Suikoden 2 - Reminiscence remix - "Do You Remember?"
87Arrangement, production by Jorito.
Flute and penny whistle by Lauren the Flute.
Vocals & lyrics by JoyDreamer.
Violin(s) by Trev Wignall.
Acoustic guitar by XPRTNovice.
This is a remix of Suikoden 2's fantastic song "Reminiscence" that I did for the (now cancelled) PS1 20th anniversary album on OverClocked ReMiX. Since I just finished an other, I felt like making another track for the album. So I did some random browsing of PS1 RPG tunes and I stumbled upon this beautiful piece by Miki Higashino. It instantly inspired me and just begged to be remixed.
So I just started working on something, replacing the piano from the original with a guitar arpeggio and playing the leads on a flute VST doubled by a whistle. Next was the violin part which I added as a counter melody and a few hours after finding the song I had a decent WIP going.
I passed the preview to album director, who said “hey, it’d be cool if you could get a flutist, I think I saw somebody on Youtube who could do it”. So I did some searching and found Lauren the Flute, who incidentally created her own take on “Reminiscence” not too long ago. She was happy to work together with me on this track for some great flute and whistle parts.
Or as Lauren notes:
"This is my first time participating on an OCRemix track and it's been a great experience. I really appreciated working with Jorrith, even when we kept running into the technical limitations of my instruments. I think it was a learning experience and a discovery process for both of us in the best possible way, and I'm really thrilled with how it turned out!"
As fate would have it, in the related videos I found JoyDreamer’s vocal cover of “Reminiscence” and it was so good and moving that I immediately approached her if she would be so kind to re-record for me. Again, a very enthusiastic reply and another great performance. Or as Joy sums it up:
"I was really thrilled when Jorrith reached out to me about this collaboration and I was honored to work with these amazingly talented musicians. It was a lot of fun to record and I'd love to be part of something like this sometime again.”
At that point I basically felt that my remaining MIDI parts weren’t good enough anymore and that I needed more real instruments. I approached Trev Wignall, who also claimed a track for the album, for the violin and string parts, and XPRTNovice, who I worked with before, and again happy faces and very skilled and inspiring performances.
Trev agrees:
"I recorded my parts with an SM57 in my violin studio in Chapel Hill NC, where I teach and practice. The violin is of the 19th century and crafted in Mittenwald, Germany. I really love this track selection for its orchestration and beautiful harmony, and there one section where I overdubbed myself 16 times to emulate a string section. I'm happy I could contribute!"
I really feel all these performances did the track a lot of good and you hardly notice the MIDI in the background anymore :)
So in hindsight this track came together as a set of stumblings, happy accidents and collaborations with great artists that are very cool people to work with. And I think it shows in the end result. I really dig it and it wouldn’t have been nowhere as good with these talented performers. Was it worth all the hard work of coordinating, synchronising and playing producer? You bet!
Original music available here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW6t0QjSops (Reminiscence)
Lyrics:
Do you remember?
Do you remember?
Do you remember that time?
Fate suddenly brought us closer
than we ever really could see.
Fate suddenly turned you to wander,
wander together with me.
Fate taught us to share our secrets,
to always keep fighting as one.
Fate taught us that though you are grieving
always believe that we'll move on.
Face our fears together and cry our tears together
Through all these years together, you see.
Laughing out together and being proud together
Without a doubt together we'll be, you and me...