*NO* Zelda 2 'Thrashin' the Temple'

Title: Thrashin' The Temple

Remix of: Temple Theme

Game: Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

Genre: Metal

Remixer Name: Garret Graves

Real Name: Devin Paquette

Reason For Remixer Name: To make myself sound cooler than I actually am.

Reason for saying that: Low Self-esteem

E-mail: metalgarret@gmail.com

Website: Cult of 1 (www.myspace.com/gregdevin)

Ok. Here we go. I told myself I wouldn't touch anything related to Zelda, Final Fantasy or Mario because I figured since OCRemix has been around for a long time that there have been plenty of people to remix the soundtracks of those series. After having an apiphany some time ago, I realized that I don't care who has done what. That being said, I went browsing through all my favorite games and what not. I came to Zelda II and noticed that no one had done a rock track for the Temple Theme. ....WHAT!? Come on! So I went after it.

Having recently gotten my hands on a Gearbox package and the Superior Drummer 2.0 (thanks Sixto!) I couldn't help but try. The outcome is what you hear.

Now I've heard a handful of rock mixes on the site and there's a couple of things I find trendy. Granted I didn't hear ALL the rock mixes. Just a handful. But out of that handful I noticed that they tend to be mixed with some kind of synth or techno sound backing up the rock instruments. I found that to be a bit too common so I avoided doing that. All you hear are drums, bass and guitars, guitars, guitars! A good 'ol fashion thrashin'! The other thing I found common was the tempo. So far out of the rock remixes that I've heard they tend to be too slow. Now again I haven't heard ALL the rock mixes so I'm sure there are mixes that contain the two elements above. And that's not to say I didn't like the ones that I heard. Matter of fact they really inspired me to do more with my songs in general. Espicially N-JekteD's Purgatory and Sixto's "Burn, baby! Burn!". Incredible guitar playing, I must say!

Now the track. A couple of things. Volume became an issue. I'm happy with the level it's at, but other mixers seem to be able to get their's louder. I went to the remixing forums but no matter what info I got I couldn't get the volume high enough without major clippage. So I did my best and hopefully the judges find it satisfactory.

I took a couple liberties. In the original there is an arpeggiation in the third or fourth section of the song. I initially was just going to have the guitar do this but I left it out cause it seemed overbearing with the harmonizing leads goin' and I wanted to keep those.

The bass seems a bit much hearing it from my system. But I played it on another computer and in my truck and it sounds ok. I'm kinda crossing my fingers about that. The bass kicks too. Maybe my computer's sound system needs tweaking.

Inspirations for the style came from Kirk Hammett, Yngwie Malmsteen and Buckethead. I threw a lot at this track as far as guitars is concerned. Obviously.

That about does it! I've come a long way since my first failed submission. (this is my thrid). Regardless if you accept this or not, this track to me shows how far I've come since recording guitar with just using frickin' WINDat.

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http://www.zophar.net/download_file/14179 - Track 12

Why was this mixed so quietly? Definitely NOT bringing out the potential power with the low volume and sparse textures. Hopefully another J can tell you how you could have made this louder without clipping, but you seem to have had plenty of room to boost several parts up. The mixing ended up downplaying your supporting instrumentation too much and left the track sounding distant and empty. Something like N-JekteD's Doom "Purgatory" sounds gritty, but it's louder and the lead guitar & other foreground instruments are brighter and really cut through to the forefront compared to this.

Arrangement-wise, there was some expansionist writing, and some soloing over the foundation of the original, but overall I wasn't feeling the arrangement as being creative enough. It was heading in the right direction, and would be helped a lot by the textures being fleshed out with something more. This also could have used more melodic interpretation and/or more creative supporting writing to bring some additional creativity and life to the arrangement. The drumwork had fills, but was otherwise way too plain during the verses thanks to the snare pattern.

It's not terrible, Devin, but it's also not close to the bar yet. If you're a fan of N-JekteD & Sixto and you're studying the mainstream masters, then hopefully you'll absorb some new tricks to provide more depth to your future work. Besides using our Workshop forums, try participating in Dwelling of Duels too; those guys will help whip you into shape as well.

NO

Great energy and playing, but it was a pretty conservative take on the material aside from an interesting harmony here or there, and the badass solo. The second half added more of your own writing, but in the first half, I would have liked to see the backing guitars try something different somewhere in there. It was way too close to the source.

The big mixing problem is that the track is so focused on the low-end. Everything needs more mid and high-end volume; you've got some headroom there. It'll make the track sound louder and more balanced. Even messing with Winamp EQ, I was able to get a better sound. A maximizer plug-in might help you get some additional volume out of it, if you're not using one already.

You'd have to make some decent changes to get this to pass, so I'd recommend just working on some new projects unless you want to take the time to substantially rewrite this one. You have a lot of strengths and if you can fill your gaps, you could definitely get a remix posted.

NO

I will just repeat what my fellow judges said before me because they've mentioned all the issues already.

Mixing lacks proper high-end, bass is overpowering. Arrangement is quite conservative but has some nice harmonies, expand it with your own writing some more. It's mixed fairly low, could use some serious mastering. Playing was good though, nice work there. Drum sequencing was stiff at times, a tom fill isn't all in the same velocity...

You've got some serious chops but you need to bring the arrangement and production up to the same level as your playing. I suggest everything Larry suggested to improve you craft and I wish you the best of luck! Looking forward to see what lies ahead for you.

NO