Zelda OoT - Spirit Temple (Middle Eastern-flavored electronica/dance).

[retroactive]

Whoah this sounds great!

I think there's a couple of balancing issues in some places, but for the most part its good. The vocal part that came in 3/4 of the way thorugh fits well. But like you said the ending is like 3/4 of what it should be.

Other than that, great job.

[Blackwinged Saron]

i could have sworn i already wrote something here...oh well.

this is sweet. I cant express my awed intelligence any further. goodnight.

Edit: Im almost hearing a hint of Snakeman's Level in it. It's eerie. Actually, you should throw snakemans music in there, as a bonus ya know. That'd just make this even cooler. A Zelda-MegaMan crossover. I need to lay off the syrup. Damn....

[Robotaki]

Hey Leah!

Really cool stuff here, and I think one of the major accomplishments was the effectiveness of the panning. You got something pretty cool going on with the drum programming also. Which mellow bass did you use? I've been looking all over for that sort of non-chalant sample around, but I can't seem to make it for some reason =/ The only thing I might be able to add is if there was a little more dynamic contrast and tension building in this piece. I'm really glad I got to hear your work Leah! It gives me a lot to learn from ^.^ Keep in touch!

[Villainelle]

Wow, thanks for the comments guys. Much <3.

Robo, very kind words. The bass is layered, a sample for the basic sound + a meatier synth to fill out the lower end. Compressed and added a bit of distortion (I used mostly Blockfish, Camel Crusher, other freeware and FL's native compressors and Blood Overdrive etc. in this). Steep EQ cuts at about 35kHz and 500kHz on the bass to soften the edges and reduce sub-bass rumble. There are a bunch of other slight effects/EQ/etc. on everything to get the overall sound to gel together, but that's mostly it.

Layering is ftw. It seems like you can rarely find a sample that sounds good on its own, but layering works wonders, esp. for drums too.

[Kanthos]

Hey Leah,

I have absolutely no expertise in this genre plus I don't know the source tune (I've never played OoT! *gasp*), so I couldn't think of anything to comment on before. I know you've submitted this already, but I'll throw out my few comments anyway.

Overall, I love it. Ethnic instruments are cool when used well, and the sitar and percussion don't sound out-of-place in your mix. The chanting is an awesome touch, both for what it is and because you expose the percussion at the same time.

I have two comments that might improve the piece, should you wish to do anything more with it. One is the bass: to me (bear in mind that I'm more of a jazz listener), the bass line seems relatively confined and static. I'm not suggesting a walking jazz bass or anything, but you have roughly two octaves of space to use on a bass and to my ear, you don't really get below a B, cutting out half an octave. Reworking the bass part so that you use more of the space will give the tune a stronger low end, which I think the mix needs, and will give you room to make the bass part a bit more exciting. Then again, I'm not knowledgeable about electronic music so maybe that kind of bass part is par for the course.

The other thing that would make a difference is a bigger build coming out of the chant section. One thing that would help would be to have the dynamics vary smoothly in volume as you build towards the drum entry; what you have right now is basically three distinct steps in volume: moderate when it's just synth, wind instrument and chanting, louder when you add the second synth 4 bars before the drum entry, and louder still when the drums are back. The other thing that might work is to add another 4 bars before the second synth comes in, and bring the bass in then, and add another 4 bars giving more room for the bass to shine and letting you bring in the second synth at a quieter volume and build it to where it is before the drum entry. Building anticipation in the listener isn't a bad thing, as long as it's not excessive. Make the listener know that everything's going to come back together after a break like that, but keep them guessing a bit on when that will happen instead of giving it to them right away.

These are both minor comments though, and I hope this gets accepted as is

[Villainelle]

Kanthos, thanks very much for the in-depth critique! I agree completely with your suggestions. The bass is indeed really confined; it was a quick pattern I wrote when starting, and then got lazy and just left it as-is for the entirety of the song. And yeah, listening to this again, I feel like the chanting section really needs something to top it off as you mentioned. If this gets rejected, they're things I'll incorporate when I go back and try to refine it. Appreciate your comments.

[Tensei]

Damn it, I just read through all the drama this went through during the judging process, and it just bugs the hell out of me, because this mix is pure win, and I would hate to see it fall into oblivion. I think a thread-bump is in order; I'm asking you to please consider reworking it and resubmitting, maybe even strike up a collaboration in case you're having technical difficulties at the moment, but I really want this mix to get through =P

[Tricklozen]

Ah, it didn't make it. Well, one must have listened to Spirit Temple, which is slooow (especially in comparison), to be able to recognize it. I recall I had to refresh my memory a couple of times after listening to this WIP for the first time. I'm sure most people who listened to the original would identify it. It's not as if you changed the theme into oblivion, but anyway, the final verdict has been posted. It's ovah! For now.

Anyway, what happened to you? You look awful:

http://www.last.fm/music/Villainelle

[Tensei]

Ah, it didn't make it. Well, one must have listened to Spirit Temple, which is slooow (especially in comparison), to be able to recognize it. I recall I had to refresh my memory a couple of times after listening to this WIP for the first time. I'm sure most people who listened to the original would identify it. It's not as if you changed the theme into oblivion, but anyway, the final verdict has been posted. It's ovah! For now.

Anyway, what happened to you? You look awful:

http://www.last.fm/music/Villainelle

Well actually the panel had to come up with a whole analysis of the arrangement to determine whether or not the mix was close enough to the original, and they came to the conclusion that while it had harmonic, melodic and stylistical similarities to the original, direct quotations were very brief at best, and by far not obvious enough to qualify as a true remix. That's what I was referring to with 'drama' =P

My point was actually that Vilainelle had given up on this remix (or that's what I read in the judging thread), and wouldn't be working on it anymore, which I think is really too bad, because you just don't get much more borderline than this mix; it was so close to being accepted, for all I think, it just needs an obvious lead instrument playing a recognizable melody throughout the mix, and presto. I just can't stand if this mix gets discontinued, because you can really tell there's been an amazing amount of work put into it, and it would mean that that all has gone to waste.

[Dhsu]

Ah, it didn't make it. Well, one must have listened to Spirit Temple, which is slooow (especially in comparison), to be able to recognize it. I recall I had to refresh my memory a couple of times after listening to this WIP for the first time. I'm sure most people who listened to the original would identify it. It's not as if you changed the theme into oblivion, but anyway, the final verdict has been posted. It's ovah! For now.

I think if you could show which parts in the remix = which parts in Spirit Temple, the vote might go differently.

[Tricklozen]

I think if you could show which parts in the remix = which parts in Spirit Temple, the vote might go differently.

The judging process is over..

Well, I had no problem connecting the remix with the Spirit Temple (after listening to the source), which was what I meant by "recognize" and "identify." If it was radically different, it would probably have been brought up in this thread by now. On the other hand, I can understand OCR doesn't want to open up for too much interpretation regarding mixes with vague similarities, however, zircon acknowledged there were similarities, which I choose to interpret as above vague, considering no one else here has commented that it's unrecognizable. It has the spirit of the original, so to speak/write.

As already pointed out, the original theme plays verbatim at least twice:

remix[1:36] == source[0:30]

remix[1:50] == source[0:30] (+chanting)

..which is what Villainelle mentioned; "The best place to hear the original lead coming through in my mix is after that filtered drum breakdown".

Instead of repeating the original lead three times or more, a variation was added within the existing framework; "The lead from the original is cut up and the more hooky parts are rearranged throughout the mix."

I've already spent an hour comparing it and reading the decisions. It's difficult to compare small snippets of the original unless you made the remix, maybe if the original tune was sped up, though.. But anyway, the lead in the remix does follow the same characteristic style of the lead in the original, though not note for note as I can tell.

My point was actually that Vilainelle had given up on this remix (or that's what I read in the judging thread), and wouldn't be working on it anymore, which I think is really too bad, because you just don't get much more borderline than this mix; it was so close to being accepted, for all I think, it just needs an obvious lead instrument playing a recognizable melody throughout the mix, and presto. I just can't stand if this mix gets discontinued, because you can really tell there's been an amazing amount of work put into it, and it would mean that that all has gone to waste.

I'd rather worry about Dr. Pepper, djp's alter ego looking for rejected remixes with "OC ReMix" in the song title. (Besides, it has been several months since this remix was submitted/completed. Who knows. Nothing is set in stone?)

[Dhsu]

The judging process is over..

Judges can and do change their votes when presented with new information. I know because I've done it before.

[Villainelle]

Appreciate the support but I'm not going to be resubmitting or revising this.

Regarding the last.fm profile...looks like I had a little too much sun this summer. And a sex change. Yikes. Gotta pay more attention while in the OR.