Posted 2014-08-06, evaluated by the judges panel


I've said it before and I'll say it again - I love it when a mix comes together! Newcomer Sauraen started OFF with a promising arrangement and, thanks to perseverance and heeded feedback from the judges panel, submitted this approved & final revision that matched all those notes with production/recording that does them justice. This is a piano-led orchestral take on several themes from Link's Awakening that picks up & takes off towards the end with a bit of a rock attitude:

"A remix I made of three songs from Zelda: Link's Awakening (Ballad of the Wind Fish, Mabe Village, Koholint Island). Here is an improved version of an arrangement I submitted on Dec. 12, 2011, that was evaluated by OA, DragonAvenger, and halc on Mar. 13, 2012 and rejected on the grounds of poor sample quality and mastering. The first two versions of this remix were rejected from OC ReMix. This is the ninth draft of the third version, being submitted to OC ReMix again. I have been working over the piece for the past year with new samples and with the assistance of the Work-in-Progress forums (and I've learned quite a bit about mastering!) Software used: Sibelius, EastWest/Quantum Leap Complete Composers Collection, Audacity. I hope you enjoy this arrangement."

Let me be the first say that it was worth all those drafts, as this very creative take on several of Link's Awakening's "greatest hits" does a wonderful job integrating them into a positive, emotive, and ultimately playful piece. It's the type of arrangement that stresses & exposes samples quite a bit, so it's also the type that hinges on a certain quality level. Chimpazilla writes:

"Wow, I remember this track from nearly two years ago in the wip forum. Such a beautiful arrangement. I loved it immediately, but the samples and sequencing were not up to par. This is a HUGE improvement. The samples sound so much better, and nicely humanized. I hate fadeout endings. You could easily have ended the song right at 5:00, without going into the extra verse and the fadeout. *sigh* Still, this sounds terrific now, and I'm comfortable passing it. Nice work!"

I'll have to concur on the ending, which is a bit superfluous and introduces an unnecessary fade, but it doesn't really detract much from the overall experience; DarkeSword agrees:

"Oh hey, it's my favorite Zelda game! Nothing beats Link's Awakening :) This is super pretty. Really straightforward arrangement on Wind Fish, with nice use of piano and winds. Samples aren't perfect but you're making them work for you. It's got kind of a lo-fi PC JRPG vibe to it, like an old Falcom game. Transitions are perfect. Love how you move into Mabe Village and Koholint Island. Feels so organic! Really awesome arrangement, and I'm not just saying that because of Zelda-bias. Great job."

The transitions ARE definitely a strength, firmly avoiding any symptoms of medleyitis and resulting in a unified, lyrical whole. Again, you can tell this is a strong arrangement that's been refined & polished, and it's great that production has been elevated to a point that it doesn't distract from all that effort & craftsmanship. Strong debut from Sauraen who's worked & waited a long time to get here, but who delivers an excellent & memorable tribute to a fantastic Zelda OST as a result!

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 7 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Crulex
on 2014-08-07 11:22:02

Wow....like seriously, wow! This is amazing. The production, the arrangement, the instrument choices...this is a wonderful ReMix, man. All that hard work paid off and this is a strong mix to debut with. Peaceful and full of natural life, I would say. I agree that the fadeout wasn't as great of an ending as it could have been, and normally fadeouts don't bother me, but in this context, a slow end or happy, definite end might have been better. But all that aside, this is terrific and I hope we hear more from you.

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Uffe von Lauterbach
on 2014-08-06 23:58:12

Possibly one of my new favorite Zelda remixes. :)

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Fritzendugan
on 2014-08-06 18:13:54

What an awesome track. Very polished and professional. I very much look forward to more from you!

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Sauraen
on 2014-08-06 16:24:06

Thanks everyone! It has long been a dream of mine to be published on OCR, alongside the best of the best of game musicians (I'm looking at you, judges... ;) )

I come from a background of classical training (on oboe) and several years of doing MIDI transcriptions and arrangements for vgmusic.com (under a different name). This was my first attempt at producing a piece professionally--in fact, I wrote the arrangement first as a MIDI arrangement, and went through three phases of better and better samples before it was accepted.

This will probably be the last piece posted to OCR that was not made in a DAW! With Audacity, I didn't have access to realtime EQ, volume envelopes were all hand-drawn, and each track had to be rendered separately from Sibelius... (I have since learned my lesson, don't worry, you'll hear it in my next track!)

Thank you all again, enjoy the piece, and keep on mixing!

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OverClocked PodCast
on 2014-08-06 16:10:37

Congratulations on finally getting the ReMix posted! I thought this would be a straightforward piano medley at first, but I was pleased to discover just how wrong I was and how creative this piece is. I had the same thoughts as Chimpazilla regarding the fadeout (bummer) but it doesn't detract from everything else going on. That piano slide at 5:02 was fun stuff. ;)

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timaeus222
on 2014-08-06 15:35:23

Great job! I actually liked the mixing on the woodwinds and brass. It makes it sound like solos and duets in the midst of the ReMix. The only issues I had with this were that the drum kit felt a little out of place (or separate), perhaps from the reverb low cut, and that the guitar was a little mechanical when playing chords. Other than that, this has a serene quality to it, and the humanization shows.

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djpretzel
on 2014-08-06 14:30:34

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

Sources Arranged (3 Songs)


Primary Game:
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Nintendo , 1993, GB)
Music by Kozue Ishikawa,Minako Hamano
Songs:
"Ballad of the Wind Fish (Instruments Ver.)"
"First Search"
"Mabe Village"

Tags (9)


Genre:
Rock
Mood:
Mellow
Instrumentation:
Acoustic Guitar,Brass,Orchestral,Piano,Strings,Woodwinds
Additional:
Origin > Resubmission

File Information


Name:
Legend_of_Zelda_Link's_Awakening_Melodies_of_Mabe_Village_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
7,969,443 bytes
MD5:
78d7a0760d93bc6bc8275cb5562d4a5a
Bitrate:
192Kbps
Duration:
5:28

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