ThaSauce: All News

BGC named a Power User of FL Studio

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 08:36:36 PST

Hey friends and fans, some pretty cool news that I’ve been meaning to share for the past few days: The good folks at Image Line software, the makers of FL Studio have appointed me the honor of being considered a “Power User” when they found out about my use of their software for my work in Mass Effect 2.

I’m very honored and flattered by this, though truthfully I feel a little… out of place, haha. Most of their other Power Users are successful producers, DJ’s, or performers who largely deal in electronic/pop music. But it’s all good, I’m proud of my work on Mass Effect, and it looks like Image Line is as well, enough so that they figured it was worth giving me this cool badge, so to speak.

Regarding FL Studio, I’ve used it for some 6 – 7 years at this point as the primary host/sequencer program for probably over 95% of the music I’ve made. Like any software it has it’s strengths and weaknesses, but it’s definitely played a key role in all the commercial music I’ve written, whether for video games, film, or television. So thanks again, Image Line. Keep up the hard work with your software!

For more information, visit my Power User page here – http://flstudio.image-line.com/documents/jimmyhinson.html

I Fight Dragons Signs Deal with Photo Finish / Atlantic Records

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 14:15:02 PST

This was only a matter of time, really. I got the newsletter today explaining that I Fight Dragons has been signed by Photo Finish / Atlantic Records (the same label that handles 3OH!3, my guilty pleasure). Needless to say I'm really happy for them, but I'mma let you finish. Nah, just kidding. Just happy for'em. Below is the e-mails.

So yesterday we shared some big news, and I wanted to send it out to everyone officially today. Please excuse the length of this email, but it's a big topic. That said, feel free to skip to the end if you'd prefer :)

If you've been reading our emails / blogs / twitter lately, you've probably been suspicious as to this 'secret announcement' we keep alluding to. Well the time has come, but I feel the need to explain first.

When we began to work on demos and recordings back in 2008 for what would become I Fight Dragons and Cool Is Just A Number, we didn't have a specific 5-year plan for how things would go. Personally, I had spent the preceding couple years trying to find the kind of music I most wanted to be making, failing again and again. For half of the band, this was the first real 'band' they had ever been in, having come more from classically trained musical backgrounds.

I say all of this because at the heart of it, our fidelity has always been to the music. I think that's how it always should be. The music comes first.

Then came 2009, and we finally pushed ourselves out in public for the first time, armed only with our newly-minted EPs with their comic-booky art and our NES controllers, clad in Justice League shirts. We were scared shitless, but somehow it still felt right.

The amount of welcoming energy, support, help, and love we received right from the get-go was simply astounding. We were completely blown away by the support of people who loved our music, who agreed with what we were doing, who became a part of all of it.

I say this all because in 2009 things changed for us. We realized that although the music always has to come first, there is another layer. The true joy (at least for us) is in sharing it with people who love it as much as we do, and connecting with them, and helping them connect with each other. It's all one big self-reinforcing exponentially-expanding music-art-emotion-thought network of amazingness.

So in the fall of 2009, we took the big plunge, hitting the road full time across the nation on tour with mc chris. It was without a doubt the most exciting experience of our musical lives, playing 45 shows in 55 days over 15,000 miles, meeting new fans and connecting faces with people we had only connected with online before.

So far, so good, right? Well, yes and no. It was hard to admit for enterprising new-minded folks like ourselves, but during that tour we started to hit our limits. We were still doing the bulk of everything ourselves, marketing, distribution, web design / development, social media, PR, and more, and trying to do that while driving hundreds of miles every day and playing a show every night was simply an impossible task.

To top it all off, we're a six person band. In this brave new internet-age, artists like mc chris, Jonathan Coulton, and a handful of others have been able to forge 100% independent music careers for themselves, but almost without fail they're solo artists. They are self-produced, and more importantly they can tour with almost no expenses, which is where a lot of that living is earned. We're still just one band, one income, but with 6 mouths to feed.

So we had to admit that we needed to grow.

This is where the big news comes in. Since late August of 2009, we've been talking with Photo Finish / Atlantic Records about signing I Fight Dragons and helping us expand what we do and connect with even more people on a larger scale.

They have been amazing throughout the whole process, incredibly excited about everything that we've done already, and very interested in preserving our creative control. They're also incredibly open to continuing this new kind of connection we have with fans, and helping it grow in new and exciting ways, which is incredibly important to us. Not to mention the fact that so many of our musical inspirations have been on (and continue to be on!) Atlantic Records. It's a label with both an incredible history and a desire to grow and change with the future. Photo Finish is an arm of Atlantic which has acts such as 3OH!3, and they are really awesome with internet-centric cool ideas, which we definitely love.

So, as of February 4, 2010, we are officially announcing that I Fight Dragons is joining the Photo Finish / Atlantic Records roster.

Now some of you may know how big a deal this is, but some may not. So just what does this mean?

Well for one, "Heads Up, Hearts Down" is currently #5 on Denver's top Alternative Rock station, KTCL 93.3. Atlantic's awesome radio team will start to take it to stations all across the nation in the next few weeks, and before you know it, you might start to hear Chiptune-Rock on your radio dial. Nutso, right?

Another difference is that we're going to record and release our debut full-length album with Photo Finish / Atlantic. It will be available in retail stores across the nation, and the new singles will also be taken to radio by their intrepid team. To top it off, they are giving us huge amounts of creative control, and we are incredibly excited about the album.

The final, partially related, HUGE piece of news is that we'll be headed out on tour this spring with our fellow Atlantic Records bands 3OH!3 (Photo Finish), Cobra Starship (Fueled by Ramen), and Travis McCoy (of Gym Class Heroes, on Fueled by Ramen). The tour is called the MTV "Too Fast For Love" tour, and the first announced dates are up on our site: ifightdragons.com/shows.html, with more to come. We are going to be playing some huge rock shows!!

So to sum it all up, this is a big big step forward for us. We hope you will join us in celebrating, and we're happy to answer any questions you have, since we know this is a lot to take in. You can reply to this email, or post a comment on the blog entry that contains all of this info Here. We sincerely hope you're as happy as we are, and that you'll take this step with us on this crazy road to wherever the heck it is we're going :)

Sincerely,

-Your Friendly Neighborhood Dragon Fighters:
Brian, Bill, Hari, Laura, Packy, and Chad

PS - we only have a handful left of the 500 DVDs that went on sale 2 weeks ago! We'll probably run out by the end of this week, so make sure to get yours asap if you want one: (Click Here for DVD Info)

ThaSauce Acquires OverLooked ReMix; Suzumebachi Declared Supreme Truckdriver

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 10:05:26 PST

Suzumebachi posted on OverLooked ReMix:

Sorry about the downtime. Took longer to transfer servers than we thought. That makes us dumb. But that also makes us your bosses.

Things are gonna change around here, people. For one thing, sad mario HAS to go. Space cat has been grounded. And the dumptruck budget has been slashed by 50%.

Starting today OLReMix will only accept ReMiXesSsS of the highest quality. Your submissions shall be judged cruelly by a new panel consisting of the highest and most qualified authorities, handpicked by your overlords. And if found wanting, you will be summarily executed.

All un-televised rebellions will be put down immediately with brute force and no remorse.

Disregard that I

Anyways, I'm Suzumebachi, and I'm your newest admin. Your friends at ThaSauce Network have taken over hosting of OLR and as such naturally left me in charge. What does that mean for you? Nothing, really. Just one more bully in the pulpit. If that's even a valid metaphor.

We're still in the process of ironing everything out on the new server. So if you see anything broken, PLEASE let us know.

Oh and before you ask. No, Richter didn't die. He just decided you all suck and he never wants to see any of you ever again.

Kidding. He got a life.
-suzy

Adventure Game Remix Contest!

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 07:30:27 PST

Artropos posted on OverClocked ReMix:

Welcome to the first ever* Adventure Game Remix Contest!

Do you know what King's Quest is? How about Monkey Island? Whether you know of them or not, you could win stuff by making a remix for the competition.

This contest is open to everyone. Our goal is to give something back to the remix artists who help make this site what it is, and hopefully expose you to some adventure games in the process. Some of the classic adventure games helped shape what the gaming experience is like today, so it's a good time to give them a little recognition. :)

This contest is organized by a group of us over on the Global Gamers network, because we have enjoyed this website so much over the years. In addition to prizes for artists, for every entry we receive, we'll donate $5 toward OCRemix.org up to a maximum of $300.

* At least, I think it's the first. AT A GLANCE

Theme: Pick music from an adventure game* and create a remix!
Submissions Accepted: January 23 through February 20 (e-mail to indignance@gmail.com - see the How To Submit section)
Votes Accepted: February 21 through February 27 (PM to Atropos - see the Voting section in the next post)
Winners Announced: February 28
Prizes:
1st: 320 GB external hard drive
2nd: Metal remote control helicopter
3rd: LucasArts adventure game pack or OCRemix T-shirt
* Make sure the game you choose is approved, though!

RULES

Submissions will be accepted for four weeks, starting Saturday, January 23 at 12:00 midnight EST and ending Saturday, February 20 at 11:59 PM EST.

Entries must be new remixes created for this competition, and they must fit the adventure game theme.

Entries should be in MP3, OGG, or MIDI format, and they should not be larger than 8 MB.

Entries must be at least 1 minute long.

Multiple entries from the same artist ARE allowed, but each entry from a single artist must be based on different music. Each artist can only win one prize.

Collaborations are acceptable but the prizes may change accordingly (see the Prizes section in the next post).

THEME

Your source can be from any video game in the adventure genre. Some examples:

Quest for Glory
Police Quest
King's Quest
Kyrandia
Space Quest
Monkey Island
Grim Fandango
Sam & Max
Syberia
Zork

If you're not sure if a game you want to use qualifies, make sure you get approval from me (Atropos) before you start!

HOW TO SUBMIT AN ENTRY

E-mail submissions to me at indignance@gmail.com before the deadline. In your e-mail, you must include:
1) Your name as you want it posted in the thread
2) The title of your remix
3) The game(s) you used
4) The titles of any songs you used (or if you can't find the title, some description so we know where it was in the game)
5) Don't forget your remix! A link to it is fine if you have it hosted somewhere, or just attach it to the e-mail.
6) Any other information you want us to know about your entry.

If you want to modify your entry before the contest deadline, that's okay, but I have to receive your e-mail or PM with your updated entry before the deadline.

I will post links to the final entries in this thread on Sunday, February 21, for voting.

Mega Man X Series Project: Maverick Fight ($$$ prize!)

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 07:25:35 PST

Bahamut posted on OverClocked ReMix:

So I have a nice little contest here for you guys - the Mega Man X Series project is in need of some boss tracks from various games of the series, and we're letting you guys take your pick!

The style must be appropriate for the X games (i.e. no slow jazzy boss song). Medleys are allowed.
The deadline for this is March 1, 2010 - decision will be by the MMX project crew in collective voting. Entries are submitted to me via PM, email, etc.

The first place prize is $200 and a guaranteed placement in the project.
The second place prize is $50.
The third place prize is a physical copy of the OCR Final Fantasy 4 album project.

We will welcome all good tracks that comes out of this of course! May the best person win!

Week in Video Game Inspired Music 1/11 � 1/17

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 06:57:06 PST

From GM4A:

I am finally back with the first This Week in VGIM of the new year, and decade, and millenium (depending on where you start counting). Up above we have some incredible artwork by zgul-osr1113 and goes by the nameLike Jazz Zora band Indigogos.

This piece definitely has video game music written…ahem…drawn all over it! Well in site related news I have to reiterate that we have our second release. This time it’s some ambient space tunes courtesy of Doug Leinen and his new album Songs to Sing in Space (download here). I have been away for a bit due to unforeseen circumstances that were mentioned before, so there is a huge list of remixes this time around. Now let’s get down to the nitty gritty of the news.

Check out the full story on GameMusic4All.

ThaSauce Launches New Media Tab

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 05:40:38 PST

The media tab was the only thing not completed along with the rest of the site. I talked about my plans for it a bit at the panel at MAGFest this year, and I've finally gotten it to (about) where I want it to be.The media tab now lists a bunch of really great podcasts from around the community, and has now been streamlined for Radio:ThaSauce. There's a lot more that I want to do with it in the future, but for now I think it's a substantial improvement over what we had. Enjoy! :D

Crocodile Chaos - A Donkey Kong Country 2 OverLooked ReMix Album

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 22:01:45 PST

So after 4 years of tireless effort (and 2 years of sitting around on peoples' computers), OverLooked ReMiX is proud to present Crocodile Chaos, a Donkey Kong Country 2 ReMix Album!

http://dkc2.olremix.org
Because Dave Wise's music is so awesome, it needs another project :D

The Grand Robot Master Remix Battle - Round One Ends! VOTE!

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 02:53:27 PST

From OverClocked ReMix:

The year is 20XX, and the Robot Masters of the world have come together in order to fight for supremacy, but not with elemental abilities! No! They've decided to fight with a more potent weapon: PHAT BEATS, WAILIN' GUITARS, and OTHER SIMILARLY EPICALLY DESCRIBED MUSICAL ELEMENTS.

So begins OCR's Grand Robot Master Remix Battle!

Round 1 remixing is done, and all the songs are really great. Check the thread for links to the download and vote by joining the usergroup here.

The Nerdy Show podcast counts down their top 20 nerdy things of 2009

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:23:35 PST

From GM4A:

Including many of the artists which we feature here, on this very site regularly, the Nerdy Show recently counted down their favorite nerdy things of 2009. “Ladies and Gentlemen, we present to you the Final Boss of 2009! In this episode we unleash our list of the Top Twenty Nerdy THINGS of 2009, in a VERY specific order. Movies, video games, people, music, concepts – if it’s nerdy then we judged its worth.”

The gang discuss their picks, in between playing music from the releases on the list, including tracks from videogame orchestra, I Fight Dragons, The Protomen and Pixelh8. Head on over to the Nerdy Show website, and download Episode 18 :: 2009 Final Boss now!

New Interview with Alexander Brandon

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 03:04:06 PST

While OCR was interviewing Alexander Brandon for their joint remix with BigGiantCircles, I was searching for some credit information on some of the Unreal and Unreal Tournament tracks on behalf of beyondunreal.com, and Alex graciously agreed to an interview. It got pretty in-depth at times, with questions about individual U/UT songs and Alex's experiences composing the game.
Authorship Identification (AB's notes in parentheses)

UNREAL 1995 TECH DEMO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlbrSfjoZgQ - "UNREAL.S3M", also used as "Undrwrld.umx" in the Unreal 1998 beta version (myself and Michiel, first iteration)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vwr8UUFZ6Uo - "UNREALS.S3M" (me)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ED7eCGfxYc - "UNREALT.S3M" (me, yuck… not bad for the time I guess J)

UNREAL 1998 BETA VERSION

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgcD_YnP0QI "Orchtest.it", Commencement, has same beginning with "Escape from Na Pali" from RTNP but gets really different (yeah this was mine, too “happy” at first so I edited it a bit)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNmLyP0BDPg "Orch3.it", Vantage Point (me, this was one of my favs, but never got in, don’t even think the level made it into Na Pali either)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR4dLfD-p1A "New3.it", Secret Area (guessing it's Alex from the name/style) You guessed right!

UNREAL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzUbvdaJS54 "WarLord.s3m", Warlord Theme (Michiel)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqlOpwtoegg "Opal.it", ALF (me, borrowing Michiel’s style liberally)

UNREAL - RETURN TO NA PALI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuMPTmz_ZpE "Starseek.s3m", Star Seeker (DAMN I haven’t heard this in ages! Yep, mine… thank heavens for you people for keeping this stuff alive)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1x9HrGFWp8 "Title.it", Return to Na Pali (Michiel and myself)

UNREAL TOURNAMENT BETA VERSION

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z4oFw3TOy4 "menu2.it", "XYZDMenu2.it" (ugh, this was mine)

UNREAL TOURNAMENT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_iPYnVtJ24 "Cannon.s3m", Cannonade (me again)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iI4Ljd-nn34 "Lock.s3m", Lock (me)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTzZSY4REBU "Nether.s3m", Nether Animal (cmon dude, this is clearly Michiel working serious electronic magic. J)

General Q&A

1. How did you first get contacted to work on Unreal? Were you noticed because of your involvement in the MOD community?

I actually approached Tim Sweeney with Michiel Van Den Bos on one of his visits while his team was working on Age of Wonders. We said we wanted to do the music for Unreal, it looked like it was going to be big. He’d worked with us both before and liked our stuff, so he simply said “ok”. Ah, the good old days.

2. Unreal had a medium-long development process, spanning 1995-1998. In what period did you compose most of your songs? Did the development time give you a lot of time for revision, or did it force you to wait for developer input on what you should compose?

I’d say it was off and on throughout that period of time. Not much revision took place at all. We just kept writing music. Around an hour of ambient music at least, but the total including combat and other segments probably goes well over two hours.

Sometimes we would get specific requests, but most of the time we’d look at levels and just write based on what we saw.

3. A lot of people in the community love how your style meshed with that of Michiel van den Bos. How'd your working relationship evolve over the development period?

Michiel had a much more solid command of clean electronic, and he also made more grand steps into using orchestral instrumentation. I was in between, using synths in a sort of fantasy style derived from the graphical inspiration. Sometimes we’d write different patterns and swap the MOD back and forth and sometimes we’d collaborate on the entire thing, adding bits and pieces here and there. It was fun, Michiel is a great composer to work with.

4. A lot of Unreal and UT songs draw on the same samples/soundfont, and this gives both titles a coherent musical aesthetic. Where did those samples come from? (It was fun seeing Andrew Sega's Orchard Street pop up in the samples for Jazz Jackrabbit 3's songs!)

The samples are literally from all over God’s green earth. Some from old Korg synths, some from my Trinity synth, some from old movie soundtracks, some from other MOD files. We unashamedly constructed our sample set but didn’t make a point to rip too much, just here and there. Yeah, I’ve used plenty of Necros samples over the years. I think he MAY have used one of mine at one point. So we’re even. Hah!

5. What was the compositional process like? Were you told by the developers what to make, and shown the level the song would be used for? Or was it a more general process?

As mentioned earlier some level designers would be very specific with their ideas. Inoxx was one (Cedric Fiorentino) and Myscha (T. Eliot Cannon) were two of the most vocal of the designers, and Inoxx’s requests led to one of the most interesting pieces, Ghost.it I think it was called, though I’m not at all sure what level it was for or what the final filename is. Myscha worked very closely with Michiel on the crashed spaceship and it’s multiple levels, and I believe he was very happy with it.

The scene everyone seems to remember from Unreal is when the lights go out and the Skaarj emerges. Gotta give Cliff credit for that, he wanted to increase tension through in-game cinematic sequences, which was pretty advanced for the time. Obviously it was shot into the stratosphere by Half Life’s techniques, but in those cases Cliff requested sound effects, not so much music.

In most cases though we just wrote based on inspiration from the beta levels. I submitted a piece for the first outdoor level and its designer, Pancho, responded with “I don’t know but the music just keeps getting better. Dusk.it is awesome.” And that was Dusk Horizon, to this day one of my favorites, but not so much because of the music itself. It fits the level in a way no game music has before or since. I think that’s the most egotistical thing I’ve ever said, but I really believe it’s true, even with its dated sound, it generated something really unique.

6. What was the most frustrating thing about writing music for Unreal and Unreal Tournament?

Hm, tough one. The whole process was great really. I mean, we’d be up against deadlines and since Epic was a newborn babe as far as product development goes, things would get out of hand at times with miscommunication and such. But overall I don’t remember being frustrated. Just inspired with what everyone was doing as a team.

I was amused at one point when Cliff made a request for a piece that was a combination of “Carmina Burana” and “White Zombie”. But that’s part of his style. To this day he’s made bat**** crazy music requests, but regardless he’s still one of the best designers in the business. Jazz Jackrabbit blew the doors off the whole “find the colored key, open the same color door” gameplay mechanic Apogee had driven into the ground, for example, not to mention the cover tactic system in Gears of War.

7. How did the other guys (Andrew Sega, Dan Gardop�e, and the other Scandinavian guys on UT, plus Paul Schultz on Return to Na Pali) get involved? And was there any buzz or anticipation in the MOD community of your work on Unreal?

I brought just about everyone in, except Paul Schultz. Maybe I’ve forgotten but the name is unfamiliar to me. They’re all people I know, except Tero, who Skaven brought aboard. And oddly enough MOD composers really didn’t react much to Unreal, at least that I’m aware of at the time.

8. Did you ever get to play any beta builds of Unreal or Unreal Tournament as a perk?

Well, yeah! We saw builds of Unreal back when it was just a means of displaying customized Silicon Graphics models that James Schmalz created. From day one the window bar title said “Unreal”. It was awesome that it never changed because we all thought it was a great name, even if it also was the name of a PC demo.

9. Unreal has a very dark, mystical, and sometimes electronic feel to it; it's a very atmospheric game. Was this one of your strong-points going in to the writing process, or did you work to build your skill in this kind of music?

I had never written music like that before, and I guess for some reason it came naturally, but again, the game generated most of the inspiration, along with the concept art. Tim had books of Roger Dean and Rodney Matthews in his office, and I’d never seen that artwork before. It was incredible. Plans were under way to make levels that looked like that, but design-wise it was ludicrous. Think of how far you’d walk in quite a few Unreal levels. As something to gawk at its great, but unless you’re planning on skiing like you do in Tribes, not a good idea. Anyway the music was borne out of that style, which found its way into the game.

10. Likewise, Unreal Tournament has a very sleek soundtrack; was this closer to home?

I’m not so sure UT is sleek as much as it is “appropriate”. Music doesn’t match the levels in quite the same way. The music was more or less designed to reflect the action packed nature of the gameplay, with one or two exceptions by Michiel. His more trance-style Nether Animal and Skyward Fire in the vast space-filled levels fit those environments like a glove.

I branched out and desperately tried to make pieces with more guitar, primarily because of how great Razorback was. It kinda worked but it didn’t really approach that level of polish. I think Three Wheels Turning is my favorite piece from that game that I did.

11. Did you have any new thoughts upon seeing the finished Unreal and Unreal Tournament in action, or getting to play through the maps and hear your music?

I didn’t expect UT to win the war with iD. Epic had thrown down the gauntlet with those guys with Unreal vs. Quake 2, and Quake 2 still took the top spot. Then when UT emerged somehow it bested Quake 3, despite Quake 3’s better graphics engine. When I hear the songs I wrote (and the other composers) I’m still pleased with how they sound. They’re just unique. I mean nobody did that style before and really no one’s done it since. Kind of a shame really.

12. What was your reaction when you heard that the Unreal multiplayer add-on was going to be released as a separate game, UT?

I thought it was cool and a good idea. In fact the original plan was to have UT be like Madden, with one released every year. Problem is, you’ve REALLY got to put a lot of people and time into that, and Epic is more of a company that just builds something until its satisfied. Like Valve, I suppose.

13. And how were you retained for Deus Ex?

I sent a demo to Warren Spector and started pestering him and Chris Norden, the lead programmer. Eventually I got the gig. Bless ‘em.

14. Did you get to meet any of the Epic team, or share any good times? (Like a release celebration, maybe)

I lived close to Epic so we spent a good deal of time at the offices. At first it was this little 6 or 7 room space in Rockville with Cliff, Tim, Arjan (programmer for Jazz) all in one room. Cliff was a really funny guy, a lot more humble than he is now that he’s posed for Entertainment Weekly . Tim was quiet and very very intelligent (well, still is of course), not just with engineering but with business. And when he had busy time he’d simply close his door with a sign saying “**** off”. It was appropriate. When you’re a lead engineer as well as the head of a business it’s hard to find time to do both.

I didn’t participate in a release party, but I did see someone at Ion Storm wearing a leather Unreal Tournament jacket which was really, REALLY nice. So I asked Cliff and Tim if I could have one and they said “sure”. I got it, then at GDC that year in an elevator a woman was looking at me suspiciously. She finally asked “where did you get that jacket?” She might as well have had her hands on her hips scolding a thieving teenager. When I responded it turns out the woman was Anne, Epic’s accountant / office manager. We shared a good laugh with that one.

15. Sort of obligatory, but if you can remember, what's your favorite song from Unreal? From UT? What about your favorite Michiel song from Unreal & UT?

Hoo boy. Favorite Unreal song would be Crypt, even if it’s mine I gotta be honest. UT would be tough. Mech 8 and / or Razorback and / or Skyward Fire. Michiel’s best in Unreal would be the Chizra piece. I worked on it with him but he did like 90% of it. His UT tune would be Skyward Fire.

16. If you're still gaming, what kind of games are you into lately?

Still gaming, but when you’ve got a wife and three kids and a full time job (even in gaming), it gets harder to find the time. Halo 3 is still played, along with Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3, Splosion Man. Half Life 2 is probably my favorite game of all time, and the music is stupidly sparse in it. Go figure.

17. Did you hear the reinterpretations of UT songs on Unreal Tournament III, and what did you think? (the Go Down remix is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-r3If2zwEA in case you need a refresher)

I did hear them, and nearly collaborated on it. However I ended up getting way too busy at Midway. I do regret not being able to at least get one song on there. But I was on the phone with Mike Larson at Epic quite a bit. He would wax lyrical for quite some time about the goals of the music, some of which ended up getting used. Overall I like the soundtrack and with utmost respect to Kevin Riepl I think it’s better than UT2003 and UT2004, but all of them since the original lack some of that unique quality that made the originals what they were. I admire Rom and Jespyr for taking the time to remix all those pieces and not turn them into hash.

18. As time goes on, a lot of people feel nostalgia over their first communities. What do you feel looking back on the MOD scene? (I get this awesome sense sometimes when I see all the shout-outs in the sample comments for songs...) Did most of its most competent musicians get in to professional music-making like you did?

I’d say so. The MOD community was a great starting point for learning to write music. It involves far more complexity with understanding composition than using notation. What it doesn’t do is teach instrument skill, and that’s something I’m working on now. I have a huge amount of nostalgic thoughts often about the Amiga world, MODs, and just older gaming in general.

20. Were there any random chance happenings or other fond memories for the Unreal/UT days?

Eh, a ton of stories but those are best told over a beer J I could go on for quite awhile about Mark Rein. Funny stories (“I think Jazz should be a squirrel!”) but that he can also kick ass when it comes to protecting people. A guy was accusing Andy Sega of ripping off Mechanism 8. He had a website that claimed he wrote it and everything. Total fraud. Mark (professionally of course) ripped him a new one. Great to know he had our back.

21. Have you kept up with Michiel, Andrew Sega, Dan, and the others since those days?

Yep, though more with Michiel and Andy than with Dan. Dan is at Kush games I believe working on sports titles for 2K. Michiel is still working with the AoW team on games like Overlord 2. Andy has his own company, Diffusion Games, and is making Flash games for the web.

Song Q&A

22. Organic.umx -- what was it originally intended for in Unreal Tournament? Was it an influence in making "Conspiravision" for Deus Ex and "Jack of Spades" for Jazz Jackrabbit 3?

Good ear, there. It’s influence was in all three and in all three I was still finding footing with this style, stumbling through using similar samples and such. And yeah Organic was written specifically for UT.

23. Who composed the Unreal Euro Dance Mix for the tech demo video/OST?

I did this with Bryan Rudge (Sirrus, in the MOD community).

1. I plan on asking Dan this, but in case you know, what was Cyrene (or Moros - Dark Presence) going to be used for in the Unreal beta? (It's at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1BXL3Ya5JU)

No clue, several pieces would be submitted and then matched to a level. Several would be custom written based on early versions of the level.

2. Dusk Horizon, the beta version, has a really upbeat combat subsong. I'm guessing Epic asked you to make it a little more intense and dangerous sounding, but just curious; which do you ultimately prefer?

I much prefer the ambient segment of Dusk Horizon. The action sequences were intended for fights with Brutes that take place on approach to the elevator to the top of the mesa.

3. Deep Chill, from the Unreal beta, is perfect for that cryogenic ship level that was scrapped. Did you search out any new samples to try and achieve that icy sound, or did the ones you have work well?

Good question, but unfortunately I can't remember where I got those samples. Makes it sound suspicious but in those days samples came from other MODs more often than not, so technically I probably ripped 'em. The piece was written on very specific requests from Cedric (Inoxx).

4. What was Magnus, from the Unreal beta, going to be used for? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymR2D8ApkDM if you need a refresher)

I even remember that it went into a level, but sadly can't remember which one.

5. Ditto for Secret Area (New3.umx).

Once again you got me on this one. I just remember I was on a kick to write tunes like Drew Neumann (Aeon Flux composer, who I eventually exchanged emails with and nearly collaborated with). This got used in a secret area but I don't remember the level or where it was.

6. And the same question for Orchtest (Commencement) and Vantage Point (Orch3). A couple people at BeyondUnreal got really curious about this after they heard you were the composer.

These were VERY early pieces when we were feeling out the game stylistically. Definitely more "Neverending Story" sounding and less edgy. They never ended up going anywhere.

7. What was Skycity going to be used for? (Can't find a youtube link for this, so let me know if I should upload it)

There was a level that was called Sky City and Michiel started writing for it. I think there was a level that someone started designing but it didn't make it into beta.

8. Same question for Starship One (StarOne.umx).

I think that Michiel and I had a sort of competition for who would write the theme for ISV-KRAN. Michiel won over Myscha. No bitterness, Michiel did a whole slew of pieces all related to each other in a neat little "Kran Pack" that sounded brilliant.

9. And again for Unreal Suspense (Suspense.umx; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hy-7OjdIuAU, sounds like it's got some of the Bluff Eversmoking sound going on)

And here's where I get mine. Unreal Suspense was the second song ever written for Unreal. I still like it a lot, but it was used EVERYWHERE. Cliff got so tired of hearing it he asked for it to be replaced. Stupid in hindsight but it kinda lived on in Bluff Eversmoking. Glad that Michiel got inspired in that way. A lot of these samples are from my Korg Triton, so thankfully not ripped.

10. Unbab.umx, Black Wind - Unreal '96, shows up in RTNP as Bounds of Foundry, but we've always been curious why the pitch is so much lower for this Unreal beta version. Did you compose it with this pitch originally?

Ho boy, wish I could answer that. No clue whatsoever why that is. Weird!

11. What was Underworld going to be used for?

I think it was used in some extremely early levels not even in any videos or alpha versions. It got taken out because it really was kinda random and didn't work that well as a contiguous piece. We really should have polished it, it had some great ideas and was a very successful collaboration.

12. Unreal2.umx turned into the action subsong for Bounds of Foundry in RTNP, but was it always planned for this?

Yep, I'm pretty sure it was.

UNREAL

1. For Flightcastle, did they show you that beautiful introduction flyby and say, "compose something for this"?

Yep! Took a lot of cues from Michiel's Age of Wonder comping style, but I timed it out fairly roughly.

2. IIRC, Nightvision was an original tracker scene composition of yours, so was it easy to cut up the relevant parts for inclusion in Unreal?

Yes. Inoxx liked it and it went well into one of his spaceship interior levels.

3. Did you compose Surfacing after getting to see the skybox used for those sky levels? (Those amazing purple skies, the other Nali floating islands in the distance...) Like Dusk Horizon, it's one of Unreal's most awesome feelings to step out of the lift and see that atmosphere.

I'd say so but again this is a case where I wish I could remember what the inspiration was.

4. How did you and Michiel work together to make the main title?

I did that entirely, except as mentioned I remember taking a few samples and stylistic cues from Michiel's Age of Wonders title theme, which was sweeeeet.

RETURN TO NA PALI

1. Twilight Horizon has a subsong called "Aftermath" that's new. Did you originally compose that with Dusk Horizon, and did you have to come back and make it for RTNP? (it must have been cool adding something new to one of your favorites)

David Kelvin, the designer on Na Pali, asked for this. It took several revisions but I finally got it where he wanted it, and it worked out great I think.

2. In my experiences discussing these soundtracks, a few people have agreed that Foundry, and Bounds of Foundry sound the most like "new" Alexander Brandon, ca. 1999 or 2000, compared to your other work on the games. Is it true that these were composed later than most of your work, or are we just sort of assuming they're new since there are a few similarities with the Deus Ex style?

Kind of. Foundry, which I believe is Black Wind, was written after Andrew Sega (Necros) wrote Babylon, a piece that I took some samples from to form the basis of this piece.

3. Interlude II and Intermission always come up in "favorite songs from the Unreal series" polls; any notes on these?

For Interlude II, I did this one and had no idea they put it in. At the end of it you can hear a tribute to the Wing Commander theme (by Dave Govett at Team Fat).

UNREAL TOURNAMENT

1. Credits.umx (Trophy, Room of Champions) was left unused; instead the trophy sequence gets Ending.umx (Into the Darkness). Was this an accident or just style change by Epic, who left in Credits.umx in the music folder?

Good question, it was probably one of the designers. We just sent the songs in and they used 'em or didn't.

2. Ending.umx is perfect for the trophy sequence; did you compose it after first seeing that beautiful, dark trophy map, or before?

Cliff sent a lot of requests for this and it was a lot of back and forth until they got something they liked. So no, we didn't see the trophy map as far as I can remember, it was written beforehand.

3. Go Down is one of the most enduring UT songs; did you compose it with any map in mind, like DM-Hyperblast? And how did the hook come to you?

Cliff again specifically requested a song like the one in The Matrix where Neo and Trinity bust in and rescue Morpheus. I wrote Go Down, and Michiel wrote something that sounded SO MUCH like the Propellerhead song that people laughed and said "BOY are we gonna get sued!".

4. Lock and Phantom both have a sort of tribal feel from the samples; was this based on the maps or your own inspiration?

Own inspiration.

5. I plan on asking Andrew Sega a few questions about Mechanism Eight, but damn, what a fantastic track; what was your reaction when you first heard it?

"This ****ing rocks".

6. Phantom.umx has been exposed to most players through its use in CTF-Thornsv2, a really popular fan-made CTF map. What did you originally compose it for, and what did you and Michiel have in mind?

Michiel threw it out there, we collaborated as we had before. People compared it to the Macarena a lot, but really it stands well on its own.

7. In Phantom, at 3:55, the song breaks to this different part, with that airy sample going in the background. Just curious; was this part of Michiel's basic track or your suggestion?

Michiel and I collaborated on that one. I believe he started it off and I added the insane cacophony that starts at :50 or so, then he brings it back to reality later in the piece J

8. The music folder has Save Me (used in DM-Morpheus) and Save Me G, which has a different intro and doesn't appear in the game. What was Save Me G originally composed for?

Hah. Another stumper. Can't remember.

9. Underworld II, your Egyptian track for UT, has a really awesome transition when it's looped. What kind of considerations go in to deciding whether and how to loop certain songs, especially with tracker?

I did a lot of work to loop things in certain ways by using varied pattern lengths as well as instruments that would continue playing in an open channel when the song loops. You learn a lot of tricks in the tracker trade.

10. UT Menu has probably been heard more than any other track in the game; what did you have in mind while composing it?

Just the visuals, the gameplay, the same kind of feel as the original Unreal because originally it was written for something called the Unreal Bot Pack, a glorified multiplayer version of the original game. When it broke into UT, the music style just went with it.

11. How did you and Michiel mesh for the Unreal intro flyby?

The UT flyby? We just wrote it together before seeing anything, and the song was meshed into it fairly well timing-wise.

12. Three Wheels Turning was used in, IIRC, a volcano map in the ChaosUT map, and it sounded perfect given that voice sample that sounds like a Polynesian tribal yell. What did you have in mind while composing it?

Can't remember, but the breath was that of an ex-girlfriend's. This remains one of my favorites.

13. This is more a question for Teque and Nitro, but it might be hard to track them down and ask. Their original version of FireBr.umx has this high-pitched synth going over the "chorus", but this is missing in the UT version. A few fans are just wondering if that was just a judgment call by Epic.

It was. And Tero was rightfully very upset about it, but unfortunately that's the nature of the game biz. Your tunes go through revisions. The difference here was that I took the synth out and told him after the fact. I feel bad about it but lesson learned. He's a great musician and I hope he isn't still fuming about it.

~

Huge, massive thanks to AB! As you can see, I asked a ton of questions, and it's great Alex got to them (while doing an interview for another site at the same time, even!).

Looking Back at Old WIPs [Final]

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 00:01:02 PST

Abandoned in 2006, this feature's now finished. If someone wants to post it on OCR, hit up my e-mail and I'll send you the BBCode version.

I've got a treasure trove of ancient works in progress, dating back to late 2002 all the way to early 2004. They're sort of like b-sides and outtakes—some are learning moments for established remixers, while others are one-shots by unknowns who have faded into history. If you want some remixing curiosities probably unavailable anywhere on the net, check it out.I've got a WIP folder with a lot of selections in it, including several songs taken at random from #ocremix and many from the OCRemix WIP forum. These date back to late 2002, 2003, and early 2004. Most would be impossible to find these days, considering they were placed on temporary hosting. And most did not make it to remix status on VGMix or OCRemix. Nonetheless, these are interesting pieces -- some are from established remixers, others are actually good arrangements, and some are simply curiosities and enigmas. I hope you'll enjoy digging through the sands of time and finding some of the lost WIPs of yesteryear. I'll list songs (click to download) and offer a short writeup on each.

In case you'd like to just grab a torrent of my old WIP folder (there are a few uncovered pieces in there), check here.

Unknown Remixer - Sonic 3 - Credits

This is the earliest dated piece in my collection, downloaded October 12, 2002. It's a pretty simple arrangement, arguably a MIDI rip, and the identity of its author is a persistent mystery. Still, the song stands out for using the TS404 in FruityLoops -- the artist actually managed to not make it sound like default crap. The other fun quality is that for a remix of the credits theme, it's a simple, straightforward arrangement. Okay, so the song doesn't stand out that much, but if you have any idea of who made it, let me know.

Suzumebachi - Chrono Trigger - Forever (First Version)

The Chrono Trigger remix 'Forever' went through an awful lot of itinerations, and Suzumebachi would post each after making it in #ocremix. I'm pretty sure this is the first version; it's sort of like an unabridged edition of the final product. It was interesting to listen to the development of the song, but more fun is to compare this version and the final. This one's arrangement may be unforgivingly simple, but it formed the basic blueprint of a decent OCRemix. It dates November 14, 2002.

Suzumebachi - Radical Dreamers - Placid Shores

This remix of Epilogue ~ Dream Shore (Radical Dreamers) is a rare breed, as no one has really attempted this song. The original piece has a dreamlike quality to it, fitting to wrap things up as the book closes on an imaginative adventure. Suzumebachi preserved that well; the airy background and the shore sounds are a faithful aural enhancement of the original. The arrangement was simple, as Suzu was still maturing his skills, but it still sounded decent and recreated the feel of the original piece. I acquired this on January 4, 2003 (Suzumebachi issued the first 25 seconds or so as a preview the previous day). Though I think this was lost to his massive hard drive failure, he did attempt it again to produce the b5 reconstruct version, the most complete itineration of the song.

DJ Metazero - Mega Man X - Zero the Red Demon

DJ Metazero released around five or six MMX series songs in 2003. This was one of his initial tries, and covers the first Zero theme ever. The result was a kicking beat and a sexy lead (try cranking up the bass for the first three seconds of the song). Metazero is able to stretch it out to over 5 minutes without compromising freshness. In a world without much MMX coverage (at least not on the level of Final Fantasy games), this is a surprisingly solid entry for a lost WIP. If submitted when OCR first formed, it would have been one of the better songs of the bunch. I acquired this remix on January 19 of 2003.

Joseph Tek Fox - Sonic 2 - Tides Turned in Aqua Lake

JTK came out of nowhere and returned thereafter, leaving us this Sonic 2 remix. The soundfont is a little artificial, but aural quality is clear and the groove of the song doesn't let up. If I were to get synesthesiatic, I'd say this long is sort of like a tasty treat. You can make an easy comparison to Mazedude's 'Reich Lake' and see that Tides Turned in Aqua lake manages to hold up with its own funk. The arrangement can get slightly repetitive if you leave the song on in the background for a while, but knowing what comes next won't diminish this song's upbeat nature. It could be plugged right in to some kind of Sonic 2 port. The file dates January 27, 2003.

k-wix - Sim City - My Beautiful SimCity (Remastered)

A lot of points in my remixing book go for augmenting or heightening the original feel of the source tune. If the dungeon theme of SMW2: Yoshi's Island made you feel a little dark and edgy, then Rexy and Prophet's Dream an Eastern Peace is a coup. This entry by k-wix, while not being the most complex or gigasamply SimCity remix on the market, still manages to evoke that wonderful, tingling feeling of the SNES SimCity title screen. Don't be put off by the MIDI-sounding intro at the beginning, or the high strings thereafter. Let it ride and you'll find a one-way ticket to nostalgia. This file dates January 28, 2003.

DJ Orange - Super Mario RPG - Barrel Volcano

DJ Orange approximates fire. He starts it off with that twangy bass guitar, then turns up the heat with some DnB. If you were a bit put off by the simple instrumentation and soundfonts used in k-wix's remix above, then you might not like this one, either. The sound is not complex or aurally exquisite; instead, the fun of the song lies in the beat DJ Orange lays down. I'm not even sure who he was; I have some other CT ones he made that I'll post. At any rate, he seemed to like injecting a little funk in his remixes, and it shows here. In a world of sparse Super Mario RPG remixes (let alone cool Volcano stage efforts), this is an enjoyable piece. I nabbed it from the WIP board on February 1, 2003.

Ge-Off - Super Mario 64 NightCap

I have no idea who Ge-Off is, and I doubt there's any relation to Taucer. This WIP wormed its way to OCR's forums, and I'm not sure it was ever heard from again (along with its author). Ge-Off's laid back atmosphere and instrumentation paints a picture of lazily sinking off to sleep at night in the castle. Perhaps this is what the castle theme sounds like to Mario when you leave the controller idle for too long. It's nothing groundbreaking, explosive, new, or technically complex. But like its source tune, it works as lazy background music. I found this on February 1, 2003.

Figaro - Chrono Trigger - Underwater Palace Glitchy

Glitchy stuff can be humorous. Ever accidentally bump your cartridge a little out of the slot and witness the game go crazy? Sounds like Figaro got too excited upon reaching the Ocean Palace. This is one of those "throwaway" pieces like Leis Miller's "Pure Crap" Super Mario RPG take or BEERmix. It's somewhat of a joke tune, and you'd probably never burn it to CD or put it on your mp3 player. This came around on February 8, 2003.

Steve Schardein - Donkey Kong Country Blue Oblivion

I think Steve is still out there somewhere. He posted a new version of this on VGMix under the nick OtherSteve; the one above is the original OCR WIP forum entry. Faithfully recreating the watery, dreamy sound of the original, Steve lays a minimalist beat on top while twinkling pianos fade into the distance. I can already hear the objection—yes, this might as well be a MIDI rip with updated sounds and a drumloop laid on top. But if you listen closely, Steve applies touches of magic here and there to create a heavenly, ambient experience. The arrangement gets thicker after the two-minute mark, but the song never loses its chill effect. If I'm not mistaken, this is the most remixed theme from the original Donkey Kong Country. Dave Wise even remixed it in his new soundtrack for the GBA port of Donkey Kong Country 3, and put its leitmotif into a couple other songs. It's a dreamy track, and Steve Schardein did it adequate justice with this work in progress. I grabbed it on March 2, 2003.

IMC12 - Sonic 2 - Metropolis Zone

This was a fun Iron Mix competition that attracted a lot of attention and remixes. Space Cowboy and Suzumebachi made strong entries; "Blue Metro" was cited as having a Van Halen synth feel to it. There are a lot of "before they were famous" remixers on here, like Analoq, djcubez, Prophecy, Rellik, Overcoat, and maybe a couple others. Check it out and relive the competition; I've included some WIPs in there. All of it dates from March 3, 2003, when I downloaded the final archive.

Darkesword - Mega Man X - Beamsabre Beat ZERO (WIP)

Darkesword was kind of still new around this time, so that explains the default samples. I think the finished version is up on OCR, so feel free to compare them. I grabbed this March 5, 2003.

Steve Schardein - Mega Man X - Boomer Kuwanger

Here's Steve again. Boomer Kuwanger's Tower is sort of an underremixed theme; the source tune is very unique and intense. Instead of blatantly playing the first few high-pitched notes, Steve starts low and slowly builds things up. Things don't get very far, though, and we're left with one less Boomer Kuwanger stage remix. I grabbed this March 8, 2003. If you're craving Mega Man X remixes, check the [url=http://vgmdb.net/album/1685]Rockman X - ALPH-LYLA doujin[/url] released in 1994 in Japan.

Nex - Tetris - Russian Roulette

And now it's time for something you might actually keep. Nex does the timeworn and still-cool thing of starting with a chiptune and building it up into an asskicking remix. It's still a WIP, so the beat / instrumentation are minimal and the song doesn't go very many places. It degenerates into a FOUR ON THE FLOOR LET'S DANCE "E" GLOWSTICKS HOORAY at one point, but overall it retains some attitude as a Tetris remix. I used to leave WIPs on in the background as I played Unreal Tournament to cover some ground, and I can remember hearing this starting March 11, 2003.

DJOrange - Chrono Trigger - Factory

I grabbed this March 11, 2003. It's pretty simple, and in a world without factory remixes, it can pass. There's a minimalist funk going on here. He later put out a WIP called Factory 2. I have no idea what became of DJOrange, as he might have been an alias to begin with..

MC_Radical Dreamers_dream-shore-sonata2

Here's the rough edition of MC's Dream Shore Sonata-Fantasy, found March 15, 2003. The aural quality is a bit low along with the bitrate, but even in this primitive state it shows the quality that eventually earned it status as an OCRemix.

Beatdrop - Raiden Beta

You've heard Beatdrop's Raiden remix; now hear the WIP. It's less of an assault on the ears than the final product, utilizing a snappier and softer tone. All the basic arrangement is there, just waiting for the final production value increase to make it presentable and edgy. But you might find that the WIP has its own flair and appeal. This was a strong remix even in its infancy. I found it March 20, 2003.

Strider Yoko - Unreal Tournament - Foregone Destruction unreal mix (later version)

The final version (with two WIPs behind it) debuted on VGMix with a driving rhythm and some samples courtesy of Xan Kriegor, the boss of Unreal Tournament's single player mode. The first WIP is less in-your-face, and as a result has an attitude closer to the source tune's. There's some simple and effective DnB here, and the light, airy synth that kicks things off never gets annoying. This is a good addition to the playlists of Unreal game players. It found its way to my hard drive on March 20, 2003. I recall an exchange on the OCR forums in which someone had heard of Strider Yoko's other work and DJing, and then had a fangasm to find out that this Strider was the same guy. Alexander Brandon, Michiel van den Bos, Andrew Sega, and Dan Gardop�e made one of the best VGM soundtracks with Unreal Tournament, and it definitely needs more attention. Search around sometime in the Japanese doujin community for more remixes. The second version dates from June 2004.

DJ Ikronix - Super Mario Land - Cloud 9 (second version from 2004 here)

This is the version unavailable anywhere else (which...I guess isn't saying much, since only one other later WIP is available on VGMix anyway). A remix of Super Mario Land's ending theme, it maintains an airy and heavenly texture with a simple, little rhythm to take you away. This earns it high marks in staying faithful to and expanding upon the intent and mood of the source tune. Super Mario Land was probably the first video game I ever beat, and the ending theme blew me away. So I suppose I'm a little biased here. Ikronix did release a second WIP on VGMix with a louder and more upfront synth sound. I was happy to find this remix on March 20, 2003.

ResidntEvilFreak - Chrono Trigger - Glenn's Awakening

ResidntEvilFreak had an incredible work ethic. He came onto the remixing scene as a frequent flyer of the WIP board, outputting a big catalogue while constantly improving. Then he completely disappeared, leaving behind these unfinished and unpolished works. Check out the interesting string sample and the bouncy little arrangement; it's in a different vein than most remixes of Longing of the Wind. It goes into Frog's Theme thereafter and maintains a heroic little musical journey for the next couple of minutes. It's nothing impressive or musically strong, but as a WIP, it gets an A grade. I downloaded it on April 8, 2003.

McVaffe - Remix Preview

The great irony of this release is that, to my knowledge, most of the songs never materialized. It still makes great listening. This file dates April 12, 2003.

Trance Canada - Sonic 3 - Ice Age

Many Ice Cap Zone remixes are differentiated by how their synths approximate a cold aesthetic. Trance Canada gets frigid with their unique choices, and the main melody's pluck even sounds like a Genesis sample. This file dates April 18, 2003.

Spacepony - Super Mario - Peachie's Got It!

It's infectiously cheery! And trancey. This one also came to roost on April 18, 2003.

Trance Canada - Tetris - Russian Revolt

The interesting part of this song comes at 1:39, when overlaying chiptuney synths navigate the bridge. It's another song from April 18, 2003.

DJ Orange - Chrono Trigger - factory2

Orange slowed down the tempo of his earlier WIP and lengthened the song for a chill effect. This one dates April 27, 2003.

ResidentEvilFreak - Super Medley Bros

This is Peachie's Got It's alter-ego! Another one from April 27, 2003.

DJ Metazero - Mega Man X4 - Zero The Ultimate Warrior Part 2

Metazero wants to break your bass with this. It's four on the floor, but in a world without enough MMX franchise remixes, it's got some value. Dated May 3, 2003.

DJ Metazero - Mega Man X3 - X Forever

This is a remix of the opening stage theme. It's kind of "moe as fuck" trance, so it'd fit the look of the Mega Man Zero series more, no? You can see Metazero developing his skills; there's a great remix of his yet to come. This one dates from May 7, 2003.

SnappleMan - Mega Man X - Spark Mandrill

This isn't a bad WIP, so it's not like you can say SnappleMan used to suck, or anything like that. It's pretty faithful to the original, and dates from May 18, 2003.

Suzumebachi - Chrono Trigger - Homeward Journey 4cRM1

I think this was Suzu's last attempt at To Faraway Times, sounding much more polished than the earlier WIPs. The intro of the remix builds up the same massive euphoria that song does. This one dates June 1, 2003.

Chthonic - Kirby's Dreamland - Nemesis (second version here)

Dedede's theme needs more love. Chthonic's take retains the dark, neurotic feel of the original. This file dates from June 3, 2003.

DJ Metazero - Zero the Immortal One

Dating June 6, 2003, this is probably the peak of Metazero's efforts in 2003. His samples are more polished, and the arrangement is more tight, perhaps benefiting from the choice to a do a medley. Zero has numerous awesome themes, and it's great to hear them all in a single remix.

S|r NutS - Donkey Kong Country - Undersea Rave

S|r NutS had an awesome Mary Tyler Moore sig. This file dates from July 22, 2003.

Sine - Super Mario RPG - Seeking Heat

Another Barrel Volcano remix; this one's more laid back than the previous. It dates August 4, 2003.

mv - Chrono Trigger - Time Chill 4

This is the fourth WIP that mv saved of this song, but IIRC, it may have been the first he released on the forums. It dates August 23, 2003.

Strike - Super Mario RPG - Booster's Tower

I'm not sure if this is Strike911; if so, you can see how his similar trance style evolved as he continued contributing to VGMix 2. This is an interesting song choice! The remix dates September 23, 2003.

RainyAida - Chrono Trigger - Lonely Mountain

I'm not sure if this quiet piece ever made it to the judge forum. It dates from September 23, 2003.

Darkesword - Sonic 2 - Dream Pipe

IIRC, Darkesword had just released the feel-good remix "The Starlight Traveler" covering Schala's theme, so this definitely fits the period. It's pleasant and dreamy, and it dates January 9, 2004.

atrox22 - Super Mario RPG - Thimsy Battle

The first Smithy song is an ambitious piece to remix. It's up to you whether atrox22 succeeded; the attempt is worth a listen! This dates March 6, 2004.

Mike - Perfect Dark - pd stew

Perfect Dark has a lot of remixable pieces (especially the X versions of the stage themes). Mike blends a minimalist dataDyne number with sound effects from the game, then goes into Chicago. This dates March 6, 2004.

bLiNd - Donkey Kong Country - Aerofunknamics (Beta 1)

Yeah, this is the first revision of bLiNd's contribution to DKCProject. Even in this early stage, it was already the best attempt at Funky's theme to be unleashed yet. It dates June 1, 2004.

DJ Metazero - Mega Man X - Stage Remix

A couple other nascent remixers attempted this piece on VGMix 2, but DJ Metazero had the most success with it. This would have been great as Vile's stage select music for Irregular Hunter X! It dates June 4, 2004.

MusiclyInspired - Sonic 3 - All Good Things Must Come to an End

Something about the original Sonic 3 ending theme screams feel-good nostalgia, and MusiclyInspired adequately captured that here. Now that it's honest truth that Michael Jackson had a hand in Sonic 3, I wonder if the magician himself touched the source tune. This one's dated August 30, 2004.

Midiman - F-Zero - mute shitty

Mute City is an awesome piece of VGM, but a lot of approaches to it (official and unofficial) don't bring out its latent energy enough; compare the Melee and Brawl versions of the song, and you'll see that Brawl feels like it's trying harder. Midiman also accomplished that in his tragically short WIP. There was definitely work to be done, but what little we have still feels fresh among the sea of other Mute City remixes.

Thanks for reading! As a special gift, have a lossless version of Rexy, Prophecy - SMW2: Yoshi's Island - Dream an Eastern Peace, one of VGMix 2's greatest submissions.

Dwelling of Duels at VGMix - December - Free Month

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 01:39:37 PST

Dwelling of Duels, hosted by VGMix is a community wide compo where the main instrument must be played live. This attracts a variety of talent and often produces amazing results. Every month, a theme is chosen which must be followed. Participants have one month to complete their tracks, songs are voted for on the last day of every month.

Current Duel

This month is a free month! Songs are due on Wednesday, December 30th at 9:00 PM Eastern time. Please join us at MAGfest for a live listening party! Bring your DS for pictochat!
Discuss at theshizz.org forums.

November Results
Ryan8Bit: Ninja Gaiden 3 - Welcome to Hell
Akutula, Sascratch: Ninja Gaiden 1, 2 - Duet of Ninjas
BONKERS: Ninja Gaiden 1, 2 - Ouch Death Hurts (Tie)
jaxx: Ninja Gaiden 2 - I Am A Ninja (Tie)
M-H: Ninja Gaiden 3 - What's a Bio-Noid? (Tie)

Sixth Place - The Ninja GayedMEN (Nario, Powellman, Omnideth): Ninja Gaiden 1 - I'll Mask YOUR Devil!

Seventh Place - LuketheXjesse: Ninja Gaiden 2 - Scaling the Mountain

Congratulations to the winners, and everyone who participated. We'll be watching for next months entries!

Nario � Most of Me debut album release

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 02:32:26 PST

From GameMusic4All:

For those familiar with one Theshizz may also be familiar with one Nario from around those parts. Well like most folks over at the shizz, Nario is quite the musician. He has released his debut album, Most of Me for free download, via Skrow Media. The album spans 13 tracks of relaxing ambient tunes and upbeat melodies.

The album kicks off with the fast paced chiptune anthem HAX. This leads straight into one of my favorite tracks, the piano driven, Metroid soundingChilled Pop Cherry Soda. The swirling piano mixes in with the deep, dungeonesque bassline to create a strong but haunting track.

The album continues to keep things interesting with lots of musical, as well as mood shifts throughout the rest of the songs.
For the best track on the album though, my vote goes to Hallucinogenic Ethics. What I consider one of the more experimental tracks on this album, the song kicks off with some ambient noise, before driving in hard with the main melody. Soon a wall of high pitched flourishes converge with the deep rhythms and create an adventurous track that stays interesting through out the three minute length of the recording. The track comes to a close with a dissonance of eerie sounds that give the track an interesting, unfinished quality to the ending.

This is a strong debut from a person we have been waiting to hear from musically for some time now, so check out his debut as well through this link! Also, be sure to check him out through his youtube page as well!

Week in Video Game Inspired Music 11/30-12/06

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 02:29:53 PST

From GameMusic4All:

This week in VGIM, the biggest thing, IS OUR OBVIOUS REDESIGN! Did you not notice!? We got us some nice forums as well too! Well besides that we have some cool news stories, even an in-depth look at the history of chiptunes.

Also a few new podcasts and a couple great remixes (Link’s Awakening anyone?). Up top we have some fantastic art by Rocco D Commisso who you might know from the great Megas inspired art we featured last year. “Galaga” is the simple name of this great pin-up piece. Also congrats to good pal jmr for his first piece published on OCReMix!

NEWS

Interview: Concerto Tactics – The Music of Hiroki Kikuta and Hitoshi Sakimoto via Gamasutra

Endless loop: A brief history of chiptunes via Transformative Works and Cultures

Microtonal Chipmusic Compilation taking submissions via chiptune musician Little-Scale

Interview with Shota Nakama of the Video Game Orchestra

Homeward Bound Earthbound Review by Chris Pranger

Sound Current: ‘Yokohama’s MediaMix ‘09 – Game Remixers Unite’ via GameSetWatch

For the full story check out GameMusic4all.

This Week in Video Game Inspired Music

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 10:03:52 PST

From GameMusicForAll:

I have decided to start a brand new weekly section. Every Sunday I shall bring together the smaller links I dig up every week and introduce them to you in this segment. As well as update you on the latest releases out ofRemix: Tha Sauce and OverClocked ReMix.

I also hope to toss up some random art to kick off every article, like this awesome painting above byfunnelbc.

As with any other article or news, if you have a good link to send my way for this article, definitely get in touch!

Articles
Sound Current: 2 Player Productions – Reformatting PAX for DVD from GameSetWatch

An audience with Video Games Live’s Tommy Tallarico from geeks.co.uk

Designers Announced for Exclusive Visualist T-Shirts from Blip Festival

Shows & Podcasts
Digital Ensemble #207 and #208 with Special Guests!
A bicycle built for three
Alphabutt Soup

Podcast: NLFM Episode 1 – Open For Business! from Nintendo Life

Remixes
Latest Remix: Tha Sauce songs
Battle in the Ancient Temple (Zelda: Majora’s Mask) by Liquid Wind

Altar Perception (Tales of Symphonia) by Monobrow

Autumn in Yesteryear Guardia (Chrono Trigger) by Protricity

Smithy is Going Down (Super Mario RPG) by NintenJoe 64

Smoothe Criminals (Xenogears) by The Vagrance

Meteorites and Rabbits (Super Mario Galaxy) by jmr

Tryst With the Enemy (Metroid Fusion) by Protricity

Worm Grinder (Super Metroid) by Liquid Wind

Pangaea’s Onomotapoeia (Secret of Evermore) by Meteo Xavier

Crepuscle Results (Sonic 2) by Xenon Odyssey

Investigating Outer Heaven (Metal Gear) by Mutherpluckin’ B

Latest OCReMix releases
Berinstar (Super Metroid) by 8 Bit Instrumental

The Masked Man (Street Fighter II: The World Warrior) by Nutritious

A Mighty Enemy on the Battlefield (Lost Odyssey) by The Dual Dragons

Minibadass (Aquaria) by Daniel Baranowsky

Ravaging Reptile (Mega Man 3) by AeroZ

Psi Piano Omega (EarthBound) by Shnabubula

BTMNTBAMLOL (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project) by Danimal Cannon, KBart, Stemage

And finally, we end with this recent video from dntsje called Bad Apple!! on LCD Screen 128×64 pixels.

VGM Spotlight � Shadow Hearts: Covenant

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 07:28:22 PST

From anosou.music:

One thing I really enjoy about the soundtrack for Shadow Hearts: Covenant(composed mainly by Yoshitaka Hirota) is how much attention is given to the overall “sound” in his effort to portray the characters and add to the game’s unique mood. I’ve noticed that in music for JRPGs traditional instruments or simple synths rule the world and even when something other’s featured (like the ethnic instruments in Ar Tonelico) it’s just used as is.

What Yoshitaka Hirota does on the Shadow Hearts soundtracks is taking his music further by often electronically treating his instruments and using rather unconventional pallets of sound. For all examples I will provide YouTube-links, just click the name of the track.

In the track Death is the Great Leveller the rather mysterious mood is greatly enhanced by the production. To begin with the initial harp sound is quite muffled which makes it be more in the background, just adding to the harmony and not working as the main melodic line. The drums and bass are in the front of the soundscape, working together. The heavily compressed and a bit reverbed acoustic bass adds to the rather ominous mood of the track. The filtered part synthetic, part real drums drives the track forward and some distortion adds a dirty sound that works incredibly well with Shadow Hearts: Covenant’s darker visuals and environments. The mix of traditional sounds like harp, strings and bass with the synthetic drums and overall daring production certainly gives this track an edge that wouldn’t be achievable if it sounded more “clean”.

Read the full story on anosou.music, official website of Another Soundscape.

OLRville - Tunes for the Road

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 22:37:43 PST

After 5 months of blood, sweat, and tears (mostly tears because nobody understands what a 'deadline' is), OverLooked ReMiX proudly presents our latest site project, OLRville - Tunes for the Road!The album is a collection of different town/city themes, done in the traditional OverLooked style of making blood flow from your ears while you listen. 8 tracks of ReMiXy goodness from guys like Brunzolaitis, Zimish One, and nesper!

Click the picture (or follow the link -> http://olrville.olremix.org) and grab the .zip if you want everything, or have a taste-test with the songs first! And if you are feeling so bold, leave some comments in the official thread.

You can give your props to Zimish One (aka POCKETMAN in some places), as he is the project coordinator and I don't even know which site project this is for him...probably his 6th or so.

(also, this is an announcement that our queue is fixed, so you can submit songs again! yay!)

Powerglove Tour with Sonata Arctica / Munity Within! Album recording continues!

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 15:48:49 PST

From Powerglove's MySpace Blog:

Hello Powerglovers,

We're tickled pink (literally) to announce that we'll be touring with Sonata Arctica and Munity Within right after our tour with Hammerfall. After these two big tour announcements this week, I have a sudden urge to travel back in time and reassure my 16 year old self that if I devote my life to making metal arrangements of video game and cartoon music, for some reason I'll get to tour with my metal heroes. Also, I can let 16 year old Chris know that in a few short years his beard will finally fully connect to his moustache, ending years of nervous confusion and beard-doubt.

Tickets are again available through enterthevault.com at their site and through the links below.

The Sonata and Hammerfall tours play many of the same places, which might present some fans with a difficult decision. The true Powerglove way of course is to attend all possible concerts, wearing a ceremonial Zebediah mask to all events, and try to stage dive over and over until the Ultimate Power reveals itself to you or you lose consciousness. Cosplaying as Bridget from Guilty Gear is also acceptable.

Since most comments on these blogs are about where we're not playing, let me assure the populace of Glovopolis that we'll be touring a lot in 2010 and have some headlining dates and smaller shows to announce later that will happen during the Hammerfall / Sonata Arctica odyssey and beyond. By all means though let us know in the comments where you want us to play, and we'll analyze the data with our tricorders and make sure we bring enough swords and starbusts for everyone.

For tour dates and more check out the Powerglove blogpost on MySpace.

Nitro Game Injection #124: Swordfish Ride

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:37:31 PST

Hiatus? What hiatus? Kyle & Larry are back to give you a dose of great game music. On this episode, the duo talk weather, surf rock, Captain Lou Albano, and of course, games and game music. Album reviews return to NGI, and the guys take an in-depth look at Metroid Metal’s newest release, Varia Suite.For shownotes and more visit the NGI website.

More Filmmakers Appearing at MAGFest

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:33:53 PST

Posted on the MAGFest website:

MAGFest always prides itself on having some of the best fan film production studios, and this year will be no exception. We've just added a bunch more filmmakers to this years guest list, and here are the latest additions.

ScrewAttack - Watch tons of great gaming videos from their staff, or upload your own!

X-Strike Studios - An independent movie company out of Western New York, destined to make quality, live action, video game parody films.

Eddie Lebron - Writer/Producer/Director of the highly anticipated "Megaman" fan film.

PBC Productions - PBC Productions, based out of NYC, is a pioneer in distributing higher-quality internet TV.

Main Moon Productions - Cincinnati based production company ran by Ricky Henry. He's kind of a cool guy. He makes movies, artwork, babies cry, and lots of other things.

You can check out the full details for all of these guys on our filmmakers page.

Dwelling of Duels at VGMix - November - Ninja Gaiden Month

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:20:36 PST

Current Duel

This month is Ninja Gaiden month part deux. This includes all Ninja Gaiden games: the NES trilogy, the arcade/other system versions, and the new/Sigma games. Songs are due on Friday, November 27th at 9:00 PM Eastern US time. irc.vgmix.com #dod listening party to be held Saturday, November 28th at 9:00 PM Eastern.

October Results
Harjawaldar: Gargoyle's Quest - In the Bitter Watches of the Night
M-H: Solar Striker - I'd Solar Strike HER
The PokeMEN (Powellman, Omnideth, Nario): Pokemon Blue - The PokeMETALLY

Fourth Place - BONKERS: Pokemon Gold and SaGa 3 (Final Fantasy Legend 3) - The Victory

Fifth Place - Daniel Alm: Metroid 2: Return of Samus - One Small Step For Aran

Congratulations to the winners, and everyone who participated. We'll be watching for next months entries!

OCRemix Xenogears Interview and Preview Tracks!

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 05:37:59 PDT

Project director Avaris will join us live tonight during Radio Free Gamer to discuss the upcoming Xenogears remix project. We will also air some exclusive preview tracks from the project! Check it out live from 7-9PM EST at 8bitx.com, or download the podcast which will be posted tonight. Thanks!

Incoming injury/starla album?

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:44:48 PDT

starla posted on her blog:

I've decided to finally release an album. Now it's not done yet, but I have suffered long enough from the it's-not-done-itis. I figure I can grab between 10 and 16 tracks, mostly from my recent compos, and others from songs that have never been released.

I need you guys to bug me and make sure that I don't give up on this, and that I don't dawdle on other things too much. Since most of the composing part is complete and all that is left is rerecording and finishing up the backing tracks, it is certainly possible to see something completed come Magfest. Thank you for all your continued support!

Green Jester Needs Space Badly

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 12:25:09 PDT

So, ladies and gents, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this is an issue that needs to be addressed.

As I found out from Richter a week or so ago, OverLooked ReMiX has become too large for him to host any longer. He's pretty much paying out of his own pocket too, as we aren't a large enough site to garner a consistent traffic flow, and I'm pretty sure the revenue off of ads is miniscule at best.

Thus, I don't know how much longer we'll be around. The only option Richter and I could think of is to release songs on YouTube, and then host a torrent of all of the songs for people who want individual copies of them. Richter did also move the songs to another hosting, but that's only saved them; we can't post new remixes, and we have at least one new site project to release that can't be hosted on the server. This is why we haven't had a new remix in about a month.

If anyone would like to lend a hand with anything (even if it comes to torrenting, just having some seeds), it would be greatly appreciated. Obviously I'm not looking for someone to just take and host the site, but even some alternative options than what Richter and myself have thought of would help us. Although if you would consider hosting, contact Richter at richtaur at gmail dot com, and/or myself at xenonodyssey at hotmail dot com.

Thanks for giving this a read.

OverClocked ReMix Increases Maximum File Size Limit to 8MB

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:17:18 PDT

Effective immediately, the judges panel has voted to raise the maximum submission size to 8MiB, or 8,388,608 bytes.

The max bitrate REMAINS 192Kbps; if you want to visit my house and prove you can pass a blind test differentiating between 192Kbps and 256Kbps, be my guest. If you win, the bitrate will be raised. If you lose, you owe OC ReMix $300 for my time

This decision was reached by vote of the judges panel on a thread I posted; our mirrors are handling MP3 bandwidth admirably and, combined with torrents, have proven that this increase should be sustainable, so I posed the question and the judges responded.
If you already have a piece queued up you think would benefit from a higher quality encode, please get in touch with a judge, BUT please note that any such changes may delay the evaluation of your track. I'd recommend against it unless it's a 6-7 minute track where the encode really brutalized things.
As to the logical follow up question of "OMFG WHY NOT 10MB?! OR EVEN... 100MB!!!?", well, to be honest 6MiB has been serving us quite well for a long time. There are logistics involved at OCR that are fairly unique, and specifically when you factor in the (necessarily) manual evaluation of both arrangement and production PLUS the general deterrence towards mega-medleys, etc., we feel it makes a lot of sense.
We are considering going back and soliciting higher quality encodes of mixes ALREADY posted, but have not formalized any plans. Please don't ask to update any existing tracks you may have had posted on the site, as we won't do it - in other words, don't call us, we'll call you.

That's it, pretty much. While I'm sure someone can manage to put a negative spin on this by complaining that it took us too long, that it should be raised higher still, or that Larry smells (only one of which is true), I see it as a "good thing" that represents our steady, stable, persistent improvement of the site over time.

Christopher Tin on Radio Free Gamer

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:15:04 PDT

This week on Radio Free Gamer, we will be joined by composer Christopher Tin to discuss how his work, "Baba Yetu", has impacted his career as well as the debut of his new album "Calling All Dawns!" The album is getting amazing press, so I'm really looking forward to this interview. Anyone who hasn't checked this out should definitely visit Christopher's site.
Of course, we'll also have some great, free video game music, the win and fail of the week, and more! Listen live at 7PM EST Wednesday, immediately following Average Joe Gamer here on 8bitx.com. This is going to be a good episode, so don't miss it!

Dwelling of Duels at VGMix - November - Ninja Gaiden

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 04:20:52 PDT

Current Duel

This month is Game Boy games month. Songs are due on Tuesday, October 27th at 9:00 PM Eastern US time. irc.vgmix.com #dod listening party to be held Wednesday, October 28th at 9:00 PM Eastern.

September Results
Ergosonic: Donkey Kong Country 2 - Essence of the Woodlands
NekoFrog: Donkey Kong Country 2 - Monkeys Disarm Your Kremlings
LuIzA, Level 99: Star Fox Adventures - Fossil's Oasis

Fourth Place - Hale-Bopp: Perfect Dark (N64) - Sludge Pit

Fifth Place (tie) - Hat: Donkey Kong Country - Celtic Diddy

Fifth Place (tie) - Krastins: Donkey Kong 64 - Mermaid's Lullaby

Congratulations to the winners, and everyone who participated. We'll be watching for next months entries!

Radio ThaSauce Live -- New Blog

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 01:06:02 PDT

Dyne here, and have I (finally) got some news for you! Of course, if you haven't been listening to it, I run the radio show Radio ThaSauce Live! For those of you who have, this is good news for you too! Recently, I decided to do a little work on a blog that I'd wanted to experiment with. This is where the good news comes in!

The blog is up and running, and while I'll also be experimenting with it, I thought that I would use it for a greater purpose than just playing around. It's not the official blog of Radio ThaSauce Live, and you can check it out just by clicking here! It features news, the radio show event schedule, and will also be bringing you so much more!
Keep checking it out to stay on top of events, show notes, and more!

See you at show time!

Look out! Wild ARMs Project by JaDE ARaN HaRuNo Appears!

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 03:54:14 PDT

You might have heard, but OCReMixer bLiNd's wife has started a serious shake down for her Wild ARMs ReMix project tentatively named: Overture of the Vigilante Wild. I had over-heard via Facebook that she had manage to net AmIEvil, a name I hadn't seen mention in QUITE some time, and today while browsing the Artists' Updates tab, I saw they she has managed to get McVaffe on board as well!
While most people are already excited about the upcoming DKC2 Project, the Wild ARMs project is quickly ramping up to be just as exciting.

You can follow the project, as well as see the full list of tracks and artists, on the thread on the OverClocked ReMix forums.

First MAGFest 8 Bands Announced!

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 01:02:40 PDT

From Magfest.com:

Good news MAGFans, we're revealing our first two musical guests that will be playing at MAGFest 8. They're both veteran bands to us, so they're well versed in the art of rocking out. May we present you:
Metroid Metal: Originally a solo project by Grant Henry, this excellent metal tribute to Nintendo's Metroid series became a live band and made its full-on debut at last year's MAGFest. Currently playing at PAX 2009 in Seattle this weekend, they just released their new album "Varia Suite" and you can both become a Metroid Metal sponsor and get Varia Suite from the Metroid Metal site. They'll be returning this year to attach to your head and drain all your energy, so get your ice beam ready!

Arm Cannon: An internationally renowned 5 piece band from Buffalo NY, these guys have definitely made their mark remixing video game classics. They skillfully reincarnate classic melodies of yore into a progressive-metal triumph of nostalgia. An Armcannon show will reawaken your inner child with the unmatchable power of rock. They've been wowing MAGFest attendees since our 5th year in 2007, and are glad to return this year. They also just released their second CD, so now you can purchase (and enjoy) Armcannon 2: The Return of the Attack of the Legend of Pizzor.

For some fresh new videos of Metroid Metal with terrific remastered audio, and other great videos of bands and happenings from past MAGFests, check out the MAGFest youtube channel by clicking the YouTube link to the left. And remember folks, this is just the beginning! We'll have plenty more bands and guests to announce in the coming weeks. Make sure to pre-register for MAGFest now and save $5, plus you'll get admission to our New Years Eve party!

Also, MAGFest will be sponsoring the music at the upcoming GameX Industry Summit in Philadelphia this coming October. GameX is a national game consumer show designed to draw from national, regional and local audiences of game players, film and TV fans, comic book buffs and tech enthusiasts. High-value consumer content is being provided by exhibitors and sponsors, including major media and entertainment companies seeking to build their brands with the core games audience. MAGFest will be in charge of the music, so come see bands including The One-Ups and Arm Cannon.

VGM Spotlight � Game rips worth your time

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 11:20:50 PDT

From anosou.music:

Quite a few games never got a soundtrack release but have been brought to the mighty internet in form of game rips, either from the ROM or direct audio recordings. Here I’m gonna mention a few that’s worth looking into. From Software’s extremely overlooked Lost Kingdoms II (known as Rune II in Japan) has some quirky music.

From Software head composer Kota Hoshino is joined by From Software regular Yuji Kanda and Takeshi Yanagawa of Culdcept fame for the soundtrack, never released in stores, and it certainly has it’s moments. A strange blend of ethnic, electronica and classic RPG music that makes up for the lack of sample quality with unique compositions. Highlights include Battle, Gromtull Desert and Kendarie Fortress. A must if you’ve played the game.
Whoopee Camp’s PS1 cult hit Ore! Tomba also has some fantastic music. Happy-go-lucky music based mainly around mallet-type sounds and percussion with really strong melodies. This soundtrack went great with the crazy art style of Ore! Tomba, the pink-haired little boy battling against evil pigs, solving mysteries and helping people. Highlights include Dwarf Forest, Village of all Beginnings and Phoenix Mountain. Harumi Fujita (Pulstar, Blazing Star) and Nao Hatsutani really made a memorable soundtrack and it’s a shame it goes unreleased. Since Ore! Tombe (or Tomba! or Tombi! as it’s also known) is such a rare game many people will miss out on this so hunt down that game rip NOW!

Future Tactics: the Uprising might have been a bad game, I don’t know, but goddamn the music is groovy. Tim Follin, one of the best NES/SNES composers out there, finally got his hands on some real samples and made some fantastic tunes. The soundtrack is a groovy, funk-inspired blend of jazz flute infested jam sessions, extremely atmospheric semi-ambient pieces, folkmusic and balls-to-the-wall rock. The instruments sound authentic, the riffs are strong and Follin really showed why he was one of the greats (he’s now retired from game music). Find it, enjoy it and beg to a god of your choice that Tim Follin gets back into game music.

Long story short, there’s a LOT of good VGM out there that never got a soundtrack release. That doesn’t mean all hope is lost, game rips is fan effort at it’s best and will give you hours of listening pleasure. It’s probably not legal in SOME way but damnit, I fail to see anyhting wrong with it if the game never got a soundtrack release. Anyway, if you have any personal favorites be sure to let me know and I’ll check them out.

Freshly Baked ReMixer Challenge Listening Party

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 02:43:00 PDT

This year's Freshly Baked ReMixer challenge, and we're holding a listening party tomorrow at 6PM PST/ 9PM EST so everyone can have a chance to listen to the songs everyone has been working on over the past 2 months. The listening party will be held in #thasauce on irc.enterthegame.com.

Way back in 2002 a forum user name "I Like Cookies!" (now just Jeff), ran a 1-shot competition called the Freshly Baked ReMixer challenge. In the thread artists signed up and were assigned challenges posted by other forum users. This is how artists like myself, Suzumebachi, and GLL all got our starts. There were also some other impressive tracks by Disco Dan and a few others.

Some time later the same user did the Second Annual FBRC which, while not as popular as the first one, still saw some solid success.

Since the competition has long been forgotten by most, and seeing all the talent that's on OCReMix today, I think it's time we try a revival.

For my info on the FBRC check out the thread on OverClocked ReMix.

The Megatainment EP is here!

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:32:25 PDT

From The Megas MySpace:

New music is finally here! We just released Megatainment, a collaboration with our good friends Entertainment System!

The idea was born this time last year, when we embarked on the first Megatainment tour - basically they kept hassling us about not planning to do the MM1 soundtrack, so we said "write and record all the music and we'll do vocals..." and that's exactly what happened!

We're really excited about how this turned out - Entertainment System brings a different, heavier sound than what we play, so it was a fun challenge to come up with melodies and lyrics! Story-wise, this fits in as a nice prequel to Get Equipped.

Check out the Elecman track on our page, then head over to themegas.com/store and pick up a copy - they're only $5! We're selling hard copies for a limited time - make sure to order soon if you want to get one.

- Megas

Mutherpluckin' B on Radio Free Gamer

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 23:08:35 PDT

This week on Radio Free Gamer we will feature an interview with rock artist Henrik Lidbjork (aka Mutherpluckin' B) about his latest Nintendo cover album and his plans for the future, including the band he recently formed! As usual, we will also feature great, free video game music, our win and fail of the week, and the latest scoops. Join us for Radio Free Gamer this Wednesday at 7PM EST, only at 8bitx.com.

Also (if you didn't know), you can follow @justinj212 via Twitter for updates and send a tweet his way with your wins/fails of the week, you can join us on facebook at the Radio Free Gamer group, and send any requests or questions to radiofreegamer@gmail.com! Thanks for checking out our show!

Dwelling of Duels at VGMix - August - Free Month

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:26:55 PDT

Current Duel

This month is a free month. Songs are due on Thursday, August 27th at 9:30 PM Eastern US time. irc.vgmix.com #dod listening party to be held Friday, August 28th at 9:30 PM Eastern.

July Results
Snappleman: Castlevania 3 - The Count of Transylvania
ansgaros: Castlevania Bloodlines - Prepare for Death
Harjawaldar: Gargoyle's Quest - Holy Warcry (tie)
M-H: Mega Man X3 - High Gravity Malt Beetle (tie)

Fifth Place - ROCKtendo: Castlevania 3 - What a Funky Night to Have a Curse

Congratulations to the winners, and everyone who participated. We'll be watching for next months entries!

ALTER EGO - Album by TWEEX on sale for only $5.99!

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:16:57 PDT

tweek posted on OverClocked ReMix:

From July 31st to August 14th, Alter Ego will be available for purchase for $5.99 through the Tweex Music Store. You will receive nearly an hour of original music by Tweex in a CD Quality WAV format with all Album Artwork!

If you would like to learn more about Alter Ego and listen to samples, then go to the DISCOGRAPHY page.

If you’re ready to purchase, go straight to the TWEEX MUSIC STORE and place your order.

All orders are handled through PayPal, so you are 100% secure in any transaction you make! If you would like a hard copy of the album, CD Baby still has a few copies in stock and you can purchase the album through them!

This promotion won’t last for long so be sure to act NOW!

Nekofrog presents: The Agony of Man ALBUM PREVIEW

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:08:49 PDT

Nekofrog posted on OverClocked ReMix:

My debut album is nearing completion, but for a few reasons that cannot be revealed here, it will be some months before it finally sees an official release. Until then, I figured I'd throw up a preview of what's to come. This preview consists of two fully completed (length-wise) songs, and one abbreviated song.

Entitled "The Agony of Man", this album features a trilogy of songs depicting the birth, life, and death of a man, detailing the major events that define his tragic life. It also spans various different genres of metal, including thrash metal, progressive metal, death metal, melo-death, and many others.

Track 1: This song is entitled "Overdose", and is unrelated to the trilogy. Some of the other musicians that I've shown the project to have described this song as progressive/melodic death metal, however it lacks any type of vocals. So if you're one of those types who likes the guitar of melodic or progressive death metal but can't get past the cookie monster vocals, this is probably right up your ally.

Track 2: This song is entitled "The Funeral", and is the middle part of the aforementioned trilogy. It details the death and laying to rest of the man's wife, and his regret at having ever met her and inadvertently causing her death. EMO FAGGOT. Vocals (yes, this song has vocals) were recorded by DrumUltima of, derp, OCR fame.

Track 3: This song is entitled "Descent", and is unrelated to the trilogy. This song takes elements from thrash metal more than anything, with some fast riffing near the fadeout. This track is going to be a doozy when the full thing is unleashed :)

In the coming months, a few more tunes might be "leaked" up until the album's final release. Thanks for listening, I'd appreciate some comments if you enjoyed it, or otherwise.

Radio ThaSauce Live - Returns!!

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 20:24:43 PDT

Yes, tomorrow night, at precisely 10pm, Radio ThaSauce Live makes it return after six week hiatus due to moving, adjustments, and Otakon! I'll be bringing the phat beats, so strap yourself in, and hang on tight!

A lot has happened since the last time I did the show, and hopefully I'll be able to cover it all, but we'll see. Friday's show has no time limit, normally it runs two hours long, however, I'm not going to set a limit on this particular show, so please, just show up and enjoy!To view the show, go here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/radio-thasauce-live

-- By the way, I do take requests. They can be made via IRC (on EnterTheGame) in channel #thasauce before and during the show. If you can't get on IRC, please make your requests via PM on these forums, or in the chat via the radio show's web page.

A few things of note, I'm going to be putting together a dedicated web site just for the radio show itself. I believe there is an embed code that I can copy into my code for the site so that everyone can just go there and chat and listen to the show. I will once again attempt to use the web cam for the show, however, if there are issues with the feed (there were last time), I won't use it after this point. But, it was a good idea, right? Anyway, web site forthcoming, and listen to the show tomorrow night!

-Dyne

Nerdapalooza Highlights Video

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 01:15:09 PDT

Z poster on Hipster, Please!:

I'm really trying to stop rambling on about Nerdapalooza, as I understand that it's sort of asinine for me to do so. I mean, I wasn't even there!

Still, I think this is just a little too interesting not to pass along. It's an event recap by Corey Clark that my boy MadHatter turned me on to. It features music by Schaffer the Darklord, performance clips from The Grammar Club, The Megas, MCs Frontalot and Lars, and some great interview snippets with the fans, performers and organizers. Give it a look-see. Then be sure to rate, comment and/or pass it on.

Bad Dudes - Chronotorious album available for preview and pre-order

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 13:05:07 PDT

genoboost posted on GM4A:

Watch out! The Bad Dudes are back! And badder than ever! No that's ridiculous, they are already the baddest dudes. Anyway, they have very recently announced that their upcoming tribute to the amazing classic Chrono Trigger, awesomely titles Chronotorious is available for pre-order.

Not only that, but if you click on "albums/eps" and then click on the Chronotorious album, then hit tracks, you can preview all the songs from the album! But you can only get five of those tracks on the official pressed album release. Danimal cannon of the Bad Dudes and Armcannon fame personally describes these songs as "bad-fucking-ass" and you don't argue with a bad dude who's last name is Cannon.

Also if you pre-order the album now, the album will only cost you $10, this will rise to $12 come August 18th, not to mention that the album also comes with a sweet poster. Oh, and did I mention they are only making 1000 albums! So don't drag your feet, I already pre-ordered my copy, so realistically there are only 999 left at most!

And finally, for the artistic types in the crowd, Bad Dudes are also holding a music video contest. So for any would be directors out there, you can try your hand at making a video for the Dhsu vs. Mustin - B.A.M.F. (Radio Edit) track. And for anyone else, you can just download the radio edit track and wait in anticipation of this sure to be amazing album!

New Armcannon album onsale now - previews available

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 23:11:23 PDT

From ArmCannon's MySpace:

ALBUM AVAILABLE FOR SALE----
Cost = $12 plus shipping
------------------------------------------
go to http://www.armcannon.com/merch or CLICK HERE to buy

This is it. The sequel. The duece. This is Armcannon 2: The Return of the Attack of the Legend of Pizzor. If you're wondering who Pizzor is, you'd best be searching through some previous Armcannon media for a history lesson.

We're probably going to be referring to this as "Two" or "Pizzor" for the sake of brevity.

In February of this year, we entered Watchmen Studios for a few weeks to churn out this slice of delicious terror and we're quite pleased with the results.   Watchmen Studios recently put out the newest (and previous) Psyopus record, along with the new Brutal Truth.   With engineer Doug White at the helm we cranked out 11 new Armcannon glory anthems to celebrate our roots.

Now, the 11 million dollar question.   What songs did we include?

Tracklist

Power Rangers
Mario World Castle
Super Mario 2
Megaman 2 Wily Stage
Hulk Hogan/Shawn Michaels themes
Rygar
Contra
Kid Icarus
Megaman 2 Crashman
Castlevania 3
Ghostbusters
Chiptune

You're probably wondering: "When can I listen to these?".   The answer is SOON.   At a date not yet determined, we will be posting the album online for sale.   When we do this, I will put every track on myspace (I'm pretty sure myspace will let me do this) for 3 days so you can hear the album in its whole glory.    So anyways, stay tuned folks!

<3<3<3 - Armcrizzle

Saria's Song/Lost Woods get a ragtime jazz treatment

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 22:53:01 PDT

I happened to come across this video through the Zelda Universe. This is (what I think) a fantastic version of Lost Woods/Saria's Song from the Ocarina of Time. For the musically minded the video also contains what bars are being played, which is a nice addition for those concerned. If you have fond memories of OoT please have a look at this, it sounds fantastic and you won't regret it.

In the last few days the writer of these has done a few versions of the Song of Storms which are very much worth a look as well.

Youtube channel: kentokhromatic

Weezer - The 8 bit Album compilation release

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 03:12:15 PDT

From GM4A:

For most folks growing up with the NES, SNES, gameboy, and other classic consoles of the current chiptune era, another staple in our lives was good old 90's rock. One such band was the ever amazing and often nerdy Weezer. In this vein, Pterodactyl Squad has organized, and finally released Weezer - The 8 bit Album compilation...

...which as the title states, is an album "created using original videogame hardware running home-brew software, and vary radically in style, from minimal 'one man and his Game Boy' compositions to 8-bit inspired full band performances.". The album is 14 covers by no less than the finest in chiptune music today.
I along with many others have been really looking forward to this tribute album, and very excited to have it released. The album is great even if you aren't familiar with every Weezer song on the album, or if you don't recognize the chippy artists paying tribute to them! As with all Pterodactyl Squad releases the album is free to download, so head to ptesquad.com right now and check it out! Check out the full tracklist below!

1. Island In The Sun (Belmont's Revisal) - videogame orchestra
2. Holiday - Anamanaguchi
3. El Scorcho - Tugboat
4. The World Has Turned And Left Me Here - Bit Shifter
5. You Won't Get With Me Tonight - PDF Format
6. Hash Pipe - seal of quality
7. In The Garage - OxygenStar
8. You Gave Your Love To Me Softly - :(
9. We Are All On Drugs - Rabato
10. Jamie - Unicorn Dream Attack
11. Come To My Pod - Mahamajama
12. Why Bother? - I Fight Dragons
13. Buddy Holly - nordloef
14. I Do - arcadecoma.

I too have been waiting for this since it was first announced and I advise everyone, fans of both chiptunes AND fans of Weezer, to go get it out immediately!

Mutherpluckin' B Releases 8-Bit Democracy Capitalist Edition

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:11:49 PDT

The Capitalist Edition of Mutherpluckin' B's latest VGM funk rock opus, "8-Bit Democracy", is now available to order. For just $7 you can get the CDR with color fold-out artwork and two new, exclusive tracks not available on the free Socialist Edition.

If you enjoyed his remixes on R:TS, stop by Mutherpluckin' B's site to place your order. Be sure to check out his other albums as well!

Donations and you.

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:14:12 PDT

Nerdapalooza reminded me of something that I've wanted to do for a long time, but have never been able to do much of: PROMOTE. We got 1 run of shirts made, I got some cheap flyers and DVD cases to make stuff happen, but the funds just weren't there to make any serious promotion.

So this year, if at all possible, I want to be as ready for MAGFest as possible, and while adsense really isn't going to get us all the way where we want to be, it'll certainly help a bit. BUT WHAT'S IN IT FOR YOU?

You'll notice R:TS now has a DONATION button, as well. We graciously accept all donations, BUT depending on HOW much you donate,you can get some TOTALLY sweet stuff.

$5 = ALL OF R:TS + More - R:TS doesn't have torrents...yet (though someone did put up a torrent awhile back on TPB). So with a donation of $5 or more we'll mail you a super snazzy DVD with all the R:TS mixes (as of July 10th), as well as some unreleased MAGFest video and some other cool stuff.
$25 = ALL OF R:TS + a shirt, bro - The initial run of shirts sold out...pretty much immediately, and those lucky few who got them should know that shirt is pretty much a collector's item now, because the next run of shirts will be TOTALLY different. Now, I can't promise you a shirt right away, because we don't have them, and I can't afford them right now, HOWEVER the next shipment of shirts has been designed, picked out, and are ready to be ordered. I hope to have them by MAGFest, and with a donation of $25 I absolutely GUARANTEE you will get a shirt as soon as they are availible. This means as soon as I get the BRAND NEW (totally snazzy) ThaSauce shirts with the all new logo design, you will be THE FIRST to recieve one, before they even go on sale.
$25+ = All of R:TS, a shirt, AND unconditional love - I already love you all. To everyone that's stuck with us from the beginning THANKS A BILLION, and I really don't like to play favorites...but I will. Money talks, people.
$100+ = All of R:TS, a shirt, unconditional love AND n00dz. - 'nuff said.

Shael Riley and The Double Ice Backfire - Songs from the Pit

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 16:26:37 PDT

Brand new SUPER HI-FI magical purple cassette EP that made it's debut at Nerdapalooza 2009! Limited press of only 100 copies each individually numbered! Get it fast! Each contains one Outworld soul!

Featuring:

Publishing Rights- How to Fire a Gun- Asian Kids Have All the Best Moves- The Other Side of Memphis- Chinese Ninja Warrior- tip eht fo mottob-

Shael Riley, Ricky Henry, Ty Guenley w/ Shaffer the Darklord and Jon Titterington

Powerglove to start recording new album soon!

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:27:00 PDT

From the Powerglove MySpace blog:

And so it is, that after many months of arranging music and watching professional Starcraft, we've now ended up with about two releases worth of songs. We would probably hemorrhage with pure glory if we tried to just record them all at once, so we're going to split this batch into two albums.

And so it is, that after many months of arranging music and watching professional Starcraft, we've now ended up with about two releases worth of songs. We would probably hemorrhage with pure glory if we tried to just record them all at once, so we're going to split this batch into two albums.

The first one will be all of the tv, cartoon and movie themes that we grew up with, smelted into shimmering metal. The Pokemon theme song is on this one as some of you know, along with This is Halloween from The Nightmare before Christmas (one of several Danny Elfman songs we're doing on this one, a favorite composer for sure), The Flintstones, The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest (if you haven't heard that one look it up, it's awesome), and a song that for the moment I'm calling In the Hall of Inspector Gadget. Also, we have this psychotic arrangement of Under the Sea from The Little Mermaid with 220bpm shredding and steel drums that will make you pass out from laughing and headbanging at the same time. In the next few weeks we'll reveal some more about it as we get started with the recording. As to the amount of songs, I honestly don't know yet how many we want to put on this release. It could be an EP, it could be an album, only time will tell.

And the second one is back to video game music! We've got most of the core material done for that one as well, so we'll have plenty of time to kick it around and refine it. I'll save revealing those tracks for later, but I recently did an arrangement of Snake Man from Mega Man 3 that I can't wait to hear live, should it make the cut. I'd love to have the first one come out later this year, and the second one in 2010, but we'll see how that works out with touring etc.

We just got all of our new gear together and we'll be setting it up and getting our tones starting this weekend. Our drum and bass sounds are already way better than Metal Kombat, and Saturday the never ending quest for the perfect recorded guitar tone begins anew.

I can't really generalize on the sound for this album, but there are definitely more dark moments than Metal Kombat, and the gleeful moments of cheer are more intense and ecstatic. It is also heavier and shreddyer, but every band says that. So don't take our word for it now, you see when the time comes.

-Chris Marchiel and Powerglove

Interview and preview tracks for OCR's Donkey Kong Country 2 Project!

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:36:47 PDT

This week on Radio Free Gamer, the project directors for OCRemix's Donkey Kong Country 2 project join us to discuss this excellent follow-up to the first ever album on OCR. Not only will we have an exclusive interview, but we will also have TWO PREVIEW TRACKS which you can only hear at Radio Free Gamer (until the album is released!).

Radio Free Gamer airs live on Wednesday at 7PM EST only at 8bitx.com, and the podcast will be updated on Friday with a full recording of the live show. Check it out for all the best in free video game music and artist interviews!
This week on Radio Free Gamer, the project directors for OCRemix's Donkey Kong Country 2 project join us to discuss this excellent follow-up to the first ever album on OCR. Not only will we have an exclusive interview, but we will also have TWO PREVIEW TRACKS which you can only hear at Radio Free Gamer (until the album is released!).

Radio Free Gamer airs live on Wednesday at 7PM EST only at 8bitx.com, and the podcast will be updated on Friday with a full recording of the live show. Check it out for all the best in free video game music and artist interviews!

FF4 Project Listening Party! THIS SATURDAY!

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:38:27 PDT

OA posted on OverClocked ReMix:

To help commemorate the release of OCR's 14th album, Final Fantasy IV: Echoes of Betrayal, Light of Redemption, We are going to be throwing an IRC listening party!

Here's the INFO!!

WHEN
SATURDAY JULY 18, 9PM EST

WHERE
Channel #OCRFF4 on irc.enterthegame.com
http://www.ocremix.org/info/Chat

WHY
Because album releases are more fun with others commenting on stuff, and there will be some other fun activities, including trivia for FABULOUS PRIZES!