A collection of tracks from across the Zelda series; including arrangements and covers based on dungeon music and other unsettling tracks.

Dread of the Hero

hopefully this doesn't get Square Enixed
original audio/video was uploaded on YouTube by Hanji 
https://youtu.be/TAhR5nQOlI0
Copyright: Square Enix
original composer: Yasunori Nishiki

Herminia-(Witch of greed/The Huntress) Champions of the continent

Complete Horizon Forbidden West soundtrack

Horizon Forbidden West (Original Soundtrack)

In the Dust, to the Death

This album is free to download. Consider supporting me on www.patreon.com/thesecondnarrator to support my future works!

Update 3/20/2015 - adjusted the EQ on the piano, fixed some of the tempo so it sounds smoother.

This is highly experimental. As a pianist turned composer, I was looking forward to a piano-centric piece to do. The articulations I settled on using are in many cases too fast for me to play, but if you are a world renown pianist, feel free to have fun with it. Nevertheless I thought it was important to preserve as much of the "performance" as I could, so for parts too hard for me, I would play the left and right hand parts separately, and in other cases, I would record the midi notes at slightly slower tempo then speed it up. A lot of the rhythms and riffs came from previous piano pieces I enjoyed playing and are far superior to this track. Check these out.

La Campanella "Little Bell" - Franz List (for the crazy high note trills)
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 - Franz List (for the insane single note repetition)
Grande Valse Brillante in Eb Major - Frederick Chopin (for the repetetive notes leading to arppegios)
Polanaise in Ab Major - Frederick Chopin (the octave ostanatos that will destroy your left arm)

My interpretation is accomplished by creating three main versions of the original track. I imagine as the bottle level, there might be a factory somewhere or massive warehouse to deal with all the bottles coming in and out. That's where the orchestral middle section would fit. The beginning pure piano translation would be used for rooms and areas surrounding it. The final piano cadenza section was where I went crazy and just added whatever came to mind. Remember that one room where you're supposed to kill the enemies in a certain order? During my very first playthrough I was stuck in that room for weeks before I figured it out. The piano cadenza in some ways portrays the frustration I felt.

Bottle Grotto - The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening Orchestral Arrangement

This album is free to download. Consider supporting me on www.patreon.com/thesecondnarrator to support my future works!

Update 3/20/2015 - Reworked the finale portion. Adjusted the trumpet levels, added some counter-phrasing in the horns.

I felt Kanalet Castle deserved a more romantic and grand theme than just four repeating arpeggios. You have this king Richard who was ousted from his castle and forced to hid in his villa. Did the moblins just show up and push him out? No, it was much worse! All his soldiers fell in battle, his family and friends were massacred, and the grand history of his kingdom was destroyed. I imagined Link roaming through the hallways while glancing at the paintings and statues, imagining what was once a proud legacy. I haven't given the brass section much love in recent tracks, so I tried to use them here in grand fashion. I pulled phrases from various tracks from the soundtrack of "For the Frog the Bell Tolls" and used them in constructing the noble melody. The theme swells in a crescendo until the very end, where it hangs unresolved. Link's eyes snap back into reality as he realizes the past glory is over.

Of course, this is just a dream island, so probably none of that happened.

Kanalet Castle - The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening Orchestral Arrangement

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Update 3/20/15 - Re EQ'ed

The original version features a juxtaposition of loud ominous phrases and light staccato bells. I interpreted that to be the atmospheric "cavern" part contrasted with the jingling "key" sounds. In my version, I basically stuck to the same format, using heavy brass for the cavern, and a variety of metal percussion instruments for the key. In addition, I experimented with a lot of changing articulations in each section. This, along with the tense chord progressions, makes the song altogether unpredictable and creepy.

Key Cavern - The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening Orchestral Arrangement

PokéPark Wii - Chase

This album is free to download. Consider supporting me on www.patreon.com/thesecondnarrator to support my future works!

Update 3/20/15 - Re EQ'ed

I had to control myself here lengthwise, as the dream shrine in the game is only four screens large, and the player only needs to come here once. In keeping with the tone of the original, I kept the instruments mostly in the higher registers. I also experimented with various reverbs and panning automations to move the instruments around in the physical space of the chamber. This leaves the listener a bit disoriented. For maximum effect, listen to this piece with headphones!

Dream Shrine - The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening Orchestral Arrangement

This album is free to download. Consider supporting me on www.patreon.com/thesecondnarrator to support my future works!

Update 3/20/15 - Added an extra drum in the beginning.

Since the original version is just a faster version of the caves music, I gave myself more flexibility in arranging it. Again I mostly kept to the higher registers, but I used softer instruments to carry that feeling of wetness throughout. For the piano articulations I borrowed heavily from the piano piece, "Les jeux d'eau à la Villa d'Este" by Franz Liszt, which roughly translates to "Water Games at Villa d'Este." I could never figure this stuff out on my own. That, combined with the other instruments allow me to portray various aspects of water: dripping water, water running down the walls, light splashes, ripples, footsteps on wet ground.

Angler's Tunnel - The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening Orchestral Arrangement

01 Dungeon Of The Endless (Main Title)

Main Theme (TLOZ Twilight Princess) - Super Smash Bros. Wii U

This album is free to download. Consider supporting me on www.patreon.com/thesecondnarrator to support my future works!

Update 3/20/15 - Re EQ'ed

I have been thinking of this moment in the game since I first started arranging. Thanks to this year's Thanksgiving sale (Happy Thanksgiving!) I was able to get some new expressive string samples and immediately put them to use here. This track and the next one are actually composed of three different cues.

I - Ambience
Generally, cavern and great hall music seems to sound really eerie when it consists of nothing more than deep lows and soft highs, which the original version already does fairly well. For some weird reason, I could have sworn I remember hearing a wailing female vocal in the original version, even though that couldn't have been possible. That is a testament to how effective the 8-bit Game Boy game was in setting the atmosphere.

Southern Face Shrine - The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening Orchestral Arrangement

This album is free to download. Consider supporting me on www.patreon.com/thesecondnarrator to support my future works!

Update 3/20/15 - Re EQ'ed

The creep factor in this piece is less about the mellow tone of the piece itself (although the melody never resolving is creepy enough), but the fact that a melodic "baroque prelude"-type melody is suddenly placed as a dungeon theme, when we were accustomed to more intense atmospheric pieces. This almost suggests either a deep back story behind the dungeon, or just the lingering traces of Link's emotions as he continues in his quest, knowing the truth. While in the Southern Face Shrine, the theme was characterized by deep lows and soaring highs, in the Face Shrine, the melody stays locked in the mid section. Although I still went high up with the violins, I at least left out the Cello and Basses, so the endless drone of the clarinets can remain distinct. I also deliberately left out the variation of Ballad of the Wind Fish here, and used an original tune here to build on top of the repeating phrase. This was inspired from the soundtrack to Let the Right One In.

Face Shrine - The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening Orchestral Arrangement

The final composition in a four-part suite incorporating, re-orchestrating and expanding the themes originally written for my 2022 track "Year in a Day".

Autumn to Winter

Grass Zone  - The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes - OST.mp3

The original score for Xenoblade Chronicles was composed by Manami Kiyota, ACE+ (a musical production group composed of Tomori Kudo, Hiroyo "CHiCO" Yamanaka, and Kenji Hiramatsu), and Yoko Shimomura.

Egil - Xenoblade Chronicles [OST]

A Quiet Moment - Hyrule Warriors: Age Of Calamity (Zelda)

I am a developer as well as a self-taught composer. My style is creating narratives in music through the use of strong melodies and unique instrumentation.

Primary DAW used: Presonus Studio One

Face Shrine - The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening Orchestral Arrangement

The Second Narrator

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