Rockin' the Halls of the Mountain King

[kevinmathie]

Hey all,A while back, you may remember that I submitted a version of Edvard Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" for an Electronica listing, and the general consensus here was that it was interesting but not really electronica. Someone did mention however that it had a sort of prog rock thing going on.So, I took some of your advice, shortened it some, put in real guitars (mostly), and decided to submit it to this listing:Quote:CLASSICAL INSTRUMENTAL PIECES in ROCK-style ARRANGEMENTS are sought by... Think well-known/Public Domain pieces by Beethove, Bach, Mozart, Brahms, Chopin, etc., etc. but arranged/performed as Rock instrumentals (all styles of Rock are OK)...Here's the piece: In the Hall of the Mountain King (as Edvard Grieg would have written it had he lived today!) It still has a lot of strings, and horns, etc., but I think it still qualifies as rock wouldn't it? Ah but what do I know? I'm a... what did Dave Walton call it? ... uh... oh yeah!... I'm a "dopey composer," so I could be way off the mark. (LOL! I love that term! It cracks me up.)

[tedsingingfox]

Hey, Kevin.First let me say I hear SO much good about this. I have trouble believing this one would get overlooked.That said, I'd love to hear the lower-octave melody at the very beginning brought up. It took several measures before I GOT the familiar melody line, but once it was established in my head, it was VERY cool.When the 'second' section comes in at 00:41, it suddenly became a little muddy with almost too much going on. Luckily, that didn't last too long.And the 'guitar breaks' toward the end felt a little TOO empty in comparison with the rest of the arrangement, and that's probably a pointess thing to say, as I figure it's what you were aiming for. Just my particular ears....I think you've done an amazing job on this. Knowing absolutely ZERO about tweaking and production, I would never attempt to make suggestions along those lines, but if this isn't forwarded, I'd sure be interested in hearing why in the world it wasn't.This Rocks.

[audiorayne]

That is so cool Kevin! I love the groove at the beginning and the heavier arrangement as the guitars kick in. Like Ted, I feel it gets a bit muddy though. The breaks at the end take away from the experience for me as well, and the synth bass line towards the end (particularly the lick at 1:24 at 1:30), and the high horns detract from the heavy feel for me, making it more "whimsical" if that makes any sense? ITHOTMK is a dark, dramatic piece, which lends itself well to the rock genre, and you manage to capture that really well until that section at the end - here I am head banging and making the devil horns and then all of a sudden I have to put the horns away quckly before anyone notices. Of course, that may be the point! JMHO! (Sorry, I'm a rock/metal head...)Good job and good luck!-AR

[kevinmathie]

Thanks for the feedback! Give me a day or two and I'll update the mix and see what you think.Kevin