Ah, Unova. On Earth and the Interwebs, many consider this place one of the greatest regions in all of Pokémon, and not without cause. There’s just so much to do here, and with so little time during my travels, I can feel the tension in its passersby resonate with every choice. It is quite the modernized region.

The cities here really do feel like cities, complete with back-alley shops and skyscrapers. Most especially if we’re talking about Castelia. Virbank has a similar grandeur, but it primarily showcases an industrial side of Unova. I can hear the grit of its workers through one of Roxie’s bass performances, the churning of machines in the complex through the distortion of sound in the amp.

But the height of the region—Nimbasa City—is something else entirely. The swing and freewheeling nature is quite abuzz amongst its many parks. Everywhere I go, I swear I can hear hot jazz music playing around me, even though I can’t find a single speaker. And the landmarks—from the brilliant Rondez-View to the Musical Theatre and the old rollercoaster-gym—to say I was amazed is quite the understatement. The themes of this city—and several more—can be heard in this track. Can you locate them all?

So mesmerized was I by contemporary Unova that I decided to learn about its history as well. But when I started digging, I found that the region offers a lot more from what I was presented with. The intertwining of truth and ideals seems to exist every step of the way. They say that truth and ideal met again in recent years, something that ended in a great farewell, but what exactly happened I’m not entirely sure.

I was quite impressed, however, at how well Unova preserved its history. Relic Castle, Village Bridge… all were left intact for me to explore. I even was able to survey the abandoned castle that overtook the former Pokémon league building. The emotions and themes I felt as I experienced Unova’s history firsthand were incorporated into this track’s melodies as well.

However, this work only showcases the light side of the Unova region. Legends tell of an alternate Unova, one that chose to push its urban developments to its limits. Once I locate that reality, I might make a night version of this theme soon…

Key: f# min
BPM: 200
Genre: Frenchcore

Kicks produced through Sytrus and Serum with heavy processing and layering
Instrumentation produced from bigcat, VSCO, 99 Sounds, and various other publishers
SFX processed from samples as well as Vital and Helm
Vocal chops courtesy of a friend
Saturated thanks to iZotope Vinyl, Soft Clipper, and OTT; mixed and mastered in FL Studio.

Trip To Unova (Day)

Dtr. Guo - Trip To Unova (Day)

A little ditty that I made in-between working on my next major tune! Someone on a private server suggested a remix of the infamous Chicago tornado siren sounds (the pattern they use for actual alerts, not for testing). So I decided to take on the challenge!

Track was made in the equivalent of 8-12 hours. It's a pretty informal track, so don't expect something too serious. Anyways, hope you enjoy!

- Dtr. Guo

Key: G/atonal
BPM: 200
Genre: Gabber/Industrial

Siren sample taken from this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnkMSmLc6mM

Sampled via Slicex with heavy processing.
Synthetic siren preset made in Vital. I might put up the preset if anyone's interested.
Kick drums made using Sytrus and Vital with even more processing.
Other sounds from various sample packs, including Cymatics and FL stock.
Mixed and mastered in FL Studio.

The Two Wails

Dtr. Guo - The Two Wails

For years, the wild witches have been living in exile after their betrayal by Belos. They’ve weathered raids, poverty, purges, and capturings. Any travellers who stopped by they would tell their story to through this hymn; its brevity is for the transient nature of their encounters, lest they speak to a spy or get raided during their muse.

But as time passed, the witches’ numbers dwindled, so much that their existence has passed into legend.

Well, except for the Owl Lady. Today a Lone Ranger, she openly declared her status and made herself at home in one of the most populous cities in the Boiling Isles, and during my stay in the Demon Realm I had the pleasure of meeting her. I asked about any songs native to the Isles, and soon after I learned about this one.

She wasn’t quite the singer, but she described how the witches would bring out their instruments, their zitharps and their living violins, and play in a big band. She also remembered the lyrics, which I have recorded below: 

https://www.deviantart.com/offi-dtrguo-cial/art/The-Wild-Witches-Ballad-881773760

So I set out and with the “magic” I learned from Earth, put together an arrangement, and for the first time in its history recorded it for human listeners…

I would go further into the instrumentation and arrangement, but I’m saving that blurb for a much larger track that details the whole of the Boiling Isles. While this is purely orchestral, the next one will be a hybrid with electronic, and will feature sections from this pieces as well, so stay tuned!

- Dtr. Guo

Key: bfl min
BPM: 100 (200 half-time)
Genre: Folk/Orchestral

Instrument libraries from BBC Orchestra, Spitfire LABS, Bigcat, and Versilian Studios (Zither).
Shaker samples from Cymatics.
Mixed and mastered in FL Studio.

The Wild Witches' Ballad

Dtr. Guo - The Wild Witches' Ballad

I first heard the Wild Witches’ Ballad in an imperial procession. Not in its pure form, no, but in a butchered form, with different chords and a remarkably bland playing style. I found the tune intriguing, but wanting in something, as if someone suffocated the original composition. But before I could contemplate further on this predicament, a hand grabbed my wrist and pulled me into the forest.

Apparently I hadn’t done a good job of blending in amongst the crowd. But when you stand wearing a dark hood and cloak and donning a metallic mask, what else could you expect?

My “captor” revealed herself to be the Owl Lady, as I had mentioned before, and took me to her house, which she dubbed the Owl House. She introduced me to her compatriots and her newfound apprentice before teaching us about the true origins of the Wild Witches’ Ballad, which I detailed in the description for my recreation of the tune.

After I learned about the ballad, I then inquired as to why the Owl Lady wanted me to know. It appears that my trying to reserve a venue to play my extradimensional tunes earned me a reputation, and the Owl Lady wanted to exploit it. She asked me how well I could write music notation; I replied that I was familiar with it. She then gave me a final proposal: indefinite residence at the Owl House with all my expenses covered in exchange for cooperation a plan to instigate unrest towards the Emperor of the Boiling Isles.

I didn’t need the perks—a chance at inspiring freedom was enough for me. So together, the Owl Lady and I got to work. I was in charge of the sheet music, replacing the chords, harmony, and chorus of the “Imperial March” with the ones corresponding to the original ballad. Afterwards, the Owl Lady would slip them into the pamphlets of the performers and ensure that the less cooperative musicians were taken care of.

The performers would start with the “original” melody, how they had recited it for so long. Then, in the middle, the mood would abruptly shift to its minor form, its defiant form, its true form. It was at that moment that we knew we would strike.

Needless to say, our plan was an overwhelming success. The moments that followed after its execution are too great to describe, but let’s say they involved plenty of fireworks, writhing tentacles, illusions everywhere, and a swift ride into the sunset as Bonesborough erupted into pandemonium.

The splendor of those moments, as the people of the Boiling Isles rediscovered their own free will, I tried to convey through the shifting energies of this track. From its chaotic dynamics to its moments of prowess, I wish that the spirited and subversive nature of the Isles makes its way to every listener. In the meantime, as I make my way into the next dimension, I hope that my work with the Owl Lady can inspire new ambitions within the B.I.’s residents, and that their desire for more can bring about a fairer and freer Isles for millennia to come.

Key: F-sh Maj/b-fl min
BPM: 200
Genre: Frenchcore/Hybrid

Eda vocals sampled from Zelda Black voice work.
Other vocals from Freesounds and courtesy of a friend.

Additional citations can be found in the NG project file, here:
https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/1711848
Painstakingly mixed and mastered in FL Studio.

Listen to The Wild Witches’ Ballad here:
https://soundcloud.com/dtr-guo/dtr-guo-the-wild-witches-ballad

Read the lyrics of the ballad:
https://www.deviantart.com/offi-dtrguo-cial/art/The-Wild-Witches-Ballad-881773760

Cover art by @KamenArts! Follow her on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/kamenarts/?hl=en

Subscribe to Zelda Black on these platforms:
https://www.youtube.com/c/ZeldaBlack/
https://beacons.page/zeldablack

Trip to the Boiling Isles

Dtr. Guo - Trip to the Boiling Isles

Watch it in video form: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulgTeqfd4iY
Read the short story (which is also in the YT desc): https://offi-dtrguo-cial.newgrounds.com/news/post/1236452

When I first heard this song on Froggy Little Christmas, I was mesmerized by its ingenuity and implementation in the episode: not overt, but naturally integrated and in parts. While Rebecca Sugar’s words didn’t immediately mesmerize me, they quickly grew on my heart, and I soon began hearing visions of this song playing in the halls of an open festival. Thus, I felt obliged to make this anthem of a remix to answer that call, even though time was of the essence before Christmas and I had other music projects awaiting completion. 

But nonetheless, less than two weeks after beginning work on the kick, here I am! There was a slight problem that occurred when bouncing the track, but thankfully that's relegated to some artifacts at the beginning. Hope you enjoyed this take on my new favorite holiday song of the season!

BPM: 160
Key: Fsh Maj/A Maj
Genre: Euphoric Hardstyle

Original song by TJ Hill and Rebecca Sugar:
https://soundcloud.com/tjhill/20-rs-xmassong

Kick made using Vital and R3T3P 909 samples with processing.
Synths made in Vital, Serum, Helm, and Synth1.
Orchestral/Acoustic samples and libraries from BBC Orchestra, Alan ViSTa, Bigcat, and FL Stock.
Other samples from FL and Cymatics.
Mixed and mastered in FL Studio.

Freesounds attribution links:
“Jingle Bells.wav” by nfrae (https://freesound.org/people/nfrae/sounds/100423/)
“ad003 jingle bells one shot.wav” by Robinhood76 (https://freesound.org/people/Robinhood76/sounds/63272/)
“Jingle bells.wav” by juskiddink (https://freesound.org/people/juskiddink/sounds/110158/)
“Jingle Bells.wav” by JarredGibb (https://freesound.org/people/JarredGibb/sounds/263886/)
“SantaClaus_HoHoHo.wav” by Bollenator (https://freesound.org/people/Bollenator/sounds/325180/)

Track cover compiled in Photoshop.
Logo can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/offi-dtrguo-cial/art/Detectivos-Insignia-Cropped-861087276

Support the creators of the original by watching Amphibia and other Disney TV Animation shows, like The Owl House and Gravity Falls, on their official platforms, like Disney+! You can also support the show by buying official merch, such as this shop: https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/9E418423-8D3A-4FBC-8F14-B25E3E2A7131?ingress=0&visitId=e5e8e149-b051-4ce3-92c5-ca03fc262d2b

Our Special Time of Year (Dtr. Guo remix)

This track is designed to portray the style, sounds, and production quality of amateur artists in 2013. Some mixing flaws you may encounter are meant to emulate that experience. It may also sound "loud," because rawstyle listeners love their kicks to be oversaturated and resonant.

2013 was a tumultuous time in the fandom. If this track was released around its reenacted time, its blurb might have been written like this:

"Order is devolving, friendship is falling. The Elements of Harmony have destabilized and shattered, and the nation of Equestria is in turmoil. Unrest in the populace has reached critical mass, and now, outbreaks of uprisings pepper the streets. As statues fall, horns cross, and shelters collapse in flames, the remnant supporters and neutrals cry, 'Where are the Princesses to guide us?'

Unbeknownst to them, the royals and the element-bearers are vanquished, sealed in the deepest depths of Tartarus. In their place stands their captor, who shall rise from his stasis and create a new order—not governed by peace and tranquility, but rather their opposites. A new era for ponykind has begun, one dictated by the Element of Chaos."

Since the description is apparently too long, feel free to read my thoughts surrounding the inspiration for this track—alongside a personal note—in the Newgrounds description:
https://www.newgrounds.com/projects/audio/1849090/

Key: F min
BPM: 150
Genre: Rawstyle

Download full master here:
https://www.toneden.io/offi-dtrguo-cial/post/dtr-guo-element-of-chaos-defpon-1-2013-anthem

Kicks made with Sytrus, processed and layered using CamelCrusher, OTT, and FL's stock effects
Percussion, SFX from FL one-shots
Most sounds made in a downsampled Serum, with a few from TAL-NoiseMaker and Synth1, with additional post-processing
Defpon.1 vocal made with Alter/Ego (Bones), vocoded using Vocodex and a downsampled Serum preset
Post-processed, mixed, and mastered in FL Studio.

Track cover made using a mixture of personal photographs and Photoshop's vector graphics, with a few exceptions:
Lorentz attractor generated in MATLAB
Heavily edited Discord-colored dragon comes from the dragon in the Qing Dynasty flag, which is public domain

Element of Chaos

Dtr. Guo - Element of Chaos (Defpon.1 2013 Anthem)

A Frenchcore experiment… bet’ya didn’t see that coming now, did you? Whilst designing my other, bigger track, I realized I would need some tests to determine if some mixing techniques could work in my track, especially considering the high loudness levels it demanded.

Ever since my last journey, my production quality demanded strength - improved stereo-split during the drop, stronger midrange with a stalwart bass, dynamics substituted for sheer fullness to reach the -3.0 LUFS mastering standard the genre today demanded. In addition, I hoped to formulate more buildup techniques, developing the strategies from *Element of Chaos*. However, to attempt such changes on my main track would be a gamble - the track already was hefty and took an astronomical amount of time to load, and the drop demanded many instruments to cut through at once. Instead, I would need something smaller, swifter, simpler to run my tests.

In summary, this is a testament to my technical and artistic progress in the waxing half of this year, and here’s to applying these advancements for future tracks to come!

The full description of my thoughts and the results can be found on the Newgrounds description: https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/1139332?updated=1655665144

Key: Fsh-dim7/Efl min
BPM: 200
Genre: Frenchcore

Frenchcore Experiment #3

Dtr. Guo - Frenchcore Experiment #3

2014 was a very personal year for me when it comes to this fandom, as I really started partaking in it and its fanworks during that time. I learned about FiM and its fandom in '13, but it was the year after that I really joined the herd. After perusing fanart on DeviantART (back when it was still usable...), I discovered Equestria Daily, FiMFiction, and the rest was history!

If this track was released around its reenacted time, one of the blurbs might've looked like this:

"It's a new day, the sun is shining and the clouds've come out to fly
above this new space, while the Wonderbolts are taking to the skies—

To celebrate our friends' victories over our greatest foe,
the soil has listened to my sorrows and built a big castle.

It may not have all the books and oaken boughs of my old home,
but no matter how much I miss those morning dews,
it won't stop me from Awakening Anew."

Read my full commentary on this track in the Newgrounds Release:
https://www.newgrounds.com/projects/audio/1908923/

BPM: 150
Key: Fsh minor
Genre: Euphoric Hardstyle

Hard kicks made using Serum with extensive post-processing.
Synths made (mostly) in Serum, with additional sounds made in Synth1, Noisemaker, Sytrus, SymSynth, and 3xOsc.
Percussion sourced from Sinister Souls, Cymatics, Soundcamp, Newgrounds Stuck-at-home, and FL stock.
FX sounds sourced from Cymatics, FL stock, and personal recordings. Some FX are generated using Serum and Audacity with post-processing.
Defpon.1 vocal made using Alter/Ego.
Other vocals courtesy of a friend.
Mixed and mastered in FL Studio.

Background of cover art taken from personal photography.
Cover art made in Photoshop.

Awaken Anew

Dtr. Guo - Awaken Anew (Defpon.1 2014 Anthem)

A dimension traveller roaming across the cosmos, spreading the world of hard to their inhabitants as I go. 

Vive la Frenchcore, Frenchcore worldwide!

PM me for my email if you'd like to contact me formally.

offi-Dtr. Guo-cial

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