Music from Castlevania - Black & Red (Original Game Soundtracks)

[GermanSeabass]

Hi all, tracklist is here. Is there a good way to distinguish tracks/sides? https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?gid=0#gid=0

[Mac_Tear]

Originally Posted by GermanSeabass

Hi all, tracklist is here. Is there a good way to distinguish tracks/sides? https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?gid=0#gid=0

Is this release really official?! Because it seems that Konami expanded some of the soundtracks with this release. All those omitted tracks from Castlevania 64 apparently are included, and for Legacy of Darkness they added the omitted tracks AND fixed that awful, out of order tracklist from the Kuro/Black release! What a joy! I know these two N64 games are mostly overlooked by fans, and the music isn't popular compared to earlier Castlevania soundtracks or Mrs. Yamane's splendid works, but still finally getting some "complete and official" versions makes my heart really happy. A bit sad it's a vinyl release only, tho.

[rpbtz]

Originally Posted by GermanSeabass

Hi all, tracklist is here. Is there a good way to distinguish tracks/sides? https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?gid=0#gid=0

You have to add the tracklist per disc and then distinguish the sides in the "Edit Album Info" section afterwards. I can do it later today if you want.

[zierts]

Originally Posted by Mac_Tear

Is this release really official?! Because it seems that Konami expanded some of the soundtracks with this release. All those omitted tracks from Castlevania 64 apparently are included, and for Legacy of Darkness they added the omitted tracks AND fixed that awful, out of order tracklist from the Kuro/Black release! What a joy! I know these two N64 games are mostly overlooked by fans, and the music isn't popular compared to earlier Castlevania soundtracks or Mrs. Yamane's splendid works, but still finally getting some "complete and official" versions makes my heart really happy. A bit sad it's a vinyl release only, tho.

According to rpbtz's submission, jmr was involved. So that probably means these are new recordings rather than something supplied to Materia Collective by Konami.

[rpbtz]

Originally Posted by zierts

According to rpbtz's submission, jmr was involved. So that probably means these are new recordings rather than something supplied to Materia Collective by Konami.

Correct. All the games listed with an * in the notes are new hardware recordings.

[suicider]

Is this release even real? 46 vinyl discs?? Holy smokes, what the hell

[LuxKiller65]

So the quality will be all over the place? Some are new recordings, some are not, maybe from different sources, but anyway this is all passed onto a vinyl, so it's all just a big waste of PVC... at least 7 kilos of it if each vinyl is 150 g.

When is the MiniDisc edition coming out?

[Jedi QuestMaster]

I hate the art.

[Brad Evans II]

Am I the only one who thinks this is kind of neat, but would like never even think of buying it even if price wasn't a factor?

I mean I like Castlevania music, but given we haven't be getting any new material for years I've kind of worn a hole in many of my favorite tracks.

[zierts]

Originally Posted by LuxKiller65

So the quality will be all over the place?

Not quite. The overwhelming majority of the games without new recordings had soundtrack releases with good sound quality in the past. I really only see a problem with Symphony of the Night and Aria of Sorrow if it reuses earlier masters.

Originally Posted by Jedi QuestMaster

I hate the art.

The style is debatable for sure. But they apparently got the artist to do dedicated pieces for the individual games, so that's pretty cool!

Originally Posted by Brad Evans II

Am I the only one who thinks this is kind of neat, but would like never even think of buying it even if price wasn't a factor?

I mean I like Castlevania music, but given we haven't be getting any new material for years I've kind of worn a hole in many of my favorite tracks.

I still find many soundtracks extremely listenable and I haven't grown tired of them yet. The SNES, N64 and PS2 Castlevania soundtracks in particular, I could listen to any day of the week. The ones I'd find harder to enjoy constantly are Aria of Sorrow, Dawn of Sorrow, Order of Ecclesia. That's where the music got a bit too formulaic and Castlevania-esque for me.

[Rew]

I'm just glad we're going to get official English track titles for a lot of these games.

But yeah, a shame that this version is only on vinyl (and super expensive, to boot).

[jmr]

A small correction: I did not provide new audio for Castlevania (MSX2), but I did for Aria of Sorrow (GBA) and Bloodlines (Genesis).

Originally Posted by Mac_Tear

All those omitted tracks from Castlevania 64 apparently are included, and for Legacy of Darkness they added the omitted tracks AND fixed that awful, out of order tracklist from the Kuro/Black release! What a joy!

You’re welcome. ☺️

Glad to see my suggestions for the N64 tracklists made it through to the final release. Those were fun - I got asked to comb through gameplay footage and show that every new song was actually in the game.

Oh, and the other issues with Legacy of Darkness were fixed too. No more missing drums on Outer Wall!

[BlazingAbyss]

Originally Posted by Rew

I'm just glad we're going to get official English track titles for a lot of these games.

I'm not sure I would view these as "official" considering that they're by the Materia Collective and not Konami themselves. If the submitted tracklist is accurate then there seems to be quite a lot of issues with it. "Within these Castle Walls" has been changed to "Within the Castle Walls" despite the title already being in English. For some reason they used both "Divine Bloodlines" and "Blood Relations of Heaven and Earth." It's also kind of weird to use "Akumajo Dracula" instead of "Castlevania" or "Super Castlevania IV" for an English release. There also seems to be a handful of spelling and formatting errors, but those may or may not just be mistakes made by the tracklist submitter. As far as I can tell, it looks like most of these translations were taken from VGMdb, that or iTunes, but the iTunes tracklists were also copied from VGMdb. I am curious where they got the titles for the previously unreleased 64 tracks though.

[LuxKiller65]

Originally Posted by jmr

I got asked to comb through gameplay footage and show that every new song was actually in the game.

Isn't this backwards from the way it should be?

I thought someone would analyse a rom provided by an official source - or be given a list or something that leaves no doubts - to make sure all existing songs and jingles are present. Bit worrying to hear that we watch youtube videos to make soundtracks...?

[jmr]

You misunderstood. I started with my own exhaustive list of all the audio data in the games. When we proposed including the new tracks, it wasn’t enough evidence to merely say “we found these in the game” to those approving the set - they asked us to show gameplay footage to prove that each new song I provided was used in the game.

[Mac_Tear]

Originally Posted by jmr

You’re welcome. ☺️

Glad to see my suggestions for the N64 tracklists made it through to the final release. Those were fun - I got asked to comb through gameplay footage and show that every new song was actually in the game.

Oh, and the other issues with Legacy of Darkness were fixed too. No more missing drums on Outer Wall!

This is amazing! Thank you so much. Oh, that Outer Wall track, I was so furious when I listened to it on the official compilation - best part was missing. Great to hear its intact here! So, did you collaborate with Konami on this project or is it a Materia Collective thing only? The music surely had to be authorized by Konami. Sorry, I'm not a music pro. Also, is there a chance for a digital / CD release?

[razakin]

Originally Posted by Rew

But yeah, a shame that this version is only on vinyl (and super expensive, to boot).

Depends how you look at it, like 11 dollars per vinyl ain't that bad seeing how expensive vinyl releases are compared to CDs.

I just wonder how much the shipping for something big and heavy like this will be for those who are gonna buy it.

[jmr]

Originally Posted by Mac_Tear

So, did you collaborate with Konami on this project or is it a Materia Collective thing only? The music surely had to be authorized by Konami. Sorry, I'm not a music pro. Also, is there a chance for a digital / CD release?

This project originally started by Ship to Shore Phonoco back in 2021 around the same time the CD sets came out. The original pitch was for the vinyl set to be a 1:1 match to the CDs but when STS reviewed the audio, they decided a lot of it wasn’t up to their standard, leading to my involvement.

All of the replacement audio, track lists, etc were reviewed and approved by Konami. I’ve never been directly involved in that process so I can’t speak to all of the process there; I just helped out with some of their specific requests when it came to approving the audio sources.

I’m also not involved in any of the release plans. I think it’d be cool to do a western CD release too, but it’s not my call.

[zierts]

Guys, give poor jmr a break! 😅 I for one am looking forward to hearing everyone's impressions on the GBA soundtracks. Those were in dire need of an attempt to improve the abysmal sound quality of the previous CDs.

Originally Posted by BlazingAbyss

I'm not sure I would view these as "official" considering that they're by the Materia Collective and not Konami themselves.

A good while ago, I started a detailed write-up about when releases could be considered "official" and when not. VGMdb's "orange" release criteria are all over the place, leading to a plethora of doujin/fan arrangement albums unjustly making the "blue" category.

While I prefer albums that use official art, this set here is released under license from Konami, it uses their music and the company apparently had limited involvement. To me, that's something like a 4/5 as far as official goes. I'd make this one "blue" and call it "official".

[BlazingAbyss]

Originally Posted by zierts

A good while ago, I started a detailed write-up about when releases could be considered "official" and when not. VGMdb's "orange" release criteria are all over the place, leading to a plethora of doujin/fan arrangement albums unjustly making the "blue" category.

I just wish that Konami would release a definitive, streamlined list of official translations or something because it seems like they change every other release. There's the translations from the sound tests which sometimes change between games, and then other times it's the more literal translations done by fans.

While I don't contest that this release would fall under "official" I'd still argue over the legitimacy of the translations, especially when it doesn't even maintain internal consistency as shown with the usage of both "Divine Bloodlines" (official localization) and "Blood Relations of Heaven and Earth" (literal translation.) However, I don't hold any ill will towards whoever put the tracklist together because Konami themselves have already shown that they don't give a crap about the translations. Say what you will about Nintendo, but at least the translations featured on the recent Nintendo Music app have actual care and thought put into them.

[BlazingAbyss]

Originally Posted by jmr

All of the replacement audio, track lists, etc were reviewed and approved by Konami. I’ve never been directly involved in that process so I can’t speak to all of the process there; I just helped out with some of their specific requests when it came to approving the audio sources

Would you happen to know where the titles for the previously unreleased 64 and Kid Dracula tracks came from? Were they made up based on their usage in-game or did Konami provide official Japanese titles that were then translated?

[Mac_Tear]

Originally Posted by BlazingAbyss

Would you happen to know where the titles for the previously unreleased 64 and Kid Dracula tracks came from? Were they made up based on their usage in-game or did Konami provide official Japanese titles that were then translated?

I guess they are based on fan translations and gamerips, because track titles like "Rosa's Sacrifice, Reinhardt's Rage", "Return of Evil" or "Old Friends, New Enemies" come straight from Youtube.

[zierts]

Castlevania 64 track titles of previously released tracks use VGMdb's old translation which Konami adopted for iTunes. Materia Collective or whoever modified these slightly for the box set. Just to annoy BlazingAbyss, we now have six different official translations for CV64's opening track.

INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTIONS
Opening — "Sign of Blood Pulse"
Opening — "Sign of Blood Relationship"
Opening — "Mark of the Bloodline"
Opening Sign of a Blood Relationship

The following titles are from holyice7's tags to a previous game rip:

A Promise of Light
A Fallen Rose
Rosa's Sacrifice, Reinhardt's Rage
Vampire Vincent
Return of Evil

These are all-new:

Rendezvous with Darkness
Young Dracula
Fall of the Empire

The Legacy of Darkness track titles are also all-new (probably each).