ReMix:Castlevania "Clockwork Groove" 3:03

By Eino Keskitalo

Arranging the music of one song...

"Stairway to the Clouds"

Primary Game: Castlevania (Konami , 1998, N64), music by Mariko Egawa, Masahiko Kimura, Motoaki Furukawa

Posted 2014-01-01, evaluated by djpretzel

So we just got done letting everyone know they'd be hearing more Eino Keskitalo VERY soon, and this is what we meant :) Fresh on the heels of his Gunstar Heroes ReMix we've got a very creative & interpretive electronic take on Castlevania (N64 version - our first mix!), mellower & more synthetic than his previous arrangement, and more liberal as well:

"This was a People's ReMixing Compo piece, which I've since extended. The source was pretty fun for the competition, since it's so minimal. My take became this groove thing. It was done with the Renoise tracker, and actually mostly with the demo samples (effected, altered, layered and stuff) - the compo piece was the first thing I did with Renoise. Some pretty recognizably tracker-y trickery with the lead and all, I think. For an old tracker "musician" like myself, who never really found home in Cubase, etc., Renoise is a revelation. It has nearly all the modern/DAW stuff I need. It's also uncanny how it has all the stuff (like workflow improvements) I dreamed of when I used the good old FastTracker II. It's like coming home with a vengeance.

Oops, enough evangelism. Well, I should also hype PRC as a great way to get pieces started and get introduced to cool VGM you never heard before. Awesome compo right there.

The WIP forum was quite helpful after the compo. Thanks to all those who commented, especially E-Bison for the idea for textures. It made me try out an idea of adding a little synth loop sort of thing to the background (drawing inspiration from Brian Eno on David Bowie's Heroes album) and it turned out to be lots of fun. It seemed to change the piece quite a bit, but it was good to take that leap even after working so long on the piece. (I guess this took a little over two years to finish in all. Little faster than usual.) Also, thanks to Rozovian for the Workshop mod review, but everyone else on the forum too. Also, thanks to Pleiade for several listenings & comments, likewise thanks to Rami for a crucial bit of feedback. Most of all, thanks to my fiancée, Pirjo, for dead-on critiques, insights, and support."

Sounds like Eino is getting a lot out of the community & compo process, which is great. As with Mazedude's preceding Plok mix, this is a major transformation of the source tune; Larry writes:

"When someone's nostalgia bias means they want nothing but close covers, they miss out on gold like this from Eino. Who would have thought to take a slowly-paced chant, distill it down to the melody, and completely flip the mood of the source on its head? And what's with the popping/bubble noise used throughout this piece? How cool is that ear candy!

This is a drastic interpretation that I absolutely love, and Eino's piece is a great example of why I've always loved the creativity of this community. Let's hope Eino becomes a super-steady presence here at OCR. Like Mazedude, Eino does trackers an amazing amount of musical justice, and I really can't wait to hear more! :-D"

Ditto all that; back-to-back, I wouldn't have guessed that this mix & his Gunstar mix were by the same artist, too, which definitely speaks to versatility. CV64 doesn't get as much love, so it's cool to see someone tackle one of its sources and really explore & extrapolate. Timing & circumstances meant that we posted two of Eino's mixes very close together, but combined I think they serve as an excellent introduction to what he's capable of, and I'm looking forward to hearing more!

― djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 7 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
avatar
Crulex
on 2014-01-06 23:41:42

Seriously, what is that bubbly popping sound in this ReMix? It sounds awesome and sounds like it fits right in with the rest of the instrumentation. Eino has been pumping out a lot of great work lately, and this is a fine addition to the collection. Good job on this Castlevania 64 mix.

avatar
liquid wind
on 2014-01-03 20:51:21

fun groove, love the old school aesthetic in this one

avatar
evktalo
on 2014-01-02 10:08:26
That's cool, I didn't know that. I've always thought trackers were limited to chiptune sounds, like square/saw waves and noise generators and such in something like FamiTracker. Actually though, I saw this in the submission email that made me blanket it like that with the "tracker sounds" comment:

Ahh, that makes sense! I didn't even think of FamiTracker/GoatTracker (Commodore 64) and the like. I'm only used to trackers that are primarily sample based (starting from Amiga). Well, what "trackers" in the end have in common is the UI, or really just the way notation is displayed/entered.

I was actually hearing a lot of old-school chiptune sounds here, so that's why I thought it was either only Renoise or mostly Renoise.

That thought would be correct. (: But the sound really is just the samples loaded. Well, maybe also how the lead is sequenced especially in the first half, I tried to go for a very classic tracker-like sequencing in there.

--Eino

avatar
timaeus222
on 2014-01-01 21:14:01
That's a cool reference, I think I can hear the Chinese feel there now that you mention it, but it never occurred to me before. But for the "tracker sounds" comment, you may be thinking of my Deus Ex UNATCO track where I wanted to make a polished track on old school low fidelity samples (via a Mazedude module). Trackers themselves can load up any sound (and use VSTis and whatnot) so trackers don't equate low fidelity.

--Eino

That's cool, I didn't know that. I've always thought trackers were limited to chiptune sounds, like square/saw waves and noise generators and such in something like FamiTracker. Actually though, I saw this in the submission email that made me blanket it like that with the "tracker sounds" comment:

My take became this groove thing. It was done with the Renoise tracker, and actually mostly with the demo samples (effected, altered, layered and stuff) - the compo piece was the first thing I did with Renoise.

I was actually hearing a lot of old-school chiptune sounds here, so that's why I thought it was either only Renoise or mostly Renoise.

avatar
evktalo
on 2014-01-01 18:37:37
I'm getting a chinese vibe here, kinda similar to Pokemon Black/White's Driftveil City. Just goes to show you how musically experienced Eino seems to be, even with tracker sounds!

That's a cool reference, I think I can hear the Chinese feel there now that you mention it, but it never occurred to me before. But for the "tracker sounds" comment, you may be thinking of my Deus Ex UNATCO track where I wanted to make a polished track on old school low fidelity samples (via a Mazedude module). Trackers themselves can load up any sound (and use VSTis and whatnot) so trackers don't equate low fidelity.

--Eino

avatar
timaeus222
on 2014-01-01 16:40:07

I'm getting a chinese vibe here, kinda similar to Pokemon Black/White's Driftveil City. Just goes to show you how musically experienced Eino seems to be, even with tracker sounds!

avatar
Liontamer
on 2013-12-31 11:00:24

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Castlevania (Konami , 1998, N64)
Music by Mariko Egawa,Masahiko Kimura,Motoaki Furukawa
Songs:
"Stairway to the Clouds"

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File Information


Name:
Castlevania_Clockwork_Groove_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
5,203,206 bytes
MD5:
7a9f860bbfaa5a8ec87ab7a588e43270
Bitrate:
223Kbps
Duration:
3:03

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