prophetik music ⚖️ Posted March 12 Posted March 12 This is the first section of my Zelda series Sky Themes Medley, featuring Steven Higbee (ocarinas, clarinet, bass clarinet), Gamer of the Winds (alto flute, flute, piccolo), and Brooke Ferd (flute, oboe, english horn). I also plan to compose a fourth medley for the fire themes - I'll be sure to hit up these artists for that one too! Games & Sources 0:00 Ballad of Gales (WW) 0:16 Title (WW) 1:54 Wind's Requiem (WW) 2:03 Sheikah Tower (BotW) 3:32 Wind Temple Phase 1 (TotK) 4:47 Wind Temple (WW) 6:06 Palace of Winds (MC) Wind Waker - Ballad of Gales Wind Waker - Title Wind Waker - Wind's Requiem Breath of the Wild - Sheikah Tower Tears of the Kingdom - Wind Temple Phase 1 (proph note: i believe this is 0:00-1:30) Wind Waker - Wind Temple Minish Cap - Palace of Winds
prophetik music ⚖️ Posted March 17 Author Posted March 17 (edited) opens with a cameo of ballad of gales in the choir and sfx, and then jumps right into WW's title track. the taiko pattern is pretty recognizable, and the initial live elements are fantastic. the elements are heavily panned (there's a lot in the right ear that's just not in the left) and that's confusing on headphones but would probably be more impactful on speakers. i wouldn't have minded hearing a lower instrument to underpin this entire section given how high most of the parts are. i'm not a fan of the choir at 1:57 - it feels so fake as compared to the earlier uses of it - however the intro to sheikah tower is fairly delicate. i really like the low flute work. the intentionally blocky representation right after that is also a clever adaptation of the stutter synth in the original. the TotK wind temple theme is woven in here nicely as well. very delicate playing again. the the transition into the WW wind temple is just so not what i expected at all. the original's quite weird so this was an interesting idea. i wouldn't have minded a more fleshed-out background here than just the choir initially, but i like the bigger variety you give it as we get into the 5:15 area. the breadth of the arrangement continues to expand as we get into palace of winds, and the scope increases as well. i liked the bass clarinet in here especially, one of my favorite instruments. the bells in the right ear are too loud here, and feel very shrill and forward. i realize this is part of a suite, but the ending still feels very abrupt and unprepared. the track is fairly imbalanced between the ears. most of the content throughout is in the right ear, and the panning is more significant than it probably should be. separately, i wasn't a fan of the ending, although i recognize at least partly this is due to the edit made to allow this to be on the site. the rest of the arrangement is aces, though - really nice transitions between most of the themes, and the adaptation with live instruments is really nice. YES Edited May 16 by prophetik music punctuation
Chimpazilla ⚖️ Posted May 15 Posted May 15 I love all of these Zelda tunes and they are handled so delicately and intricately here. The transitions between the sections are very smooth. All the instrumental performances are gorgeous and competent. This arrangement has a lovely whimsical feel. I do wish some of the percussion was a little bit louder, the hand drums sound so distant and in the back of everything. I agree with Brad on the panning, I am not a fan of severe panning, I would prefer that some elements sit slightly left or right if need be, but not ALL the way left or right. That is the only part of this arrangement that I'm not loving, it feels artificial to me, hearing one instrument only on the left, and another only on the right. The panning feels especially awkward when it is a heavier element like a full choir or deep string pad sitting all the way to one side. Other than the panning, this is a beautiful romp through the wind and sky themes. YES
jnWake ⚖️ Posted May 16 Posted May 16 Whew this is a long track. I love the "wind/sky theme" for a medley. I'll go for a smaller breakdown than usual here: We begin with Wind Waker's "Title Theme". Beautiful interpretation, very close to the original in arrangement. However, I love how it sounds, every performance is excellent and everything is very well mixed. I'll agree with proph on the choir sample's quality standing out in a bad way among such pretty sounding instruments. After "Title Theme" ends there's a bit of silence and a non-transition "Wind's Requiem", which does transition more naturally to BotW's "Sheikah Tower". Once again, cover seems close to the original in terms of arrangement but it sounds great. "Wind Temple Phase 1" gets introduced around 3:32, very good transition here again. There's some slight tuning clashes on those sections where there's big chords (like 4:10), but nothing dealbreaker. We then move to WW's "Wind Temple", another well handled transition. Some unisons (like 5:00) sound a bit weird. Other judges have mentioned panning and I'll agree that it feels odd at times, it's very noticeable in this section IMO, with the choir for example. We finally move to "Palace of Winds" in a very seamless way. I'd say this final 2 sections are my favorite, as they're more dynamic. I don't feel the end sounds unnatural at all. On arrangement, this is an interesting piece. Several of the sources are covered very faithfully, but they're well adapted to this wind focused ensemble and most of the transitions are really good. If anything, I'm only missing some connective elements present throughout the track so that it feels less like several sources one after the other. On production this is awesome, every instrument sounds great and is very easy to hear on the mix. Only nitpick would be the exaggerated panning at times. Overall, this is an easy pass, good arrangement, production and performances! YES
Liontamer ⚖️ Posted August 10 Posted August 10 Adding composer credits here for posterity: 0:00 "Ballad of Gales" (WW) (WW individual credits unknown) 0:16 "Title" (WW) Kenta Nagata 1:54 "Wind's Requiem" (WW) [WW individual credits unknown] 2:03 "Sheikah Tower" (BotW) Manaka Kataoka 3:32 "Wind Temple (First Phase)" (TotK) Masato Ohashi 4:47 "Wind Temple" (WW) [WW individual credits unknown] 6:06 "Palace of Winds" (MC) Mitsuhiko Takano
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