ReMix:The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past "Labyrinth of Dance Floors" 7:02

By Jeff Ball

Arranging the music of 2 songs...

"Sanctuary Dungeon", "Secret Found"

Primary Game: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Nintendo , 1991, SNES), music by Koji Kondo

Posted 2011-11-24, evaluated by djpretzel


Jeff's violin solo on Jimmy's 25YL cut was awesome in its own right, but he's got an entire track to himself that really shows off his abilities as a solo ReMixer for the first time on OCR. Glorious, shimmering dance/trance electronica is the name of the game - Jeff writes:

"From the source material, this track really formed itself into a uniquely ethereal and uplifting track inspired by trance artists of the 90's. Propellerhead's Reason was used primarily, and a touch of live violin."

At just over seven minutes, there's a lot of material here, but Jeff slices things up with some breakdowns, beatdrops, and uses the same haunting, ambient tones in the opening later on, as a segue, keeping things fresh & interesting throughout. The near-dissonant intro has some underlying harmonics with interesting psychoacoustic properties, there's a sweet modulated FM texture to the synth groove that enters @ 0'59", and both the beat & melody proper drop at 1'27" and set things off & running. Album director Roger Hicks writes:

"This song triggered so many flashbacks from link to the past! And, I'm surprised at how you were somehow able to accurately represent the dark feel of the original track yet take it to the next level! Love it! "

Definitely a combination of dark & light, here, with a melody that walks the boundary between the two and production that keeps things mysterious and phantasmagoric while still maintaining energy & momentum - not an easy feat, especially for seven full minutes, but Jeff pulls it off!

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 11 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Black_Doom
on 2015-12-06 23:00:54

Very good. What I like about this track most of all is the atmosphere - it's both light and dark, with touch of sadness if that makes sense. There's something airy yet tense here. The beat is really catchy and the leading synth is just perfect. The violin at the end is a truly neat touch :) Great!

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ryankeeton
on 2011-12-27 15:05:54

Nice development from the sources, though maybe a little long. Leads sound great, very spacy and kinda creepy in places. Love the violin, and 4:37 was pretty awesome. Nice work

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Tuberz McGee
on 2011-12-25 00:37:53

Man. There's something mysterious about this mix.

I always feel like something's watching me. :(

Some of the leads feel off tune, without being annoying... it's just uncomfortable. I love it!

Then with the heavy reverberation of the lead throughout the main part, it feels like the title.

It's a goddamn labyrinth filled with pictures who's eyes follow you around the room.

Perfect for Halloween. Not for Christmas parties. Haha

All in all, I recommend this to anyone who remotely enjoys emotional music.

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Rexy
on 2011-12-02 08:49:35

I already stated some positive feedback on the track via the #ocremix IRC earlier this week, so it might feel fangirlish to do it again here.

But I has to. :]

Being already a fan of the source tune, it to me captures somewhat of a catastrophic yet ambient quality with a shifting melody over a more unconventional chord progression - so much I referenced it a couple of times in my remixing endeavours.

So I'm glad to see that Jeff took it on and managed to capture a huge nostalgic rush with this one. The melody remains faithful to the source, but the varied chord progression and additional writing elements really brings the track to life, further accentuated when more and more of the rhythmic synths start coming in. It for me really hits the sweet spot at 4:37, with the pretty glissando work and dynamic attention to detail with the transition, and continues to develop even with the secret area jingle thrown in later on too.

In addition to the detail, the general progression has that je-ne-sais-quoi that certain mixes I experienced in the recent past have struggled to hit with me - the sudden desire to want to play it on various occasions throughout the day outside of the context of travelling to and from work with my iPod. Seriously, that's how great the writing and detail-work ended up being for me!

Considering that one of my favorite remixes ever was Neskvartetten's "Ganon's Temple", covering the exact same source tune, you've really managed to dive into the heart of the source material and provide something engaging and fitting with it; I wouldn't have thought that someone would've been as creative with the source since then at all. So again, a whole-hearted well done and I'm game to see what you can do next :D

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InDL
on 2011-12-01 10:14:07

Definitely one of my favorite Zelda remixes to date.

This has to be the hardest track I've ever tried to audio surf :x

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Tuned Logic
on 2011-11-30 23:50:42

This absolutely rocks. Extremely cool track. :)

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Crulex
on 2011-11-25 16:24:23

It's like the Dungeon theme 2.0 in my ears. You really expanded on the feel of the original with some added elements in the build-ups and breakdowns. It's got a great electronic beat while maintaining that ethereal sound which is unique. Some parts could have been trimmed a hair, but this is really well done.

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Monobrow
on 2011-11-24 22:06:29

Jeff Ball is awesome!

I think this is a really well thought-out and executed mix. It has a very nice intro, great pacing, the right amount of build, climax, and cooldown.

Since it's Thanksgiving, I'm going to use a turkey analogy:

Jeff brined the turkey (intro), he stuffed it until about 1:30 (build), put it in the oven to brown it until about 2:30 (climax) where he bastes it (cooldown), inserts it back in the oven (build), then he takes it out of the oven in all its glory at 4:40 (climax 'splode), what a glorious turkey (song) it is!

It's dance/trance/ambient so I disagree about the length, if it was your regular 90s mix, it'd be at least ten minutes lol.

I love some how interesting the harmonics are in this, really nuanced and smart. Great work Jeff and Happy Thanksgiving!

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Bahamut
on 2011-11-24 20:03:08

Pretty sweet track by Jeff - my only real complaint is that I feel some of it could have been slimmed down a bit, but otherwise I like what is done with the song. It maintains a creepy atmosphere but then lays down some mellow beats and sets a smooth pace.

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timaeus222
on 2011-11-24 18:22:03

This was quite nice. There's nothing bad I could have said about it. I liked it. =D

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djpretzel
on 2011-11-24 12:42:34

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

Sources Arranged (2 Songs)


Primary Game:
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Nintendo , 1991, SNES)
Music by Koji Kondo
Songs:
"Sanctuary Dungeon"
"Secret Found"

Tags (8)


Genre:
Dance,Trance
Mood:
Dark
Instrumentation:
Electronic,Strings,Synth
Additional:
Time > Duration: Long
Time > Tempo: Fast

File Information


Name:
Legend_of_Zelda_A_Link_to_the_Past_Labyrinth_of_Dance_Floors_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
12,062,916 bytes
MD5:
2d909cb0753b69db777bba0e5b661b0a
Bitrate:
227Kbps
Duration:
7:02

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