what's there is very good and substantial, easily enough for a

YES

[Sir_NutS]

Yep this is pretty dope.  Short and sweet, with complex orchestration and solid, believable performances.  MW noted this but the only section I felt the sequencing getting a bit exposed was around the second minute.  But overall pretty good, enjoyable and overall original adaptation.

YES

[Liontamer]

Right from the opening, the instrumentation's in the uncanny valley; the sound quality's more than serviceable, the tones are all solid, but you can tell it's all sequenced, particularly the piano and especially the brass. All throughout, you pick up on issues, e.g. the exposed decay of the brass at 1:02, serviceable but blocky piano from 1:55-2:03, high strings with no decay at 2:19 and an even worse instance at 2:30, string samples at 3:07 for the last notes being super exposed.

Nice backing string writing at 1:48 for the transition into the crescendo; the bowed notes gave a different feeling to the source's countermelody.

From 2:03-on, when the track's supposed to swell up, the fakeness of the samples stands out more, and the sequencing sounds more rigid while the samples, particularly the woodwind and strings feel flatter than they should. The drums also sound anemic compared to everything else, so there's 0 synergy with that part and everything else.

I'm underwhelmed by the production, but the samples are decently used; it's too bad the last third of this exposed the parts even more than the rest of the track, but the sound quality's solid enough. The arrangement was also solid, with a good orchestral adaptation including lots of part doubling, accents, and original countermelodies. There's a lot to criticize, and you could easily argue that it adds up to a NO (resubmit), but with the arrangement/presentation being interpretive enough and the production being serviceable, I think this gets by. I could see some NOs, and I wouldn't be mad, but I don't want to make the perfect the enemy of the good.

YES (borderline)

[Chimpazilla]

I love this theme so much (remixed it myself).  This is a lovely, dynamic and interesting interpretation.  The instruments are sequenced well enough, although everything feels just a tad dry and in some areas the track feels hot (possible overcompression or very close to it).  Still, it is very nice.

YES

[Jivemaster]

A somewhat predictable choice in going orchestral, but things are mostly done well. Panning appears to favour the left channel for the beginning of the piece, but eventually fills out from 0:36. Instrumentation is handled well, with each part feeling realistic for the most part. The main theme is shared amongst a number of leads, with emotive changes along the way. The arrangement transitions to each section quite often, maintaining interest throughout. The additional build-up near the end of the track leaves us with a climactic finish to the piece, which was a nice way to end things over revisiting previous material. Overall solid presentation here.

YES

Edited June 8, 2019 by Jivemaster

[Rexy]

Orchestral arrangements aren't easy, but you've gathered a great mixture of VSTs and the occasional live oboe, all mixed down well.  I definitely have to praise Medllix on the oboe performance here – it sounds clean, confident and beautiful.

It did take me a while to get my head around the arrangement, though - Initially I thought it felt incomplete due to a lack of development, but on repeat listens I can appreciate how this simple source was transformed between two distinct yet conflicting moods.  I also wasn’t too thrilled about the ending string and timpani hitting B considering the track’s key is in D minor, but this is more of a subjective thing rather than a conflict with standards.

While the oboe part had worked well to add some humanization into the mix, you can also accomplish this with other instruments - especially your piano and harp, which sound robotic in this soundscape.   It’s not a deal-breaker thanks to how the rest of the production held up - but for the future, it’ll good to only accent the notes you want to emphasize, and then vary the velocities on the others for a more authentic live feel.

All in all, I can get behind the arrangement and production values after repeated listens.  Source has been played around well, VSTs and live oboe have worked together sufficiently, and I’m all in favor of seeing this on the front page.  But for future submissions, I personally would like to hear more interpretation that goes beyond a subtractive level.

YES

[prophetik music]

oh man, what nuance is shown here in the realization at the beginning. the opening section is beautiful. the way the strings swell in slightly around :20 is fantastic. :35 is straight magical (i'm a sucker for wind chimes). and the cymbal crash combined with that dissonance at :50 is perfect.

i did find some of the scoring choices to be a bit confusing, notably at 1:26 - the low harp being so strong over the string pizz and the bassoon/bass clar being exposed as much as it was stuck out to me. the oboist's delay before applying vibrato was a personal choice that i don't agree as much with, but i understand the application. i think it would have helped if the oboe had been pulled back overall, as the exposed nature of that section's scoring really causes it to feel pretty loud compared to the rest of the ensemble.

the addition of the studio toms at 2:07 was a nice touch to add some immediate urgency to the tone, and was well supported by the double-stops in the strings. i found your puccini-esque tutti to be an effective technique to emphasize the melody...if it had been used for a few seconds at most. there are so few examples of full-orchestra tutti in classical literature, and that's for a reason - the lack of harmonic momentum kills any energy you generate by doubling. if you were using it to call out the melody amidst a sea of counterpoint, i'd have lauded it. in this case, it serves to drag down the energy you just generated, and it feels so spare despite so many instruments playing.

at 2:31 when everything comes in, and there's supporting harmonies, it's striking in that you realize what you've been missing. i enjoyed this section and felt that it captured the 'wolf' feel i believe you were going for. i appreciated the ending as well, and while i'd have preferred it to take a touch longer to get there, landing on a minor ii was a clever way to end it without it feeling trite or gauche.

i sat on the brink on this one for a long time. ultimately i decided that the scoring and spacing in the opening section outweighed the missteps in arrangement in the second half. i felt you handled your source and subsequent instrumentation well overall, and we need moments like :35 and :50 in the community.

YES