*NO* Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time "Counting Cuccos After They Hatched"

[Liontamer]

This track was our submission from one of the monthly Pixel Mixers' contests in 2023 - the theme was Genre Twist.  We figured what could be more different than twisting the classic, peaceful Kakariko Village theme into a jazzy bop?  Short and sweet but a blast to play!

This was definitely a co-op arrangement where my sister and I would send the Musescore file back and forth to iterate on.  Neither one of us have much of a jazz background beyond being put on alto and tenor sax respectively in high school jazz & marching bands (which was many, manyyyyy years ago I assure you) so it was a huge style change from our usual works.  However wowee zowee did it come out fun!  I can't listen to the original anymore without wondering why it's not in 4!

Major props to Serrin's Toes for turning the hot mess express that was our mock up drum part into something rad with not much more than "well think big band but more like a smol band with our doots" to run with 

 

donut (18387) (Warp Whistles Music 18604): clarinets, bass clarinet, arrangement, mixing

lobby (18603) (Warp Whistles Music 18604) : flutes, arrangement

Serrin's Toes (18635): drums

As usual, I can rerecord clarinets/bass clarinet and tweak basically anything in the original Reaper project as needed.

---

Games & Sources

Zelda: Ocarina of Time (and A Link To The Past) - Kakariko Village

not sure which game you all want to slot it under

 

Edited June 6 by Chimpazilla
closed decision

[prophetik music]

starts out with some light drums, and clarinet and bass clarinet come in pretty quickly. they're well played and it's a fun primary idea for the track. clarinet tone is a bit stringy, and doesn't seem helped by the mic or lack of room sound. bass clarinet is more fleshed out and has a great tone, but also isn't really helped by the mic or lack of room sound. for the clarinet especially, make sure you've got enough mouthpiece in your mouth, that your reed is doing you favors in terms of hardness, and that you're really trying to keep your teeth and throat open enough to allow for the proper resonance (especially on sustains it sounds like you're clenching your teeth a bit). flutes come in at 0:29 and are both better mic'd and playing some really fun countermelodic content. they're a bit loud in the mix relative to the other elements - flutes are always hard to mix because they cut through so easily.

the b section arrives at 0:53 with a lot of sustains in the clarinet that emphasize the aforementioned tone issue. there's a ton of fun window dressing here though especially in the bass clarinet. flute takes the lead at 1:16 and the singing tone really carries this nicely. this is an opportunity for volumization though, as the flute really is a lot louder than everything here. bringing the flute a bit back (counterintuitively) relative to the other elements will help it not crush everything when it gets into power range in the middle of the upper octave. i really like the clarinet countermelodic content here too, your tone fits into the backing elements really nicely.

flute carries the B melody at 1:41 and there's again some fun turns of phrase by the clarinet. the bass clarinet gets lost in here a bit because it's up in the upper registers and so doesn't have the bite that was helping it cut through down lower. there's a final hit and we're done.

overall this is a really fun arrangement! i really love the different countermelodic elements throughout. i really wasn't sure how i'd feel about a track that was just winds and drums, but the bass clarinet really does a great job staying active and keeping the lower end handled. this is a great adaptation, nitpicks aside, and is definitely over our bar. nice work.

 

 

YES

[Liontamer]

Flutes at :28 were shrill; I would have pulled those way back. Wasn't liking the snare tone from :28-:52; something about the sounds made the drum writing feel plodding and vanilla; it didn't have the right textural fit with the other instruments when it was in play. I'm not able to properly articulate that issue, so we'll see if a musician J can better explain it.

The performances are decent, but IMO not tight enough, though they do have character. I wouldn't know anything about clarinet technique, but did hear what felt like some unsteadiness there, so hopefully prophetik's comments are helpful. It'll sound like I'm pushing for absolutely squeaky-clean perfection; I'm liking the concept, but the drums don't fit and the mixing's leaving a lot of piercing highs. It's only 2 minutes, so there's more of an onus, IMO, of a project sounding close to fully cohesive if it's going to be short. Arrangement-wise, this is a good concept. Still needs some polishing, in whatever forms that may be, to sound more cohesive and balanced.

NO (resubmit)

[Emunator]

This source lends itself so well to this kind of quirky wind-focused arrangement, there's a ton of potential for fun countermelodies and harmonies and you really deliver on that. I have no qualms with the performances or arrangement itself, but the production feels, for lack of a better word, missing. Like, it feels like there was nothing in the way of space, color, or texture to the production, which leaves everything feeling very flat. Larry mentioned wanting this to sound squeaky clean, but I'd argue that this actually needs a little more grit to really bring out that human quality.

It's hard to tell exactly what this needs, but in no particular order, here's where I would look:

1. Master compression to glue the instruments together better
2. Saturation on the instruments to bring some warmth and character to the recordings
3. Reverb to help give this more of a sense of place

This is very vague feedback, but I think when the arrangement is so intentionally sparse, there's an onus on the producer to introduce some color and life to the mix in other ways, and I don't feel like this is there yet on that front. IMO, not a single thing needs to change about the recordings or arrangement - there's a ton of life there, but the mix doesn't reflect that yet.

NO (resubmit)

[Chimpazilla]

As the others have said, there's a ton of personality to the wind parts in this arrangement.  It's a very light and fun concept.  But it's falling short for me as well.  There isn't much going on here besides the various winds.  There is no bass instrument or lows to speak of, other than the kick drum.  The drums are comically quiet, and also the pattern being played is extremely quirky but also repetitive, so the energy of the piece never changes from the first moment to the end.  The drum pattern really needs some more variation.

To me, this sounds like an extended concept wip and not a completed product.  The wind performances are great though, I don't believe they need to be changed.  But it should be mixed better.  The flutes are too loud and also shrill, and as I said the drums are way too quiet. 

Some kind of simple bass accompaniment would really help, at least during the big choruses.  Even just a sampled standup bass playing on one and three would do the job, as the winds are already playing busy patterns.  Here's an example I slapped together quickly.

I really like this cute concept and the performances are great!  It just isn't quite there yet, production wise.  I don't think it should take too much to fix it up.

NO (resubmit)

[MindWanderer]

I'm afraid I have to agree with all the criticisms above. The flute is painfully loud and bright, the clarinet performance is squeaky, the soundscape is thin and lacking in character, and the overall arrangement is short and underdeveloped.

That's not to say I dislike everything here! The non-clarinet performances are solid, the concept is very good, and the arrangement that is there is well-done. The flute riffing is a highlight. But the issues mentioned above are critical ones.

NO