Inside The Score - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask - Cavern

Down the rabbit hole

The spiritual successor to Dodongos’s Cavern ( and inside the tombs) but with the creepiness factor turned up a notch. The ambiguously metallic sounds from the Goron mines are replaced with true standards of horror film scoring to create the sense that something very bad could happen to you at any moment you expend on the underground.

First heard on the mysterious trippy trip through the rabbit hole Link falls just like Alice while seeing that his new land is based around time and masks. The cue is then used in all manner of caves and grottoes from Termina; the piece is a true noise fest of unsettling proportions.

After being saved of his fall by a conveniently placed flower, the hero finds himself on a series of underground tunnels. The level of surrealism starts to rise as we see a now flying skull kid illuminated by two theater lamps straight from a circus; his level of power, confidence and evilness now seems totally different from the mischievous child from the surface. The Chinese opera has begun.

Musical Analysis

Structure: Section 0 / Section 1

Time Signature: 4/4

Tempo: 64

Melodic and Harmonic Profiles: Atonal

For this cavernous track it’s not surprising that it starts with the usual atmospheric wind that accompanied various dungeons throughout Ocarina of Time. For variety, a different sample from those of the previous game was used to create the random wind pattern; it even manages to sound a little bit like very deep voices, giving a more infernal and otherworldly sound to the cue.

The set of horror instruments are composed of ambiguous sounds meant to scare and unsettle, including some huge metal sounds like something has awakened below the earth or the floor is crumbling, some slashing sounds like guillotines are being operated and, the ultimate standard of horror, the screeching violins played in a very high register without any musical intention whatsoever. The Psycho” Strings, named after their famous use on the movie from Alfred Hitchcock in the iconic shower scene. From there, composers have taken this disturbing sound to signify danger or something unnatural lurking, just varying the speed depending of how close it is—the sound probably was not even made with an actual violin bow. It is also frequently performed by fast bow strokes below the bridge — the wooden piece that holds the strings up — of a cello. However, since nobody wants to damage a precious, expensive violin, In many horror movies they don’t use strings but a waterphone, an instrument that may even be more effective and versatile for these purposes; these beauties might be a sound designer’s dream acquisition.

Or just, you now, try with your fingernails on multiple materials and save money

By manipulating the speed and pitch of the sounds, Kondo manages to have a broader palette from just a few samples, sounding very different depending of what key is pressed on the keyboard controller.

As was said, the cue will be used for all kinds of scary places throughout Termina.

Link was without an identity at the beginning of the game. Majora is capable of seeing right through him, thus this lack of identity is about to turn literal for the hero of this adventure.

Sample used for the strings:

Danger Strings – Partition D – DANGER – DANGER [430] from the library Spectrasonics Distorted Reality:

The name is literal, I don’t come with them. The creepiness of Majora’s Mask is not as subtle as you think

Metal Rumble – PIT HIT_01 from the library Spectrasonics Distorted Reality:

There is a reason why an appropriate alternate name for Termina would be ‘Distorted Reality’