The tune serves as a great test bed for my new Hollwood strings & brass sets and learn a little more about orchestration at the same time as well as of course to bring back the memories of that great loading tune. I'm still not 100% happy. My woodwind scoring is a little basic & too hidden in the mix (somewhat limited by available libraries) and there are a few lose ends I might tie up along with adjusting the reverbs a little for a more natural sound, and I'd still like to get a bit more out of the dynamics (soft parts, softer).

I've taken some liberites with the actual tune.. near the end I chose not to go into Galways slower section as I felt he just added it as a memory saver. Instead the main melody comes back, but even bigger, followed by a few original film style parts at the end.

I hope you enjoy.

Allister

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1 c64 charts February 2012

Shouts

LMan shouts:

Excellent.

Dr Future shouts:

Grrreat. Thanks Allister for this masterpiece! That's a classical!

YogibearRenoise shouts:

Contains some nice stuff!

Ryrynz shouts:

Production quality is through the roof.

SarahKreuz shouts:

Epic

ulfepulf shouts:

Easily the best orchestrated tune here!

NecroPolo shouts:

Finally! A plastic orchestral remix that doesn't taste 100% polyester. Okay dynamics and small details could be improved further but it's a splendid work anyway.

Cyanuric shouts:

Yes, I can also buy expensive VSTi and make millions of uncreative instrumental versions of this song, and everyone goes WOW. The song is good and you are good at what you do, but for me this does not do anything.

pg shouts:

Good job, but is it just me or are the trumpets slightly out of tune? To me they seem to sound a little higher than they should. Still, it may actually be me :-)

TotO shouts:

A pleasure to listen!

omoroca shouts:

Reminds of those tracks that play in the background of games like Command & Conquer. First thing I do after installing this kind of games is to turn the music OFF. This is far from what a real orchestra can do, so you shouldn't even bother to try.

Musoman shouts:

Really nice arrangement

alpi shouts:

Like it and the end-part comes great, nice done! BTW the morse-code says the coders-names: Bill Barna, David Collier, Martin Galway, Tony Pomfret and Steve Wahid

Brokklu shouts:

Omg these C64 are just as good today as they were 20 odd years ago!

MattMaybee shouts:

Great atmosphere, well executed remix

Nada shouts:

Nice arrangement but the fake orchestra instruments can't obviously "breathe" and that makes it sound mediocre

Dees Productions shouts:

Somehow it's well made but I am missing the massive width from the sid. Symphonic music is okay but for SID go for analogue :)

carpii shouts:

Really ambitious remix, and pulled off admirably. Agree with LaLa though, some timpani would really go down well. As big as it sounds, it could use a touch more punch in places

Undertaker710402 shouts:

Very good sound for a soundtrack: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-Hjg5gCxwE&feature=relmfu

Bjorn H. shouts:

Just like with Metallica, orchestra sometimes does not make original better. I feel sad to give it just "good", but original three voice SID tune just sounds better to me.

Great!

Me like!

I loved it.

<3!!!

I don't like the simulated orchestra either. And there is a silent rhytm section in the background (triangle or hats I don't know) that disturb me. But! The composition and the arrangement is so strong that it must get outstanding.

Melaure shouts:

Great Interpretation for an electonic orchestra!

mika shouts:

This track is really growing on me. Very, hollywood military feel good quality. I like the fact that it is not a static remix, but a living, breathing lively piece

Xenix shouts:

Very natural sounding brass section and evolving strings (hm.. That sounds naughty)! Exciting tune.

kenaup shouts:

Not bad and not excellent

loz shouts:

I like it very much.

Breadbox Bill shouts:

Excellent remix!

Review by LaLa

16/02/2012

Technique

Artistic skill

Nostalgia factor

Overall rating

Before I start tearing this apart, let me say that overall it's an excellent remix, hugely enjoyable! I have yet to figure out what the Morse-code spells out in the intro, but I'll get to it eventually. 😊

Having said that, the devil is in the details. This orchestral remix is in dire need of more dynamics: the powerful sections are not powerful enough, the soft sections are not soft enough. I think it would help if the military march drums were silenced during the soft parts (e. g. 1:32-1:52). And they should be supported by big timpani or even by rock-band drums during the powerful parts. Those also need stronger brass and strings.

But I really like your arrangement variations on the original SID. What I do miss are those short little trills (e. g. at 1:09) that provide some nice ear-candy in the original.

Hair-splitting apart, it's definitely a keeper. I'm already looking forward to your next orchestral epic!