OCR04618 - *YES* Undertale "Moving Out"

[Liontamer]

Download link: 

Contact Information

• ReMixer name: T.O. Bassett
• Real name: Teo Bassett
• E-mail address: 
• Website: https://www.youtube.com/@TOBassett

Submission Information

• Name of game(s) arranged: Undertale
• Name of arrangement: Moving Out
• Name of individual song(s) arranged: Heartache, Fallen Down
• Link to the original soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xflkF-sqNaM
• Your own comments about the mix:
  • This is part of a full orchestral/progressive rock reimagining of the Undertale soundtrack that I wrote over the course of five years. It was going to be released by Materia Collective as part of the game's five-year anniversary, but the plans fell through due to Covid-19, so I ended up releasing it separately later.
  • For Heartache, I wanted to take full advantage of the orchestra medium that I was focusing on to write something that sounds very powerful without introducing any extraneous instruments; the album is divided into suites encompassing the main areas of the game, and I wrote the suite focused on the Ruins to be focused on pure orchestra with some influences from anime and classic RPG games, to reflect how the game is still lulling the player into believing that they're playing a conventional RPG at this stage of the story, before varying the formula much more wildly later in the album, in the parts where the game really starts to make clear what it really is.
  • Specific influences include Joe Hisaishi, Nobuo Uematsu, Marty O'Donnell, Shinji Miyazaki, Nightwish, and Tarja Turunen's album "The Shadow Self".
  • The structure mostly follows the original composition, but I had specific artistic intent with each section. It opens with a tense buildup leading directly in from my arrangement of "Home", hinting at the main ostinato with the harp and string sections before revealing it in full with the bassoon. I shortened this part a bit for the version that I'm sending to you, as most of it only really makes sense if you're listening to it directly after Home.
  • I kept the "fakeout" partial introduction of the main melody and subsequent second buildup from the original soundtrack, because I felt like it was a great reflection of both the human and Toriel being reluctant to fight before actually doing so.
  • I had a lot of fun with the drums and percussion during the bridge at 1:37 (as well as the rest of the arrangement), and you can hear me playing around a lot with different types of legato articulations at the same point, because I was so happy to have a string library with those capabilities.
  • The piano solo from 2:20 to 3:07 is actually the main melody and accompanying piano parts played in reverse (without actually reversing the audio), with some embellishments to give it a bit more structure and melodical sense. I did this to represent a pivotal point of the story and gameplay integration, if you excuse the spoiler: I've witnessed many players who hadn't yet figured out that they don't have to kill anything by the time that they fight Toriel end up killing her and feeling guilty about it, then reloading their save to try again without killing her. The game even acknowledges you doing this. So the reversed piano melody represents the player "going backwards" by reloading their save to fix their mistake.
  • This is followed by a reprisal of the initial buildup, with more driving percussion to emphasis the feeling of determination to "do it right, this time". After this is the main melody only through the strings, mostly because I just loved how the strings sounded and wanted to give them a chance to show off on their own. Then follows the final chorus to end the fight, bringing the full orchestra back in.
  • This is, finally, followed by a short excerpt of "Fallen Down", as plays in the scene directly after the pacifist end of the fight where Toriel hugs the human before leaving. I wanted to represent this scene to end out the entire suite, because it feels like an important moment of character development for Toriel, to me.

[prophetik music]

patient intro, with the ostinado eventually introduced in the harp and bassoon. there's some drums that come in at 0:42, and the articulations in the orchestral elements are really well-handled here. 1:37's bridge is also patient and exploratory - you can hear the remixer playing with the different articulations of the string library like they mentioned. there's a big swell and intense section at 2:31, which again settles back down and lets the piano do the reverse melody thing which is a nice easter egg.

there's another build at 3:07 into the melodic material without drums, and this is again detailed in approach. 4:08 feels like the big climax of the piece, i wouldn't have minded hearing more countermelodic work here outside of the picc since we've heard the melody at this point quite a few times. there's a big hit at 4:44, and then it's a very short (almost not worth mentioning) outro featuring the chordal elements from Fallen Down.

this is great. there's a lot of patience to the exploration of the melodic content, it's got a nice drive forward at all times, and it sounds excellent. nice work.

 

 

YES

[Liontamer]

Teo's previous sub had drawbacks with the sample realism, even though I was fine with it. Once the percussion kicked in at :42, I thought I was being taken to the 1970s, so that's was interesting. Cool rhythmic changes to this. Nice dropoff at 1:38 to vary the textures and add some tension with the bowed strings in the back. A third of the way in, I'm feeling confident based on the quality of the arrangement, but we'll see if anything's got holes in it.

The piano at 2:42's probably the track's weakest link; too mechanical-sounding, not enough body to it. Glad it went away at 3:07. Sustains on that wind instrument at 2:49 were pretty rough too. Sounded like soft crackles/distortion in the background at 3:42, 3:52 and 3:53, and 3:59, which may be tied to one of the samples.

Unfortunate that the decaying piano chord briefly created dissonance at 5:01 and got in the way of the last moments of the "Fallen Down" ending; maybe that can be touched up.

The musician Js will be able to cite more specifics on what's lacking on the production side. Just like Teo's previous Undertale submission -- which I disagreed with the judges for rejecting -- some of the samples weren't the best, but the arrangement is interpretive, the samples are used reasonably well enough to overcome their shortcomings, and the presentation has character.

YES

[MindWanderer]

Those instruments are dryyy-y-y!

The articulation is really good, but everything still sounds unrealistic because there's no delay or reverb on anything. It's like every individual instrument was recorded in an absolutely pristine sound booth.

The arrangement is largely very good. It's a great orchestration of Heartache until 2:20, although I did hear a few notes that sounded wrong to me. At 2:20-2:39, arguably through 3:07, the arrangement gets a little schizophrenic, with several rapid-fire, awkward transitions in a row. The ending is a little random, too.

Overall I'm not as keen on this as the judges above. The improved articulation is very good but balanced out by the lack of resonance. The arrangement is very good but marred by that bizarre middle non-sequitur.  Overall I can live with both issues, though.

YES

[Chimpazilla]

MW is right, wow everything is dry.  I don't usually care for animated gifs but that one conveys the feeling well.  Other than that, I feel like the samples are used well enough, other than the high strings sounding impossible during the faster runs (i.e. 1:55-1:59), and mostly when they are exposed.  Although not perfect, there's nothing dealbreaker for me with the samples.

I agree with Larry that when the drums first come in at 0:42, I'm blasted straight to the 70s by both the tone of the drums and the writing and rolls.  The kit really does not go well with the rest of the instrumentation.

The arrangement is a winner, I love it.  I really like the gentle piano outro.  Mixing and mastering are adequate.

YES