Liontamer ⚖️ Posted March 9 Posted March 9 Artist Name: Whispy Woodwinds Arrangement, Mixing & Master: Lucas Guimaraes Bassoon & Editing: Andrew Gossett Flute: GameroftheWinds Alto Sax, Clarinet: Steven Higbee No track rundown since it's basically all source. Wow, it's a been a bit. This is our third track since our initial debut as a band (our first being Parasol to the Stars and our second being Arle's Theme), and it's far from our last. I'll give a brief rundown of what's happened since. So we had our first performance at VGM CON - It wasn't as tight as it could've been, as we had a few issues. We regrouped and decided that with increased obligations in other places, it'd be better for me to hand my performing duties off. We also decided that an Alto Sax would be more fitting and less honky in the ensemble. I'm pretty happy with both of these choices, as it's allowed me to put in more energy towards arranging and production while I'm able to work on Lucas Guimaraes & The Dunites (more stuff to come from us... soon) and other projects more. This arrangement was originally intended for March Caprice last year, but life had other plans. I was increasingly busy for the first quarter of last year, promptly burning out after that. So I've had this arrangement for well over a year (we even performed it at VGM CON 24), but we were kind-of sitting on it. I spent a lot of last year really reflecting on who I am and going on an entire quest of self. Talk with anyone who knew how many projects I had going on: it was far too many. One year later and almost out of burnout, David Russell convinced me to sign up for this year's March Caprice. I decided to go back into this. I kept trying to fiddle with the arrangement, but then I noticed a funny thing: When I'm on the edge of burnout, that's when I tend to put out some of my best stuff but hate it the most. I actually fell in love with this arrangement all over again. Once I got the recordings in, I knew I had gold. This is the first mix for the band I've done and been REALLY proud of. Oh right, I guess I'm supposed to talk about the song. I tried to get a story in. I knew towards the very end I wanted that sax solo, which initially was whistling. Everyone got distracted from it in rehearsal, so we changed it to sax. I learned so much from having the experience of having my arrangements played live, both here and with Dunites. With the ending, I was really going for an isolated feel, as Hollow Bastion is pretty much the climax of Kingdom Hearts where there's a lot of themes on loneliness. I also wanted it to be very floaty like the original track, but not too floaty. One thing I was worried was that it was becoming too repetitive, as I didn't have a lot of deviations into original material, but I focused on making each of the repetitions as fresh as I could. Performances? Knocked it out of the park. I think it's leagues above our past two recordings. Everyone brought their A game. Mixing it was a bit challenging, as I really wanted to push myself for a mix that knocked it out of the park. Something that has personality while still sticking true to the conventions of chamber mixing. I think I've managed to nail that sweet spot. Hope you all enjoy :) Games & Sources Hollow Bastion - Kingdom Hearts
Liontamer ⚖️ Posted March 9 Author Posted March 9 The notes at 1:21-1:25 felt awkward, but that was a brief bump in the road that resolved fine; otherwise appreciate this theme treatment a lot. :-) The mixing sounded good to me, with the parts feeling reasonably balanced. Fun performances and solid interplay between all of the parts for a very enjoyable, intimate ensemble! YES
prophetik music ⚖️ Posted March 10 Posted March 10 opens with some moving clarinet, and that moving line quickly passes between each part. this unfortunately highlights the difficulty in chamber music that's remote - it's so hard to truly pass off lines like this in an even fashion, although you do a decent job here. 0:35's sustains are a nice change. the repeated notes under those sustains really needed more intentional dynamics in the performance. there's another recap of the moving lines moving around with 'pizz' underneath them, and this sounded similar to the opening but voiced differently. there's a few obvious mistakes in the bassoon line at 1:22, although admittedly that's a tough range. i really liked the passing-off of the phrasing at 1:27. the following section has some more counterpoint which is nice. i'd have loved to hear even more interweaving of parts here, and especially some more dimensionality - spreading out the ranges a bit to fill in the chords instead of having everything so tight would have really added space. the chorale section at 2:09 is another space i'd have loved to hear with more range on the parts. shifting to ensemble articulation at 2:23 was really nice too. i wasn't as big a fan of the subsequent silence in the sax solo - it loses some energy and then tries to get right back into it, and loses something in the process. there's some more consistently moving counterpoint for a few more seconds, and then we get one last chord and it's done. from an execution standpoint, the arrangement is overall really solid. i appreciated the contextual changes between the articulated elements and the more sustained sections. there's enough repetition of concepts to hold onto without being overly repetitive, and there's a nice payoff at 2:09 with the chorale (although i'd have liked to hear more range explored on the instruments there). from a performance standpoint, i found the alto to be both too present in the mix and too sharp a tone as compared to the other instruments - a touch of EQ to tone down the edge on it would have really helped it mesh better with the other instruments. intonation across the board is fine but not stellar, and timing is pretty darn good considering the recording method. i think this is definitely a good representation of the medium and the original. performance is pretty good considering it wasn't done in-person and the arrangement has a lot of good contrast. nice work. YES
Emunator ⚖️ Posted March 10 Posted March 10 This is a no-brainer closeout. This source material adapts PERFECTLY to this small ensemble format, which allows both the rhythmic and melodic elements of Hollow Bastion to shine equally. The performances are tight, the mixing gives it a lush sense of space while still retaining a feeling of intimacy. I'm not as picky of a listener as Brad is, so if the technical performance aspects pass his bar, it solidly leaps over my layman's expectations as well! YES
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