SEGA sample discovery thread

[Super Spindash]

Greetings, one n' all!

 

I'm Super Spindash, and there's no doubt that you may have heard my name before in regards to this type of research.

 

And what do I do, exactly? 

 

I track down the origins to samples, both instrumental and vocal, that have been used in music from SEGA's many video games.

 

Now, one thing you're probably thinking...

 

"What is a sample, Spinny? How does it 100% work exactly?"

 

 

"LET'S GET SCRATCHING!"

 

Sampling is the technique of taking a pre-recorded piece of audio, then mixing it into your very own song. Said piece of audio can be an instrumental sequence, a drum loop (such as the famous Amen break) or, most easily noticed, a vocal sequence, be it a single shout, a phrase, or an entire damn speech.

 

Originating from the experimentation of physically editing tape loops and vinyl records via a phonograph during the late 1960s period, sampling has come a very long way over the near-to 50 long years of its existence in music development.

 

Modern sampling is mostly done via use of a computer program, usually to slice individual parts of a sample up to create new, fresh patterns.

 

 

The original sample can be heard here.

 

The pattern shown on the above image can be heard here.

 

However, a sample can also be mangled into complete fetishization via some skill, as shown here.

 

 

 

With the rundown on what the technique's all about, let's get onto this thread's main topic, shall we?

 

How does Sonic and SEGA come into play with this?

 

Easy. SEGA is known for also utilizing the sampling method, however, it is not the way most people believe it is.

 

A lot of people believe SEGA samples from other music. This, by now, can be considered 100% untrue.

 

SEGA lifts audio samples from libraries dedicated to providing the owner with such. These samples have their copyrights 100% cleaned off, and SEGA is free to use them as they please, even for existing works (such as the "go ahead, scratch me" sample lifted from Zero-G Datafiles vol 2 for Metal Scratchin' from Sonic Rush, which originates from a Looney Tunes episode, but is not where SEGA lifted from).

 

This thread is dedicated to research on samples used in music from the Sonic the Hedgehog series (and even elsewhere relating to SEGA) and documenting them all.

 

So far, the largest milestone we have is the origins to nearly every single vocal sample from Sonic Rush, apart from the "BILLIE BILLIE" from Ska Cha Cha and the "HEE" from Metal Scratchin'.

 

Check out the SEGA sample collection as it holds up as of now right here: https://app.box.com/s/qao86holfw22ao912z7q

 

If you have any questions, or anything to say regarding the project, don't hesitate to reply!

[Light The Hedgehog]

This looks really awesome! It's cool to have it explained as I didn't know much about this. Very interesting stuff.

[GSF]

We already have two threads about Sega/Sonic music samplings over here and here.

Since this seems to be an actual project, I'll leave it unmerged.

Interesting to see people trying to hunt down every sample from Sonic Rush. That's a huge undertaking.

Also, just to make sure nothing has been overlooked, here's a big list of samples in Sonic: http://www.whosampled.com/song-tag/Sonic%20the%20Hedgehog/samples

[Super Spindash]

Also, just to make sure nothing has been overlooked, here's a big list of samples in Sonic: http://www.whosampled.com/song-tag/Sonic%20the%20Hedgehog/samples

 

WhoSampled is nearly 100% incorrect because it's trying to imply that these are where SEGA lifted from. Only a slight few (mainly the Skip to my Loops mentions on some of Naganuma's tracks, and Beatbox Wash's mention in Back 2 Back, which was slipped as the full track onto an old Cook record for samplers, meaning that as soon as it was purchased the rights were all cleaned off) are correct in any means.

 

If you have a look at this document here that I slapped together, this contains accurate pointers to where SEGA looked for these things.

Edited October 20, 2014 by Super Spindash

[GSF]

Right. I see you guys are finding the true sources, but regardless of that, the sounds are still present in the songs shown. Most people just want to know the song where that particular sound comes from (and perhaps listen to it as well), not check which is the exact sampler disc that it was pulled out from.

I see how it makes sense, though. Many songs that WhoSampled shows have extra noise or sounds in the parts that song X supposedly pulls from, and the instances in said song X are clean. I found that odd, sound editing couldn't clean it THAT well.

I can see this being really handy for those who compose music. Getting samples properly without breaking copyrights is important, after all.

I think sites such as WhoSampled should list the actual source (as in the sampler disc) and also the songs where the samples can be found (just like it is right now). That would ensure accuracy.

I suppose it's an user driven site, so correcting information should be easy.

[superdarksonic10]

thats so cool