SEGA and NES on Funkotron

Here is a recent track that I composed along with my friend and fellow artist Brian Betancourt. It’s an electronic jazz funk piece. In the initial stages of composing I was imagining the baseline to be akin to the slap bass sound from ToeJam and Earl in Panic on Funkotron (the awesome soundtrack of which was composed by John Baker.) So I felt compelled to use the SEGA Genesis for this jazzy funk-like song, but mostly I wanted to use it because of my deep love for the ToeJam and Earl soundtrack.

After tracking the drums and recording the guitar section with Brian, I set to work programming the Genesis bass line and other synth parts. First, I went through my SEGA game library and found the ToeJam and Earl ROM. Rummaging through the ROM, I ripped the information for the instruments I desired and imported them into my Mega Drive tracker. Then, after the tedious tracking and transferring of information from the tracker to the actual Genesis hardware (and subsequent recording of YM2612 sounds), I decided to add  another voice in to the mix to spice things up a bit. So I set to work programming a solo section and some other supporting motifs on my NES.

This track took a little over a year to complete, from composition to mixing and mastering, so listen well and enjoy! This song, along with other chip-genre-colliding music, will be released on an upcoming Positive Infinity album.

And for some nineties nostalgia  enjoyment, watch Big Earl and ToeJam dance as the music plays…