Tim Forsyth - Terra Cresta
160. in all-time charts
This was almost another remix that never was.
I had a decent enough prototype for the track and had some fantastic constructive feedback from friends and the community but then I hit numerous technical issues, the challenge of taming an unruly mix and THAT lead.
It's so iconic, the lead, something I didn't appreciate back when the game launched. It was years later when I heard it on a SID chip with a more open filter, along with Jogeir's amazing Back in Time remix that I realised it was one of Martin's best.
I got the arrangement almost perfect and then failed time and time again as I threw plugins at it to emulate the filter (Moog Filtatron came close) and make it sit well in the track. It sounded OK, but lacked that distorted creamy low mids you get from the SID.
Turns out the SID filter beats everything else! Thanks to the Antti Lankila's filter disortion guide, I was able to get an export of the voice from jsidplayer sounding almost perfect. I had to add some extra saturation and delay/widening to make it float in the mix but I think it sounds pretty decent.
Also, I have no idea what was going on in my head when I started shouting I will destroy you
, I guess I was getting caught up in the end level boss battle.
EDIT: wow, I just found this quote from Martin on deepsid. This is exactly what I was aiming for in this mix because that's how the original came across to me. I had no idea this was his brief for this song:
I tried to create this feeling of a massive behemoth robot monster on its way to destroy you. Thus the marching beat and the minor chords and stark tones.
1 c64 charts August 2021
Technique
Artistic skill
Nostalgia factor
Overall rating