ReMix:The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time "Cucco Feathers" 2:52

Lucas & Charles' latest collab is off the cluckin' CHAIN! Don't be chicken -- fly over and let 'em ruffle your fathers with their nu-jazz spin on "Kakariko Village"!

• Lucas Guimaraes: Arranger, Producer, Drum Programming, Mixer
• Charles Ritz: Producer, Arranger, Piano, Bass, Vocals

As Lucas explains, he & Charles channeled the laid-back spirit of Nujabes' catalog to spice up this classic theme:

"Oh man, this is a fun one. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Ocarina of Time, Ro Panuganti, David Russell, and David Erick Ramos have all teamed up to produce a community charity album called Through the Sacred Realm. I knew that I didn't have much time, so I pitched a simple test: Can I emulate the style of Nujabes? I shopped it around to Charles Ritz with a demo that *kinda* got there. I was messing with every technique that I could. The main technique that got used on this track was writing the arrangement to be slower and then speeding it up with changing the pitch. Similar to how hip-hop and video game music artists will often pitch samples, but with the full track being the sample. I specifically went after the sound of his second album, Modal Soul. I wasn't quite feeling what I had on the demo, but a few people gave me one piece of feedback that helped: it emulated Nujabes vibes.

Charles came back to me close to deadline with a piano track that REALLY vibed with some placeholder bass and loops from Splice. It was already sounding pretty good, which gave me a lot of confidence in producing the rest of it. He came up with a revised bass track while I focused on getting the drums there. To go extra on emulating Nujabes, I threw in a lot of sound effects for the ~atmosphere~, I added some oboe (performed on the EWI 4000S with SWAM Woodwinds) and we worked together to add in some vocals. I then mixed it, and then mastered it separate from the one on the album. (Just wanted to get some mastering practice in!)

The biggest lesson this project posed is just how far a couple of well-done pieces can take you. For a while, I've been struggling with producing my tracks instead of just arranging, but this was one where every step of the way, we worked together to see if the changes we were making the track better. This was definitely different in the process, and I'm not quite sure how to replicate it again (I'll certainly try!), but I'm very glad we made it. It's the most collaborative experience I've ever got to have with a track and I hope to share more of those experiences with other people - including Charles."

And then "BOOM", we smacked it down like Gordon Ramsay! :-D While we were enjoying the initial version, it also could have used more development. Thankfully, Lucas wasn't deterred, or, better yet, he was but he pushed past the pain of the initial rejection and fried up the chicken a little further, resulting in a tastier (crispier?) track:

"That said, uh, what about this time? Okay, I was a bit devastated when this got rejected at first, I won't lie. But more because I didn't know *how* to approach some of these problems. My main takeaways that J's didn't like was:

-Drums were repetitive
-Mastering wasn't blown out enough
-Ending was too abrupt

I had some ideas for the ending, but, frankly, when I submitted this, I didn't really understand the concept of pushing things through a clipper. If there's a judge comment I've learned THE MOST from, it's prophetik specifically saying "Blown out mastering". I don't know how, I don't know why, but something about his comment made me resonate with what needed to be done.

So, I went back a few months later when I knew I was ready to revisit this. I reworked the drums ENTIRELY over several sessions. Emunator helped me with some awesome sound design advice. He even offered to step in on drums! That'll have to wait for another time, but I'm sure y'all have been seeing my name with him at least a *couple* of times. After I'd got the drums locked in, I went back and redid the mix. It was mostly about raising background instruments up so more awesome background elements could have their chance to shine. Y'know, not JUST the drums. So, you can actually hear the oboe and vocal tracks now! AFTER that, the mastering was pretty simple. Everyone I've shared it to dug it. I guess ear training's been paying off? I know this track definitely taught me the more creative things I can do with a compressor.

...

I've got nothing else.

Uh, go buy a copy of Through the Sacred Realm so you can support the Decolonizing the Music Room charity. Which honestly was half the reason I redid this track for OCR in the first place. Putting the spotlight on a good cause. :)"

See, the j00js'll get you there, some way somehow, just keep your heart & mind open! And we're also always down to support great musical causes, so be sure to snag the full Through the Sacred Realm album to help Decolonizing the Music Room bring about much-needed diversity in music education, which helps make all musicians more well-rounded! Judge Chimpazilla voted on both submissions, so she had a front row seat to the improvements that pushed this over the top:

"Wow, this is a HUGE improvement in writing and creative ideas! The writing variations on the source are groovy. The vocal pad really gives this a new flavor when it starts after 2:00 [...]. The drums have been varied just enough to avoid so much repetition, and they feel more natural now. The new drum production fits the soundscape just right, good job there! [...]

I really like the new reverse/slowdown ending! It's still abrupt, but it's an actual ending. It is weird in a cool way. The warbley production is an artistic choice, and I like it. This one gets the job done for me!"

Man, I'm a sucker for lo-fi-inspired production & old-timey piano, and this warbles and grooves in alllll the right places, so as judge Emunator said, "It's a vibe." :-) You're cucco if you can't kick back and relax to this wonderful bite-sized portion of nu-jazz from Lucas & Charles, a flavorful spin on the music of The Ocarina of Time!