Remix64 Volume 2: Into Eternity

OUT NOW!

The battle has been long my friend.. the work intense.. where the dreams of many have meant so much. I'll take you into another world, I'll take you into another dream. Follow me and take my hand while I lead you into a realm where your imagination is real. Your hopes, your fears are all realised in one dramatic epic. Come, come my friend and follow me - let me take you there… let me take you to this world, let me open the door and take you..Into Eternity.

Mastered & Engineered by Thomas Detert at AIRBASE MEDIA Studio,Germany.

Except Tracks: 8, 9, 12 mastered by Jan Morgenstern at Wavemage Studios, Germany,

and Tracks: 4, 15 mastered by Gianluca Verrengia, Italy.

open_in_newAIRBASE MEDIA studio

Where to purchase…

open_in_newBUY CD FROM: C64AUDIO.COM

open_in_newVOLUME 2 MERCHANDISE

Released: December 2003

Remix64 Volume 2: Into Eternity
Cover Art by Fabio Testa

Track 1: Blood Valley
Sub title: Trapped In Oblivion
Composed: Ben Daglish
Arranged: Larsec
Vocals: Larsec

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Track 2: Spellbound
Sub title:Into Eternity
Composed:Rob Hubbard
Arranged:Thomas Detert

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Track 3: The Great Giana Sisters
Sub Title: Relive Your Past
Composed: Chris Huelsbeck
Arranged: Rafael Dyll
Vocals: Karin Ojehagen, Pex Tufvesson & Aseema
Vocal Recording: Pex Tufvesson

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Track 4: Tales Of Boon
Sub Title: Nowhere to Run (A Homage to Vince Di-Cola)
Composed: Thomas Detert
Arranged: Gianluca Verrengia
Guitar: Gianluca Verrengia
Bass: Gianluca Verrengia
Drums: Elo Rini

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Track 5: Parallax
Sub Title: The Dark Waltz
Composed: Martin Galway
Arranged: Markus Holler
Guitars: Sven Haas
Violin: Xenia Schmitt

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Track 6: Times Of Lore
Subtitle: The Gathering
Composed: Martin Galway
Arranged: Glyn R. Brown
Flute Sections: Markus Holler

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Track 7: Stormlord
Subtitle: The Dawn Of Fate
Composed: Maniacs Of Noise
Arranged: Markus Schneider

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Track 8: Iron Lord
Subtitle: Ancestors
Composed: Jeroen Tel
Arranged: Jan Morgenstern

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Track 9: Fist2
Subtitle: Mountains of Sorrow
Composed: Neil Brennan
Arranged: Markus Holler
Flute: Markus Holler
Vocals: Birgit Fleps

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Track10: Butcher Hill
Subitle: Campaign of Honour
Composed: Ben Daglish
Arranged: Markus Schneider

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Track11: Thanatos
Subtitle: Sorrows Of Victory
Composed: Julian Breeze
Arranged: Markus Schneider

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Track12: Armageddon Man
Subtitle: African Dawn
Composed: David Whittaker
Arranged: Jan Morgenstern
Flute: Jan Morgenstern

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Track 13: Barbarian
Subtitle: For Power and Glory
Composed: Richard Josepth
Arranged: Carl Larsson
Technical Assistance: Andreas Karlsson


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Track 14: Shades
Subtitle: Love's End
Composed: Chris Huelsbeck
Arranged: Thomas Detert

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Track 15: Rubicon
Subtitle: Exhale
Composed: Reyn Ouwehand
Arranged: Gianluca Verrengia
Guitars:Gianluca Verrengia
Bass: Gianluca Verrengia
Drums:Elo Rini

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The Musicians:

Name: Lars Erhardt Christensen
Birthyear: 1976
Nationality: Danish
Tunes remixed: Blood Valley

arrow_forwardLarsec's Website

open_in_newOther Work By Larsec (Title: ZOIDS)

Larsec, a virtual newcomer to music has been composing since 1995. However his musical background started in 1989 when he started playing the bass guitar, later learning guitar in 1992. Since then he’s played in a few bands and took musical theory in high school. His musical Influences are Jean Michel Jarre, Metalica and Mike Oldfield, though Larsec says, There are just too many musical influences to mention and he often likes to mix different genres.

Larsec chose
Blood Valley originally composed by Ben Daglish as he wished to produce a remix with relied heavily on the use of guitar. Upon searching HVSC, Larsec stumbled upon this tune and in turn seemed to fit his desires and that of the CD’s ideals. The remix started out life as a Movie theme, however through development the tune evolved and by adding various effects and vocals, which includes a demonic voice the remix took a more horror type style and instantly became obvious that this would be the opening track to the CD. Poltergeist and the evil dead trilogy was a source of inspiration along with many other horror-esque movie trailers, which helped larsec give the feel of which he was aiming for.

Larsec says,
The Biggest support I have had during my time as a musician are, Neil Carr, Lars Andersen and my girlfriend Karina Santana if there are anyone I should mention in particular, and all the nice people at Remix64 and RKO who have given me feedback on my work are also a big support factor."

Larsec admires musicians who have the ability to grab people and lead them somewhere. To be swept away by the music and make him feel part of it, No matter what that may be, it just has to be pure.

Larsec would like to thank everyone who supports the c64 scene in particular remix64 (Neil Carr, LMan), RKO (Jan Lund Thomsen), C64audio.com (Chris Abbott) for their dedication and work on their respective websites.


Full name: Glyn R Brown
Birthyear: 1969
Nationality: British
Tunes remixed: Times Of Lore

arrow_forwardGlyn's Website

open_in_newOther Work By Glyn R Brown (Title: FIRELORD)

Glyn has been composing music for around 9 years, and has become a scene’s favourite with his superb renditions of Firelord and Gordians Tomb, Both of which are currently sitting pretty in the top 10 at RKO. Both these tunes were recording using his old equipment and fruityloops, however this is the first outing for Glyn with his new Korg Triton. Musically he states that is only musical influence is his own Imagination, though he does admire the works of movie musicians such as: J.Goldsmith , JN.Howard , H.Zimmer, K.Badelt .

Glyn appeared on volume 1 of remix64 using his older equipment and the chance to appear on volume 2 with his new equipment was an offer he couldn’t refuse. He likes to support the scene in the best way he can and taking part on volume 2 is his way of doing just that, plus he highlights that he’s very keen on Thomas Detert mastering his work.

The Times of Lore remix is a collection of subtunes which have been brought together as a single piece of music, which Glyn feels has some great melodies. With the game/music being set in a medieval world, Glyn’s instincts were to follow an orchestral path, as it seemed to best suit the themes. Glyn says that he put pictures into his mind, visualizing the game as a movie and then to play along with those images creating an epic remix which contains many elements; A Fanfare, then Love theme, Then the Battle Theme, a sorrow theme and to finish Glyn added a Celebration type theme all this in just over 6:30 mins.

He says his lady Gayle has been a big support for him as a musician, and that Neil Carr (that’s me😉 ) has also been very supportive and that I gave him a kick up the arse when he needed it😉. Also the great c64 community has been very supportive too.

Glyn hopes that you enjoy the remix as much as he had creating it, and in typical Glyn style plays down the remix stating that it might not suit all tastes with it being an Orchestral type tune.


Full name: Gianluca Verrengia
Birthyear: 1973
Nationality: Italian
Tunes remixed: Tales of Boon, Rubicon

open_in_newGianluca's Website

open_in_newOther Work By Gianluca (Title: TVT)

Gianluca has been composing music now for 6 years since his first project for a videogame. Since then he’s developed a great passion for composition. Gianluca started out as a guitarist and still continues this, as you will see from both Gianluca’s works for the CD. He’s does gigs, sessions and tours with other artist from Italy. Though impossible to list fully, Gianluca’s musical influences from film composition are: Ennio Morricone, John Williams, James Newton Howard,Alan Silvestri, Hans Zimmer, Nino Rota, Thomas and Andrew Newman.

Gianluca decided to join the team because of the unique challenge involved and was interested in being part of a project with other fine musicians the two tunes he chose were specifically chosen for their good melodies. Gianluca thought about how he could give the best emotions for the tune, which he states that doesn’t always entail love and a sweet theme, but also with passion and energy.

Rubicon uses some kind of Jeff Black ballad types sounds, but gianluca states to beware, as Jeff is unique and cannot be cloned. His work on Tales Of Boon is quite heavily based on Vince DiCola (Famous for the rocky soundtrack amongst others). He states he joined a band, which often played many Vince Di Cola covers, so it was a rather natural influence for him.

The key to admiration states gianluca " Is to develop your own style and personality. His final words were to thank myself for the support and professionalism during the project. Though Gianluca’s work on the CD never needed my involvement. He knew instantly what I wanted and gave it to me first time of asking, a very talented musician.


Full name: Jan B. Morgenstern
Birthyear: 1980
Nationality: German
Tunes remixed: Iron Lord, Armageddon Man

open_in_newJan's Website

open_in_newOther Work By Jan: (Title: HYMN TO THE WIRES)

Jan’s first introduction to composing began 12 years ago working with SID and tracker music. At 8 years old he took piano lessons, later he played drums in a big Jazz band. He also became heavily interested in synthesizers, sampler and studio technology. At 19 he started studying audio engineering and did comprehensive studies in music theory and orchestration. He’s currently writing soundtracks for 2 video games and in his spare time he’s working on his first Album. His musical influences come from classical and symphonic movie scores, but he states he’s also learned much from electronica pioneers such as Tangerine Dream and Jean Michel Jarre.

Jan took his first steps in composing with electronic music and programming on the c64 and the sids and their composers made a big impact to his musical development, and the c64 scene is just the right place for jan to give some of his good vibes back. The simple, yet elegent main theme of Armageddon man and the idea of giving it an ethnic edge came pretty quickly to Jan after listening to the SID. Jan states, Iron Lord was a tune that I found fascinating. Its odd syncopated measures and the effortless mixture between the grandness of the game's adventure setting and more playful parts made it a really interesting remixing challenge..


Although Jan’s Armageddon Man remix is backed up by an orchestral and choir arrangement, its most prominent elements are a strong African ethno flair and bamboo flute performances. The Iron Lord remix is a more conservative classical orchestration resembling romantic music of the late 19th century that maintains a certain balance between energetic tutti outbursts and delicate solo passages.

Jan states,Apart from the canonical that guy just can't be human guys like J. S. Bach or Maurice Ravel, I admire movie composers who manage to establishan unique style and yet are able to deliver music of different styles on a really high quality level, such as James Newton Howard, Elliot Goldenthal, Danny Elfman and the alikes.


Full name: Markus Schneider
Year of Birth: 1970
Nationality: German
Tunes Remixed: Butcher Hill, Thanatos, Storm Lord

open_in_newMarkus's Website

open_in_newOther Work By Markus (Title: Erato)

Markus First made his way into composing at the early age of 13. He took classical Piano lessons, but admits that his main knowledge comes from self studying from well known books in English and German about orchestration, instrumentation, harmonics and counterpoint. A source of inspiration comes from the likes of John Williams, James Horner and Jerry Goldsmith in almost the same manner as some of the classical masters. He especially prefers the work of Antonin Dvorak.

Markus States that remixing 3 channel Sids is a great Exercise for instrumentation and gives him much scope for his own interpretations. Butcher Hill simply cried out for an Instrumental version, so that was pretty much a self-runner, however it was an interesting task for Markus because it contains all the instruments from a big orchestra. Thanatos as a sid is very melodic in nature and is basically arranged with a piano, or at least a melancholic one. So Markus slowed it even more down and populated it with sad sounding instruments like the cellos or clarinets, playing them very dynamic and in their middle/lower compass, and using a female choir in the high compass with their grace. Stormlord was a particular favourite SID for markus. Markus states, I have always seen it in a mood of a fantasy soundtrack with smooth needed transitions, with which I tried to fill the track with. Markus looked at the pieces and tried to envision how he would compose them in the modern day regardless of the sid, however he also tried to keep the spirit of the original SID too.

His wife has been very supportive to Markus. She has given him much time for composing, studying and arranging. It’s been a long road for Markus and certainly not an easy one, which included several, re-works of the tunes and many amendments before they were finalized for the CD. Markus hopes that the listener enjoys the music as much as enjoyed creating the remixes.


Full name: Thomas Detert
Birthyear: 1969
Nationality: German
Tunes remixed: Shades, Spellbound

open_in_newThomas's Website

open_in_newOther Work By Thomas (INDIANA JONES RMX)

Thomas Detert has been composing since the early 80’s. He was given several lessons in Guitar, piano, drums but never finished any of them, so he had to learn everything he knows musically by himself. His musical influences come from the 80’s and people like Vangelis, Jarre. Some dance music of the 90’s has also played its part.

Thomas work on volume 1 of the series was critically acclaimed and was especially noted for it’s very emotional feel, so his re-emergence for volume 2 was not surprising. Thomas has always supported the c64 scene and his participation on this CD he describes was, Pure Fun!. Shades contains many styles of beats and melodies. Though the original tune sounds simple in nature Thomas remarked that the remix was very complex and difficult to remix. Thomas States, I wanted SHADES to sound like a Pop-Ballade with loads of synth and pads and be different to the sid-version, it should get a one-flow feeling. Spellbound was a particular favourite of Thomas’s, so that was reason enough to take on the challenge of remixing the tune. Thomas goes on to say, This tune has a kind of closing-title mood, even in the original sid! The idea was to create a deep thrilling introduction followed by male and female choirs and an almost never ending outro, which was the reason to choose the subtitle into eternity for the Spellbound remix.

When talking about his inspiration Thomas states, well…. the scene and the spirit of these classics are inspiration enough. And states his admiration for Vangelis for the way he pushes real emotions with his music and sounds. His biggest support as a musician has come from his brother Michael who incidentally is our artist and booklet designer.


Full name: Markus Holler
Birthyear: 1976
Nationality: German
Tunes remixed: Way of the Exploding Fist 2 and Parralax Sub4

open_in_newMarkus's Website

open_in_newOther Work By Markus (Title: GATE TO ANOTHER WORLD)

Markus Holler started composing in the late 80’s on the Commodore 64 home computer, but he soon purchased an Amiga 500, where he began taking steps into MOD tracking. However it wasn’t until 1995 when he bought his first synthesizer (the K2000) where he got involved with Midi Sequencing on the Atari. While in primary school Markus took recorder lessons and in 1992 spent roughly 3 years taking piano lessons, Markus comments my father is a very musical person, so I guess that's where my musical interest comes from. A lot of learning by doing.

Markus musical interest is in film scores, much of his influences are noted for this work. Influences such as James Newton Howard, Hans Zimmer, John Williams and Danny Elfman.
A particular love is Celtic music which is the reason I started playing the flute, states Markus.

Markus wrote the inspirational
Glider Rider remix on volume 1 of the series, I asked him why he accepted an offer to become part of the team.. I have already written a track for the first CD, which was quite funny. I guess, this second volume will top the first one by far, so shame on me if I hadn't agreed to take part Asking him further to go into his ideas regarding both Fist2 and Parallax and how he decided to tackle them, Markus comments.. In Fist2, I knew I wanted to try something with a flute and a female voice, so I tried to capture the important parts of the SID, the basic chords and of course the melody. The mix had to have an Asian touch. It didn't take more than a few hours until I had all necessary instruments and a basic structure in my mind. A piano fits best to flute and vocals, and so I started playing the chords… With Parallax Sub4 I wanted to create something different to Fist2, so I tried to make a darker sound, very emotional, and I knew I wanted a violin for this track! So what else - a piano again for the arrangement? No. Maybe some guitars… Luckily I knew the right people to play all these instruments…

Markus’s Girlfriend Birgit helped Markus along the way sharing ideas and Beta listening to the tune. However not only did Markus have such support, but she also lent her voice to the Fist2 remix which was extraordinarily fitting and charming at the same time. Markus Jokingly said that he couldn’t wait to have the final product in his hand and quirked
When will volume 3 be starting."


Full Name: Rafael Dyll
Birthyear: 1973
Nationality: German
Tunes Remixed: The Great Giana Sisters, subtune 2 (hi-score)

open_in_newRafael's Website

open_in_newOther Work By Rafael (Title: DAWN: BATTLEFIELD EARTH)

Rafael has been composing now for around 12 years, after initial experiments using TFMX and OctaMed, Rafael moved onto using real instruments mostly as a hobby. However early 2000, Rafael joined the band Invisible Limits on keys/synthesizer and has ended up promoting his own music on the web. Apart from a musical family history Rafael has self taught all he knows about music.

It'll be no surprise that Rafael was originally inspired by Chris Huelsbeck and Rob Hubbard with Katakis and Lightforce being the highlights for him. In terms of other music, Rafael has been inspired by the works of Vangelis, Chicane and Depeche Mode as well as many trance, pop, game/movie score tracks.

Volume 2 was a chance for Rafael to work on Giana Sisters, and as he's always strived to improve his production skills, the chance to join the project was a big step forward for Rafael, who pays homage to the rest of the team on the CD and states,
Working with all these fantastic musicians was great.

I asked Rafael to describe how he took on the remix of Giana Sisters..
I wanted to do something unique here. The track was already lending itself to a piano track with a romantic feel but I wanted to go beyond that by adding vocals. A calm lullaby, yet entrancing kind of theme was what I was aiming at. After looking at the SID file, I decided to play the melody by ear rather than porting a converted SID2MIDI Midi file and adding to that. Partially, because I wanted to have the freedom to slightly alter the melody in parts (without changing the main theme). I had the tune in my head before looking at the SID in terms of notes and had already pretty much played the melody and bass on the keys. After arranging the two main melody sequences and adding chords and having a wider idea of the instruments I wanted to use, the idea of the relaxing, reminiscing track came to mind. Due to the lack of material as such in the SID, with it being a mere 40 seconds long, I had to make sure there's enough progression and variety in there. So I added a smaller bridge part with some self composed piano notes, adding to the slight Vangelis feel before returning to the main melody. The rest just kept adding itself I guess. Music mostly flows. Anyone who has ever composed music knows what I mean. Work on it long enough and it starts taking over the work for you, rather than you working on it.

Rafael was delighted to use Karin Ojehagen's and Aseema's voices in his mix. Pex Mahoney Tufvesson (of RKO fame) used his vocal recording expertise to help recording the performers and who has even included his own vocal performance in a choir section!"


Full Name: Carl Larsson
Birthyear: 1978
Nationality: Swedish
Tunes Remixed: Barbarian

open_in_newCarl's Website

open_in_newOther Work By Carl Larsson (Arrivals & Departures)

Carl has been composing since the late 80's and is able to play several acoustic instruments. He's had some formal education, but most of his experience come from the demoscene. Carl's musical influences really depends on what he does as he often does many musical styles, though more often he turns towards Irish Folk music.

Barbarian is a personal favourite of Carl's, he states As far as I know there hasn't been a remix of it yet!, he goes on to state that there are many musical masterpieces in the world of Chip music and remixing them is a great way to bring them to a modern audience and thus in turn prevent them from disappearing. The similarity to Conan isn't a coincidence and it had much to do with Carl's inspiration for his work.

Asking him for how he envisioned the remix, and how he tackled it, carl states Very few chiptunes wants to be a chiptune. Most of them want to be something else. This one wanted to be an orchestral song. It told me. Carl finally says his biggest support as a musician has been his girlfriend, who lets him fill the living room with cables and strange hardware!


What the PRESS said…

..Here and there a lovely guitar solo shows up, as well as a majestic version of Barbarian - Superplay (Swedish Paper Magazine)

Let me say how impressed I am, not only with the quality of the sounds, but also the depth of the arrangements. - Andrew Fisher (Freelance writer)

All I will say in summary is that you should listen to the clips online and get ready to order the finished CD; the Remix64 team has produced another excellent compilation of tracks. - Andrew Fisher (Freelance Writer)

Feedback

…A Great mix of Barbarian, Congratulations to Carl. (RICHARD JOSEPH) …Its so much BIGGER and BOLDER than I expected. (Subzero) …It's an excellent cd. Not to be without. (Octave Sounds) …As soon as Larsec's track started I just knew I was in for something special here…[You guys have a CD that you should all be proud of I tell ya!…](DJ Skitz) …The technical level is second-to-none and many of the tracks have not fallen on my ears in a long while. (Mayhem) …Remix 64 volume 2 - 9.9/10. Close to perfection. (Merman) …It's seriously epic! (Chris Abbott/c64audio.com) …The whole album has an epic fantasy feeling and production. (Bjorn Lynne) …I think it's safe to say this is the best C64 album released in 2003 (Jan Zottman/Immortal 2 Producer) …My thanks to Neil, the musicians and everyone else who was involved in bringing this fantastic CD to the public (Hoomish) …Love Everything.My neighbours are in for a treat tonight. (Marcel Donne/Sidologie) …More power to Neil for going in this direction on R64v2. Fist2 is beyond words. Top job, Maestro Holler. (Jan Lund Thomsen/RKO) …All in all great value for money and many hours of entertainment. (Nigel Craft) …Im dead impressed, It exceeds expectation. Quality stuff! (RetroVertigo) …sets a new standard in remix CDs (Dr. Future) …Very impressive! (http://www.dhs.nu) …Incredible! This must be the most professional c64 cds EVER! I love it. (Max Levin) …You guys should be working on movie soundtracks yourselves. After hearing that cd i wouldn't be surprised if some of you already do. (Fersando) …I think it's safe to say this is the best C64 album released in 2003 (Jan Zottman/Immortal 2 Producer)