Aqua Rock (Golden Sun: The Lost Age) Orchestral Arrangement

[KaS]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nslk0kBzSzI

Golden Sun is probably my favorite OST so I made this remix of the Aqua Rock theme. I'd like to submit it eventually but I'm not sure what more I'd need to work on, so looking for feedback!

this is the original track:

 

Edited February 25, 2022 by Chalis

[Patrick Burns]

Nice song choice. This little track always held a special place for me.

Listening to your remix, it's clear that you already know how to make pleasant-sounding instruments and so forth. So I would say arrangement is what you need to focus on. That happens to be my weak spot too. So depending on your perspective that makes me the best (or worst) person to give advice here... in any case...

I'll give some pretty broad advice, and maybe the most common kind of advice people need on these boards: the challenge is that most video game songs are tough because they're short tracks that repeat a lot, so sculpting something longer--and giving it a beginning, middle, and end--takes some decision making on your part.

Break the song down into various elements... and you can decide what those elements are. Maybe you treat the drum pattern as an element, the bell motif as another element, the string melody as another, the mysterious chord progressions, the increase in textural and rhythmic density across the source tune could be another element, the desolate lack of bass at first, and the increasing intensity of the bass as things go on, that distinctive Golden Sun pan flute with delay on it, or maybe you think of the mysterious water vibe character as one element... there are hundreds of ways of cutting it all apart

Make your own list of elements for this song, and then rearrange those elements... eventually into something with a beginning, middle, and end. That's it. That's the game of arranging. But easier said than done.

Maybe you could have an instrument by itself at first playing the rhythm that the drums normally play, maybe in a slower tempo, really letting the mystery sink in, maybe they could be going through some of those mysterious chord changes, doing those rapidly wandering V - i cadences into weird new areas, maybe that evolves into a delicate presentation of the bell pattern by themselves, could use actual bells but don't have to, maybe with a slower free form tempo, maybe you make the bell pattern twice as long with some a slight modification of the rhythm and then return to the original rhythm, then maybe you just go back to the introductory instrument playing the drum rhythm, lower this time, ominous, then the drums come in alongside doing their thing, so it's that same rhythm from the intro but less safe now, maybe they start out all drenched in reverb, like they're far away, and the dry signal slowly comes in, maybe the fingered bass makes a quiet/high appearance foreshadowing some later increase in bass texture, then the bells return alongside the drums, fully locked in the normal tempo now... now we're cooking... and you haven't even gotten started on the main string melody yet or the flute part... each element can be strung out, expanded, repeated.... all in different ways 

Again that's all easier said than done. But it's the main thing your version is lacking. Expanding short tunes into longer, more complete arrangements is tough for me too. For one thing, you're so used to the original that it's hard to hear your way out of it into something different. Rearranging is also infinitely open-ended, and most of the time it feels like you're just trying things that sound bad. But that's how you get better.

Good luck.

[KaS]

On 2/25/2022 at 4:19 PM, Patrick Burns said:

Nice song choice. This little track always held a special place for me.

Listening to your remix, it's clear that you already know how to make pleasant-sounding instruments and so forth. So I would say arrangement is what you need to focus on. That happens to be my weak spot too. So depending on your perspective that makes me the best (or worst) person to give advice here... in any case...

I'll give some pretty broad advice, and maybe the most common kind of advice people need on these boards: the challenge is that most video game songs are tough because they're short tracks that repeat a lot, so sculpting something longer--and giving it a beginning, middle, and end--takes some decision making on your part.

Break the song down into various elements... and you can decide what those elements are. Maybe you treat the drum pattern as an element, the bell motif as another element, the string melody as another, the mysterious chord progressions, the increase in textural and rhythmic density across the source tune could be another element, the desolate lack of bass at first, and the increasing intensity of the bass as things go on, that distinctive Golden Sun pan flute with delay on it, or maybe you think of the mysterious water vibe character as one element... there are hundreds of ways of cutting it all apart

Make your own list of elements for this song, and then rearrange those elements... eventually into something with a beginning, middle, and end. That's it. That's the game of arranging. But easier said than done.

Maybe you could have an instrument by itself at first playing the rhythm that the drums normally play, maybe in a slower tempo, really letting the mystery sink in, maybe they could be going through some of those mysterious chord changes, doing those rapidly wandering V - i cadences into weird new areas, maybe that evolves into a delicate presentation of the bell pattern by themselves, could use actual bells but don't have to, maybe with a slower free form tempo, maybe you make the bell pattern twice as long with some a slight modification of the rhythm and then return to the original rhythm, then maybe you just go back to the introductory instrument playing the drum rhythm, lower this time, ominous, then the drums come in alongside doing their thing, so it's that same rhythm from the intro but less safe now, maybe they start out all drenched in reverb, like they're far away, and the dry signal slowly comes in, maybe the fingered bass makes a quiet/high appearance foreshadowing some later increase in bass texture, then the bells return alongside the drums, fully locked in the normal tempo now... now we're cooking... and you haven't even gotten started on the main string melody yet or the flute part... each element can be strung out, expanded, repeated.... all in different ways 

Again that's all easier said than done. But it's the main thing your version is lacking. Expanding short tunes into longer, more complete arrangements is tough for me too. For one thing, you're so used to the original that it's hard to hear your way out of it into something different. Rearranging is also infinitely open-ended, and most of the time it feels like you're just trying things that sound bad. But that's how you get better.

Good luck.

Thanks for the feedback!! Adding more structure into remixes has always been a part I struggle with, but I'd never thought of the technique of using a list before! You mentioning it has already given me some ideas for the track. The mysterious chord progressions are definitely one of the main things that have always drawn me to this track (that minor bii chord is so rare!), and I think I might lean into that t to try adding a proper beginning and end.

[T- Ape]

Just wanted to give you a compliment on your work! Don't have anything to add. Thank you for sharing!