Commodore Remix

Chris Abbott wrote:Hey, I'll kill ANYONE who disses Roland's Rat Race or Rydeen... I'm warning you...!! *grrr*

*cough*

the line between "remix" and "track which has the same name as a game but very little of the tune left" mostly leaves the listener with a sense of betrayal, unless it's done really well. Output64 gave me this feeling in spades.

Well, apart from Mutants, here I am (or whatever it was called) what I heard from O64 was crap, but that's due to the arrangers screwing things up. They neither seemed to have the time or inclanation to either be true to the originals, or do something professional, such as Kernkraft 400. Odd, really, when you look at some of the artists on O64, as there are some big hitters there.

I think in some ways you've touched upon something with another part of your post: perhaps the future of the scene will not only be partial/inspiration-based remixes a la KK 400, Dreamscapes or Makke, but also retitled, shifting the emphasis away from nostalgia and towards the music itself (something that's already happenning, before someone jumps on me). Of course, by that point, the artists really do have to be "established" in some way, or simply be creating such shit-hot material that it simply cannot be ignored - a tall order that eludes many.

Chris Abbott wrote:> another solution could be: stop releasing remix-cds!
doo-doo-doo-doo Deja Vu thread

Actually, I think the rate will slow down a bit from here on in. The
only reason there were so many really was that people got all
enthusiastic about remixing. And of course, such enthusiasm has to
go somewhere

Chris

keep up the great work in releasing c64-remix cds...
...but i wish there where more remix-artist with their
own style on RKO and the remix cds....

cheers 2Klang

When doing remix64 vol 2, i worked with the arrangers to find a tune that fitted to their taste. I gave them a short list, and asked them which tunes they felt most comfotable with. Some didn't feel comfortable with any of the tunes i had short-listed, so me and the musician then went further and together we found tunes that they were comfortable with.

This way a key decision i think i regards of the CD's quality. First and foremost my idea was that if they wanted to actually remix a certain sid, then i'd get better results. did it work? by heck yes it did.

So by and large the track selection was chosen by the musicians rather than myself, ofcourse tho i had to veto some decisions. But the idea paid dividends.

Another key thing i've done with v2, was to try and include a broad range of sid composers on the CD. I realise that while Tel/Huelsbeck were minor big names in the UK, they were massive in Germany and some other countries. So whats a big track in germany may not be in the uk or visa versa.

May i point out that the CD is being branded as Soundtrack which is probably fair, only about 5 or 6 tracks are Orchestral. The CD isn't an Orchestral CD in any shape or form, tho it does contains orchestral tracks. Most of the tracks are something else, but yes i would probaby call it Soundtrack, but not orchestral.

Regarding a poll, actually it's something i had thought about for V2, but dismissed it for exactly the reasons chris gave and for my idea of arrangers being comfortable.

Marketing is a key, you are very right, but how does this happen? quite simply and very much unfortunately it's near impossible to get much coverage for remix CD's, even with v2 containg many new segments. If anyone can give me a lead which results in a new marketing stratergies, then i would be grateful and i'd also give ya v2 for free if the idea throws success.

Well, marketing is always a big problem ,
especially with c64-remix releases !

What i ask myself is , do potential "remix-cd consumers"
are looking for new releases ??

I mean if i am a fan of a group like for example <b>"A- ha"</b> which
i like very much, then i look in several magazines,
music shows and /or websites to catch the latest information
about recent or forthcomming CD's!

But is this the same behaviour that "c64-remix/ sid lovers" have ??
I don't know.... can you answer that

even if they did, it's actually getting the stuff into these magazines that the hard part. The press are uninterested about such things. I doubt that will change even tho v2 is much more artisically minded and forward thinking.

Tho, i'll try anything. if 1 out of 10 leads pay off then thats 1 more than i had before

Yeah ,i know such marketing problems as well ...
We always have to invest nearly
<b>25.000</b> up to <b>50.000</b>Euros for a Video-Clip
when we release a new CD-Single (666,NOEMI .. etc)

And we only have <b>VIVA 1 & 2</b> and <b>MTV</b> Europe
to play those videos, but they mostly don't with shity arguments
They only play your video if you are entering the sales-charts which is
nearly impossible without having a video-clip on rotation
or if you are a superstar, like Madonna e.t.c.

Same with Radio-Station, believe me i had several Chart-Hits in the
last 10 years, but none of 'em were played on a normal radio-rotation,
only in their chart-shows!

And nowadays sales of music cd's are really low.. because people
invest their money in different new technologies,like:
Mobile-Phones, DVD's etc, then the EURO-Problem.
People have enough money but they are afraid to invest it,
because they are afraid to loose their jobs and so on..

yo,yo... what the hell is going on...

Update: The CDs just came in Chris... THANX!
It must be "CD mania day!" here or something...

All we can do is try eh thomas!

Tas - I think the soundtrack thing comes across sucessfully - even more so than on BIT3 (although, unfortunately, that seems to require a rather weak 'credits' piece). Nonetheless, I'm looking forward to this CD now. I downloaded most of the clips from C64audio.com last night to decide whether to buy any more C64 remix CDs over what I already own. I so far have all the BITs and Nexus. BIT1 is nice nostalgia, II is weak, and II is still pretty good to my ears. Nexus is somewhat iffy, although there are a few standout tracks.

So far, I reckon I'll grab IR and R64, but the Galway remixed one sounds weak, bar maybe two tracks (maybe the clips don't do it justice?) The jury's still out on Sidologie as far as I'm concerned - that's still a maybe.

Marketing is a key, you are very right, but how does this happen?

Through graft and hard work, much of which won't pay off, unfortunately. (I used to be in a marketing department, so I know how tricky it can be.) However, there are some friendly places that might feature the CD, and maybe even review it. Send promo copies to such sources (i.e. Edge magazine, Games TM and so on, and maybe the likes of Computer Music, Future Music, and so on) and you should at least get some exposure.

hey, guys! the samples were wonderful!

<b>@ TAS:</b>

yepp, life's a rollercoaster train as a famous man sung;
Thing's can only get better


<b>@ Vosla:</b>

That's great !

I really do love the samples and was suprised by the new stuff in it !! Especially Armageddon Man, Stormlord and Fist II makes me curios for more
If the remixers only took the 'good' stuff and put some new 'good' stuff to it, where's the problem ? The result is good music and this - for my way - is still better than good nostalgia but bad music/sound Of course that's a matter of taste but it's impossible to catch every's taste - and that's good. I think the clips promises much if you are open for music itself and not hyping on the nostalgia fx at first priority and the remixers names speak for themselves.

arvirus wrote:but now the bad thing: i only know two of the original sids! the music you chose to remix is not so well-known.

This really makes me headbanging: Hubbard, Galway, Daglish, Whittaker, Maniacs of Noise are the CLASSICS of the C64 composers, there's no doubt about it. So for myself it's really obvious that all there tracks are Classics too. That's a (definately 90%) interconnection.
Since HVSC and SIDPLAY i know nearly every track from the composers who are in the top directory. Do you ? Perhaps you should ask yourself if you are a real SID freak , no offense though

This really makes me headbanging: Hubbard, Galway, Daglish, Whittaker, Maniacs of Noise are the CLASSICS of the C64 composers, there's no doubt about it. So for myself it's really obvious that all there tracks are Classics too. That's a (definately 90%) interconnection.
Since HVSC and SIDPLAY i know nearly every track from the composers who are in the top directory. Do you ? Perhaps you should ask yourself if you are a real SID freak , no offense though Back to top

Puhh... <b>Lars </b> ... you speak my mind
I thought the same... and exactly since we all have HVSC and SIDPLAY most of us even know some tunes by their names
Even today i found out that the tune that we used in our
OMEGA-8/Demo Supernova-Part.4 called "SLOW TUNE" is composed by SUPERBRAIN ...
(do you remember,Neil ??)
I wanted to remix this tune for the remix64-vol2 cd but Neil said "NO",
becuase we didn't know the composer or name of the tune, but the biggest
point was that the tune was far too unknown !!

Hey now i can make a remix out of it for R:K:O
I love this tune!!!! It's in the DEMO_folder of HVSC (5.3??) give it
a try.....



and yepp, most of you won't know the tune and it will not have much
download rates on R:K:O: when it's done, but i remix for my
memories and that's even one of the reasons to appear on the remix-cd's !
MY BIG MEMORIES

tom wrote:

This really makes me headbanging: Hubbard, Galway, Daglish, Whittaker, Maniacs of Noise are the CLASSICS of the C64 composers, there's no doubt about it. So for myself it's really obvious that all there tracks are Classics too. That's a (definately 90%) interconnection.
Since HVSC and SIDPLAY i know nearly every track from the composers who are in the top directory. Do you ? Perhaps you should ask yourself if you are a real SID freak , no offense though Back to top

Puhh... Larsec.. you speak my mind

I didn't write that, Lars did... But I do agree as well

upps... i hope you don't mind, sorry haven't looked at the avartar

TOM::::....