OCR04855 - *YES* FTL "...And There Was Light"

[Emunator ⚖️]

Artist Name: Emunator feat. Zack Parrish

Emunator: Arrangement, keys/synths, programming, mixing
Zack Parrish: Guitars, bass, mastering

Another month, another FOMO-fueled last-minute Dwelling of Duels entry! I had to dig deep for this source tune, since this month's theme was PC Games, and I can count on one hand the number of PC games I've played in my life. FTL is not one of them - I actually knew about this source through Little V's remix from 2015, which gave me enough familiarity with the source that I felt like I could hack something together in 3 days. So I dove in and let it rip.

The original source, although it is incredibly ear-wormy, has a pretty nebulous structure, so I crafted an arrangement that centered around two climactic moments and then built outward from there. Although I knew I wanted to let off the thrusters and allow this track to exist as a slow-burning melodic piece similar artists like M83 or Slowdive, I wanted at least one moment where the song could soar. Luckily, I know just the guitarist for the job - Zack dropped not only a ripping solo, but also tracked bass for the whole song as well as additional clean guitars that took the spacey vibes to another plane of existence.

The voice clips throughout the song are sampled from the Apollo 8 mission, which is available through NASA's public domain archives. The funny thing is, the vocal clips were a last-minute addition because certain parts of the song still felt empty... but I had to actually check myself on that because by now, they feel like the song was built around them. I barely had to do any slicing to get the individual clips to fit with the pacing of the song, and the "let there be light" moment in particular fell right into place with the transition I'd already written.

All said, this song only took about 12 hours of work total over three days - the stars certainly aligned to bring this piece together on a tight timeline!

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Games & Sources

FTL: Faster Than Light - Space Cruise

 

[prophetik music ⚖️]

opens with sfx and a lush bed of synths and guitar strums. there's a funky note at 0:28 for an instant that's pretty noticeable. big build with percussive elements into 0:39, and the lead's variances are a nice callback to the particularly funky first chord of the original and how iconic that warble is. that lead is exploring the initial arpeggio from the original without the echo on it. bass sounds a touch stilted on some attacks in this area, particularly at 0:59 for about the next ten seconds. percussion in here is surprisingly high up in the freq range too, it's noisier than i'd expect given the rich, dense background and how sustained everything is.

there's a break at 0:59 and there's some exploration of the chord progression, and subsequently a recording from Genesis - and then we get the big bang (sorry!!!) at 1:42 when everything comes in. this is still focusing primarily on the arpeggio section and not on the 'chorus' from the original or the b theme.

there's another drop at 2:23 for sfx, and then a big blow at 3:03 (love that tom fill!). a great guitar solo to soar over the top of the framework that's been put down so far. this is definitely the highlight of the track. the falling action after is primarily focused around sfx, and that becomes the primary sound until the end.

so my main concern here is the volume of original content. i hear some easy correlations at 0:39-0:59 and 1:42-2:22, but i'm missing other obvious correlations that may be represented in the chords. i'll check with emu for a breakdown since i'm out of time to do it myself right now.

 

 

?

edit 3/6: i don't hear the opening chords mapping to 0:08. i don't hear a backing arp at 0:20. i had already accounted for the synth at 0:39. at 1:00, it sounds like you're stating that the descending maj7 arpeggios are from the main arp theme, and i see where that's coming from, so i'm ok with that. i don't hear the chiptune arp at 1:20 at all. 1:42 i already accounted for. 2:42 i don't correlate or hear at all. 3:03 i still don't hear either. i don't hear a chiptune synth at 3:43. that 80/267. so that's a no-go unless i'm using the wrong file or something - i don't hear most of these at all even on repeated listens.

NO

edit 3/7: the section at 0:20 is clear isolated, but it doesn't actually sound pitched in-situ. it sounds percussive. so i still won't count that, because there's no point where i can pick it out as being pitched. if it was louder, i could probably hear the pitches, and then be able to count it. the first time i can hear the pitches is for about 2s at 3:53.

i'm willing to assume that i'm missing the opening chords due to the detuning in the original - i'd have a hard time mapping them by hand now as it is. however, even if i counted this, i'm still not to 50% - i'm at 112/267. the backing on the solo is a bit too much of a stretch for me given i can't really hear any of it.

i think this is still a no =/ if someone else wants to point out some other correlation i'm missing, great - but this not close enough right now. i think it'd be easy to find 20s here and there if emu wanted to adjust something, and then it'd be good for me, but as it is, no.

edit 4/22: updated mix sounds a ton better in general, but also brings the main clicky arp way more forward so i can find it a lot easier. this allays my concerns about source usage while also dealing with a few nits in the levels that i had before. this is good enough for me. fourth listen's the charm, i guess!

YES

Edited April 22 by prophetik music

[Emunator ⚖️]

Source:

Chords 0:08 - 0:35 are pulled from the detuned chords from 0:00-0:30 in the source (32s)
Plucky backing arp from :20-:39 is the main arpeggio from the source (9s)
Monosynth at :39-:59 is the same arpeggio (20s)
1:00-1:20 uses fragments of the source arpeggio across various instruments, as well as the chords from :58 in the source (the descending F#>F>D# motif).
1:20-1:42 is an original progression but the plucky chiptune arp is playing melodic material from :58 in the source
1:42-2:22 you already caught in the guitar/backing arpeggios (40s)
2:42-2:56 - the strummed guitar chords are a different rhythmic interpretation of the motif from :58 in the source
3:03-3:43 has the same backing motif there, it's just not very prominent. Your call if you want to count this!
3:43-end plays the melody from :58 in the source on the plucked chiptune synth

Hope this helps! I started to count it out but realized that the source is pretty much all over this if you look at duration, so it's more a matter of whether that source usage is prominent enough in the mix when it does appear.
 

Edited March 5 by Emunator

[Emunator ⚖️]

 

This is the arpeggio I'm talking about at :20-39. I have an autopanner on it so it's definitely bouncing around the stereo field but it's there. This motif is directly from the source and repeats for almost the entire duration of the remix (shown on this pattern in the screenshot)

The chord connection might be easier to grasp with MIDI. These are the underlying root chords starting at :08 in my remix - the guitar is voiced differently and has some color notes, but this pattern below is direct from the source as well (the original has it played on a very detuned synth.)

If it's mixed in a way that feels too removed from the source, I can live with that. The original source doesn't have much to work with, so I had to lean on chords and backing elements to make the connection. Hope this helps x2! :)

[Chimpazilla ⚖️]

I heard this one evolve through wips over the short course of its creation and I have loved it at every stage.  The moon recordings fit in as if they were made for this arrangement.  

I can hear and corroborate all the source bits that Wes mentioned in his post above.  Sometimes they are mixed quietly into the soundscape, and while I would prefer they be more prominent and a tad louder, I most definitely hear them.  I'm having zero problem hearing enough source connection in this arrangement.

That same little arp is playing during the big guitar solo, and it's *almost* inaudible there, if this were my mix I would have made the guitar a bit more centered and thrown that arp way out to the sides, haas-style, or I would have used a different pluck to make it come through better, but even so I can STILL hear it behind the (amazing) guitar solo.

There's so much heart, whimsy, and mystery in this arrangement, and I love it.

YES

[XPRTNovice ⚖️]

Aw, this opening was awesome. Love the mission control VO and the ambiance. 

I DON'T particularly enjoy the way that VO is mixed in at 1:36. I understand that you want to bring that to the forefront, but the old-radio EQing is making it grating to hear. I think you could probably tone that down to fit it in the mix better without losing its presence. that may be because it's a different sample/different recording. You're fighting against the natural bitcrushing that comes from transmission. 

Guitar solo is cool as shit at 3:10. I actually think it could probably stand to come out a bit more - or, perhaps, what I am hearing is the snare drum being a bit too out in front. I was going to comment on it before the guitar came in, but now that I'm hearing it in line with the guitar, I just think that snare needs to move back a bit in the mix, or have some space EQ'ed out of it automated at that point so that the guitar can come through without fighting it. 

I don't think either of the two comments above put this below the bar though. I think this is a great mix, well done. Occasionally it's feeling a bit noisy, but there's a lot going on and you're managing it all really well. 

YES

[Emunator ⚖️]

Breaking news: that old mixdown sucked. @XPRTNovice@Chimpazilla@Liontamer@prophetik music or whoever, I updated the first post with a new re-mix and master in addition to changing out the synth sound that Brad was having a hard time hearing (it was there but it was all click and no tail, so I can see why it wasn't audible.)