jnWake ⚖️ Posted July 6 Posted July 6 Collabers: minusworld. Jabo on bass. Ronin Op F on strings. TSori on trumpet. My entry from DoD's "DS/3DS" month. Somehow, Fire Emblem Awakening was a fresh game on DoD (and here too?! insanity) so as soon as the theme was announced I knew I had to cover it. Choosing a track to cover was tough but I eventually settled for "Don't Speak Her Name", one of the most dramatic tunes from the game. Without spoiling much it deals with the anger and grief of the main character after a big event, so the original song moves a lot between heroic and sad moods. For my cover I wanted to heighten this duality by doing a "dramatic metal" take. I think my cover is more straightforward than my usual stuff since I went for a different approach this time. Before the source breakdown, I wanted to thank my collabers! As usual, minusworld absolutely crushes it on guitar, especially on leads. Jabo does an awesome job on bass. Ronin and TSori both bring the arrangement to life with their performances, much better than using orchestral VSTs! Anyway, time for source breakdown: 0:00-0:40: Based on the source's intro, I went for a heavy mood right away to represent the "anger". The part at 0:21 introduces melodies that will appear many times during the track. 0:42-1:24: Slow section based on 0:25-0:54 from the source, attempts to represent "grief" with the calmer mood. I added some small SFX for the transitions. The piano line is loosely based on the melody that the acoustic guitar plays. 1:25-1:59: We return to metal after a guitar transition. This is based on 0:54-1:34 from the source, same key changes and all. 2:00-2:15: Based on 1:34-1:54, this is kind of an heroic theme, even in a moment grief they must keep fighting! I inserted some funny guitar riffs so that minus and Jabo couldn't relax. 2:15-2:57: Based on 1:57-2:42, just like the original I do a calm take and then an upbeat one but I added an extra key change because why not. 2:57-3:12: A big build-up, this part and the release are from my favorite from the original (build-up is 2:42-2:59). 3:12-3:38: Maybe the climax of the track for me, the chord at 3:00 on the source I've always felt is extremely powerful and every cover I found online plays it as just another chord so on my take I wanted to really highlight, hence the silence and minus' clean run on the lead. He really nailed the emotion on this section. Based on 3:00-3:12. 3:38-4:06: There's a brief calm after the climax and the theme from 3:22 plays on piano and then on guitar. Then the strings play the line from 3:28 (beautiful chord progression in the original here). 4:07-4:40: However, war continues! This section is based on 3:48-4:07 from the source, I tried expanding it and making it more dramatic and tense. There's cameos of previous melodies on guitar and trumpet. minus and Jabo "loved" playing some of the riffs. 4:41-4:56: Repeat of the heroic theme from 2:00-2:15. 4:46-5:30: Based on the melody from 3:38-3:47. First on piano and then on guitar with an ascending chord progression for extra drama. 5:30-end: Repeat of the intro. Hope you enjoy! This was a very hard track to balance... Games & Sources Source: "Don't Speak Her Name"
prophetik music ⚖️ Posted July 16 Posted July 16 excited about this one, it's a great concept and a great list of musicians, and an outrageous track. opens with a very heavy, intense opening right away with multiple lead instruments. trumpet might be a bit buried. there's a huge fall-off at 0:40 with some interesting effects, and the keys bring us into the melodic material. i love the delay on bringing in the drums there, that's fantastic. really like the drum pattern in here, as well as passing the melodic line around. similar positives on the trumpet/guitar intro at 1:22 - and the unison section! oh, that was great. really like the pairings of acoustic and violin, and trumpet and guitar. the interplay of melodic and solo elements in this section through 2:15 are great - really enjoy the variety and the way that parts are passed between. 2:15's a big break back to the acoustic guitar for the lead. this quickly kicks it up soon afterwards. and i like the key change there to help it feel fresh and different from before. there's a huge build and even a silence break before a very appassionato chord at 3:17 - i think the silence was a bit much, but i like the focus on this section and the half-time feel to help it sink in. there's another big break and we get some keys before a big, turbulent section starting at 3:55. there's a lot of difference here than before's band sounds - lots of more rhythmic elements to help it drive forward. your storytelling here is helpful to understand what's happening. the recontextualization of 4:41's theme is really nice. the last minute or so is a pretty intense blow - really great work by minusworld to keep it so intense on the lead part. the ending hits - i wish the sustain was longer! - and then it's a few chords to finish it along the sfx from before. this is a real whirlwind. i'm so surprised it placed as low as it did in DoD - the storytelling and direction of this is fantastic. it sounds excellent and it's a tight mix overall for a variety of instruments. this is an easy vote as expected. YES
Liontamer ⚖️ Posted August 8 Posted August 8 It took me two listens to the source to be able to focus on the melodic leads and not get distracted by the interplay of the supporting writing, but it’s a fun source theme. Great performances throughout. Would have liked TSori’s trumpet lines to be doubled by himself or another instrument more often, because there were times the tone of the trumpet didn’t integrate as well with the other parts, to a lesser extent the same for Ronin Op F’s strings, but it may just be my personal preference. I also would have liked Jabo’s bass to be more audible, but I’m listening to this on my phone rather than my headphones, so forgive me if my perception is off. Thanks for the source breakdown. Very strong presentation, with just as much going on dynamically as the original. :-) YES
paradiddlesjosh ⚖️ Posted August 9 Posted August 9 Man, this one is a journey. What a stacked month DS/3DS Month had to be for this track to not medal! As always, jnWake, the source breakdown is greatly appreciated; no questions about source usage here. If I have one nitpick, it's that I can hear a couple of spots where Tsori isn't quite as rhythmically tight with the band (0:30-0:32, 1:36-1:38) as he could be, but this is far from a dealbreaker. As dense and tricky as the production process likely was for this one, this is a very clean mix. YES
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