OCR04224 - *YES* Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, MM & OoT "Torchlight"

[Emunator]

Remixers: Chimpazilla, Emunator
Name: Torchlight
Game: Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (primary), Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Sources: Lost Woods, Shrine, Zelda's Lullaby, Final Hours

Artist Comments: 

Chimpazilla: Torchlight marks Wes's and my third collab together, and I believe it is our best so far. I sent Wes a wip of BotW Lost Woods combined with the Shrine theme that I had started two years earlier and he loved it enough to begin expanding on it right away. We both added elements, motifs and percussions along the way. Wes and I work so well together and we often seem to share a brain while working. Wes commented to me that the mix is so cohesive that listeners would not be able to tell who did what. I replied that, honestly, even I can't remember exactly which of certain elements were mine and which were his! I believe we came up with a mix full of feels and magic and I hope listeners and BotW fans will enjoy it!

Emunator: Kris did a great job covering the backstory behind this mix, but I have to stress just how seamlessly this track came together, despite the fact that our collaboration was handled 100% remotely. From the moment I heard her original WIP, which flawlessly married the Shrine theme and Lost Woods piano riff, I knew this was destined for greatness!

Using a mixture of ingame sound effects and a myriad of other ambient sound design techniques, I aimed to develop that concept into a narrative arc inspired by Breath of the Wild's gameplay. Along the way, we bounced stems back and forth to gradually flesh out the soundscape, and I used some new string libraries recently acquired from Spitfire Audio to write a dramatic final climax that incorporates elements of the Final Hours chord progression from Majora's Mask. I'm particularly proud of the final build from 4:05-4:35, which should be recognizable to anyone who's played BotW. I've had the concept of using the Stasis rune sfx as a sound design technique floating around since I started working on this track, and finally found the samples I needed to execute it in the 11th hour!

To say this has been a fun and rewarding collaborative experience would be an understatement, and I'm confident this won't be our last time working on a remix together!!

 

Source breakdown:

Lost Woods 0:00-2:28, 3:19-5:20
Zelda's Lullaby 0:24-1:14
Shrine: 1:14-2:28, 2:28-3:19, 3:19-4:34
Zelda's Lullaby: sprinkled in from 1:41-2:26 and again from 3:47-4:07
Final Hours: String chords from 2:53-4:44

[Jivemaster]

Nice use of percussive at atmospheric elements during the intro. Themes gel well together and are well audible. The underlying rhythm works well across the mix with its hand-off to different instruments between sections. Instruments are a mix of real and synth and mostly gentle in nature, surrounded by various swells and accompanying sfx to add variety. I thought some instruments felt a little thin (like the piano @1:39), however amongst the rest of the elements I took these as a stylistic choice. The outro build-up was interesting although perhaps not as epic I had anticipated, but certainly in character to what had come before it. Production is decent, with a good level of weight/warmth across the parts, with good use of stereo space. Overall, a cohesive mix of several themes between studios, you've done well.

YES

[Liontamer]

Many thanks for the helpful source tune breakdown; the source themes were apparent, but it's always nice to have easy reference for how a multi-source arrangement is constructed, so I appreciate it.

I thought the mixing should have been sharper, but it's certainly nothing dinging this. Great intervweaving of the various themes. Epic results.

Dunno how you wound up in this place, but you can't stay here.

YES

[prophetik music]

opening is great, so much excellent atmosphere. the echoed bells at 1:14 are really fun, although they're a little more forward in the mix than i'd expect (they don't appear to be in the same sound space there). the transition at 1:38 is fantastic, and the instrument choices and usage right after that is just so evocative...the sliding bass, the plectral instrument with sustained tremelo, the attention paid to the percussion at ~2:05...just very, very good. there's so much building energy through here. the subsequent fall-off around 2:30 was also great. i got chills from the majora's mask chords when they came in and i recognized them.

3:20 we start to get some payoff for the build we've heard the entire track. the strings add a ton of character to this section. there's some obvious limiter engages at 4:07 onward, and i hear what sounds like unintentional distortion in the right ear right at 4:33 (which is really disappointing since it's such an intense and amazing build). the ending is also great, i love the whispers.

i get why we have to review judge tracks but sometimes it feels silly. this isn't 100% perfect but it's a delight pretty much all the way through.

 

 

YES

[DragonAvenger]

I love an easy mix to close out voting on! Excellent atmosphere, really good melding between the themes, and pretty recognizable throughout. The build-up near the end really gets the heart pounding a bit, nicely arranged to convey a sense of urgency there. Solid mix.

YES