Video game music, OST,Soundchips etc

version

Well-known member
There's something really stressful and claustrophobic about certain video game soundtracks, particularly the 8-bit ones. I think it's partly to do with what Corpsey says about them sounding very flat. It's like being trapped on an accelerating conveyor belt.

 

forclosure

Well-known member
Soundtracks on games never stuck out for me much in the PS era and afterwards. Like I can't remember any classic themes from Tekken, compared to Street Fighter 2.

seriously? not Vib Ribbon, Wipeout, Einhander, Silent Hill,Phoenix Wright,Guilty Gear anything??????


mate i think you would love the Street fighter 3 3rd Strike soundtrack one of the tunes from it is on my list if theres anything that would be my contribution to the "dissensus canon" it would be that
 

forclosure

Well-known member
Stewart Copeland doing the Spyro soundtrack still strikes me as odd, but I'm into it.

Michael Nyman did the music for Enemy Zero made by the late eccentric dev Kenji Eno

Kenji Eno ruled when Mario 64 came out and everybody was saying it was amazing he told Miyamoto the game was shit to his face lol
 

forclosure

Well-known member
im a big fan of the Doom 64 OST that Aubery Hodges did

part of the appeal of the original DOOM games is that alot of the really kitschy shit in the game that should make it dated are the most enduring parts of it the soundtrack is filled of all these midi repurposes and rip offs of old Metallica and Pantera riffs

and then you got this which for the time was the darkest game in the series (some people even now say its the game DOOM 3 shouldve been) and its got all this foreboding dark ambient music youd expect to hear on a Lustmord album

 

mvuent

Void Dweller
there's a lot of really interesting stuff getting posted itt

one of the few things that makes me optimistic about the future of music (at least ambient, etc.) is how much kids seem to love the minecraft soundtrack. though I haven't heard anything that has the same sort of magic yet
 

forclosure

Well-known member
two recent tings that come to mind

i got some issues with Cuphead as a game but the music woiii
probably the most recent thing here from Bloodstained:ritual of the night,Michiru Yamane still killing it

btw Corpse what often doesnt get mentioned but is glaringly obvious is how new jack swing was a big influence on alot of the stuff coming out of the early 90s
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Bit earlier but when I was a kid I used to love the Speedball 2 music - what year was that? Only a few years ago I found out it was John Foxx

 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
seriously? not Vib Ribbon, Wipeout, Einhander, Silent Hill,Phoenix Wright,Guilty Gear anything??????

I'll hold my hands up and plead ignorance here cos PS1 was the last time I was really consistently interested in games.

The only memorable soundtracks for me are from the Tony Hawk's series and those obviously aren't proper video game music.

I thought using the word *shitty* might be seen as an insult I don't really mean it to be though. It's the cheapness, the tinnyness that I LIKE about that music and what makes that music unique. It might not be deliberately artificial (limitations of budget and tech) but that artificial quality is what makes it exciting.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
I thought people would be talking about that black midi stuff in this thread. I don't much about it cos I don't play these games but out of context what I've heard sounds more interesting than good.
 

woops

is not like other people
I can't resist getting this one out. I found it on martin's blog, never seen or played the game.

 

Trillhouse

Well-known member
Where to start..

Nick Dywer's Diggin in the Carts series has some great stuff on the Japanese pioneers
Here's an interview with the incredibly humble but legendary British VGM composer Tim Follin from the Legacy Music Hour podcast This guys is totally revered today by anybody into early VGM, but he describes the reality of the job as sounding pretty lonely & unfulfilling. The industry was made to produce and sell games, the music seemed like very much an after thought.

Here's an interview with Soshi Hosoi who brought Steve Reich minimalism into VGM https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2017/11/soshi-hosoi-interview
 
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Trillhouse

Well-known member
A couple of classic composers. Both these guys were not just composing and producing some amazing music for games but also they had to pioneer & design the individual sound from the ground up, because obviously they were writing the book as the went along, Tanaka even had the job of designing and programming the sound chip for the Game Boy & the SNES.

Hirokazu Tanaka - Earthbound - SNES

Tim Follin - LED Storm - Spectrum

They may have just been trying to create their favoured genres within the limitations of the new technology and might not have realised it at the time, but they were creating a new form of electronic / techno music that was completely unique.
 

Trillhouse

Well-known member
the PS1 sound must have played some part in the development Grime sound, even if it was just indirect because it was so prevalent around that time, but also because the legend of early producers using Music 2000 to make beats.

The Gunnm OSTs sound like a proto-grime soundscape to me.


 
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forclosure

Well-known member
i was thinking of posting Legacy Music hour funny enough but i agree with what you say on Follin especially considering the joke with him is his music was often the best part of some really AWFUL games

personal fav of mine
also gotta give a shout out to Chris Hulsbeck
 

Trillhouse

Well-known member
Super Metroid on the SNES with some dark slap


Xenon Fantasy Body! on the Amiga with some moody slow building merkness

 
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