The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Faron Woods (Patreon)

Hello again everyone, it's been quite a while! My computer is finally back from getting repairs. It took quite a bit longer than I expected, but it's now outfitted with a fancy new hard drive. However, I'm still encountering a problem where my computer sounds like a mini chainsaw whenever it's running. The repair shop thought it was a hard drive issue, but now I'm not so sure. If there are any experts out there when it comes to Mac internals, here's a short recording of what the buzzing sounds like. 

It's such a relief to get back to work. I don't mean to get personal too often, but even ignoring the computer issues this has been one of the most difficult months of my life, without exaggeration. During tough times like these, I'm even more thankful that there are people out there who listen and support what I create. I don't say it nearly enough, but thank you all for being here and giving my work a chance. <3

Anyway, onward to the music:

0:00 - I had a personal goal with this arrangement. Maybe it's the original's instrumentation, scale, tempo, or chord progression, but this piece is very similar in vibes to Pikmin 2's Wistful Wild. So I tackled this like I would a Pikmin arrangement - there's a "Normal" version, a "Battle" version, and a hint of a "Sunset" version as well. When listening I can almost imagine Pikmin scurrying around.

With a lot of forest-themed tracks, I added in a lot of tremolo sounds, be it strings, shakers or winds. Kinda like the rustling of leaves! 

0:08 - That melody line is made up of Alto Flute, Koto, 12-String Acoustic Guitar, Banjo, and an English Horn that harmonizes along the way. Having a lot of similar-but-different bright string sounds overlapped gives it a nice folksy feeling. Alto Flute and English Horn also have some really nice dark tones. 

0:28 - A soft piano plays some cluster chords in the background just to make this melody loop a bit more interesting. I like calling these "BotW Chords." 

This is probably a good time to mention that in the far background of this piece is a warm pad and some "room tone" (a field recording of a forest). They really help beef up some of the lower-mid frequencies. 

0:59 - It felt right to add some more dynamics to this section since the violin line is so pretty. Where this piece didn't have much bass before, a steady sub frequency plays the root tones here. 

1:50 - On the loop some new percussion is added in. This piece's time signature is a little nebulous so it's fun to lock in the feel with these drums. I find that it gives the piece a totally different vibe. (That vibe being "Faron Woods but you're standing a few feet away from a Bulborb"). The upright bass also helps send this arrangement to a new dimension. Fun Fact! That shaker rhythm is sourced from a rain stick.

2:42 - Since the bass and percussion increases the overall loudness of the low end, some of these melody lines are now doubled with either piano or the plucked string ensemble. Sometimes just flatly increasing the volume of your melody lines can be a mistake when the mix comes around. 

3:42- As the piece closes out I wanted it to end in sort of a "hollow" fashion. One method I enjoy (especially when there's an ostinato thing) is to slowly break off more notes until it lands on a resolving chord. 

That about wraps things up! I'm so happy that I'm back to it. Hopefully you'll see more from me very soon! Also, those of you who have gotten commissions lately thank you so much for your patience. As always, if you have any questions about this piece please let me know in the comments!

Thank you. <3