Show Notes
We had a great time at VGMTogether presenting our talk on game audio logging and the dedicated communities around the world that have spent years archiving music as accurately as possible. It's a commonly overlooked topic that nevertheless supports a lot of activities in the game music scene.
You may have heard it referred to as "VGM ripping"; logging is the process of accessing, capturing, organizing and ultimately archiving game music in more accessible ways. There are a few ways that game music is stored in data, and a few ways that game music is captured for easier access. It's a time-consuming but rewarding process that requires some computer skills and a decent amount of patience.
In addition to the tracklist we've included a number of other resources: links to some of our past shows with a focus on logging and preservation, links to some of the more prominent game and computer music archives, and some other relevant talks. To all of those involved in VGM logging including our good friends ValleyBell and ctr, as well as the many folks we didn't mention, we thank you for all of your hard work and for everything you've done for the VGM community over the years.
We did our best to make our show as enjoyable for regular listeners, but we have also included our presentation slides which help enhance the experience. Click through the presentation below to see the visual aids and video examples we used during our talk. Here's the link to our video presentation on YouTube
Track List:
0:06:50 Stage 2 – Yuurei-kun (MSX2)
By Manabu Saito
0:20:23 Ending 2 - Earthbound Beginnings (NES)
By Keiichi Suzuki & Hirokazu "Hip" Tanaka Exclusive to the US version of the game Logged by MrNorbert1994
0:26:12 The Mountains - The Smurfs (GB)
By Alberto Jose González (Twitter)
0:32:02 Isotoxin - Unreal (PC)
By Andrew "Necros" Sega, edited by Alexander Brandon
0:39:08 Security - System Shock (PC)
By Greg Lopiccolo, Tim Ries Originally logged and fixed by Joey "Chicajo" D in 1998
0:47:11 Vigilante Shuffle - Interstate '76 (PC)
By Bullmark
Leader [Music Direction By] – Arion Salazar, Jason Slater, Kelly W. Rogers Written-By, Bass, Keyboards – Arion Salazar Guitar – David Shul Drums – Bryan Mantia Horns – Les Harris Engineer, Mixed By – Eric Valentine Executive-Producer – Kelly W. Rogers
0:51:24 Song of the Ancients [excerpt] - Nier (360/PS3)
Composed by Keiichi Okabe Interactive audio demo example
1:01:26 Launching (Title) - Star Trader (X68000)
Originally composed by Mieko Ishikawa Additional composers for X68k port: Hiroya Hatsushiba, Keishi Yonao
1:04:34 Elevator - System Shock (PC)
By Greg Lopiccolo, Tim Ries Originally logged and fixed by Joey "Chicajo" D in 1998
Some past episodes
Logging community and audio format discussion
Namco C352 with ctr - Community member ctr discusses his custom playback software for 90s Namco arcade games "QuattroPlay" as well as some favorite picks Hole Chaser with Masahiro Kajihara - Composer Kajihara-san talks about his music and developing the PMD sound driver, also used by his contemporaries to write FM music for 80s/90s Japanese computers 5 Years of VGMRips - A retrospective on some favorite music direct from the archivists in the VGMRips community Roadkill - Jesse Bishop aka "Street Cleaner" talks about his work logging the audio from the game Roadkill. Check out our interview with Jesse about his game too! Interview with Chase Bethea - Composer Chase Bethea talks about his music, including a live demo on dynamic audio Hover Racing - Friend of the show electricboogaloo logged the music for the PS1 indie game on the "Net Yaroze" platform KGB / Conspiracy - A great soundtrack and a discussion of the custom HERAD sound driver that makes the Sound Blaster music really shine Heart Heat Girls - We cover music from a game that was logged for the show Yuurei-kun (Mr. Ghost) - We cover the music composed by Manabu Saito, and Bryan and Gene's first full
More from Pixelated Audio
Pixelated Audio is back from another VGMCon in Minnesota, this time about space! Joining Gene once again from last year are Pernell from Rhythm and Pixels and Carlos from Heroes Three!
Our show takes us back in time to the pleasant summer vibes of Malibu Bikini Volleyball, a no-frill sports game released in 1993 for the underdog Atari Lynx handheld, developed by Hand Made Software and composed by Paul Tonge.
Today, we're looking back at Astyanax, an action platformer released for arcade and NES in 1989 and a game we both grew up playing. Sometimes referred to as "The Lord of King" or "The Astyanax", the original arcade game was developed by Aicom and published by Jaleco, with the NES version developed and published by Jaleco. Both versions share some similarities, like fighting hordes of mythological creatures, but the key difference for our show is they feature completely different soundtracks. We'll be focusing on the NES soundtrack written by Toshiko Tasaki with an occasional detour to the arcade original composed by Kiyoshi Yokoyama.
In this installment of Pixelated Audio, we're taking a stroll through the soundtrack of Blades of Steel. Originally, Konami released this fact-action hockey game in the arcades in 1987 but it really gained popularity a year later when it was converted to the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1988. However, most of us (at least your hosts) tend to forget that two sequels were released: NHL Blades of Steel '99 and NHL Blades of Steel 2000 which we’ve got some tunes from as well.
With the holiday season upon us, Gene and several other friends visited Sacramento Gamers Expo where we met some awesome game developer legends like David Crane, Garry Kitchen and Ed Annunziata. Joining Gene is Michelle (the 'voice' of Sue Kasper), AJ of VGMPorium (also on our Persona show) and last but not least Brian Stewart, one of the biggest VGM fans you'll ever find. Join us as we look back at our experience at SGE playing games, attending panels and looking back at our gaming in 2024 more generally.