Hot on the heels of revealing their next LP Second Last Day of Summer, Daydream Plus made a separate announcement that absolutely blew our minds: the new album would also feature a companion edition entirely comprised of Nintendo Sound Files.
“How could they do this,” you ask, “and why?” Well, we had similar questions being that we’re nuts about nerdy stuff like videogames, soundtracks, and gear, so we were additionally delighted when Payson Power reached out to talk about all of the above.
Turns out it was no easy feat – Daydream Plus used a FamiTracker for the process, which Payson does a great job explaining below, but the process was way more complicated than we would have anticipated. The FamiTracker is different than say, PulseBoy, where you can just open a browser and sequence. They had to get new computers, work with Batlab Electronics, and tinker away with each song the hard way. So if you’re looking for some true crossover mania, please enjoy the interview below and pre-order the record in exciting formats here.
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FB: Daydream Plus is back! What have you guys been up to since the last record? Does Extended Forecast mean Second Last Day of Summer is a double album?
Payson: Yo! We’ve been working away on the album (and its little bro counterpart). Extended Forecast alone has taken an obscene amount of hours, but I am really happy with how everything has come together. I wouldn’t call this a double album since it’s the same songs on both versions, but I do think it’s a pretty insane thing to do.
FB: I literally just learned about tracker music for my interview with Alexander Brandon! At what point in writing did you become curious about making tracker music? Were you familiar with it through video games?
Payson: While we were writing and rehearsing the record I had an inkling to do something for the eventual album release using FamiTracker. I thought it would be cool to create a fleshed out chiptune version of one of the tracks to have as a pre-order bonus, or a Bandcamp exclusive or something like that. My only experience actually programming a tracker was with PulseBoy, a browser-based Game Boy sequencer. I had used it to make a few chiptune versions of Tomb Mold (my other band) songs for fun, but honestly they were pretty remedial. I had seen plenty of footage of FamiTracker on YouTube, and while it seemed above my pay grade, I figured I could just put in the time and translate one of our songs accurately and dynamically. This ended up being the tip of the 8-bit iceberg.
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FB: Did you incorporate working with a DAW or was it all through hardware?
Payson: We worked exclusively with FamiTracker for the entire project! From FT you can create NSFs (Nintendo Sound Files) which are compatible with the actual Nintendo hardware. Since FamiTracker is a Windows-based program I had to get a PC. I bought a cheap laptop and ended up taking it everywhere. The instruments used in the final song on the album were mostly programmed in the waiting room at the dentist. FamiTracker is very low-spec software, so luckily my cheap computer wasn’t always on the verge of implosion. Kevin, who programmed the songs with me, took on the bass and drums. We’d send the songs back and forth until they were as close to the album versions as we could make them. Kev’s drum programming on the cartridge is especially spot-on. Without him the project would have been doomed.
FB: Was there an idea or song from the writing sessions that proved that the translation into track tunes would work?
Payson: I started with Neighbourhood Watch, a song from our last EP Escape At Your Own Pace. After some trial and error, I figured out how to build the arpeggiated chords on channel 1 and program the lead melody on channel 2. Once I heard those two channels together I knew that it was going to work.
FB: How did you decide which software / hardware to use for the translation? What was it like partnering with Batlab Electronics?
Payson: I actually hit up Andy, the man behind Batlab Electronics, before we went into the studio. I had seen his work and knew he was someone who could make the functional cartridge a reality. Fortunately for us he was into the idea, and we’ve been working on it steadily ever since. Andy is a true artist and genius. His resume speaks for itself, so many cool projects. He definitely thrives when faced with something seemingly insurmountable. There were ideas we’d considered impossible, only for him to come back a day later having found a solution. Ultimately, we really didn’t need to compromise much from our original vision due to his skill set. We’ve been super lucky to work alongside him on this! And for context, I must point out how limited the NES is as a console. Only now do I realize how punishing it is to develop for. You’re really at the mercy of what it is capable of, which makes you appreciate the great games on the system that much more.
FB: Is the process time consuming? Were there any unique challenges compared to the norms of MIDI?
Payson: It is extremely time consuming, yes. I was really crawling for the first couple months. Our goal was to make a 1:1 version of the studio album using the pretty strict limitations of the software. We had a blueprint to follow, which unfortunately made it easy to lose hours on end adjusting and tweaking parameters in an attempt to make the optimal copy. You can mix the song as you go along, and it’s a balancing act to make sure everything is audible. The triangle channel (which is what we used for bass) has no way to adjust the volume. It’s either on or off, so you’re kind of just mixing around that. Same goes for the DPCM sample channel: there’s no volume control, so you have to be cautious and make sure nothing gets drowned out. Also, I had to do a few songs multiple times due to mathematical miscalculations on my part. I really did not want to compromise when it came to accuracy, so “close enough” wasn’t going to work. Starting a song over was frustrating, but the second time was always a lot easier. It’s like when you forget to save in a video game. Aggravating, but you can usually get back to where you were now that you know the path.
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FB: What are some albums you’d like to hear translated in a similar way?
Payson: Anything instrumental! When there’s no vocal line to emulate, you really have way more room to make the instrumentation expressive. FamiTracker is about so much more than data entry, your composition really lives or dies by what you do with that raw data once it’s punched in. If I had to pick an album, I’d like to hear Onomatomani[a]kus by Marmalade Butcher in the chiptune style. I think it is a masterpiece of freneticism, and it would lend itself well to the 8-bit buzzsaw. Incidentally, my pick for the most underrated band on the planet right now.
FB: What soundtracks have been the greatest inspirations for you in the context of DD+?
Payson: For video game soundtracks I’d say Final Fantasy VII, Sonic Adventure, Earthbound, Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night, Donkey Kong Country, and Silent Hill 2. Anything melancholic and Japanese usually bores a hole into my heart pretty quickly.
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