Donkey Kong Country 3: Double the Trouble!

Disc 1 Disc 2 Disc 3 Disc 4 Disc 5
- 4-01 Undercurrent
- Arranged and Performed by:
  Pot Hocket
- Source Track:
  Enchanted River
- Composer:
  David Wise
- System:
  Game Boy Advance
Artist's Note

Emu specifically asked me to remix this track back in 2009, and I went ahead and gave "Enchanted River" a listen. I knew immediately that I would have picked the track anyways. I basically picked up the guitar and started recording immediately, without a clear idea of what I was going to do, besides the theme of being underwater. In fact, I didn't listen to the source all that much either, and you may notice deviations all over the place especially when I basically just jam for a bit. Also, the recording quality does bother me a bit now (I blame my inexperience), and I apologize for that. Still, though I did put this together fairly quickly, I'm quite happy with how it came out: nice and simple. I hope you enjoy it!

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- 4-02 Aquatic Transformations
- Arranged by:
  halc
- Performed by:
  Level 99
- Source Track:
  Water World
- Composer:
  David Wise
- System:
  Game Boy Advance
Artists' Notes

halc:

I was quite amazed when I first heard the source material, which of itself is a brilliant arrangement of DKC's "Aquatic Ambiance," from which I also drew quite a bit of inspiration. The sound design in this mix is unlike anything I've produced to date, and Stevo's guitar performance was top-notch (much love!). I am incredibly proud of this mix and I hope you guys like it as much as I enjoyed producing it!

Level 99:

Talk about a game of telephone: halc asked Emunator to find someone who might be able to give some guitar work for a chill, chippy take on the "Water World" theme. Emunator had heard of my stuff and sent me a message asking if I'd be willing to lend a hand.

I ended up doing clean rhythms and a distorted lead for the melody line, a bit less high end than what I normally use, but it went well with the effects that halc put on them. Slow, drawn-out notes with lots of bends, I focused above all else on keeping the flow of the track with as precise of timing as I could muster.

Really nice experience and I look forward to the opportunity to collaborate with halc again!

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- 4-03 Heart of the Cave
- Arranged by:
  Rozovian
- Source Tracks:
  Cavern Caprice (GBA), Brinstar - Red Soil Wetland Area (Super Metroid)
- Composers:
  David Wise, Kenji Yamamoto
- System:
  Game Boy Advance
Artist's Note

Emu made me do it. Said something about "Eye of the Storm." Then said it wasn't the longest mix on the project. I got provoked. Also, Theophany provided sound effects.

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- 4-04 Cranky's Mojo
- Arranged by:
  Peach
- Source Track:
  Cranky's Dojo
- Composer:
  David Wise
- System:
  Game Boy Advance
Artist's Note

Late in Summer 2010, a well-respected OCR community member informed me of the DKC3 album project and suggested that I contact Emunator, despite the fact that all of the tracks were reserved at the time. I was told that a track likely would be dropped, and, in this case, it was "Cranky's Dojo." It was an excellent opportunity that I was honoured to seize, especially since I had no posted ReMixes on the site.

I selected the Roland Fantom X6 workstation keyboard to remix the track, and began compiling various samples from Roland's World Collection and Complete Orchestra expansion boards. Being a past MIDI transcriber, I wanted to sequence "Cranky's Dojo" accurately and build from there. My initial WIP was nothing more than a transcription of the source with an improvised synth lead, but the director accepted it. This simple recording was the beginning of a long line of ideas for the remix I dubbed "Cranky's Mojo."

My original plan was to have a bit of a dance section and mix in a Chinese-Japanese refrain, but the dance part became sort of a synth rock hybrid. While performing a trumpet solo improv overlay on Yoshi's "Tropical Island" from Mario Party, I got the idea of using the sample for a jazzy section of the piece, and it was then that I realised I would separate my remix into movements. A new chord progression for the source melody came to mind and I went on to use it for the aforementioned East-Asian part of the arrangement.

After many hours of labour, I was quite pleased with the results. A moody first movement, an upbeat rock section with a lot of source, an oriental part, and a 1940s sassy swing made this remix very dynamic. However, it had much room for improvement.

An opportunity arose to enhance "Cranky's Mojo," which the director for the album approved. With some advice, I implemented a richer piano arrangement for the opening movement, a more realistic rock drumline using Yamaha Motif ES8 keyboard samples, and a myriad of smaller refinements. The outcome of the extra effort feels much more polished than the previous recordings.

Many thanks go to Bahamut, Nutritious, Emunator, Cody Wedel, DragonAvenger, Flexstyle, and all those who helped make this possible.

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- 4-05 Chasing Waterfalls
- Arranged by:
  Blue Magic
- Source Track:
  Cascade Capers
- Composer:
  David Wise
- System:
  Game Boy Advance
Artist's Note

I was really feeling the original when I first heard it. I was fortunate to have a couple of original songs that I felt could work very well with the waterfall theme. So, I put them all together, and this is what I ended up with. I also worked with a few of my newer samples and VSTs to create a more unique style of music, compared to my previous works.

Thank you for listening, and enjoy.

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- 4-06 Corn-fed Kong
- Arranged by:
  zykO
- Performed by:
  zykO feat. diotrans, Diggi Dis
- Source Track:
  Rockface Rumble
- Composer:
  David Wise
- System:
  Game Boy Advance
Artist's Note

zykO:

I listen to a lot more country than I let on. More of the Hank Williams III variety, no doubt, but my ears perked up immediately when I saw the opportunity to work with this source. I have a soft spot for the wondrous mix of the piano, violin, and upright bass, and with a little guitar, it's practically gold. The GBA version of "Rockface" is so completely unlike its SNES counterpart and while I was tempted to go off the deep end with the ambiance and SFX (as you'd expect me to), I opted instead to go for writing a song and letting the vibe of the piece do all the table setting instead of my normal dose of meandering scene-building.

I was very blessed to be able to welcome the talents of incredibly talented folk like diotrans and Diggi Dis onto the project. Otherwise, we'd all have been stuck listening to me sequence piano and violin, hahaha. No, but really, their work is PRO, no question about it. WILL DO AGAIN

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- 4-07 Spanish Jitters
- Arranged by:
  David Wise
- Performed by:
  Robin Beanland, Level 99, Daniel Rosenqvist, Harmony, bustatunez, zykO, JJT, OA, prophetik, Diggi Dis
- Source Tracks:
  Jungle Jitter, Aquatic Ambiance (DKC1)
- Composer:
  David Wise
- System:
  Game Boy Advance
Artist's Note

David Wise:

This turned out to be a HUGE mix by the time I eventually had put all the live parts in. It has taken far longer than I originally envisaged, mainly due to trying to find the time to squeeze in enough mixing sessions between writing music for upcoming projects. First of all, a BIG thank you to everyone who contributed so much to this track. Appreciated.

Having had a break from it now for several weeks, I'm listening back thinking how I'd change it if I were to mix it again today. At times, there are almost 50 live tracks running together, with many more contributing to the mix overall.

When putting this mix together, I had been listening to a lot of Candy Dulfer, so this is where some of the inspiration comes from. Her drummer just has a great groove going on, so I analyzed this in Cubase, and applied the groove to my drum track. After that, it was a case of taking the "Jungle Jitter" melody, and adapting to suit.

I made a very basic track, and Wes asked several of the OC ReMix community to contribute. There are some very talented musicians and remixers who contribute, and it was great to hear the results as they came in.

There was some incredible playing, and whilst I'd have ideally liked to use all of the parts, I had to choose the ones that best suited where I wanted to go. This mix could easily have gone on for a few more minutes.

So let me introduce the band:

We start with the incredibly talented Robin Beanland who played his flumpet for the "middle 80's section," of which I borrowed some of this also for the intro too. He also did the great flumpet ad-libs @ 2.30.

Level 99 (Stevo Bortz): Guitar @ 0.16 - The steel guitar gives the track a very Spanish/Latin feel from the off, and sets up a far more laid-back mix than I had originally anticipated. His rhythm work also works well for the other solo instruments to sit above. Stevo's tracks were some of the first to reach me, and I think this influenced the final outcome somewhat.

bustatunez (Wilbert Roget, II): Flute @ 0.51 - When I first heard this, my initial reaction was "WOW" – I wasn't expecting that! He also contributed the accordion here too – for something a little different. It just works.

JJT (Jon T.): Trumpet - The trumpet that interjects @ 1.10 is played by Jon. He also adds a brass line to the mix within the main brass section riff too.

The OC Players: Brass Section

prophetik (Bradley Burr): Alto Sax @ 1.29, multiple takes
prophetik: Tenor Sax @ 1.29, multiple takes
prophetik: Fake Baritone Sax
OA (Andrew Luers): Alto Sax Parts @ 1.29
Robin Beanland: Flumpet @ 1.29

Bradley's sax was just great. Take after take of usable "section material." Whilst Andrew had also contributed alto sax parts, Bradley was up for adding a few more layers. The combined effect makes for a very fluid sound.

Bradley even played the baritone parts on his tenor sax, whilst I used the VariAudio in Cubase to make a very convincing fake part to fill out the lower part of the section.

Obviously, Robin has extensive experience recording, not only providing the solo in the middle section of the piece, here providing take after take of great flumpet brass section material.

Harmony (Brandon Bush): Percussion - Brandon provided multiple percussion takes. Whilst I never made a feature of the percussion, you instantly notice it's no longer there when muting it in the mix. It really adds something to the groove, whilst not taking over at the same time.

And not forgetting the bass: Daniel Rosenqvist (the bassist from the band Monkey Kong) puts in a very solid performance.

Also @ 2.20 is zykO (Waleed Hawatky) playing guitar. Waleed sent through an absolutely rocking track, which to be fair, warranted a separate remix on it's own. Great tone, great style, cool phrasing. tight timing – fantastic attitude – but there were too many overtones coming from his set-up. Sadly, for me, the sound just wouldn't fit with the rest of the track. Apologies. It would have required a whole different approach. However, the guitar takes I did use from Waleed really add punch to the track.

80's Section

For some random reason, I decided to have an 80's inspired section in the middle.

Robin kindly lent his flumpet talents here for the main solo, a very laid back and subtle treatment, which builds strongly before heading back to the main theme.

prophetik: Sax Solo @ 4.36 - This just falls nicely into place, as though it had somehow always belonged there, long before he'd ever even recorded his solo.

Diggi Dis (Frank van 't Ende): Piano @ 4.58 - And to finish with, a great piano solo to round off the mix.

Thanks again to everyone who contributed so much to this mix. If I were to mix it again today, it would be a little different for sure.

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- 4-08 Sea Breeze Concerto
- Arranged by:
  Monkey Kong
- Performed by:
  Monkey Kong feat. David Wise
- Source Track:
  Stilt Village
- Composer:
  David Wise
- System:
  Game Boy Advance
Artist's Note

Daniel Rosenqvist of Monkey Kong:

In spring last year, I got a mail from Emu asking us to be a part of the DKC3 album. Although the time wasn't optimal for us with school graduation, concerts and, of course, rehearsing for our pre-show gig at the Stockholm Concert Hall for Distant Worlds II, there really was no way for me (being such an OC ReMix fan) to turn down on this! I knew the process was gonna be long -- getting up the energy in the band, finding time to practice, jam it (A LOT of jamming, actually), arranging, recording, mixing, mastering, and so on. But to now come out in the other end and see the result is gratifying.

This could not be done without David Wise. I would like to thank him from the bottom of my heart for all the love he's put in to both his playing and also in mixing and mastering. I've learned so much from this Dave, thank you!! This song is for you, the OC ReMix staff and, of course, every video game music lover that understands why it's the ultimate art form!

I'm very pleased to give you the "Sea Breeze Concerto!"

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- 4-09 Beneath the Moonlight
- Arranged by:
  Theophany
- Performed by:
  Harmony, some1namedjeff, Fishy
- Source Track:
  Stilt Village
- Composer:
  David Wise
- System:
  Game Boy Advance
Artist's Note

Theophany:

"Stilt" had been slated as an album-closer since the early days of 2010, and being the last main track of the DKC trilogy, I wanted the sendoff to be something special. The plan was to recruit as many live performers as possible, because I felt a proper remix of this track needed to be diverse. My concept was to fuse elements of Andes folk music with world percussion, flamenco-inspired guitar, live violin, post-rock and electronic textures.

Thanks to some extremely talented artists like Harmony, Jeff, and Fishy, the result is even greater than what I'd hoped for. I can't speak highly enough of Harmony's work in general, but on this he was a godsend. Straight away he got the concept and the material he came back with was stunning. Jeff's violin performance brought soul and shimmer to the track, and I think his work really helps keeps the listener connected throughout the 6+ minute journey leading up to Fishy's solo drop. For those who can stick around that long, you're in for something special.

My work on DKC3 has been mostly experimental, with the execution being more successful for some tracks than others. "Stilt" was by far the most ambitious of my half-dozen remixes on the album. It took over a year from start to finish -- from scrapping my initial WIP and starting over, to reworking the arrangement and album outro, to the logistics of trying to coordinate 4 people from here and overseas on one track. Even as it dragged out months beyond the deadline, Wes remained 100% behind the track, and committed to its evolving direction. There were definitely times we could have called this good enough. All I can say is I am proud we didn't.

I hope you all feel it was worth the wait.

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- 4-10 Distant Dreams on Stormy Seas
- Arranged by:
  Emunator, Theophany, Cody Wedel
- Performed by:
  Emunator
- Source Track:
  Game Over
- Composer:
  David Wise
- System:
  Game Boy Advance
Artists' Notes

Emunator:

Since the GBA port of DKC3 had no original credits music, I thought it fitting to use the "Game Over" theme, which is actually just the classic DKC1 theme music arranged for a music box, as a stand-in. I found it noteworthy that the first track on Kong in Concert, the very first DKC remix album, and the last main track on Double the Trouble! both remix the same source.

This track has come a long way from the initial draft I came up with over 2 years ago, which was simply a 1-minute improvised piano piece. Once more tracks on the album started coming in (particularly Theophany's emotionally-charged "Beneath the Moonlight") I realized that a simple 1-minute outro would not do justice to the material that preceded it, so I got to work building a track that would serve as a proper emotional resolution to the album. Along with Cody Wedel, who provided the arrangement for the first verse of the track, I came up with an arrangement consisting of piano, music box, and strings set to a backdrop of rain and thunder.

The remix didn't truly take off until Theophany stepped in and worked his production magic on the track, replacing the string and bell samples and adding in extended ambient intros/bridges and really making the arrangement shimmer. I don't know how he does what he does, but after Theophany had his way with the track, it sounded absolutely gorgeous. I can't thank him and Cody enough for their contributions that brought this track to new heights.

This track is supposed to capture the "calm after the storm" that you always feel as you watch the credits roll in a game. The three years I've spent directing this album have felt like an adventure, and I hope that it feels the same way for those who choose to listen to the album all the way through. To me, this marks the end of a journey that fans of the music of Donkey Kong Country have been a part of since 2004, when Kong in Concert was first released. I hope this song, and the album as a whole, does justice to the amazing source material, and the two remix albums that preceded it.

Cody Wedel:

The idea of a "Game Over" GBA remix came to me on a whim: I somewhat jokingly brought it up to Emunator and asked if he wanted to possibly collaborate on the track, to which he obliged. Knowing that two emotional "Stilt Village" GBA remixes would go before it, we both envisioned an appropriate combination of strings, piano, and a music box accompanied by rain/thunder SFX, and that's exactly how the track ended up.

I couldn't thank Emunator and the INCREDIBLY talented Theophany enough for listening to my concepts and executing them. The Knautilus making a return at the end was an idea I had suggested months before, and its execution was flawless... I legitimately shed a tear at the end upon my first listen, it was so beautifully done.

In all, I absolutely 100% feel that this track is the perfect farewell for all the fans who had the pleasure of being blessed with the wondrous, beautiful musical journey that is Double the Trouble!

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halc:

Level 99:

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zykO:

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David Wise:

The OC Players: Brass Section

80's Section

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Daniel Rosenqvist of Monkey Kong:

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Theophany:

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Emunator:

Cody Wedel:

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