ReMix: Halo: Combat Evolved 'Mahabharath Highlands'
- Game: Halo: Combat Evolved (Microsoft, 2001, XBOX)
- ReMixer(s): Freemind, GrayLightning
- Composer(s): Martin O'Donnell, Michael Salvatori
- Song(s): 'Halo'
- Posted: 2004-05-24, evaluated by djpretzel
Some good Halo action; wouldn't necessarily have expected this number of mixes from the game's soundtrack, but GL and Freemind (with some tabla assistance from Binnie Katti of Northern Virginia) have come up with an interesting orchestral piece that actually feels colonial at times, like something from the Revolutionary War, save that tabla and sitar are injected. So, if some minutemen had been transplanted into the middle of bhangra gig, perhaps they all would have been groovy and jammed and made something similar. Regarding the title, Binnie writes:
"The Mahabharath is an ancient Indian tale of a great war between a fractioned royal family - a fight for the homeland. Highlands refers to the more Celtic instrumentation. Together they are cross-culturally fused, or something."
Wouldn't necessarily have placed this as distinctly Celtic in its instrumentation; certainly it has a rather worldly mixture going on. Definitely has the tone of a procession, military in nature - one envisions large battalions of what Bruce Willis in Die Hard would refer to as "badass perpetrators" coming to kick SOMEONE'S posterior something fierce. Strings, march style orchestral percussion, a flute of some nature (prolly the Celtic bit there), tabla, and later sitar and various additional percussion all combine for something that's quite cinematic, narrative, and climactic. I wouldn't have guessed this was a collab between two people, with a third adding a percussion track, which is also impressive in terms of unity and cohesion. Not techno, not really orchestral, this is more "ethnicestral" - an interesting combination of musical influences and something different in a dramatic sense. Good stuff.
the remix. The entering woodwind at 2:11 causes a
strong nostalgia feeling towards Secret of Mana.
Nice job. Kudos.
- Pachi Risu on November 18, 2009
Great work, this collab really turned out awesome.
- OA on March 31, 2009
So. Amazingly Great work!:<
- kongsmoelf on March 22, 2008
- gregfrost on September 19, 2006
- icebeast on May 15, 2006
Another great remix by graylightning and freemind
- Ninja-san on October 26, 2005
- DJ Pili on August 5, 2005
- salmonman78 on January 3, 2005
Frisbeetarianism is the belief that when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck
- toon psycho on October 9, 2004
- Wallace Guyford on August 24, 2004
To me, the underlining beat seems [i]very[/i] Celtic, which I like.
Zekian wrote: When I listen to this, I can just see Master Chief running into a room full of grunts, assault rifle blaring.
...when [b]I[/b] listen to this, I can just see Master Chief riverdancing...although that's kinda hard to imagine.
- Cerd_Fen on May 29, 2004
- Freemind on May 25, 2004
I heard a version of Freemind's older version of this song, which was much more new-agish, and I don't think "cinematic" in the least, but I still loved it. This version is almost uncomparable to what I just mentioned though, and it really impresses me to see how much this song has evolved. You could go as far as saying this is a remix of a remix...
Anyways, onto my review.
This song starts out great. The horn in the beginning plays that one long note, then the drum beat comes in and things start picking up. Again, it seems as though GrayLightning is the master of building up in songs, and this song is no exception. With the main theme playing in the background on the strings, it really adds a lot to the song. The instruments used are impecable and go together well, but as Adhesive_Boy said, I actually thought the reverb was a little dry, but people always tell me that there's too much reverb in my WIPs, so I wasn't sure. I actually think the whole song sounds a little bit dry, not just the flute, but again, I always seem to have too much reverb in songs that I work on, so going by what I say on this topic isn't usually the best thing to do.
Hmm... I just noticed that some drums seem to really stand out, like at 2:33. I've been listening to the song non-stop for a while, though this just got my attention while I am typing this up. I don't know if it's a good thing, but I think that it momentarily detracts from the focus on the melody. If that was what Gray and Freemind were aiming for, they succeeded, but I personally think that if that particular drum section were a little bit farther back, it would've sounded better.
Stopping with the nitpicking, I think that this song is pretty darn good. There are a few things that draw my attention, but I still think that the overall execution of the mix is pretty darn good. The instrumentation is excellent, and really fits the mood that this song sets. The songs builds very nicely, a quality that I think has been magnified over the older version (possibly by the hands of GrayLightning).
One thing that GrayLightning really seems to have a talent for is mixing instruments from different cultures together to make a unique sound that works really well. This song is no exception, and I have no doubt that GrayLightning had a pretty good influence on what the final instrumentation was going to be.
Now, I know I haven't been talking much about Freemind, all I've been saying is "Gray this and Gray that." Well, it's your turn Freemind :). I know that without you, this remix would never be. You set down the framework months ago, and although this song sounds very different, the song still sounds very much like your older new-age version. The harmonic and melodic ideas are yours, and that really is what makes this mix good. The instrumentation definitely accents your melodic and harmonic interpretation, but before Gray had a hand in this song, you came up with the material that is the cornerstone to making this mix as good as it is. I personally love what you've done with this mix, and I still listen to your older version, Reflections of Ireland, quite frequently :).
Both Freemind and GrayLightning have done an excellent job on this mix. I'm glad to get the chance to right this review up for you guys :). This really is quite an impressive remix, and I hope you guys do some more collaborations in the future, since I like the end results of what you guys have worked on together (not to mention what you guys do seperately as well ;)).
To everyone else, this is a recommended download if you're into Celtic sounding, or Indian (as in India) sounding music. Even if you're not biased towards either, you'll still probably enjoy this mix a lot because of the calibur that this was produced at.
- Garde on May 24, 2004