Hiroshi Iuchi (Treasure) - Ikaruga Original Soundtrack Collection



Composed and Arranged by Hiroshi Iuchi
Vertiphon 2017 Remaster
16-bit 48 kHz lossless FLAC audio format and 320kbit/s MP3.



WHAT IS THIS?

This is the 10 audio tracks that make up the soundtrack to this seminal, unique vertical shoot-em-up by Treasure. There are a few versions released: Arcade, Dreamcast, GameCube, Xbox 360 and Windows. Of those, the Dreamcast and GameCube have most easily accessible audio files hence these are sourced from the GameCube version. The Windows edition has encrypted data files so cannot be used as a source. Note: I attempted to contact "George" at FF Shrine in order to start from his rip but he seems inactive, so after a week of waiting I re-ripped the files myself including the extra bonus track, and worked with them.

One of my goals with this endeavor is to present to the community well-mastered Original Sound Version / OST music of the greatest soundtracks video gaming has to offer. I have added some sympathetic mastering and really given this soundtrack the remaster it deserves. On all formats it is otherwise lacking top end, very mid-focussed and not pleasant to listen to. I have corrected that.


TRACKLIST


1 Prologue - Cirrus
2 Chapter 1 - Ideal
3 Boss 1 - Butsutekkai
4 Chapter 2 - Trial
5 Boss 2 - Recapture
6 Chapter 3 - Faith
7 Chapter 4 - Reality
8 Final Chapter - Metempsychosis
9 Final Chapter - The Stone-Like
10 Epilogue - Spirit Being
11 Bonus Track


DOWNLOADS

MEGA FLAC: https://mega.nz/#!EKwUBKrQ!9_sXcQ_dt2c9EONFcTgQnFFbyBgEumFMsV7EYc2Z7tg

Glad to see you back. I still have your sonic 2 and thunderforce remasters, those were so good. Can't wait to listen to this one!

Glad to see you back. I still have your sonic 2 and thunderforce remasters, those were so good. Can't wait to listen to this one!

I highly recommend you check out and keep an eye on my full list thread: Thread 220554
I have remastered all the Genesis Sonic games again. Thunder Force will be redone also. Because yes there is even more room for improvement for them. :)

Wow, never expected you would do this. Looking forward to it.

Thank you !!!

I've been waiting for this since I first played Ikaruga and its music was burned into my brain forever.

All the rips available to this day did indeed sound off. You're doing God's work, Vertiphon.

reminds me that I'm still a BIG noob at this game...
thank anyway !

Amazing work!

So Vertiphon, I've listened to this and there's something I'm curious about.

From the gamerips that were available until now, I've always felt that Ikaruga's music on the GC was mastered differently than on the Dreamcast. Dreamcast rips sound more metallic, while the GC version is more mid-centric and sounds more compressed. Did you verify this while working on this project? And if there are indeed differences, did you ever think about doing a remaster of the DC version?

I'm asking because, as good as your remaster is, it still sounds compressed and the highs seem less incisive than in the DC rips I have.

So Vertiphon, I've listened to this and there's something I'm curious about.

From the gamerips that were available until now, I've always felt that Ikaruga's music on the GC was mastered differently than on the Dreamcast. Dreamcast rips sound more metallic, while the GC version is more mid-centric and sounds more compressed. Did you verify this while working on this project? And if there are indeed differences, did you ever think about doing a remaster of the DC version?

I'm asking because, as good as your remaster is, it still sounds compressed and the highs seem less incisive than in the DC rips I have.

First order of business when remastering is to begin from the best possible high quality (lossless file) source. DC version was 16-bit 44.1kHz, GC was 16-bit 48kHz. Because of the latter's technical superiority, it gets chosen assuming it sounds "as good as" the inferior one. I noticed the distinctly muffled sound and tested restoring this with my tools, achieving good results. Because of that, I decided to stick with the GC version.

I noticed the overall tonality of the GCs version of the mix was different (even leaving aside the muffled high end) but did not feel that it was _worse_. This is subjective of course but producing, engineering, mixing and mastering music all involve a lot of subjective decisions.

I'll give the DC version a reappraisal some time, but don't expect it soon.

thank you

I have listened to this soundtrack for so many times, I love it a lot and have never found any album similar to this.
Thank you very much for this remaster. The bass in this is juicy, I never heard it like this before. I'll give this many more listens as well, thank you