ReMix:Terranigma "Royd Rage" 6:06

Next up from Paths Less Travelled: Terranigma we've got album co-director Trism (Troy Plain), making his OCR featured debut with this sweet, neat, & upbeat d'n'b take on "Royd," with assistance from Jorrith & Kris; about the overall album development journey, he writes:

"Well. This has been quite the experience. Three years and one hiatus in the making and it's finally here. I've never been involved with something this, well... involved before. It would be entirely accurate to state I had no idea what I was getting into when I offered to become assistant director to Odai when the project was in its infancy, and I CERTAINLY had no idea what I was getting into when I offered to resurrect the project later on. It isn't hyperbole to say that this project would either be significantly less substantial or straight-up wouldn't exist without Jorito stepping in. His experience has been essential to the completion of the album (not to mention his contacts within the remixer community) and I would be remiss if I didn't also give a huge shout-out to Chimpazilla for offering her mastering services during both "eras" of the project. And also, I need to thank Nadzilla from the very bottom of my heart for engineering Manji's "Destiny's Spire" on very short notice and doing a fantastic job of it!

As for the game itself; like Jorito, I had also not played the game when I offered my services on the album. I picked the "Royd" source due to its cool hook, but it did plant the seeds of interest when I looked up the Royd character and started reading into the story of the game itself. It sounded utterly bonkers! I had to play this thing! And play I did, and while life didn't allow me to play it to completion (though I have seen the game finished by some wonderful LPers on YouTube), I have to say it was an amazing experience, there really isn't another game quite like it.

So. Here it is, for better or worse. I really hope you, the listener, enjoy this smorgasbord of different genres and interpretations of some truly amazing source music. Now; what to choose for Paths Less Travelled vol. 2..."

Sword of Vermilion? Landstalker? Of course, I could make a case for an entire Jeanne d'Arc album, but for now Sixto Sounds' ReMix will have to do :) Troy was the bridge for this album, from its earlier days to its resurrection and the eventual catalyst of Jorito's involvement; very cool that he also debuts on OCR with a track! And it's a hot one, too, building large, modulated synth textures over a breakneck breaktbeat backbone; co-director & collaborator Jorito (Jorrith Schaap) writes:

"A few months before the final deadline, Trism approached me with his take on Royd's theme that he arranged during the first run of the album project. He had already submitted it to the panel, but it wasn't approved back then and he was looking for some feedback to try and improve it. Since he got stuck a bit, I offered to help out and wrote some extra bass parts, added some vocals, arps, gated chords, and leads to spice it up, give it some more textures and variation, and put a bit more bass in the drum & bass. Because Trism already had a solid and inspiring foundation, it was rather pleasant and easy to work with. Also many thanks to Chimpazilla for mixing and mastering it, as well as adding some extra ear candy. I hope we succeeded spicing it up and hyping you up with this new incarnation of the track!"

As with the album, so with this track: Jorito is not only a formidable artist & director in his own right, he's got a knack for taking existing songs & albums the extra mile, over the finish line. He realized the potential of Troy's vision and surgically made all the right tweaks to get it where it needed to be; very cool. Of course, the underlying concept needed to be strong enough to facilitate that - can't oop without the alley. On that note, Trism had much to say about the origins of this mix:

"Oh, yes, Royd. I have to admit; I'd never actually heard of Terranigma before Odai created the thread for the album project. After listening to a few songs from the soundtrack, I was instantly hooked; there's a really interesting theme and tone that seems to run through the whole OST that gives it a really sombre feel, even when a track itself is quite cheerful. Royd's theme really stood out to me though as the main melody sounded a lot like a dance track "hook." My initial WIP to Odai sounded nothing like the final product though, as he quickly suggested I try and turn it into a drum and bass track (not sure I quite managed that request, but here we are!).

This track took a long time to get to the point that I felt it *might* be good enough to get onto the album, and that was only after a LOT of revisions and versions being sent to Odai for feedback (this being pre-hiatus) and some sparkle being added by Chimpazilla during the mixing and mastering phase. Sadly, it didn't quite meet the judges standard for approval, so I attempted to go back to it several times over the course of the albums downtime but was never able to really improve it significantly. I may or may not have referred to it as "an albatross around my neck" on several occasions.

Then, on a whim, I asked Jorito to take a quick look at it for feedback purposes. Being the amazing human being that he is, he offered to take it away and try to improve it. And it improve it he has! To the point where, if I go back and listen to my initial solo version, it sounds pretty empty and incomplete. As the only drum and bass track on the album, I hope you enjoy it!

Since my last submission, Jorrith and Kris have assisted me quite heavily in getting the track up to an album standard, and I can't thank them enough for the time they spent with me on this. The track now has some vocoder and a solo, as well as some dubstep-style bass (to name but a few new additions).

The track has been brilliantly mixed and mastered by the ever-amazing Chimpazilla, so I'd like to give a massive shout-out to her (and also an apology for dropping so many stems on her originally!) and also to Odai for creating the album project and for the constant coaching he provided while the song took form.

I've included a breakdown of the source usage, which has made me realise that I've made 21 seconds of source melody do A LOT of work in this track!"

• 0:00-0:21 - Build-up, no source
• 0:21-1:06 - Intro, lead uses isolated notes of the main melody from :00-:12 of source
• 1:06-1:19 - Intro continued, no source
• 1:19-1:29 - Truncated version (without the ending) of the main melody during :12-:21 of source
• 1:29-1:30 - Dubstep-style bass, no source
• 1:30-1:41 - Main melody from :12-:21 of source
• 1:41-1:53 - Main melody from :00-:12 of source
• 1:53-2:01 - Main melody from :12-:21 of source
• 2:01-2:04 - Drop, vocoder, no source
• 2:04-2:11 - Main melody from :12-:21 of source
• 2:11-2:15 - No source
• 2:15-2:37 - Main melody from :12-:21 of source
• 2:37-2:45 - Main melody from :12-:21 of source
• 2:45-2:48 - Main melody from :00-:12 of source
• 2:48-2:59 - Main melody from :12-:21 of source + vocoder
• 2:59-3:10 - Breakdown, no source
• 3:10-3:43 - Mixtures of main melodies of :00-:12 and :12-:21
• 3:43-4:05 - Arpeggio of main melody from :00-:12 + notes from :12-:21
• 4:05-4:32 - Improv solo with main melody notes in the background
• 4:32-4:44 - Main melody from :12-:21 of source + improv solo work layered on top
• 4:44-4:58 - Main melody from :00-:12 of source + improv solo work layered on top
• 4:58-5:06 - Main melody from :00-:12 of source
• 5:06-5:16 - Main melody from :12-:21 of source
• 5:16-5:28 - Main melody from :00-:12 of source
• 5:28-6:05 - Main melody from :12-:21 of source + vocoder + isolated notes from :00-:12 of source

DANG. Pretty granular source breakdown you've got there :) The arrangement checks out, and the story behind this track runs parallel to the story of the album; initial promise, long hibernation, & eventual revision/rebirth into something that delivers a full fire from those early sparks. Congrats to Troy for the perseverance to revise, refine, & strategically collaborate this into a fantastic mix & a high-energy addition to Paths Less Travelled: Terranigma!