It was an honor interviewing legendary composer Grant Kirkhope about his time at Rare, where he worked on some of the most popular video game soundtracks of all time. In this episode of Composer Quest, Grant talks about composing within the very small limits of the Nintendo 64 cartridge, and he shares some stories behind the soundtracks to Banjo Kazooie, Banjo Tooie, GoldenEye 007, and Perfect Dark. We also talk about Grant's more recent orchestral work for Kingdoms of Amalur and Civilization: Beyond Earth, and he shares his favorite chord progressions that keep coming back in his music.
Tag: Nintendo 64
Nintendo Sixty-Fortune Cookies
I was opening some fortune cookies for the Fortune Cookie Songwriting Quest, and I realized they were speaking to my inner N64-playing child.
Shepard Tone Illusion and the Super Mario 64 Endless Staircase
I think of the Shepard tone illusion as the musical equivalent of the infinite staircase. Play this video, and then replay it. Do you hear the tone continue to creep up?
Excitebike Theme Sheet Music
Nothing too serious in tonight's post, just that I had been playing the classic Nintendo game Excitebike this weekend and got the theme stuck in my head. I thought I'd try and write out Akito Nakatsuka's theme in sheet music form, in case somebody out there wants to learn how to play it on piano.