#bill panks

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"Intermezzo - Temple of Time" from Symphony of the Goddesses

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Performed Digitally by: Jacob Barber

Composed by: Koji Kondo Arranged and Orchestrated by: Bill Panks

I do not own the Symphony of the Goddesses, or any arrangements therein. I am not affiliated in anyway with Nintendo or Jason Michael Paul Productions, Inc. Symphony of the Goddesses is the property of Jason Michael Paul Productions, Inc.

This track has actually been sitting more or less done in my computer for about 3 months now. When I first finished it, I was pretty unsatisfied with it, however, and I never could work up the motivation to finish it. As I approached the end of the symphony, though, I knew I needed to complete it, so I went back through and fixed all the little issues bugging me about the track.

The biggest challenge with the track is that the driving melodic instrument through the song is actually the choir. Choirs are the bane of my sampling existence, as they are notoriously difficult to achieve a realistic sound. Most of the time I spent on this song was spent sampling and resampling the choir section.

Everything else came together very quickly, since the winds play very little (and often the same melodic line) and the strings have a very simple counterpoint. Overall I'm pretty pleased with the final product. This is a neat little song and I like it as a transition in the symphony as it signifies the point where the stories of the Zelda series branch off.

As always, I hope you enjoy!

(Transcribed in Sibelius 2018. Sequenced, mixed and mastered in FL Studio 20)

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"Breath of the Wild" from Symphony of the Goddesses

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Performed Digitally by: Jacob Barber

Composed by: Manaka Kataoka Arranged and Orchestrated by: Bill Panks

I do not own the Symphony of the Goddesses, or any arrangements therein. I am not affiliated in anyway with Nintendo or Jason Michael Paul Productions, Inc. Symphony of the Goddesses is the property of Jason Michael Paul Productions, Inc.

This was an interesting experience. For the first time in the Symphony, with this track, they brought in sound effects to create a soundscape for the first 90 seconds of the song. However, I didn't have those sound effects, but also I didn't like the idea of just using SFX as a multimedia experience. I thought you could create the same effect using instruments (or in my case, sampled instruments), so that's just what I did!

Taking some liberties for the first time, I recreated the sound effects used--mostly bird calls, but also the map distilling from the Sheikah Tower at the very start of the song. It was a very different mindset to get into but totally worth it in the end. Definitely I feel like I put my mark in here.

The rest of the song was more or less straightforward. I've got a fantastic workflow going now so songs are coming much faster. As always, I hope you enjoy!

(Transcribed in Sibelius 2018. Sampled, mixed and mastered in FL Studio 20).

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"Movement I - The Skyward Sword" from Symphony of the Goddesses

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Performed Digitally by: Jacob Barber

Composed by: Hajime Wakai, Shiho Fujii, Mahito Yokota, Takeshi Hama, & Koji Kondo Arranged by: Bill Panks Orchestrated by: Bill Panks & Ben Emberley

I do not own the Symphony of the Goddesses, or any arrangements therein. I am not affiliated in anyway with Nintendo or Jason Michael Paul Productions, Inc. Symphony of the Goddesses is the property of Jason Michael Paul Productions, Inc.

Doing this track was a real toughie for myriad reasons. The biggest and most prominent being... I actually don't like this track very much. It's definitely the weakest of the whole symphony and has a lot of problems. The biggest issue is it's complete lack of risk-taking and using only 4 themes from a game with a host of gorgeous new melodies. As a result it entirely lacks an arc either emotionally or narratively, making it more of a medley than a movement. Because of this it sticks out from the other four movements which have more cohesive structures and ideas.

The other major issue is that the orchestration is VERY muddy. There's so much sound and counterpoint taking place that mixing it becomes almost impossible, and it's very difficult to pick out the melody sometimes. Not to mention the fact there's very little dynamic range in the piece adding to the issues as a whole.

Overall it was a frustrating process that often left me demotivated. That isn't to say there aren't some positive moments. Some of the orchestration is shimmering--especially the transition out of Ghiarhim Battle, and if nothing else it does convey some soaring moments through the bombastic sections.

At the end of the day, it's still part of the symphony and I'm dedicated to performing it all! Hopefully you'll enjoy it more than I do, and get some joy out of hearing this very new piece from the Symphony!

(Transcribed in Sibelius 2018. Sequenced, mixed and mastered in FL Studio 20)

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"Tri-Force Heroes" from Symphony of the Goddesses

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Performed Digitally by: Jacob Barber

Composed by Ryo Nagamatsu Arranged and Orchestrated by: Bill Panks

I do not own the Symphony of the Goddesses, or any arrangements therein. I am not affiliated in anyway with Nintendo or Jason Michael Paul Productions, Inc. Symphony of the Goddesses is the property of Jason Michael Paul Productions, Inc.

On the heels of working on some other tracks, I decided to bang out this wonderful little medley of themes from Tri-Force Heroes. I'm actually not familiar with the game, so this was a neat treat for me.

This one actually didn't throw much my way in the way of challenges or difficulties--a nice change for sure! I definitely enjoyed working on it though. It has a very different sound and feel from much of the symphony. It's jaunty up-beat sound is very medieval and hearkens to the series fantasy roots. Definitely a blast to perform and one of my favorites I've finished so far!

(Transcribed in Sibelius 2018. Sampled, mixed and mastered in FL Studio 20).