ReMix:Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time "Trail Dust and Turtle Wax" 7:09

This is probably my favorite source from Turtles in Time, and OCR newcomer & DoD veteran Viking Guitar is here to rock it the hell out!! So much to love on this mix... I especially dig that he spends the first minute and a half setting the stage with a lower-key wild west vibe before busting out the chugs. The choo-choo train signals an epic build that starts at 1'31" and finally releases into headbanging catharsis at 2'07" after working right on up the scale and building... the... anticipation; job well done, sir! That's over a half-minute of build - what is this, a trance track?!? - but it's absolutely a highlight, and the payoff when the main melody and those "HEY!!" shouts enter is priceless. The artist writes:

"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 B1 condensor mic through a Line 6 UX2.
• For the heavy segment, I used a BC 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 JS-100 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."

Very SMART comments from Viking Guitar; you can tell he knows his shit, he covered the mix's origin story as well as his own background with the game AND a lot of technical fundamentals that should be interesting to artists in particular, AND he acknowledged the potential political incorrectness of the source/stage title, AND he pointed out the melodic similarities to Fei Long's theme. It also (more vaguely) resembles the original main theme in the Naruto anime. Using the multiple genre approach could have seemed spastic or non-sequitur, but it's all tied together and comes off very natural. Kyle writes:

"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."

It's great to finally have some Viking Guitar on OCR, although it's more like we're hopping on HIS train than vice versa, at least with this mix. A highlight/standout track on Shell Shocked, for me, this was everything I was looking for in an arrangement of this source, and then some. Highly recommended!