Hey everyone! It has been a while! For those of you who haven't been following us on our Facebook page, you've probably been wondering why we didn't post an update in January. Last month's update was a preview exclusively for backers of Twilight Symphony, and we apologize for not indicating this news on our site blog.
On to February! To start off, we would like to share with you our experience at the Symphony of the Goddesses concert in Dallas last month. We put together a quick video to document the concert. Please check it out and enjoy!
Last month, we decided we would like to have our own official channel on YouTube. Today, I am pleased to announce our official YouTube channel! ZREO fan EzloSpirit meticulously created and uploaded "videos" for all 270+ tracks we have on our site. Talk about dedication! We are extremely happy, and to mark the occasion, we're holding a contest to give our YouTube subscribers a chance at a sneak peek of Twilight Symphony! It's easy to enter -- simply SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel, and you're automatically entered! Winners will be drawn randomly every Wednesday throughout February and will be notified via private YouTube message. All official ZREO videos will be posted on the channel ZREOTeam. Now is the time to subscribe... don't miss your chance to enter and win!
Speaking of YouTube...
We would also like to announce the latest addition to our team of "Twilight Symphony" recording musicians, Jake "jam2995" McCoy. Jake brings his passion and enthusiasm for the guitar (and Zelda) to the mix! On YouTube, Jake shares his love for video game music covering his favorite tunes with his guitars. Jake's channel is known for featuring a variety of songs from different games, including both acoustic and electric styles. Subscribe to his channel, and check out one of his Zelda videos below!
We end this month's update with news regarding progress on our awaited choir for Twilight Symphony! The good news: we are now planning out recording session priorities, and how to make the most of our budget. The even better news is that all of the choral cues have been completed and are currently under review! Hooray! Stay tuned for our next update!
*Quick note to TPS backers:* Make sure to keep us updated if your contact information changes so you are able to receive future notifications! For Kickstarter backers, you would need to update your Kickstarter accounts, and for ChipIn backers, we only have your PayPal contact information unless you have emailed us otherwise. Thanks!
Hi everyone! Apparently 'tis the season for Zelda music. Hopefully you all have had the chance to listen to the bonus CD that came with Skyward Sword, or some of the various fan projects that have cropped up recently! Since Zelda arrangements seem to be quite popular this season, we've decided we would like to add a present under your holiday Deku Tree and let you listen to another preview from Twilight Symphony before things get too crazy for the rest of the year. Listen as you read on!
The preview isn't exactly festive, so we apologize if it puts you out of your holiday music mood.. But we do hope that you are able to see the range of emotions that is apparent in the album when you compare this with past previews. Of course, all synthesized choir is only temporary, and these mixes aren't necessarily finalized yet!
We're going to be doing our monthly previews at the top of each month now, rather than towards the end, which seems to make more sense. We're putting the finishing touches on the last of the arrangements! Stay tuned for more project updates!
I took the liberty of typing out some of the most relevant questions we were asked during our Q&A segment we hosted earlier today. If you want to find out our answers to the other questions that were asked (a lot of them are random), you can check out the full video recording of the stream here. You can actually see a list of all of the questions we received, and jump to that specific spot in the video by clicking on it! Thanks again to everyone who came out to watch us live and for participating! We hope that you feel like you were able to connect with us as individuals rather than mysterious people running a website. :)
Q. Will Twilight Symphony be consecutive 2 hours or are the tracks separated?
A. Eric - First, I want to correct you that it's not two hours, it's actually over three hours now! Most of the tracks are going to be separated, but some of them are going to be connected somehow. Wayne - We're setting it up to tell the story sequentially.
Q. What song posed the greatest challenge in reorchestrating?
A. Wayne - The one I'm working on right now! Which is the Throne Room. Really a pain in the butt!
Q. Will the "Don't want you no more" trailer song be remade and included?
A. Eric - It is, a little bit, just not in the way you might expect it, so listen for that.
Q. Once TPS is complete and released, will you go back to releasing individual songs every week or two?
A. Eric - I'm leaning towards that we will be releasing songs on a regular basis again, and those will be from different games.
Q. Do you have a date for the choir recording of TPS?
A. Eric - We don't have a date, but we have a rough estimate that it's going to be sometime this Winter, probably late December or early January, that's what we're shooting for. We just have to make sure that works with everyone's schedule and availability. It's not for sure yet.
Q. Do you consider Twilight Symphony to be your greatest work, or not? If not, what is?
A. Wayne - It better be! We've been on it for three years!
Eric - TPS is the best work that ZREO has ever done, and it's going to knock your socks off.
Wayne - And if you're not wearing socks, it will put them on for you, then knock them off!
Q. Will the CD release be in two discs?
A. Eric - Yeah definitely! There are over three hours of music, so it's going to have to be pushed on to three discs now.
Q. So, after you finish TPS, are you guys gonna take a break, or are you gonna start another project?
A. Eric - We're not going to really take a break, but we're going to promote the album for a little while to see how far we can take it. There will be a break in the music, but that doesn't mean we're going to take a break from ZREO. And we are going to be starting other projects, which we haven't started working on yet.
Q. How much longer till you're done with TPS?
A. Eric - Everyone wants to know this! Basically, we have to record the choir first, then we have to do all of the final mixing and make all of the final release versions of the tracks. It could take anywhere from a couple weeks to a couple months after that. We're going to get it done as soon as we can, but there's no way for us to give you an actual window of when it might be done.
Wayne - We can literally count the number of arrangements left on one hand though.
Q. In your vocals for TPS, are you adding dynamic lyrics?
A. Wayne - Yeah! A lot of the songs use full lyrics. Castle Town being one of them. Dark Lord Ganondorf has some pretty cool lyrics too.
Update: A condensed transcript of the event will be created so you do not have to go through the entire two and a half hours of video to find out what we discussed. :)
This month, we're going to be trying something a little bit different. Later today, we will be hosting a LIVE video stream on VOKLE to share information about Twilight Symphony, and answer questions directly from members of the audience. The stream will be starting at approximately 7pm ET (4pm PT). The video will be recorded and available to watch after the show has ended. Hope to see you there!
*Note: Navigate to this post's page before joining the event.
We're back this month with a new preview from Twilight Symphony! This time, you'll be able to hear two more solo instrumentalists performing: Marc Papeghin on french horn, and David Ramos (Docjazz4) on ocarina! Please listen without further ado. See if you can name all of the tracks!
While you're listening to that, we'll give you some quick updates about the project. Completion of the sheet music for the choir is well under way, and the final arrangements for the album are also getting close to being done. At the rate we're currently working at, it's looking like we're about to surpass our original length estimations by a little bit, bringing our estimated length of the entire album to approximately three hours. That's a lot of music! We're really excited to be this much closer to releasing the whole project. If you're curious about where we'll be recording the choir for the project, check out the newly launched website for the absolutely gorgeous Pianella Studios!
Just as a reminder, we'd like to mention that we're still accepting donations for the project up until the choir recording date (TBA). Doing so will reward you with some awesome incentives, which can be found listed on the donate page.
One last thing to quickly add in: Those of you who are attending PAX Prime this coming weekend have the opportunity to meet up with some members of the ZREO Team and Staff! We're looking at scheduling a specific time and place to meet up with fans and hand out some cool swag! We haven't picked when and where yet, but make sure you're following us on Facebook or Twitter so you know exactly what's happening. Speaking of Facebook, our page is nearing 10K fans! Thanks to all of you for sending us your support!
We hope everyone had a terrific summer! Check back soon for rehtona etadpu!
First off, this post is directed at all of our new fans who have only recently found the site, and are a little unsure of what is all going on. We're not releasing any new content at this time. We're simply summarizing what's happened in the last year, and hopefully eliminating some of the questions people have relating to our project. If you're a fan who reads every word we post on the site, this will be a good recap for you!
As you might have already found out, Zelda Reorchestrated is a fan project dedicated to creating orchestral arrangements of the greatest songs from The Legend of Zelda. Over the years, we have reorchestrated over 270 tracks, including the entire Ocarina of Time soundtrack and music from 14 other games, all of which are available to download freely from our website. Our dedication to Zelda music has brought us coast-to-coast, attending VGXPO '09, and E3 2010-2011. ZREO has been shared and enjoyed by tens of hundreds of thousands of people around the world, and it is our goal to continue sharing our passion with fans as our skills grow and develop as rising musicians.
In Spring of 2008, production began on our most ambitious project to date, which later became known under the name "Project Maranello." All details were kept under wraps from the public until shortly before E3 2010, when we started teasing fans with images of a map of Hyrule. As the weeks went by, the map revealed new parts of it which had been previously darkened out and unable to be read. Finally we released a video unveiling Twilight Symphony (TPS) to the world.
Further details were held off until earlier this year when we released 8 minutes total of previews from various songs on the album. The first preview was posted exclusively on the game music enthusiast site Original Sound Version, while the second preview was exclusive to gaming news behemoth Destructoid. These previews were the first real inside looks at what Twilight Symphony is all about.
Not long after our Kickstarter, we posted a 10-minute preview of Twilight Symphony on the site. It was announced that Aubrey Ashburn would be featured as a soloist for the album. Our most recent update (found below this post) features two previews from TPS arranger Tim Stoney.
Donors who contribute to Twilight Symphony before the choir recording date (TBA) will still be eligible to receive rewards. To donate, visit the donation page, where you will also find a complete list of all incentives. If you can't contribute financially, the best way you can still help is to spread the word! Invite your friends to join our ZREO Facebook Page, or follow us on Twitter @zreomusic!
The flash player below contains all previews which have been released throughout the last year. They have been split apart and individually labeled so you can easily choose the ones you want to listen to! Thanks once again to all of our fans and supporters! Stay tuned for more updates!
These clips, in some cases, are works-in-progress and may not represent the final intended quality. Also be aware that songs included in this preview are cropped and/or edited for preview purposes and come from much longer, developed versions. Most of these clips represent unfinished mixes and non-final renders, where sampled instruments are used. Sampled choir is just temporary!! ;) If and when you hear a sampled solo vocal, that solo is either currently being recorded by a live vocalist (Aubrey Ashburn), or it has already been recorded but simply not included in the preview.
Hi folks! We're in the middle of making some changes and upgrades to the website. We're hoping to be completely done fixing things within the next couple of days, so if you see something that doesn't look right or is missing, know that we're working on getting it taken care of!
Hey everyone! We're working as hard as ever on Twilight Symphony. We can't wait to start recording the choir! The level of support that has been shown by our fans is staggering and is what fuels each of us to strive to make the best Zelda music album ever made.
Since the ending of our Kickstarter fundraiser, (which raised us a total of $21,876.39 after Kickstarter and Amazon took their cuts, NOT after taxes), we've had many people messaging us about contributing to Twilight Symphony. We've decided to allow people to continue donating to Twilight Symphony using our donation page. All of the Kickstarter incentives for pledging certain amounts will be the same for donating through Paypal via the donate page. So if you or someone you know missed out on the Kickstarter fundraiser, there's still a chance to get your name on the physical CD, (among other incentives!).
We'd like to give a shout out to Julia Seeholzer at Berklee College of Music and head of the VGM Choir for recently joining the team to help streamline and expedite our choir prep process. As a result, we'll be going to the session over-prepared so that we can be sure and record as much as humanly possible!
Also, we're still looking for a couple more people to add to our mobile application team! If you know how to make apps and have some free time you'd be willing to dedicate, send me an email and I'll give you some more details and information.
Thanks again to everyone for continuing to support ZREO!
Last Wednesday, February 9th, Radio Free Gamer's host Justin Johnston held an interview with Jeron and I to talk more about Twilight Symphony. The interview was held live on the 8bitX Radio Network as well as World Zelda Music Radio, but despite efforts to ensure a smooth broadcast, we are aware that some people were unable to listen live due to technical problems. Never fear, RFG has uploaded a smooth version of the interview without interruptions to iTunes, YouTube, as well as their website! Jump down to the links below to download. As a surprise for fans, the iTunes version features a full length preview of "Back to the Spring / Ordon Village" at the conclusion of the interview.
