Posted 2016-01-25, evaluated by the judges panel


This one made me smile - really cool & creative debut submission from MrKyle (Kyle Raub), who puts a fun neo-Latin spin on "Great Fairy's Fountain" from Ocarina of Time, employing piano, acoustic guitar, & a superb assortment of percussion:

"This slightly renamed resub (was "La Gran Manantial de Salsa") has had some notable overhauling done to it since the first submission, though the basic arrangement is still intact. Electric guitar work was removed and an acoustic performance was added. Percussion, piano, and synths were all reworked. A new intro and outro have been added, and, finally, the sound bytes were removed. I put the mix through the Workshop several times and made further tweaks per discussions there. Source coverage starts in the intro and eventually fills out around 75%, so things are solid on that front as well.

The whole piece has taken on a salsa/tango/Latin jazz feel that I am really enjoying. I am looking at this and future submissions to OCR as opportunities to challenge myself with new concepts that I personally haven't attempted before or writing/arranging ideas that can be more difficult to execute. Being the prior in this case, this genre is (was?) honestly outside of my comfort zone, but I have enjoyed creating the track immensely and have taken on a whole new appreciation for a flavor of tunage that I was aware of, but wasn't aware of, ya know? I hope the listening goes playfully well."

So much to say, here :) Firstly, we don't see nearly enough arrangements in a Latin/South-American vein; I know these genres can be tough to pull off with sampled instruments, but it's such a vibrant, energetic sound... and the percussion is a joy to sequence & listen to, in my opinion, even when it's synthetic. Secondly, kudos to Kyle for going outside his comfort zone and stating his intent to continue doing so; while "authenticity" is always subjective and this piece clearly incorporates some more modern elements, it feels pretty comfortable to me. Things start off slowly and you might find yourself wondering (as the immortal Clara Peller once did) where the beef is, but give it time...Kyle does a good job building up the anticipation towards an eventual groove that I found myself swaying along to & enjoying quite a bit. I'll always be partial to 2P & Puga's brilliant rap/hip-hop take on this theme, but there's definitely room for some Latin groove alongside that interpretation, and it's good company to be keeping. DarkeSword writes:

"I think it sounds really clean. I can hear what Kris is saying about the dissonance but there's nothing egregious; I'd just chalk it up to some interesting harmonic choices. They keep me guessing but never make me cringe. This is one of those pieces that makes you sit up and pay attention.

Really like everything going on here. Sounds like everything came together really well. Very creative."

Agreed; Emunator adds:

"I have to be honest, I actually didn't pick up on how you adapted the source usage til about a minute in, but it put a smile on my face when things finally clicked! Very subtle and clever adaptation throughout, your arrangement feels fluid and constantly evolving... nothing ever repeats wholesale and you consistently introduce new ideas and flavors throughout. This truly feels like a live jam session despite the fact that much of it was sequenced, which is a rare feat to achieve when it's so easy to fall back on loops and copy/pasted writing."

Also agreed; it's a unique piece, I'm VERY glad Kyle revised it as I do feel the end result is a stronger & more interesting work, and it's an excellent way to make a splash with a debut mix that's colorful, playful, unexpected, & well-crafted, too - more, please!

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 6 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Crulex
on 2018-06-20 02:13:12

Alright, I can see what the ReMixer was going for here with the tropical salsa arrangement, and to an extent it works, but for me there was a tad bit of an issue where I had to focus on either the piano or the acoustics, or else I would lose the thread altogether. The piano sounded good, though, and I can appreciate the attempt as I think this was a good idea, but there were melody things going on that probably could've used a tightening or two. Not bad by any means, but there is room for things to be reworked to make it really good.

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Flam1ng Dem0n
on 2016-02-02 20:25:26

Personally I had a hard time wanting to listen to this piece. The beginning of the song was quiet, very quiet. I had to turn up my headphones (very nice ones mind you) to almost 100% volume. At first I thought it was just me, but I listened to other songs too (several from OCremix) and those were the correct volume. So I went back to the song (still with my volume high) and at about the 0:35 mark I get a ear blast from the song. There wasn't even a gradual raise in volume, it just slammed my eardrums with noise. This was a poor job in Mastering the song.

The second issue I seemed to have with listening to the song (even after the ear blast), was what previous people had mentioned. The instruments used don't meld and mesh very well at all. The piano seems to be playing the melody, but the acoustic throws that off. At times I can't tell if the acoustic is playing the melody or if the piano is. I think this is because the piano is placed (audibly) in the background (so it is harder to hear) and the acoustic is placed somewhere between the foreground and mid-ground. Because of this, it's hard to tell what instrument is doing what. I can somewhat hear the Great Fairy's Fountain melody being played on the piano, but because of its placement it's hard to tell.

Along with that, the beat that the percussion is trying to set seems all over the place. You should be able to tap your foot to a beat of a song (even ones that don't have drums), but I can't follow what the beat is in this song. The drums give a "up and down" feeling (like a Roller Coaster), which throws off the usual "feeling" you get when listening to the Great Fairy's Fountain theme.

Overall, I think this song needed a lot more work before being posted. It's hard to follow and the sudden volume change in the first 30 seconds is startling. There is not even a "lead in" for the volume change. Just an ear blast.

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nitrozsz
on 2016-01-30 12:47:02

I agree with @evktalo, while the acoustics did sound nice, there were times where the harmony and melody together were a little more distracting than atmospheric. And sometimes there would be those bubbly synth noises in the background that made me think "what's going on now?" Those took me away from the atmosphere this track was trying to create as well. It's not a bad track, it's just not as relaxing/atmospheric as it could have been IMO.

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evktalo
on 2016-01-29 03:04:10

I really like the combination of the acoustic sounds the delay in the intro. The feel is very airy and pleasant. However, for my ears the harmony and melody don't work together at all at several points, making a good portion of the tune feel very random. Particularly the chord choices for the acoustic guitar don't seem to support the melody on the piano. This is too bad, the sound and feel of the arrangement are really great. Intro and outro were really nice. Looking forward to future work for sure!

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bluelighter
on 2016-01-27 13:08:12

Arrangement really pleasant and original :)

Piano, latin percussions... everything sounds very great ! And the atmosphere is sunny to wish :D

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Liontamer
on 2016-01-25 02:50:24

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

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo , 1998, N64)
Music by Koji Kondo
Songs:
"Great Fairy's Fountain"

Tags (9)


Genre:
Latin
Mood:
Energetic,Happy
Instrumentation:
Acoustic Guitar,Chromatic Percussion,Hand Drums,Piano
Additional:
Origin > Resubmission
Regional > Latin American

File Information


Name:
Legend_of_Zelda_Ocarina_of_Time_La_Gran_Fuente_de_Salsa_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
7,492,950 bytes
MD5:
5357b7e3d3e8f5128a6a828b9c504c28
Bitrate:
222Kbps
Duration:
4:26

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