ReMix: Secret of Mana 'On The Day The World Changed...'
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- Game: Secret of Mana (Square, 1993, SNES)
- ReMixer(s): Christian Pacaud, MAG, ktriton
- Composer(s): Hiroki Kikuta
- Song(s): Angel's Fear, Danger, Into the Thick of It, Meridian Dance, The Holy Intruder
- Posted: 2005-04-12, evaluated by the judges
A 21-gun salute goes out to Christian Pacaud, whose birthday of the same quantity was today. And what better way to celebrate than with mix postage, conveniently timed since he had a panel-approved collaboration with newcomers ktriton and MAG (Kunal Majmudar and Marc-Andre Gingras, on synths and guitars, respectively) queued up and simply begging to be posted. It's good times for Seiken Densetsu fans, with OverCoat's SD3 mix last night and now this epic prog-rock Mana medley. The ReMixer writes:
"After two months of intense work, sweat and tears, we humbly bring you this (freaking long) Secret of Mana medley, symphonic prog-rock style. Limbs were lost, blisters had (on the remaining limbs/fingers), strings broken, minds shattered, what have you... Anyway, seriously, this mix is comprised of five separate parts, each with their own different ambience, based on different songs / combination of songs from the soundtrack, with quite a lot of original material interspersed throughout the piece. Every instrument has an opportunity to shine through at some point. You get the solos, you get the synths, you get the length, even the name is "prog" ! OMG !!!11!! (The original title for the song was to be Journey Into Gaia's Navel On The Day The World Changed - Part I, but that seemed kinda long.)"
I want to personally thank Mr. Pacaud for his truncated, much more manageable title - it made our database much happier. Whether limbs were lost metaphorically or in actuality, it'd have been at least partially worth it, as what you've got here is seven minutes of jam, with shimmering piano, rockin' guitar, a variety of synth elements, and more sequencing than you can shake a stick at. Believe me, I tried, and it just wouldn't shake. Fans of Dream Theater, Rush, that sort of gig will be right at home - hard music to make, with lots of moving parts, intricacies, mucho technique but none of it superfluous, a dozen different tempos/tones/feels, jazz voicings, rock riffs, heavier metal riffs - one of the staples of prog rock is that very little is off-limits, and that nothing remains static for usually more than a couple bars. If you're looking for something you can tap your feet to, without having to changeup every fifteen seconds or so and look like you're having a spasm, etc., look elsewhere, as - true to form - this'll challenge your inner metronome. Larry gratuitously works in the word "pimp" with his closing statements:
"The conception here was lofty, but the execution was up for the challenge. Do your videogame music-hating friends a favor and pimp this their way."
The only possible beefs I could see myself pondering would be a slightly sub-pristine recording and some questionable transitions. Not being an audiophile myself and preferring emotive recordings to disinfected studio perfection, I was fine with the recording (though at seven minutes the encoding becomes an issue for some portions), but I could see some of the transitions, esp. from piece to piece, having been meshed together a little more tightly. We have a term for extreme examples of medleys that exhibit hasty transitions, etc. - "medleyitis" - but I don't really think it applies here, plus (lucky!) jarring, sudden changes are second-nature to prog-rock and a definite part of that ballgame (see already mentioned acts or Emerson, Lake and Palmer for plentiful examples). Great, epic, challenging work from these three fellas, which really shows the compositional maturity that can be applied to game arrangements. You do have to have a certain appreciation for prog-rock to get deep into it, but don't fear if you don't, or have never been exposed, and check it out regardless. I'm doubtful you'll regret it.
Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the To my ears the guitarist goes a bit over the edge with guitar bends a couple of times, case in point: 00:15, and then again at the beginning. These seriously jump out from such a streamlined, excellent and well-produced effort.. although no-one else has mentioned them, so it might just be me.
I think the transitions are ok. "Sudden" works sometimes, maybe they could have been done better but it's fine as it is.
--Eino
- evktalo on December 11, 2007
Bangkok & Fire Garden Suite - Bull Whip, Pusa RD., Angel Food, Taurus Bulba -- by Steve Vai (more prog rock stuff)
- Audity on October 29, 2006
With ticket prices now at $20, this should be an easier sell than the $30 tickets were.
http://www.theoneupslive.com/
Hope to see you all there!
- ktriton on April 22, 2006
*1 hour later*
Ok, I'm back. The remix, or more correctly medley, began very smooth with the bass and the electric guitar, it was a nice intro for the real deal. The real deal, was powerful..no...dynamic..no..kickass...there we go. The drumrolls flew across the air everywhere and the guitars just kept on rocking. When the piano showed up the adrenaline level went down a bit, it was relaxing but also jamming, since the prescense of an electric guitar came a little later. Then....MORE AWESOME GUITARPLAY. It was however a little more chaotic this time, but the energy, ohohohohoh, it [b]had[/b] energy. Theeeen it went down a little (again), and the piano finished off with a rough guitar in the back. And then fade out.
My head got jiggy with it all the way, you can't sit still when listening to this one. Tremendous collab guys. Now I have downloaded it, but i won't feel safe until it's inside my mp3.
- Bummerdude on April 14, 2006
And yeah, the soundtrack is awesome, so it's not like we should get too much credit or anything :P
Marc-André has created a MySpace webpage with three complete songs from his album available to be streamed, so for those who liked his guitar playing, check it out!
http://www.myspace.com/magproject
- CPacaud on January 5, 2006
I love this. This is easily one of my favorite mixes on OCR, seriously. It might be partially because I'm a Secret of Mana whore, :roll: but let's ignore that fact.
This song puts together every song I grew to love in that game, and in a perfect, like, progressive rock theme.
The only mix I like better'n this, in the SoM catagory, is probably Dragon Song.
That's it. Congrats on making a very interesting compiliation of some of the game's best songs... (though they were all awesomely stunning to begin with, weren't they? :wink: )
- Stalwart Jester on September 21, 2005
- Shwenky on September 11, 2005
...I think...?
Rexy: Seeing as Cpac somehow manages to put up with me, I think you can expect more from us in the near future ;)
- ktriton on July 22, 2005
Nonetheless, i'll copy my VGMix review and showcase my thoughts back into here.
[b]Production Techniques[/b]
The three of them together have managed to put down a progressive rock progression all the way through, which has managed to emphasize well upon the general "journey" which has been portrayed in the original title. Panning has been shown well with some of the guitar textures, and although I was hoping for just as much space emphasis on the other sounds too it has still worked well to show an involving general setup for the listener. The recording quality behind the guitars is at a strong strength; while the sounds themselves aren't necessarily clear they have still been established at a very good quality to further emphasize around the moods of the song itself; the choice of synths are shown to be very strong and unusual too, mind although some of which could break the general mood of the piece (like what was used at 2:02 for example), they have still worked well to emphasize on a strong set of twisted moods throughout. The sound levels are also very clear and precise to match and the EQs chosen - although a bit bass-and-mid-range dependant - have still worked in providing a very strong thought to the general balance all the way through it. So what we have in general is a setup that surpasses various elements from Battle on a New Continent, but ended up falling behind on very few of which. Either way, this is very great stuff from the three of them.
[b]Compositional structure[/b]
The track started off with a soothing acoustic guitar intro which in turn showed a rendition of "Into the Thick of It". The truth to the original was there to begin with, and the light forms of ambience have worked well to provide a good thought of detail towards the general progressive start. This in turn was lead into a more twisted bass-dependant part to help emphasize on the incoming theme of the other portions of this area of the melody. While I feel the bass could have been played with just as much expression as the lead guitar, it has still worked well enough to be able to maintain the listener's interest to begin with.
The pace was then kicked up at 1:05 via a rendition of "Meridian Dance". Here, the music has provided a more progressive form throughout, in order to be able to maintain the general thrill of the game's final battle. Even here, the source has been twisted around a lot to show a fair amount of performance technique to be able to match from the general emphasis of the source itself. While the general textures of the piece were felt to be a little bit empty in comparison to some of the other portions of the song, the overall concept is shown to be well done by all means.
2:23 then showed the piano elements coming in for the next part of the track, which shows a rendition of "Mystic Invasion". Here, the moods in comparison to the past area are shown to be a strong drop in comparison to what they were before, and the piano performance skills have worked well to provide a steady chilled background to show as a dynamic contrast all around the mix. The incoming lead guitar later on in the section has also worked to gradually build the moods up in time for the next segment of the piece, and the piano solo has also aided in providing just as much form of grace when shown. If there's something I need to gesture at here I would have asked for some general feel towards the drum portions, but otherwise this is still pretty strong stuff.
And then there came another energetic battle-type progression at 3:50; however I have absolutely no idea what source is covered here. But those thoughts are soon pushed aside through the energetic climax that soon managed to lead its way all the way up towards MAG's solo performance at 4:34. The strengths behind the fast-paced nature of the progression have worked well in providing a more thoughtful and energetic set all around it, and has further emphasized upon the general pace granted behind that part of the piece. While I feel the textures could have been just as broad as the general skill behind the performance and the climax that lead on after it, I still felt that this is a working section that has provided just as much thrills for the listener as some of the previous portions.
Finally there came a sinister sounding portion to round off the piece at 5:09, and the choice of chord progressions have worked well to provide a more haunting gesture to begin with. And just to familiarize the listener that they are indeed listening to a Secret of Mana mix, the melody for "Angels' Fear" made its way through at 5:34, although in a very thoughtful and nostalgic fashion given the amount of performance granted all the way around it. The general emphasis of the opening notes have been used as the foundations for the final closing statuses of the track, which have worked well to grant what I personally thought was a blood curdling experience given the piano emphasis leading all the way through to the end. While some of the audience might have problems with the general menacing statuses of the ending, I see that to be a working trait within Christian's works and for that it has showed a very strong finale as a whole. Excellent.
So yeah, it's fair to say that I flat out enjoyed this. ^^ It took a while to associate with some of the themes (given that I never played the Mana games when I was younger but was able to get really involved with the score as of late), but with the amount of credibility taken towards the piecing together of the individual tracks the audience is sure to be in for a very exciting piece of work from start to finish.
For that, it's shown to be another job well done for both Christian Pacaud and Marc-Andre Gingras, and a wel deserved entrance to the site for ktriton too. I want to see some more work from either of the three artists in the future, or better still, any possible collaborative efforts again :)
- Rexy on June 12, 2005
- KyleJCrb on May 30, 2005
- heavybolter on May 29, 2005
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