Golden Sun "Circles in the Sand" 4:27

It's a trap! Well, it looks like it's a just a sand trap, so let's play through it. :-D TSori and friends contributed to Pixel Mixers' recent album Djinnstrumentals with their lively & alluring collab for Golden Sun's "Desert Heat"!

• Arrangement, trumpet, flugelhorn, original mixing: TSori
• Electronic soundscape (building, arrangement, and production), mixing, mastering: Emunator
• Bongos, djembe, rainstick: Sean R. Hanson
• Violin, double bass: Rodok
• Cello: Chromatic Apparatus
• Oud: Giorgos Panagiotou

Talented performers aplenty, and... Emunator? Didn't I JUST see his ass on the front page not THAT long ago? How do you keep winding up on these, Emu?!? OK, TSori had a TON to say, particularly on how this mood-setting piece would have failed to get out of the blocks without the crew he surrounded himself with:

"This is part of an EP directed by Lucas Guimaraes. One might expect me to be sick of Golden Sun by now..... but, no. Coaltergeist reached out to me and asked if I wouldn't mind joining a small Golden Sun 20th anniversary project. What better opportunity to revisit the OST and ReMix one of the tracks we never got around to for A World Reignited? "Desert Heat" was at the top of my wish list during that album, but it never got claimed, and I didn't end up having enough time to take a shot at it myself. After a friend showed me Parov Stelar's "Lonely Trumpet", I decided I could try to take a similar approach with this track, but really play up the Middle Eastern elements of the source. (Do you have any idea how hard it is to find an oudist?) I envisioned the track as a trek through a landscape that was beautiful, mysterious, and threatening all at the same time. I spent a lot of time playing with the balance between the acoustic and electronic elements of the arrangement, and I tried to work in some ideas that would evoke images of wind, thunder, hot days, cold nights, etc. Oh, and because Chromatic Apparatus told me trills are criminally underused in VGM, I made sure to throw in a few of those too. This turned out to be a pretty labor-intensive ReMix for me in terms of scale, production, and recruiting. (Seriously, do you know how hard it is to find an oudist?) Speaking of recruiting, let's take some time to talk about the real stars of the ReMix, the performers!

I've lost track of how many collabs Chromatic Apparatus and I have done together now. Even if it's neither of our arrangements, we seem to find ourselves on the same tracks frequently. Mostly because he is everywhere. Seriously though, he consistently delivers superb recordings in times that would make anyone's head spin.

Rodok was a surprise discovery of this project. I found him on the OCR forums as I was searching for violinists and he turned out to be a great musician to work with! Not only did he do a really nice job performing violin, but he jumped in on double bass and nailed that too. Hopefully, we will be seeing a lot more of him on future projects!

Sean R. Hanson has done a lot of music over in the Pixel Mixers community that I really enjoyed. Also... he had the ability to record rainstick. He's a fantastic musician and, when it comes to aux percussion, what more could you want?

Last, but certainly not least, Girogos Panagiotou. Have I mentioned how hard it is to find an oudist yet? The instrument was always going to be the linchpin of this ReMix. It's the quintessential Middle Eastern sound, and I desperately wanted a live performance that would feel more organic than a VST. After prowling the VGM community for quite some time, I stumbled across Giorgos's YouTube channel and his cover of "Gerudo Valley" (which is fantastic, despite the tragedy of not being titled "GerOUDo Valley"). It took a while to get in touch with him, but once I did, he was really interested in helping out. The end result was exactly what I hoped for, and I think it really makes the ReMix.

The rejection of this track came with some really great feedback from the judges. It primarily focused on the electronic elements, which were new territory for me. Reading through their comments, I can see how I had fallen short of my goals with this arrangement. I realize I really didn't know what to listen for before this experience. The judges were also very encouraging of a resubmission and highlighted elements of the ReMix they thought were done well, which I really appreciate. So, thank you to the judges for the honest feedback and constructive criticism!

The timing of the rejection happened to fall right as I was preparing for a big cross-country move. So, I knew I wasn't going to have the time (or know-how) to do a resubmission justice. So, I put out a call for help and, to my surprise, got a very fast response from none other than Emunator, who said the track had piqued his interest as it came through the panel. He was more than willing to rework the electronic elements for me. He took my original vision and, through some richly textured soundscape building, arrangement, and production, realized it at a level far surpassing what I had been able to do on the first go-around. The core of arrangement and all of the live performances remained unchanged, a testament to the talents of my other collaborators, but all of the improvements on the electronic side of the house are thanks to Emunator.

I'm thrilled with the final result and think it is now a far more developed and engaging track. I hope others will agree! Enjoy!

A huge thank you to all of the collaborators above! Without them, this would just be a mediocre MIDI with some trumpet sprinkled on top.

The title "Circles in the Sand" refers to the circles of stones that mark oases in the Lamakan Desert, the whirlwinds of the Suhalla Desert, and the general idea of wandering lost."

The live contributions from everyone, particularly Giorgos's oud, are incredible, so it makes complete sense how Emunator heard the potential of TSori's piece and decided he didn't want "Circles in the Sand" spinning its proverbial wheels:

"I was immediately captivated by the quality and depth of live instruments featured on TSori's original submission, so when the opportunity arose to help with the resubmission, I was eager to help. The original recorded stems were so good that I left them almost entirely untouched, but the supporting percussion and synths needed a bit more life. Keeping in mind TSori's original vision and the Parov Stelar inspiration, I fleshed out the soundscape with various organic and electronic textures, percussion, and sound effects. Then I gave the entire track a mixing and mastering overhaul to help it really shine! It was a tremendously fun exercise to help produce another artist's arrangement for the first time, and it felt like a natural fit because of how close this was to the style of music I normally make anyway. I'm really grateful for the opportunity to participate in this amazing track!"

Then-judge DarkSim heard both the initial version and this resubmission, and he was impressed with the total package, both the skills of the live performers and the seamless integration (and moderation) of Emunator's late-game additions:

"And here I was expecting Belinda Carlisle.

Very nice, atmospheric intro. Love the natural sounds of the cello, trumpet and especially that oud! ... There's some lovely interplay between the trumpet and oud round the 1:00-1:20 mark, and then the violin is introduced as well - another fine piece to the ensemble.

During the break, the cello and violin do a great job of 'bookending' the frequency spectrum for the trumpet to sit in the middle, doing some great soloing. [...]

My original vote was full of praise for the live instruments. [...] The suggestions I made were pushing it towards more energy and intensity, and I'm intrigued by Emunator's choice to exercise so much restraint with the backing parts - but also glad he's honoured the original vision for the track. I don't think I would have been able to help myself! The little arp that comes in at 3:34 wasn't in the original, and is perhaps the only noticeable difference for me in terms of 'added extras'. The percussion, for its part, now melts into the background perfectly, allowing the excellent live performances room to shine.

Emunator's done a great job listening to TSori's vision for the track, and allowing that to be the star of the show. I'm really glad TSori took the feedback on board, and was able to not only come back with something that they feel is a better representation of the original idea, but also understand what it is they're looking for in future. My hat goes off to all involved!"

Our collective hats go off, and our collective beach buckets are full, because this is a phenomenal, deliberately-paced desert exploration! Need something both mellow yet mysterious and engaging? Experience TSori & team's breathtaking track with us and join our circle in the sand! :-)