Satoshi Miyashita, aka Groove King

spenoza · 05/24/2011, 12:40 PM

So, this dude is the key man responsible for the excellent LoT soundtrack. Anyone know if he's done anything else on the PCE?

Also, why on earth doesn't T's Music have a Wikipedia entry in the US site?

Tatsujin · 05/24/2011, 08:25 PM

Does the LoT (Mega CD) and the WoT (PCE) sound track come both from T's Music?

Btw. does someone know if the Dodonpachi OST comes from T's Music as well? Damn it just sounds like Sapphire.

spenoza · 05/24/2011, 09:18 PM

I do not know if the MD version is also Ts Music. The PCE version is and the music composer is Groove King. On the Hudson Best CDs, however, they are attributed to Satoshi, and Satoshi is apparently a bass player.

Tatsujin · 05/24/2011, 09:23 PM

Ah sorry, strange question from my side. Sure thing the WoT (pce) came from T's

Just wanted to know about the Mega CD version.

Thx for the add. infos

Keranu · 05/26/2011, 12:05 AM

Quote from: guest on 05/24/2011, 09:18 PMI do not know if the MD version is also Ts Music. The PCE version is and the music composer is Groove King. On the Hudson Best CDs, however, they are attributed to Satoshi, and Satoshi is apparently a bass player.

In that case, I gotta give Satoshi props for the thick bassline in the fire level of LoT; my favorite track in the game!

spenoza · 05/26/2011, 09:52 AM

I have a lot of respect for bass players and drummers who turn out to be fine composers, considering that they play instruments that are not associated with melody lines.

hoobs88 · 05/26/2011, 10:13 AM

Quote from: Keranu on 05/26/2011, 12:05 AM
Quote from: guest on 05/24/2011, 09:18 PMI do not know if the MD version is also Ts Music. The PCE version is and the music composer is Groove King. On the Hudson Best CDs, however, they are attributed to Satoshi, and Satoshi is apparently a bass player.
In that case, I gotta give Satoshi props for the thick bassline in the fire level of LoT; my favorite track in the game!

My favorite track too!

geise · 05/26/2011, 07:25 PM

Man I've been meaning to post an interview with the guys at T's Music from the 1st and "almost" only issue of GameGo Magazine. It's a pretty decent interview. I'll have to scan it and post it.

ParanoiaDragon · 05/26/2011, 11:35 PM

Post it now!!

spenoza · 05/26/2011, 11:58 PM

geise, please do post it. I would really like to read it.

Tatsujin · 05/27/2011, 12:17 AM

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OldRover · 05/27/2011, 03:55 PM

The soundtrack for the Sega CD version of LoT was NOT produced by Ts Music but in-house staff at Hudson Soft.

SOURCE: a letter from Sega Of America in 1998, which I unfortunately no longer have.

Tatsujin · 05/27/2011, 09:22 PM

Great thanks Rove and the others for the infos

spenoza · 05/28/2011, 12:02 AM

So Hudson re-performed all the tracks? They certainly didn't simply remix them. The sounds is too far off. Now, the PCE tracks aren't perfect. They tend to go all quiet in places to keep the volume steady, which is somewhat normal in most music, but they overdo it and the transitions aren't subtle. But the actual performances are fantastic. The Sega CD soundtrack sounds a little cleaner and clearer, but it's junk. Who wants cleaner, clearer bad versions of songs? It's like a modern, but crappy, Beatles cover band. Their recordings, if made in modern studios, might sound a little sharper, but their covers suck so why bother?

SignOfZeta · 05/28/2011, 12:45 PM

Quote from: guest on 05/26/2011, 09:52 AMI have a lot of respect for bass players and drummers who turn out to be fine composers, considering that they play instruments that are not associated with melody lines.

I started playing bass about two years ago. I initially got into it because I considered it an idiot's instrument that anyone could play and it would compliment the skills I have in other idiotic instruments. I also wanted to sound like Peter Hook.

After studying it for a while though I realized I was wrong. Its true that anyone can play bass if you show them how, but after learning to play a bunch of songs I starting to listen really close to every song for the bass line. What I've learned is that bass is HUGELY important to song writing. Its not just a tone that plays in part with the guitar. Honestly, a lot of times its the other way around. Take a band like Iron Maiden, for example. Their bass player is possibly he most important member of the band. He writes almost all the music and he's the only guy (I think) that has been in the band uninterrupted since its creation. Honestly...even though we all love Maiden for Bruce Dickinson (we do all love Maiden, right?) Steve Harris is more important because the band and its songs wouldn't even exist without him.

Another band I like, The Killers (so sue me) is heavily bass dependent. Many of their songs pretty much are the basslines. The guitar chords could just be synth chords added in post and do the same job.

Also, The Cure. They do a lot more with bass than most bands, playing New Order style with more FX. Lots of high notes, melody, etc. But even so the bass is absolutely integral and in this case as well the bassist is a huge part of making the music.

Now, if you want to start a Kiss tribute band (because we need more of those) then...the guy you know with the least musical talent? Give him the bass. Since he's not writing anything and we're only talking about Kiss songs (Kiss music is shit, btw) his job will be really easy. Anyone can do that as long as they have two functioning arms. The bassist's role in a real band though is really fucking important. Once the drums and bass are there, the rhythm is established, the key is established, the guitarist...all that's really required of him is to complete the last %15 of a jigsaw puzzle.

Unfortunately, as with many things, its really hard to convince people of this until they've done it themselves, and at that point it doesn't work because when a bass player says that the bass player is crucial, it just sounds like a guy defending his useless station in life.

roflmao · 05/28/2011, 01:40 PM

Great post, Zeta. Speaking of amazing bassists, I'm going to see Primus next week. Very excited. Haven't seen 'em in ages. Glad to see them as the original lineup again.

I've never really tried to play the bass, but I can't play the guitar for squat. Love playing the drums though (not very good at that either, but it sure is fun)!

OldRover · 05/28/2011, 02:12 PM

Bass players are way more important than usually given credit for. AFAIK, the composer for the original Sonic The Hedgehog was a bass player in a band as well.

Keranu · 05/28/2011, 08:13 PM

Toe Jam & Earl, best video game bass lines evar! Soundtrack itself even stacks up well amongst P-FUNK!

roflmao · 05/28/2011, 10:13 PM

Agreed.

spenoza · 05/29/2011, 12:31 AM

Some bands do just fine with very simple bass lines that are largely for rhythm. Other bands do very well with very complicated bass lines (see Rush for an extreme example of this). The good bands could be argued to be good probably in part because they are exceptions (thus exceptional). In general, though, bass players are often less melodically and harmonically inclined. That's why I really do like it when they step up. Drummers too. Dream Theater's now former drummer was an integral part of the team, musically and organizationally, and Rush's drummer is their primary lyricist. Again, however, these are exceptional examples.

On the other hand, there are a lot of people who pick up a guitar and play lead by only playing very simple melodies and who have very poor tonality. I wish these were exceptions, but alas...

SignOfZeta · 05/29/2011, 01:00 AM

Well, that's the thing. Everyone thinks that a "good" bassist has to be Flea or Billy Bass Nelson, that they have to do crazy solos and stand out bouncy bad-ass-ness...but that's not really true. Sometimes a really great bassist doesn't do anything that actually sounds special on its own. See: Paul McCarty.

A really great example is the Cure song "Just Like Heaven". Anyone could be taught to play this song, its easy as hell. The song couldn't exist without it though, or rather it could but it never would. The other parts are clearly written around it. Its fully integrated though, it doesn't stand out like "Another One Bites the Dust" or "Good Times", but once you've learned to play it, or even just learned to listen for it, you understand how important it is. You also understand the bassist much have been a huge part of the creation of the song

spenoza · 05/29/2011, 10:13 AM

I can't argue otherwise.

geise · 05/30/2011, 07:46 PM

I have my GameGo Magazine at work cause I've been meaning to scan it there. Mine went out a year ago and I've been lazy getting another one. Luckily it's been slow at work so I'll have plenty of time to scan it on Tuesday after Memorial Day.

I remember when I beat Lords of Thunder for the first time and saw it said Groove King I was thinking "Shit, did one guy to all the instruments?".

With all the talk of bass players recently gotta say I love the Mats/Morgan band. Tommy Tordsson plays bass for them. Great stuff if you're into Jazz/Fusion/Electronic/Progressive stuff.

roflmao · 05/30/2011, 09:02 PM

Quote from: geise on 05/30/2011, 07:46 PMWith all the talk of bass players recently gotta say I love the Mats/Morgan band. Tommy Tordsson plays bass for them. Great stuff if you're into Jazz/Fusion/Electronic/Progressive stuff.

That's some neat stuff. I originally read that as Tommy Tallarico.

spenoza · 05/30/2011, 11:12 PM

You know, the information as to whether Miyashita performed all the instruments just doesn't exist. The Hudson CDs say he's the composer. The game credits simply refer the Music to Groove King. Maybe Groove King was a band put together specifically to record for Lords of Thunder and Miyashita composed all the tracks. Then again, it is entirely possible that Miyashita isn't just a bassist but rather a multi-instrumentalist who is best known for his bass tracks. In that case he could indeed have recorded the entire album multi-tracked. The drums sound real to me but I've learned over the years that I don't have a good ear for that. Drum machines were probably good enough back them in terms of using high quality samples that for the purposes of LoT he wouldn't have to be an actual drummer to lay down some good percussion tracks. In that case he'd just need to be a bassist and electric guitarist. Anyone know drums well enough to tell me if that soundtrack sounds like it was performed on a real trap or could reasonably have been put together by a talented enough instrumentalist with a good drum sample kit?

OldRover · 06/06/2011, 01:55 AM

Drum machines back then were definitely advanced enough to pull off the LoT soundtrack. I used to use an Alesis drum machine (I forget the model, like MKT-660 or something like that) even before that time, and it was easy to make it sound completely natural, with human-like delays and slight variance in volume for each hit. Indistinguishable from a real drummer most of the time.

SignOfZeta · 06/06/2011, 02:39 AM

Yeah, certainly samplers were good enough back then to fake a real drummer.

If there ever is a dead give away in fake drumming its usually in the composition itself, not in the performance.

That being said, I'm pretty sure this soundtrack was done with real instruments. Its easier to hire a session drummer than to program a machine. It could also be all one guy multi-tracked, or maybe just two or three guys.

spenoza · 06/06/2011, 11:38 AM

Quote from: SignOfZeta on 06/06/2011, 02:39 AMYeah, certainly samplers were good enough back then to fake a real drummer.

If there ever is a dead give away in fake drumming its usually in the composition itself, not in the performance.

That being said, I'm pretty sure this soundtrack was done with real instruments. Its easier to hire a session drummer than to program a machine. It could also be all one guy multi-tracked, or maybe just two or three guys.

This is my suspicion as well. I was a percussionist in middle and high school, but I never got behind the trap. That said, I listen to a lot of bands that have particularly good drummers, and the composition of the drum tracks suggest that even if it wasn't performed on an actual trap it was put together on a drum machine by someone who has a clue and understands percussion.

When I was younger I foolishly thought GoT might be real percussion, but now that I'm older and wiser I'm pretty sure it's not.