Liontamer ⚖️ Posted June 28 Posted June 28 Artist Name: Roland (Noel) LM I haven't arranged anything from the Zelda series yet until very recently. This is the second Zelda arrangement I've written and recorded (titled Kalle Demos). It was written for the monthly contests on Pixel Mixers and Dwelling of Duels (both had very similar themes). I thought it was the perfect chance to do Zelda, but not a typical, well-known Zelda tune. It had to be weirder and more unknown. I have influences from many, many styles and genres of music, but this one is heavily influenced by the intensity, chaos, mathematical nature, and convolution of Panzerballett's music, and most importantly, my brain. In short, prog, jazz-metal, mathcore, avant-garde, all of that. I love extreme complexity. This is one of the most complex, yet THE most accessible arrangement I've written (I didn't have accessibility in mind - all I did was write and play). I consider this a jazz-metal arrangement. The arrangement goes like this... (7/16 tune is 2 3 2, at 110 bpm - also, the lead guitar is taking all of the melodies from the original tune, which different instruments take over the main melody. Sometimes, the hammond organ is playing exactly what the lead guitar is playing, or the rhythm guitar harmonizes with the lead guitar. There are lines that are very weird, but they are used for effects as part of the tune.) 0:00 - 0:34 (I must warn you... You won't stop hearing polymeters, polyrhythms, and complex syncopations from beginning to end.) - It's a 6-bar section that repeats 6 times, every repeat adding layers and instruments. - Bass is playing a repetitive yet grounded 7/16 bass line (taken from the 3/4 orff bass xylophone line in the original tune). - Piano is playing a repetitive, yet extremely complicated rhythmic line (first 4 bars within the 7/16 framework, and the last 2 bars playing 7:2 polyrhythms) (taken from the 3/4 contrabass line) - enters in the 2nd repeat, and plays until this timestamp ends. - String Synthesizers play in the 3rd repeat (until the section ends) (taken from the sweep synthesizers). - Electric Guitars join together in a harmonized manner (one playing main melodies and beautifully complex harmonies, second playing rhythmic stuff, exactly what the bass is playing). - Drums enter playing in strict 7/16 manner, but then plays 4/4 over 7/16 in the last repeat. 0:35 - 0:51 - 8-bar section (repeated twice). - Lead Guitar and Hammond Organ play the main melody in 7:2. - Bass Guitar stays consistent, grounding the entire band along with the drums and the rhythm guitar (with the rhythm guitar throwing little weird lines.) - Piano continue playing the weird 7/16 line. - Drums sound beautifully heavy here and appropriate for the sudden mood switches. - Weird transition at the end. :D 0:52 - 1:12 (One of the two weirdest sections in the entire arrangement.) Pay close attention... This will be confusing. On sheets, I had to write this in 5/16 to make this easily readable and understandable, but the entire section is still AND sounds in 7/16. - 28-bar section! - Lead Guitar plays a 5/8 dissonant clean line (E A B A#, all notes are ringing for that double minor 2nd interval clash - WOO!), then switches to distortion, playing the same line but in 16th notes. - Bass Guitar and Rhythm Guitar are playing in 7/16. HOWEVER, while the bass guitar remains consistent to keep the entire band grounded, the rhythm guitar plays in the spaces between the bass guitar line. Bass guitar plays notes on the 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 6th beats, and rhythm guitar plays notes on the 2nd, 5th, and 7th beats. It sounds like a 7-note 7/16 line, but it's split into two instruments. Also, 7/16 over 5/16. - Piano plays a slightly varied 7/16 extremely rhythmic line over the 5/16. - Drums are playing in 5/16, but the hi-hat pedal is doing hits every 4 sixteenth note beats. - Overall, the time signatures happening here (AT THE SAME TIME) are 7/16, 5/16, 5/8, and 4/16. - Another weird transition at the end! :D 1:13 - 1:20 - 4-bar section that repeats twice. - It calms things down for a short moment with harmonized guitars, consistent and grounded 7/16 rhythms, and piano going appropriately crazy with 7/16 and 7:2. 1:21 - 1:39 - 10-bar section that repeats twice. - This is more of an extension of the previous section, but we're adding some weird effects to this (not guitar effects or keyboard effects, but more fade-ins, fade-outs, and things that may sound inappropriate, but it's all part of the tune for maximum weirdness) on the lead guitar and hammond organ. - Bass Guitar and Rhythm Guitar stay consistent and grounded, drums switch to 5/16 whilst playing over 7/16, and piano is switching back and forth between 7/16 and 7:2. 1:40 - 1:54 - 8-bar section that repeats twice. - We can consider this the ''chorus'' of the song, but I don't think in terms of traditional song forms. I think in sections, nothing to do with interludes, choruses, verses, etc. - Lead Guitar and Rhythm Guitar harmonize together. - Hammond Organ provides open dissonant harmonies this first time. - Bass Guitar and Drums stay grounded and consistent (strict 2 3 2 subdivisions - 7/16). 1:55 - 2:02 - 8-bar section that repeats twice. - Things calm down again...until the next weird section! MORE WEIRDNESS! - Weird effects again (lead guitar, rhythm guitar, and synthesizers). - Piano plays 7/16 rhythmic lines. - Bass plays consistently. - Drums stop playing (then throw a fill at the end into the next section). 2:03 - 2:13 (THE weirdest section) - 12-bar section. - This section was written in 7/16, but it sounds like 6/16...because it is...but it ISN'T. Read carefully. - Lead Guitar and Hammond Organ are playing clean 7:2 harmonized melodies. - Rhythm Guitar is changing lines every 2 bars - 7:2 line, 7/16 line that the bass plays, and a weird effect at the end. - Piano plays this weird 7/16 line in the first 2 bars (and in the 7th and 8th bars). - Bass plays consistently, but THIS time, the notes change. Instead of D F A Eb like the REST of the tune, it plays E G C F#. - Drums play 6/16 over 7/16 while the pedal hi-hat does 4/16. - Overall, the time signatures and polyrhythms happening here are 7/16, 6/16, 4/16, and 7:2. This was questioned by many if all of this was intentional - YES! 2:14 - 2:21 - 8-bar transition. Nothing else. And now... The completely improvised bass solo. The bass solo is divided into 6 parts. The harmonies are somewhat taken from the melodic, harmonized, and rhythmic sections. Lead guitar is playing harmonies in 7/16, while drums are playing in different time signatures or simply 7/16. (Part 1) 2:22 - 2:44 (B13b9#9#11 voicings - B Double Diminished and B Atonal) (Drums are playing in 6/16 with the bass drum rhythm of 7/16.) (Part 2) 2:45 - 2:59 (Bmaj11b13 voicings - B Harmonic Major and B Atonal) (Drums play in 7/16.) (Part 3) 3:00 - 3:18 (E-7add11 and E-7add#11 voicings - E Minor Blues Scale) (Drums play in 5/16 with the bass drum rhythm of 7/16.) (Part 4) 3:19 - 3:33 (E7#9, B7#9, Bb7#9, F#7#9, G7#9, D7#9, Db7#9, A7#9, using minor blues scales from the augmented 2nd of each chord, and altered dominant scales) (Drums play in 7/16.) (Part 5) 3:34 - 3:43 (Bmaj11b13 voicings - B Harmonic Major) (Drums play in 5/16 with the bass drum rhythm of 7/16.) (Part 6) 3:44 - 3:47 (Free and Atonal) (Drums play in 7/16.) 3:48 - 4:03 - A very technical and confusing transition that I wrote. That's it. 4:04 - 4:18 - Same as 1:40 - 1:54, but with the additional dissonant harmonies on the string synthesizers taken from Part 4 of the Bass Solo. 4:19 - 4:40 - Almost the same as 2:03 - 2:13, but at the end, everyone is playing the 7:2 melody. Quick notes This complex jazz-prog-math-metal arrangement is probably the most accessible one that I've written so far. It's not the most complex one I've written, but it's definitely a fun one to listen to and play. This arrangement also had a lot of space for every instrument to shine without being right on top of another. Everyone is playing together without interrupting others. It's music that's heavy, but it also breathes very well. The collaborators are: Bass Guitar and Arrangement (Roland (Noel) LM) Lead Guitar (Pixels of Pixels & Paradiddles) Rhythm Guitar (minusworld) Programmed Drums (Paradiddles of Pixels & Paradiddles) Keyboards (Hammond Organ, String Synthesizers, Piano) (jnWake) Mixing/Mastering Engineer (Aimrys) Pun-tier: MAXIMUM Cursedness: HIGH-FUNCTIONING Musical: IMPLIED VIOLENCE IN 7/16 Botanical Accuracy: DEBATABLE BUT HILARIOUS Progressive Jazz-Metal Energy: CONFIRMED Games & Sources (Game) The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker GC/Wii-U (Song) Kalle Demos (Composers) Kenta Nagata, Hajima Wakai, Toru Minegishi, and Koji Kodo
prophetik music ⚖️ Posted July 15 Posted July 15 (edited) opens with a bass riff, and we get some difficult-to-consume riffs until we hear the electric guitar play something that's a little more recognizable. there's a bit of melody at 0:35, but the lead guitar is overwhelmingly loud compared to the other elements so it's kind of hard to tell what's melody snippets and what isn't. there's a phase section right after, and we get some of the ascending riff from the original in the 1:13 section and a few times after. i hear the half-step line at 1:40 as well. there's a transition into an extended bass solo. it's impressively performed and - if indeed fully improvised, really impressively created - and it has, to my ears nothing to clearly tie it to the source, which is going to make recognizable source usage tough. there's a fun transition out of the bass solo that's very In The Presence Of Enemies by DT, and more of the half-step noodles. we get some reinforced melodic elements, and then a not-ending. so, for source - there's a ton of adapted references to the source material in the band sections - it's just very highly adapted. the bass solo doesn't have any source to my ears, so of the remaining ~3 minutes, we'd need about 2:20 of that to be playing Kalle Demos. taking out the transition sections that are just original, I'm pretty sure we're close enough, but timestamping this would be rough given that i don't hear all of the correlations (for example, i can't map the bass to anything). from a mix perspective, there's parts of this that really sparkle - the bass tone and the solo, for example - and there's parts where the lead guitar just totally takes over and the mix doesn't work at all (like at 1:40, where the lead is 2x as loud as it should be). i think the drums throughout are too quiet except the bass beater tone, and the pads in general are too loud. i didn't prefer the band sound as a whole very much actually. reining in the edge of the lead guitar might have helped with that. from a holistic perspective, there's a clear direction for the entire track throughout, and i think that the overall progression is indeed accessible to a degree. i think the solo goes a bit long and the ending is a disappointment (something you corrected in Lost in the Woods!), and i think that a firmer grounding at the beginning of the elements you're going to use would have helped a lot. this is a highly cerebral piece as expected, but once you understand the elements and how they're being used, there's a really clear concept that's being defined and approached here. it's probably too complex for its own good - as expected given the arranger! - but your friendly local alphabet-heavy bass soloist does seem to have done something here that isn't too sideways to fit on the site. YES Edited Monday at 01:18 PM by prophetik music reign vs rein
Liontamer ⚖️ Posted July 20 Author Posted July 20 For anyone unfamiliar with the source, you definitely get more out of this arrangement by getting familiar with the original theme, but it's worth it. :-) Keyboard sounds like it's in the uncanny valley to me, but wasn't a huge deal. Great energy here! Just like the original, this feels super chaotic; love hearing different part-writing all swirling around the arranged source melody. A heapin' helping o' prog, this is nothing but fun! YES
Hemophiliac ⚖️ Posted July 28 Posted July 28 I'm all for wild and complex, and this does not disappoint in either regard. Really had to familiarize myself with the source to dive into this one as I did not know it at all. This does feel more cold and academic than expressive at times (except for the excellent improvised bass solo). Aside from the solo, the rest of the piece at least felt like Kalle Demos and/or directly came from the source. This is a long solo and I don't recognize any source here (and is a common complaint I have on jazz pieces that have extended solos: they don't reference the source enough). Fortunately it does not take up more than half of the piece otherwise I'd not be good with this as a pass. I don't think this track would have been successful without establishing the ostinato and strong beats right out of the gate. I pretty much feel the 2:3:2 all the way through the piece and this really acts as the anchor for the whole run. Any time that is going it makes it feel like we're referencing the source somehow. I don't know how you managed that but kudos. The guitars did stand out to me more than they should have (not by much, maybe just 1-2db hot), and didn't sit in with the rest of the track as well as they could have. With that said, the rest of the track is cleanly produced and I have no other production comments. FWIW, I love the title as well, got a good laugh from me on that. It both calls out the time sig and the boss fight as well 🤣 YES
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