So if you’ve heard the American Album, or Star Spangled Chips, you know that I’ve arranged a few Jack Wall tracks already, specifically from the Myst franchise. Well, for American Pixels, I reached out and asked Jack what he’d like to hear arranged, and he asked for something from Mass Effect 2. Specifically, the Suicide Mission theme:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2z28mutY1E
Personally I never really got into the Mass Effect franchise, but I dug the above theme (notably the fun 7/4 time signature… c’mon, you know me), and it sparked some ideas. To start, I’d been looking for an opportunity to do a stylistic homage to a very unique track by Radix (aka Rymdlego, aka Mosaik), entitled “Transponder.” Listen to that work of art here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6N4W8anTr0
The heavy beats, in conjunction with the sci-fi and acid jazz soundscape, all tied together with child voices and stuff… man. I love it. And I wanted to do something in a similar style. And oddly enough, I’d managed to record my young niece Hannah and nephew William playing around with the microphone one day, so, I had that part covered. :)
The tricky part… the referenced Radix track is pretty much a kickass groove, but doesn’t have much of a melody. The Suicide Mission theme, on the other hand, has full-on chord progressions, melodies, counterpoints, and so on. So not only is it a form of fusion to bring these ideas together, but it took some work to have it also carry the full theme's progression properly. The original is a pretty long track!
All in all, the remix came out pretty awesome in my opinion, and I trust you'll enjoy it as well.