Complete Soundtrack Project

[no name]

A month ago, I opened a thread here expressing my wish for some sort of complete edition of the soundtracks for Where They Cremate The Roadkill and John Clowder’s past games too but, as I feared, the developer probably isn't looking at the discussions anymore.

Since then I’ve been working on compiling my own version of the complete Where They Cremate The Roadkill soundtrack. Basically, I've listed all the BGM tracks and every alternative version (and their pitch) as they appeared in the game and edited the original mp3 files to make the alternative pitch versions. As I’m writing this, the project is near completion (around 260 tracks) and I’m beginning to do the same for Middens and Gingiva.


I just wanted to ask the developer, if he ever reads this, (and possibly everyone else who contribuited to the soundtrack like Trevor Nordlund, Mollusk King and the Kickstarter backers) whether he could provide me with the original WAV files exported from whatever program was used to make the game’s music (for audio quality purposes) and some minor supervision in order to complete the project.

I also wanted to ask what guitar and effects were used on Public Shame and Empty ATM...


Update: As of now, the John Clowder Soundtracks Collection project is complete, standing at around 607 tracks for 12 hours of music total.
During the 7 months I've been working on it I've tried reaching the developer multiple times, unfortunately with no success, so the project couldn't be officialized and its sound quality couldn't be improved. Because of that I'm not sure of how to go about its release... but if anyone's interested, it's on Mega:
3hhlFAIT#H7H8zbciMLvodHYTbCkHvvalRpFkYO5KhtV8jsCEDDw

[FernandFerd]

This is very cool project you have here, I would love for you to reply to this post when it's ready. Also I know one of the composer's who in turn knows the dev personally. Message me on discord at Fernand#3935 for details. Or friend me on steam.

[Tommuel]

Whilst I appreciate your dedication to gathering up the Clowderverse Trilogy's music, I would prefer it if you waited longer. I have plans to get my tracks professionally mastered, and it's possible some in-game speed variants may also change. My focus is on other projects at the moment, but I will try to get round to it and have them patched into the game.

As for WAVS of John's work I'm doubtful they exist, but they might. I can get ahold of him and point his attention to this thread.

My question though is: what is the endgame goal of this? Is your plan just to have them uploaded on YouTube?

Tommuel / Mollusk King

[no name]

Thank you for replying. And thank you to Fernand The Fresh for bringing this to your attention!

I'm in no hurry to finish this (I'm actually a little burnt out from listening to the BGMs so much in order to put the project together) so waiting is not a problem.
The most important thing though is to get Clowder to answer a couple questions, mostly about the tracklist, and hopefully send the WAV files or just anything better than 128kbps MP3s.
If Clowder doesn't want to get in contact directly, I can send the Excel file I've been using to gather all pitch variants, titles, notes and questions.

Also, it's funny you mentioned mastering because I was thinking of trying my hand at mastering the project (because of how quiet the tracks are) with maybe some assistance from engineers I know.

As for the endgame goal... I just think the soundtrack deserves standalone treatment. To be completely honest, I've been so focused on putting the project together that I didn't think this all the way through but when it comes to any eventual form of distribution, that's entirely up to the developer.

[Bunslake]

Hello, is this still a thing you're working on? I would love to get my hands on this soundtrack as it's genuinely on of my favorites and it's so good to have in the background when working and all that. Do you really not have any plans on sharing it? I understand, but gosh I would really love to be able to listen to it

[afraidofthedark]

Due to the fact that most of the game's music is made up of samples sourced from freesound, a remastered soundtrack is definetely possible. I've started a spreadsheet to try to document them , as well as aving found the sources of a few songs by other artists featured on the soundtrack, Most of which are in higher quality than the ingame music.

the sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mYnwG56nkGROClj8BlTCkrQaaYaE3Bh3ewh5CSEIMV8/edit#gid=0

[no name]

Well, afraidofthedark, first, let me say that you've been doing an amazing job at tracking down the source sounds.
While I knew Middens and Gingiva's music was just "collages" of samples almost entirely sourced from freesounds (years ago I even thought about tracking them myself), I didn't know WTCTR followed the exact same formula. I checked some of them out and you're pretty spot on. You've even found most of my favorite ones. I don't know how you've managed to do it.

Now, astonishment aside, yes, by knowing all the sources, reconstructing the soundtracks from the ground up and then give them a little mastering is theoretically possible.
Being one that loves taking this kind of music apart and study it, I'm willing to try but I'm short on time.
I finished/put to sleep the "complete soundtracks" project in May. Realistically, considering how hard getting all the changes made to the samples and the final mixes exactly right, remaking around 265 tracks could take much more time than it's worth. But I guess we'll see.
I'll make sure to check the spreadsheet every now and then.

Here some sources I remember finding last year:
●Braaaiinsss: https://soundcloud.com/trevor-nordlund/braaaiinsss
●Coffee is a Beautiful Thing: https://soundcloud.com/trevor-nordlund/coffee-is-a-beautiful-thing
●Mbalé Instrumental Ensemble/Mbale_Ensemble_Central_African_Republic: https://archive.org/details/ThomasLadonne_CentralAfricanRepublic_Traditional/Mbale_Ensemble_Central_African_Republic.mp3
●Ethiopia Anouak Toum Solo/Anouak_Toum_Solo_Ethiopia: https://archive.org/details/ThomasLadonne_Ethiopia_Traditional/Anouak_Toum_Solo_Ethiopia.mp3
●Lusuba Mouth Harp/Lusuba_Mouth_Harp_DemRep_Congo: https://archive.org/details/ThomasLadonne_Congo_Traditional/Lusuba_Mouth_Harp_DemRep_Congo.mp3

Also, I think that a couple of tracks (John, Dino DNA and Worm DNA) were made with an online app and that Class Act, Shaina, Tested Ground, Muffin, Feed Her, Real Smart and Dolphin Birth might've also been made by Trevor Nordlund.


EDIT: I've tried remaking a couple of tracks and it's tougher than I thought.
From what I could gather, in each sample, pitch and tempo are changed independently with sometimes the addition of cuts, fades and whatnot, so remaking the tracks exactly as the originals is very hard, maybe even impossible.
I think that the only way to have the HQ soundtrack is getting the project files from the man himself.
Nevertheless, I'd like to give it a shot once in a while.

Also, since I tried making a more tidy version of the spreadsheet, would it bother you if I (or maybe even other people who found some samples you haven't) edit the sheet?

[afraidofthedark]

Extremely late answer, but go ahead! As for your other topics, I'd say its possible that those songs are made using some sort of midi generator (?), especially worm DNA since it seems pretty random. I should mention that Dino Dna was created using a Freeware vst called Delay Lama, so that raises the possibility that maybe Clowder had a bit more of a hand in composing the game's soundtrack. I think Maybe Trevor Nordlund may also have created Buzz the Bees are dead and Clinking stars. I also think that 1000th customer may just be an edited recording of some other song, and this is probably the case with A Dragon Named Jeremias and Hark from Gingiva.

Aditionally, a few other Musicians contributed to the soundtrack:

●Hypnosis, Drugs, and Mind Control:
https://archive.org/details/019--HypnosisDrugsAndMindControltheBeginningATouch/019_Excerpt.mp3

●Holy Holy Holy:
https://sleepofmonsters.bandcamp.com/track/holy-holy-holy-intro

You've mentioned in your post that some patreon backers have contributed to the soundtrack, do you have any idea what tracks those are?

[Kikitox]

Even more extremely late answer, but thanks for making the soundtrack collection! I'm just glad to have all the different pitch versions easily accessible.

I don't really have much to contribute to the remastering project(and personally, I think the songs being 128kpbs mp3s is part of the charm lol), but did you know the song #3817 Unknown samples Sylvia by Arthur Verocai? Well, I think it's a nice a trivia at least, love both songs btw.

[no name]

Guess I'm replying pretty late too.

To afraidofthedark:
If I remember correctly, Worm DNA and Dino DNA should be the same MIDI file but at different speeds and with different soundfonts (and processing) and yeah it has to be made with some generator (possibly what Clowder meant when, in the game's description, he mentioned music made from combinations of nematodes...).
Figuring out who made what is pretty tough but I also had a couple pieces that I thought might've been co-produced, like Winky Face.
1000th Customer sounds like a 80's Chinese commercial or TV show Opening, also there's a track called Hum which has to be sampled from an Indian/Pakistani pop song and Hark is just Hark, The Herald Angels Sing (as heard on A Charlie Brown Christmas). Clowder himself posted the source of A Dragon Named Jeremias somewhere in here but it didn't sound right to me...
The backer contribuited track is Colin Pochie's Watching from the Perspective of an Unsettlingly Claustrophobic Camera Angle.

To Kikitox:
I didn't know #3817 Unknown was made from samples like the other tracks (I thought it was just a portion of a song). Sylvia's a beautiful track. The way Clowder sampled it and built on it reminds me of what hip-hop producers would do.

I think it'd be nice if people added the samples they find to afraidofthedark's spreadsheet. I think I was going to clean it up a little and add some stuff too but I never worked on a google doc before and must've forgotten about it.

[Raptros]

I'm not familiar with Mega. How does one go about downloading this collection?

[Jadelor]

Seconding the download, which is unavailable now.

[Tommuel]

As years go by things get forgotten about and cemented over.

Contrary to my last post I decided to not get the Mollusk King tracks mastered, but I can provide the original WAV copies to you as long as you find some way to get in touch with me.

As for #3817 Unknown, if I remember correctly it was sent to John anonymously. No one knows the source.

There were 5 further Mollusk King tracks that didn't make it into the final cut of the game.

Tommuel / Mollusk King

[Raptros]

What exactly is the Mollusk King?

[Tommuel]

A music project. Where They Cremate The Roadkill was our first soundtrack work. It was only one person at that point (myself) but now has two members.

[afraidofthedark]

wow, its been ages

#3817 unknown is sampled from sylvia by arthur verocai, although the vocals arent from the sample.