OCR04752 - *YES* Dragon Warrior "A Translator's Tale" *PROJECT*

[Emunator]

It's been a long while since I've composed an orchestrated song.  It was a blast working with such talented musicians!  The goal for this piece was to start of "curious", to build up to more of a rock/metal theme and to hit three major pieces from Dragon Warrior.  I played around with some of the other songs, but these fit really well.  I did some rearranging for Overworld, but tried to keep the melody very close to the original.  For Tantegel Castle, I followed the cover very closely but used a Trumpet/Trombone duet to give it a very live feel.  The third song (Fight/Battle/etc), I wrote a very very abstract cover of this to fit the key, and then try to overlay the Overworld melody on top (in order to tie it to the other songs).  I combined parts of the other songs together in a few places as well - the string transition in the first rock section uses the Tantegel Castle's ending part (subtle, but that's what was used) and the ending rock theme, I use a lot of different parts combined.  I originally started off thinking I was going to use some of the other songs as well, but I wanted to keep the length of the song at a nice size.  I made some cuts (Tantegel Castle was originally longer, the Overworld had more piano, the guitar part was longer in the first rock section, I had an 8bit version of the Overworld that filled before Tantegel Castle) to keep it sounding fresh and to manage the energy of the piece appropriately.

With regards to the genre choice, on the side I work with musicians doing a lot of different genres other than what you see on ocremix and animeremix.  It's likely that I write more songs in these other genres, especially when I work with talented musicians.

It was also nice to play my two trombones again for the first time in decades.

---

Games & Sources:

Project: Impact of Iwata

(this is a project remix)

Dragon Warrior

Live performing parts:

• Cello: Chromatic Apparatus
• Violins: pointblanket (Violin 1 and Violin 2 + fills/sfx)
• Concert Flute: SableProvidence
• Dizi: SableProvidence
• Electric Guitar: Siolfor the Jackal (lead and rhythm) and Xaleph (simple chord fills/layering)
• Trumpet: Tsori
• Trombone: Xaleph

[MindWanderer]

The overall impression I get is that of a composer who didn't know exactly what they wanted to do, so they did everything, and didn't commit to anything.

We open with a vernal shakuhachi-led bit that then changes to trombone and violin. Then there's a break and it becomes a piano solo, to be joined again by violin and trombone. Then another abrupt transition and we get a fullly orchestral interstitial. Then it becomes orchestral metal; altogether there's about 45 seconds of what comes across as an "intro" despite being well into the arrangement already. It stays like this for the longest period yet, but it's still not long before we go into a quiet trombone solo with some minor orchestral accompaniment (with a flute that sounds almost like a square wave); this part, 3 minutes in, is the first section that gets past the Overworld theme. The next section is also simple orchestration, bringing the shakuhachi back, but the tone is cinematically dark and creepy now for some reason. That transitions into metal again, but drops the orchestral element almost completely. After that, we stay creepy, but the lead is a synth for the first time. Finally, we have some sections that are consistent with earlier ones: metal that continues in the same vein as the bit two sections before it, and then a bookend going back to the shakuhachi. Then it just ends, not ending on the tonic or anything else conclusive.

It's also worth noting that the Overworld theme is quite short, just a few measures long, so it's hard to not make it repetitive. This remix does the right thing by using other sources to mix it up, but it takes 3 minutes to start doing so and doesn't do it much. Mostly it's that same overworld motif over and over again.

On the plus side, the performances are great, and the production is solid (no small feat for orchestral metal; 1:45-2:50 is a real highlight). I do think the orchestration gets a little simplistic and thin at times, notably when it's orchestral instruments without a full ensemble, e.g. 2:58-3:34. But overall it's quite good in that respect.

Ultimately what this feels like is a start at an Overworld arrangement, then a re-start of a different Overworld arrangement, over and over (with a bit of the castle theme in the middle). It's simultaneously repetitive (in terms of melody) and disjointed (in terms of orchestration and style). This needs more work put into making a coherent, dynamic piece that holds the listener's interest without throwing them for a loop every 30 seconds. As an example, if you cut out everything before 1:25, and instead of changing genres at 2:58, stuck with it (keeping the castle theme in either full orchestral or orchestral metal style), you'd have a great foundation up through 3:34. Build on that and you could make something really solid. Just an idea of how you could hold onto the best parts and build off of them.

NO

Edited November 24, 2023 by MindWanderer

[Liontamer]

Dragon Warrior, something we don't get enough of 'round these parts.

To me, the arrangement's solid, but the mixing's lossy-sounding or at least not sharp enough. There's a noticable quality disparity with the live parts vs. the sequenced elctric guitar in particular, starting at 1:45.

MW said this sounded disjointed in terms of the genres; to me, it was just a progressive style, and I didn't mind that it moved around. The overworld melody was there in spades, but the presentation throughout was different enough to me due to the different instrumentation and textures. Nothing wrong with being ambitious if the musicianship and production are there, so I think MW's calibration is off. The flaws here were notable, and other more proficient Js can pull out way more, but I'm not hearing dealbreaker arrangement issues.

Call me old fashioned, but I don't see a universe where this concept doesn't pass as is; if it doesn't, our bar is out of whack.

YES

[prophetik music]

dizi to start and followed by some brass and vins, with a lot of patience between each section. the piano comes in with some arpeggiated elements, and the small ensemble continues flow forward in a pretty traditional motet style until we get some (obviously) synth orchestral elements at 1:17. this builds into a pretty big orchestral crescendo to 1:45 when we get a heavy orchestral metal section.  there's some nice balance between the guitar and drums and the orchestral elements.

there's a break at 2:58 again focusing on the castle theme for a bit, and it moves back to the chamber ensemble-led sound for a short recap before transitioning to the battle theme around 3:33. this noodles a bit until the metal elements come back in at 4:35. this section is particularly hard-hitting which is nice. 5:04 intros a plectral synth that wasn't my cup of tea, but i like the quiet energy of this section underneath that synth.

hair is again lit on fire at 5:31 for the last big blow of the piece, and there's a brickwall transition at 6:01 with a recap of the initial two eighth note pattern in the lower strings to bring us to the end.

this is a great track. i definitely hear the progressive influence in the different sections and don't consider the pacing or patience of the arrangement to be a negative. the metal parts hit hard and sound good, and the orchestral elements sound fine when they're not directly compared to live performances. i think the overall master is a bit quiet which i expect will be corrected as part of the final album master.

this is solid, definitely over our bar.

 

 

YES

[Emunator]

On 11/24/2023 at 2:02 PM, MindWanderer said:

Ultimately what this feels like is a start at an Overworld arrangement, then a re-start of a different Overworld arrangement, over and over (with a bit of the castle theme in the middle). It's simultaneously repetitive (in terms of melody) and disjointed (in terms of orchestration and style). This needs more work put into making a coherent, dynamic piece that holds the listener's interest without throwing them for a loop every 30 seconds. As an example, if you cut out everything before 1:25, and instead of changing genres at 2:58, stuck with it (keeping the castle theme in either full orchestral or orchestral metal style), you'd have a great foundation up through 3:34. Build on that and you could make something really solid. Just an idea of how you could hold onto the best parts and build off of them.

With respect, I think this suggestion is a totally valid approach to arrangement that would also yield good results, and this feedback could be really helpful during the workshopping phase. But that's not the approach the artist chose to go with, and I don't think there's a case to be made made that the approach that Matthew did use is somehow objectively bad. It's progressive and unconventional in the approach, and there is a level of "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks" to this track, but I think it's a totally valid creative decision. Even if it's not how you'd approach arranging this yourself, I feel like this sort of feedback is veering way too far into "subjective preference" territory and I don't think that's what our job at the panel is or should be.

This feels clearly above our bar to my ears. There's a wealth of talent on display with the live performances and programmed instruments across 6 and a half minutes. There was clearly a great deal of effort put into the transitions so that, despite the many different ideas brought to the table, it doesn't feel like completely different songs pasted together haphazardly. The mixing is also handled competently, with no single idea or section ever feeling like it comes up short on technical merit.

YES

[Chimpazilla]

Wow, what a varied, eclectic, emotional and creative mix.  The performances are excellent.  I'm having Trans Siberian Orchestra vibes.  The elements fit together to make a beautiful and interesting soundscape.  The arrangement is dynamite, so much sonic variation, it never loses my interest as it moves along.  Each section transitions smoothly into the next.  Awesome concept and execution.  Mixing and balancing are on point, mastering is on the tame side but works just fine.

YES