Emunator Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 Artist Name: jnWake Collabers: minusworld on guitars and bass, Shea's Violin on violin. Even more entries from DoD! This one was my submission for the recent Free Month in february 2024. "Danger" from Secret of Mana is a track I've wanted to cover for years. In fact, at some point I thought about claiming it for OCR's Mana album years back but I could never figure out how to approach remixing it then. If you've listened to the track before, you know it's a pretty tricky one... Anyway, the years passed and I finally felt confident enough to tackle it, going with my somewhat usual metal approach. I looked online at the existing covers of the track and didn't find a metal cover that really impressed me and that gave me the drive to really go with it... I later learned that DoD's norg had done an awesome cover of it for the "Spectrum of Mana" album though, luckily after I had already submitted to DoD so it couldn't hurt my confidence hehe. K, so the concept behind the remix is an interpretation of the source I once read online. For the first minute or so, the source is a very chaotic track, full of chromatic runs, diminished chords and no catchy melodies. Then, there's a small break and a high energy melody comes in and the second minute is much more uplifting and less chaotic. Some people say this is meant to represent how when the boss battle starts you're lost but then as it progresses you understand what to do and eventually win. I liked this interpretation and decided to extend it for my remix. For source usage, I'll describe the original a bit: A - 0:00-0:10: A descending chromatic riff and an ascending chromatic bass. I use both in the remix. B - 0:11-0:21: A chaotic rhytm that goes Asus4 to Csus4. C - 0:42-0:52: Absolutely wild chromatic run. There's also a somewhat weird melody going on in the background on E. Piano. D - 0:53-1:08: Can we call this a melody? It's heavy on diminished chords (mostly E and Eb, but some G and Ab as well). E - 1:09-1:13 - Transition between sections, I like to separate between the initial arpeggio like thing and the bass that goes Ab-A-Bb-B-C-Db. F - 1:13-1:34 - Uplifting melody! Heroes are now winning. G - 1:35-1:45 - This part is a bit odd, almost sounds like a victory theme. It's some melodies over C and Bb major chords. H - 1:46-1:54 - A little build up, notice this part has some chords on guitar, a lick on bass and a fun arpeggio-ish thing on EPiano. I -1:55-2:02 - A small melody to end the loop and return to A. 9 different sections! I told you the source was wild. Now, for the remix... 0:00-0:38: All of this is based on the "A" section, a variation of the descending riff on the first few seconds. Rhytm guitar riff basically follows the rhytm of the chromatic descent as well. The chromatic riff then moves to a xylophone and is accompanied by an original chord progression. 0:39-0:49: Chord progression from B on acoustic guitar. Rhytm guitar does the same riff the backing does in the source. 0:50-1:00: A variation of the previous riff on an original chord progression. 1:01-1:23: Same riff from B on guitar, lead plays a variation of the uplifting melody (F). The idea is that the heroes are trying to fight back in some way. 1:24-1:35: Pretty much C but metal. Seems the heroes aren't doing well in their attempt to fight back. 1:36-1:49: Pretty much D but with slightly changed timings. 1:50-2:00: C again, but now the backing riff is based on the EPiano line and the beat is much slower for drama. 2:01-2:09: Diminished chords from D return in a variation based on a part from prog. band Haken's Falling Back to Earth. Transition ends with a repetition of the intro. 2:10-2:31: minus plays a ridiculous chaotic solo on top of the ascending chromatic riff from A and then a riff similar to the one from the intro. 2:32-2:45: Transition based on E. At this point, the heroes are almost done. 2:46-3:32: Acoustic progression is original, piano solo begins with a variation of the F melody (also has a quote of the main Secret of Mana theme). Heroes are slowly trying to regroup and escape defeat. 3:33-3:43: A variation of G, on 7/8 and with F and Eb as bass notes to make it a little more confusing and less triumphant. 3:44-4:06: Another minus solo! This one is more melodic and emotional. 4:07-4:19: Melody from I here, extended a bit. Heroes are gathering strength! At 4:16 some themes from the first section return, as if to say the Boss isn't done... 4:20-4:43: Uplifting melody in full force! (F) First on D minor and then on E minor. 4:44-4:53: Repeat of the G variation. 4:54-5:16: Riff from H! Here we have a violin part by Shea. 5:17-5:27: Guitar riff based on the bass part of H, melody is yet another variation of the F melody. 5:28-5:47: Melody from I returns and is extended even more! 5:48-end: For the outro, the chord progression from B returns! Hope you enjoy! As small piece of trivia, I think the MIDI I used as base to learn the source was made by Rexy so... thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 thank you for not making us figure out this source. i've somehow never heard it before and it's completely wild. serious DT vibes right off the bat, this sounds straight off of one of the instrumentals in Metropolis, right down to rudess playing some silly instrument on the keyboards in random breaks. the original's influence is immediately audible in the opening section. a functional melody line entering at 1:01 was a good choice - we needed something to grab onto as listeners by that point. there's a ton of great chromaticism and time changes in the next few sections but it doesn't mess with the narrative elements so that's well done. there's a huge break at 2:41 and it suddenly is far quieter and calmer. i was running out of hair to have on fire at this point so the break was welcome. 3:33's rhythmic elements and then the solo after 3:44 are just great, the solo especially has such a great shape and turn at the end. overlapping the more tonal elements of this section with some bits of the chromatic runs at the beginning is a good transitional element as well. 4:20 is just beautiful. this whole section is so good, it's a really singing line that you've written out there. having the transition be just a guitar pattern in a new tempo is again very DT, and having that lead into 5:18's distinct but angular melodic line is great. it blows through some material there until the end and ends on a high point. my only complaint across the board is that the drums are in general too quiet, and especially the kick and cymbals don't have much body. i almost missed the double kick at the end for example because there's so little presence in the kick, and the few times that the cymbals were noticeable i thought they had little presence left after being EQed to death. from an arrangement perspective, this is incredible. i don't remember the last time i heard such a transformational take on such a weird, complex original. there's all the beats you'd want in an intense track like this, both highs and lows, and it's honestly astonishing the variety that we get overall. i wish the cymbals and kick had more body to them, but overall this is absolutely way above the bar. excellent work. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted April 13 Share Posted April 13 Fun theme choice, and I can understand being intimidated by it or at least needing to take time to figure out a creative approach. Going prog rock worked pretty nicely here. I’m digging the regular textural changes, which was a feature of the original of course, but it carries over well here with the souped up instrumentation you guys have got. Oh shit, that drop-off at 2:46 majorly grabbed my attention. I do wish the flute at 3:09 cut through better to provide that melodic connection to the source, but it’s not a big deal. Guitar at 3:44 sounds amazing, and the chugs underneath filled the soundscape out well. Right at 4:07, we get back to the more straightforward melodic structure and it’s back to the well with more awesome coverage. Absolutely love the powerful yet varied approach, and I know Kikuta would dig this too, great job! :-) YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindWanderer Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 Such a crazy source. I could never make up my mind whether I loved it or hated it while playing the game. It's so schizophrenic, but the main hooks are so catchy. And your take on it is much the same, alternating between frenetic riffs and catchy tunes. I honestly don't know how you could have done this arrangement more justice. You took everything iconic about Danger and dialed it up to 11. Unlike proph, I know this track well, so there's no trouble at all figuring out the connections; nearly the whole thing is lifted from the original, if somewhat macerated before you put it into your remix. I agree with Larry that the flute is far too quiet, even ignoring the fact that it's carrying melody there, and the violin is also awfully quiet for having taken the trouble to get a live performance, but otherwise all the production sounds great. Drums and cymbals sound fine to me, and that guitar work is fire. Fantastic job by everyone involved. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemophiliac Posted May 14 Share Posted May 14 Thank you for the detailed breakdown I've only played Secret of Mana a few times (and didn't get very far), and I think I heard this source a bunch as a kid because I probably struggled to beat that first boss or understand how the game mechanics worked ?. The source is a perfect choice for a synthy-prog-rock goodness. Performances from both minusworld and Shea are excellent and highlighted well. I would've liked to hear a bit more from Shea's part in the mix during 4:54-5:16 as it was quieter then it seemed to fit for the section, though the crescendos she performs are fantastic. Also agree with the other J's about the flute being quiet as well, tough to have it cut through a mix with such power from all of the other parts, consider dynamic or textural contrast to have it cut through more in the future. Both of those two things are very minor nitpicks as the rest of everything is balanced very well and you oscillate around the source with ease. Chromatic percussion throughout is an awesome choice to keep fast aggressive chromatic runs going and gets the line passed around to more instruments. The 2:46-3:32 section is an credible contrasting break. The piano runs are lovely and give such a break from the chaos of the rest of the piece. What more can I say except YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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