Remix Project Interest Check/Suggestions?

[Tensei]

First, before I get jumped by everyone, read this:

Yes, I know this is definitely not the time, with all the remix projects going on. Therefore I will not be starting a remix project in the near future, I will wait until at least the Xenogears project is done. Second of all, I know I'm pretty much a nobody around here, with no posted remixes (yet), but I'm definitely confident in my skills, and I do know quite a few people here. Relax, (AFAIK) I will not be hogging up 'high-priority'-games (FF etc.) that someone else wanted to do.

Oh, and to the jdgfgts, the link to the Site Project Guidelines is dead, so if I am doing something wrong just say so, and please don't lock this thread right away.

With that out of the way, let's get to the purpose of this thread. Even though it might seem quite redundant at this early point, I really need to have some information on the viability of the project's subject OST. I have to choose between two games that I picked based on personal experiences, very low coverage on OCR but high popularity among gamers, and of course for having amazing soundtracks.

My first choice would be none other than

Planescape: Torment.

If you're a PC gamer you should know this game, and pretty much have played it to death. IMO it trumphs EVERY other RPG in the story department, and it has an amazing ethnic/ambient soundtrack that's VERY different from other Black Isle RPG's (which are pretty much your run of the mill epic sounding orchestral music). The use of leitmotifs for every character and location is very obvious and should make it easy for remixers because of the defined melodies.

My issues with this game are it's limited exposure among non-pc gamers, who seem to make up a substantial amount of the OCR demographic. In an ideal world I'd love to only have remixers who have actually played the game remix it, but realistically seen that's barely possible. A pre is that I know pretty much everything about this game, so I should be able to provide the mixers with a good amount of 'lore' for use as stylistical and lyrical material (explanations of characters etc.).

I think I'll let the soundtrack speak for itself:

is a great example of one of the character's leitmotifs.

The whole OST has the cool amount of 34 tracks, which seems like a near-perfect amount for a standard-sized remixing project (Of course some of the more ambient tracks would have to be dropped).

As a second option, I have picked the no-less amazing

Banjo & Kazooie

I'm confident more than enough mixers know and love this game and it's quirky and unique soundtrack. Even moreso than the previous option is there the use of leitmotifs for the different levels and characters. I was especially fond of the music changing stylistically but not melodically whenever you ventured to a new location within a level (For example in the desert level the fast-paced mid-eastern flavoured track would suddenly become bombastic and monumental as you scaled the Sphinx), and I'd love to see this element come back in some form in the project.

On one hand, this stylistical flexibility might make it seem like a breeze to remix, but my biggest issue with this soundtrack is the prevalence of its melodies, no matter what you do to them. If you take one of the melodies, you speed it up/slow it down, transpose it to minor and add different instruments, you get the boss music. Pretty much whatever you do, it will always sound like Banjo-Kazooie.

The instrumentation in the OST is varied enough, but somehow, at least to me, every song's melody/phrasing/harmony/progression seems to be in line with the other songs on the OST. I'd go as far as to say that the OST actually isn't varied enough to warrant a remix project, and this might very well be the case because of the minute amount of remixes from this game. Then again, I'm very ambiguous on this game, and it could turn out amazing as well.

17 tracks seems sparce, but this doesn't necessarily have to be that big of a remix project, I'd say it's more of a pro than a con, especially since all the tracks are such a 'world unto themself'. If necessary (given enough remixer interest, which is rarely the case) we could add the tracks of Banjo-Tooie too.

Now what I'd like to know from everyone who has read my long explanation is; which one of these projects would you more likely join? I'm personally very biased towards Planescape:Torment, and I'd absolutely LOVE to see some amazing remixes come from that OST, but if there simply aren't enough mixers who have even heard of this game that plan will definitely fail. Therefore, Banjo-Kazooie seems more in line with the other remix projects, and is pretty sure to attract enough talented people to it's cause.

So please post your opinions.

[DarkeSword]

Don't post links to GH.

Also, what's the premise of each project? Total soundtrack? Highlights? A more focused theme?

[Tensei]

Fair enough, links removed.

I don't have a specific concept in mind for either of the options, but something may still come to mind in the future when the whole thing gets started up. I don't want to have a project that uses style or mood restrictions (such as Chrono Symphonic did) because as it is, it would probably be hard to attract good mixers, let alone if I'd only want mixers who are skilled in a certain genre.

A vague concept idea I have for the Banjo-Kazooie project might be that the remixed tracks have to move through different instrumentations and styles, possibly changing key etc. to depict different moods like the original songs did, but I don't have any specifics worked out on that.

Some of the tracks of the P:T OST tend to be 'too' ambient or copy one of the main motifs from other tracks, so in total I'm guessing you'd end up with 20-25 workable tracks which seems like a reasonable premise. The Banjo-Kazooie OST really has only 17 truly distinct tracks, so I guess that yes, it'd be covering the whole OST.