OCR04787 - *YES* Dark Souls "Lord Gwyn's Age of Fire"

[Liontamer]

Lord Gwyn's Age of Fire is an orchestral arrangement that completely reimagines the noted piano work of Motoi Sakuraba. While effectively a bar-for-bar translation, the meter has been shifted from 3/4 to 7/8 time. The result is a far more energetic and cinematic remix, embellished with new harmonies and counter melodies. 

The title infers a programmatic retelling of Gwyn's Age of Fire from the perspective of the primordial serpents Frampt and Kaathe. While otherwise maintaining the original formatting of Sakuraba's work, each section has been augmented in some way by the various colors of the orchestra to convey the theoretical high and low points of Gwyn's reign. 

The composition was made entirely with the following VST plugins:

Spitfire Audio - BBC Symphony Orchestra Professional
Spitfire Audio - Albion One
EW Pianos Gold Bosendorfer
EW Hollywood Fantasy Voices

DAW - Studio One
Audio Mixing - iZotope: Ozone 10, Neutron 4, Stratus3D Reverb
                        Wave SSL G-Master Buss Compressor

Thank you in advance for your time. I hope you enjoyed listening.

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Games & Sources

Game: Dark Souls
Track title: Gwyn, Lord Of Cinder
Composer: Motoi Sakuraba
Original style: A lament for solo piano

[prophetik music]

i would never have thought of this in 3/4 tbh, given the strong emphasis towards the first beat in the measure (as opposed to 1 and 3, often used in 3/4 to keep it moving forward) and the flowing feel of the piece. i feel this in 6/8 more. 

opens with strings and keys in a cinematic crescendo. adaptation to 7/8 is done using a standard 2/2/3 pattern. nice flourish into the first presentation of the melody at 0:10. there's a big crescendo and shout at 0:22 that doesn't sound particularly realistic - i think it's the brass - but the following section is really nicely done with the sudden reduction in volume. vin runs at 0:32 pop in and out of the texture nicely as well. instrumental stacks at 0:43 do a good job coming out of the texture as well above the choral elements.

there's a significant decrescendo and reduction of energy through 0:54 into 0:58. choral elements are starting to feel a bit overused here. 1:27's a reset, sort of, and there's another crescendo to a dropoff - really liking that effect. 1:47's where the trumpet leads the charge into another significant crescendo through 2:06's break. from there, it's a little bit of piano noodling and it's done. the piano here's saying some nice stuff but it's a little robotic. and then it's done. the bosendorfer's a great choice for this kind of music, given that it's so warm and rich without giving up the ability to cut through big orchestral stacks.

this is a fun romp through one of the better Dark Souls themes. i particularly liked the swells into drops - you did a good job subverting what could have been otherwise a very bog-standard cinematic orchestral adaptation. excellent work.

 

 

YES

[Liontamer]

I'll keep it brief. Some of the string samples strained for realism at times, but the tools were used well here overall. Loved the textural changes throughout. Nice time sig change as well, and you certainly succeeded in giving this a much more cinematic flavor. Nice work, com_poser!

YES

[Emunator]

I don't understand any of the time signature stuff Brad said, but the changes in rhythm can be immediately felt without even breaking down the time signature changes. The overall vibe is completely different without becoming unrecognizable. Your arrangement has a distinctly Yoko Shimomura style, thanks to the energetic piano writing, but the orchestra is programmed extremely tightly and professionally and pairs super well with that. It's clear that you approached this with a composer's mindset, as if you were rewriting this theme for a completely different context but still squarely within the Dark Souls universe.

I really can't find any technical fault here that wouldn't be extremely nitpicky and unproductive - I think you accomplished exactly what you intended to do!

YES

[Chimpazilla]

What a great time signature to remix this in!  You're right it does make it sound very energetic and cinematic.  This is really well done, the instrumentation is handled extremely well.  The arrangement is terrific, full of dynamics and storytelling.  Many textural changes and varying levels of intensity throughout the piece.  This is wonderful, other than being too short (I want more!).  Nice work.

YES