Our talented staff shares some insight on the collaboration between Dubspot and Disney Interactive for the creation of the video game Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved, which released to rave reviews.
Dubspot Creates Remixes for use in Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved
Over the past year Dubspot has teamed with Disney Interactive to support the creation of Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved for the Xbox One and Xbox 360. And while we knew that this would be a great game, the public now has a chance to play it and we’re proud to say that response has been huge. With a Metacritic score of 77 and an IGN rating of 8.6, the game is well received with both users and critics. Even Kotaku’s review says “I love what Disney Fantasia lets me to do music” and calls the game a “magnificient manipulation of popular and classical music.”
Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved is a new type of experience for video game systems that uses the Xbox Kinect system to allow users to control music with physical gestures, ultimately remixing the sounds in real time with your body. The music featured in this release is both new and old and includes some classic tracks like Elton John’s “Rocket Man,” and more modern tracks like Flo Rida’s “I Cry.” Remixing popular music requires a delicate hand so Disney Interactive reached out to Dubspot’s talented staff for creative support on the music end of the game’s development.
Michele Darling, Devon James, James Ellington, and Brian Koolis delivered three remixes that were used in the final product: “Lucky Strike” by Maroon 5, “I Cry” by Flo Rida, and “Rocket Man” by Elton John. To get some insight on the creative process behind Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved, we spoke with this talented team about their involvement with the music production on this release.
Dubspot: After much excitement over the last year, Disney Fantasia Music Evolved has finally been released and the public seems to love it. what do you think of it? Have you had a chance to play the game?
Michele Darling: I have had a chance to play the game. It’s fun and keeps you very active, which I think is refreshing. It’s a very physical connection to the music, visuals and the game itself, which always keeps you listening, reacting and moving.
James Ellington: I got a chance to play it at this year’s E3 conference in Los Angeles. Disney Interactive had a booth set up where people could demo the game. I think it’s really great, and is a lot of fun. It’s made in part by the same folks who made Guitar Hero and Rock Band, which im a huge fan of. It’s a similar idea to those… something happens on screen and you do an action in time with the music. But unlike Guitar hero or Rock Band, you utilize the Kinect to control the game with your body motions instead of a controller. The user gets to control what happens to the music, and actually conduct in real time to create remixes.
What does this game do with music that other games don’t do?
Brian Koolis: This game gives you the chance to create your own versions of some of your favorite song. Unlike other games where you are just repeating something that has already been created, you can create your own versions of songs that no one has ever heard before. You are now the remixer.
Devon James: The different thing about Music Evolved from other music-based video games is that this game gives you control of what happens in the music. You are sort of orchestrating the different elements of the song and can combine many elements of the same song that have been remixed by different artists. Other game usually just have you playing along to a song and you don’t have any control over how it sounds or where it goes. Disney’s Fantasia makes the user a sort of conductor rather that just a slave to the music.
How did Dubspot link up with Disney to work on this title?
Michele Darling: The Dubspot and Disney connection began as a mutual interest in building work that combined creativity and modern approach to music and gaming. I think we were a good fit for them as remixers, though there were other remixes that were not affiliated with Dubspot too. But because those of us at Dubspot have such a passion for electronic music, creativity and new technologies, and we’ve built our business on that, it was a good fit for us to be involved with this game. The Disney team put so much thought into this game as being a totally immersive experience that involves the players on many levels. It’s a beautiful project and it was a pleasure working on it.
How did Dubspot help in the development of this game?
Michele Darling: A few of us at Dubspot did remixes of original songs that were provided by Disney. Each of us brought our own sensibilities of electronic music and remixing to the table. We all like to work around new technologies and multiple genres of electronic music so it was a good fit doing electronic music with a new approach to gaming.
Brian Koolis: Disney reached out to Dubspot with the opportunity to remix 3 records for the game. When we initially started, we created many remixes to submit and 2 of our remixes got selected. From that point we revised the 2 remixes until we go to where they are today. We each come from different backgrounds so we each focused on our strengths to create the final version.
What, exactly, were you asked to do?
Michele Darling: We were asked to remix the song/songs that were provided by Disney. We had to keep the tempo and length of the original exactly the same. This was so that the remix could be mixed live with the original by the player. Otherwise, we were asked to be as creative as we could be in changing the original sounds and adding or subtracting elements. Once the remixes were approved, we were asked to provide separate stems (separate tracks of each instrument), which is rarely asked when you turn in a remix. Usually with a remix, you are asked to turn in a stereo file. I thought this was a really interesting approach because it will allow the player to choose from the different tracks and decide when and where they want the remix tracks to play.
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Were the remixes difficult to create? Were there challenges?
Michele Darling: I chose a song that I thought would go well with my sensibilities. It already inherently had somewhat of a driving dance beat in it. I just had to take it a step further and take out some of the vocals that were more in song style in order to focus on the beat and groove of the song. I had to make the beat a larger element. It was pretty easy to do and really fun. I chopped up the vocals quite a bit and used them as percussive elements throughout the track. The biggest challenge was that I needed to take the guitar part out so that it would be different from the original, but I really liked it and it provided so much energy to the song. I had to find some way to be different and up the energy by taking out one of the most energetic parts. I found a way though and you’ll still hear some of that guitar part in my remix, but it’s processed in different ways.
James Ellington: The difficult part was creating a remix that was different enough while keeping the original idea in tact, so when the remix kicks in mid-song it still feels cohesive in gameplay. Working with a classic song like “Rocket Man” posed another unique challenge because it was recorded live without a click track. When I put the stems into Ableton i had to spend a lot of time warping and getting things lined up. I also wanted to be careful with what i did to it. It’s Elton John, you know? I didn’t want to just do any old thing to it. It’s a classic track, so i tried to keep a classic vibe to my remix and emphasize the magic that already existed.
Brian Koolis: There are always challenges along with way but overall it was a smooth process. Having the stems to the record gave us the ability to sample a lot of the sounds while adding in our own sounds to the remix.
Devon James: One of the difficulties that I found with my remix that I was remixing a remix already in a way. “I Cry” was inspired heavily from another Dance track called “Cry (Just A Little) by the Bingo Players. Both of the songs sample Brenda Russell’s “Piano In The Dark”. I had a sort of 4th generation re-appropriation task so I wanted to make mine as different as possible while still maintaining the catchy-ness of the 3 tracks before me.
How did you go about creating remixes of popular music that could then be remixed by the user? Thats seems like a big task.
Brian Koolis: We first started with creating new rhythms for the tracks, figured out chord progression and the overall progression of the track. We went about writing new melodic parts and basslines. One of the great parts with “I Cry” was slicing up the vocals to create some glitched out vibe.
Devon James: In my remix I stripped away all of the elements except for Flo Rida’s vocals. I rebuilt the music around the vocal with the intention of opening this track up to an entirely new audience. This was both exciting and difficult because here I was taking an extremely commercial, mainstream track and trying to add a bit of underground, futuristic elements to it. That’s really where the fun lies though, bringing this track to a new audience that other wise might not have ever cared.
Michele Darling: I wanted to use enough elements from the original that the user would recognize the song. I used portions of the original that I thought would trigger a reaction from a fan of ‘oh, i love this song’. But I also wanted to take the main elements away to surprise the user and have them listen to something else, to hear it in a different way. So, you are working with nostalgia which people are drawn to because of the good connection to the song, but also with newness and surprise, which are also something that we as humans are really drawn to. If the remix can take the song to a different place, such as to become more danceable or become more energetic for instance, then the remix is adding something to the experience. With this project, the user adds their own connection to it as well, because they can choose how to playback the parts by mixing the stems of the original and the remix. They have the power to experience it the way they want.
James Ellington: First I loaded the stems into Ableton Live and made sure all of the parts were synced to the master clock. Then I experimented with putting different styles of beats behind the track until i found a vibe that worked. Once i had an idea of where i wanted to go, I started adding new parts, chopping things up and getting creative.
What was the most rewarding part of working with Disney on this release?
Michele Darling: Doing the workshops at Dubspot with the Disney and Harmonix team was a reward after the project was finished. Everyone working on the project was really passionate and professional. People that came to learn about the project were engaged and interested as well. The feedback we received was great. It was inspiring. Also, seeing the game played and how it works has been another reward. It was really fun to be part of this team that’s thinking outside the box of game play, both creatively and physically.
Brian Koolis: The most rewarding part of working with Disney is having the world be able to listen and play our remixes. When I was very young, I always said that I wanted to write music for films and video games. Being able to stay I did just one of those things and have the world hear it is very rewarding.
James Ellington: The most rewarding thing about working on this project was being able to contribute to a legacy like Fantasia. Walt Disney originally envisioned Fantasia to be this ongoing project that would keep evolving and taking on new forms as new technology came out. This game is just another evolution of Walts original vision.
Devon James: When I was a kid the first love letter I ever wrote was to Minnie Mouse – and she actually wrote back! I grew up watching Fantasia and all of the other Disney classics so getting to work on this game with Disney is a huge treat and a big return to my childhood.
Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved is now available for Xbox One and Xbox 360. You can also learn more about the development of this game in a series of lectures that we hosted in Los Angeles. Watch parts one, two, three, and four on our blog.
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