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FamiTracker
I want to try and do tracks in Tim Follin style (ie Silver Surfer and Solstice) but I'm not sure where to get started. I've done several basic covers and my own tiny little compositions, so I guess I have a little experience. So should I just cover several of his songs and see if I can reflect that off of my own covers somehow? And if I do covers, which ones should I do?
Covering his tunes is the best way to start, really. And just study and dissect his instrumentation. Composition style is also important, most of Tim's tunes were really progressive rock based. Though honestly I think user VinylScratch has a better grasp on it all.
As for covers, Silver Surfer is a good place to start. Pictionary, etc. Games like Treasure Master and Solstice are a lot more complicated.
I think it really just comes down to listening to all of his work. The thing with Tim Follin's sound design is the more of his work you listen to, the more you learn about his sound design. Sometimes, you will hear something in one game that you didn't hear in another. There are also a lot of design quirks in his music, which is why becoming familiar with it is important.
If you're going to write original music, one thing that will really help is downloading NSFs of his games, importing them via NSFImport, and studying his techniques. It will make things so much more clear. As for composition style, any form of rock is a good place to start, since most of his work was inspired by progressive rock.
I also recommend listening to Geoff Follin's work. There are a lot of ways in which Geoff's and Tim's work differ, and once you listen to both of their works enough, you will be able to tell who made what just by listening to them.
Here's the entire list of NES games Tim & Geoff Follin worked on:
- [b]The Incredible Crash Dummies[/b]
- [b]Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade[/b] (Taito version)
- [b]Kiwi Kraze[/b] (A.K.A. New Zealand Story)
- [b]Magic Johnson's Fast Break[/b]
- [b]Pictionary[/b]
- [b]Silver Surfer[/b]
+ The first of the Follin Bros' work I heard, and ultimately what got me into writing music.
- [b]Sky Shark[/b]
+ This one's quite different than his other works. It's almost comparable to the simplicity of the Mega Man soundtracks.
- [b]Solstice[/b]
- [b]Target Renegade[/b]
- [b]Terminator 2[/b]
+ The sound design in this one is just phenomenal.
- [b]Thomas the Tank Engine[/b]
- [b]Tom & Jerry[/b]
- [b]Treasure Master[/b]
- [b]Wolverine[/b]
The last thing I will say is that it will take practice. Your first tunes might not sound the greatest, but the more you write and study, the better you will get.
Awesome! Thanks so much guys! Yeah, I think I'll start off with some Silver Surfer Tunes, Pictionary, and Terminator 2, then I'll head onto maybe one or two of his Time Trax songs from the Genesis.
Awesome! Thanks so much guys! Yeah, I think I'll start off with some Silver Surfer Tunes, Pictionary, and Terminator 2, then I'll head onto maybe one or two of his Time Trax songs from the Genesis.
If you're a visual learner, try using NSFPlay Synthesia ( http://famitracker.com/forum/posts.php?id=4220 ) to play back nsfs of Tim Follin works and study how the instruments look and feel that way. Tim Follin stuff looks GREAT in this program, try it!
