Norrin_Radd's Composition Methods - Treasure Buster 02: https://youtu.be/OUX-C8laPrA

The second video where I go over actual tracks from the upcoming game Treasure Buster. This time I tackle the boss theme from the second level. What is, in my opinion, the wackiest track on the soundtrack in terms of song structure. I wanted to show one of this soundtrack's more challenging pieces.

The track title is: Six Edged Abomination

The boss itself is a giant gelatinous cube, and I wanted this song to sound like what I would imagine a battle with such a monstrosity would sound like. Something very disturbing about a giant transparent cube of acidic ooze that waits for hapless adventures to accidentally walk in to it, and if they happen to touch it, becoming dislodged is near impossible. It's like a spider waiting in a web, but for humans.

I go over some songs that inspired this track, as well as the exact Sega Genesis game I was basing my instrumentation off of (Shining Force 1 for Sega Genesis).

Tons of examples within. Enjoy!

Okay, I decided to put together a blog to keep track of all the songs I have shared so far in the Summer of FM. It's been mostly a twitter and facebook kind of thing, which is why I stopped haring every update on this forum (didn't want to over stay my welcome).

So if you want to follow with the Summer of FM, check out the blog, here

https://summeroffm.blogspot.ca/

SAW liked FM bass... In fact, it's easier to list acts that didn't use FM after 1986 because of how few they were. Steve Winwood used the rack mount Minimoogs, Information Society used Casio and Roland JX, though I think they sneaked in FM too, it doesn't dominate their sound as much, Icehouse had access to FM but similarly seemed to lean towards analog synths in touring, can't think of any others that wouldn't also net a "not a synths group" reply.

Norrin_Radd's Composition Methods - Treasure Buster 01: https://youtu.be/4gtI6yzXTqc

Kicking this actual series off! Here is the first video where I actually break down the music of this project and how it was created. The entire track is entirely 4OP Sega Genesis FM!

I go over some of the song writing process, but mostly I discuss project wide concepts and protocols I had to come up with to give the whole soundtrack a contextual sound. How to make it all sound like it belonged to the same game.

Watch, as I struggle to explain my creative process on the fly.

Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up (1987): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ

I know this song became internet famous as the butt of a joke, but can we even deny how unironically awesome this song is? And how far ahead of it's time it was? This was 1987. That always seems early to me when I hear how thick and full this track is.

The entire thing held together by an FM Bass foundation that refuses to quit. Take your eyes of those dance moves and have a listen to just the bass in the song, and notice that it is intricate, and melodic, and follows the bouncy beat of the song perfectly. The producers really new how to slot that bass in with the kick drum. It just sounds so thick!

This track also features some lush FM E.Piano sounds rocking some nice glassy chords. They usually bury these with other instruments, but not in this track. Front and center!

This track is 50% Rick Astley singing and putting on a dance moves clinic, and 50% FM. Behold the power of frequency modulation!

Thanks SketchMan!  High caliber threads or bust!

And yes, The Jacksons caught me off guard with that too. I just assumed they were all kids when they were in the Jacksons\Jackson 5. The crazy thing is, all of them went on to have pretty robust solo careers as well, albeit not as robust as Michael's. It's a ton of Jackson content to go through, haha. And man, they loved their FM in the 80s. I am sure we'll see them again in this thread.

This is very interesting thread. Thanks for making it That torture thing is wild, lol. Didn't even know the Jacksons were still doing stuff at that time...

*trying to bump some other threads to the top of the list that are of higher caliber than those that currently hold that position... *

Great question! The bass in the video is toooooootally fake. Just for show. But in live concerts these groups would usually actually have a live bass, rather than a synth bass, because the synth player in the band, if there was one, was usually busy playing keys, pads and chords on at most, two individual keyboards. Switching patches and stuff was not as easy back then, so they had to really keep the changes to a minimum, or to the most iconic sounds.

Usually a recording was done with a lot of extra players brought in, including a dude who might just shred an FM bass line on one track, then peace out. But they couldn't take all those people with them on tour because it would be way too many people to afford. So the core members would be the main people for any live performance, or music video.

One fun thing I love to do is to go on to the Discogs website, and see who all these mysterious synth players were, then go to their page and see what other albums they worked on. Usually, you find a ton of gold.

so do you think the bass we see in the video clip is a fake bass, or a bass driving a midi synth adapter?

DID SOMEBODY SAY FM ????!?!??!?! 

The Jacksons - Torture (1984): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxSfQeCoFUM

We keep rolling on with a fairly obscure single by The Jacksons. I had never seen the music video for this one before, and man, it's weird. Not even their weirdest, either, haha. Perfect era for 80s special effects though.

But the reason we are here is the presence of FM Bass for the entire track. There is something about FM Bass at that time that really adds to the unforgiving coldness of some of these weird artistic videos. It just felt high tech and other wordy at the same time. Especially when all this deranged dreamy stuff is happening in the video, and no one seems weirded out by it. They almost seem to be celebrating the weirdness and encouraging it in their peripheral.

That concept is distilled in FM Bass, for me.

It happens

Double post... my byaaad!

Hmmmm... Taylor Dayne looks like a young version of River Song from Dr. Who.

The Summer of FM continues!

Taylor Dayne - Don't Rush Me (1987): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rPOg6VnzV8

At first Taylor's vocals really turned me off. But it wasn't until my wife commented on how unique and unusual they were that I realized, wait, you're right, and now I love these vocals. Who else sings like this?! But what we all came for is the FM. This track has an incredibly expressive and sharp metallic slap bass driving the entire thing. Under those brash but unique diva vocals is an FM bedrock that can not be shaken.

Bonus: Sandy Lam - Say No More (Cantonese non-FM version 1988): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8olvsVGGZlc

The Cantonese version by comparison is not using FM bass, but probably a rompler synth sample of some kind. Still a great track, and fun to compare. Cantonese is a pretty sounding language. It's just neat to hear them side by side.

I gave the video a watch, with pretty much wide eyed amazement. I am absolutely hopeless when it comes to hardware, as I learned just now by reading over the specs with glossy eyes. I basically only really know the sounds themselves and how I would want to use them, but creating and co-opting them from hardware is absolutely beyond me. I have no idea how this is possible, haha. It feels like you guys are hacking the Matrix, but it clearly seems cool as hell! I really look forward to seeing where this goes! My hot goes off to you.

Hey Norrin_Radd! Nice video! Looking forward to hearing your new music! I love YM2612 FM and am soon releasing a new EP recorded from the real hardware (it sounds so nice and noisy and organic ).

My friend and I are also developing a live performance tool that will ultimately let you use grid controllers and knobs to play dynamic live music on the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive without the need to bring your laptop. See: http://chipmusic.org/forums/topic/18144 … e-genesis/

With all the new hardware and software tools becoming available now it's a really great time to get into exploring and experimenting with FM synthesis!