Today’s
broadcast is C1E47c for Theme Thursday,
September 26th, 2019. Today is part 3 of 3 in our first ever mini-series. The
theme of our miniseries is music from the Turbografx16 / PC Engine - co-created
with Bryce Dumond of the TG16 Game by Game podcast, "Turbotastic".
Today's installment is called "Tidal Wavetable - aka 'The Continuing
Adventures of Buzz Lightyear'".
The
Episode can be heard here:
BLOGSPOT-SPECIFIC
NOTES: I've begun the notes on the past two installments talking about
"spoilers" that I couldn't share til part 3. Now that we are at part
3, and the conclusion of our TG16 / PCE mini-series, I am at liberty to share
them. However, I will wait to share them til the end of the post, after the
standard show notes and track listing. Because, if I shared them at the front,
then they would still be "spoilers", of course. :-D
So, we'll begin with
a [modified] copy/paste of the blogspot-specific notes that parts 1 and 2
opened with, then the standard show notes (including tracklist), and then after
all that, the promised additional notes I've been holding out on these past couple
weeks.
Let's begin! First things first: while this was NOT planned on either of our parts, I must say that it was special dumb luck that saw our series conclude on Bryce's birthday! Wonderful! So, this installment is especially dedicated to him, and everyone please join me in wishing him a very happy birthday today! :-)
Let's begin! First things first: while this was NOT planned on either of our parts, I must say that it was special dumb luck that saw our series conclude on Bryce's birthday! Wonderful! So, this installment is especially dedicated to him, and everyone please join me in wishing him a very happy birthday today! :-)
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I'll open by
saying that with this series being three episodes, made between two guys, all
pulling from just the one game system, it was important to me to strive to make
the three sound as LITTLE ALIKE as possible. I feel like we were successful in
this regard.
Part one,
majority picked by Bryce, and only minority picked by me, and featuring a mix
of HuC6280 system "chip" music and CD Audio, biases more towards
"greatest hits" / "big title" tracks, and features a lot of
rock and otherwise high energy tracks. Of the three, it is the "party
animal" for sure. So, if what you're after is a bunch of fun, familiar,
high-medium octane tracks, then I am confident that part one will be your
favorite of the three. It's 40 tracks and roughly 1hr, 44min of music.
Part two,
majority picked by me, and only minority picked by Bryce, and also featuring a
mix of HuC6280 system "chip" music and CD Audio, biases much more
towards "deep cuts". And while it certainly does contain its share of
rockin' and high energy tracks, it covers a much broader emotional /
energy-level spectrum than part one, and trends more towards the contemplative,
often (but not always) with deep atmospheric transcendent waves. If part one is
the "party animal", part two is the "thinking man's
episode" episode of the three. So, if you're more excited by the idea of
exploring new sonic territory, and getting to spend time in "the chill
zone", but with just enough energy to keep from getting too dull, then I
think this one will be your favorite. It's also 40 tracks, but just a little
bit shorter, clocking in at about 1hr, 41 minutes. Although, I believe that the
longest individual track in the series is in this episode.
Part three
is all picked by me, and is all HuC6280 system "chip" music. No Bryce
picks this time, and no CD Audio. As such, you'd think it'd be the odd man out.
However, I feel like parts one and two constitute the "opposite
extremes" of the series, in terms of feel, and energy, and
"vibe", and that this one somehow ends up meeting their energies and
spirits somewhere in the middle. Admittedly, it probably lands a little closer
to part two, considering it also biases a bit "deep cut", features
virtually no outright "rockin'" tracks, and also spends a little time
in the chill zone, making part one, arguably, the REAL outlier of the series,
when everything has been considered. But it doesn't go nearly as deep into the
chill spaces as part 2, nor spend as much time there. And while it doesn't do a
lot of outright "rocking out", it does at least contain a much higher
percentage of tracks than part two that keep the energy level up, and the feet
a'tappin. It's an all-around peppier, more energetic outing than part 2,
though less so than part 1, and a broader episode in terms of emotional
spectrum than part 1, though less so than part 2.
So, for
those listeners who thought [to borrow a Goldilocks metaphor] that part one was
"too hot", and part two was "too cold", or alternately,
that part one was "too hard", and part two was "too soft"
should find part three to be "just right". Also, since this one is
pure chip, with every single sound you hear coming from the system's internal
sound hardware, this episode is the "purest", the "pure
one". This is especially important if you're a diehard fan of retro game
music, and the CD audio just gets a little too "real", or at least
"too convenient" or "not 'video-gamey' enough for you".
This one will be the most up your alley. This one is 50 tracks, so ten more
than each of the other two. But amazingly, it is NOT the longest music block of
the trio. Since the CD audio tracks tend to run longer than the chip tracks,
this one lands in the middle of the pack lengthwise at give or take 1hr and
43min. And the intro and outro are shorter too. HOWEVER, because of the
inclusion of a 12 minute blooper reel at the end, this episode, in the final
analysis DOES end up being the longest of the three, and the only one to break
the 2hr barrier.
But
regardless of which one you like best / least, I hope you enjoy them all, as I
am intensely proud of, and pleased with all three - and I enjoy all three
immensely. I also hope that you will agree with me that not only were Bryce and
I successful in giving them each distinct voices and souls, but that the
contrasting nature of them are like the tide that raises all ships....that is,
that the fact that they're each so different from each other makes them all better and more rewarding to
listen to than if they were standalone episodes, and that the total is greater
than the sum of its parts. It's an adventure, and I hope you enjoy the journey
as much as Bryce and I enjoyed making it!
Here's part
three, and with it, the happy conclusion to the series. Enjoy!!!!
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Track# - Game - Track
- Composer(s) - Timestamp
01
- Intro - 00:00:00
02
- RyuuKyuu – Title Screen - Yasushi Kawasaki, and/or Hiroto Saitoh - 00:03:06
03
- Cross Wiber – Story Out - Hiroto Saitoh - 00:03:28
04
- Air Zonk – Opening - Daisuke Morshima and/or Hisashi Matsushita - 00:05:31
05
- Startling Odyssey II – Hamil's Lodge - Kenji Ikeda - 00:07:20
06
- Dungeon Explorer – Town - Tsukasa Masuko - 00:08:56
07
- Dragon Spirit – Stage 1 - Shinji Hosoe - 00:10:48
08
- Shockman - BGM 1 - Koji Hayama - 00:15:55
09
- Doraemon - Boss Battle - Maki Watanabe, Yoko Motoshuku, and/or Eiji Hasegawa
- 00:19:05
10
- Metal Stoker – Floating Fortress (Stage 7) - Hiroto Saitoh - 00:20:48
11
- Dungeon Explorer – Dungeon 2 - Tsukasa Masuko - 00:22:49
12
- Psychosis – Stage 3 - Daisuke Morishima and/or Hisashi Matsushita - 00:24:38
13
- Jigoku Meguri – Stage 3 - Hisayoshi Ogura and/or Yasuhisa Watanabe - 00:25:51
14
- Vigilante – Level 2 - c: Masato Ishizaki / a: Unknown - 00:27:16
15
- Military Madness – Enemy's Victory - Jun Chikuma and/or Toshiaki Takimoto -
00:29:11
16
- Shockman – BGM 3 - Koji Hayama - 00:39:20
17
- Vigilante – Level 4 - c: Masato Ishizaki / a: Unknown - 00:33:04
18
- Legendary Axe II – Stage 6 - Tsukasa Masuko - 00:34:52
19
- Devil's Crush – Bonus 2, 5 - Toshiaki Sakoda and/or Masanobu Tsukamoto -
00:38:51
20
- Snatcher – The Entrance to Hell - Konami Kukeiha Club - 00:40:59
21
- Jigoku Meguri – Stage 4 - Hisayoshi Ogura and/or Yasuhisa Watanabe - 00:43:19
22
- Bomberman - Track 10 - Jun Chikuma and/or Keita Hoshi - 00:44:48
23
- Metal Stoker – Big Molecular (Boss 2) - Hiroto Saitoh - 00:46:24
24
- Magical Chase – Final Stage - Hitoshi Sakimoto and/or Masaharu Iwata -
00:48:19
25
- Military Madness – Opening - Jun Chikuma and/or Toshiaki Takimoto - 00:51:54
26
- Barunba – Stage 1 - M. Itoh, H. Nishikawa - 00:52:46
27
- Air Zonk – Friend Select - Daisuke Morshima and/or Hisashi Matsushita -
00:54:17
28
- Street Fighter 2CE – Balrog - Yoko Shimomura - 00:55:13
29
- Battle Royale – Spitfire Spike Win - Kyle Johnson - 00:57:04
30
- Hisou Kihei X-Serd – Opening 1 - Koji Hayama - 00:59:19
31
- Tatsujin – Unknown (Stage 5) - Masahiro Yuge - 01:02:03
32
- Dragon Spirit – Stage 4 - Shinji Hosoi - 01:04:18
33
- Obocchama Kun - Stage 1 - Junya Kozakai and/or Ako Matsudaira - 01:07:24
34
- Bomberman - Invincibility - Jun Chikuma and/or Keita Hoshi - 01:09:15
35
- 1552 Tenka Dairan – Get in Get Out - Masao Asakawa - 01:10:37
36
- Super Daisenraku – Track 4 - c: M. Asatomi / a: Unknown - 01:14:51
37
- Takeda Shingen – Boss - Unknown - 01:16:53
38
- Tengai Makyou 2 – Lightweight Vehicle - Joe Hisaishi, Hirohiko Fukada, and/or
Keita Hoshi - 01:18:16
39
- Coryoon – Sound Test - Daisuke Morishima and/or Hisashi Matsushita - 01:19:49
40
- Alien Crush – Bonus 2 - Toshiaki Sakoda - 01:21:40
41
- Neutopia II – Cave 2 - Toshiaki Takamoto - 01:23:22
42
- Street Fighter 2CE – Chun Li - Yoko Shimomura - 01:25:11
43
- Takeda Shingen – Stage 4 - Unknown - 01:27:03
44
- Tengai Makyou: Fuun Kabuki Den – Reminiscence: Daimonkyou - Kohei Tanaka
and/or Keita Hoshi - 01:28:51
45
- Yawara! 2 – Track 13 - Hisanori Oushiro - 01:30:52
46
- Tengai Makyou 2 - Goodnight - Joe Hisaishi, Hirhiko Fukada, and/or Keita
Hoshi - 01:32:51
47
- Bomberman 93 – Password - Jun Chikuma and/or Keita Hoshi - 01:34:53
48
- Youkai Douchuuki – Main Theme - Hiroyuki Kawada - 01:36:13
49
- Tenchi Muyou Ryououki – Track 23 - Natsuko Karedou, Kayoko Maeda, and/or
Shiori Ueno - 01:41:24
50
- Lady Sword: Ryakudatsu Sareta 10 Nin no Otome – Track 5 - Unknown - 01:43:30
51
- Magical Chase – Ending (Raka Raka Mode) - Hitoshi Sakimoto and/or Masaharu
Iwata - 01:44:18
52
- Outro - 01:46:56
53
- Blooper Reel - 01:58:28
Music
Block Runtime: 01:43:53, Total Episode Runtime: 02:10:45
Our
Intro and Outro Music is Funky Radio, from Jet Grind Radio on the Sega
Dreamcast, composed by BB Rights. Composer and track info vetted by
"Pidge".
You
can find the Turbotastic Podcast at:
turbotasticpodcast.libsyn.com,
or on Stitcher, Spotify, iTunes, as well as on Facebook and Twitter at:
FB:
@TurbotasticPodcast
TW:
@TheTurbotastic
The
"Nerd Noise Radio" audio podcast feed can be found here:
or here
You can also
find our audio episodes on Archive.org
The
"Nerd Noise Radio - RERUNS!" channel can be found here:
or here
Our YouTube
Channel can be found here:
Nerd
Noise Radio is also available on The Retro Junkies Network at www.theretrojunkies.com, and is a
member of the VGM Podcast Fans community at
Or,
if you wish to connect with us directly, we have two groups of our own:
Nerd
Noise Radio - Easy Mode: https://www.facebook.com/groups/276843385859797/
for sharing tracks, video game news, or just general videogame fandom.
Nerd
Noise Radio - Expert Mode: https://www.facebook.com/groups/381475162016534/
for going deep into video game sound hardware, composer info, and/or music
theory.
Thanks for listening! Join us again in October for C1E48 (Channel 1, Episode 48):
Battle of the Bits - vol. 2 -
Delicious VGM on "Noise from the Hearts of Nerds"! And wherever you
are - Fly the N!
Cheers!
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Now,
for those extra notes!
A
little backstory: I reached out to Bryce all the way back in the summer of 2018
about teaming up on this project. Looking through my conversation history, it
was on July 25th 2018, that I reached out to him via The Turbotastic Podcast to
propose a TG16 episode to him. It certainly wasn't our first exchange - that
dates back to January 25th of that year. But it was when the subject of
collaborating first came up.
My
original idea was not for a three-part, 130 track mini-series, but for a single
40 track episode. I hadn't made any sort of rules, but informally, I was
envisioning give or take 20 Bryce tracks, and give or take 20 St. John tracks.
Neither of us were in a great big hurry at the time, though, so it wasn't until
August 26th that he actually got back to me with a track list. The problem? It
was not 20, like I was thinking…..instead, it was 38 tracks…..on an episode
that I remind you was supposed to be only 40 tracks long!
This
changes everything!
So I
think "no problem! We'll make this a two parter, 38 for Bryce, and 38-40
for me. We'll do his episode as a proper "Channel 1" episode, and my
follow-up will be a Channel F bonus "F-isode". He'll get an episode,
and I'll get an episode. And in addition, that way he can have an episode named
"Turbotastic" after his show, and I can have one under the name I had
originally envisioned for a TG16 episode, all the way back when I was first
conceiving the show, "The Little Engine that Could". So I set to
create a 40 or so track list of my own. Easy, right. Only, even with my
intended restraint, my list came out to also be much bigger than intended, and
clocked in at give or take 90 tracks…..and that was with my trying to hold back
a bit.
So, now
we're not looking at a two-parter anymore, but AT LEAST a three parter! As
such, I decided, since we each had a list that included a mix of CD and chip,
to not give Bryce his own episode, and myself two episodes. However, I didn't
want to do two 20 / 20 episodes since Bryce and I's approach to track selection
was so very different - his more high energy, rock-heavy, high octane, big
name, populist tracks, and mine more chill and/or experimental tracks from much
more obscure games, and I felt like an "even Steven" mix might feel a
little contrived and disjointed. So, the final solution - which is reflected in
the final product in the actual episodes you just experienced, was to do
asymmetrical mixes between Bryce's "finger to the pulse" energy, and
my "the depths of space" exploration. So, I used about 3/4 of Bryce's
selections to make up roughly 3/4 of the first episode, designed to be more
high-octane, and just filled in the blanks more or less with the edgier parts
of my selection….um….collection.
Then,
for part 2, I worked Bryce's leftovers into my predominantly chill out, and/or
happy go lucky journey through more off-the-beaten-path music. This is why
parts 1 and 2 sound so very different. Part 3, was originally just intended as
a repository for my leftovers, just as the Bryce tracks in part 2 were mostly
just the leftovers of Bryce's list. And since my track list was very dominated
by HuC6280 chip music, with only a relatively small percentage of CD Audio,
where Bryce's list was more level, at about 60/40 chip, I decided that 100% of
my CD picks would go to either parts one or two, leaving part 3 to be not only
entirely me, but entirely chip as well.
Since
it was all me and all chip, whereas both the other two were a mix of me and
Bryce, as well as a mix of CD and chip, I think the original intent was for
part 3 to be the odd man out, the standout outlier. But as you heard today,
that wasn't the case, and part 3 actually feels like something of a compromise
between the first two - the first one, Bryce's "part one" really
being, in the final analysis, the TRUE standout, and outlier of the three. Now,
the creation and production of the three music blocks themselves date all the
way back to October 8th, 2018, long enough ago that I am a little fuzzy on just
how much of this was smoothly, slyly calculated design, and how much of it was
just the dumb luck of what was left over after the first two had been crafted.
But either way, that is the way it all worked out.
The
original intent of the mini-series - after we had finally settled on a
mini-series was to a) make Bryce's part 1 be the Channel 1 "episode
proper" with my two outings being billed as bonus Channel F
"F-isodes", and to also be 2018 episodes, rather than 2019. But
between his schedule and mine (mostly
mine, with a baby in the house now), we did have to push it back. However, with
us no longer simulcasting fresh Channel 1 episodes on the limitation-laden
Buzzsprout free service feed, we were no longer constrained to two hours of
content per month like we were before, so for the final production, they were
all changed to Channel 1 "episodes proper".
Anyway,
thus and so is the story of Nerd Noise Radio's first ever mini-series. The last
thing I will leave you with is a OneDrive link to the Excel file which shows
Bryce's picks and mine, color-coded by which episodes the tracks made it into.
I did "put a fresh coat of paint" on the file today, as well as add a
"notes section" which contains yet even more info. But the track
listing itself is true to our originals. In fact, there are even a track or two
or three in the excel list that did not make the episode, and vice versa. Bonus
points to the ones who track them down.
Here's
the link:
Also, one final note on the differences
between Bryce and I's track selection philosophy: Bryce adopted much more of a
"go deep on a few games and select a bunch of tracks" design, whereas
I went for more of a "let's represent as many distinct games as possible
approach. One isn't inherently better or one than the other - just stark in
their differences when you put the two together. So you will see that
difference manifested in the spreadsheet. I did impose a rule of no more than
three tracks per game per installment in the series. So, the game to have the
most tracks picked from it, Ys Books I & II (Bryce) at six tracks, I split
in half, with three going into part one, and three going into part 2. The most
per game I chose was four tracks each, in a tie between Metal Stoker (chip),
and Ai Chou Aniki (CD). In the case of the former, I did 2 and 2 between parts 1 and 3, and in the
case of the latter, I did 1 and 3 between parts 1 and 2.
So, to
conclude: thank you sooooooo very much dear listeners for listening to three
episodes in one month (a week apart) instead of the customary singular episode,
and for listening to a grand total of something like six hours of content
instead of the usual 1.5-2 hours. I hope you have enjoyed listening to the
productions as much as Bryce and I enjoyed making them. And I hope these
additional notes were useful, beneficial, and enjoyable as well. Between now
and the end of 2019, I still have a MAJOR project coming, as well as a
guest-hosted/curated/vetted episode.
This year is still a good ways away from being over, and I hope you will
enjoy the content that is yet to come!
Cheers!
-St.
John
Is there some way you could make an inventory of episodes somehow? Finding older episodes is, to be honest, somewhat of a nightmare on here ^^
ReplyDeleteHej! I will be glad to look into the best way to do that for you, Zinn! :-D
ReplyDeleteThanks for the suggestion!