Liontamer ⚖️ Posted June 10 Posted June 10 Artist Name: Tremendouz First of all, huge thanks to Gamer of the Winds ( https://ocremix.org/artist/16615/gamer-of-the-winds ) for recording the flute part. "Reset" from Ōkami has a special place in my heart, as does the whole game and its OST. For this arrangement, I decided to use the vocal version playing during the credits of the original PS2 release as the main bones and inspiration while incorporating some elements from the orchestral "Thank You" version—namely the harp, as well as the intro and outro structure. In addition to these, you can hear a nod to "Once Upon A Time..." from Ōkamiden in the synth melody at 1:45, and to "Ryoshima Coast" from Ōkami at 2:15. The style I went for is quite electronic in nature (synth bass and leads, drum machine, overall quantized feel) but also uses some more traditional instruments as well, although in virtual form: acoustic and nylon guitar, harp, string ensemble, Rhodes electric piano and grand piano. As usual, everything is programmed in the piano roll. The two versions of Reset differ somewhat in their chord progression and since I lifted the harp pretty directly from the orchestral version, I didn't stick too closely to the vocal version in this regard. All in all, I combined a bunch of my favourite elements from both versions into a mix that's attempting to be both laid back and puncy at the same time. Ilya Efimov Acoustic guitar does the heavy lifting in terms of the lead melody and solos, the latter of which are mostly pretty straight transcriptions from the vocal version (minus the last one at 4:12-4:24). Scarbee Classic EP-88S fills the midrange with a familiar stereo Rhodes sound, while Samantha Ballard Harp adds some much needed plucky, organic quality and texture. Tokyo Scoring Strings from Impact Soundworks fills the background during the choruses, although my string programming here was rather rudimentary due to their somewhat buried nature in the mix, as well my own laziness. If I had to pick my favourite detail from the arrangement (aside from Gregory's fantastic flute playing), it would be how I took the acoustic guitar rhythm element from 3:24-3:44 (before the last chorus) which was already present in the source, and recalled it in the first half of the outro (4:39-4:52). I think it worked pretty seamlessly there even if I say so myself. The name of the arrangement refers to the credits scene where Amaterasu (ya big furball!) walks in front of a backdrop consisting of scenes from the rather lengthy journey that the game is. Edited Saturday at 03:10 PM by Tremendouz Games & Sources 1. Okami - Reset https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeyK_gmd8Ik VGMDB credits the following artists: - Lyrics: TAK&BABY - Composer: JUN - Arranger: Yoshinobu Takeshita - Vocal: Ayaka Hirahara (dreamusic) 2. Okami - Reset (Thank You) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRx9gnY0Mp0 composed by Hiroshi Yamaguchi 3. Okamiden - Once Upon a Time... (minor nod only) https://youtu.be/bVyBr0L7DaE?feature=shared composed by Rei Kondoh 4. Okami - Ryoshima Coast (minor nod only) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ztlng1aSnGU composed by Hiroshi Yamaguchi
Liontamer ⚖️ Posted June 10 Author Posted June 10 Main source melody for "Reset" arrives at :20 with a lot of personality behind the sequenced guitar, thanks to the supplement of the measured bassline. Beats at :41 didn't feel like the right fit on account of feeling too dry, but the texture got fuller at 1:12 to help mitigate the realism issues. Good dropoff at 1:45. The sequenced bowed strings from 1:18-1:44 were in the uncanny valley although it was a decent, recognizable sample. The beats did drag on by the 2-minute mark and needed more dynamic contrast. As a personal highlight, I loved GotW taking over as lead at 3:23 with his beautiful restating of the melody, including the interplay with the sequenced acoustic guitar which had VERY classy flourishes at 3:35. It may be underselling some different part-writing, but the beats felt relatively underdeveloped or lacking variations. Everything else though was clicking, so consider me on board with this arrangement! YES
pixelseph ⚖️ Posted June 28 Posted June 28 It's safe to say that source usage isn't an issue in this one! 😉 I want to highlight the programming on the acoustic guitars, because while Trem's pieces are my gold standard for programming virtual guitars in general, the attention paid to making the articulations sound evocative (and not just natural) is excellent. The lead guitar line in particular has rakes into the starts of phrases, there's plenty of subtle trills and turns to navigate the phrases, and the rhythm line has plenty of humanization on the strums. GotW's performance is also a highlight here - it adds a gentle and warm contrast to the bright acoustic guitar, especially when the strings come in to fill the harmonic space. The drum machine sounds straight out of the late '80s, and while I'm not a fan of the robotic feel of the instrument as a whole, I think it's deployed successfully in the mix itself. Only semi-surprised to not hear any Phil Collins tom fills given the style and palette! Happy to sign off on this one - let's get it on the site! YES
prophetik music ⚖️ Posted June 30 Posted June 30 opening guitar is excellent. opening drums were kind of blah. the hats have some weird cuts to them (like at 1:04), and the cymbal crash at 0:42 is notably different than the rest of the kit as well. lead acoustic though is outrageously good as expected from the artist. chorus at 1:18 has a nice glidey synth as the lead that's a bit too quiet, and there's a lot of that crash being used through here and it gets obvious that it's the same sample. it's really grating on me - in fact, most of the drums are, they're really basic and use lots of repeated passages. 2:45 is a straight repeat of 1:18 with the only difference being the acoustic coming in at 2:58 to mirror the lead, until the chord difference at the end. the section after this, at 3:24, features some GotW, and the flute's excellent but too quiet in the mix - it quickly gets overwhelmed. there's a third play-through of the chorus with the same lead articulated nearly the same way again, and once more with some guitar soloing over the top. i think there's a lot of repetition, and i didn't care for the blandness of the drums or most of their sample usage. but i think that the overall approach is great, and it's a low-key but enjoyable arrangement. i think that some more dynamics and more personalization to elements that weren't the guitar would have been a meaningful and significant improvement, but we don't judge based on potential - just results. YES
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