The summer of fan games is upon us, everyone! How is everyone enjoying the Sonic Amateur Games Expo so far? Any favourites?
With SAGE’12 still in full swing, a handful of games available have already been praised by communities everywhere, but two of this year’s biggest hits belong to LakeFeperd, renowned for Sonic Before the Sequel in 2011, and we’ll be looking into one of those highlights today!
Rereleased for just the right occasion, Sonic Before the Sequel 2012 sports quite a few upgrades compared to its previous version, but none more obvious than the game’s brand spanking new soundtrack! Instead of borrowing music from many different sources, Lake has gathered a four man team of musicians to work on original music, and trust me, this really is the kind of music that ought to be on every Sonic fan’s playlist!
And speaking of just the right occasion, that’s exactly what this week’s Sound Check will revolve around! With me today is one of the musicians who was on board of this fantastic fan project! You might’ve seen him floating around the front page once or twice… actually, thrice! From Sonic Before the Sequel 2012, we welcome to the Sound Check the one and only…
Falk!
Act 1 – Introduction
VizardJeffhog: So, first question is the obligatory introduction one, so let’s get that going! Tell the readers who you are and a little bit of info/trivia about you and what you do!
Falk: I grew up as a Mega Drive/Genesis kid in Malaysia, had piano lessons while I was little and picked up a bass when I was 17. Right out of school, I finished an engineering degree in Electronics and Computing. I’m currently working on finishing a music degree (my second) after holding a audio engineer job for a couple of years; I thought I’d take my music more seriously.
VizardJeffhog: Before the present, what got you into creating your own music, into remixing, and into composing?
Falk: I’ve always loved music. I’m also unabashedly a video game freak, and I grew up in what many people call the golden age of video game music – from Sonic (heh) to Final Fantasy’s many soundtracks, orchestral and arranged albums, to Guilty Gear’s heavy rock, to countless other franchises out there with melodies you can’t forget almost two decades later. I guess I had a lot of musical inspiration and developed an open mind and an appreciation for practically every genre under the sun. Even dubstep, recently. although I’m more of a complextro guy myself.
I guess at some point I also wanted to write my own stuff. Coming from a very nerdstatus background, I approached composition in front of a computer rather than sitting in front of a particular instrument. Cakewalk had just released Home Studio (this was early 2000′s) and a bunch of friends and I were really into recording our band’s music into a computer, which we found hilarious because it took next to no budget in comparison.
Later on, my job for a few years actually was almost everything audio related in a Korean rhythm action game, which included pretty much the entire pipeline from sourcing material, negotiating rights, engineering the stems into the game’s format and developing gameplay. I guess that laid a lot of the technical foundation regarding working with existing material.
VizardJeffhog: Backtracking a bit, but you mentioned you were in a band? Can you tell us a bit more about that?
Falk: Church worship band. Due to the context, people came and left quite often and you’d have different people leading the group from week to week. There was a ‘core’ bunch of us (lack of a better word, we weren’t core so much as we were also a group of friends) who wanted to go that extra mile, and we eventually recorded a live concert album of original songs for closed distribution.
VizardJeffhog: As you were growing up, did you have any particular musical idols? If so, how have they contributed to your work?
Falk: Hands down the biggest influence would probably have to be Nobuo Uematsu (what a surprise) The stuff he wrote was memorable, with many ‘cliche’ chord progressions which had genius usage yet were fundamentally simple. There also were a lot of great Japanese composers other than Nobuo Uematsu – From Yasunori Mitsuda to Noriyuki Iwadare all of which could create virtually any mood they wanted. They truly were masters of the craft.
In terms of guitar work, the time I was -really- getting into guitar/bass stuff coincided with Sonic Adventure, and tracks like Emerald Coast and Station Square along with the character themes really resonated. I guess you could call it a refinement of a lot of equally ‘cliche’ J-Pop chord progressions, with equally genius usage. So yeah, a lot of my guitar playing was influenced by none other than Jun Senoue.
VizardJeffhog: Out of curiosity… how many instruments do you play?
Falk: As of now? None! I haven’t kept up with practice. Over the years I’ve felt my calling shifted to being more of a production guy.
I can ‘fake’ guitars and bass well enough to sample my own stuff for my compositions, and, having dabbled previously with piano, bass, guitar, and drums, it gives me at least an understanding of what’s physically possible and what isn’t, even if I’m not up to the level of performing what I write for those instruments.
VizardJeffhog: Now, how would you describe your sound to those who’ve never heard your music before?
Falk: I don’t know if there’s a definite answer for that, hahaha! I do plan on making audio in games a career, and on the music side of that, I feel that diversity is quite a key element in getting that gig. Don’t get me wrong, there are loads of people who do one genre/type of music and are really, -really- good at what they do, but I do want to keep my options open, perhaps a little at the risk of becoming a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none. Still, there are people who not only compose, but produce in a multitude of styles, and do it -well-. Masashi Hamauzu’s work on FF13/13-2 for one. Richard Jacques and his ridiculously huge arsenal of music for another. I really look up to those guys.
In fact, I’ve actively been trying to diversify for the Sonic BTS’12 soundtrack. A lot of people may cry heresy that I didn’t go the VOPM/16-bit route. I personally don’t really care. Chiptune had its time. I do appreciate it in certain contextual situations today. Wanting everything to sound chiptune just because it’s chiptune, on the other hand, is probably just as silly to me as wanting an 80′s disco remix of everything just because it’s disco.
VizardJeffhog: Fair arguments indeed, and great points too! Now, I’m certain this question has been brought up a few times, so: what are the tools you use in music producing?
Falk: Cakewalk SONAR. Been using their products since forever. That’s just the framework though; DAWs really aren’t all that much of a factor anymore as what you use within them. I use quite a plethora of sample libraries for my ‘real instruments’, from Mojo Horns for big band, to Symphobia and Cinebrass for orchestrals, a smattering of others for percussion and such. I track guitars and bass directly into a PODxt unit which I’ve had since forever. Over the years I’ve gone from using Sytrus to Reason to Massive for most of my synth work, and I’m a big fan of Vengeance sample packs for all kinds of electronic drums.
That’s my humble home studio. In a professional context, you’d want to use as large a fraction of live players as you can. I’m definitely at home in front of a large format console running Pro Tools (this is the major I’m finishing off at Berklee – music production and engineering) for recording and mixing, so there’s that too. Oftentimes I’ll take what I’m working on down to one of the Berklee studios just to monitor on speakers in a good room.
VizardJeffhog: How does the creation process usually go when it comes to remixing or composing?
Falk: Since a lot of what I do is contextual, I usually work out the framework first. In the film scoring world particularly, when writing music to a linear, fixed medium, most of the time you have these hard limits as to where things have to fall. For that kind of context it’s not uncommon for a composer to completely map out tempo, tempo changes, meter changes, and so on before even putting down a single notes. When you need a dramatic hit to occur right at that point, or the music to tail off before a scene change, that’s the most important thing.
In terms of genre or style, I guess a lot of that boils down to inspiration. I’m a very visual person and oftentimes what I’m presented speaks to me as to what might go well with it.
I guess I should go out of my way here to say I’m also a very theoretical person. To me, music theory isn’t a set of rules. That’s a common misconception. There isn’t a council of old men with beards sitting in giant chairs setting rules as to what you can or cannot do. Okay, maybe there was, 500 years ago… To me, theory is an attempt to quantify what sounds right, in an effort to properly communicate those ideas between people in a standard manner. Theory doesn’t define music. Music defines theory. With that in mind, I’ve found that contemporary theory has helped me dissect what other brilliant composers have done, and allowed me to add those musical functions to my own bag of tricks, if you will.
Oftentimes I’ll approach a piece with a smattering of things that I absolutely want to try out and work from there. Sometimes this is borderline plagiarism, but the more you listen to different music, the more you realize that there really are a finite number of permutations things can have. Obviously, this isn’t a license to myself to go rip off the Jaws theme, for example!
Speaking of the Jaws theme, notice the similarity between that and Sonic’s drowning jingle?
VizardJeffhog: I’m surprised I haven’t seen a mash-up of it on YouTube yet. But yeah, they are pretty similar!
So, you have original, non-Sonic based music around, right? Would you mind telling us a little bit about those?
Falk: Hahaha, you know, I’ve actually written more original music and done more arrangements for Sonic BTS ’12 than I have the rest of my life put together, not counting college assignments. That being said though, the vast majority of stuff prior to that would probably have been more of an experimental phase, for me to practice my production chops in a specific genre. That being said, there are a couple of original tracks that were simply inspired by events in my life. Our Journey Never Ends, the first thing on my Soundcloud Spotlight page is one of those.
VizardJeffhog: Do you plan on making a few more of those in the future? Have you ever thought of releasing an album?
Falk: John Lennon once said: “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans”. I write non-contextual stuff only really when something inspires me to, so who knows?
Releasing an album? That depends what you mean. An album of original music, no plans at the moment. You’ll be the first to know when a commercial soundtrack album I’ve produced or been a part of hits the distribution channels though!
VizardJeffhog: Awesome! Thanks dude, I’ll be looking forward to it should it come to be! Now, onto the more hedgehogy stuff!
Act 2 – Hedgehog Heights
VizardJeffhog: What is it about Sonic music that you enjoy the most?
Falk: Variety!
That may seem like a recurring thing so far, but I really do enjoy how the franchise has evolved musically over the years, from the simple yet memorable (yet complex starlightzoneoafjlsdjalfkasdf) tunes of S1/2 to the extremely chirpy upbeat offerings of 3&K, to the rock Dreamcast/Saturn era, to the more recent infatuation with orchestral scores and location-based music of Sonic Unleashed. I feel like at this point of time the franchise has come full circle with Colors and Generations delving quite a bit into dance styles. But honestly (if you don’t mention Chronicles), I don’t think there hasn’t been a Sonic soundtrack I don’t find value in just due to how it brings something new to the table. Even the bad games.
VizardJeffhog: Alrighty, next! When you’re set to remix Sonic music, what makes you pick a specific track, and how do you go about changing it?
Falk: Oftentimes this stems from playing a certain level and hearing similarities in -something- between the music that’s actually playing and something that I’ve heard before. Anything from melody, to chord progressions, to rhythms. I start wondering ‘what if that other song was made for this level instead?’ and it goes off from there. Stylistically that remix might not even end up sounding anything like the two parent tracks.
Other times (and this is a protip!) I really want to understand the intricacies of the chord progression or whatever else catches my fancy in a piece of music, and the two options are to either try to recreate the original as close as possible, or to apply that to a different style. Both options are valuable in terms of production experience, and they both go back to theory helping you figure out what people have done musically in the past and why they do it.
VizardJeffhog: And when you’re set to actually compose Sonic music, how do you usually go about it?
Falk: Nailing the visuals. To me that’s the most important thing. This actually applies to all kinds of contextual compositions but in terms of Sonic I guess there’s quite a little bit of precedent in terms of level tropes and what people have come to expect.
For example, a lot of people associate mountains with Red Mountain from Sonic Adventure or more recently Sweet Mountain from Colors. That meant that I absolutely wanted to try to include Big Band writing in some form for Rocky Ride in Sonic BTS’12.
Another thing is I try to avoid being predictable. I mentioned earlier that the most valuable thing I’ve found in the franchise is variety. One facet of this is not simply taking the instrumentation of a particular trope and writing something new with it. The other facet is avoiding ‘simple harmony’. There’s virtually no Sonic music that’s written in block chords without some form of borrowed dominants or modulations. Even Green Hill Zone is a plethora of 7th chords and has a bunch of modulations right before the song ends/loops.
VizardJeffhog: And this would apply to your Be Cool, Be Wild tracks too, right? What was the composition process like behind that one?
Falk: Hahaha, first and foremost, that was a college assignment, so there were several restrictions involved. I guess that’s a hybrid of a remix and an original composition. Firstly, in terms of nailing the trope (or location, in this case), I looked at the original music and asked myself what I wanted to keep, which included the base chord progression and the violin lead that tied the music beautifully to the European setting. The actual assignment requirement was to have three different styles or settings or moods or whatever that could seamlessly flow from one to another. It was essentially an exercise in interactive music, something that’s a -lot- more important in western game dev than in Japan, at least until recently.
I tried to be ambitious. I told myself: “Why not take a Sonic Unleashed level, and instead of just doing 3 moods or 3 sections, do 3 sections x 3 moods?” I wanted the genre to change depending on how well the player was performing, and I wanted the song to flow in terms of structure from one section to another depending on the position in the level.
I then ran through the level almost a dozen times, trying to get a feel for which sections might make the best transition points, how fast/slow a typical player might experience the level, and worked out appropriate form/lengths that I’d have to compose.
I did the ‘middle’ genre first, the Rock genre, then remixed it for the fast/slow versions. Ultimately due to the assignment deadline looming, I had to scale back and drop the slow version.
Imagine my surprise/chagrin/amusement when I found out that SEGA/Sonic Team were doing the -exact same thing- in terms of fast/slow track swapping for Generations with Green Hill and Sky Sanctuary. Even more coincidentally, Generations launched on the exact same day that I was to present my project in class. I didn’t get much sleep that night…
VizardJeffhog: Did you get a good mark on that assignment though?
Falk: Yup!
VizardJeffhog: That’s a relief!
Falk: I should give a shout out to Michael Sweet who teaches the bulk of video game related courses at Berklee. He’s an awesome sounding board and the worst (i.e. best) musical critic one could have in terms of scoring for video games. He did the original XBOX360 jingle – the one that played when you start up the console.
VizardJeffhog: No way! Dude, that’s awesome! [Hi Michael!]
Now… Did you ever imagine that your assignment/demo reel would’ve gotten a high level of attention among the Sonic community? It’s been featured around in quite a few places, for not only your kickass composition, but for the music literally going hand-in-hand with the stage!
Falk: To be quite frank? …nope. The first comment I got on that video was a “lololol” and a dislike. I’ve never really been one to care about rates/comments/subs/views/etc., just for the record… It definitely was a pleasant surprise and became a point of discussion in the same class; Michael puts a lot of emphasis about how to market yourself out there in the industry.
VizardJeffhog: And today, you’re working on a number of Sonic music related projects too, right?
Falk: I’ve mentioned Sonic BTS’12 a few times. That’s a special edition of LakeFeperd’s Sonic Before the Sequel, one of the best fan creations I’ve ever played. We’ve essentially given the game a completely new soundtrack–haha, I caught myself nearly saying ‘original’. There are a lot of remixes and cameos in the material that I hope people find entertaining!
I’m also helping the Generations Unleashed PC Porting team with the hub world music, and contributing to an as-of-now-top-secret compilation.
I’m also looking forward to collaborating with the BTS sound crew on LakeFeperd’s new fangame, After the Sequel!
VizardJeffhog: Top secret compilation, you say? This sounds delicious…
Falk: I’m not at liberty to say just yet!
VizardJeffhog: Don’tcha worry, I won’t prod you about it. Looking forward to it nonetheless! Now… do you have any specific favourites among your remixes and compositions? Which ones and why?
Falk: Probably Arcane Altitude 2 and the final boss. They’re a mishmash of different styles.
VizardJeffhog: Concerning Before the Sequel’12, you’ve mentioned that there are other musicians contributing their work as well! Could you tell us who they are and how they have contributed to the rerelease’s soundtrack? How about in the upcoming Sonic After the Sequel?
Falk: For BTS’12, there essentially are zones that are done completely by people other myself. This may sound a little selfish as a base reason, but BTS’12 is ultimately a training ground of sorts for me. Amidst everything, I wanted to get some practice producing a soundtrack that had different contributors yet gelled together as a cohesive unit, and all it entails, from communicating a concept all the way to the soundtrack’s mastering stage.
KgZ did the music for Lost Levels Act 2 – Wood Zone and Perilous Paradise, Funk Fiction did the music for Metro Madness and Acts 1 through 3 of Titanic Tower, and Ristar (the dude, not the game!) did the music for Fortress Flow.
Also, as part of my ‘practice’, I remixed a friend’s vocal song, Departure by Yuri Matsuura (sung by Ai Ichikawa), as the theme for Sunset Star.
That being said, these folks, along with all the musicians who contributed performances are all awesome musicians/composers and I’m glad to have made the contacts I have throughout the project. Their work fits the game like a glove and I wouldn’t have had it any other way!
For After the Sequel… well, I’ll be quite honest, I’ve consciously avoided thinking too much about it for now as I wanted to focus solely on BTS. LakeFeperd definitely has interest in specific additional contributors and finishing off the soundtrack in a more timely/organized manner… which is something I need to brush up on. Dohohoh!
VizardJeffhog: Can’t wait to see what you guys will cook up in ATS if the soundtrack here is of any indication! I’m also curious as to who Lake has in mind… but I’ll leave it a secret for now! So, what is your first Sonic game, and which is your current favourite and why?
Falk: Sonic 1. Favorite would probably have to be Unleashed. I’m one of the weirdos who actually -enjoyed- the night stages for what they were, plus it still currently has the highest skill curve for speedruns in my opinion, even not counting QSS spammage and level glitches. Plus, it had what I consider to be one of the more appropriate storylines in the series. Not too whimsical, yet not too seriousface.
VizardJeffhog: You and me both, dude… Now, which Sonic game do you find has the best soundtrack, and why?
Falk: DON’T DO THIS TO ME, I DON’T KNOW!
VizardJeffhog: EVERY MUSICIAN’S NIGHTMARE QUESTION!
Falk: …Sonic Chronicles!
VizardJeffhog: Pfhahaha!
Falk: Actually, Sonic Generations because it’s a representation of 20 years of the franchise. COP OUT ANSWER!
VizardJeffhog: Bahahahaha!!
ANYWAYS… have you ever considered doing collaborative music?
Falk: BTS’12 is a collaboration! Or, it was meant to be. I originally planned for people to remix each other’s work for the different acts, but there were a lot of other complexities involved that made it really hard. I’m definitely going to explore that option again in ATS.
Outside that though, out in the industry pretty much everything is a collaboration, whether you’re producing a song for a record, getting a specific performance out of a player, or simply working on a composition together, pretty much the vast majority of musicianship is a form of collaboration, and being able to work with people is important. More important than raw talent, to be quite honest.
VizardJeffhog: Huh… I haven’t really thought of it in that way before, but you’re right! In any case, besides After the Sequel, what are your current and future plans?
Falk: Graduate, get a job! Hahahaha. Who knows how much time I’ll have for ‘freebies’ when I start having to put food on the table?
VizardJeffhog: Right-o… It’s good and all to contribute your efforts, but you’ll still be needing income, so that’ll have to be a priority! Now, before we go, is there anything you would like to say to our readers and your fans? And what advice would you give to aspiring musicians?
Falk: Nope.
VizardJeffhog: HA!
Falk: Kidding! Two things for musicians.
1) Theory isn’t a set of rules. Theory is understanding. It’s your best friend. 2) Writer’s block is 80% a lack of self-confidence. Chip away at something instead of thinking what a monumental task it is, and someone somewhere out there is bound to like it.
Other than that, it’s Dr. Eggman, not Dr. Robotnik, get over it, lalalalala!
VizardJeffhog: Falk, it’s been a pleasure! Thank you very much for your time!
Falk: No prob!
VizardJeffhog: Now, let’s see if we can do this again sometime, maybe with the others… How about after the sequel? D’ohohoho!
Act Clear!
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What a guy, eh? I hope you’ve all taken some notes, because Falk gave quite a few tips back there! I could use a few of them myself…
In any case, if you’ve enjoyed this week’s Sound Check, why not check out some additional material?
- First things first, the fan game itself! If you want to take a crack at LakeFeperd’s Sonic Before the Sequel 2012, the download link is right here! A Mac port is also available, courtesy of Guess Who from Sonic Retro! If you crave more, why not try out the SAGE demo to Sonic After the Sequel?
- Of course, you’ll want to download that sexy delicious soundtrack, won’t you? If not, well, you should! Links to the MP3 and FLAC versions of the soundtrack are found here! You can also find some interesting tidbits about each track as well as artist commentaries on the game’s YouTube channel.
- While you’re at it, why not
stalkkeep track of the people behind the OST? Soundcloud links to Falk, Ristar, KgZ, and Funk Fiction, yes! - The soundtrack’s album cover was made by neronz/Tokyo7 on deviantART, aptly titled A Lost Genesis Game!
- Read a bit more on LakeFeperd and Falk’s efforts on TSSZ!
- Don’t forget to check up the previous Sound Check with Ring Energy!
Special thanks to LakeFeperd for contributing the banner/featured image!
The Sound Check will take a short break as I have quite a few finds and submissions to look over, so stay tuned as we resume Sound Test Saturday next week! Quite a slew of original music for the most part, so that’ll be tons of fun! But don’t go too far, as I’ll be joined by a special guest from Sonic Paradox on our next Sound Check…
…and I hope you like piano/electronic covers~! Join me and Dr. Mack Foxx on the next round!Found an interesting remix, cover, or original track? Have something of your own you would like to see featured on Sound Test Saturday? Or is there an artist in particular whose material deserves more recognition? If you’ve answered yes to any of the above, then don’t hesitate to send what you found and what you got over to vizardjeffhog@sonicstadium.org!