*NO* Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver "Nosgoth 1984"

[prophetik music ⚖️]

*DOD DEBUT TRACK / DONE AS THE BIG COLLAB PIECE FOR AOCH, VOL. 1*

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GROUP MEMBERS:

• The Vodoú Queen - source transcription, arrangement & composition, keyboards, organs, choir, synths, auxiliary basses, auxiliary drum writing & programming, additional percussion, SFX, effects & foley, mix engineering, production, post-production and mastering
• Pixels & Paradiddles - source transcription & transpositions, arrangement & composition, lead guitars, rhythm guitars, percussion, drum writing & programming, and mixing / production & post-production guidance
• TheManPF - lead guitars, rhythm guitars, and mix consultation
• Lucas Guimaraes - synth basses and mix & production coaching

#

I want to preface this, first and foremost, by saying this one was a true adventure; however, I'm gonna do something new and try to stick to bullet points, because if I dilly-dally too hard on writing this shit, I'm either gonna wax poetic in the finest purple prose, or start crying because of the sheer amount of feels doing this track has brought me. EVERYTHING -- from the backstory and inception of wanting to tackle this, on through to the final knobs turned and dials nudged for that master track has not only been one hell of a dream come true and thrill ride, but so full of various emotions, 99.9% of which have been highly positive. It is my sincerest hope that I get to experience something like this again very soon, with another (or the same) group of awesome people!

 

1. Origins & Inspirations:

I grew up a Nintendo/SEGA kid, and didn't get access to a PSX until the early-'00s in my early-to-mid teens. Still remember the day me and my folks went down to a flea market in Daytona Beach to get one, when we found the veritable gold mine of a store there that was selling old school games and systems from the 3rd generation console era on up. I don't know which one of us made the decision to pick 1999s Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver for the PSOne, but it was love at first bite sight. I love horror movies and I love horror games, and the Legacy of Kain series almost feels like the best of both worlds, while you're in the hot-seat the whole way through. The vampiric lore captivated me from the very first cutscene. And the voice acting -- especially for the '90s/'00s? -- *chef's kiss*.

My first experience of all of that came from a single opening cinematic, and its BGM: Ozar Midrashim.

The song is a pure, finely distilled river of wordless storytelling that pores through the veins of its arrangement; a wonder and a feeling for the world of Nosgoth trickles through every note, every heavy breathing and growl sound effect, and every heavy thump and beat of the drums and percussion. It's dark fantasy. It's post-apocalyptic and gothic. It's mysteriously haunting. And, it's beautiful. Like many games I've played before it, I could just soak in the music from this game and probably never get bored or tired of it.

The biggest shame in this is that the Legacy of Kain series and its OSTs are SO underrated, and they're a treasure trove just waiting to be plundered. Up until a few years ago there were barely any posts up for the full OSTs, and it's nigh-on impossible to get any MIDI extractions, music sheets or sound files of the source material without trying to piece it together from bits and bobs strewn across the vast reaches of the Internet, or (s)crawling through the dark recesses of an Undercity to find them. No one has really done remixes or covers of them, and OverClocked ReMix itself has '0' entries on their database for any remixes of or information about ANY of the games.

We're here to rectify that situation. And this won't be the only or last Pillars of Nosgoth venture into the realms of the masterpiece and masterclass that's the LoK OSTs. Bet on it. :)

2. What's This For and Why?:

I had done remixes for AOCC ('The Unofficial' An OverClocked Christmas albums) for a couple of years now, and seen people ask or talk about why there weren't similar projects for other holidays, *especially* Halloween (which seems to be a lot of people's favorite one!) There's not a whole lot of stuff out there solely dedicated to VGM in a horror or Halloween setting, so I took the charge for it (got married on the fucking 31st of October, you'd figure I would be!) So, perfect excuse opportunity to get to not only try and take my first stab at a Darkwave / Metal track like I've always wanted to, but to do it for a game that's sorely underrepresented and I 1000% love.

3. How Did We Get Here!?:

This came about originally from a conversation the Twins (pixelseph and paradiddlesjosh) had at one point with me, waxing on about how we all mutually love LoK and Soul Reaver. We spoke on it about a year before AOCH ('The Unofficial' An OverClocked Halloween) even came into my mind. At one point, within the past 2 months or so, I was flitting through several ideas of which game and source I'd like to cover for AOCH, Vol. 1, and put them up as options on a public vote for those participating in the album (via the CRAC -- 'Community Remix Album Collaborations' server on Discord) to help me choose from. pixelseph made the high, passionate vouches for me to finally make an attempt with Ozar, and further was like: "me and Josh will do it, but maaaaaaaaaybe ALSO TRY DOD (Dwelling of the Duels) this month [September], because it's a free month!!!" I was hesitant at first, because of my fear and anxieties when it comes to competitions, and I backed out of compos since Game, Set, Mash!! 2 because I felt I couldn't hack it. ...But with Seph's undying optimism and encouragement, Josh's serious, yet pragmatic wisdom, ManPFs GOATed cool-guy vibes and Lucas' infectious enthusiasm (and IN-DEPTH KNOWLEDGE of the wizardry that is Franck Hueso (better known as: Carpenter Brut's) hellbent, killer music stylings), we did it, we placed in DoD's F R E S H month, and I am proud of it.

4. The Track Influences / Musical Reference Material:

The majority of Carpenter Brut's whole TRILOGY album, but specifically these three songs from it:

• Escape from Midwich Valley
• Turbo Killer
• Roller Mobster

His song Death Racer also was a big impetus for my decision to try and understand his process, and to make a track akin to his prolific, legendary work.

The name of the game here was figuring out how to instill the feelings of that opening cutscene from Soul Reaver, but packaged in our own way, with the Brut veneer and polish as the cherry on top. It was my first time really delving into the deeper aspects of Dark Synthwave EDM, and cutting my teeth on Heavy Metal, but I think we've 'captured the essence of both here', as they'd say.

5. The Process & Creative Approach:

It was...extensive. A lot of back and forth, a lot of building pressure, and anxiety-riddled moments of trying to NOT have a panic attack while rushing the mixing process for that last day, DoD hot red zone / deadline / end-goal. Didn't QUITE pan out (fuck you Reaper for blowing up the project in the middle of the last bits and tweaks to the mixing sesh 2 HOURS before it was due), but, it was an immense (intense??) learning experience, and will go down in my path, history and legacy on said music journey as one of the most memorable to-date.

Everyone's involvement here was stellar; the closeness, the rapport establishment and growing sense of comradery . . . ...Ya know what? Fuck the process, from a "critical theory / creative / applicable" POV. The proof of the labor and what I learned and gained in skill is inherent and deeply noticeable within the remix track itself, and, for once, I've found the confidence to stand proud on that principle. What's most profound here is my newfound respect for my musical 'brothers-in-arms' here. I'm probably the eldest out of all of them, but it really felt like I was the baby sister while doing it, and my big bros had my back the whole way through.

"It's not about the process [Spider-Man], it's about the friends we made along the way" (no, seriously). Love you guys. ♥

I do wish to point out, though, that Seph's epic pull for Lucas's touch with this project proved an immense boon and asset, because of his intimate knowledge of the Brut subject matter, and I don't think I would've been able to dial in the proper soundscaping and right design for this without his synth bass stems and his coaching on the nuances of tweaking the drums and the low-end every step of the way (even while on his multiple vacations! :P) But EVERYONE had their parts to play here, 100%, and I don't want to take that away from any of them. Not a single person in the group didn't pull their weight and their weigh-in on the process was phenomenal, both in execution and emotionally during and after the fact.

6. Feelings on DoD & Final Thoughts:

The people at DoD and in their Discord have been very welcoming and warm to me, and I'll never forget the friendships forged already in the short amount of time I have been around the block. Unsure WTF "1984" means in the wide sphere of the DoD community (besides the obvious Orwellian connotations; it was Seph's suggestion as part of the title!), however, I WISH to know and embrace these memes, and plan on sticking around there and participating for as long as I can and am capable of doing so. :D

You guys -- every single person involved in this, from actually being a member of the group to just making kind comments about the mix -- have made me a better musician in all aspects of making a track happen, and for that, words simply cannot express the love and gratitude I feel in writing all of this and that I've experienced up till now. So, let's be real here, and I'll just sign off on a good buzz and a chill vibe.

Thanks again for listening to this ReMix (and reading my word vomit worth its own LiveJournal entry *feeling quixotic*). ♥ Happy Halloween!

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Games & Sources

Don't Be Afraid (Original Album); Track 8 - Ozar Midrashim; Artist(s): Information Society / Kurt Harland; Release Date: 30 Sept 1997; Label: The Splinter Group, Inc -- as featured in the opening cutscene to LEGACY OF KAIN: SOUL REAVER 1, and also variously used in the songs: "Raziel's Theme / Stronghold" & "Kain Encounter / 1st Kain Battle".

Album Original Version:

Game Opening Cutscene (enjoy!):

Full Song (no dialogue -- also enjoy!!):

Edited 3 hours ago by jnWake

[prophetik music ⚖️]

opens with the initial brass stabs from the original in the synths, with some interestingly-timed percussive elements around it (i can hear where they come from in the source, but still a bit confusing). the echoed or delayed hits don't sound like a roll as much as they do random attacks, which i don't think is intended. this drops pretty quick into a build with some more of the percussion hits in the right ear especially. guitar comes in around the 0:40 mark and builds into a pretty intense section at 0:49. i like the chugs here. a lead comes in with the melodic line at 1:02, but it's pretty buried. i like the filter work on it, and doubling it an octave down helps reinforce it, but it's still quiet and hard to hear. the switch at 1:16 helps make it be clearer as there's less going on behind it. it's still much heavier in the right ear through all of this, which becomes tiresome by about 1:45. lead becomes more clear around that point which is nice.

there's some falling action here with loads of ear candy and stuff jumping around the soundscape, which is fun. the same lead comes back at 2:09, but it's easier to hear this time as there's less competing with it. i liked the half-time section at 2:23 as a way to break it up without losing intensity, and 2:37's guitar lead sounds great. tone really cuts well. the doubled melody section is neat too, although i found the heavy vibrato that was added at the end to be a little off-putting.

there's some fun ensemble work to extend the phrase around 3:40-3:45, and then some repeated lines to finish it off. the vocal pad sustain past the last hit doesn't sound intentional.

this is a pretty intense take on the original. i like the driving feel throughout, and i like the breakdown around the 2:00 mark. i think the arrangement/adaptation really works well for this style. i found the lead at 1:02 to be very hard to hear initially, and the right-ear-heavy mix from about 0:45 through about 1:55 was pretty noticeable. i also don't think the ending was quite what was intended, and the intro's drum hits/rolls were very confusing and felt out of time.

i think all of these are really easy to update and fix, and i'd prefer to hear them handled before posting. i think that this is pretty close to the line and wouldn't be surprised for other judges to be ok with what's being presented, but i think especially the lead being inaudible for a minute is enough to hold it back for me.

 

 

NO

[Hemophiliac ⚖️]

So, I'm not sure about if this source is actually eligible. Heavily based on non-VGM track that was released in '97 was then adapted for the game that was released in '99 with direct usage from the '97 album track.

Regardless of that I'll get into it.

The style and genre adaption is great, very cool. One of your more accessible tracks you've put together. I like the source usage throughout. No qualms with that.

The #1 major issue is the mixdown here. The lead is not the primary focus of the mixdown. Everything is fighting for it's own space and stepping on other parts. Some of the synths are also taking up a lot of space in the mix as well due to being fuller and having a large frequency footprint. Let your performers stand out and let them shine! Bring the leads up and push the backing elements away, foreground and background. Consider EQ to help create space as well.

Not a fan of the percussive delay effect in the beginning of the track, but that's not a deciding factor at all. Also the panning felt fairly wide as a means to try to carve more space out for parts. There's a hi-hat type sound panned left that stands out a lot to me.

I'm in agreement with prophetik, the mixing is the killer here and they could be fixed without much effort.

NO

[jnWake ⚖️]

Begins with a combination of sitar-ish synths + organ/choir doing evil-ish chords directly from the source. Gives me Mortal Kombat vibes here. At 0:21 we break into a synth bass riff, it's very quiet on the mix so a little hard to hear. At 0:35 a choir and drums join in, cool vibe here. Around 0:49 more layers enter and the mix starts getting a bit cluttered. On 1:03 we move to a faster rhytm and one of the main melodies of the source plays on synth. At 1:15 we move into a new melody, still on synth. Then, at 1:42 there's yet another melody on more or less the same soundscape/vibe. On this entire section I feel the mix has a few issues, one is that the rhytm guitars don't cut much through the mix and another one is that there's a lot of clutter on frequencies around 2-3kHz, which leads to a very sharp sound that tires the ears. We get a break around 1:55, I like the sound design here, the panning and all that is fun. One of the melodies repeats soon after on synth. 2:36 sees a short silence before we introduce a lead guitar that plays a melody and then does a solo. We then get one of the source's melodies on synth/guitar for a while until the track ends.

On arrangement this is awesome, source usage is evident and the track flows well with a nice combination of buildups, breaks and exciting moments. I don't have many notes here.

Production is, as other judges noted, the main issue. Looking at SPAN to check for potential EQ issues one of the things that caught my eye is that there's a ton of lower frequencies on the sides. This is very commonly stripped out in metal oriented tracks as it creates a lot of mud, you don't really need <100Hz on the sides much and that lets you give more space to guitars. As I mentioned on the write-up the main issues I see are that the rhytm guitar has a generally hard time cutting through the synths, you can probably make most samples less wide and reserve the sides for the guitars so that they shine more. Also, the synths you used are kinda shrill so sculping EQ around 2-4kHz will help creating a more pleasant sound. Finally, I recommend carefully EQing the choir, those samples can often eat a ton of space from other instruments, so they can be tricky to fit into a soundscape.

Overall, this is a fun arrangement but it's really lacking in clarity due to the issues of mix clutter so I gotta agree with the other judges.

NO