Steel and Snare

February 28, 2021

To this day, I can’t figure out what the background noise in Steel and Snare is supposed to be. What does this sound have to do with the Emperor, who has this as his theme?  At first, it seems like freeway traffic.  A few tracks in Secret of Mana have sound effects in the background, but this is embedded. UPDATE: Jammin’ Sam Miller explains:

It's the orchestral crash cymbal. A piece of the crash cymbal loops infinitely when it's played normally, but the note artificially fades out, which is why it sounds like it's pulsating. In the noise, the tail simply loops infinitely and plays at a very low pitch so it sounds like an atmosphere

The music itself is driven by the bass and percussion with little else.  There’s some really fun, wild syncopation and sudden shifts in character towards the end that make this stand out. 

The appropriately named “ODD_TIME_VGM OF THE DAY” Tumblr summed up the meter as follows:

I’ll be counting this at [approximately] 120 [bpm]...
The beginning is...4/4 + 5/4 (“improperly written” as 9/4), repeated 6 times.
At 0:30, there is one bar of 3/4 before it goes back into the 4/4 + 5/4 pattern again, repeating...until 1:04. At 1:04, it stays in 3/4 for 8 more bars.
At 1:16, it has six bars of 4/4 until the whole track loops.”

The remake’s Steel and Snare is the most ’80s sounding thing on its soundtrack, its Faltermeyer-esque arrangement transporting the Emperor’s castle to the set of Fletch. However, with the compression used, the main line’s energy is buried and doesn’t have the same drive as the original.  Maybe I’m old, but I still don’t see the need for the harsh touches to the remake’s soundtrack, especially on a track like this.

Slap Bass – Brite Thumb 1a on Roland U-220/LCDP-02
Crash – Yamaha TG55/77/99
HiHat – Yamaha TG55/77/99
Snare – Ouch Snare on Roland R-8
Knick – Mondo Knick on Roland R-8