Wandering Flame – A Tribute to Masashi Hamauzu

Finished November 27, 2022.

I composed this piece, along with two others, for a Discord group's fantasy role-playing video game development project which ultimately never got off the ground.

This short, slow, downcast tune is designed for exploring early-game dungeons where the challenge and danger are present, but relatively mild. Like most of my original video game music, its main influence is Square's Super Nintendo and PlayStation RPGs, such as Yasunori Mitsuda's soundtrack for "Chrono Trigger".

Remnants of Earlier Times (Original Retro RPG-Style Cave/Dungeon/Ruin Exploring Theme)

Finished August 28, 2021.

I composed this piece, along with eight others, for a Facebook group's strategy role-playing video game development project. Not sure whether it ever got off the ground, though.

This sad piece's influences include Nobuo Uematsu ("Final Fantasy"), Yasunori Mitsuda ("Chrono Trigger"), and Yasunori Nishiki ("Octopath Traveler"). I must have had the latter game's Olberic the Warrior, and his mountainous homeland, in mind when I created this.

Down Times in the Uplands (Original Retro RPG-Style Sad Event/Town Music)

Finished November 15, 2022.

I composed this piece, along with two others, for a Discord group's fantasy role-playing video game development project which ultimately never got off the ground.

This serene and relaxing tune is intended for background music in a seaside resort city. Its influences include Nobuo Uematsu ("Final Fantasy"), Asuka Ito and Dan Hess ("Pilotwings"), the Jackson 5, Mariah Carey, and LFO. (Fans of Y2K-era pop music may find the recurring jazzy piano riff a little familiar, haha.)

At the Shore (Original Retro RPG-Style Peaceful Port Town Theme)

Originally composed by Masashi Hamauzu for SaGa Frontier II (1999) for the Sony PlayStation. Arranged in 0CC-FamiTracker using the Konami VRC6 and Namco 163 chips.

SaGa Frontier II - Besessenheit [VRC6+N163]

Originally composed by Masashi Hamauzu for SaGa Frontier II (1999) for the Sony PlayStation. Arranged in 0CC-FamiTracker using the Konami VRC6 and Namco 163 chips and 14 DPCM samples.

SaGa Frontier II - Mißgestalt [VRC6+N163]

Originally composed by Masashi Hamauzu for SaGa Frontier II (1999) for the Sony PlayStation. Arranged in 0CC-FamiTracker using the Konami VRC6 and Namco 163 chips and 36 DPCM samples.

SaGa Frontier II - Feldschlacht III [VRC6+N163]

Originally composed by Nobuo Uematsu and remixed by Masashi Hamauzu for Final Fantasy X (2002) for the Sony PlayStation 2. Arranged in Dn-FamiTracker 0.5.0.3 using the Konami VRC6, Nintendo MMC5, Namco 163 and Konami VRC7 chips.

Final Fantasy X - A Fleeting Dream [VRC6+MMC5+N163+VRC7]

In an era of peace, light shines a golden hope across the horizon. The people thrive. The children laugh, and play—exactly as they should. The artists paint—precisely how and when they need to, and their art coincides and works in conjunction with what older civilizations would call Magic as a result of this flexibility and fluidity they've been finally able to reclaim. The word Freedom has become sacred. This sacred Word is defended by All with the burning fury of molten lava. Creativity has developed in the minds of the people so deeply that every challenge has a thousand solutions and every solution has a thousand unique, grand perspectives to the common citizen. Everything—even the small and simple things—are accomplished with Divine Godliness by Everyone. It took ten thousand years to get here...

Despite the fact that Nothing in this world is permanent—even peace—the people Think as if they've discovered the secret to Eternal Heaven on Earth. This is their downfall. To Stay Connected to the fact that "Evil" always thrives somewhere in the Dimension in which they inhabit is a necessary part of overcoming it. By becoming out of touch with this Truth, the people create an opening for "Evil" to once again reign supreme. Becoming out of touch with this Truth—this is their One True Mistake.
What awaits the people as a result of their Great Mental Mishap is tragedy, the disturbing energy of which slowly looms in each heart and soul in the dead of night, or rather, a series of nights; many years pass before every being, including animal can sense this tragedy.
When the people come to terms with this feeling, it strikes them like a blade that cuts into the heart slowly. As the people voice and express their feeling of dread and despair with one another, a darkness begins to overtake the skies. This darkness is a reflection of the people's subconscious minds; the areas they neglected, and therefore kept in the dark. As this darkness that began in the people's minds fills the skies, the Cold Truth whispers to them like a harsh and cold, freezing wind that numbs and disables: Tragedy Awaits... Once again.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Remember how I said I've been wanting to make music for video games? What I wrote above is a fictional scenario I created for this song (Tragedy Awaits) that I feel could take place in a game like the Final Fantasy series. The writing and scenario I created matches the tone and vibe of the song and I feel could take place in the part of the game where everyone is looking around them in angst, feeling like something terrible is about to happen.

I converted this to 432 Hz in a DAW this time around instead of an online converter and used professional plug ins and software to make this song.
I would consider the genre for this to be Minimalism and I mastered the song so it could kind of match the vibes of MJ's HIStory album; think Earth Song, Stranger in Moscow, Little Susie, She's Out of My Life, etc. This is a simple song, but that was my goal. I feel like if I can master making simple songs sound really good and professional, then I'll have more of the means to do this with more complex bodies of work with ease.

Produced, mixed, mastered and arranged by Kaizer
Image created by AI under the Creative Direction of Kaizer

Produced and Released July 2024

Tragedy Awaits (432 Hz)

Shimmer

I'm Dermot.  I arrange chiptunes in FamiTracker, 0CC-FamiTracker and Dn-FamiTracker, and I programmed FamiTracker-related calculators in JavaScript for both halflife fades and pitch slides.  A 7-Zip archive of my FTM and NSF files along with my calculators can be downloaded from the link provided.  I update the archive whenever I make or update a chiptune.  I was originally invited by my friend Pongball to share my music on SoundCloud, and I'm grateful for her support.  But while I've made a lot of musical arrangements, I've always strictly been an amateur, never a professional, and my free SoundCloud account has been running out of space.  And in truth, I actually get more useful feedback for my music on my YouTube and FurAffinity accounts than I do on SoundCloud, so I've provided links to my chiptune collections there.

I'm an amateur composer, arranger, and music producer from the USA. I specialize in mashups and retro video game soundtracks.

If you can't wait for Neil Cicierega's next "Mouth" album, give my mashups a try and hopefully you'll like them almost as much as you like his.

Freelance composer, arranger, and producer. Co-Founded The Travelers VGM and continues to work on numerous projects with Virtual Video Game Orchestra (VVGO), The ETHEReal String Orchestra, and community orchestras such as Iowa City Community String Orchestra.

His latest release is the sequel to ETHEReal String Project titled Kaleidoscope: Sakimoto & Hamauzu Works which focuses on the music of both Hitoshi Sakimoto and Masashi Hamauzu and special guests such as Benyamin Nuss and Joe Zieja on piano. 

Josh is also currently working on the soundtrack to the highly anticipated game Fallen Aces, a Noir tinged story with grit and tons of action, by New Blood Interactive.

New SoundCloud cuz the old one I had ran out of space. Didn't really wanna delete some of the older tracks. They're like mementos to me lol. So this will be my official one... Until space runs out again lmao

About me: The wise empath starseed music artist from NYC waking the world up. Entrepreneur. Im from LIC, New York (Queens). Im a certified audio engineer and music producer, rapper, singer, artist etc changing the world by inspiring and educating people with music, words, art and style in legendary ways.

My mission is to uplift people's awareness and advance society and I do this through the arts and self-development (often combining the two).

Why listen to/watch my videos/music? When you listen to my music and watch my videos - given how unique and epic my music, personality and knowledge/wisdom etc is, you instantly raise your own vibration. Raising your vibration means rising up and having more life. My energy literally raises your life/energy.

Main genres: Hip-hop/Rap and R&B/Soul. I also am moving towards Funk, Rock, EDM and many other genres. I listen to all types of music so I wanna basically make music in all of those genres too.

Email me if you have any questions, inquiries etc: KaizerNYC@Gmail.com

**Most songs are demos until I can get back into the studio and start making music more professionally again**

New tracks tagged #Masashi Hamauzu