Reviews for -Orr- Four Brave Champions

[MusicalRocky]

Hmmm...

Well David, you certainly do have a grasp on popular music. That is to say, this is certainly a crowd-pleaser; I can see why it won. You have some amazing equipment too; I envy you there :P

Let's see here. I'm gonna say I was rather disappointed by the dramatic choral intro. It's so overdone, and by now cliche. It doesn't really draw me into the piece. The human voice is the most beautiful and most versatile of instruments, but it's not really treated as such. You use it for a brief amount of measures, as a gimmick, a mere tool. I am saddened :'( If you're going to use a choir, at least do something with it!

Frankly, the main theme is a little boring. C'mon man, you treat this thing like something you can just throw about lightly! The main theme needs to be the heart of the song. And what's this? Just some notes, some rather uninteresting chord progression of a melody. All you do is play it a few times, and then it's done with. You didn't care about that theme!

The harmony is relatively simple - not necessarily a bad thing. I'm saying...some contrapuntal harmony would've done you some good man. It makes things more interesting. It's never engaging to hear the harmony going like eighth eighth eighth eighth. Over and over.

Hmm. This is just me, but something to hint at the earlier choral progression in the intro would've brought a sense of connectivity. Not a bad thing that it wasn't there, it just would've been interesting.

The part from 0:51 onwards is pretty boring to me. Same chord progression repeated until the loud bombastic ending. Well I dunno. I understand you were trying to have a contrast of moods, but there's nothing engaging in this section to me.

Finally, the orchestration and/or instrumentation. Let's see. Choir, for the intro. Then some strings only for the main theme. I think there's some brass. No winds : ( But I can see why; most people seem to think winds and "epicness" don't mix. (Untrue, but I'll get over it.) No wait, I don't really hear any brass. Anyway. The point is the orchestration. You don't really use the instruments in a very interesting way. Not saying you need a full orchestra to engage people. But this also ties in with the counterpoint. You just have like one line with melody (or might as well be) and then some supporting constant beat. You can do all sorts of not-straightforward arrangement than this. But I digress.

Anyway, as I said, I can see why this won. Also, understand that I'm not a bitter loser who hates you for winning. I knew you would win. Congrats on it. I'm just expressing myself.

Well, if there's any chance of you reading this...good luck with future works. And by all means continue what you're doing. You're making a ton of fans with it.

Rocky

DavidOrr responds:

I'm reading this review over four years later, and wonder why I never responded. I remember reading it and taking a lot of what you said to heart -- I still do. You raise a lot of great points, and I appreciate the time you took to write this review!

With that said, I wrote this for an intended audience. Looking back at the music, there are definitely weaknesses in the orchestration and harmonization (I disagree with your comment about the theme though, I think it's spot on). But my main goal was to create music that was easy to follow, with a memorable theme, and that met the expectations of the players' ears. In retrospect, it looks like this was what they were looking for! The writing may not be perfect, but it effectively creates the exact emotions that the Castle Crashers title screen was meant to evoke.

Ultimately, our creative paths may cross from time to time, but we are on different roads. I have immense respect for concert music (heck, I write my fair share of it), but that is not what this is supposed to be. I urge you to listen to this not from an academic point-of-view, but from the perspective of a Castle Crashers gamer. I don't expect your opinion to change -- nor would I want it to -- but I hope it at least changes your thoughts on the effectiveness of the music.

Thanks for your awesome review MusicalRocky, I only wish I had responded sooner!

[uncutgamer]

hmm

sounds like there was a lil piece of jurrasic park in it

DavidOrr responds:

There very well could be, although if it was it's completely unintended. This has a very classic epic feel to it, and a lot of big movies such as Jurassic Park and Pirates of the Caribbean uses very epic scores.

Compare the scores of Gladiator and Pirates, for instance, and you'll find an extremely similar sound track. Part of the reason is because Hans Zimmer did both movies, but unfortunately epic orchestral music can sound very similar in style.

Thanks for the review!

[626XL]

It's ok.

I think it a little boring. But the the backround sounds were pretty good>