Some time ago, I had an idea. See, these past few years I’ve been learning more about music production, getting better at the craft in terms of EQ, compression, mixing, mastering, reverb, etc. My gear has also significantly improved over what I used to have. Along the way, I’ve been thinking: hey, wouldn’t it be cool if I put my video game remixes – that simultaneously are homages to trackers that I grew up with – into a singular collection?
And wouldn’t it be cool if I remastered them first, so that they’d sound a bit more polished? Cleaner? More professional? I mean, a lot of these tracks were originally assembled and mixed a LONG time ago…
What you see here is just that. Most of these remixes have been completely rebuilt from their original release, painstakingly deconstructed into new layers via Schism Tracker, and ultimately re-mixed and re-mastered in ProTools. (Some of my more recent works, as well as the pieces from American Pixels, are the same as their original release.)
Enjoy! Many of these are among my personal favorites as an arranger and remixer, and I hope you’ll agree that they sound good together. This doesn’t include every single tracker homage I’ve ever done, but it’s most of them!
A few specifics:
Sagat’s Moonbike is an homage to "Donovan's Moonbike" by Radix
Tangerine Fever is an homage to "Tangerine Fascination" by Necros
Turtle Wave is an homage to "Nine One One" by WAVE
Space Garden is an homage to "Space Bar" by Virgill
Glow Worm Jim is a general homage to the style of Xerxes
Tanglesleep is an homage to "Winter's Dream" by Necros
Big Sister Matti is an homage to "Matti's Theme" by Xerxes
More than MoN is a general homage to the style of Maniacs of Noise (WAVE, Laxity, Drax)
Purple Streets in an homage to "Insideout" by Purple Motion
Comix Bubbles is a general homage to the style of Beek's chiptunes
Micker Cripper Mime is an homage to "Working in Progress" by Mick Rippon
Jackrabbit Transformer is an homage to "Carpe Diem" by Siren
Switch Force Ballad is a general homage to the style of Radix, or rather his newer work under the artist name Mosaik
Super Double Espresso is an homage to "Over Reacted" by Norfair
Slick Rippin Keen is a general homage to the style of Mick Rippon
Zombies Ate My Tracker is a general homage to the style of teenage Mazedude
Zapper’s Freedom is an homage to "Late Shift" by Zapper
Alone With Tiger is an homage to "Alone" by Mick Rippon
Door of Drax is a general homage to the style of Drax
All-Star Doskpop is a general homage to the style of Elwood
Martian Commando is an homage to "Martian Lovesong" by Necros
Retrohead Five is an homage to "Ninja Philosophy" by Basehead
Parasite X is a general homage to the style of Xerxes
Agent Sprawl is an homage to "Agent Zed" by Laxity
Read the Sine is an homage to "Stranglehold" by WAVE
And while it's difficult to find current websites for many of these tracker folks, I was able to find a few:
Maniacs of Noise / WAVE:
soundcloud.com/maniacs-of-noise
Mick Rippon:
soundcloud.com/mickrip
Xerxes:
xerxes-music.com
Radix, aka Mosaik:
mosaik.se
Virgill:
soundcloud.com/virgill
Siren (Alexander Brandon):
alexanderbrandon.bandcamp.com
Necros:
soundcloud.com/andrew-sega
Drax:
soundcloud.com/drax_maniacs-of-noise
Laxity:
soundcloud.com/laxity-1
A few other notable links:
zirconstudios.bandcamp.com/album/tangledeep-original-soundtrack
retrocityrampage.bandcamp.com/album/retro-city-rampage-soundtrack
aubreyhodges.bandcamp.com/album/quest-for-glory-shadows-of-darkness-official-soundtrack
virt.bandcamp.com/album/mighty-switch-force-2-ost
bayareasound.bandcamp.com/album/sam-max-season-one-original-2007-release
orbitmusic.bandcamp.com
released December 17, 2021
Artwork by Isabella Getman (that's right, Mazedude's daughter, age 8)
Agent Sprawl features Kunal Majmudar on keyboard
Sagat's Moonbike: Original theme "Sagat (Thailand)" composed by Isao Abe, Yoko Shimomura
Tangerine Fever: Original theme "Mill Fever" composed by David Wise
Turtle Wave: Original theme "Let's Go Turtles" composed by Kozo Nakamura, Tomoya Tomita, Yuichi Sakakura
Space Garden: Original theme "Erana's Garden" composed by Aubrey Hodges
Glow Worm Jim: Original theme "Lorenzo's Soil" composed by Tommy Tallarico
Tanglesleep: Original theme "Defeat (Game Over)" composed by Andrew Aversa
Big Sister Matti: Original theme "Pairbond" composed by Garry Schyman
More than MoN: Original theme "McRock" composed by Tommy Tallarico
Purple Streets: Original theme "City Streets" composed by Jared Emerson-Johnson
Comix Bubbles: Original theme "Night of the Mutants (Episode 1-1)" composed by Howard Drossin
Micker Cripper Mime: Original theme "The Moglie's Theme" composed by Nobuo Uematsu
Jackrabbit Transformer: Original theme "Water Level" composed by Alexander Brandon
Switch Force Ballad: Original theme "Title" composed by Jake Kaufman
Super Double Espresso: Original theme "Mission 01 Las Vegas" composed by Kazunaka Yamane
Slick Rippin Keen: Original theme "Spiro Grip Me Tighter" composed by Bobby Prince
Zombies Ate My Tracker: Original theme "Pyramid of Fear" composed by Joe McDermott
Zapper's Freedom: Original theme "Catherine's Freedom" composed by Robyn Miller
Alone With Tiger: Original theme "Sagat (Thailand)" composed by Isao Abe, Yoko Shimomura
Door of Drax: Original theme "Door of Holy Spirits" composed by Akiropito, Jeff Lorber, Michiru Yamane, Rika Muranaka, Tomoko Sano, Tony Haynes
All-Star Doskpop: Original theme "Vs. Pro All-Stars" composed by Kazuo Sawa
Martian Commando: Original theme "Papagayan Anthem" composed by Simon Viklund
Retrohead Five: Original theme "Retro City Rampage Title Song" composed by Jake Kaufman
Parasite X: Original theme "Vs. Parasite Queen" composed by Kenji Yamamoto, Koichi Kyuma
Agent Sprawl: Original theme "Welcome To The Sprawl" composed by Jason Graves
Read the Sine: Original theme "Welcome to Our Town!" composed by Nobuo Uematsu