"nanoBots" is a concept album inspired by video game music from the Sega Genesis & 16-bit era. All songs composed on & for the RYM2612 in Propellerhead Reason. Here's link to the interview ReasonTalk did about it!
www.reasontalk.com/2017/10/album-spotlight-nanobots-god-rainbows/
I started this album as an EP as an entry in the ReasonTalk forum thread "One synth EP Challenge"
forum.reasontalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=7497676.
Since I won this synth in "Reasonistas and Mathieu Demange's RYM2612 Iconic FM Synthesizer Song Challenge" (
forum.reasontalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=7497583&p=294084&hilit=rym2612#p294084), I decided to spend more time getting exploring what it can do, & I'm glad because if I released a few months ago as I planned, I wouldn't have later spawned several ideas that I really like, such as the voice synthesis-type sounds on nanoRacers (Oh Yeah) & One Giant nanoStep, & several other songs.
All sounds, including most percussion, are generated by the RYM2612, except where I briefly play some instruments. & my voice saying "nanoBots rise" in nanoBots: EVOLUTION.
The only sampled drums used are in nanoBrutes, nanoBot Celebration, & nanoBots: EVOLUTION, but all songs have a lot of RYM2612 generated percussion mixed in. The sampled kicks & snares used are from various Sega Genesis games. The specific game they are from will be listed under the song details for songs in which they are used.
I wanted to blend in some live performance too, so on nanoBattle I play electric guitar. In nanoCat Dungeon I very briefly attempt to play flute. In nanoFairy Fountain, I play some nylon string guitar towards the end. In Death Of A nano: RETALIATION, I attempt also to play cello in the intro. In nanoBrutes I play more electric guitar.
All high hats and cymbals (except brief use of Reason soundbank real cymbal in nanoBots: EVOLUTION, & the end of Quantum Computing) are the RYM2612. I made use out of Reason's The Echo's wobble & diffusion to make them less harsh & more organic.
The "ooh yeah" in nanoBot Racers is the RYM2612 saying it! Not me! It was an accident that it started sounding like voice synthesis, so I tweaked as best I could to make it sound realistic.
The growling in nanoCat Dungeon, & some of the engines in nanoRacers are filtered through Numercial Sound Tone Mutation Vocals, using programs like panther, lion, alligator & whale to add an organic resonance.
Legend Of The Ancient nanoBots 2.0 & nanoBots: EVOLUTION 2.0 are (hopefully) improved versions of the originals in terms of mix/sound quality. Also, some instrumentation has been altered & some additions were made.
Reference and inspirational tracks include, but are not limited to 16-bit games from both Nintendo & Sega: all Zelda games, especially Ocarina Of Time & Wind Waker, The Immortal, Final Fantasy III & IV, Phantasy Star 3, and others. Anachronistic reference tracks include White Zombie, music from HBO's Rome, Brian Eno and others. Specific reference and inspirational tracks listed in details of each track. Reference and inspirational tracks sometimes don't resemble the end result, but they somehow sparked a song.
Album art created in Sony Movie Studio Platinum, using fonts from
dafont.com &
neosaturn.com
Box art template from
nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?StartRow=516&catid=7&threadid=53870.
Circuit board picture from
www.flickr.com/photos/creative_stock/5227842611
The insect on the cover of Legend of the Ancient nanoBots from
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/51/Rust_Mite%2C_Aceria_anthocoptes.jpg/800px-Rust_Mite%2C_Aceria_anthocoptes.jpg
See more details in each songs description.
Please comment on the quality of the mix and tell me if there's something I should fix, like too much bass, or not enough. Too harsh? Muffled? Muddy? Too loud? Too quiet? Too much compression?