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1UP's latest podcast: The Sound Test (w/ Ray Barnholt)

Thomper

Member
We've lost a David Ellis podcast, but we've gained more Ray Barnholt. And thus, the balance of the universe has been restored.
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The Sound Test is a biweekly exploration of the finest game music new and old, hosted by 1UP's Ray Barnholt.
More info here: http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=9023502

And on this (bi)week's edition:
Music from the recently-released Final Fantasy XII, Halo 3 ODST, The Magic Obelisk, an oldie from Ninja Gaiden II, and more on this first edition of The Sound Test.
Download - (21.7 MB) - Length: 0:24:06
 

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Sounds wonderful!

avatar299 said:
Final Fantasy 12?

You better be stunned by the brilliance of that choice or we can't be friends.

Somehow FFXII's music is the most stunning artistic brilliance in gaming and yet, judging by the internet, certain fans just don't have the ear for it IMO. :lol

I'm being a little facetious.. if anyone out there doesn't like that soundtrack, that's your right. I loved it though!

EDIT: OH now I see the point of your post... the podcast is actually about the recently released FF13... :p
 

Brobzoid

how do I slip unnoticed out of a gloryhole booth?
Err... Listening now and is this just Barnholt playing various tracks from video games or is he going to talk about them as well?

I'd be interested to hear about the production of the music covered in the podcast, inspirations, trends, progression of types of music used and about the composers more than just having tracks played with Ray being a radio DJ in between, because, really, video game music isn't all that fancy.
 
Banzaiaap said:
LOL @ the people passing just on the premise. At least listen before you dismiss. Harsh Gaf is harsh.

I don't have to put dog shit in my mouth to know I won't like the taste of it.

I cry at David's leaving =(
 

Brobzoid

how do I slip unnoticed out of a gloryhole booth?
Just finished. It's just Ray playing tracks. Totally anonymous ones too. Why not play remixes or arranged versions or something with a little more punch?

A thumps down from me.
 

ten13

Member
Suzzopher said:
Excellent idea. I loved the episode of Retronauts where they spoke about game music.

Agreed - that's one of my favorite gaming podcasts. Looking forward to this one.
 

Thomper

Member
Brobzoid said:
Just finished. It's just Ray playing tracks. Totally anonymous ones too. Why not play remixes or arranged versions or something with a little more punch?

A thumps down from me.
Read blogpost I linked to. Has all the info you want to hear:
That's what The Sound Test is about, but here's some notes on what to expect from it going forward. For one thing, I'm hoping to feature a lot of newer game music on the show whenever possible. In other words, this isn't Retronauts, and the aim here is to make a pleasant show for the largest number of people. Improbable? Of course! I've already indexed all the complaints I know I'll get! However, there will be the Oldie segment, where some of those good ol' blips and bleeps (or anything else I consider "old but good") can shine. Related to that, one thing you won't be hearing on the show is a lot of original chiptunes. No disrespect meant to the talented hackers/DJs/wunderkinds that make them, and that's not to say that that stuff won't ever show up, but to keep things cohesive, the rule of thumb for the show is "if it was from a game, it's game." And as this first episode proves, arrangements and remixes will be frequently highlighted.
 

GhaleonQ

Member
Hm, VGMDb does a soundtrack review/doujin news podcast that I like. Personally, I download gamerips and soundtracks of whatever's new, so this doesn't have that much use to me. If he talks briefly about HOW each one's used in the game (even if that amounted to looking them up on a video website), though, or if he ties it to a series' history, that would intrigue me a lot.

Nevertheless, I will listen, because Ray is the best.
 
Podcast opinion:

Will listen tomorrow.

My favourite video game music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4C3tk5Ykwy8

Headhunter's Jack's Theme being played at video games live, I normally wouldn't post a video from video games live, but I don't think Headhunter is popular enough to ever be played again at one of these shows. They only did it here because Richard Jacques was in attendance. I also have the OST for Headhunter Redemption which comes with the entire OST to Headhunter.

I don't have a Headhunter avatar for no reason, the music in this game is excellent, and Jacques deserves a lot of credit for what he brings to the games he works on.

http://www.richardjacques.co.uk/

He is also worthy of UK Resistance stalking him, that's got to count for something.

I also bought the Video Games Live CD, and while I like all the tunes, there were some that have no nostalgic grip on me. Warcraft, Medal of Honour, Myst they all sound excellent, but the connection to a game isn't there for me. The Castlevania medley that finishes the CD though, was enough to make me buy the original game from the Virtual Console. I needed to hear what some of that music sounded like in it's original 8-bit form and it didn't disappoint.
 

NGAMER9

Member
Really interesting concept to me, so I'll definitely listen. Does he act as a sort of DJ, commenting on the songs, or is it just a series of songs one after the other?
 

Empty

Member
Good idea, i remember loving the game music episode of Retronauts all those years ago, so more stuff kinda like that sounds good. Will check out.
 
Haven't listened yet but I love the idea, a podcast about video game music is like a dream come true. By the sounds of things though it's just Ray throwing on a few tracks, personally I'd love a bit of banter in-between, ideally I'd love them to have a bit of a chat with a composer in every episode, could be interesting if say they get the guy who made the music for Braid or Flower and chat with them while they play a couple of tracks from the game before letting them play a few of their own favourite videogame tracks.

Really looking forward to future episodes of this podcast, well played 1up.
 

careful

Member
Ray Barnholt.. That dude barely ever says anything. People ask him questions and he answers back with a yes/no. :lol
 

Chairman Yang

if he talks about books, you better damn well listen
I like this. I think more of a focus on oldies would be good (let's say a 50/50 split), along with a bit more commentary on each track. For remixes, I think at least a portion of the original song should be played for context.
 

VeRKK

Neo Member
Even though i like ray, nothing will replace the old 1up and 4g1up, they said jeremy will be the host for the new show? please... im calling bs on that... its going to be terrible.
 

Quasar

Member
I liked it for a first episode, and I like getting to hear a range of game music outside of games. Hopefully Ray can get composers and such on the podcast to talk about making their music.

I just hope if there's going to be old music (which i could probably do without) it doesn't just focus on the NES etc. Widen your horizons a bit. Look at game music from platforms like the Amiga, ST, and C64.

Really liked that it was a m4a file with chapter markers. I wish all the 1UP podcasts had chapter markers like this.
 

Kintaro

Worships the porcelain goddess
Ray to leave 1up to write music for ... <spins 1up industry wheel> ...Relic is confirmed.

Grats Ray!
 

Thomper

Member
careful said:
Ray Barnholt.. That dude barely ever says anything. People ask him questions and he answers back with a yes/no. :lol
Depends on the podcast. Among louder company on stuff like 4 Guys, 1UP, he does seem quiet. On Retronauts/ATB he talks a lot more, and quite insightfully too.

As others have said, I liked the first episode. Having the composer comment on the songs they created, or a roundtable discussion of each track's composition: I'm sure that'd be nice, but getting composers in once every two weeks seems rather impossible. And I'm sure that Ray would probably love to do that anyway; this is still just a first episode, and all that.
 
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