Topic: Music Recycles

[Sidhe Priest]

So, resurrecting an old topic...

Most of D3 music is really a rehash of old D1 music. Down to the level number. E. g. D3 level 1 music is a remix of D1 Game01.mid, slowed down to about half tempo.

Listen to this first:

Details

Then to "Contribution".

Details

- ignore the intro part, the real MIDI track starts at ~2 minutes. The lead that kicks in at 2:28 is a straight copy of Game01.mid square lead part, the drums are mellowed-down TR-808 track.

It seems everyone does it, too.

Examples:

Jean-Michel Jarre's "Equinoxe"=Strauss' "Also Sprach Zarathustra" without the last movement, and rearranged to fit synthesisers. Going further, his "Chronologie" is an update of the same with 90s synths.
Solar Fields (a great Swedish ambient artist, BTW): "Solar Fields - [Origin No. 01 #01] Silent Walking"="Also Sprach Zarathustra" (again), 1st movement, "Prelude (Sonnenaufgang)".  "Solar Fields - [Altered - Second Movements #01] Insolate"=1st-4th movement of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", Pink Floyd.

In a rather interesting paper on music production ("T H E  M A N U A L (HOW TO HAVE A NUMBER ONE THE EASY WAY))", UK band KLF say:

If there is not a cover that takes your fancy the trick is to
construct your song out of disguised, modified and enhanced parts of
previous smashes, so that when those Radio One producers, T. V. youth
programme researchers and multiple-chain-record-store stock buyers
will subliminally warm to your track and feel at ease with it.

So anyway.

Big Artists also rehash themselves. Here's an example: Black Sabbath's "Born Again" (one of my very favourite albums due to the once-in-ages combination of Ian Gillan with Black Sabbath).

All songs are not straight copies. They're rehashed, rearranged, rethought versions of previous songs.

[Born Again #01] Trashed="Paranoid".
Track 2 is a synth interlude.
[Born Again #03] Disturbing The Priest="Black Sabbath" (same basic on/off tinkering riff, but enhanced with Ian Gillan's crazy-soprano vocals).
Track 4 is the other synth interlude.
[Born Again #05] Zero The Hero="N. I. B.", more energetic and with a more conventional drumming perhaps?
[Born Again #06] Digital Bitch="Supernaut". Quite obvious with the booting-up riff.
[Born Again #07] Born Again="Planet Carvan", electric distorted version (of all the things!).
[Born Again #08] Hot Line="Megalomania", more energetic and happy instead of melancholic crying original.
[Born Again #09] Keep It Warm="The Thrill of It All".

Got any more copies/rehashes you've spotted?

[Kaiaatzl]

Do you want honest feedback on what I think of your D3-D1 correlations?

Because I don't wait for answers.  I think you've gone completely batty.  That's a compliment, by the way.  Seriously.  Insanity is a wonderful thing, so wonderful that most people completely miss the reason it is so great.  You obviously know that reason, though.

[Sidhe Priest]

Well no, it's there. You can transcribe D3 tracks note-per-note, and it works out to D1 MIDI notes.

[Kaiaatzl]

Even that doesn't mean remix.
There are too many other things you do with composition (and I'm not even getting into mastering and effects here which you nonetheless are familiar with) than just laying down notes, for that alone to count instantly as "remix!".  You should know that!

If I used a guitar riff from "Dreams of an Absolution" in "Falcon Core", that doesn't make Falcon Core a remix of that song.

Still, if you want support for your wacky theories, you know who to ask.  And if you want to definitively confirm or deny them, then ask the composer... unless you're chicken!

[-<WillyP>-]

I don't see the word re-mix in his post. He isn't saying re-mix, he is saying they are new tracks based on the old ones. Not a specific recording of a guitar riff, but the notes used to make that guitar riff.

[Kaiaatzl]

Not a specific recording of a guitar riff, but the notes used to make that guitar riff.

Uhmm... that's what I meant when I said guitar riff.  And that's the point I was trying to make.  You agree with me, you just don't know it yet .  Just like everyone else in the world.

I agree that the D3 songs were definitely based on the D1 and D2 midi music.  BUT... that's only because the D1 and D2 midi music came first.  Descent is a series (an unintentional trilogy!) with installments, and Autopilot was definitely going for a consistency of style between his music and that which came before.
What I do not agree with, is that each D3 song would have been based on a specific D1 or D2 song.  I don't hear it in any of the D3 songs, and it doesn't make sense to me that he would have done it either.

That's why this thread really just comes down to Aenn saying "This is my theory, it's right!", and me replying "You're crazy because I'm the one who's right!"

[-<WillyP>-]

* -<WillyP>- bows out of this whole mess

[Scyphi]

I find it highly unlikely that any of the songs in D3 are intentionally based off old D1/D2 songs, simply for legal reasons. Autopilot was not the same artist as the one who put together D1/D2's music, and that original artist I'm sure has at least some rights to those songs still, point being that one would need the artist's permission in order to remix and use those songs in a commercial product. And I somehow think that if Autopilot DID have permission to remix and use those songs, he wouldn't have been so...subtle...about it.

Furthermore, while I agree that the riff (or whatever the term is) in question does have an uncanny similarity to D1's Game 01 melody, it doesn't sound "spot on" to me, and seems much more likely to me that any similarities was accidental.

Beyond that, I think Kaiaatsel is right when he says that Autopilot was just shooting to emulate the same kind of vibes the music in D1/D2 had, and even then, D3's music is still very unique to that game, using Autopliot's own style more than anyone else's.

[Kaiaatzl]

* -<WillyP>- bows out of this whole mess

You need to put it in square brackets or it  doesn't count!

Also, IMHO the D3 music sounds much more like the D2 midis than the D1 midis.

[Scyphi]

*considers this* Yeah, I suppose I can see that.

[TechPro]

It is possible that the D3 music is actually based on the D1 and/or D2 music and it would make perfect sense because D3 was a continuation of the story/game. Thus, it was probably intentional to have the music follow the same theme/pattern/feel/etc thus it would be expected for it to have similarities and perhaps even be very much alike.

There.  What else is there to say on this?

[-<WillyP>-]

* -<WillyP>- bows out of this whole mess

You need to put it in square brackets or it  doesn't count!

no, you just need to type /me.