Jump to content

OCR01536 - *YES* Cauldron 2 'It's Binary, Baby! Album Mix'


Liontamer
 Share

Recommended Posts

Dat's a lame mix title. :'-( Will groove-bias triumph over evil? - LT

Hello folks!

Let's see if this one tickles you more than my last submission.

ReMixer name: Makke

Name of game(s) ReMixed: Cauldron 2

Composer: Richard Joseph

System: Commodore 64

Year: 1986

Publisher/Software House: Palace

Original soundtrack:

http://www.c64.org/HVSC/Joseph_Richard/Cauldron_II.sid

Right! This is a track from my album 'It's Binary, Baby!', and since it's been free for download from C64.com for a while, I figured I might as well release it here as well. It's the second track of the album, that's why you can hear the last chirps of the intro right at the start of the song.

Some of you might know I'm a big Kraftwerk fan (and if you don't, my Crazy Comets remix that's on this very site should've been a dead give away ;) ), and this track is heavily inspired by Karl Bartos 'Communication' album (the track 'The Message' in particular).

If you don't like vocoders, stay clear!

------------------------------------------------------

http://www.exotica.org.uk/tunes/archive/C64Music/Joseph_Richard/Cauldron_II.sid - SIDtune 7

On some level, I'm willing to forgive the relative repetitiveness of the structure here given how little there is to the original (30 seconds' worth). But to clarify, the beat structure clearly changes from verse (:15) to chorus (1:15) to breakdown (1:47) and so forth, so while we're grooving, it wasn't on complete cruise control. For the record, I'm down with vocoders (and that synth bassline).

The intro actually didn't sound jarringly abrupt, all things considered. The synth design and production here were ace, business as usual from the top European mixers.

Hahaha, cheesy vocals coming in at :45 that present a nice adventure motif (when you're trying to make out the words). They're actually taken right from the game; it's a poem describing the plot. Wish the vocals stood out more from the synths and beats, but everything was fine overall. Nice new writing underneath the vox with that synth at 1:01. The chorus instrumentation at 1:16 was great, playing off :15-:30 of the source tune with some beefy stuff filling out the soundfield. Loving how spacious the soundfield felt with this one; nice use of stereo.

All of the expansionist writing intertwined with the source is seamless and logical, with the chorus in particular preventing the arrangement from getting too original and thereby liberal. McDonalds, I'm lovin' it. Don't be put off by the groove here. The arrangement component was very well handled, the throwback to the game by integrating the poem into the song was smart, and the production was solid.

YES

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

I don't know why it took me so long to get around to this one. I love Makke's stuff in general, including the rejected "SID No More" :( Real solid production here overall. I admit I thought it was a bit repetitive at first, but things were definitely changing over the course of the mix. The vocoder line is great, and considering the simplicity of the original, I think the arrangement meets our standard without much trouble. I would have liked a break section somewhere where the beat dropped out entirely to show off the synths/vocoder, but it's no big deal.

Good work!

YES

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

pretty funky stuff. though i found the drums a little boring and wish to death that there was more variation in the choice of samples (same kick and snare and shaker throughout the entire song) i suppose i agree that the patterns changed sufficiently.

i give this one points for creativity and execution of theme and style. the vocoded speech synthesizer is unique and refreshing. this is a pretty darn good turnout for a remix that's based on such a short and meatless source.

YES

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...