My music: Rastan (Remix)

Rastan by Father of Syn

I figured I should use this blog to post about the music I make myself, as I seem to be reviewing albums with about the same frequency as I finish tracks, and neither happen as often as I'd like.

So, the track above is one I finished recently; a remix of the main theme from the arcade game Rastan, released by Taito in 1987. I based it on the theme from the Commodore 64 port, by Martin Galway (Which you can hear here), as opposed to the arcade version, and as such there are a few minor differences. I think Galway's version is a little more readable.

I started the remix by transcribing the original track; simply recreating the original melodies using basic synths. Once I had everything down, it was a case of assigning synths to the individual parts. The bassline was as good a place to start as any, and I made something Moog-like, with a bit of release to make it sound less dry. I initially considered using a live loop for the drums, but nothing I tried worked, so I used an old drum machine kit, the 909, instead. Other sounds I used include an ocarina I played and recorded (And subsequently processed to get around the fact that it only has an octave range), a sample of a steel guitar that I processed and reversed, and a fairly straightforward lead synth.

With the basic sounds in place, I set about extending the track from the 50-second length of the original. I looped it once, changing a few things the second time around (an additional line to the ocarina melody, different drums, and a slightly altered synthline at the end), and then ran the entire track through a bit crusher for a breakdown. I took this opportunity to change the time signature, from 4/4 to 7/4, and brought the elements back in. It was interesting to write a long synth solo in an unusual time signature, and I didn't think it was going to work at first. Once I'd added the bassline and chord progression, however, it fell into place.

After 8 bars of this solo, I changed the signature again, this time to 5/4, and wrote another 8-bar solo, this time to be played on the ocarina. Again, the progression of the bassline is what makes it work. This solo is followed by 9 bars in 7/4 again. For all of the solos, the drums are a lot more complex than at the start of the track, and underwent a number of revisions to get them sounding right. My final concern was how to finish the track off. I added an extra beat to the last bar of the 7/4 solo, which leads back into 4/4 quite neatly, and then reprised the initial bridge section. I brought the bit-crusher back into play, and made the entire track crunchy and distorted again.

After this is was just a case of getting the mix right, by adjusting the volume levels of the individual sounds, and putting a compressor on the track. There's a bit more to it than that, of course, but those are the basics.