Game Remix, Tracker Homage

[Mazedude]

Hello friends! I'm pleased to share that, well, I did something I once thought I'd never do. I went back and remastered a whole bunch of my old remixes. Specifically, for the purpose of assembling and releasing a cohesive collection that I call Game Remix, Tracker Homage.

https://mazedude.bandcamp.com/album/game-remix-tracker-homage-remastered 

A tremendous amount of work went into this (extracting layers from the tracker and mixing them in ProTools is a significant time spend), so I hope you enjoy it! Let me know what you think! And Merry Christmas everyone!

[Nase]

cool!

have to say, wouldn't have changed a thing in turtle wave! i'm listening to the 2 different versions right now, and i'm not surprised that i like the old one better. that's because i always have marveled over how perfect that one sounded to my taste. you could say it shaped my taste too; i always think of "turtle wave" when i think of how plain good you can make music sound with a seemingly limited mixing platform like a tracker.

(that even includes the 2 super heavy kicks near the end that you apparently ironed out...always sounded like clipping audio, but i decided at some point that if this is clipping, it's clipping done to my taste. this is "soft clipping", right? or did you not use a limiter back then??? does old modplug have a limiter??)

Edited December 19, 2021 by Nase

[Mazedude]

Ha, well I appreciate the honesty, and I hear ya. There's an authentic "I was doing the best I could with what I had" quality back when the original mixes were fresh, and it's hard to replicate that, even if the old tracks might have a sense of mud, poor EQ, lousy reverb, too much compression, etc. And no, the tracking programs don't have anything in terms of limiters, I've always had to take the individual layers out of the tracker as solo WAV files, import the WAV's into ProTools, and post-process from there. That's where I'd apply the compressors, EQ, reverb, etc. A difficult process and not one that I recommend, heh. Way back in my early days I had a max of 12 channels to work with, so I was always consolidating a bunch of layers into one WAV file. Not ideal. This time around I was able to give each layer its own WAV file and its own treatment, hence the cleaner and remastered mixes.

[Nase]

yeah, it's just a special story with "turtle wave" and me. i really happen to like its mixing. i don't think you could accuse the original mix of carrying too much "mud", anyhow.

i can see why you'd want to slightly decrease some mid/high frequency content and give the mix more "body", but i think you went overboard a little.

the EQ of the lead at 1:20 is just moving it too much into the background, for example... haha. sorry. it changes the mix, it seems a conscious decision and it works, but i still like the original better

 

it's a typical thing for good old amateur music, like oldschool ocremix, to be a little hot on the higher mids and treble, but i think there's simply cases where this perfectly contributes to creating its own perfect sound.

a generally good example for what i mean (doesn't really apply to this mix) is chronically "too loud" hi-hats in amateur mixes - generally, it'd be better to tone those down a bit, but in some mixes it just feels right.

 

again, changing turtle wave in anyway is just criminal. my perspective.

 

[Mazedude]

Phew, well the licensing process sure took a while (way longer than expected), but the compilation (minus four tracks that were, sadly, too obscure to get a license for) is now on more platforms:

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/game-remix-tracker-homage/1613279172 

Spotify: 

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/music/player/albums/B09V22M3RB 

Deezer: https://www.deezer.com/en/album/301076657 

Pandora: https://www.pandora.com/artist/mazedude/game-remix-tracker-homage/ALJlnkzlgZdflKP 

Tidal: https://tidal.com/browse/album/219821547 

(You'll still get the best experience on Bandcamp, but some folks were asking about these other platforms, so here you go!)

[Nase]

maZE, i just wanted TO TELL yOu, my turtle wave REmaster criticism is in GOOD huMoR ofCoURSE (tHOUGh deaD sERIOus);

YOU'RE still ONE OF The MOsT INSPiRATIOnal muSICIaNS I eVER discOvereD ON THE net, aND i draW STRENgTH frOm the DISpLAY oF yOUr iNGenUITy, wHeNEVeR You HApPeN uNTO my Mp3 PLAYER!!!

 

 

rock on, you soul you!

Edited March 11, 2022 by Nase