Secret of Mana - Whisper and Mantra remix - "Whispers"
17Arrangement, backing vocals, production: Jorito
Lyrics: Jorito
Lead vocals: JoyDreamer (https://www.youtube.com/user/JoyDreamerJourney/)
Cornet: John Stacy (https://www.youtube.com/user/TheJohnStacy)
Quite late in the Secret of Mana album project, I asked my co-director Mike (who is a crazy Secret of Mana fan and can probably quote the entire dialog by heart) if he felt the album contained remixes of all must-have tracks. He mentioned that Whisper and Mantra, while part of a WIP track, wasn't included, and since I had some time on my hands, I sat down and gave it a whirl.
The source track is very ambient and relaxing, and essentially consists out of just a piano arpeggio, a choir that sings chords and the occasional whale sound. I thought it would be interesting to turn it into a kind of ambient chillout track, reminiscent of Emunator's FFX remix "Laguna Tides", and that was the style I was going for. It was a lot of fun to play around with some crazy layered chords and vocals, and it was also a perfect excuse to add a mellow trumpet solo. This style also reminded me quite a bit of Enigma's Sadeness, and because of that, adding whispered vocals to it felt the right thing to do. And of course you can't have an iconic Secret of Mana track without the iconic whale sound and some more ambient sounds to set the mood.
I was just finishing off work on another remix with Joy, and since she has this lovely voice that goes well with these kind of dreamy tracks, it only made sense that I asked her to collaborate. She was immediately on board with the idea, and despite my crazy vocal layers and a few retakes, she managed to pull it off very well. It even encouraged me to double up her performances with some of my own, because just samples weren't gonna cut it. Same goes for the mellow trumpet solo. I was just wrapping up "A Wistful Heart" with John, and since I knew he is a great brass player with access to a lot of instruments, I asked him if he could perform the part live. He managed to get a great tone on his cornet and also loosened up the timing of the part a bit to make it flow better. All in all, this came out quite different but also quite similar to the original. Hope you like this take on another SoM classic!
Lyrics:
Whisper (3x)
The whisper in your ear
whispers in your mind
The whisper in your heart
whispers in your soul
The purity inside
No doubt within your mind
Your path is set
The mantra guides
your way...