Tim Follin Interview about Video Game Music 1 of 2

[coolshit28]

Wow this is too awesome. Total total legend.

[iloveesr]

LOLLOL "Print HELLO 20 times in Boots" omg I remember those days!!

[kingffs]

The music from the game Target Renegade for NES is perfect!

Were done to perfection, excellent instruments ...

The NES sound card is the best!

[kibjohn]

T2 on NES

[blazegriz]

Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future

[Th3ba1r0n]

< :C This interview fills me with both interest and dread.

What in the world is it with these musical and artistic geniuses dropping out of college. I almost didn't graduate high school, I minored in music, and am a graduated graphic desiger and I WISH I had half the talent of these people...

[ohwotagiveaway]

10 print "Tim is skill;"

20 goto 10

I used to do that in Boots!

[DonBurroni]

TIM 4 the WIN

like the 8bit Wolfgang Amadeus of the industry!

NES

[Canashea]

soltice is by far the best music he did, he's a genuis

[Aspartamebraintumor]

Silver Surfer and Ecco Defender of the future are both amazing and they sound nothing alike

[SoundwaveRomania]

He reminds me of Richard David James.

[saddq1]

Nobuo Uematsu has got nothing on this guy.

[azshaw123]

Can anyone please tell me who composed the music for ghosts 'n goblins on the commodore 64..Was it Chris butler..I have been told but i am not sure.

[BikeNutt1970]

@azshaw123 It was mark Cooksey.

[budgiecrusher]

hey if you download sid player to play c64 music  on your pc then all will be revealed

[budgiecrusher]

@azshaw123 hey just download the sid player which is an emulator for the sound chip of the c64 for the pc and that answer will be revealed

[ristarsky]

right northern lad!

his attitude is fantastic... lucky guy, always done something that he's enjoyed.

JEALOUS! :P

[hewey999]

a musical genious, puts Arthur Blackpudding to shame :-)

[acgamesonline]

he's a legend of chiptunes!

[12inchvertical]

black lamp on c64 was awesome.

[gabbermikegee]

@12inchvertical that's right.I love that track

[porcorosso81]

Probably one of the most versatile music composers. Pushing any platform he has written music for, so check out his complete portfolio. Hey, I even like the spectrum music!

[Zaytoony]

this man is a genius, he is by far my fav. video game composer, i've contacted him several times, he is do down to earth.

[geezerbigfoot]

lol yes brings it back print hello on screens in boots

[dextrusdalabassistan]

Music on LED Storm, Bionic Commando on the c64, was got me into Tim's stuff back in the day. amazing.

[remainingnameless]

Tim Follin. One game's score says it all: Spiderman and X-Men: Arcade's Revenge (SNES ver). If you want to really rock to some good shit, pull those babies (themes) up on YouTube.

[Doommaster1994]

Dragon's Lair for the NES sounds like Tim Follin's work but I'm not sure. Did he do the music for that game?

[arciks11]

@Doommaster1994 No he didn't compose Dragons Lair

[Doommaster1994]

Do you know who did? It sounds like something he would do.

[porcorosso81]

You are probably referring to the fast appregios. This was a common technique on the C64, so it means it was probably done by a former C64 composer.

Tim Follin is usually associated with Software Creations, Interplay, Malibu Games.

[Doommaster1994]

Yes, but Tim did Solstice on the NES and that was by Imagesoft and Dragon's Lair on the NES was by Imagesoft.

[porcorosso81]

Solstice was published by Imagesoft (in Europe, it was Nintendo itself). The game was developed by Software Creations.

[Doommaster1994]

Ah ok.

[sadetwizelve]

Nothing beats Tekken and the Namco soundteam. Look up Nobuyoshi Sano.

[Meteotrance]

i was impressed by his skill's for doing impossible thing with 8 bit nes on solstice and on silver surfer and on snes rock n roll racing blew me away thanks to the soundtrack of Tim Follin but he's not just a programmer of music i can play very well guitar on Ecco the Dolphin on Dreamcast and it's also blew me away again.

[YTPnews1]

Pictionary NES! That intro is WIN

[Doommaster1994]

I can play one of the in game songs from Pictionary on my piano 100%.

[nikamota]

I was STUNNED by his music on the Spectrum 48k. Future Games from Mastertronic was the first game i had heard the incredible 5 channel music on the spectrums beeper.

How did he do that? To this day i still cant fathom how such complex tunes were achieved....

[sevensheavendotcom]

Cool. Tim Follin is still one of my favourite retro computer game musicians. His music was enlightening.

[Kachukeland]

Silver Surfer is the most amazing music on the NES. Hands down. Mega Man has great tunes, but it doesn't even touch Silver Surfer.

[anupsanju]

no way;Mega Man has better music hands down.

[Kachukeland]

Mega man did have great and memorable music. But when you arrange Mega Man music for live music, it doesn't translate well, because it still sounds like 8-bit video game music. The music from Silver Surfer can be played with live instruments and it sounds incredible. That's the difference.

Kudos to Mega Man, though. I have the soundtracks for Mega Man 1 - 9. And 9 has some pretty great ones! They did a great job making the music sound like it was from the 8-bit days! : )

[mistaphill]

Thanks for uploading this. These guys SNES music was some of the best, particulary Plok and Spider Man Anxiety

[Doommaster1994]

He did the music for Incredible Crash Dummies and Pictionary for the NES.

[Shadax2Glendaal]

Yeah, Tim did a few pieces for The Incredible Crash Dummies on Gameboy with his brother, Geoff, though it was Geoff alone who churned out the tracks for the NES one.

[jibbzon]

Genius 8 bit muzaker!!!

[kibjohn]

Silver Surfer

[ASSEMblerEX]

S*O*L*S*T*I*C*E !!!!!

[Shadax2Glendaal]

You took the letters right out of my mouth, dude! :)

[christy2drag]

The music for Ghouls'n Ghosts for the C64 was brilliant.

[ScrewLimbBizkit]

if anyone knows how to contact him tell him he kicks ass

[Doommaster1994]

@ScrewLimbBizkit I had a couple of his e-mails and I tried to contact him but he never replied to my message.

[KitFallapart]

@ScrewLimbBizkit I've been in contact with him. He has an mp3 up on his site listed as the High Score music from Spiderman and the X-Men. However, it was a piece of unused music from the game. I mailed him the actual track and got a reply.

[tuzmor]

@ScrewLimbBizkit Someone has to tell Tim Follin that sometimes, his music was the one thing that made a game memorable.

[gomezgomas]

@tuzmor spiderman and the xmen: arcade`s revenge, for instance.

[Meteotrance]

this guy make me completly mad when i listen solstice and silver surfer or Ecco the dolphin music on dreamcast, i do the impossible sound with 8 bit and 16 bit chip sound.

[khisanth75]

Agent X 2 shootemup level has possibly the best tune on any game, bloody love it

[AndroM2]

Tim Follin is one of the best musicians ever, Thank you for the great music in Bionic Commando, LED Storm, Ghouls N Ghosts, and others, pls comeback.

[matjohnroe]

Basic was just for people who wanted to print 'hello' 20 times on a screen.... in Boots.

Clasic.

[artman40]

He even did a great work for NES games too. Remember Silver Surfer or Treasure Master songs?

[DARKELLAKEL]

your SOLSTICE sdtk was awesome!!!

[maddskeou]

YES! the solstice soundtrack rocks my socks

[batlin]

This guy and his brother wrote the Sly Spy C64 soundtrack, which had some seriously great tunes on it. Interesting to hear that he felt his music wasn't always suited to the games - not sure I totally agree!

[DustyDangerfield]

Is this the plok guy?

I absoulutely love his music!

[videogameobsession]

Tim was one of the best composer/programmer's in gaming. He was able to push the hardware and get better sound than most others. Some of the SNES music that he produced was so good I actually have it on my mp3 player! My favorites are Plok and Equinox. Good stuff! Some very different styles in both of those. I detect some Rundgren influences in Plok.

[gatemaster15]

@videogameobsession Oh my god. I fucking love Plok and the music that went with it. I would go gay for this man if he would compose music for me for the rest of my life.

[videogameobsession]

@gatemaster15 lol. I thought it was cool that Tim used my Plok SNES box on his website. He didn't ask permission, but he's an amazing composer/programmer so I'll let it slide. :P

I miss the old chip music. There's something exciting about seeing how much they can cram onto a tiny cartridge board and have it sound like real instruments. Redbook audio may sound better, but it's just not as impressive to me.

[Malkalypse777]

@videogameobsession

If you find yourself craving some of that old school game music sound, check out Anamanaguchi (plenty of their stuff is findable on youtube).

[videogameobsession]

@Malkalypse777 Oh yeah. I am familiar with them. I believe they composed all the music for Scott Pilgrim Saves the World on PSN (and I think XBL). I also like some of the tunes in Castle Crashers. They have that old school chiptune sound to them.

[AcEoMaTiK]

Follin's musical versions of Bionic Commando (Europe) and Sky Shark (USA) were excellent. The original scores were quite boring once you've heard his take on them.

[Meteotrance]

this guys was a genius he do solstice but not only is responsable of the transcription of deep purple and stepen wolf music in rock n roll racing, and do the awesome music of echo the dolphin on the dreamcast 3d version.

[thesublimesupine]

The title theme for Solstice is the best music ever written for a video game. Hands down.

[jippyjester]

just listened to it - absolutely brilliant - the man has talent

[tempestgopherit]

The Man. The music to ghouls n ghosts on the c64,especially Level 4 is classic. I never knew he was that young when composing those tunes either. Legend. Led Storm had great music aswell.

[armalyte]

his work on the c64 and amiga were the MAIN reasons i decided to chance my arm at film and tv soundtrack work. he IS a legend, and i think its grim he hasnt made the money some of the others int he scene have. He's from a really musical family, apparently.

[yoshimitsu1977]

a genius

[Truthreexamine]

Strange, I left after a year of my advanced sound engineering course because it was boring and continued writing computer music!

[SanFranCrisko]

Follin is a complete legend. Ecco the Dolphin is one of the most beautiful soundtracks I've ever heard. Emailed him a track I composed and he liked it! Was so chuffed!

[equinoxfan82]

Tim Follin.... the greatest composer of all time!

We'll miss ya' Tim, your video game music creativity that is!

[yerzmyey]

His music for ZX SPECTRUM 48K is *BRILLIANT*.

Was he 17 while making it? Did I understand OK?

Scandalous.

[factor6]

Thanks for this video! Tim Follin is the best Spectrum 48K musician EVER! His play routines are so complex that even you are a master of the Z80 assembler, you only guess what does he do with the sound at the moment.

[markwrightrf]

Amazing - so modest - I remember telling a friend of mine back in 1990, on the subject of getting married - and if I ever came into serious money, I'd pay Follin to play at my wedding! Ah, memories.. not sure Ghouls 'n' Ghosts would fit the bill. Was probably thinking more "Netwood Forest" from LED Storm!

[Shadax2Glendaal2ND]

Ha! Ha! Thanks a thousand for sharing! (:}

Yes, he'd be the most innovative organ player ever to grace a wedding OR funeral!

Problem is, he might get a little carried away, and start taking it seriously. Heh! We know how prone he is to taking advantage of an instrument, then trying to get the MOST out of it! Heck, you can't limit the man if you give him one channel to work with! A modest genius!!

[drvector]

Thanks for uploading this. Follin was one of the best.

[mateyboy07]

that guy's sound as a pound

[wakeupfist]

I just viewed it again.

Tim! You should come to America! Out here you're loved by many!

[Shadax2Glendaal]

Wow!!!!! My biggest hero of all things audio!!!

I NEVER thought I'd get the privlage of hearing let alone seeing the man himself!

Thanks a thousand for the upload mikydeewilliams! YOU'VE MADE MY MONTH!!!

[wakeupfist]

My exact thoughts - word for word!

[buzzclik]

Thanks so much for this video (and obviously the second part) - Tim's without doubt my favourite C64 musician.