ReMix: Zelda II: The Adventure of Link 'Mirror and Transparent'

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I absolutely love the bubbling synth intro to Rellik's latest; it effervesces. Like Alka Seltzer, only w/ synthesizers; I can't believe he ate the whole thing. That's two semi-colons in a row, for those keeping track at home. Mr. Lederer deviates from more traditional dance electronica again with a groovy little chopped and spliced Zelda piece. The ReMixer explains the unique requirements involved in the mix's creation:

"This mix was actually created under the parameters of the Fruity Loops Music Contest (FLMC) run by chthonic. This means that NOTHING that does not come with FL was used in the production of this mix (aside from computer hardware, MIDI input [which I didn't actually have a use for in this mix], and audio output). I don't think the FLMC is even over yet, but production went VERY smoothly, so I'm submitting this now! Elements of the mix were inspired by Mazedude and Earthbound."

You can definitely hear the quirkiness inherent in Mazedude and Suzuki's work coming through here, but it's also got some of the groove stylings salient in AE's stuff, all of which is the business. zircon enthusiastically addresses the impressive aspect of the technical constraints described:

"Wonderful. A perfect example of how a skilled musician and sound designer can take the same "cruddy" synths/samples that we normally rail on people for, and turn them into something awesome. Arrangement is of course hot as well. Lots of changeups all around, variation, texture is never too dense or too minimal."

So, in other words, anyone still complaining about FruityLoops as a tool, insisting that it must be paired with plugins or high-quality samples to produce high-calibre output - here's your living refutation. Now, if you tried to make a jazz or orchestral arrangement with nothing but FL, you'd be climbing a much steeper hill, but it's still extremely cool beans that Rellik was able to use a constrained palette to put something like this together - you'd really never guess. As an English major, I tend to draw on the analogy between writing sonnets and writing free verse poetry - the former has very known form and tenets, the latter none, but both have yielded some amazing writing. The mix isn't perfect - I think Gray correctly cites the ending as being somewhat underwhelming. Regardless, it's well worth your time in its totality: I've not described it in too much detail here, and focused instead on the creative process behind it, but it's also a fun, articulate, and tricky bit of music that's good regardless of how it was made.

― djpretzel