Behold, S.S.I.U.M.S.

This compendium is a remixing and remastered work of the previously known music mods of Skyrim.
25% of the songs is from the Fantasy Soundtrack, 10% is from the Immersive Music mod.
5% is vanilla enhanced, and 60% is new materials.

19 hours of music (17.5 hours Classical/Ambient, 1 hour Jazz, 30 minutes Experimental)

The selected tracks have been refined and enhanced to Insane quality, 320k raw wave(not mp3) before converting to XWM at 192k for the game to load.
All updates since v1.33 have considered and adhered to responses of the listeners.
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Compatibility : Sky Symphony Imperium is not compatible with other music mods of Skyrim, while it is compatible with any sound-effects mod.
(There is a patch for the Yggdrasil Music FX mod, made by Adventi. It is posted in Requirements, for those who have the Yggdrasil mod.)
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Components

This work is based on the following philosophies -

- the songs cannot all sound the same. There has to be variety.
- dungeons cannot be lethargic, only with brief moments of deep melancholy; no dragging pianos, no generic "sadness".
- dungeons must not have prominent melodies, must carry a foreboding vibe, and reflect an element of mystery and exploration.
- castles should not be boring nor typical, castle themes should match their geographic region and facets of their society.
- towns themes should bring a vibe of lively/peaceful civilization, and the tunes must age well.
- boss themes should have a strong "voicing", no generic bass and drums blasts and same repeated chants.
- each battle theme is to be different in expression for a wider range of variety.

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- melodies must be present in places, and must have a reason, no melodies for melodies' sake, and cannot repeat many times.
- songs should have both depth and breadth, no tune can be shallow, unless for a purpose. Neither can any tune be too deep for no reason.
- all tunes ought to start reasonable smoothly and not end abruptly, unless in specific moments for certain impact.
- all tracks must build up sensibly, no forced investment into a tune, no rushing into the theme right off the bat without necessary cause.

- no using suspension of disbelief to inject songs that make no sense while claiming "immersion".
- no using many of sellout words like "immersive" or words that everybody thinks is epic... such as "Overhaul", huehue...

(~90% of the music is ambient classical, 7% jazz, and a rare 3% experimental tracks
that include techno, dubstep, and also underground hip hop; for the rare Orcish Dovahkiin and the 'token' red guard, if you will.

MP3 Collection available in Optional Files for personal entertainment.
Re-redistribution is prohibited.)

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- "smoothness over sweetness". No melody too sweet.
- "don't fix what's not broken". From the other music mods, already good tracks are preserved,
the tunes that were great enough are included without much adjusting.
(On the other hand, the tracks I added went under multiple microscopes until they're right next to perfection.)

- a small nostalgic portion of vanilla themes preserved as close to original as possible,
(for example one of the boss battle themes), with only the quality scale increased. (also, overused words like "nostalgia" are frowned up)
- previous tavern themes condensed into longer than 3-4 minutes, cleaned up so that the high pitched acoustics sound more mellow and pleasing to the ears.

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- new tavern tracks added, with different styles of taverning for increased diversity. Some are more festive, other more relaxing.
- high pitched tavern songs that were too fast were slowed by a tint and the squeakiness reduced, to make what is heard feel like actual medieval music in taverns and less of synthetic sounds.
- noise-tones (buzziness) were cleaned, and other noise vibrations had tone frequency added, to make them sound like part of the tavern ambience.
- tavern's atmosphere should not provoke OCD, and all traces of those potential triggers were diminished
(in order to do that, I remixed this section while I was hungry and angry.)
- all tavern tracks have increased in the comfort element... a restful haven for wandering adventurers... NEVER SHOULD HAVE COME HERE!!

- I deem the enhanced tavern music perfectified, the drums are distant yet clear, even the buzzy noise from the flutes are so clean you could almost taste the very sound. This part is not something I merely spent hours on, I actually worked fast on them, but I starved myself into critical condition for it and coughed up blood at the end, nuff said. The tavern music are now cozy 4 stars and 5 stars serenades... and if they're not, you can have your 10 gold tavern money back!

("if it sounds too good to be true..." well, that doesn't apply to idealists, because we are known to make the impossible possible, aren't we?)
I even put in the taverns a True Norwegian Viking Funeral march played with extinct Nordic instruments and made it work.
(Nyckelharpa, Gnaal, and Bowed Lyre, also Erhu and Guqin ;(  )

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(Dedicated to DARKSIDE guild in Langrisser Mobile)



Meanwhile, in a dungeon far far away...
- bosses will no longer fight you with generic chants, bass and drums...

No, they will now wreck you utterly with harpsichord, glockenspiel, grand organ, war horns, chimes, ocarina, and contrabass clarinet!!
(Especially if you play on at least Adept/Expert!)

Hear something that sounds like distorted guitar?
Nay!! That is a (Dwemer) Electric Cello, young Dovah walkers...

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So here's the story, 
Skyrim uses XWM format for music, which reduces the audio quality to 48k...

Meanwhile, FLACs are for Jedi amateurs, a Sithlord of music deals in WAV format!
Wav is raw meaty sounds filled with sonic energy, and in this project,
I first converted some of the predecessors' modded music from XWM to MP3 to restore and enhance.

Then the tracks went through a remixing process and finalized at 320k(insane) HD quality,
and then, they were converted to the darkside of WAV... raw, lossless, and enhanced a second time...
Afterwards, they were grilled and upgraded to beyond Blu-Ray, double-wav at 3071 kbps Absolute quality.
Then from the colossal 3071kpbs, they were finally converted to compressed xwm to be played in game at 192k HQ.

So because of the extreme process above to maintain full caliber after remixing, they have very high and dynamic buffer rate (ranging from 1k to over 19000), and resemble the taste of 256kbps. (High buffer size also takes fewer system resources and is less strenuous on the computer processor.)

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The meal I've prepared for you is with the master precision of a fugu sushi chef, (where one mistake could be fatal),
tenderized by the arms of Mehrunes Dagon... dipped in the arctic bosom of Oblivion...
and then scorched by the softest flames from Akatosh himself... to create the most spellbinding and lascivious dish possible!

Only issue is, each track came out 3-5 times the size of a typical xwm... making the project 1.5 gig.
You wouldn't mind, would you? >;(

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- Snow, Forests, and Tundra now have appropriate music in their exploration. Without being generic and have more variety of atmospheres.
(i.e. Tundras don't have to sound sluggish, with moving melodies so you can grasp the horizon better,
and snowy doesn't always sound all airy and cold, what if there's a battle preparation and campfires everywhere.
What if someone were to show you burning snow... or hot ice that warms in the palm your hands...
you can already see it, and soon you will listen to it and think the impossible...)

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- Life in the Reach is presumably hard, so the music should reflect that; dry, rugged and dark, with an element of hope.
- In fact, areas have matching contrasting themes, Marsh areas should sound swampy, with an element of life and activities.
- Forest areas music ranging from cold and dark forests to warm and lush greens to mythical to jungles and mechanical inhabited forests.
- Immersiveness Atmosphere-ism cannot overlap into boredom, no excessive long notes held 100x seconds.

- It even has surreal elements, you might hear a lone piano in the middle of nowhere on a field before it changes into something else,
just as your attention tunes in, it flees before you could grasp...
- tundra music should reflect the dry and hard surface of tundras, a land with mucky soil and frozen subsoil,
and not as cold as arctic snowy areas. In tundras there are summers and crops and plants do grow although difficult.

- The list goes on...

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If you have not tried the other music mods first, you should for a few days before downloading this one.
This is the paramount absolute caliber alternative music rendition for Skyrim, experience it only when you're ready...

Place in-game Master Volume to 100%, Effects to 75%, and Music Volume to 75%-90%.
The music plays best when you take your time to explore an area and not switching maps rapidly to clear sidequests.

All credits are in the credits section.
Endorse and post comments if you like the mod. Thank you!

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Recommendations
These little known mods will make your Skyrim experience a surreal living dream.

Dear Diary
A Cat's Life
Cats in Skyrim
Outlaw Refuges
The Notice Board
Unlimited Fast Travel
Colorful Map Markers
Vampyrium - Resurrected
Dark Envoy - Vampire Powers
The Scarlett - A Buildable Ship
Palaces and Castles Enhanced
TESG - Gen Loadscreen Replacer

...And there was war in Heaven, Mehrunes Dagon fought against Molag Bal, and the dragon fought back... 

"When I will walk the earth again, the Faithful among you shall receive your reward: to be set above all other mortals forever. As for the rest: the weak shall be winnowed: the timid shall be cast down: the mighty shall tremble at my feet and pray for pardon."―Mehrunes Dagon