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Author Topic: Zelda music is mathematically golden  (Read 2352 times)

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Goodnight

Once and future Captain
Zelda music is mathematically golden
« on: December 18, 2008, 05:32:14 am »
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Not new, in fact almost 2 years old, but I just found this after some intense web surfing. Anybody who particularly loves the Zelda series music (head count?) should find this interesting; anyone who's also a math and music theory nerd should grab a change of underwear.

http://www.thetanooki.com/2007/03/03/zelda-music-of-golden-proportions/

This writer, a student of music, did some major research and describes, using applications of the mysterious "Golden Ratio" and some specific musical terms, how it's beyond coincidence that there's a reason why many Zelda tunes seem so magnificent, aside from powerful melodies and chord progressions. Results are decidedly awesome.

Don't worry, he summarises in simple enough wording, so that the mathematically-impaired or anyone who doesn't know a lick of music theory can still understand. Audio samples are included, naturally.

I would worship Koji Kondo if it made any sense to do so.
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Re: Zelda music is mathematically golden
« Reply #1 on: December 18, 2008, 05:58:22 am »
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I've seen this article before.  Never took the time to figure it out though.  I suck at math, and I don't understand the intricacies of music…
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Goodnight

Once and future Captain
Re: Zelda music is mathematically golden
« Reply #2 on: December 18, 2008, 06:35:50 am »
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Basically the Golden Ratio is used in all kinds of art and seen all over in nature.. when a length in one dimension is 0.618 times the length in another. I don't know if there's any scientific explanation but we supposedly see some kind of intrinsic beauty in the ratio even without noticing it.

The article's about how a bunch of Zelda songs place strong emphasis in the exact time of the song that coincides with this ratio. Meaning a length of the song plays until this one emphasised point, then the rest of the song is 0.618 times the length of the previous part.

Sounds kind of meaningless if you just describe it but it explains how certain notes in some Zelda songs seem to stand out and just the right time, and probably helps make them more memorable.

The description of the Twilight Princess ending theme is interesting because it actually uses this "classical" technique again within itself.
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Re: Zelda music is mathematically golden
« Reply #3 on: December 18, 2008, 12:29:13 pm »
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I just got a big surprise WTF.
I went along and analysed one of my songs with this golden ratio, and found that it almost perfectly fits. It just finishes a solo and all the other instruments come back in right at that time.
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Jeod

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Re: Zelda music is mathematically golden
« Reply #4 on: December 18, 2008, 03:34:43 pm »
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Koji Kondo's secret is no more! Darklight, I expect new tunes using the Golden Ratio from you! :P
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Re: Zelda music is mathematically golden
« Reply #5 on: December 18, 2008, 03:53:20 pm »
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Quote from: Jeod on December 18, 2008, 03:34:43 pm
Koji Kondo's secret is no more! Darklight, I expect new tunes using the Golden Ratio from you! :P
:P
I don't want something like this influencing me though... there are plenty of popular songs that don't follow this method. In other words, I don't want to find myself sitting there and making sure it has this "golden ratio" in it as I make it.

http://www.zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=32752.new#new

Posted the song that I analysed there.
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Quote from: Jason
Your community is a bunch of stuck up turds.
Re: Zelda music is mathematically golden
« Reply #6 on: December 19, 2008, 11:24:04 pm »
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That's very interesting! A genius way to do the perfect timings, lulz.
It would be kind of freaky if it's all just a coincidence...
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Re: Zelda music is mathematically golden
« Reply #7 on: December 19, 2008, 11:43:50 pm »
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My choir director talks about and applies the golden ratio. When he places all of the voice parts, he has us all sing a song and places us to create a good blend, placing the singers with the sound he wants at the point of the golden ratio (about 2/3rds of the semicircle).
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Re: Zelda music is mathematically golden
« Reply #8 on: December 19, 2008, 11:54:33 pm »
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Quote from: Goodnight on December 18, 2008, 05:32:14 am
Not new, in fact almost 2 years old, but I just found this after some intense web surfing. Anybody who particularly loves the Zelda series music (head count?) should find this interesting; anyone who's also a math and music theory nerd should grab a change of underwear.

http://www.thetanooki.com/2007/03/03/zelda-music-of-golden-proportions/

This writer, a student of music, did some major research and describes, using applications of the mysterious "Golden Ratio" and some specific musical terms, how it's beyond coincidence that there's a reason why many Zelda tunes seem so magnificent, aside from powerful melodies and chord progressions. Results are decidedly awesome.

Don't worry, he summarises in simple enough wording, so that the mathematically-impaired or anyone who doesn't know a lick of music theory can still understand. Audio samples are included, naturally.

I would worship Koji Kondo if it made any sense to do so.

I did just change my underwear. This is epic win. Thanks for posting.
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Re: Zelda music is mathematically golden
« Reply #9 on: December 22, 2008, 12:47:35 pm »
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I'm no math nerd but that was very interesting.
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Re: Zelda music is mathematically golden
« Reply #10 on: December 22, 2008, 03:44:34 pm »
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That explains everything. That's a great find I'd have to say.
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Re: Zelda music is mathematically golden
« Reply #11 on: December 23, 2008, 01:42:45 am »
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Wow, never thought about using the golden ratio in music... I'll try that later.

But yeah, music is all mathematics. You may not realise, but generally, music won't sound symmetric and balanced unless all measures have some sort of proportion in the sections.
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Fox

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Re: Zelda music is mathematically golden
« Reply #12 on: December 23, 2008, 01:50:22 am »
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tl;dr, but... it's scary to see something that I had to learn in media-design-school now being applied in music.

Like something that is being used in visuals is also being used in audio.

The Goden Ratio is !@#$% awesome. Excellent article, too.
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Re: Zelda music is mathematically golden
« Reply #13 on: December 23, 2008, 02:32:29 am »
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I wonder if you get the same effect by applying the ratio backwards? so the first part of the song is shorter and the last the longer?
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Goodnight

Once and future Captain
Re: Zelda music is mathematically golden
« Reply #14 on: December 23, 2008, 02:58:17 am »
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Quote from: sjegtp on December 23, 2008, 01:42:45 am
But yeah, music is all mathematics. You may not realise, but generally, music won't sound symmetric and balanced unless all measures have some sort of proportion in the sections.
That's quite true, and one reason why pretentious math-rockers bug the !@#$% out of me. We get it; you want to make quadratic song structure just to be unique. I know some "math rock" sounds good, but it's usually when the structure makes a relative amount of sense.

There's so much math too in harmonies, I'd like to hear some interesting applications of "magic numbers" or number series into harmony.


Quote from: Fox on December 23, 2008, 01:50:22 am
tl;dr,
...
Excellent article, too.
Eheh.

It's not really a new concept, classical musicians have used it quite a bit and like the article says, you can probably find the same sort of thing in a lot of popular music today.

In fact I decided to test the golden segments theory on a game soundtrack that I wrote.. 2 songs in particular come very close to having significant points right at the 0.618 mark. (Co?)incidentally they're the 2 songs that most people thought were the best on the soundtrack! :o
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Kyubi

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Re: Zelda music is mathematically golden
« Reply #15 on: December 23, 2008, 03:02:16 am »
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Brix shat.

I am now going to write music using the golden ratio.
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Re: Zelda music is mathematically golden
« Reply #16 on: December 23, 2008, 03:14:14 am »
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Quote from: Goodnight on December 23, 2008, 02:58:17 am
In fact I decided to test the golden segments theory on a game soundtrack that I wrote.. 2 songs in particular come very close to having significant points right at the 0.618 mark. (Co?)incidentally they're the 2 songs that most people thought were the best on the soundtrack! :o
I tested one of mine too, it was so close :P. Off by about 1/2 a second. Incedentally it was the one Q.K. thought
Quote from: Q.K. on December 19, 2008, 12:05:13 am
This was ridiculously good :3
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Quote from: Jason
Your community is a bunch of stuck up turds.
Re: Zelda music is mathematically golden
« Reply #17 on: December 23, 2008, 05:30:02 am »
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This is really interesting and I was never really aware of how much math went behind music beyond what's obvious.. Strange though that it's called "golden". It's especially interesting though because in art, there's also something called the "golden section" in which there is a section in a piece of art that the eye tends to be drawn to or is appealing to and there's all this math and science behind the golden section as well. Really interesting stuff.
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Hm... I should probably put something here...
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