Emunator Posted September 11, 2022 Share Posted September 11, 2022 Contact Info Remixer name: Defiance Real name: Peter Mitchell Email: Website: https://soundadventurer.com/about-me/ User ID: 10964 Submission Information Name of Game: Lord Of the Rings (1990 by Interplay) Name of Arrangement: A Long Road Original Name of Song from Game: Main Theme (not sure) Link to remix: Additional Info Original composer: Kurt Heiden (according to Mobygames) System: PC (DOS) Published by: Electronic Arts Ltd. Developed by: Interplay Productions, Inc. Original soundtrack: YouTube video of main theme This game was one of my first introductions to the Lord Of the Rings universe--the game is long and has really frustrating gameplay mechanics, but I have fond memories of it because it was one of the few games my dad would play with me and my brother. I've always thought there was something compelling about the main theme. I hoped to capture the haunting reality of a quest that is dangerous and unfathomable, full of adventure, but also full of longing for peace and home. All the instruments are Native Instruments except the Tin Whistle which I played and recorded. Brought to you by FL Studio. Defiance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindWanderer Posted October 11, 2022 Share Posted October 11, 2022 (edited) Bold of you to orchestrate a piece like this! It's not the richest orchestration; most of it has presence in either the mids or the mid-highs but not both, and rarely much in the mid-lows or the highs. It isn't painfully thin, but when you get to a section like 2:42-3:13, which is clearly arranged to be firing on all cylinders and just isn't, it feels unfulfilling and incomplete. Its simplicity also makes the artificiality of the samples stand out---you did a pretty good job with it, but when they're this exposed, every little flaw stands out. Still, the instrumentation isn't badly done, the overall structure is solid, and production of what is there is clean and full. The only thing that needs to be fixed is the beginning: the very first note is cut off, which causes the track to sound like it's skipping or hiccuping. A re-render with a fraction of a second of whitespace in the beginning will fix that right up. I redownloaded to address Larry's concern, below, and I don't hear this issue anymore. However, see below... YES/CONDITIONAL Update 5/22: LT seems to be right about source usage. It does appear to come up about 4 seconds short of 50%. Now, normally Larry and I are on opposite sides of the fence when it comes to 50% being a dealbreaker. However, in this case, there are original themes used as consistent motifs that do not appear in the source material. 0:00-0:11 and 1:03-1:33 are, arguably, more fundamental to the composition as a whole than the LotR motifs. And even when the source music is used, it's often just the triplet arps, which I would not count as "dominant." So I'm actually flipping my vote. NO Update 8/16: Eh, I still feel like the original motifs are more dominant than they should be, but I guess it's a borderline issue, and there are little touches that tie back into the source. Sure. YES Edited August 16, 2023 by MindWanderer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted December 12, 2022 Share Posted December 12, 2022 what a different original. never even heard of the game. visuals are just what i expected of the time period. intro is pretty but right-ear heavy. percussive elements are pretty loud compared to the orchestration. there's a nice swell to 1:03, which has a lot of low, sustained strings with long delays for most of the background parts. i'd suggest the slightest bit of space between the sustains when the chord changes so there's no overlap. the whistle at 1:39 is nice. it is still very thinly scored, which isn't a huge problem but as MW mentioned does make every instrument's realization critical - the plectral instruments at 1:56 are still very right-heavy which sounds weird. the orchestral percs through here though sound pretty good. there's a break and build into 2:42, and there's what seems like it should be the climax. the scoring here is still very simple, with lots of long sustains and not much that stands out in the background. 3:13 drops the percussion and has more of the sustains, with some very nicely handled whistle in a descant over the legato melodic violin parts. there's some harp to end it and that's a wrap. this one is interesting. i initially was turned off by the long sustains and very empty orchestration method, but realized it was more intended to be a cinematic / braveheart approach when the whistle came in. it works although i do think the orchestration is simple to a fault. i would very much have preferred a richer background with less layering and more uniqueness than stacks of sustained chord tones. as it is, though, the whistle playing is recorded and mastered well, and the track sounds like it could easily be used in a fan trailer for the game. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkSim Posted January 10, 2023 Share Posted January 10, 2023 Great job upgrading this ancient game (from 1990!) that I'd never heard of, and remixing it in a style befitting the LOTR universe. MW and proph have made some good observations about the orchestration itself that I agree with - it does feel light in the low-mids, although when those deeper strings are playing around 1:20, then it fills out the spectrum much nicer. I'm not entirely sold on a couple of minor mixing/production choices. I think the snare rolls could do with some EQ scooping so as not to tread on other elements in the same frequency range, and also the reverb on the whistle is a tad overdone when it's playing the lower notes from 1:40-2:42. Sounds great in the finale when it's playing higher notes, though. Arrangement is decent, I guess if I'm being extra critical it might have been nice to experiment more with countermelodies. From 2:11-2:42 you've got the piano and whistle playing the same melody line, whereas the section just before that has much more interesting interplay between the two instruments. Overall I enjoyed this one a lot; it's been handled well, and the result is a solid, emotive piece that definitely evokes Middle Earth. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted May 21, 2023 Share Posted May 21, 2023 (edited) Maybe it's just me failing to wrap my head around this theme, so I was coming up source-light. :11-:35, :43-1:03, 1:54.5-2:26, 2:41.75-3:01, 3:05.5-3:11 = 100.25 seconds Can someone point out other areas of the source usage I'm overlooking? ? EDIT (8/16): MW changed his vote on account of my initial timestamps, but I went "?" rather than "NO"; I wasn't saying my counts were definitive, just that I had questions. This is a very long source tune, so I really needed more time to get familiar with it or hear other perspectives on what I could have missed. I was overlooking some connective tissue segments of the source that Peter was clearly using; for example, 2:34-2:41.75 was from 3:37-3:44 of the source and 3:01-3:05.5 was from :27-:30 of the source. I've got a better handle on it now, so I'm sorry that my inability to make all of the connections held this up. The track was 4:01-long, so I needed to make out the source tune being invoked for at least 120.5 seconds of the arrangement for the source tune to be considered dominant. :07.5-:08.5, :10.5-:35, :39-1:03, 1:54.5-3:13.5 = 128.5 seconds or 53.31% overt source usage Good to go! Loved the arrangement. Strong instrumentation with loads of dynamics. A very spirited fleshing out of this theme, Peter, welcome aboard! YES Edited August 16, 2023 by Liontamer updated vote from ? to YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindWanderer Posted May 22, 2023 Share Posted May 22, 2023 Looks like you've got about 110 seconds when you need 121, so you're 11 short. 0:35-0:43 (7 seconds) plays the main hook with a key change on the celesta. That's still 4 seconds short, which I'm unable to find. Certainly there are commonalities, but not as much direct source usage as it felt subjectively. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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