Posted 2017-03-15, evaluated by the judges panel


I've really been enjoying Breath of the Wild lately... it was worth the wait, and has gotten me back into Zelda, so this lovely orchestral franchise medley from newcomer freezetag (Trevor Alan Gomes) hits at the right time. First, a helpful breakdown:

Featured games...

  • The Legend of Zelda
  • The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
  • The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
  • The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Featured tracks (in order)...

  • "Overworld" (LttP)
  • "Overworld" (LA)
  • "Zelda's Lullaby" (OoT)
  • "Lost Woods" (OoT)
  • "Kakariko Village" (OoT)
  • "Title" (LoZ)
  • "Hyrule Field Main Theme" (OoT)

Trevor writes:

"I originally wrote this medley as a demo for the fine people at VGL. My passion is arranging and orchestrating music for live musicians, and I've been a big fan of video game music for most of my life. I'm looking for ways to get involved with the video game music arranging community and, when I asked his advice, Andrew Aversa pointed me toward OCR.

As for the arrangement itself, it takes a lot of ideas from a marching band field show I arranged when I was 14, which was never performed (definitely for the best). It's actually my first substantial attempt at arranging using samples, since most of my work is in writing for live musicians. It served as a "training ground" of sorts with software instruments.

I hope you enjoy it and that it would be a good fit for OCR; I'd love to get involved with the community and find some more opportunities to arrange great video game music."

Good stuff; samples come off synthetic at times, especially during exposed passages, but it's a coherent arrangement which does a good job stringing together themes while also connecting them and making them feel like part of a larger, epic narrative. Certain transitions are stronger than others, but on average this is a lush & well-constructed musical tour of Hyrule. Chimpazilla writes:

"Great dynamics here, transitions are pretty smooth. Super use of samples, mixing is really good, tasteful reverb. I'm inclined to say YES as long as this type of medley is ok. It sounds really cohesive to me."

Liontamer adds:

"Arrangement-wise, the themes pieced together effectively, with a lot of care put into the transitions and flow, as well as personalizing the arrangements of each theme and providing good dynamic contrast throughout. The instrumental and textural changes kept the composition fresh throughout, the overall use of the samples was solid, and what this lacks in realism in places, it makes up for with creativity and energy."

Agreed; this is an excellent tribute to some legendary music, and it's especially well-timed for all of us playing Breath of the Wild to remind us of how far the series has come & its many memorable moments. This was submitted and evaluated a good while back, but here's hoping we still hear more from Trevor, as this OCR debut is long & strong and provides a musical retrospective and rousing adventure at the same time. Kudos!

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 7 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Crulex
on 2024-07-04 13:41:40

Lovely medley of great Zelda songs here. The arrangement soars here and brings the best out of the tunes mixed here. Very nice Remix indeed.

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freezeTAG
on 2017-08-19 23:06:59

Hey friends,

Thanks for all the feedback! I 100% agree that the use of samples is subpar, so it's actually quite nice that some of you seemed to enjoy it anyway. :D This was some of my very first work with samples, so it was just a way of "learning the ropes." I've since done some much nicer stuff with samples and even got to write one arrangement for Video Games Live.

Thanks again for taking the time to give your thoughts!

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dfcentre
on 2017-04-16 12:57:11

Great arrangement. Agree that the samples aren't the best and it's noticable from the start.

I really liked the transitions, they were organic, and had a presence of they own, I don't normally like medleys but this one was great. Having played BotW at a friends house and slightly missing the zelda music it was nice to hear freshly composed.

Due to the nature of the samples the track is probably one I can feed into my automated playlist generator system... but if it's ever souped up, I'd include this track with the best of em in a heartbeat!!

Thanks for the experience.

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timaeus222
on 2017-03-18 00:47:13

Maybe the swells on the automation were a little too pronounced (0:34 - 0:37, 0:39 - 0:40, 0:42 - 0:44, etc), but that's a small nit to pick. The dynamic range is well-executed, and much mileage was achieved for the samples. Although I can tell these are samples, this easily sounds like an official arrangement. :)

Will there be an Overture #2? I for one don't mind the medleytits. ;) Instant-download for me.

P.S.: This sounds like it could be overlaid in a Pokemon movie.

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DarkKirby73
on 2017-03-16 20:38:27

just down right beautiful song, every thing just mix together perfectly.

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Ybrik Metaknight
on 2017-03-15 17:26:10

The arrangement here is fantastic -- and I particularly love the selection of the Link's Awakening overworld, which I feel is a highly underrated variation on the main Zelda theme. Other highlights of the arrangement are Saria's Song (I prefer that title for the track to differentiate it from ALttP Lost Woods) and Hyrule Field.

Unfortunately, I found the synthetic samples quite grating in many spots, particularly toward the beginning; being a brass player, synthetic brass always bothers me a bit. However, I can't let that drag down my opinion of the mix too much -- after all, relatively few mixers have the capability of getting actual instrumental musicians to record for their mixes.

In the end, the arrangement shines over the synths. Nice Work.

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Liontamer
on 2017-03-13 13:41:43

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

Sources Arranged (7 Songs, 4 Games)


Primary Game:
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo , 1998, N64)
Music by Koji Kondo
Songs:
"Hyrule Field Main Theme"
"Kakariko Village"
"Lost Woods"
"Zelda's Theme"
Additional Game:
The Legend of Zelda (Nintendo , 1986, NES)
Music by Koji Kondo
Songs:
"Title"
Additional Game:
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Nintendo , 1991, SNES)
Music by Koji Kondo
Songs:
"Overworld"
Additional Game:
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Nintendo , 1993, GB)
Music by Kozue Ishikawa,Minako Hamano
Songs:
"Field (Normal)"

Tags (8)


Genre:
Symphonic
Mood:
Energetic,Epic
Instrumentation:
Brass,Orchestral,Strings,Woodwinds
Additional:
Arrangement > Medley

File Information


Name:
Legend_of_Zelda_Ocarina_of_Time_Hyrulean_Overture_1_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
9,371,587 bytes
MD5:
a6fa21fffdf011918df101ff4b39e2dc
Bitrate:
210Kbps
Duration:
5:53

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