OCR04812 - *YES* Legend of Zelda & LoZ: ALttP "Zelda by Lamplight"

[Liontamer]

Artist Name: shodan

A chamber arrangement of several dungeon themes from the early Zelda titles. This era of dungeon music was very chromatic, so I saw it as an interesting exercise in getting the themes to play well with each other. Started out as something closer to a serialist experiment, which wound up being unlistenable. In the end, not atonal, but flexibly tonal. There are some original ideas in here, but the major motifs that glue them together are clearly lifted from these three pieces. Begins with a slightly dramatic interpretation of the dark world dungeon theme, and the chromatic tremolo motif occurs frequently. Then moves onto a much lighter take on the NES dungeon theme. Closes with a brief reprise of some of the first ideas, incorporating light and dark world dungeon themes.

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Games & Sources

Legend of Zelda (NES) - Dungeon theme (composed by Koji Kondo)

Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES) - Sanctuary Dungeon (composed by Koji Kondo)

Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES) - Dark World Dungeon (composed by Koji Kondo)

[prophetik music]

opens with what i think is ~30 of a joke, and then gets into the actual arrangement, so i'll start from there.

opens with an expanded version of the dark world dungeon. there's some nice passing of the initial four-note pattern initially, and then a highly interpretive version of the dark world dungeon theme. this more outlines the chord structure and references the main riffs than it does directly arrange it - there's a lot of the original in the cello for example, but not a lot in the leading voices.

there's a rhythmic and dynamic resolution around 1:57, and it starts referencing the ascending arpeggio riff from the NES dungeon. the melodic line here is roughly the same shape as the original's melody line that eventually comes in, but it's certainly more inspired by than it is the original's material. there's some octaves here that i didn't really care for in the scoring, actually - i would have much preferred more fleshed-out chords, at least partially because it wasn't obvious to me why those notes were being emphasized with octaves.

the third section starts at 3:12 with some really fun disjointed and differently-timed ascending patterns. the cello here is overpoweringly loud for at least the first 20s or so. there's some resolution elements and it's done.

there is what i think is some unintentional phasing going on throughout. later edit: this is apparently endemic to the samples used per the remixer, so it isn't something that we can correct easily. i also don't really get the first 35s and wouldn't mind if it was just from the true start of the piece that we posted.

that said, what's here is a really interpretive and interesting take on several dungeon themes. there's a lot of complex arrangement going on here, and it's well-performed. what's here is still over my bar for execution as it's enjoyable and has a lot of depth in the performance and arrangement.

 

 

YES

Edited January 17 by prophetik music
clarification of phasing question

[Chimpazilla]

I like the joke at the beginning.... and I have to admit I was happy to discover that those first few notes *were* a joke!  I agree with proph that there's no need for that part (or the intro metronome taps) to post with the remix, however.  

If this is done with samples, it is done WELL.  To do such a sparse arrangement using exposed samples, they have got to be near perfect.  Bravo on this.  And barely any reverb, perfect chamber music style.

This is a really well put together arrangement.  It goes through many moods and vibes:  creepy, lighthearted, playful, melancholy.  My only issue is source use.  I would love to see a breakdown of source use (and preferably not make one myself).  Assuming enough source is here, this is an easy YES.  I am going to withhold my vote until i (or someone else) does a source check, but I like it.

Edit:  Thanks guys for checking out the source content, I'm switching to

YES

 

Edited February 3 by Chimpazilla

[Liontamer]

Sounds like samples, but solid ones that get the job done. The arrangement was 3:59-long, so this needed at least 119.5 seconds of identifiable source usage to have he VGM source material be dominant:

Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES) - "Sanctuary Dungeon" - :00-:03.5, :04.75-:08.75, :10.75-:19

Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES) - "Ganon's Message" - :36.5-:53 (this wasn’t cited by the artist, but is a direct reference)

Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES) - "Dark World Dungeon" - 1:16-1:45, 3:47.75-3:59

Legend of Zelda (NES) - "Dungeon" - 2:02-2:26.5, 2:34.75-3:04.25, 3:06.5-3:11.75, 3:13-3:29.5

Adds up to about 148.25 seconds, well over the line in terms of the VGM source material being dominant in the arrangement.

I didn’t mind the intro. I didn’t get it, but not everything is for me. :-)

I love and appreciate how shodan shifted the themes around to being performed by the different “players”, which can make the arranging more difficult to follow, though I’d argue not by much, at least not enough to put the source usage in question.

Rubber stamp for an interpretive, well done chamber concept!

YES

[Hemophiliac]

This is really cool, interpretive arrangement, in a chamber/small group approach. The intro is silly and I didn't really care for it especially when the majority of this piece feels like it's meant be taken seriously, so to have an intro that's unserious is weird. That's no big deal when it comes to the overall track, it's just an usual choice to make.

To me this sounds like physically modelled strings, a lot like was used here https://ocremix.org/remix/OCR04414 . Either way samples or physically modelled, the sequencing was handled well. I particularly liked the attention to detail with how the articulations were changed, as well as the phrasing played out.

As a listener you have to be cognizant of how the melody gets passed off between parts, while things may feel like a supportive part, they may actually be the melody. Such as the cello at 1:21 playing the dark world dungeon theme, and 2:04 the Zelda dungeon theme on the viola (panned on left side). Source melody is deemphasized in it's dynamic but they are still there. Rhythm augmentation was a sneaky way of putting that Zelda dungeon behind everything else while the other parts lightly fill space and arpeggio around in a detached manner.

There is source in here that was not mentioned by the artist, "Gannon's Message" from Link to the Past from 0:36-0:52. All of the other 3 themes are identifiable and dominant throughout, even with much interpretation and various arrangement techniques implored to modify them.

Happy to see this through, kudos on a unique interpretation of multiple themes weaved together in a tapestry in a dark dungeon.

YES

[Emunator]

When I first listened to this, I actually clicked off after hearing the first few seconds because I was not vibing with the mix quality... coming back and listening to the full track, I realize the joke was on me the whole time! Nice fakeout.

Definitely getting the physical modeled string feel from this too, good call on that @Hemophiliac. It sounds well above our bar for realism, though if we're getting nitpicky, there's a few points where I hear unnatural note cutoffs, like 3:06 in the cello. The phasing issue was already addressed but I also heard it too. There's clearly a great deal of care put into both the arrangement and programming here, weaving a number of different themes together delicately and getting really creative with the rhythm and harmony in the process.

Any nitpicks I have are only that - nitpicks. Nice work!

YES

[paradiddlesjosh]

Opens with a bandpassed cello playing the intro to “Sanctuary Dungeon” from A Link to the Past. Violins and viola enter around 0:12, harmonizing the cello line. The texture seems to fall apart around 0:24, and after some admonishment, we get a count into the meat of “Dark World Dungeon” around 0:35. At first, I thought this was an unintended inclusion from the tracking phase – once I learned the strings are all sampled/modeled, I appreciated this segment for the joke it is.

There is some exploration of the texture (“flexibly tonal” sure is an accurate way to describe it) as the violins riff on the tremolo motif of the source. 1:47 sounds to me like some borrowing from the intro of “Sanctuary Dungeon” before a brief pause – this reads like a movement break to me, which might be unfamiliar to listeners without a classical/chamber music background.

2:03 picks up the original Zelda “Dungeon Theme” melody in the viola. We have more harmonic exploration at 2:31 before returning to the motif at 2:42. Another movement break comes at 3:11 and a reprise of the intro bits until the piece is finished.

I had no idea this was all sampled or modeled, so kudos for impressive programming. The arrangement’s got a good flow to it – false start and movement breaks notwithstanding – and outside some minor phasing from the virtual instruments noted by the other Js, no mixing gripes from me.

Great take on old-school Zelda, shodan!
YES

[jnWake]

A chamber medley of dungeon themes, interesting!

This one starts pretty odd, with the "Sanctuary Theme" being played by a clearly high passed string section but it's suddenly stopped by some voices that I can't really understand besides a "play it properly", so I gotta assume the intro is some kind of joke/bit. Anyway, after some metronome hits the proper arrangement starts. It's not high passed anymore but it still sounds fairly dry. Arrangement starts with "Dark World Dungeon", first pretty recognizable but by 0:56 there seems to be a lot of original material on the highest sections while the source is mostly present on the lower strings. On 1:25 the source usage becomes more evident again and there's some fun modifications of the main bass melody to adjust for the "atonal" writing. A new section begins at 2:03 with a string playing a simple F#-G-B "arpeggio". I can't really place this as coming from any of the sources, however some of the bass movements seem to be referencing the original Zelda Dungeon Theme (very clear at 2:19). Things continue in a similar fashion with a return of the 2:03 "arpeggio" and the original dungeon theme (or variations of it) played on different parts of the string section. A new section begins at 3:13 with material that I can't directly place as coming from the sources (a F#-A#-C-C# arpeggio) but there's glimpses of the sources (on bass at 3:19 and 3:23 for example). A solo lower string plays a Dark World Dungeon melody before the track closes with a quick chord progression from the entire ensemble.

On the arrangement side this is a very interesting piece. It's quite transformative, taking the sources and playing around with them a fair bit while also adding a lot of extra stuff on top. There's some writing that seems to be original but by my description above there's more than enough source in here to meet the OCR standards. My only nitpick with the arrangement is that the 3 main sections (0:37, 2:03 and 3:13) feel a little disconnected, but it's not a dealbreaker. I'm not super hot on the "joke intro" either, as I don't feel it has any real pay-off but it doesn't really hurt the piece.

On production, I feel it's a little dry. It's been pointed out by some this is appropiate for chamber music so I'll just point this out as a personal preference thing rather than a true negative. You did a great job with the VSTs, they sound very convincing even if some articulations or note releases reveal the truth. There was clearly a lot of care put into the sound of the ensemble and it shows!

Overall, this is a great tune. I'm not sure really what's the point of the intro joke, but the arrangement that begins after that is pretty impressive and deserves being on the front page!

YES

[pixelseph]

This is one of the most interesting Zelda remixes I've ever had the pleasure to delve into!

This remix opens with a fake-out, though the context of the fake-out intro isn’t clear until :25. :34 counts off the real intro. Fake-out intro and the real intro both use ALttP’s Dark World Dungeon theme, as described in the write-up with the celli and viola, though the real intro at :36 takes a unique approach with the interpretation. The quartet introduces each member of the ensemble from lowest to highest, moving together into :53. The piece is quite tense, allowing very brief releases at 1:00 and 1:11. Everything is nicely separated in the soundscape, making it easy to pick out what any particular instrument is doing at any point.

The piece is definitely some kind of tonal! :-) Moments like 1:35, 1:43, and 1:48 effectively use extended voicings and rhythm to keep the tension ratcheting up. There’s a breath at 2:01, picking back up at 2:02 with the NES Dungeon motif. 2:31 brings in a more sombre, melancholy feel that doesn’t totally displace the tension, moving back to that more anxious feel at 3:03. 

3:13 keeps the tempo but has the viola layer the ostinato with a dotted rhythm over the quarter-time cello, creating a neat syncopation. I’m having trouble placing the Sanctuary Dungeon motif in the piece, likely because it’s been reinterpreted to flow with the other two motifs.

Dynamically, the piece pushes and pulls throughout, which helps contextualize the tense motifs. The pauses (2:01, 3:10) help keep things from going into too much harmonic dissonance. The only nitpick I have is that the ending feels like a bit of a letdown - a quick, dramatic rest before bringing the ensemble in for the final two chords would have been nicer to have.

The composition and arrangement allowed for ease of separating out the instruments, and the panning also helped give more depth. The panning violin phrases like at 2:48 and 3:28 that move across the stereo field are great examples. Frequencies are nicely balanced - not a lot of sub-bass but there’s still plenty of warmth without having mud.

While I would have preferred a stronger resolution, this piece has more strengths than weaknesses. The mix is solid, the writing maintains a tense feel without going overboard, and it executes its vision overall. And while my ear couldn’t make out the Sanctuary Dungeon motif in the 3rd act, the other sections have enough source material to carry the piece.

Welcome to the front page!

YES