ReMix:The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask "Healing Majora" 5:43

By C7

cinematic brass orchestral strings solemn

Arranging the music of 2 songs...

"Majora's Theme", "Song of Healing"

Primary Game: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (Nintendo , 2000, N64), music by Koji Kondo, Toru Minegishi

Posted 2011-10-26, evaluated by the judges panel

Newcomer C7, aka Adam Prack, sends us some atmospheric, cinematic, modern orchestral Majora's Mask mixage:

"I've always felt that Majora is a truly magnificent enemy. Though he does not appear in the game, his influence is enough to make for one of the largest threats in a Zelda game. There's such a level of savageness in the way Majora controls things in the game that I wanted to portray that musically. Majora's Theme, which serves as much of the background music in the game's locales is both foreboding and merciless. This is in stark contrast to the soothing, though off-setting, Song of Healing. It serves as the counter to the deep conflicts in the game. This juxtaposition was my starting point for the remix.

I wanted to use instrumentation, orchestration styles, dynamics, and anything else I could to create this juxtaposition in a musical manner. This ranges from piano and choir representing Healing at times to crass, harsh, and dissonant brass and strings playing Majora. I also take that same brass and smooth things out for Healing. This was no source for a simple on-off switch; it needed depth and complexity. The percussion played a large role in either creating atmosphere throughout or driving rhythms. I wanted the piece to sound as organic as possible, despite being primarily computerized, so I stuck to only non-synth style instruments throughout. Liberal use of extended techniques helped round things out with a little bit of electric guitar accompaniment. I wanted to save the completion of the Song of Healing for a more climactic point in the piece and added my own trumpet playing to the mix to try to sell the emotion of the piece. "

I thought that trumpet sounded real... Man, I don't know what to say; not only is this a memorable, stylized, and really unique debut, it's quite clear that Adam thought through every aspect of the mix, from concept to execution. I'll warn you ahead of time, he's taken these two themes and intertwined & manipulated them in ways that can make your head spin, and the end result is certainly on the liberal side of arrangement, but what a rollercoaster ride of texture & tone it is. To completely understand and appreciate the mechanics of what's going on here requires both ample time and probably some academic prowess, but you can also just sense & feel the cumulative effect, which achieves a dramatic musical chiaroscuro between the two contrasting motifs. Deia writes:

"The complexity of this arrangement is ridiculous. In a good way. Thank goodness for that breakdown, though, because I would have missed about half of what's going on here. The amount of time you spent on this is very obvious, and I love this treatment overall."

DarkeSword adds:

"Very nice work. Breakdown helps, but once I refamiliarized myself with the source tunes, had no trouble following. Fantastic sequencing on your part, great part-writing, very cinematic. The dynamics in this piece are very broad and well utilized. Just great."

Vinnie was the sole dissenting opinion, as he felt the piece was ultimately too liberal, which I can certainly see - it's damn hard to follow the inversions, harmonizations, etc. I'll confess that I too have trouble at points, but then at other points I "get it," and the treatment is complex & appreciative enough to earn my faith in both the mix and the judges' majority decision that it fell within the boundaries of acceptable source recognition. These are some meandering, peculiar source tunes to begin with, relative to predecessor Ocarina and most other Zelda games, so it's not entirely surprising. Amazing, at times overwhelming work from C7, who challenges the panel & listeners alike with a mesmerizing, interwoven blend of Majora's music.

― djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Vaizar
on 2015-12-15 23:48:52

This really feels like a score from a film, being spooky-scary at some points, intense and majestic at others, and always feeling like something's happening or is going to happen soon.

This is a mix that really feels like it's telling a story

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jgfresh1997
on 2013-01-20 21:38:26

Hey, great job on the mix. i really enjoyed it. it sounds really spaced out and cool

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Crulex
on 2012-11-16 10:18:46

The production of this song is unbelievable! This drives in the feelings of cinematic ReMixing that Majora's soundtrack leads itself to. From haunting to dark to dramatic and so forth, and the way you managed to combine both themes in this way without losing any steam was pretty cool. The ending section was the best part of this one for me, for how well it was done.

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a1b23
on 2012-09-14 01:36:44

Great track. Some parts remind me of the music from Enter The Matrix for the PS2.

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C7
on 2012-01-25 23:33:08

Thank you so much for all the comments and compliments! The criticisms are much appreciated, too!

Breaking down again at 2:40 in a way reminiscent of Threnody by Krysztof Penderecki.

I love that piece and Penderecki in general! I can't say I was shooting to sound like Threnody in any of it, but I'm cool with that.

Solid mix here, this song goes places and can't really be accused of remaining in one place which is always nice to hear :smile: . It has direction and moves with a purpose. The song rests a little on the quiet side overall for me. Other than that, this is a nice orchestral take that does its job pretty well, and I don't have too much to say about it. I guess the song could use a little more instrumentation and maybe more string usage, but the results are pretty good here.

Hey, thanks! Yeah, I probably could've maximized the sound a bit more, but having a place to go with the dynamics was a bigger focus to me a the time. And I guess I didn't really give a whole lot of good melodic stuff to the strings much. Ah well.

It's been almost a year since I last logged in (not to say that I haven't been on daily :smile:), but I wanted to express my LOVE for this remix.

Glad to drag someone out of the woodwork ;-)

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Martin Penwald
on 2012-01-10 15:54:09

Very intense remix. The production values are through the roof.

For some reason, this makes me think of the Xenogears OST. Which is always a good thing.

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Tuberz McGee
on 2011-12-25 21:21:14

Up until 0:20 this is quite haunting.

Then it just gets grand, resembling a large film score.

The quality is excellent! The arrangement is also quite fantastic.

1:17 brings frightening feelings to mind. This is quite a dark piece.

I must be drawn to all of these dark and mysterious ReMixes. Because I enjoy them a lot.

At 2:10 it hits the fan. Breaking down again at 2:40 in a way reminiscent of Threnody by Krysztof Penderecki.

All in all. This is a horrifically good piece.

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Bahamut
on 2011-12-02 00:51:39

Solid mix here, this song goes places and can't really be accused of remaining in one place which is always nice to hear :) . It has direction and moves with a purpose. The song rests a little on the quiet side overall for me. Other than that, this is a nice orchestral take that does its job pretty well, and I don't have too much to say about it. I guess the song could use a little more instrumentation and maybe more string usage, but the results are pretty good here.

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C7
on 2011-11-14 01:01:45

I'm glad people are still commenting! One of the biggest reasons for making the remix was the lack of Majora love on the site. Here's to more!

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TunedBlade
on 2011-11-11 00:02:58

nicely done. it made me sad how no one would remix Majora's Mask into some theatrical like remix, but this takes the cake.

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Damashii!!
on 2011-11-10 14:52:17

this was a really good movie. I loved the scene with the climactic trumpet. :)!!

seriously though, i like how you twisted the sources. i could recognize them pretty well on the first listen, but it's still very interesting how you re-arranged it all. very beautiful.

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WindStrike
on 2011-11-02 15:16:58

It took me the second listen through before I noticed Song of Healing in there, and several more times before I recognized all instances of Song of Healing. Really amazing job, I'm stunned by the quality of this mix.

Also, the section from 2:44-2:50 made me think Sins of a Solar Empire. In fact, this mix would actually fit pretty well in that game.

Had I not known this was Majora's Mask ahead of time, it would've taken me forever to realize what it was, and that's not a bad thing.

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C7
on 2011-11-01 23:28:54

Wow, thank you all very much! I'm glad people are liking this so much! It was a ton of fun to do, and I hoped people would enjoy some ear aerobics in some places for seeing where the sources turn up. I wouldn't fault someone for thinking it a bit on the liberal side, but I'm ecstatic for people who really enjoy it and appreciate it--there was a lot of work put into it.

Thank you all so much! Let's hope for some more comments ;-)

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UnveiledOsiris
on 2011-11-01 18:24:59

It's been almost a year since I last logged in (not to say that I haven't been on daily :smile:), but I wanted to express my LOVE for this remix. The Zelda series has always been close to my heart, and (most recently) inspired me to attempt to learn the piano. Majora's Mask was the very first Zelda title that I played, so it has earned itself a special little corner of nostalgia for me. Now, before this turns into a rant/life story, I just want to say that you have done a great job with this mix, and I wish more artists would pay attention to this game's music!

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RDX
on 2011-10-30 02:51:05

This track should be getting more comments. It's phenomenal, I didn't have trouble seeing the source usage. I loved it though, it's different from what is usually posted on this site, and I enjoy the hard work that went into it.

Sources Arranged (2 Songs)


Primary Game:
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (Nintendo , 2000, N64)
Music by Koji Kondo,Toru Minegishi
Songs:
"Majora's Theme"
"Song of Healing"

Tags (5)


Genre:
Cinematic
Mood:
Solemn
Instrumentation:
Brass,Orchestral,Strings
Additional:

File Information


Name:
Legend_of_Zelda_Majora's_Mask_Healing_Majora_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
8,045,906 bytes
MD5:
ff9177a3bb0a3c25836d4f047b4735d7
Bitrate:
185Kbps
Duration:
5:43

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