*NO* Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time "Domain Deep Dive"

[Liontamer ⚖️]

Artist Name: Ridiculously Garrett

This is an arrangement of "Zora's Domain" in a straight ahead style. This arrangement was originally inspired by the city pop genre. The track is created using MIDI sounds from Bitwig Studio and some samba percussion samples.

We start off hearing the iconic introduction played by the synthesizer which has high reverb. A drum fill transitions us into a tight, lower reverb setting at 00:13. 8 bars later and we hear the melody played by a soft, yet bright synthesizer sound. Accompanied by some close voiced, colorful piano chords over a bass pedal on the tonic. The chord progression follows the original composition completely with no changes. 

Another thing to note which continues to develop throughout this arrangement is the influence of bossa nova/samba on this arrangement. You will hear the bass play on 1 and 3, a staple to bossa nova. You also will hear two different bossa claves hard panned in both ears. 

At 01:27, we get our first chorus continued by the synthesizer. We hear the drums play a low tom on beats 2 and 4, a common samba rhythm usually played on a similar type of pitched drum. Addition of ride cymbal and some elongated bass patterns gives it more of chill feel. At 01:57 we get a quick break from the melody.

At 02:13 we get a reference from Ocarina of Time's "Title Theme" to start us off in a piano solo. The solo plays for the rest of the section, and mostly follows the original main melody with some slight variations.

At 03:03, we return to the chorus as a breakdown. At 03:27, we play the chorus one last time with the groove back in, this time ride is flipped to playing on downbeats instead of offbeats, just a little funny detail with no major significance.

At 03:51 I really start to develop more of the bossa influence. The track remains in 4/4, but the synthesizer plays a 3 over 4 cross rhythm. This is a very common rhythm in bossa nova claves and percussion and was probably replicated in the claves previously in this track. The synthesizer soon morphs into another common syncopating samba rhythm at 04:03. The chord progression changes from I-IV to I-bIIV. A subtle change, and honestly not really that noticeable. The bass pedal changes to the dominant giving it an unresolved feel. I added 3 samba instruments in the section: caixa, repique de anel, and repique de mão. These were edited to sound more like swishing wave, so if it doesn't sound like super clear, tight percussion, this is why. The groove carries us to the ending with variations in the bass. Slowly the synthesizer reverberates more and more to give that diving feeling until ending on a single, reverberated, open piano chord.

What would it be like to dive into Zora's Domain? This track demonstrates just that. An ecstatic dive into the vast, serene freshwaters of the domain.

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Games & Sources

Game: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Release Date: 1998

Composer: Koji Kondo

Source Tunes: "Zora's Domain", "Title Theme"

Source Links:

1. "Zora's Domain"

2. "Title Theme"

Edited 2 hours ago by Emunator

[prophetik music ⚖️]

opens with the descending arp of the original in a funky 80s-feel synth. beat comes in at 0:15, and i can definitely hear where you're trying to go with this. the piano that comes in at 0:27 is painfully square and robotic unfortunately, and the sample isn't great either. the offbeat pops fit the concept well though. melody comes in at 0:39, and there's some nice panning on it to help it feel more organic in the way it moves. the backing is very static until 1:24 when there's a short break - i'd have liked to hear more to mix it up, especially given that there's only a few instruments playing and not much to keep it unique.

the chorus uses a new beat which is nice, but the piano especially is starting to really grate as it's doing the same thing most of the time and it's tiresome to listen to. the piano solo at 2:13 is nice. there's a percussive element in the left ear that is notably far away from anything else in that side and it sticks out a lot.

there's another chorus, and what initially feels like an ending until it's made more obvious that it's a transition into more of a shuffle. 4:02 brings in a lot of other elements that don't really get explored much. there's some distance put into the overall tone, and then a single chord finishes the song off.

it really seems like you approached this with a goal of simplicity and a patient approach, and i think that's a cool idea for this. i really think this is too stripped back, and separately what's here isn't used to full potential. i think that adding even a single countermelodic element would add a lot to the work overall, and separately (and more importantly) there's so little personalization or velocitization applied to anything outside of the synth blats throughout. the block chords in the piano for example don't change dynamics or approach ever throughout, and the lead instruments also do not have clear examples of velocitization outside of one specific color note in the piano solo. along those lines, each major section has a clear sound that's established in the first bar which doesn't change throughout that entire section. it's too repetitive and it becomes very obvious very quick.

i think there's too much repetition throughout, and not enough personalization especially to the backing parts. this needs another pass.

 

 

NO

[Chimpazilla ⚖️]

This is the coolest idea ever, I LOVE this concept, so super groovy.  But I have to agree with proph, it's coming off as simplistic due to the blocky-as-heck, stuck-to-the-grid piano sequencing, and uber-repetitive drum groove.  It does feel like the arrangement is lacking something more going on in terms of an occasional countermelody or backing texture, as it's the same instruments and patterns again and again.  Even some soft pad chords here and there, with some movement or very light gating on them, would add a lot of interest and groove to this.  But the piano lead and also chords simply must be humanized a bit for it to sound natural and groovy.

I also feel that the mixing could be done differently to get this more impactful, the bass needs to be a bit more present, and the kick sounds very quiet in the mix, so perhaps the low end overall could be brought out more, which could even be done in the mastering stage.  There should be something more going on in the highs, there's the tiniest hat pattern I've ever heard, almost too quiet to hear. 

The main problem here is the stiff and repetitive sequencing, primarily piano and drums.  Additional instruments, patterns, variation, ear candy etc. would also go a long way to making this sound much less robotic.  I'd love to hear this again though!

NO (resubmit)

[Emunator ⚖️]

Love this source tune so much, and immediately I felt what you were going for with the genre change - it's a brilliant adaptation. The reharmonization on the backing chords and the keyboard patches chosen for the leads is really working for me on a conceptual level! The harmony and transition just before the 3 minute mark is really cool! I thought we were winding down around the 4 minute mark but then you go into some really cool chord-driven original writing that really captivated my attention. There's a LOT to love about this, just like your other submissions I've voted on recently. 

I'm immediately hearing the blocky-ness in the arrangement overall, which can contribute to a "plodding" feeling. Obviously, I don't want to imply that you should change the overall groove or pacing of the track itself, but even within a slow-paced arrangement, there's a lot you can do to introduce small amounts of movement to the song so that it's not sitting at the same dynamic level for 5 minutes. To your credit, the jump between the verse and credits is definitely felt, and you've got some unique fills that help build excitement leading into a new section, but the core instrumentation is lacking in variety and humanization, or, if these parts were played live, they're too heavily quantized. I loved the original piano soloing during the 2 minute mark, but those riffs feel like they're programmed or played stiffly as well. I also feel like the velocity on the right hand piano is played too loudly, so the "pluck" of the piano is sticking out in the mix quite a lot.

From a mix perspective, there's a good sense of space on the percussion but the kick is lacking any presence in the mix - especially when you have such a solid groove with the kick locked to the 1 and 3, it's important to make sure that the pulse of the track is felt. I think you can also experiment with sidechaining your kick to your bass and other instruments and even your top-loop percussion (I can't believe Chimpazilla, the veritable Queen of Sidechaining, didn't bring this up first! hehe) in order to add some movement to your other instruments when they duck under the kick drum. 

The electric bass is doing some interesting movements on a writing level, but has almost no presence in the mix. It feels pretty wide and doesn't contribute to a strong foundation. The right hand piano melodies frequently sound much louder than the rest of the instruments, too.

The ending snuck up quite suddenly with that final chord, I'm not sure if that ending was properly signaled and so it came across as jarring and unsatisfying to me. 

I think this is a tremendous first pass at this arrangement and, like your Wild World submission, is 1000% something I want to hear back again. There's a lot of actionable feedback here that I think you could totally execute on your own, but if you're feeling overwhelmed by the feedback here, I will happily extend an offer to collaborate with you on this track if you need help with the mixing to get it over the bar, and also play some of the piano parts live for you. Either way, I dug the track a lot - my door is open if you want to go over this feedback 1:1!

NO (please resubmit!)