As for other music, we had a hefty sampling from The Bad Dudes’ ‘Castlevania: Symphony of the Night Resurrection.’ You can download that amazing album from the Bad Dudes’ homepage.  Also be sure to check out their upcoming ‘Metroid Arrange’, celebrating 25 years of the Metroid series.

Finally, we had some Halloween-flavored tracks from OCRemix.  You can find these great tracks, as well as a list of more spooky recommendations care of OCRemix’s own Larry Oji, here.

Enjoy!

Tuned Logic’s 24 Shades - Some of you might recognize the OCRemixer tag Detuned Logic.  For those of you who do remember his contributions to OCR, remixer and electronica artist Mike Feinstein is back (under a more harmonious moniker) with his album 24 Shades.  Those of you who aren’t familiar with Logic, this album is a pretty darn good showcase of his skills.  Featured on this episode: “Caught in the Rain”, “Never Better”, “Still”, “Pulse”.

November 2010 Dwelling of Duels Contest – The theme for the November 2010 Dwelling of Duels contest was “Virt Month”.  Jake “Virt” Kauffman, the video game remixer turned composer, has already had his hands in several great games.  This month’s DoD is a celebration of those games as well as some of Kauffman’s personal favorites.  Featured on this episode: Koelsch “Taco Flash”, M-H “Dracula Man Again!  Demons the Fighting”, Snappleman & prozax “POWEREX”, Rize “The Desert Scourge”, The Prince of Darkness “Groovy Taco Bell Bacon Club Chalupa Town”

OCRemix “Link’s Awakening – Threshold of a Dream” Interview with Benjamin Briggs

Obligatory Ice Level Day 2010 – Obligatory Ice Level Day, that annual celebration of all places cold in video games, is back with yet another free EP by some of your favorite video game bands and remixers.  Don’t try to make sense of it, just sit back and chill (see what I did there?).  Featured on this episode: Select Start “Rainbow Resort”, DCT “The Polar Express”, Select Start “Night of Fate”, Joshua Morse “Rondo Sanctuary”

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Thunderclash’s Nostalgic Pleasure – Metal covers of video game music are nothing new, but Thunderclash’s freshman effort Nostalgic Pleasure distinguishes itself with some clever arrangements and tight performances.  From the obligatory Mega Man medley to the excellent Kirby/Tetris mashup, Thunderclash’s debut album is a crowd pleaser.  Featured on this episode: “The Pink Block”, “Mega Medley”, “Dark Lord Bowser”, “Thrash Fatality.”

MasDaMind’s Rust Covered Remixes – MasDaMind has been producing excellent video game/hip-hop mashups to his youtube channel for a year now.  In that small amount of time he’s amassed quite a few tunes, and his latest album is some of his best work yet.  Featured on this episode: “New York Rush”, “Neo Cortex Backstory”, “Streets of Heroes and Villains”, “From the Cradle to the Finale”.

OCRemix’s Link’s Awakening: Threshold of a Dream remix album – OCRemix’s first Zelda remix album is a mellow, downtempo outing which highlights the hidden gems in the cult favorite Link’s Awakening soundtrack.  The music lends itself very well to the chilled out tone, and the remixers have done their best to make Threshold one of the strongest OCRemix albums yet.  Featured on this episode: Theophany “Full Moon Cello”, Level 99 & prophetik “Threshold of a Dream”, Benjamin Briggs “Lucidic”, Iggy Koopa “Oceanfront View”, Benjamin Briggs “Climb My Mountain, This High”, Mustin “Inception”.

Alexander Brandon’s Tyrian Soundtrack – MAGFest 2011 headliner Alexander Brandon, of Deus Ex and Unreal Tournament fame, is a big name in the world of Western video game composers.  Just in time for his MAGFest appearance, GoG.com released the PC shoot-em-up Tyrian for free.  Brandon’s soundtrack to Tyrian is filled with energy and techno goodness.  Featured on this episode: Main Title, Tyrian, Camanis, Asteroid Dance, Deliani, Gyges, Space Battle 2, Ending 2.

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jmr’s Skywave Effect- Remixer and all-around good guy jmr treats us to some original chiptunes in his album Skywave Effect, courtesy of CalmDownKidder records.  Skywave Effect consists of catchy, NES-style chiptunes which are sure to please.  Featured on this episode: Airport Doors, Skywave, Day Dream Somniloquy, Yellow Hat, Leave This Place.

little-scale’s I Am Still Breathing – An inspired, mellow chiptune album, I Am Still Breathing makes you want to sit back, chill out, and reflect.  The production is really solid on this album, and I’m really looking forward to more from little-scale.  The album is hosted by the nice people at Pause Music.  Featured on this episode: I Am Still Breathing, Up Against the Wall, Kinetic Energy, My Heart is Forever Collapsing, A Nocturne for Necromancy.

Bound Together, an Earthbound tribute album – Earthbound has attained cult status for its quirky sense of humor, its unforgiving gameplay, and its jazzy soundtrack.  The music holds up well to this day, so it’s no surprise that there are many covers and remixes of tunes from Earthbound.  Bound Together is one of the best remix projects out there, with great track upon great track.  Deciding which tracks NOT to play was a difficult task, so be sure to grab this massive project.  Featured on this episode: virt “Get on the Bus”, Dhsu “Bound Together”, Diggi Dis “Side Four Turns Winter”, bLiNd “Snowbound”, Less Ashamed of Self with Bladiator & Prizm “Latest Fail.”

Tosh and Tiegel’s Pictured in Autumn 2010 – Part of the Japanese doujin (fan-made) music circle “RIGHT STUFF”, Tosh and Tiegel bring us this exciting selection of VGM-inspired electronica.  There’s a lot to like here, so thanks to the dutiful people at VGMDB for finding an online source for music which is usually only available at Japanese doujin shows such as Comiket.  Featured on this episode: Background (Original Mix), Into the Period, Pictured (Radio Edit)

Liminality 2: Okaeri – Featuring a wide variety of musical styles from a number of great musicians, Liminality 2: Okaeri is the latest in a series of Silent Hill tribute albums from the Silent Hill fansite, Silent Hill Memories.  The album completely nails the musical tones of Akira Yamaoka’s brilliant Silent Hill soundtracks, and it is definitely worth checking out the entire Liminality series.  Featured on this episode: Fellirium – Our Special Place, Soaring Man – Bitter Truth Pt. 1, macabro – The Girl Who Was Late, Chaos Control – Maria, Soaring Man – Promise Reprise (Remix), Technology of Silence – Night Butterflies.  Dead and Beautiful

Doctor Octoroc’s After These Messages – From the artist who brought you 8-Bit Jesus and Doctor Horrible’s Sing Along Game comes a selection of chiptune’d television themes!  Doctor Octoroc kindly joins RFG to discuss his motivations behind the album, his past work, and his thoughts on chip music.  Featured on this episode, behind the interview – M.A.S.K., Tales from the Crypt, The A-Team, Thundercats, My Secret Identity, Beverly Hills 90210, Saved by the Bell, Transformers, Law & Order, Hawaii Five-O, ALF, MacGyver, Fraggle Rock, Cheers, The Price is Right

8bitdanooct1’s Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles 8-Bit OST – An absolutely stunning effort from chiptune artist 8bitdanooct1 saw the entire soundtrack to Sega Genesis game Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles transcribed in NES style.  While the mix uses six sound channels rather than the standard three, it can still be run on an NES given the proper software.  This truly is an amazing tribute to the S3&K soundtrack, and an incredible work in an of itself.  Featured on this episode: Angel Island Zone Act 1, Marble Garden Zone Act 1, Chrome Gadget, Flying Battery Zone Act 1, Death Egg Zone Act 1, Sonic 3 – Miniboss, Hydrocity Zone Act 2

OCRemix.org’s Teen Agent: The Root of All Evil Remix Album: The 19th remix album from OCRemix.org, Teen Agent: The Root of All Evil takes its source from the obscure Swedish-developed Teen Agent.  Released in 1995 for the MS-DOS, Teen Agent is an adventure game with a solid soundtrack from Radek Szamrej.  Though the source for this album might be more arcane than that of your average OCRemix project, that certainly doesn’t count against it!  In fact, the story of how one remixer’s love for the Teen Agent soundtrack led him to share it with other artists only reaffirms OCRemix’s mission: to grant exposure to video game music while interpreting it in new ways.  Featured on this episode –  audio fidelity “i.n.t.r.o.”, Brandon Strader “Lingering Lust”, Flik “Memories Within the Walls”, Brandon Strader “Of Darkness”, OCRE “Army Base Infiltration”, Brandon Strader with prophetik and Usa “Sax of Gold”

UMD Gamer Symphony Orchestra Interview and Concert Recordings: The GSO is having another FREE concert, and you’d be cheating yourself out of an awesome time if you didn’t go.  Who’s the GSO?  Only the first and biggest college orchestra dedicated to performing music from your favorite games.  Anyone in the MD/DC/VA area needs to head to the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland College Park on Saturday December 11th and attend their latest concert.  The concert is at 2PM, but you’ll want to be there early to nab the best seats in the house.  Parking and attendance are both free, so no excuses!  They’re performing music from Final Fantasy, Mega Man (!!!), Super Mario World, Donkey Kong Country, and many more, so get out there and fill up that concert hall (and keep an eye out for me if you do, I’ll probably be out front at the table).  Featured on this episode, behind the interview – Oh! Buta Mask, Hyrulian Highlands, Katamari Damacy, Baba Yetu

New Remixes from Remix:ThaSauce: A selection of solid remixes courtesy of Remix:ThaSauce.  I’ve really been impressed with the recent submissions to R:TS, and these are definitely worth a listen.  Featured on this episode – Zubareus “Intro”, Meteo Xavier “I, Samus (Godwave)”, Level 99 and Emunator “Ascent Through the Atmosphere”, Theory of Nonexistence “Mr. Soccerball”

Remasterings by Tenchux: Everyone’s favorite RFG cohost is on a mission: remaster one of the greatest video game soundtracks of all time while raising money for Child’s Play.  You can help him out by visiting the album site and learning all about his work on Super Metroid Remastered.  We at 8BitX are proud to host the album, which will release in full on December 17th.  Until then, check out Tenchux’s Youtube page for his daily track upload.  If you like what you hear, please donate to Child’s Play at the album site!  Thanks again to Tenchux for all your work, and good luck!  Featured on this episode – “Vega Stage”, “Scars of Time Remastered”, “Corneria Remastered”, “Opening (Destruction of the Space Colony)”, “To Far Away Times ~ Outskirts of Time Remastered”.

Anyway, now that I’m done plugging MAGFest for the nth time, let’s get down to what was played during the show:

Danny Baranowsky’s “Canabalt” Soundtrack: Pay what you want ($0 and up!) for the latest soundtrack from “Super Meat Boy” composer Daniel Baranowsky.  This outing has a decidedly different tone from  SMB, focusing less on rock and chip music elements in favor of tense orchestral elements and electronica.   “Canabalt” itself is a browser-based platformer which you can play for free right here! Featured on this episode – RUN!, Daring Escape, Mach Runner, Fathom Megamix

Armcannon's "Return of the Attack of the Legend of Pizzor"

Armcannon’s “Leg Vacuum” and  ”Return of the Attack of the Legend of Pizzor”: In case you haven’t subscribed to our new and improved monthly email newsletter, Armcannon is our first band of the month!  We first met them at MAGFest 8, and we’re looking forward to seeing them perform again at MAGFest 9!  They were kind enough to let us play some of their tracks behind our interview with Nick from MAGFest.  The tracks aren’t free, but they’re certainly worth the price.  Featured on this episode – Tecmo Superbowl, Kraid, Smegaman 3, Still More Fighting, X-1234

Jun Ishikawa and Dan Miyakawa’s “Kirby Super Star” Soundtrack: “Kirby Super Star” is a collection of Kirby-themed games for the Super Nintendo which recently saw a remake for the Nintendo DS.  The games themselves range from cute mini-games (“Gourmet Race”, “Megaton Punch”) to full-out adventure games (“Milky Way Wishes”, “Great Cave Offensive”).  Ishikawa and Miyakawa’s soundtrack is appropriately varied in tone, with a wide selection of well-orchestrated tunes.  One of the classics which really displayed the audio power of the Super Nintendo.  Featured on this episode – Time to Learn, Float Islands, Marshmallow Castle, Cocoa Cave, Crystal Field and Mystery Paradise, Grape Garden, Gladiator Kirby, Staff Role, Kirby Dance

Jiggin' Jon T.

OverClocked Remixes by JJT: “Jiggin” Jon T, of OCRemix and Bad Dudes fame, is a rocking guitar, piano, and trumpet player.  He has some really solid remixes which are really unique in tone, including his melancholy “Final Fantasy VI” mix, his haunting “F-Zero” mix, and his ska-inspired “Mega Man 3″ mix.  Featured on this episode: Anthem of Exile, The Flood Plain, Magnet Missiles, Murder Your Friends Boogie

Thanks for checking out this week’s episode.  Be sure to join us on Wednesday evening at 7PM Eastern for our live shows!

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George and Jonathan’s “The Best Music” – Intro (Party Every Night), Toy Factory, No More Lies, Out With My Girlfriends, Witch’s Brew, Whale, Business Trip

WillRock’s “Back to Square Waves” – 2 Minutes to Midnight, Everybody Wants to Rule the World, MadNes, Protoman Theme, Route 225, Shoot ‘Em Down, Im in ur green hill, eatin ur mushrooms, Beyond The Relms of Time and Space

konjak’s “The Legend of Princess” Soundtrack – Title, Stage, Miniboss, Battle 2, Saved

The Minibosses – Metroid, Castlevania, Super Mario Bros 2, Mike Tyson’s Punch Out, Ninja Gaiden

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Vernian Process’ “The Cries of the Planet: An Orchestral Tribute to the Music of Final Fantasy VII” – Main Theme, Tifa’s Theme, A Secret Sleeping in the Deep, The Nightmare Begins, A Full Scale Attack, Cid’s Theme

Mick Gordon’s “Avatar: The Last Airbender” Soundtrack – The Last Airbender, The Prologue, Air Bending, Aang Fighting in the Air Temple, Aang in the Ice Caves, The Fire Nation Storm the City, The Airbender Must Save Us, Aang Summons the Ocean, End Credits

Jay Tholen’s “The Great Hylian Revival” – The Spirit Descends on Kakariko Village, Lullaby, Saria’s Song, Saviour of Toadstools, Breaker of Bricks, Conjurer of Fire

OCRemix.org’s “Final Fantasy V: The Fabled Warriors 1 ~ Wind”

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Dwelling of Duels August 2010 – Bonkers “Select”, mithius “Clouds”, M-H “ROOPO”, Daniel Alm “Melancholia”

Nebyoolae’s “Gamey Mixture” – Dave is the Man, It’s Dark at 3AM, Matoya’s Cafe, Super Mega Eagle Scout, From the Depths of the Sky

Adam WarRock’s “West Coast Avengers MixTape” – Hank Pym, War Machine, U.S. Agent, Tigra & Firebird Intermission, Super-Woman, Living Lightning, Vision, NES Hard

Metroid Metal’s “Expansion Pack” – Norfair, Prime Theme, Brinstar Crateria

Koji Kondo’s “Super Mario World” Soundtrack – Title, Overworld, Athletic (Yoshi), Underground (Yoshi), Swimming, Haunted House, Fortress, Bowser’s Last Attack, Staff Roll, Cast List

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OCRemix.org Remixes of the “Tales of Phantasia” Soundtrack – Dhsu & Sixto Sounds “The Unholy Wars”, Ghetto Lee Lewis “Emotions Lost in Time”, Fishy and Nutritious “Just Go”, Anthony Lofton & Dhsu “Sweet Dreams”

Nimrod Production’s “Split/Second” Soundtrack – The Elite (Director’s Cut), Eye of the Storm, 10 Past Zero, Heavy Heat, Cold Sweat and Fears, Hunt with the Pack, Safe Progress, Extended-Powerful (Tower Mix)

Virt’s “Shantae: Risky’s Revenge” Soundtrack – Main Titles, File Select, She’s Got Moves, Through the Trees, Adventure, Sand in my Potion, Hall of Magic, End Credits

Kameya and Ishida’s “F-Zero” Soundtrack – Opening Theme, Big Blue, Fire Field, Silence, White Land 1, Port Town, Mute City, Sand Ocean, Ending Theme

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Tomoko Sasaki’s “Ristar” Soundtrack – Shooting Ristar, Dancing Leaves, Splash Down!!, Break Silence, Ring Rink, Ice Scream, Crazy Kings, Next Cruise

Dwelling of Duels September 2010 – Scaredsim and Harjawaldar “Finish the Minish!”, Prince of Darkness “I Need Scissors! 61!”, FamicomBit “Kick Master”, CarboHydroM “Starshine on the Rocks”, bill cakes “Gecko Swerve”, Hat “Credit Where Credit’s Due”

NintenJoe64’s “Life” – Final Sunset, Evil Forces, Jenova Theme Remix

OCRemix.org Remixes of the “Super Metroid” Soundtrack – Revolver Project “The Mother is in Control”, DrumUltimA “Petals”, Matt Drouin “Energy Tank”, Big Giant Circles “In Your Prime”, Red Tailed Fox “Bonsai Garden”

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SGX’s “Wonderful Bite (Free Version)” – Right Back Up, Span, Shed, Rockstar, And All That Between

Navi’s “Lo Fi Muey Thai” – Jugglebath, Cookin’ With Fire, Black Hole Beautiful, Bass Girl, +Infinitum

Mattias “AnoSou” Gerdt’s “We Express Ourselves with T-Shirts” – T-Shirt With Flowers Instead of Fabric, T-Shirt Made by Sang Han, Souvenir T-Shirt from Space Travel, Stolen T-Shirt with Black Cat Print, The Person You Love Forgot this T-Shirt, Richard’s T-Shirt

Samuel Ascher-Weiss’ “Ender’s Game” – Graff – Rat, Rat – Bonzo

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David Wise’s “Donkey Kong Country” Soundtrack – Simian Segue, Cranky’s Theme, Life in the Mines, Forest Frenzy, Ice Cave Chant, Gang-Plank Galleon, The Credits Concerto

Songs playing behind the first bit of the interview with Daniel Baranowsky were from the Super Meat Boy Soundtrack, available for purchase here.

OCRemix.org Remixes by Daniel Baranowsky – Awakened Fears of the Gerudo, Damn Those Turks!, Before Time

Remix: Tha Sauce Remixes – jmr “Princess Maker 2: Something’s Out There”, Skrypnyk “NiGHTS Into Dreams: Escape Into the Twilight”, pothocket “Final Fantasy IX: How Much Longer”, jmr “Super Mario Galaxy: Meteorites and Rabbits”, Navij11 “Kirby & The Amazing Mirror: Kirby’s Mystical Mirror”, OA “Lufia 2:  Stand Tall”

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Olivier Deriviere’s “Obscure 2″ Soundtrack – Corruption with Rage and Melancholy, Back to School, Finally Home, Melancholy, We All Die, Waltz of Death, The Last Ones, Atmospheric Mood

Dwelling of Duels September 2006 – Reboot “Soggy Meadow”, Scaredsim “Lost Stars”, John Trent “Magdalene”, Paragon “Promise Fulfilled”

Bioshock Soundtrack (No Longer Available For Free) – Bioshock Main Theme, Welcome to Rapture, Step into my Gardens, Dancers on a String, Cohen’s Masterpiece, The Engine City, Empty Houses, This is Where They Sleep, All Spliced Up

OCRemix.org Remixes – Children of the Monkey Machine “Magus (Temporal Rehab)”, Scott Peeples “GhostOfStHelens”, Nekofrog and Sole Signal “Malevolent Mansion”, Tamimi “NayTomorrow”, Mazedude “Norfair Deathmarch”, Protricity “Neighburgers”

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Dwelling of Duels October 2010 – MH “Unicorn”, Brandon Strader “Ring”, Ergosonic “Continua”, Scaredsim “Leaves”, Musically Inspired “Sherwood”, Daniel Alm “Chainsaw”

Zelda Remixes by ArtificialFear – Lost Woods, Song of Healing, Gerudo Valley, Dark World Theme, Stone Tower Temple, Twinrova

Virt, Freaky DNA, and Norrin Radd’s “Retro City Rampage” Mixtape

Phlogiston’s “Super Crate Box” Soundtrack – Tutorial, Construction Yard, Moon Temple

Dragon Quest VIII Piano Arrange Album – Majesty of the Castle, Overcoming Painful Times, To a Vast World, Tower of Mystery, These Feelings, Fly to the Heavens

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Noumenon’s “Nimbus” Soundtrack – 01-01, 02-02, 03-01, 03-02, 04-02

Bradley Burr’s “Tower Assault!  Curse of Zombie Island” Soundtrack – World 1 Overworld, World 1 Battle 1, World 1 Battle 2, Super Soldier, World 2 Overworld, World 2 Battle 1, World 2 Battle 2, Hidden Level, World 3 Overworld, World 3 Battle 1, World 3 Battle 2, Final Battle, Credits

OCRemix.org Remixes by Scott Peeples – Wicked Orchestra, Dream Fighter, Another Inspiration, Facility (Hacker Mix), Clear Skies

Oshima & Tanaka’s “Legend of Legaia” Soundtrack – Prologue, Title Screen, World Map Theme, Sad Theme, Rim Elm, The Ride to Karisto, Sol Fever Disco

Join Radio Free Gamer this Wednesday from 7-9 PM Eastern here at 8BitX to hear the interview, as well as other great video game music. If you cannot listen live, be sure to download the podcast when it is posted later this week. The interview will also be posted to Youtube.

If you have any questions you want asked during the interview, please feel free to leave them here!

Part 2: Remixing Video Game Music

What is Video Game Music Remixing?

In recent years a number of musicians have dedicated themselves to “remixing” video game music.  Wikipedia describes a remix as “an alternative version of a song, made from an original version.”  A remix, in the purest sense of the word, includes the original song in some way.  Many of the songs created by these video game remixers contain elements from the original song, such as the melody or instrumentation, but do not use the original track in the finished remix.  Thus it may be more appropriate to refer to these songs as “arrangements” or “reinterpretations” rather than remixes.  Regardless of semantics, the video game music remixing community has become a driving force behind the growth of the video game music community.

In the wake of the video game remixing trend, some game companies have themselves released official remix albums.

When asked what they found appealing about remixing video game music, the artists at OverClocked Remix had a wide variety of answers.  William Harby (aka WillRock) cited the technical and monetary limitations faced by many of the composers of original video game music, saying that through remixing he wants to “bring new life to tunes that didn’t have the equipment needed to realise their full potential as works of art.”  Many of the artists mentioned nostalgia as a driver, which Stevo (aka Level 99) attributed to the “joy of going back to something you have fond memories of” as well as making new memories by remixing music from games he had not played before.  Elizabeth Ryerson (aka ella guro) echoed a sentiment expressed by many fans of video game music: love for the wide body of “well composed and interesting game music that so many people don’t take seriously at all because it’s from a videogame.”  Remixing video game music not only pays tribute to the original composers, but also legitimizes it to an entirely new audience.

Just as musicians create remixes for a number of reasons, so are video game music fans drawn to remix sites for different reasons.  At first Wesley Cho (aka Bahamut) searched the internet for original video game music, but “happened upon remixed/rearranged songs often by accident & grew to appreciate them.”  When video game music was more difficult to find, remixes gave listeners an entirely new way to experience music from their favorite games.  OverClocked Remix user Ray Falling spoke of how he listens to remixes so he can hear game music ”without actually having to play the game”, and also attributed the appeal of listening to remixes to hearing “someone take a soundtrack to a next level.” Finally, Damon Campbell (aka Blue Magic) remarked upon the creativity involved in remixing.  When different artists apply their own styles to video game music, the results can be “unique even though some may share the same source tune.”

Sites Dedicated to Remixing Video Game Music

OCRemix's "Summoning of Spirits" remix album

OverClocked Remix – Founded December 11th 1999 by David Lloyd (aka djpretzel), OverClocked Remix is described by its staff as an “organization dedicated to the appreciation and promotion of video game music as an art form.”  OverClocked Remix (or OCRemix) fosters the appreciation of video game music by hosting remixes as well as providing information about the original games and soundtracks.  The OCRemix community also serves as a place where emerging artists can develop their skills through collaboration and exchanging constructive criticism.

OCRemix hosts over two thousand individual remixes by over five hundred remixers, all available to download for free.  Remixes may be downloaded in large collections via torrent, downloaded individually from one of the site’s mirrors, or streamed on OCRemix’s YouTube channel.

In addition to hosting individual remixes, OCRemix also hosts community-driven album projects each dedicated to a single game.  These albums often feature a wide variety of artists from OCRemix, collaborations with several remixers on a single track, and thematic elements which grant cohesiveness to the album.  OCRemix also hosts albums and original soundtracks made by some of the musicians who have contributed remixes to the site.

Remix: Tha Sauce – Launched in 2006 by OCRemix veterans Ty Guenley (aka Suzumebachi) and Douglas Arley (aka Ramaniscence) as an extension of the video game music news and culture site Tha Sauce, Remix: Tha Sauce (or R:TS) does not place an emphasis on technical execution but rather looks for creativity and nostalgic value in its submissions.  The site hosts a wide array of remixes which can all be downloaded for free.

The artwork from the September 2009 Dwelling of Duels contest, reflecting its theme of Rareware Games

Dwelling of Duels – A monthly video game remixing competition centered around live instrumentation, the Dwelling of Duels (or DoD) contest has been held regularly since 2005.  A theme is defined for each month, and remixers must submit their mixes anonymously.  The mixes are then voted upon by the listeners, and a winner is declared.  All submitted mixes are made available to download for free. The DoD contest was established as part of the video game remix site VGMix, which unfortunately has gone down.  However, the contest is still held regularly at its new home page.

Remix.kwed.org – The community at Remix.Kwed.Org (or RKO) is dedicated to the preservation and appreciation of music composed for the Commodore 64 video game system.  This community may serve a small niche of video game music, but the remixes on their site are of no lesser quality.  Their remixes can be downloaded invidually or via torrent.

OverLooked Remix – Overlooked Remix (or OLR) is “dedicated to ridiculous interpretations of video game music and video game culture.”  A wide variety of remixes, some parodical some not, are available at OLR to download for free.

Where to Go From Here

In the first part of this series, several original game soundtracks were mentioned.  Various resources hosting original video game music were also discussed, giving readers an opportunity to discover some of the soundtracks which are being remixed on the aforementioned sites.  Many of these sites allow users to search by game, so they may look up remixes for their favorite games and listen to them.  If listening to these mixes yields a remixer whose style particularly appeals to the listener’s taste, the listener can then search for remixes by that remixer and discover new remixes and games.     Another good idea is to download the torrents available at these remix sites.  These torrents usually contain many different remixes, so listeners are guaranteed to get a wide variety of music.  This is a great way to start if the listener does not have any particular game or remixer in mind and would just like to get into some music.

Part Three of “A Guide to the Video Game Music Scene” will feature video game bands and musicians!  As the video game music scene continues to grow, an entire subculture has formed around bands which have dedicated themselves to performing music from video games.  The article will explore the history of the development of such bands, name some of the many bands which are active today, and list resources to find their music and receive information about their concerts.   Please check it out when it’s posted within the next two weeks!

Justin Johnston is the host of Radio Free Gamer, a weekly podcast featuring free video game and video game inspired music. Listen live here on Wednesdays at 7PM Eastern.  Subscribe to the podcast via RSS here or via ITunes here.

Another Soundscape’s The Answer: Preview Edition – A sneak peek of AnoSou’s tribute to Armored Core: For Answer.  These aren’t even the final cuts, and they still sound amazing.  AnoSou brings his usual technical flair to the already epic soundtrack, and the result is utterly brilliant.  Featured on this episode: Morning, Thinker, Twisted on the Surface, Apex in TECHNO

Pause Music’s Magnetic Sumo – A compilation from Pause Music, the online source for chip tunes and demo scene music.  A variety of artists contribute to the album, including OCR favorite Joshua Morse.  Featured on this episode: Bionic Boiz, Give us the Green Light, Spheredivers, What Was Once a Great Nation, Meteor Shower Pro.

Kenneth and Troy Keyn’s Trenches Original Soundtrack – OCRemixer Abbadoss and his brother Troy Keyn team up to score the IPhone strategy game Trenches.  OCRemix is kind enough to host the soundtrack and distribute it for free, so be sure to visit their site for the torrent.  Featured on this episode: Dead of Night, Battle at Dawn, The Engine of War, Awaiting Orders, Iron Crosses.

Dwelling of Duels December 2005 – Dwelling of Duels, the monthly video game remixing competition, has finally found a permanent new home at dwellingofduels.net.  To celebrate, RFG airs one of the best contests to date.  Featured on this episode: Zeboimite Ascension, Eternal Wind, The Battle for Alefgard, Fire Cross.

Setsuo Yamamoto’s MegaMan X Original Soundtrack – The original soundtrack to MegaMan X is one of the most metal OST’s on the Super Nintendo.  Countless VGM bands have covered it, and for good reason.  The MegaMan X soundtrack stands as a great example for the marriage of rock and video games. Featured on this Episode: Intro Stage, Boomer Kuwanger, Chill Penguin, Launch Octopus, Spark Mandrill, Sigma Fortress 1, Sigma Fortress 2, Castings.

The Bossfights The Bossfights EP – The Bossfights are a new nerd rock super group fronted by the accomplished nerdcore rappers Zealous1 and Dr. Awkward.  Their first EP rocks pretty darn hard, mixing metal with nerdcore rap to make pure win.  As soon as their full album is released, RFG will be all over it. Featured on this episode: Left4Dead, Frontalots.

The University of Maryland Gamer Symphony Orchestra’s Spring 2010 Concert – The UMD GSO recently celebrated their second mix on OCRemix, the Celtic-influenced Hyrulian Highlands from The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker.  Be sure to hit up their home page and download all their concert recordings. Featured on this episode: Gusty Garden Galaxy, Hyrulian Highlands.

That’s it for this week!  Be sure to keep an eye on the blog and join us next week for some more Radio Free Gamer!

Part 1: Original Video Game Soundtracks

What is Video Game Music?

Before delving into the world of video game remixes, covers, and arrangements it would be best to discuss the original music from which all of these draw.  To be clear, video game music is any music written for the express purpose of being featured in a video game.  Wikipedia has a fairly comprehensive account of the technological development of video game music, and in summary there are two main kinds: music which is recorded onto physical media and music which is generated by specialized sound chips embedded in the game consoles.

The earliest video game music was stored on physical media such as cassette tapes or records.  These media were prevalent during the 1970’s when the arcade industry was developing and the home console had not been widely adapted.  The drawbacks to storing music on physical media are obvious: they were prone to breakage, they were limited in how much music they could store, and it is much more difficult to change tracks as the player progresses through the game.

A much simpler solution was the sound chip.  Music could be stored digitally in a compressed format.  What was stored was not the actual sound, but rather instructions for a proprietary chip to produce the music.  The chips themselves were capable of creating sound using a limited number of channels.  Composers could only utlize as many sounds at any one time as there were channels, but could produce a wide variety of low-fidelity sounds over these channels.  It was much simpler to produce these chips, and the music could be controlled much more easily by the machine.  This would remain the standard for nearly 20 years, in both arcade machines and home consoles.  This technology has also spawned its own genre of music, dubbed “Chip Music” or “Chip Tunes”, in which musicians create compositions for a variety of sound chips.

The DSP1 Sound Chip Utilized by the Super Nintendo

With the advent of disc-based games came the return of recorded music.  The actual music was stored on the game disc and did not face channel limitations or other drawbacks inherent to sound chips.  As disc storage space and music production budgets grew, composers could utilize a vast array of live and electronic instrumentation.  Modern games do not have to sacrifice sound quality and can have music ranging from orchestral to rock to electronic.

Sources for Original Video Game Music

Most game music is stored inside arcade cabinets or game cartridges. As these containers degenerate and are lost it stands to reason that the music within would be lost as well.  Luckily, there are individuals who have taken it upon themselves to preserve and distribute video game music.

SNESmusic.org hosts complete soundtracks from many Super Nintendo games.  The soundtracks themselved are stored in SPC format, which requires a special media player plugin to play.  This added step is well worth it, as the files themselves are much smaller than MP3’s while maintaining the SNES’ sound quality. Soundtracks can be downloaded individually or all at once via a torrent.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Soundtrack

Zophar.net offers soundtracks from consoles ranging from the Nintendo Entertainment System up to the Nintendo 64.  As was the case before, these files are stored in various formats other than the standard MP3, so plugins are required for each type of file to be played.

In addition to hosting a large collection of video game remixes, OCRemix.org also hosts a collection of original soundtracks.  For example, to download the original soundtrack to “Final Fantasy”, simply type “Final Fantasy” into the search box at the top right and select the game page for “Final Fantasy” from the search results. The soundtrack is available under “Chiptunes” on the game page.  Most newer games do not have this option.

There are an increasingly large collection of video game soundtracks available through commercial outlets such as ITunes, Bandcamp, and Amazon.  A search for “video game soundtrack” (or a term along those lines) will yield a list of soundtracks available for purchase.  Many recent Western titles such as “Mass Effect” and “Red Dead Redemption” have made their soundtracks available through such outlets for reasonable prices.  Imported soundtracks may be expensive though, and research may turn up one of the many sites specializing in imported soundtracks.

If a soundtrack is not available at any of the above sources, there is a large community at Youtube dedicated to posting video game music.  This is mentioned last because the audio quality is typically supbar on Youtube, and because most of these soundtracks are made available without the game publisher’s consent.  This is not usually a problem with older soundtracks, but Youtube videos containing music from newer games are often removed.  That being said, an increasing number of game publishers are releasing tracks on Youtube as a way of promoting their games.

Important Composers and Soundtracks

There are too many great video game composers and soundtracks to list here, but certain names are encountered frequently in the video game music community. Listening to music from some of the games mentioned below is a great way to start gaining an appreciation for video game music.

The Super Mario Galaxy Soundtrack

Koji Kondo has been an in-house composer for Nintendo since 1984.  In that time he has scored numerous first-party Nintendo games.  Kondo has created some of the most iconic and popular video game music to date, with his most influential work being “Super Mario Brothers” and “The Legend of Zelda”.  Recently, his work on “Super Mario Galaxy” was heralded as being one of the finest orchestral soundtracks to date.

Nobuo Uematsu is widely considered to be the grand master of video game music, and his work on the “Final Fantasy” series changed the face of the industry.  Uematsu composed for “Final Fantasy” on the Nintendo Entertainment System through “Final Fantasy X” on the Playstation 2, with minor contributions to other entries in the series.  Uematsu composed the entire soundtrack to “Final Fantasy XIV”, though at the time it is unclear if he will return for future installments in the series.  His most influential work includes “Final Fantasy IV”, “Final Fantasy VI”, “Final Fantasy VII”, and “Final Fantasy VIII.”

The “Castlevania” series has had almost as many composers as it has entries.  Each has served to set the tone for this gothic adventure series, and many games owe something to the “Castlevania” series.  The most important entries are Kinuyo Yamashita’s “Castlevania”, Jun Funahashi, Yoshinori Sasaki and Yukie Morimoto’s “Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse”, and Michiru Yamane’s “Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.”

The “Sonic the Hedgehog” series helped establish Sega as a rival to Nintendo during the 16-bit era.  Masato Nakamura’s brilliant soundtracks to the first two entries in the series take full advantage of the Genesis sound chip and set an example for depth and utter catchyness in game music.

The Metal Gear Solid Soundtrack

Finally, the “Metal Gear Solid” series stands as a more recent example of influential video game music.  Tappy Iwase’s dramatic electronica set the futuristic tone of “Metal Gear Solid”, while Harry Gregson-Williams’ work on “Metal Gear Solid 2″ gave the game the feel of a high-budget film.  All games with big-budget soundtracks owe something to “Metal Gear Solid.”

Other Places to Start

Garudoh’s Youtube series entitled “From Bleeps to Beats: The Music of Video Games” chronicles the development of video game music.  There are several hundred videos in the series, each one highlighting the music from a particular game.  Obviously it’s not important to watch every single video, but browsing through the most viewed entries is a great way to become more familiar with video game music.

There are many video game radio stations which air a wide variety of music.  The station here at 8BitX.com favors classic soundtracks as well as remixes.  The video game soundtrack station on AOL Radio focuses on more recent soundtracks, many of which are available commercially.  A search on Google or on an internet radio player will yield many more stations with a wide variety of playlists.

Part 2 of A Guide to the Video Game Music Scene will cover remix sites, which are amazing resources for free remixes of video game music.  Be sure to check it out when it’s posted next week!  Update: Please find the second article in the series here.

Justin Johnston is the host of Radio Free Gamer, a weekly podcast featuring free video game and video game inspired music. Listen live here on Wednesdays at 7PM Eastern.  Subscribe to the podcast via RSS here or via ITunes here.