ALRIGHTY THEN.  Time to drop a knowledge bomb on you regarding the Chiptunes = WIN \m|♥|m/compilation as hard as I can! =D

First, if you haven’t watched the promo video yet, DO THAT NOW:

To reiterate what was stated in that awesomely ridiculous  video, the 51 track Chiptunes MEGA compilation releases on June 5th at midnight via Bandcamp immediately  following the 8 Bit Power Hour listening party starting at 8pm Eastern time on Areciboradio. A link to the Facebook event page for that can be found right here.

In the meantime, stay tuned on Mondays to Geekbeat LeRadio on Unregular Radio, &  Nerd Rock Radio with Samuel Mulligan on WMFO Medford 91.5 FM for project news and teaser tracks from the upcoming compilation! Will hear different tracks on both programs on every show leading up to the release date!

Also, for more information and Chiptuney goodness feel free to check out the Chiptunes = WIN \m|♥|m/ Facebook page, the 8bitx blog page, and, of course, the 450+ member strong Facebook group that started it all! =D

And did I mention yet that Dj Cutman is mastering the entire project? EXACTLY.  8)

So hold on to your butts, because in only two weeks!!!!!  teh Chiptune craziness is ON LIKE A NECKBONE!! 

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The Legend of Zelda.  Any gamer worth their weight in rupees is a fan of at least one of the games from this long lived series of awesome (and if not, may an octorok launch a spiky ball up your arse!!  :3 ) One among many, many  reasons that this is true has to do with the excellent music that accompanies every  Zelda game. And while there has been plenty of Zelda love among the VGM community over the years, there hasn’t really been any albums that were solely devoted to it.

ENTER CORY JOHNSON.

This dude that I’d never even heard of  before Jmr’s Open Circuit listening party on Areciboradio last weekend just up and released this INDESCRIBABLY amazing 23 track  Legend of Zelda tribute album. Turns out it’s actually been around a year in the making and you can damn well tell  by the quality of it! Stylistically it’s a mix of prog rock, post-rock, blues, western country, jazz piano AND ZORA KNOWS WTF ELSE!!!  Regardless, the end result is this stirring EPIC  – in the TRUEST sense of the word – of Zelda love and musicality far beyond the norm.
IT’S ABSO-F**KIN-LUTELY BEAUTIFUL. I mean, seriously, that sums it up, because how often do you hear someone describe a VGM album with the term “BEAUTIFUL“?? Also, the guy needs to get a band happening so I can see his ass play at MAGFest; would be a killer  show. SO GET ON THAT, VGM MUSICIANS!!!!   ;D ANYWHO, enough words already! HEY LISTEN!!  to it already and then promptly go bug the deku nuts out of Cory on Twitter about how awesome it is so he’ll keep making more fantastic VGMusic. DEFINITELY  will be your good deed of the day/week/month/year/EVAR.  ;)

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My netlabel GameChops is hosting it’s first remix contest for Powerglove, the tune Benjamin Briggs and I did together. Here’s your chance to take this brand new track and edit, change, mix and wreck it in whichever way you see fit! Are you an audio nerd who just likes listening to stems? [I am, had to ask :] Well they’re free, so head over to GameChops, download the stems and start remixing!

We took a sample from the Nintendo game Mig 29 Soviet Fighter and transformed it into a dirty, loud, electrohouse track! Featuring samples from the movie The Wizard, this tune is so good it can only be described as “so bad.” Have a listen:

Ready to make this track your own at a chance to win a release on GameChops? Head over to the Remix Stems page, download and get to mixing! Submission deadline is June 25th!

This post is long overdue! Jimmy Hinson, also known as Big Giant Circles, is a BAFTA-nominated music composer, rexmier, gamer, and staff member at Overclocked Remix. He’s best known for his work on BioWare’s epic Mass Effect 2, but this post is about something equality as epic, but in a different direction…

Imposer Nostalgia is BGC’s tribute to the game music of old, utilizing samples and synths to create compelling and energetic ‘fakebit’ chiptune. For those not familiar, ‘fakebit’ is a term for music that sounds like 8-bit, but in reality has many more bits. so many bits! This 20 track album is the cream of the crop of chiptune style compositions, with killer production that exhibits BGC’s expertise for sound design and mixing. Imposer Nostalgia is not to be missed. I digress, on to the music!

The album is available from Bandcamp for $5, or $10 for a hard-copy. Follow Big Giant Circles on Facebook and Twitter.

Hai friends. Following up with the three Chiptune covers I posted earlier today is something I spent my whole weekend on: A chiptune remix of Skrillex’s new song, Voltage. Using production techniques similar to my hit Daft Punk – Something About Us remix, including a heavily filtered vocal sample for the original song. I spent a lot of time EQing to get the chiptune sounds to feel “full”, without combatting the vocals or bass instrument I created. As an homage to Skrillex, I have one instance of the synth Massive running in this remix. See if you can pick it out!

I feel like I summed up my feelings pretty well in the Soundcloud description, so here’s a little copy/pasta:

A lot of people rag on Skrillex now that he’s super popular grammy award winning gothic looking twenty something, but something always stuck with me about his songs. Even after the initial “wow-factor” of his trademark dubstep monster sounds wore off, I found myself remembering his melodies. Could it be that they’re actually well-written pieces of music? I took the Skrillex song Voltage and re-created it with Magic 8bit, basic processing in ableton, and a heavy dose of EQ, to create this piece. The harsh and crazy nature of the original dubstep tune is replaced with the light-hearted, optimistic chiptune arpeggios and square lead. An intensely sculpted vocal sample gives the piece context, although I feel it works without.

And the original piece by Sonny Moore, aka Skrillex:

And finally, the piano arrangement I used as a basis for my Chiptune remix was composed by Evan Duffy. Here he is playing his arrangement, which is beautiful.

Finally, the MIDI from Evan Duffy’s cover was programmed by someone who goes by “Tilt”. If you have a passion for rock solid MIDI arrangements ( I mean, who doesn’t?! right guyyz? ; ) check out Tilt’s website.

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