3.04.2007
I recently stumbled upon a project which really drew my interest. I have been a huge Zelda fan for a long time. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is easily my favorite game of all-time. The music in the game really helped bring the experience to life.
The project which I discovered was the ZREO project. The ZREO project is an attempt to recreate every song ever in a Zelda game. This ambitious project began about 4 years ago. Recently, the team discovered a new sense of fame with their Soundscapes series. I recently had a chance to talk with FireGS and Master of Zelda about the project. Here is what they had to say.
Cameron: Thanks for giving me the chance for this interview.
Master of Zelda: It's our pleasure!
FireGS: Thanks for having us!
Cameron: How about you guys introduce yourselves and let us know what you do for the Zreo project.
FireGS: Okay, well, I'm FireGS, or Fire for short, and I'm the one who started this project four years ago, and also the one with the task of rewriting, mixing, and editing all of the music you hear.
Cameron: Cool
Master of Zelda: Well, my name is Master of Zelda, MoZ for short, and I am the art director and co-web master for ZREO. Basically what I do is keep the overall look and feel of the site consistent through its aesthetic design.
Cameron: So, the project started 4 years ago, how old were you guys when you started?
FireGS: 14, I believe. Maybe 15.
Master of Zelda: Oh jeez, I have to think about that. I joined in November 2004, right Fire?
FireGS: Yep.
Cameron: So, to those who are interested in this kind of thing, you definitely don't need to be 20 or so to start up a similar project?
Master of Zelda: I would have been 18 years old.
FireGS: Not at all. You just need the will to follow through. That's what opening and closing three times has taught me.
Cameron: How would you describe your experience level when you started the project?
FireGS: Nothing. I had very little experience.
Master of Zelda: Well, looking at the quality of the CD Covers I did back in 2004, I only had one or two years experience with graphic design.
Cameron: You must have grown a lot in the last couple of years, each song of yours which I have listened to has been amazing. Fire, why the Zelda series over any other gaming series?
FireGS: Well, it was the first game series that I really enjoyed. The N64 was my first game platform, and Zelda was the first RPG/Adventure game I played. Since then, no other series has caught my attention like the Zelda series.
Cameron: Ah, that makes sense. So, when you started the project, what was your initial goal for the project?
FireGS: My first intentions were to see if I could, with the help of about five others, redo all of the tracks of OoT. I saw 82 tracks and thought that would be VERY difficult, and time consuming, so I figured, lets do that one.
Cameron: Did you want to basically create an identical version of the songs or were you looking to add your own flavor?
FireGS: Add it's own flavor, where applicable. Songs that had a folk theme to them, like Gerudo Valley, Lon Lon ranch, etc., wouldn't, and couldn't' have its folk instruments replaced with something else.
Some songs we try to keep true to the OST, but others, we can take more artistic liberty on, example, The Shadow Temple.
Cameron: Cool. Master of Zelda, why did you originally jump into the series?
Master of Zelda: Well, my mother always jokes around and says it was because she played the original version when she was pregnant with me. But I became really attracted to the series when A Link to the Past came out. I was in 2nd grade and remember hearing the awesome music and graphics. That's the game that hooked me.
Cameron: When did you two meet, are you friends in real life or did you meet on the Internet? What is the story behind that?
FireGS: MoZ, you like this story, go for it.
Master of Zelda: Well, I had just gotten a job at HTLOZ II earlier in 2004, and Fire was looking to affiliate with sites. He IM'ed one evening asking if HTLOZ II would be interested in affiliating with ZREO. I had no idea who this guy was or what ZREO meant.
Cameron: Ah, I used to love HTLOZ.
Master of Zelda: He showed me his musical project and the songs his team had created. I instantly fell in love with the music and offered to make art for the site. We've been friends ever since.
Cameron: Nice. So, when did you release the first song to the public?
FireGS: Well, the funny thing, I had released three songs, Deku Tree, Kokiri Forest, and Kotake & Koume's Theme first. I advertised it all over the place, for other musicians to hopefully find, and join me. There never was any grand opening, or anything, like there was this past December with the most recent version of our project. The first version of the site was nothing more than a white page, and text.
Cameron: Nice. You say that you began with three songs, how many songs have you made as of right now?
Master of Zelda: 130 are available on the site right now.
FireGS: And many more to come.
Master of Zelda: Oh yes, MANY more!
Cameron: What is your ultimate goal for the project, do you see an ending point?
FireGS: At the moment, we don't have a final goal. One could say that getting ALL of the songs completed is the final goal, but there will always be new Zelda games. Thats a great thing, we'll never be out of a job!
Cameron: On average, how much time goes into each song?
FireGS: Presently, the average time given is about 6 hours. Some songs require days and weeks, and others only a few hours from start to finish.
Master of Zelda: Tell him about Hyrule Castle!
Cameron: Which song up right now has taken the longest period of time?
FireGS: Its a tie, actually. Between Hyrule Castle from LTTP, and End Credits Redux from OoT. Hyrule Castle, I just feared to do. If it wasn't done right, It would be horrible. End Credits was just a lot of work.
Cameron: Approximately how many hours would you guess were put into those pieces.
FireGS: I can't even measure them for Hyrule Castle. Easily a months worth of time, on and off, writing, and rewriting. End Credits took about four days, non-stop.
Cameron: Wow. OK, no thinking, you must answer quick! What is your favorite song and why. For both of you.
FireGS: Ocean Redux.
Master of Zelda: My favorite song, without a doubt, is Hyrule Castle. It just has that foreboding atmosphere... and a sense of mystery about it. Historical in a sense I guess.
FireGS: It embodies the adventure theme that I remember from playing OoT.
Cameron: Sweet. Personally, my favorite might be the Twilight Princess title theme. Just because that song gave me chills the first time I booted Twilight Princess after I brought home my launch Wii.
FireGS: If there were actual words spoken in the game, by the choir, we could have the choirs speak them as well!
Master of Zelda: It was the first time Nintendo brought back the original Zelda title theme.
Cameron: I also enjoy pretty much every Ocarina of Time song though, especially End Credits Redux
FireGS: Well thank you!
Cameron: This might sound geeky, but I took some of the MP3s I found on your site and turned them into ring tones for my phone.
Master of Zelda: I really really enjoy Gerudo Valley Redux! I feel like dancing when I hear it.
FireGS: Nice!! I'm glad to see things like that happening!
Cameron: Item catch plays when I get a text message.
Master of Zelda: Hmm... ZREO ring tones... that might be a new product idea for the site. What do you think Fire?
FireGS: I don't see why not!
Cameron: Do you both own a Wii?
FireGS: Yep.
Master of Zelda: Sadly, I do not. I'm a poor college student at the moment. I plan to get one when it becomes available in black.
Cameron: I would assume that Twilight Princess is your favorite game on the system, besides that, what else is great.
FireGS: The new vote system is insane. When I should be working on stuff, I'm on there voting. Why? I don't know. Its just addicting.
Master of Zelda: I really enjoy Smash Bros Melee, obviously. Who doesn't? But I also think Resident Evil 4 and F-Zero GX are amazing games that should be experienced! I am referring to GameCube. Haha! I did try out WarioWare: Smooth Moves at a friend's house though! That will be my first game when I get a Wii! It is really fun!
Cameron: Nice. Eh, I am mixed on WarioWare. We reviewed it on our show, you should check out our review sometime.
Master of Zelda: I was watching it a minute ago before the interview started, actually.
Cameron: So, you recently received quite a bit of attention on Digg.com. How did that turn out?
FireGS: Amazingly well. The week we hit the Digg homepage, we received 3.5 Million hits. average of about 250,000 visits a day, from a 10,000 visit a day average.
Master of Zelda: We've also sustained 125,000 unique hits per day since then.
Cameron: Wow. Amazing! I guess that will help motivate you with the project.
FireGS: Indeed, we have been recognized by a few people worth mentioning. Valve Software is a subscriber to our Announcement list, as well as EA Games in Salt Lake City.
Cameron: Congratulations, you really deserve the attention. It is an amazing project.
FireGS: I recently got an e-mail from Gabe Newell, co-chairman and project lead of Half-Life 2, who enjoys our music and our site. That blew me away. The guy's worth millions!
Cameron: Wow, that is amazing. Well, we are about time with the interview. Any last thing you would like to let your fans know?
Master of Zelda: It's really weird to be having these big-rig people visit our site. But it shows how widely spread the love for Zelda really is! Zelda brings us together.
FireGS: Yes, there is a LOT more projects from ZREO in the coming months, and check our site every week, we will always be updating! Thanks for listening to it all!
Master of Zelda: Last thoughts... keep visiting the site, because we have a lot of cool plans and such that will really blow your mind away!
Cameron: Thanks for the interview guys! I hope to do it again in the future!
FireGS: Likewise!
Master of Zelda: Thank you!
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment