Game info: Wikipedia
Listening: soundtrack album, extracted audio
Info
In an interview about the Ghost Trick remaster last month (Japanese only), original game director Shu Takumi revealed that Capcom composer Yasumasa Kitagawa contributed to the game’s sound behind the scenes, going so far as to call him part of the “Ghost Sound Family” (whatever that means). The word he used to say what Kitagawa did, 調整, is a bit vague but in this context generally refers to adjustment or tweaking, so I’d guess he had some kind of technical polishing role: mixing, touching up sequence data, tuning instruments, who knows.
So given his involvement there, it makes perfect sense that Kitagawa, who’s still at Capcom, would be tapped to arrange the game’s soundtrack for the remaster. The songs are all extremely close to the original pieces, to the extent that the durations on the soundtrack releases are nearly identical. The principal differences are the remaster tracks have slightly higher quality samples and replace some delay echoes with reverb, which is kind of a bummer to me because I do love me some delay echoes. A few tracks are also mixed a bit differently, bringing subtle background layers forward or pushing ones further back into the mix. In a way that I can’t really elaborate on, the remade versions largely feel “cheaper” to me, even though the old instruments are definitely faker; it’s probably a combination of the mixing/reverb, me naturally filtering sequenced DS music through a different mental pathway than the new streamed music, and of course just a general fussiness because I’ve been used to the original soundtrack for so long. The original compositions are all still present in every song, though, so I won’t hate on it too hard.
The remaster also features a brand new song by original composer Masakazu Sugimori, “GHOST WORLD.” I have no idea how it’s used!
Recommended tracks:
-
“The World of the Dead” is a track that I think works a little better with the reverbier sound design and higher quality crystal sound
-
“Chase” brings out some of the accompaniment layers a bit more in the mix than the original, making it easier to groove with the stacking of different rhythms (a Sugimori special)
-
“Dead Afterimage” adds a reversed sound to the start of the second loop at 1:23 (and every subsequent loop) that’s pretty cool, also am I sucker for 5-based pseudo-polymeter? You better believe I am
(track titles are unofficial translations from VGMdb)
Leave a Reply