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**CANCELLED** Interested in picking up this project? Drop a DM to Trism ALBUM PROJECT: Paths Less Travelled: Secret of Evermore Project Director: FINAL COMPLETED SUBMISSION DEADLINE: TBC PROPOSED ALBUM RELEASE: TBC Current Remixers: NyxTheShield, rebrained, Manji, djpretzel, brink-of-time, about:blank, Dj Mokram, Argle, TSori, Siolfor the Jackal, theconsoloist, Trism Current Performers: Trev (violin), TSori (trumpet) Sound Designers/Audio Support: Chimpazilla STATEMENT REGARDING JEREMY SOULE HERE - PROJECT CONCEPT - Howdy folks, we’re back! Hot on the heels of the previous album, we’re raring to go at another. We’re doing Paths Less Travelled Volume 2! For those who missed the first instalment, PLT is a series of albums paying homage to overlooked and underrated games from yesteryear. Whether it be from poor marketing, limited localisation or plain bad timing, we celebrate the gems that undeservedly missed the limelight. Volume 1 covered a little-known game, originally available only in Asia & Europe, named Terranigma and was RELEASED in December 2019. The game we’ll be bringing to the forefront this time is: Secret of Evermore is an RPG released on the SNES by Squaresoft on October 1, 1995. With gameplay and a menu system reminiscent to the hugely successful Secret of Mana, it featured real-time battles, ring-shaped displays, and the ability to switch control between characters. This is where similarities ended. Unlike its similarly-named cousin, Secret of Evermore is unique in that it is the only game developed by Squaresoft of America, a small studio beholden to the Japanese parent company. Secret of Evermore was their first and only title. It did not receive a release in Japan. While the game was generally very well received by reviewers upon its release, it was criticised for not being even similar to Secret of Mana in story or art direction, an expectation likely exacerbated by their similar game titles. Secret of Evermore is a curiously dark tale following a cinema-obsessed boy and his dog as they fight their way through a virtual world gone awry, filled with characters and locations from the neolithic era to the far future. Think The Goonies x Last Action Hero x Bill and Ted in 90’s RPG form. And the dog can shapeshift. You should play it. This game also marks the debut of Jeremy Soule, who got the job straight out from composition studies on the back of a demo cassette. Jeremy has gone on to score and compose music for modern classics Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (amongst many, many others). His debut directly utilises environmental and ambient soundscapes to emphasise the feelings of loneliness and exploration. This technique was hardly ever implemented in gaming at the time; and was used to great effect alongside the more traditional music to be expected in an RPG; using the sound of nature to actively enhance an already atmospheric score. Here is a link to the selected soundtrack. The track order has been randomised: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKu09f66XIaTvXnXFQUPFQvY0NoxjlcpL And here’s a link to the midi files. Unfortunately they have slightly different titles: https://www.khinsider.com/midi/snes/secret-of-evermore - WHAT WE NEED - GENERAL ROLES ▪Arrangers/Remixers: This is where the bulk of the recognisable work will be. We need folks to claim tracks and conjure them into beautiful remixes. ▪Live Musicians: Performers who are experienced with any type of instrument and have a high-quality recording setup. We would like to get quality live performers on remixes in every instance where remixer's sample quality “isn’t quite there”. Put simply, there are Quality Control standard requirements for the official OCR stamp ▪Cover Artist: Speaks for itself, really. We need someone to create art for the album. - THE SPECIFICS - Claiming & Auditioning: All remixers wishing to claim a track should PM me or comment on the thread about any they are interested in and we'll go from there. If you are not a posted remixer, please PM some of your completed work. It needn't be a remix, but something that demonstrates the quality of your skills. Once a track is claimed, a first deadline will be set that is reasonable. We're keeping it casual at the moment, stricter requirements will be implemented as the project progresses. While we want to do this right, there’s no pressure early on. However. If nothing is heard from you in a reasonable time after contact is attempted, you will be dropped from the project and your track will revert to ‘unclaimed’. Genre Guidelines: There is no genre one should adhere to when remixing tracks for the album, A central theme in the album, as with the game, will be the use of environmental effects. You are NOT required to use any of that stuff in any way, but we WOULD like your blessing to allow us to implement some at the mixing stage. Now hold on! We very well may not, but if we do, it will be with soundscapes created specifically for the album; and used both sympathetically and subtly, to convey a greater sense of atmosphere to the album overall. If you’ve got a specific idea for a track, by all means run it by us, We’re open to ideas. Flexible Deadlines: Deadlines will be handled on a case-by-case basis at first, and based on the preference of the remixer, we're not trying to rush things here. Try to maintain contact with us, We know things are scary in the world at the moment. We’re really easy. - CORE TRACK LIST - Black - Unclaimed Track Red - Track Claimed, no submission Orange - Concept Submitted Yellow - WIP submitted Green- Significant WIP submitted Blue - Finished Track submitted Purple - Finished and Mastered Track Main Title - theconsoloist Storekeepers Boss Theme 2 Pirates of Crustacia - djpretzel Elephant Graveyard - Manji Boss Theme 1 Fire Eyes - about:blank Intro Credits Freak Show! Merchant in the Cave Horace - Argle Collossia Chamber 1 Ivor Tower Side Chambers - TSori Pyramid - Dj Mokram Control Room Ivor Tower Town - brink-of-time Ivor Tower Castle Podunk, 1995 Puppet Show Final Battle Carltron - Siolfor the Jackal Queen Bluegarden Collosia Chamber 2 - Trism Tinker Ebon Keep Town Escape Ebon Keep Castle - NyxTheShield Omnitopia Surface - rebrained Fields of Gothic Flying So… all that’s left to be said is welcome aboard and get claiming!

Hi good to hear from you, hope all is well for you and loved ones during this dire situation we're all going thru with this pandemic! Who knew we'll be at this point? It's crazy! Yeah I've been gone for a while and done some projects here and there, now that the studio it's much upgraded from back then this new remake will sound much better with better detail and mix! Take care

Yoooo, welcome back! I absolutely loved this remix when it was posted (I still throw it on from time to time) and I'm excited to hear what you can do with 10 more years of experience under your belt. I'll be keeping an eye on this!

OK so I was trying to do this track justice with some drums, but it's so beautiful and natural sounding that I wasn't getting too far. Instead I came up with this... I just love your piece Juke, this is just a bit of fun Those flute samples sound incredible btw. Pretty much indistinguishable from a live performance.

Honestly, I see this as a neat genre adaptation. The performances are tight, the guitar tones both electric and unplugged are expressive, the drum writing never sticks around in one place, and the palette as a whole has this raw garage sound to it. Yes, this track does have more of a bass presence and not so much on the highs, but I didn't sense any glaring frequency overlaps either and can consider this an intentional alt-rock sound that fits its intended purpose. And yes, the arrangement is minimal, but it's just the melody maintained as it is while the bass does its own thing, and the added rhythm guitars/synth work contributes some fun textures that also shake up through the track's duration. The sustained aesthetic in the second variation felt ominous, the bit-crushed breakdown at 1:23 was out of leftfield, and the half-time drums at 2:17 shaped up an impressive audible climax. I think it set out to tread the fine line between conservative arranging and thoughtful interpretation, and that's impressive on its own. So yes, it's a gritty sound and minimal arrangement that may not fly with everyone, but I didn't sense anything glaring, so both sides squeaked over the bar for me. But I do hope you take what you've learned from this experience and see where you can push yourself for future submissions. Please stick around! YES (borderline)