AudioPanicRoom

For the last show of this year, we have a selection of great game and demo tracks that touch on a wide variety of themes such as disorderly legislation, dinosaurs, Finnish polka, and the first CPC track ever to be played on the podcast. Continue reading →

The rumors are true, we are back with a new episode! This time, it's all about tracks with female vocals - in seven different languages, no less. Enjoy! Continue reading →

During the late 80s new genres of electronic music like house and techno were hitting the mainstream. These styles were also adopted by game composers and demo artists and became an ingredient of many soundtracks of the following decade. This podcast features a selection of tracks inspired by club music of that era arranged for contemporary FM sound hardware. Continue reading →

No, not that one. Frédéric Motte aka Moby is a French composer who had his start in the Amiga demo scene and also composed a number of game soundtracks for companies like Coktel Vision, Atreid Concept, and Kalisto. This playlist features a selection of tracks from the early part of his career that draw from from a wide range of influences – from rock to funk to blues and jazz. Continue reading →

A look at the Korean music scene of the 1990s. Drawing from an eclectic mix of influences ranging from arcade soundtracks to old K-pop and anime scores, it created an impressive catalog of music for the FM chips commonly found in PC sound cards of that era. Continue reading →

A podcast with music by developer and publisher Micro Cabin, best known for the Xak series and its various spin-offs. Many of their early releases originated on Japanese computers and featured an excellent line-up of composers like Tadahiro Nitta, Ryuji Sasai, Yasufumi Fukuda, and Yukiharu Urita who created some spectacular soundtracks, especially for the 'lesser' FM chips like OPLL and OPN. Continue reading →

An episode with fantastic music covering a wide area of topics such as other-worldly champions,cat secretaries, questionable learning methods, and whatever happens in Nancy's room. Enjoy! Continue reading →

Thomas Detert was a founding member of the demo group X-Ample that became a fairly prolific C64 game developer during the early 1990s. Most of the games he worked on were published on disk magazines and therefore tended to fly under the radar. This didn't prevent him from becoming a fairly respected composer of the late C64 years though, with a signature style that combines Galway-esque anthems and funky Maniacs of Noise grooves. Continue reading →

Game Arts is a game developer and publisher that is mostly known in the West for the RPG series Lunar and Grandia. The company had their start on Japanese computer systems of the 1980s, where they produced some classics like Silpheed or Thexder. Much of the catalog from this early period was scored by the sound team Mecano Associates. Continue reading →

While often derided for its shallow trial-and-error gameplay, the release of Shadow of the Beast proved to be hugely influential in the Amiga gaming scene. It's atmospheric score, featuring a mix of pan flute, synth pad, bass, and percussion, became a popular template for many games to come, eventually creating its own sub-genre of Amiga music. Continue reading →

Wolf Team was a Japanese developer that was initially formed as subsidiary of Telenet, spent a few years as an independent studio, and was later reintegrated into Telenet again. During that time they created an incredible diverse catalog of games, featuring over 50 releases in many different genres. And while their games were often just shy of something great, they are highly regarded for their excellent music, composed by a talented sound team around Motoi Sakuraba. Continue reading →

It's been a while since we had a free play show, so sit back and enjoy this 100% topic-free episode of Audio Panic Room. Continue reading →

Bjørn Lynne aka Dr.Awesome is a Norwegian composer who started his career as a member of the demo group Crusaders and went on to compose the soundtracks for a number of games on Amiga and PC. His style draws influences from genres like electronic prog, synth rock, and ambient, creating soundscapes that were pretty unique for that era of video games. Continue reading →

Welcome to Funky Town, the home of driving rhythms and groovy bass lines. This episode of Audio Panic Room features a selection of tracks that were all inspired by funk in its various guises. Continue reading →

A double-length episode featuring game music from 1990. This was the year the SNES was released in Japan, the Amiga reached its peak in Europe, and the MT-32 became the go-to device for many PC soundtracks. The playlist is supposed to reflect the very diverse gaming market of that era and is ordered roughly by release date. Continue reading →

Get ready to channel your inner Frank Sinatra with this fine selection of tunes! In today's episode we take a trip back to the 1930s with a playlist full of Swing and Swing-inspired music.  Continue reading →

An episode featuring music by Takahiro Yonemura aka Chemool. He was a founding member of the doujin circle 'Firecracker', and one of the main contributors to their series of music discs released on PC88/98 throughout the 1990s. Very proficient with both FM and MIDI hardware, he also had a fairly lengthy career in the gaming industry, composing and arranging soundtracks for publishers like Tenshindo, Giga, or TGL. Continue reading →

Carl Lewis is a former track and field athlete who won nine Olympic gold medals and is one of only three Olympic athletes who won a gold medal in the same event in four consecutive Olympic Games. This is all awesome, but did he ever spend an entire afternoon listening to MDX files? Does he know who Chris Hülsbeck is, or how different revision 3 and 4 of the SID chip can sound like? Well, I don't know to be honest, but what I do know is that I wouldn't trade nine gold medals for this stuff. Continue reading →

Codemasters were one of the UK's biggest publishers of budget games, and one of the few companies to still develop original 8-bit computer titles when most publishers had already abandoned that market in the early 90s. While most of their games originated on the ZX Spectrum, it was usually the C64 and Amiga ports that featured the most impressive soundtracks, supplied by a stellar line-up of composers like Allister Brimble, David Whittaker, Steve Barret, or Matt Gray. Continue reading →

Manabu Saito was a Japanese musical prodigy, who started his career at System Sacom when he was just 18 years old. His music, often a blend of classical and jazz influences with a great sense of melody, were an important component of System Sacom's genre-defining Novel Ware games. During his time with the company he also composed the first Japanese soundtrack with MT-32 support, 38 Man Kilo no Kokuu, and was an early adopter of CD audio on the FM Towns. Sadly, he passed away from kidney failure in 1992 at the age of 22. Continue reading →

Like elsewhere in Europe, the late 1980s saw the rise of the Danish demo scene, a vibrant (lol) environment that created some of the most well-known computer musicians of that era. This podcast features a collection of tracks from games and demos 'made in Denmark' on various 8 and 16 bit systems. Continue reading →

Technos Japan's Kunio-kun series started in 1986 with Renegade, an arcade game that was one of the precursors to the beat'em up genre. From there the franchise developed into multiple spiritual sequels and spin-offs featuring the same cast of characters, including an entire sub-series of sports games. The typical sound of the Kunio-kun games was defined by series mainstay Kazuo Sawa and is heavily influenced by Western popular music of the 50s and 60s. Continue reading →

Ultima is not only one of the most influential series in gaming history, the basic structure of its soundtracks with overworld, town, dungeon, and battle themes has also been the template that many RPGs since have followed. This podcast includes a selection of tracks from the entire series: from Ken Arnold's minimalist compositions for the Apple II, the more elaborate arrangements for MIDI synths, to the orchestral scores of the modern era. Continue reading →

Just another bunch of random stuff which I have been listening to lately. And by lately, I mean for the last 30 years or so. Enjoy the show! Continue reading →

The style of French composer Stéphane Picq is one of the most unique within the world of video game music. Drawing from a wide range of influences, his soundtracks mix elements like ethnic rhythms, electronic and acoustic instruments, dysphonic vocals, industrial, techno, or trance, often even in the same track. The result is a strangely hypnotic sound that is hard to classify to any particular genre. Continue reading →

IDES was the parent company of labels like Cocktail Soft, Fairytale, or Red Zone and one of the most prolific publishers of visual novels during the 1990s. With musicians like Akira Sato, Yuki Nakayama, Ryu Takami, or BAKI they also had a fairly impressive line-up of composers that created a huge library of awesome FM soundtracks on Japanese computers from that era. Continue reading →

The term 'chiptune' was originally coined for a sub-genre of Amiga music that incorporated instruments similar to those found in the music of 8-bit computers like the C64. Popular with the demo scene, this particular style was also frequently used in game soundtracks from that era. In this podcast we look back at almost 30 years of chiptune making, from the early beginnings with SIDMon and Protracker to more recent efforts by the tracking scene. Continue reading →

Hiroaki Sano spent much of his early career composing for visual novels of publishers like Discovery or Studio Twinkle. As a master of both FM synth and MIDI arrangements, his soundtracks are pretty good showcases for the stylistic diversity within the music of this genre. This podcast features a selection of tracks that he composed for the PC-9801. Continue reading →

In the early 90s the C64 gaming market started to dry up as most developers had moved on to 16 bit computers and consoles. This gap was partially filled by a number of disk magazines, like those issued by German publisher CP Verlag. And while the games on these disks were usually nothing to write home about; their soundtracks, often created by people from the demo scene, were a last hurrah for game music on the C64. Continue reading →

Another mixtape with no particular theme. This time we are hanging out with the titular human insects, swing down the highway of funk, and brave the data storm while harboring forbidden feelings for King Golli. Continue reading →

Lock up your daughters, get out the air guitar, and crank the volume up to eleven! This is FM Metal, a collection of some of the finest metal tracks to ever grace FM sound chips. Continue reading →

We close out the 80's with a look at the state of game music in 1989. As usual, the playlist is ordered by release date. Continue reading →

Kenichi Arakawa is mostly known for his work on visual novels like Jewel Bem Hunter Lime or the Viper series. He got his start composing in the doujin scene, contributing music to a number of PC-88 disk mags under the alias Thomas Brown, before moving on to (mainly) work for Silence and its adult brands Sogna and C-Class. This podcast spotlights this early part of his career, featuring music composed for the FM sound chips of systems like the PC-98 and X68000. Continue reading →

Thalamus was a British publisher, mostly known for their small, but fine selection of C64 releases, which included some of the most impressive games on the system. Equally impressive were their soundtracks, composed by an assortment of SID legends, like Rob Hubbard, Jeroen Tel, Martin Walker, Matt Gray, or Steve Rowlands. This podcast features a selection of some of Thalamus' best tracks on the C64 and Amiga. Continue reading →

We're back with another un-themed selection of great tunes. An assortment of orcs, bees, evil aliens, and other delightful things is waiting for you on this edition of Audio Panic Room. Continue reading →

Welcome to the wonderful world of pinball music! This episode features a fairly eclectic mix of music from real pinball machines, demo scene-influenced Amiga and DOS soundtracks, awesome hard rock from 90s-era pinball games, and (almost) anything in between. Continue reading →

A look at the year 1988 in game music. The year that saw the first CD and MIDI soundtracks, arcade boards started the transition from FM to PCM, and some real classics were released on the NES. Meanwhile in Europe the C64 had reached its commercial peak in a market that was slowly being taken over by the new generation of 16-bit computers. As always, the playlist is in rough chronological order. Continue reading →

A tribute to the late Ryu Umemoto and his work on the PC-9801. In the West, he is mostly known for his contributions to various Cave arcade shooters, but in Japan his claim to fame comes from these expertly crafted FM-synth soundtracks he composed for various visual novels in the 90s. Continue reading →

We are back with another episode featuring a diverse range of topics such as puzzle games, cowboys, haunted houses, and rampant passions. Continue reading →

A look at the state of video game music in 1987. The games are roughly in chronological order according to their release dates. Continue reading →

A sack full of covers, some more silly than others. First person to laugh at this gets punched in the face. Continue reading →

A little excursion into the wonderful world of Roland's LA synth modules. Continue reading →

A podcast featuring a selection of tracks from Charles Deenen's fairly diverse catalog of music. Enjoy! Continue reading →

Another episode with no particular theme, bringing you a selection of great tracks from the vault of video game music. Continue reading →

A look at some of the best game music from 1986. As with the previous episode, I tried to put the tracks in roughly chronological order. Continue reading →

A tribute to Masahiro Kajihara, one of the most prolific composers on FM-based sound hardware. He is probably best known for his work on the Princess Maker series, but he also played an integral part in the creation of the Japanese computer music scene of the '90s as his PMD sound drivers were widely used for game soundtracks and demo music. Continue reading →

No special theme this time, just a selection of (hopefully) good music. Continue reading →

1985 was arguably one of the most important years for video game music. Most major arcade developers made the switch from PSG to FM, composers like Rob Hubbard and Martin Galway began to unlock the full potential of the SID, and soundtracks in general became more complex and varied in style and structure. Continue reading →

Italo disco, as well as its later offshoots Eurobeat and Spacesynth, had a big impact on the development of game and demo music. This podcast is a collection of tunes that can trace their influences back to these styles. Continue reading →

While you are wondering how you could possibly have fallen for the inane click-bait title, you get to listen to an assortment of not-so-bad-tunes from an age long past. Continue reading →

A whole episode of awesome music by Jochen Hippel aka Mad Max. Continue reading →