Mazedude

I remember when a friend first asked me to remix a theme from Chrono Trigger that he liked. My first impulse was "nah man, c'mon, I write original music." Then I listened to the theme. I liked it. So I thought well, maybe this one time I'll remix this theme, ya know, for my friend. Then partway through development of that track I had this thought "hey I wonder if anyone else wants or listens to video game remixes, let me see what's out there..." and via Jake Kaufman actually I found out about OCRemix. I submitted my Chrono Trigger track, and whaddaya know... people liked it. So my brain started to go to what other video game themes did I really like that could use a little love. And then there was a Blaster Master submission. Then Final Fantasy IV. And then.......... it's a pretty long list at this point. :) Along the journey I've met several game composers in person, I've honored them by remixing tracks that they specifically requested, I've landed gigs doing original music for games... it's a bit trippy actually, I've played Guitar Hero with Gerard K. Marino, I've swam in Tommy Tallarico's pool, and I'm friends with the head honchos at Trilobyte Games (The 7th Guest). All thanks to what DJP set in motion and I happened to top into a long, long time ago. What a ride.

Jeroen Tel (WAVE) Alexander Brandon (Siren) Peter Hajba (Skaven) Chris J. Hampton (Beek) Andrew Sega (Necros) Jake Kaufman (Virt) Christopher Getman (Mazedude) (nudge nudge wink wink) There may be more but these guys come to mind. Happy to be able to call a few of them friends. :) Hope this helps!

I appreciate the feedback! And per your question, I actually have done a couple indie soundtracks, all available here: https://mazedude.bandcamp.com/ That "tracker sound" isn't in high demand at the moment for OSTs, at least per my radar, but I'm rather proud of my work on MazeQuest 2 and The 7th Guest: Infection. :)

There are few games in that good ol' demoscene style, ya know... Bejeweled, Deus Ex, Jazz Jackrabbit... pick one of those and you're good to go. :) As far as delivering remixes of game themes in that classic demoscene style, not to toot my own horn but that's one of my personal favorite things to do, paying a nod both to the original tracker, and the game, and the composer all at once. For instance: https://mazedude.bandcamp.com/album/game-remix-tracker-homage-remastered Just my two cents. :)

Well here are a few tips based on some grueling experiences I went through licensing my tracks, hope they help. To start, I use https://soundrop.com/ as my distro service; it's not as fast or as friendly as it used to be unfortunately (live chat disappeared in favor of a slow ticketing service, for example), but I still get monthly play reports and it's great about regularly adding (and including your materials) on new platforms as they become available. As to licensing the music, here's the kicker: they require proof of a U.S. release of the original track. That means before you even want to try licensing something, see if the source soundtrack album exists on Apple Music or Amazon (the two they put the most stock in). (That part also used to be easier, but the restrictions changed a few years ago.) If you can hunt down an ISRC (album) or UPC code (track), even better! Musicbrainz.org is a great resource for that. For example: https://musicbrainz.org/search?query=Grim+Fandango&type=release&limit=25&method=indexed Each track you want to license gives you a spot to include a write-up, so come with everything - track title from the game, composer, soundtrack title, official album release links, codes... you'll be in good shape. If the track you're licensing has multiple source tunes, be prepared to include both in the description. Sadly there's a ton of material I couldn't license after maaaaany attempts, because even though I could prove US game release, note the production company and show the Wikipedia article, there was no official album. Doom 2, for example. I found some album records online but if you look closely they say "bootleg" as the "status" and that doesn't work well. Not official enough. Anyways I hope that helps, take care!

Happy 30th birthday Earthworm Jim! I was invited to a groovy little celebration album called "Earworm Jam" to honor the occasion; here's my contribution (which I'll be submitting to OCR), and there's a link in the description to the full album if you want to check it out!

Aha, there it is: https://guidebook.com/g/#/guides/magfest2024/schedule/sessions?scheduleDayPosition=2024-01-18&scheduleSearch=ocremix&scheduleIndexInDayPosition=0 Sweet, I'll see you there!

I don't see a thread already for this so I guess I start it... who is going to be at MAGFest 2024? I'm going for the first time in several years; if there's an OCR group hangout or anything happening, feel free to text me at 315-744-2839. Looking forward to it!

Phew, well the licensing process sure took a while (way longer than expected), but the compilation (minus four tracks that were, sadly, too obscure to get a license for) is now on more platforms: Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/game-remix-tracker-homage/1613279172 Spotify: Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/music/player/albums/B09V22M3RB Deezer: https://www.deezer.com/en/album/301076657 Pandora: https://www.pandora.com/artist/mazedude/game-remix-tracker-homage/ALJlnkzlgZdflKP Tidal: https://tidal.com/browse/album/219821547 (You'll still get the best experience on Bandcamp, but some folks were asking about these other platforms, so here you go!)

Ha, well I appreciate the honesty, and I hear ya. There's an authentic "I was doing the best I could with what I had" quality back when the original mixes were fresh, and it's hard to replicate that, even if the old tracks might have a sense of mud, poor EQ, lousy reverb, too much compression, etc. And no, the tracking programs don't have anything in terms of limiters, I've always had to take the individual layers out of the tracker as solo WAV files, import the WAV's into ProTools, and post-process from there. That's where I'd apply the compressors, EQ, reverb, etc. A difficult process and not one that I recommend, heh. Way back in my early days I had a max of 12 channels to work with, so I was always consolidating a bunch of layers into one WAV file. Not ideal. This time around I was able to give each layer its own WAV file and its own treatment, hence the cleaner and remastered mixes.

Hello friends! I'm pleased to share that, well, I did something I once thought I'd never do. I went back and remastered a whole bunch of my old remixes. Specifically, for the purpose of assembling and releasing a cohesive collection that I call Game Remix, Tracker Homage. https://mazedude.bandcamp.com/album/game-remix-tracker-homage-remastered A tremendous amount of work went into this (extracting layers from the tracker and mixing them in ProTools is a significant time spend), so I hope you enjoy it! Let me know what you think! And Merry Christmas everyone!

Chiming in here to say that I really, really appreciate the support, especially here now that we're into 2021. Thanks guys. True, my campaign in late 2020 didn't succeed, and for that we can point at many things - COVID-19, a turbulent election, a Kickstarter campaign that was more talk than product (I did chat for a while about the idea vs. showcasing finished pieces, I get that) - but still, I plan on completing this project, albeit on a smaller scale than hoped. I already have a good start on a few more pieces, and some of the tracks have already been re-orchestrated to account for the smaller scale. I'd still encourage folks to share https://www.wordsandversesproject.com/, and to note that pre-orders will still help the final album come out better as a result, if they're so inclined as to contribute. Otherwise, the subscribe option - https://www.wordsandversesproject.com/subscribe - will add them to the list in terms of project updates, live streaming sessions, etc. I'm also considering doing a second Kickstarter when the music is mostly finished, to allow potential backers a chance to support the mostly-finished project, as opposed to the newly-started project approach. We'll see. For now, my focus is writing - not publicity, not video editing, but composing... and to that end, bear with me if I'm quiet for a while. I have much to write before I re-surface with a nearly-completed project to talk about.

Well. The Kickstarter is over, and it didn't meet the funding goal. Not even halfway, actually. Boy, that's a strange feeling. Still, the project goes on, just on a smaller scale than I'd envisioned. I was hoping to utilize string quartets, ancient instruments, brass ensembles, and more. Ah well. Still, going back to a motif of more electronics and less live instruments isn't a bad thing. Might help me finish the album a lot faster, actually, so there's a positive spin. Some folks have asked if they can still pre-order the first album outside of the KS campaign, and the answer is yes. Here's the link: https://www.wordsandversesproject.com/pre-order My thanks again to this amazing community for the positivity and support through this whole process; stay tuned as it continues to come together! (And boy, I'm actually pretty relieved to be on the other side of the campaign so I can get back to composing!) And for fun, here's the Kickstarter promo video for anyone who hasn't seen it yet:

Pledge received and appreciated! Thanks @HoboKa!!! Also wanted to share that some WIPs are available for listening: Genesis 1:2 Orchestrated (w/ live violin): Chiptune draft version: John 14:2 Orchestrated (w/ live marimba, vibraphone, and piano): Chiptune draft version: Enjoy! ~ Mazedude

And... it's live! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mazedude/words-and-verses-a-biblical-music-project