Not too bad, I think Enjoy

 

Very nice.

 

That's cool, reminds me of some old Japanese games I played as a kid.

 

I suppose because of the piano and cello performance. Thank you for your feedback

 

Yeah the arpegiated piano sequence made me feel like it's one of those old turn based Japanse games for PS1. Made me feel nostalgic actually, you did a great job capturing that sort of vibe. Yours sounds way more modern, it's just the sort of feeling it gave off and reminded me of retro games.

 

Really very nice music @MasonCX, stress-free with heart and soul.

 

Yeah, I wrote this track with this concept in my mind: what if I were a music composer from the 90s who had a modern technology from the 2010s/early 2020s for music writing. I think it worked out pretty decent, although the audience should judge this, not me, heh

 

I've come back to listen to it my 4th time now. It's put together well and makes me think it wasn't the first time you've created something like this. Someone should give you a gig doing this. You made me look for my emulator that I forgot I deleted in favor of music months ago.

 

Music is art. It's like paintings, for some people they open a door in their head and for others nothing happens.

 

It is true to some extent, as I'm currently working as a composer for an indie film. Movie soundtracks from the 90s made a huge impact on me as a musician, which is why some tracks I made for the film will sound something like from that "old" era, even though the rest of the soundtrack is gonna sound modern. Very glad to see what you wrote in your last sentence, have a good time!

 

Last edited: Nov 21, 2021

Sounds very beautiful. I'd love hearing that in a game.
I would be interested in more details about this "90s Playstation video game music style". I never considered that it could be viewed as such a style.

 

It hugely depends on the genre. For instance, the style I have choosen for my track is basically your average JRPG music from the mid to late 90s. The most frequent instruments used in this type of music are arpegiated piano, glockenspiel, strings (not always orchestral, video game composers from the 90s usually took strings sounds/presets from any mainstream synthesizer available at the time), sometimes cello, sometimes female vocals, legato flutes and many other woodwind instruments like clarinets or oboe.

If you are insterested in a more "eletronic" type of music heard in Playstation pratformers like Crash Bandicoot or Mega Man X Series, there were plenty of diverse synthesizers and traditional musical instruments that were used back in the days. Most of the composers used such synths like:

EMU Proteus-1
Roland series, in particular: D-50, JV-880, JV-1080, JD-800, XP-80
Yamaha series: DX7, SY77, SY99
Korg Series: M1, Wavestation, Triton and the list goes on.

In case of Crash Bandicoot, many traditional instruments had been used like electric guitar, xylophone, marimba, violin, bass guitar and piano.

The 90s were a very unique time for game composers because companies publishing video game consoles were gradually switching from cartridges to CD-ROMs, and as time progressed, many musicians moved from 8 bit/chiptune/tracker-made music to synthesizers, big band instruments and, if the budget allowed that, the orchestra. Their music style, which was defined by the 80s electronic sound, had been slowly adapting into a new musical system. That is why video game soundtracks which came out around 1992-2000 have a different mood and atmosphere when compared to almost everything that came out outside of this timeline. This is a very long story which I tried to fit into a short text. Similar topics are sometimes discussed on most of the video game forums which still remain active, sometimes such topics can be found on Reddit (a site that I don't really like, but it's helpful if you need to find some important information about music). Hope all this info was useful for you

 

Last edited: Nov 22, 2021

Love it, a beautiful thoughtful and gentle piece. Thank you for sharing. I just wish it was longer, honestly I'd be happy if it wandered around and lasted for 5mins or more, beautiful stuff.

Thanks for the boiled down 90s game music history too, I'd never thought about it.

Pressing play again....

 

Very interesting, thank you for writing this. I was not aware of these particular circumstances. I miss the game music from the 80s because it feels like when composers were forced to work with restrictions, the music became better, however contradictory this may seem.

 

Your entire post was very interesting and insightful! You nailed exactly why I liked it without me knowing anything about it beforehand. It's like you read the foggy thoughts I couldn't see but could only feel it's aura lol

Also, congrats on landing that video game soundtrack gig. Which sub or threads are they discussing these type of topics in? I'd love to know more about it. Reddit has great resources which can wisely be used to your advantage if you use reddit correctly by utilizing groups that focus your content into the only subs you want sanctioned off from all the pointless shit.

But, I agree if you don't do that then reddit is a dreadfully brainless place to find yourself in. Maybe not over 10 years ago but now it's TokTok with resources. I visit it like a bitch that needs to leave in 1 hour. Again not every community is like that, but have you ever seen r/all? Don't. No, no fucking titty shotgun floaties chugging one too many beers for me, thanks.

 

Last edited: Nov 22, 2021

Usually, when it comes to VGM, I find helpful information in specific fandom threads, like this one:
https://www.reddit.com/r/crashbandi...nstruments_used_in_the_original_trilogys_ost/
Many musicians, interested in details of how was game music made in a specific decade, also ask their questions in general music subs:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Music/comments/4oe1g2/fretless_bass_styles_and_famous_songs/
https://www.reddit.com/r/WeAreTheMu...t_to_make_ps1_era_video_game_music_where_can/
Each year people find more and more interesting stuff in those threads, and if you didn't find something you needed, be sure you will in the near future
Many VGM composers who started their career or reached the height of popularity in the 90s like Tommy Tallarico or Josh Mancell are sometimes open for a discussion or interview, so if you have very specific questions, you better ask the kings of retro music themselves Many of them have accounts either in Twitter (another place I don't really like, but oh well) or SoundCloud.

 

AMA's from producers, artists and bands on music oriented subs was my favorite thing about it.

Interestingly enough the general subs like r/Music and r/watmm are subs I have always tend to stay away from cause the posts that usually came up on there when I checked were very basic but I'm sure there was still a lot of great posts I was missing out on because I ignored them but I think it's time to check those places again haha

Thanks for weighing in with info I never thought to learn about, the soundtrack always makes a movie or game so much better and more memorable. Pretty cool to have spoken with someone that does these things today. Good luck on your gig, I'm sure you'll nail it!

 

Good stuff. Very good stuff.

 

I almost forgot to mention that you can also find tons of good music demos uploaded on Youtube that feature synths from the old era.

For instance, this video clip features the presets from E-mu Proteus, the digital sound module which I mentioned earlier. In the comment section you will notice how many people have recognized familiar music sounds which they heard in most PS1 and even N64 games like Mario 64 or Banjo-Kazooie. Watching such videos is a good way to learn how to make genuine VGM music from the 90s.

 

Last edited: Nov 23, 2021