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OCR00631 - Secret of Mana "Aphrodite Oceanus"


orkybash
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Before I begin, I would just like to mention a few words as to my personal tastes in music, so you know where I'm comming from.

I'm a flute player with about 10 years experience, 6 years experience in improvisational melodies. I love orchestral music... not nessesarily classical music, since I think much of classical is too dry, but certainly orchestral... movie scores sometimes have good examples of this... and of course, video games. Final Fantasy music has some very good orchestral stuff. I maintain, in general, that I like all good music, regardless of genre. I also maintain that certain genres are more difficult to produce good music than others... there's very little good rap in my opinion, very little good country, etc... but there are examples.

The last thing I want to mention about my personal taste in music is that I have a general dislike for drums. No, I don't know why. I just don't like them. Don't get me wrong, I love rythym... I just don't like drums capturing that. I'd much perfer an actual instrument to pull off the beat...

That gotten out of the way, I like this track. A lot!

It starts out with bell tones, or perhaps a high octave on the piano, in a resonant room, such as a cave. It gives it a crystaline feel to the music... something we associate with water, which is very good, since if I recall from the game (I haven't played Secret of Mana in a year or two) this is the water palace... or maybe the water cave theme. Hearing the opening notes, I have a very good feeling about the rest of the track... and I've barely heard 5 seconds of the thing!

Then it pulls of exactly what I was telling you before about having a beat without drums. Behind the first bell or piano thing, is a second series of notes that acts as the percussion for a few wonderful measures. On the beat, there's a sharp and clear high pitched note that I quickly fell in love with, followed by beautiful scales or arpeggios running up and down for a lovely ornementation. A breathy organ sound fills in the background for a nice wall of sound to fill in the gaps, and provide a bass for the music.

And then a soft drum beat comes along, at about 38 seconds. I feel the peice could have done without the drums entirely... but at least, even for me, a drum hater, it doesn't distract or take away from the music!

And then the melody shifts at around 56 or 57 seconds, taking the song into a new direction, just what was needed to make certian it didn't become repetitive. Variety is the spice of life! I can't tell whether it's a key change, or if the instrument goes down an octive (or half octive, or...)... but it's deeper, fuller, with more depth, and I love it. Here I can actually say that I like the quiet bass drum pushing the beat along a bit. I really enjoy how, since this is obviously 6/8 time, on the 8th beat, the drum drops out, making a syncopated feel. Brilliance!

The drums leave entirely at 1:14... taking the song from something driving, energetic (but still mysterious) to a dreamy, quiet, contemplative mysterious wonder... back up to the higher crystal notes, we're reminded once against of a crystal cave... the two threads of melody weaving together provide all the beat I need. Lovely! The melody gets softer and softer, with the background getting louder with it's much simpler tune, and then...

At 1:33, BOOM! The drums kick back in with an interesting loop that keeps the music going for a little longer! The high notes are JOINED by the lower ones that we heard before. The pattern shifts, and we get more variety. Have I mentioned I'm loving this music?

The drums drop again, and we have more echoy stuff, with ambient whale song in the background. And then the breathy organ comes back in. And I am subjected to sheer aural bliss until almost everything but the highest of notes plays for 5 more notes, a near solo, and then it ends.

And in the wake, I stay quiet for a few moments, reflecting.

I like. Wonderful. Bravo! Hurray! Hurrah! I shall dance in joy with this music in my own mind!

Congratulations on a fine and wonderful peice!

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  • 3 weeks later...

This is definately one of my favorites of all time so peaceful and tranquil. I loved the effects Wingless put over the piano giving it a real nice water rippling effect. Those shimmering crystal bells or whatever they sound like are amazing. Terrific Job! :D

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  • 2 months later...

This remix is by far the most beautiful I've heard in a long time. I've had this song since it was first submitted here and I never get tired of listening to it. You've really captured the feel of how Secret of Mana is. Nice job "the wingless"

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Like everyone else said, this is one of the best songs on the site. Its quite different from all the others in style. I can't think of a single other song on this site that goes for such a complicated piano effect in combination with a smooth beat. As with all of Wingless' other stuff, this songs great, this one just happens to be my favorite and I'm glad I downloaded it back when it was posted in the forums for criticism before it made it onto the front page.

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  • 1 month later...

Mmm... creamy! ^_^

Seriously, though... I've heard so much about this song, and I've finally downloaded it. All the hype is true! This piece is soothing, swirling, and wonderfully ambient. The mellow piano sounds like water droplets (props to the 'Oceanus' title 8))... a must-have if you're a fan of ambeint remixes. :)

Great job, Mr. Burnett! I'm definately going to dig up your profile to see what else you've done. An excellent remix. :)

-Samus

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  • 1 month later...

This song is truly a work of art. Definately and will always be my favorite remix piece. It's just...PERFECT. I can't possibly express how inspired I am by the song...It's relaxing, deep, mellow, as well as flow. As a fan of Trance-ish music, this song strikes my heart as power. I feel like The Wingless. GODLY.

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  • 5 months later...

This is my favorite Wingless tune, which is saying a lot because I love all his stuff. From start to finish, this piece just sucks you down into an oozing lake of tranquility. The airy, rippling piano juxtaposes perfectly against the steady backbeat, creating something that is both different and wonderful.

I give it a hearty First Class Recommendation.

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Wow. This song put me to sleep faster than the FF6 "Tent Theme"(Anyone who's ever played FF6 knows that this whole 'song' is less than 10 seconds). I'm not saying this in a bad way, as I was awake for 33 hours straight and only had the first 6-8 seconds of the song downloaded(crappy 56k, gets abotu 500bytes/second) But when I finally awakened(by my winamp playlist going past the piano section and blasting into staind, rudely awakening me) I went back to the song, as it had gotten through over a minute of it now(in 3 hours of downloading) and enjoyed the first 88 seconds. Which is where I'm at right now. Having recently discovered Secret of Mana, which has a damn good soundtrack to begin with, I searched for songs on WinMX and this was the only one that came up. So it makes for a good change from the MIDIs I've been getting. The fact that the water palace theme is one of my favorite songs helps too. However, I really didn't like the drums too much, although if they were perhaps more backgroundish then it would have been better IMO. Overall, though,

************ 13 stars(on a 10 scale)

Keep up the good work :)

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  • 3 months later...
  • 2 months later...

I know it has been said and done before, but this OCremix is absolutely fabulous. As soon as i turned it on, all the favorite memories of days long ago came back. The 'rippling' effect that has been mentioned is what the memories felt like. I absolutely adore the tone change @ 0:57 or so. I dont know how he did it, pure genious. Then again @ 1:35. Then @ 1:55!! I picked up my copy of SoM and played through almost half the game to get to that spot to here "Whispers"..

Bravo... now if someone could put words to this.. that would be another accomplishment; one in its own right

Wingless: I salute you!

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