The Sounds of Street Fightin'
Posted 01/12/2009 at 2:28pm
| by Mitch Dyer
It was a long time coming, but Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix was worth it. Our 9.0 review score tells you how highly we think of it, and HD Remix was everything a Chun-Li-fanboy could ask for. Something that stuck out as much as the new character art and Remixed gameplay, however, was the music. The blend of new-era thinking and loyalty to fans' nostalgia fused distorted guitars and groovy bass beats to create a kick-ass soundtrack that you would want to listen to on an iPod.
Because the entire thing was a fan-made effort, tackled by the passionate music-nuts at OverClocked Remix, you can.
The tunes resonated so much with us that we thought we'd catch up with David. W. Lloyd (better known as djpretzel), and Larry "Liontamer" Oji, the soundtrack's Director and Assistant Director, respectively. Lloyd, OC Remix's president and founder, has taken his passion to the professional level, appearing alongside Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall, co-creators of Video Games Live. Oji, on the other hand, has handled well over 2,500 fan-made remixes as a judge of nearly five years. Impressive qualities, if you ask us.
But how did these passionate music-lovers come to create a Capcom OST?
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What is OC ReMix, and what exactly do you guys do?
djpretzel: OC ReMix is an online community of fans (guys AND gals) who arrange/remix video game music and make it available for free. It's sort of like the musical equivalent of fan art or fan fiction - we take game soundtracks, often (but not always) from older 8-bit and 16-bit games, and we put our own spin on them. That could mean doing a jazz quartet version of the main Zelda melody, rocking a heavy metal Castlevania track, turning a Mega Man theme into a trance/electronica anthem, or putting a funk spin on Sonic the Hedgehog. All of which actually HAVE been done and are available at www.ocremix.org, along with hundreds more.
It's a way for those with musical inclinations to express both their love for video games and video game music, while also expressing themselves. At the same time it helps highlight the awesome & often overlooked work of video game composers. All the music on our site is available for free, no profit is made, and the entire collaborative & creative process is meant both as education and homage to the art of game music.
OC ReMix is responsible for tons of music, but the Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix soundtrack might be the biggest thing to come out of that community since its inception. How many people were involved in its creation?
Larry: 21 ReMixers, along with myself assisting things. Capcom approved several tracks from our Super Street Fighter II Turbo remix album that gained their attention, Blood on the Asphalt (sf2.ocremix.org), which locked in the first 10 ReMixers. Creating the remainder of the soundtrack from scratch, we had a great opportunity to involve more artists from the community. There's too many to rattle off, but soundtrack co-director Shael Riley and fellow assistant director Malcos (Stephen Malcom-Howell) followed the progress of the music the entire way.
How long did the process take, from inception to implementation?
Larry: Most of the work was completed between September 2007 and March 2008, but delays on the art side from UDON gave us a lot more time than we, or Capcom, had originally anticipated. Ultimately, the delays benefited the game: UDON had to work quickly once they re-conceptualized the art, but their revised approach looks magnificent in action. Meanwhile, [the game's Lead Designer] David Sirlin took advantage of the opportunity to further test and balance the gameplay. For us, the delays allowed time to tweak some things and improve the final soundtrack, polishing what we thought was already a strong score.
Why did Capcom recognize that OC ReMix was the best way to create a new soundtrack for their game, rather than doing it internally?
Larry: Everything started with Shael Riley - he organized OCR's Super Street Fighter II Turbo remix album Blood on the Asphalt in 2006. Shael mapped out an album that gave most of the stage themes an urban feel, and it eventually wound up in the ears of Capcom associate producer Rey Jimenez. Based on what he heard, Rey was confident in our ability to do a knockout job - he lobbied the powers-that-be to involve us in the game's development, and the rest was history.
How helpful was Capcom when it came to the music?
djpretzel: Well, they didn't hook us up with any gear or fly us out to L.A. for studio time or anything like that - that actually would have defeated the whole point, as this is a soundtrack that really came directly from the community, without intervention or augmentation. So, I'd say it was less about Capcom being helpful, and more about them NOT being harmful - they were open to the idea, from the very beginning, that this music would be coming completely from OverClocked ReMix, and not involve excessive oversight or external assistance. In a sense, that's the most helpful thing they could have done, simply being open-minded enough to embrace an unorthodox approach to scoring a major game. We think it paid off, so to speak, and the game's reviews seem to agree.
Were they picky about what you guys did, or did they trust you to come up with killer tunes?
djpretzel: There was a lot of trust, but they also weren't shy about getting specific; they rejected certain approaches for some themes, and in other cases provided very granular, detailed feedback on modifications they wanted.
Larry: We put a lot of trust into our guys as well - OCR's high music standards are the foundation of a community of musicians that produce creative, professional music without much hand-holding.
There's a great blend of "nostalgia" and "new" in the music -- was there more of a focus on accurately recreating the music than there was on making it refreshing, or vice versa?
djpretzel: Our goal was to give each track an update but keep it immediately recognizable.
Larry: A general guideline of Capcom's was keeping the tempo of the original music, but they were enthusiastic if an outside-the-box approach clicked. Some people have a negative reaction to anything that deviates from the original music - for anyone familiar with OC ReMix, our feeling is that if you can't bear changes to the original music, listen to that instead. We're glad it's an option there, since we love it, but HD Remix has been a great opportunity to introduce more fans to creative, interpretive ReMixes of classic game themes.
Everything sounds super solid. The menu theme is bound shock you the first time you load up the game, and each stage has a near-perfect resemblance to the original tracks. But are there any regrets, or things you would have done different if you had the opportunity?
djpretzel: Well, it's important to remember we weren't working with a copy of the game in front of us, sowe couldn't see exactly how each theme fit during actual gameplay. Having that ability might have resulted in a few tweaks, tempo changes, etc., but overall - after the playing the game for awhile now - I feel like everything fits really well. We did have some late changes to Vega (Claw)'s theme that didn't make it in, but they weren't too dramatic. The only thing we might have handled better was deadlines - we gave our artists VERY short windows of time to make some of these edits, when in actuality (due to delays and schedule extensions) they could have taken more time. Some folks work better under pressure, though, so even that might have been a blessing in disguise. Even after the completed soundtrack had been delivered to Capcom, I wasn't 100% happy with our music because I couldn't hear how it worked in the actual game, so if you asked me this question a few months ago, I would have been more reserved. After playing the game and hearing all of the music in action, however, I'm absolutely satisfied and have no regrets.
Any there any other projects in the pipes for you guys? Will we be seeing your jams in more Capcom projects?
Larry: Our community is always busy, particularly with tribute albums. Our next album, Summoning of Spirits (tales.ocremix.org), tackles Namco's Tales of Phantasia and Tales of Symphonia, and we've got other albums shaping up for Final Fantasy IV and Donkey Kong Country 2. I've also got my own Tim Follin project honoring the legendary British game composer; I wish someone would provide him the time and resources to orchestrate great game music for the 360. As far as future projects with Capcom, we're definitely looking forward to working with them again. HD Remix producer Rey Jimenez is down, we're down... it's just a matter of time and finding the right opportunity. They're in touch with the fans, very easy-going and supportive - great to work with.
Have other developers contacted you as a result of your work, whether it was complimentary or for work?
djpretzel: Many of our individual artists get contacted for work on games - Another Soundscape (Mattias Häggström Gerdt) just scored the Xbox Live community game Artoon, Steffan Andrews worked on the FaceBreaker soundtrack, and Beatdrop (Dain Olsen) has done tracks for several DDR games now. We haven't been contacted as an organization, post-HD Remix, to score anything, but if the right opportunity comes knocking, we'd be psyched to repeat the HD Remix experience. As far as compliments go, "The Fat Man" George Sanger characterized our process for creating the soundtrack as "Game Audio 2.0" and praised Capcom for taking a risk on a diverse, fan-driven soundtrack, we've gotten positive feedback from Contra 4 composer Jake Kaufman (who also started in the fan arrangement scene), and props from Tommy Tallarico as well. From a feedback perspective, working on OCR has always been great - we've always gotten a lot of kudos and encouragement from fans and industry alike - but in terms of work, we've just gotten started building momentum. The best is yet to come!
The soundtrack is available, gratis, for public consumption. Was selling it something that Capcom wanted, or that you'd considered?
djpretzel: We wouldn't rule that out for similar projects in the future, but for HD Remix, we really wanted things to be open & freely available. This was a grass roots, fan-driven soundtrack, the first of its kind, and we wanted as many people as possible to enjoy it. Capcom were totally cool with that, and their legal department was even groovy enough to write into the contract that we could distribute the soundtrack freely on OverClocked ReMix.
Larry: We've had over 100,000 people check out the soundtrack so far, and the entire 66-track album is freely available from www.ocremix.org/hdremix/. And for anyone that's brand new to OC ReMix, we've got 1,600+ other free game music ReMixes across all platforms, games and genres that we encourage everyone to check out. Don't be afraid to try all of our community's stuff, including ReMixes from games you don't know. You'll realize we have a lot more great music just waiting to be discovered.
