Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shell Shocked Comments from album director Kyle Crouse (KyleJCrb) & ReMixers Album freely available at http://shellshocked.ocremix.org Shell Shocked is a tribute to the Super NES classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time and its Sega Genesis equivalent, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist. Turtles in Time in particular is a special game for me, serving as my introduction to the Turtles as well as the awesome beat-'em-up game genre. When conceptualizing Shell Shocked, I wanted to capture what I had imagined as a hard rock sound in the music of the original game. The Turtles themselves have always been steeped in the culture of the 80's and early 90's and have a bit of that era's playful cheesiness, so I wanted to reflect that in an album that had a hard edge but didn't take itself too seriously. For the remixer lineup, I reached out to artists who I felt would best capture my vision. I recruited from the talent pools of OverClocked ReMix and the Dwelling of Duels remix competition, as well as newcomers and veterans alike from outside of those communities. Despite having a heavy rock and metal influence, the album is packed with variety, with arrangement styles ranging from power metal, punk, progressive synth, glam metal, jazz fusion, blues rock, funk, and even some Vanilla Ice-inspired rap rock. I want to thank the remixers for exceeding my expectations and contributing to what I consider to be the finest album I have directed, as well as Nate "FoxxDragon" Horsfall for the spectacular album art. As for the album itself, I hope you're ready: it's time to get SHELL SHOCKED! - Kyle Crouse (KyleJCrb) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1-01. Alan Grant & The Velociraptors - "Heroes in a Half-Shell" Composers: Chuck Lorre, Dennis C. Brown Source: "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987 animation) DusK: arrangement, guitar, bass, harmony vocals, opening voiceover #2 Brett Martindale: lead vocals buka92: opening voiceover #1 Blue Ink: opening voiceover #3 DusK: I had originally planned on taking this on by myself, but I noticed that Brett was getting a little antsy at the time, recording little riffs and whatnot in his room. So I made him sing it, to vent that frustration. 1-02. Sixto Sounds - "Hot for April!" Composer: Mutsuhiko Izumi Source: "Turtle Swing (Stage 1 BGM)" from TMNT IV: Turtles in Time Sixto Sounds: arrangement, guitar KyleJCrb: Sixto's got it bad with a track that sounds like what would happen if Van Halen covered the Ninja Turtles theme. Great anytime, especially cruising around the Big Apple at 3 A.M.! Sixto Sounds: This is my first track for KyleJCrb's TMNT project. As you can probably tell, I was aiming for an early Van Halen sound. Wanted to keep it very simple; drums, bass, and only one guitar track (recorded from start to finish in one take). I guess I could have gone back to fix some of the mistakes, but I'd never recorded a song this way and I kind of liked how it turned out. 1-03. Omigadrive feat. Jordan Clark - "Shellocalypse" Composer: Mutsuhiko Izumi Source: "Alleycat Blues (Stage 2 BGM)" from TMNT IV: Turtles in Time Omigadrive: arrangement Jordan Clark: drums SnappleMan: mixing and mastering Omigadrive: This take on "Alleycat Blues" may be the last time I do something thrash oriented and is a nice finale to my love of the genre, I think. The arrangement was hashed out by myself and Jordan over the course of a few jam sessions basing most of it on variations of that first riff. Then we threw in some blast beats. Definitely a fun track to make and live drums are always nice! 1-04. Washudoll - "Duh, Who Put the Lights Out?!" Composers: Masahiro Ikariko, Miki Higashino, Mutsuhiko Izumi Sources: "BGM 07" from TMNT: The Hyperstone Heist, "Down Town (Scene 2)" from TMNT: The Arcade Game Washudoll: arrangement KyleJCrb: A running theme during the production of Shell Shocked was the somewhat tumultuous process of getting the Hyperstone Heist exclusive tracks remixed. Originally "Scene 1-3" was slated to be covered by the awesome YouTube guitarist GaMetal (http://youtube.com/jonnyatma), but unfortunately he wasn't able to finish his contribution, so I reached out to Washudoll. I had been a fan of his ever since his debut Street Fighter 2010 Arranged Album EP and contributions to Maverick Rising, and while his previous outings have all been Capcom-related, I knew his style would be just what I was looking for. He made the brilliant call to combine "Scene 1-3" with "Downtown" from the original TMNT arcade game, all while making gloriously gratuitous use of Konami-style orchestra hits, killer organ and guitar chops, and what I can only assume is his own personal brass section. The instrumentation is deeply layered with a lot going on, but Washudoll makes it all work cohesively and energetically. The title is taken from a quote that the Turtles say in the original arcade game when they fall into an open sewer manhole, which strangely enough was changed to "This cave is creepy" in Turtles in Time, even though a sewer isn't exactly a cave... 1-05. Monobrow - "Fresh from the Sewers" Composer: Mutsuhiko Izumi Source: "Sewer Surfin' (Stage 3 BGM)" from TMNT IV: Turtles in Time Monobrow: arrangement Monobrow: So, a couple of things. This song is named after the short-lived Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Pies which were "Fresh from the sewers, to you!"... Even as a kid I thought that tagline sounded... awesome! The only time I got to eat one of these mythical pies was on a family road trip, and I have to admit that I got kinda sick after making myself eating the entire thing, and I distinctly remember the taste, and how overloaded with sugar and goo (that's vanilla puddin', dude!) it was. But it didn't matter, because I got to eat a TMNT pie. In the late 80s to early 90s, like many kids my age, I had the mania. I had things like the Coming out of Their Shells tour tape from Pizza Hut, a Pizza Thrower, both NES games, cereal bowls, action figures, I'd seen/rented all TMNT shows (even some after school say-no-to-drugs special w/ Michelangelo) & after much quarter-borrowing, beat the original arcade game. Watching the original movie in the theater was life-changing. I felt an urge to play in storm drains and try to look down manholes. I begged for a skateboard. Pizza was my favorite food, neon green my favorite color. Ah, my childhood! So, anyway, when Kyle invited me to this project, I took one of the last unclaimed tracks, the ever-popular "Sewer Surfin'"... Then I started to hear everyone's WIPs... guitars everywhere, and guitarless me was intimidated. But I decided to just embrace what I knew and organ/synth/crazy it up everywhere, let loose, and have fun. And I did! Turtle Power! Also, thanks to Pongball's MIDI @ VGMusic for figuring out some of those crazy arpeggios. 1-06. Magellanic - "Turtle in the Shredder's Shadow" Composer: Masahiro Ikariko Source: "Shredder's Hideout" from TMNT: The Hyperstone Heist Magellanic: arrangement, guitar KyleJCrb: Originally, The Hyperstone Heist wasn't going to be an official part of the album. It was only after reaching out to the remixers and realizing there there was a lot more interest than there were songs from Turtles in Time that I figured throwing in the three source tunes that were exclusive to Hyperstone would just make the album even more awesome and expand the roster a bit. Magellanic (formerly Lidawg) reached out to me early on after the project went public, and being familiar with him through his 2011 Wily Castle ReMix Gauntlet entries and his contribution to Vampire Variations, it was pretty obvious that he would be an excellent addition. Some awesome high-energy synth rock from Liam! Magellanic: Kyle's TMNT project is shaping up to be amazing, so I am definitely glad to be part of it. This track was really good fun to produce. When looking through the source tracks, it was suprising to see that "Outside Shredder's Hideout" hadn't already been claimed. The original isn't so much rocking but had the potential to be with the amount of energy and crazy speed. It's a ridiculously fast track, but I could definitely hear the potential of realising this as a heavy rock tune. The most arduous thing with arranging this was working out the lead lines as the source was so damn fast but, hey, that's what time stretch is for right?! Getting the production and feel for the track was incredibly fun. It really challenged me on the mixing front but definitely turned out how I wanted, not to mention it was great finding another mix in which to use the guzheng. Would just like to say a thank you to Mr. OA for providing me with some kickass drum samples. The drums lacked punch, so by layering the samples OA provided with some of the existing ones, I really, really hope they have that KO you like to hear from a drum track. Definitely found the production on this one a challenge, as it's pretty packed, but regardless, I'm really happy with the result. I hope Kyle is too. Oh, and the title is not referring to me shredding. I can't do that crazy ass skillful shiz. Thanks for taking the time to listen! Enjoy. :) Source usage: 0:00-0:09 - variation on opening arpeggio 0:09-0:19 - original guitar riff 0:19-0:23 - original break to lead 0:23-0:43 - source verse theme on synth 0:43-1:02 - source verse theme on guitar 1:02-1:12 - source chorus 1:12-1:26 - original 1:26-1:36 - orignal guitar riff with opening arpeggio variation 1:36-1:55 - solos based on source verse 1:55-2:16 - solo based on source chorus 2:16-2:33 - original bridge based off source verse 2:33-2:52 - original/variation of source verse 2:52-3:12 - original solo based off source chorus chords 3:12-3:16 - original, lead to verse variation 3:16-end - variation on verse 1-07. WillRock, Sixto Sounds - "Cowabunga!" Composer: Mutsuhiko Izumi Source: "Technodrome ~ Let's Kick Shell! (Stage 4 BGM)" from TMNT IV: Turtles in Time WillRock: arrangement, keyboards Sixto Sounds: arrangement, guitar KyleJCrb: This glorious meeting of two of OCR's most rockin' legends surprisingly didn't make Shredder enact his evil plan of making our dimension collapse in on itself. As if WillRock and Sixto didn't kick enough shell on their own, this 80's-inspired metal remix of the SNES-exclusive Technodrome level features Will and Juan trading off on synth and guitar leads throughout the entire song. All I know is, I wanna see more team-ups of these guys, STAT. WillRock: Once, when I was in town doing some clothes shopping, I saw one of those street performers. He was fiddling about on an out-of-tune Fender Strat through a what sounded like a blown 10-watt speaker system. This moment in my life inspired me to pick up an electric guitar, so I went to my local guitar wankage shop and brought myself a $10 secondhand guitar. The first time I held it in my hands, I knew, holding it at that moment, that I would be a guitarist, the likes of which has never been seen. After about the 3rd broken string that day, I decided screw guitar playing and started looking at other guitarists to work with. I tried out plenty of guitarists, and after going through such talented guitarists such as Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, and Lil Wayne, I decided to go with this dude who called himself Sixto Sounds. His guitar playing astounded me, he sounded much like another person playing the electric guitar. After he had spent a few years learning his instrument, we finally finished our first collaboration. It flopped much like a floppy floppy disk. Then we decided to remix Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. We went into a high tech studio to record the guitars, and when recording the solo, Sixto attempted to throw my head into his amplifier when I told him that his 250th take of his guitar solo just wasn't going to cut it. However, doing so, he caught his favourite "Winger" T-shirt on the tuning peg of his guitar which wound it round, causing the bottom E string to snap, and the entire guitar to go out of tune. Sixto had to restring and tune his guitar which took many valuable hours of studio time. On reflection, we both decided it would be for the best if we worked together again, since the best music is created by people who hate each other. These plans have not come to full fruition yet. 1-08. Ergosonic - "Runnin' with the Shredder" Composer: Mutsuhiko Izumi Source: "Elevator" from TMNT IV: Turtles in Time Ergosonic: arrangement, guitar, bass Ergosonic: writeup uhh Just go listen to Van Halen's 1976 demo of "She's the Woman" and you'll get it. 1-09. Mega Beardo - "Oroku Like a TurtleCane" Composer: Masahiro Ikariko Source: "BGM 12" from TMNT: The Hyperstone Heist Mego Beardo: arrangement, guitar Mego Beardo: Kyle brought me into this project pretty late in the game, so I knocked this track out pretty quick. At the time, I'd been writing/remixing a lot of dark, heavy, moody 7-string stuff. I wanted to mix things up and do something straight-up fun. TRUMPETS! Funky, pentatonic trumpets are fun. I have my love for the Interstate '76 soundtrack to thank for that addition. There are really only two riffs/licks to work with, so I beefed up the intro, included a transitioning bridge, and ended with a funky wahed-out outro section. I also sampled the original drum loop from the soundtrack purely by accident. While singling out the main melody with Audio Overload, I noticed just how fat and dirty those original drums were, so I threw them into my mix in certain spots. This was one of the most fun tracks I've ever worked on, so I'm happy to be a part of this awesome, radical, gnarly project. 1-10. DusK - "Makin' Turtle Soup" Composer: Mutsuhiko Izumi Source: "Battle (Boss BGM)" from TMNT IV: Turtles in Time DusK: arrangement, guitar DusK: I made the track that I feel would be in a remake of HSH. I feel like I nailed it. No pizza was harmed in the making of this remix. Unfortunately. 1-11. Jivemaster - "Fight Something" Composer: Mutsuhiko Izumi Source: "Training" Jivemaster: arrangement, vocals Jivemaster: Get out there and "Fight Something!" A floor pounding rock tribute to my main man Vanilla. 2-01. Eino Keskitalo feat. Tuberz McGee - "Aim High" Composers: Mutsuhiko Izumi, Masahiro Ikariko Source: "Course" from TMNT IV: Turtles in Time, "BGM 26" from TMNT: The Hyperstone Heist Eino Keskitalo: arrangement, guitar Tuberz McGee: guitar Eino Keskitalo: Shell Shocked project had been going on for a while when I thought trying to make a rearrangement for it might be fun. I had, after all. played and enjoyed Turtles in Time back in the day, plus, as a KNGI forum regular, the project was kind of dangling there. The "major" sources were gone by then, so I started listening through the smaller ditties. I thought I could take the bassline of Hyperstone Heist's "High Score Display" and develop it into some sort of nasty dissonant proggy progression. I fired up Renoise, transcribed the bass, killed the swing feel, reinterpreted the lead line to the new rhythm, wrote the first "proggy bit" and had the basic idea for the piece. I added "Warming Up" as a source to have a bit more material to work with, and sent the first version to Kyle. From there on, it was a long iterative process of first completing the structure, then working on the instrumentation, layering sounds, and mixing to flesh it out and polish it up. I've got to thank Kyle for demanding quality here! An important point was when Tuberz offered to contribute guitar, adding a rhythm track, a tasty solo at the end of the bridge, and a key moment to the track, the guitar scream in the beginning. Mr. McGee brought a lot of life to the piece and was great to work with, responding very well to my feedback and concerns and improving the take greatly with each iteration. His contribution inspired and pushed me to put a lot more effort to polishing the track than I would have otherwise. I also was inspired to record a little of my own humble guitar playing - a little solo at 1:15-1:24 and a little riff that plays throughout the "Warming Up" bridge. Thanks to Kyle, Magellanic and Monobrow on the KNGI forums, and Pleiade, Rami and my beloved Pirjo (always with the key insights) in real life for feedback during making the piece. Extra special thanks to our daughter Pihla, for enjoying the tune and for the wonderful dances! Tuberz McGee: When I first heard the track in its original form, I found that it was exciting... yet bare. There was something missing. Something that I tried to contemplate a fix for. After several hours of recording cat meows, it dawned on me that perhaps cats WEREN'T the answer! It was guitars! So I threw together a sloppy punky rhythm geeee-tar to chuck into dat mix. Turns out that it was just what the mix needed. And after Eino here loaded up his "anti-bad-ify" plugin into his mixer, my guitar part was good to go in his excellent mix. 2-02. Chernabogue feat. Tuberz McGee, Furilas, Viking Guitar - "Rock You Like a Dinosaur" Composer: Mutsuhiko Izumi Source: "Prehistoric Turtlesaurus (Stage 5 BGM)" from TMNT IV: Turtles in Time Chernabogue: arrangement Furilas: bass Tuberz McGee: rhythm guitar Viking Guitar: guitar solo Tuberz McGee: Man, Chernabogue is the mang. This is a solid track and I love being a part of the aesthetic. Jurassic Park/10 would velociraptor 2-03. Stemage feat. Viking Guitar - "Rock the Plank" Composer: Mutsuhiko Izumi Source: "Skull & Crossbones (Stage 6 BGM)" from TMNT IV: Turtles in Time Stemage: arrangement, guitar Viking Guitar: guitar solo KyleJCrb: When I talked to Grant about joining the project, I somehow knew this would be the source he would go with. "Skull and Crossbones" is one of the more rhythmically-driven songs in Turtles in Time, so it was right up his alley. Getting the indomitable Viking Guitar on board was just icing on the cake, letting him set down killer lead work that leads into some awesome downtempo guitar solos later in the song. These guys have been working together on collaborations for years, and it just gets better and better every time. Stemage: It doesn't take much to make TMNT rock any more than it already does. The original idea was to go more "pirate" with this track, but I have no idea what that even means. Regardless, it did not pan out. "Skull & Crossbones" just rocks too hard. The eventual goal was to adhere to a standard "pop" structure and leave room for a fun Rush-like solo as a bridge. There were many more arrangement ideas that were purged to keep the song short and rockin'. Viking Guitar and I have been trading leads for years, so it seemed appropriate to bring him on for a guitar paddle battle. He played all lead guitar except for our back-and-forth solo bit and some harmonies. Slide in a few modulations, tack on a heavy outro, throw in some extra penicillin, and we have our poop deck pizza party theme song. 2-04. Viking Guitar - "Trail Dust and Turtle Wax" Composer: Mutsuhiko Izumi Source: "Bury My Shell at Wounded Knee (Stage 7 BGM)" from TMNT IV: Turtles in Time Viking Guitar: arrangement, guitar, bass Omigadrive: chants Jen Rose: chants Barry Edward Bellomy: chants Robert Cammack: chants Dustin Garcia: chants KyleJCrb: When this song opened up, I knew it would be perfect for Erik to tackle, and I couldn't have been more excited to get him onto the album proper after he had made a few token contributions to other tracks. He has been a force to be reckoned since making his Dwelling of Duels debut in 2008, so getting him on board was a no-brainer. Just like a train, once it gets started, this remix of "Bury My Shell" hits hard and doesn't stop, aside from a small detour to the beach that works incredibly well. Viking Guitar: I love this game. I remember being young when it came out, and my little sister and I would play through it "co-op" (or, at least as "co-op" as two siblings can play a game). We actually beat the Nintendo Power speed-run record when I was like 10 and she was 7. I've never been a beat-em-up guy, but this game is an exception. When I first heard about this project, it was already pretty booked, and nothing I was interested in was open. However, Stemage was kind enough to let me handle some lead guitar work on his awesome track, and that sated my turtle-hunger. For a while. A few months later, Kyle hit me up and let me know that "Bury My Shell at Wounded Knee" had opened up. As much as this is probably the most offensive name for a level in any video game ever, it's also the level with my favorite music from the whole game. So, I got to work. The main melody in this song is so cool, and I really wanted to showcase it. I toyed around with trying to mix it with the "Fei Long" Street Fighter music (which is VERY similar), but eventually ditched that idea. Instead, I decided to take the melody through a few different genre iterations to showcase how universally awesome and applicable it really is. The trick was doing this in a way that didn't cause any whiplash for the listener, and I think I did an alright job. If nothing else, it's definitely a different sort of take on the source material. Everything was recorded and mixed in Reaper. For the intro, the acoustic guitar was some cheap Yamaha steel string. Percussion was made by drumming on the guitar and on my jeans, clapping, and rattling change in my hand. I wanted to make the whole thing sound like percussion that cowboys could improvise while on the trail. All of this was recorded with a Behringer B-1 condensor mic through a Line 6 UX2. For the heavy segment, I used a B.C. Rich Warlock with an EMG 81/85 pickup combo for the rhythms. Recorded direct and dry, with amp simulation (Poulin LeCto) and cab simulation (Poulin LeCab with some Marshall 1960 impulses). Leads were on an Ibanez JS100 with a Breed/Fred pickup combo. Recorded dry and then amp sim with POD Farm. Bass was an Ibanez soundgear 4-string with a Duncan Blackout, also through POD Farm. The surf segment was recorded with the same bass and a Squier Vintage Modified Strat for both rhythm and lead work. All direct and amped with POD Farm. Sounds pretty good for a $300 guitar! Drums for the whole thing were layered DFH and EZdrummer Pop/Rock kit, because I'm an unimaginative dickbag. Mastering was through Stillwell Audio Major Tom compressor and iZotope Ozone 4. And of course, the gang vocal "hey" shouts were provided by the undauntable Omigadrive. 2-05. Prince uf Darkness - "Casiopizza vs. TMNT-Square" Composer: Mutsuhiko Izumi Source: "Night Riders (Stage 8 BGM)" from TMNT IV: Turtles in Time SnappleMan: concept Prince uf Darkness: arrangement, guitar, bass, synth KyleJCrb: PuD was a literal last-minute addition to the album, turning this piece of jazz fusion bliss around in less than a week. "Night Riders" had always stood out to me compared to the rest of the Turtles in Time soundtrack, with more of a synth-driven sound and a bassline that just won't quit. Tony's arrangement perfectly encapsulates the style of legendary J-fusion bands Casiopea and T-Square, taking that inspiration and running hard with it. The only thing missing is an EWI! Prince uf Darkness: I was asked to take this track over from SnappleMan as a favor because he didn't have time to finish it. At first, I was kind of regretting throwing yet another track onto my plate, because the last few months of each year are always my busiest, but as I started arranging the track, I found myself enjoying it moreso than most other remixes I've done. The source lends itself to what I was doing, which was surprising since I'm used to the crotch-rock of the earlier games. Andreas sent me a very early WIP of his arrangement, which didn't contain much other than just some basic MIDI clips. He told me he had been working on it in a sort of T-Square style, so I decided to start over and do just the same, but I also tapped into my heavier, over-the-top antics of my MGS2 remix "I Need Scissors! 61," and I also dropped the tempo quite a few beats to make it groove a little more. Even though I recorded everything on the track and the arrangement is mine, the idea to do a drum solo in 5/4 was in Andreas's WIP as well. Credit given where credit is due! 2-06. The SnuggleMen - "Star Turtles II: The Wrath of Mann" Composers: Mutsuhiko Izumi, Kazuhiko Uehara, Hideto Inoue, Harumi Ueko, Kouzou Nakamura, Tomoya Tomita, Yuichi Sakakura Sources: "Star Base ~ Where No Turtle Has Gone Before (Stage 9 BGM)" from TMNT IV: Turtles in Time, "Theme of Half Shell" from TMNT III: The Manhattan Project, "Sky Palace" & "Tournament Opening" from TMNT: Tournament Fighters SnappleMan: arrangement CarboHydroM: arrangement, guitar Omigadrive: arrangement, guitar, synth Wild_Cat: bass KyleJCrb: YOU ARE NOT PREPARED. That's been the SnuggleMen mantra leading up to the release of Shell Shocked, and I think it's fitting, because YOU AREN'T. SnappleMan handled the bulk of the arrangement duties, while CarboHydroM and Omigadrive took on the face-melting guitar noodling, and Wild_Cat shreds the bass. The result? This team of metal remix veterans took "Starbase" and cranked the levels of cowabunga right into the stratosphere and beyond, to where no turtle has gone before! The SnuggleMen: A transcontinental collaborative project involving the massive number of four musicians, with three different accents, from as many as two sides of the Atlantic, the SnuggleMen (briefly known as the far catchier CarboSnappleDrive_CatM, until a cease-and-desist order informed us that the name already belonged to a Japanese bossa-nova-core band) find their origin in SnappleMan's desire to make people suffer in the name of awesome music. Starting with a balls-to-the-wall, high-energy take on an already rocking source track, Andreas first brought in Omigadrive to proggify it into almost six minutes of insanity (with polyrhythms). Then, with only two weeks left until the deadline and plenty of recording to do, CarboHydroM and Wild_Cat were summoned. The former to finish the arrangement and duel Omigadrive on guitar, the latter to provide a bass line for them all to rock on. Amidst bleeding fingers, dwindling caffeine supplies and silenced cries for mercy (because, as Danny Trejo would one day quote him, "SnappleMan don't slow down"), the musicians died and were reborn as the SnuggleMen, ruthless predatory creatures with a keen instinct for cheating, punching in, and ultimately delivering a shell-kicking piece of rock that, as far as we know, no turtle has headbanged to before. 2-07. Do a Barrel Roll! - "Super Shredder Shelldown" Composer: Mutsuhiko Izumi Source: "Technodrome ~ The Final Shell Shock (Stage 10 BGM)" from TMNT IV: Turtles in Time Zero Nimbus: arrangement, guitar Axe Deadeye: guitar Rado: guitar Prof. Sequoia: keyboard Ayalisse: violin Dani Kong: drums "It really was an honor to be chosen to perform the final boss music for Turtles in Time on this compilation, and we are very proud to be a part of it." ~Zero "Super Shredder Shelldown" -- in addition to being an intense tongue-twister -- is a special track in that it was performed and captured completely live. Every sound you hear in this recording, including the samples, are played in real time by the 8 members of the band. There is no MIDI quantization, overdub, or touch-up of any kind used here. This is a one-shot, LIVE performance of DABR!'s original arrangement. The sound of this track is really the signature of Do a Barrel Roll! A huge, organic wall of rock bulldozes its way in with guitar harmonies and dead on drums, blending with synths and violin to create their well-layered, ferocious sound. The speed and intensity of this composition really lend themselves well to the energy and technical precision of the band. During the break, the Shredder squares off with the Turtles as they exchange some dialogue, leading up to Tinface's imminent transformation into the Super Shredder! Writing a theme to represent that transformation was really exciting. The second half of the song features original material intended to bridge the gap between the aggressive music of Turtles in Time and the funky, upbeat nature of the fight scenes in the first two TMNT films from which the voice samples are cut. This section was inspired by that first encounter with Shredder in the first movie during which each turtle takes a crack at the Shred-Head. This time around, we are dealing with more confident reptiles, but also a more powerful adversary. There are four lead sections to represent each turtle -- the order being Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael. In the end, our green heroes rally together for one final attack to send Tin Grin packing. Creating this song was immensely enjoyable, and we absolutely love the response that we get when we play it live! 2-08. Mutherpluckin' B - "Flyin' High (Inside Shredder's Hideout)" Composers: Bob Bejan, Godfrey Nelson, Masahiro Ikariko Sources: "Pizza Power" from TMNT: Coming Out of Their Shells, "BGM 12" from TMNT: The Hyperstone Heist Mutherpluckin' B: arrangement, guitar, bass Mutherpluckin' B: This song is a mixture of several tunes from Turtles 4 and Hyperstone Heist, the main parting consisting of "Flyin' High" (a.k.a. "Staff" or "Pizza Power"). This not being the game's most melodic of tracks, I tried to aim for sheer funk rock (and pizza) power, with inspiration coming from artists like Funkadelic, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Deep Purple and The Undisputed Truth. 2-09. Tuberz McGee - "For Whom the Shell Tolls" Composer: Mutsuhiko Izumi Sources: "Winner" from TMNT IV: Turtles in Time Tuberz McGee: arrangement, guitar, bass Tuberz McGee: Man, this was just like a fun little ditty to make, y'know. Just chilling being all like, "Man, I should join this whole Turtles in Time project, yeah, that'd be fun," and then Kyle's all like "Yeah, you're on every track now or something, bye, lol." Only mild hyperbole there, folks. 2-10. Turtle Soup Injection - "It's Pizza Time!" Composer: Mutsuhiko Izumi Source: "Memory" from TMNT IV: Turtles in Time Rexy: arrangement, synth Omigadrive: rhythm guitar Tuberz McGee: lead guitar Wild_Cat: bass Rexy: Turtle Soup Injection, to best describe it, can be the only way you'd hear a Brit chick, a Frenchman, a Kiwi and a Tyne Cowboy in the same virtual jamspace showing their stuff. Originally, Rexy worked out the arrangement alone and hoped to get a live guitar player involved, but little did she know that it would turn out to be one heck of a pizza party. With Tuberz's bluesy personality, Wild_Cat's precision and technical guidance, and Omigadrive's raw energy, it turned into more than just a collab - it turned into a timeless celebration and one to show great joy at the returning face of the Statue of Liberty. Cowabunga, dudes! Tuberz McGee: Man, Rexy is a true baller. This Turtle Soup Injection is comin' at you hard and in a definite undiluted form. I had real fun delivering some really raw solos here. Here's hoping that this isn't the last you hear of TSI. Wild_Cat: Tuberz already got the gist of it. The old-school rock n' roll is coming straight for ya, to the point where I'm sad I can't play the upright bass, because that would have been legendary. Omigadrive: I like pizza. 2-11. Tuberz McGee and The Shell Shockers - "Live at the Big Apple Bluesfest" Composer: Mutsuhiko Izumi Source: "Training" from TMNT IV: Turtles in Time Tuberz McGee: arrangement, guitar, bass Stemage: guitar solo #1 Omigadrive: guitar solo #2 WillRock: keyboard solo #1 Rexy: piano solo Mutherpluckin' B: guitar solo #3 Eino Keskitalo: guitar solo #4 Jivemaster: keyboard solo #2, vocal solo Ergosonic: guitar solo #5 DusK: guitar solo #6 Mega Beardo: guitar solo #7 Chernabogue: drum solo KyleJCrb: voiceover Tuberz McGee: Why did I think this would be a good idea? I organised this thinking it would be a cool way to show off some guitar solos and get involved with some cool dudes in the community. THEN THEY WERE ALL BETTER THAN ME. My self-esteem took a brutal hit in this Sparring Match and it's the kind of wound that ONLY PIZZA CAN HEAL. KyleJCrb: For some reason, the multiplayer versus theme was the one track for the album that was difficult to recruit a remixer for. Nobody seemed to be interested in it at first, so this track was born out of the idea of getting as many people on the project as possible involved in remixing it. Tuberz did a great job taking up the reins with the arrangement, and both he and myself coordinated the soloists. The voiceovers were a last-minute idea, to help solidify the live performance aesthetic of the track. I was worried they would sound stupid and out of place, but Tuberz worked his magic, and to be honest, they work a lot better than I expected! I had fun recording them at least, as Tuberz can attest to from the outtakes. It rocks and I'm really glad that I was able to put my own little touch on it!