Hello fans, I'm grateful as can be for all of you who have helped my Patreon channel spring into action. To commemorate almost a full year of being on the platform, I've decided to make some new changes to the way content is handled via tiers. Paid Patreon subscribers will soon get access to some incredible new content that I'm cooking up, including the following:
• Extended behind-the-scenes/making-of videos
• Remix stems for my newest songs
• Remix stems for older releases...
2025-02-11 16:09:35 +0000 UTC
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"The Grubby Dark Blue,"with its rather interesting and somewhat silly title, is one of the lighter songs on the Thunder Force III soundtrack, and while I didn't want to mess with that formula, I did want to intensify it a bit by adding a much more impactful and thrilling middle section not present in the original song. I beli...
2025-02-11 15:59:51 +0000 UTC
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"Venus Fire," I believe, is the best song on the Thunder Force III soundtrack, and the one I remember the most, with it's blistering-fast BPM, machine gun tom fills and lush sci-fi synthesizer work. I wanted it to be perfect, so I took the time to painstakingly recreate this song, note-for-note, with all the subtle pitch-bending and vibrato that the original is so well known for.
Next came the expansion, and I knew it had to bring the fire, while still sounding like a completely natural...
2024-09-07 18:22:38 +0000 UTC
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➡️ DOWNLOAD THIS SONG: https://tinyurl.com/mryv2p5v
👍 SUPPORT MY WORK ON: patreon.com/maestrodraven
🌐 FOLLOW ME ON: x.com/maestrodraven
"Back to the Fire" is the Hydra stage theme from Thunder Force III, and although it's far less intense than other tracks in the game, it's a great opener that sets the t...
2024-08-11 04:27:30 +0000 UTC
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➡️ DOWNLOAD THIS SONG: https://tinyurl.com/4dz9zerz
👍 SUPPORT MY WORK ON: patreon.com/maestrodraven
🌐 FOLLOW ME ON: x.com/maestrodraven
Thunder Force III is one of my all-time favorite side-scrolling shooter games, and I've wanted to add my own expansions onto its fantastic soundtrack for literally the past three...
2024-07-05 10:37:36 +0000 UTC
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➡️ DOWNLOAD THIS SONG: https://tinyurl.com/mwhay8xs
👍 SUPPORT MY WORK ON: patreon.com/maestrodraven
🌐 FOLLOW ME ON: x.com/maestrodraven
"Final Zone" is comprised of a 20 second loop that cuts off way too early in the original Sonic The Hedgehog soundtrack. Luckily, that cutoff point makes for one natural-soundin...
2024-06-18 12:34:00 +0000 UTC
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"Scrap Brain Zone" is too straightforward a track to really mess around with, and any attempts will deviate too far for comfort. Therefore, I decided to keep the expansion relatively close to home, and the play length short and sweet. Sometimes less is more.
Please consider becoming a paid Patreon if you'd like to support my work! Every little bit means more time I can devote to your favorite gaming tunes.
2024-06-16 11:21:22 +0000 UTC
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Took a while for me to figure out what to do with "Star Light Zone," but I knew I couldn't rush it. It's too much of a fan favorite. For this one, I attempted to spice it up a bit with some disco-ish elements, while maintaining the fun and lighthearted spirit of the original song. I'm very happy with how it turned out, no regrets.
Please consider becoming a paid Patreon if you'd like to support my work! Every little bit means more time I can devote to your favorite gaming tunes.
2024-06-16 11:19:30 +0000 UTC
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"Labyrinth Zone" is a fun and lighthearted song that helped balance out the stress of one of Sonic the Hedgehog's most stressful levels. When the titular hero goes underwater, we're all a little bit thankful that the music is so cheery. I wanted to play that up with my expansion, which didn't deviate too far from the original. Some light trance elements are thrown in to keep the groove breezy and positive.
Please consider becoming a paid Patreon if you'd like to support my work! E...
2024-06-16 11:18:38 +0000 UTC
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I just hit 5000 subscribers on my YouTube channel, and I couldn't be happier! This is the "Bronze" achievement. Next will be 10,000, then 100,000, and from there......chasing that platinum 1M subscriber count. We shall see. In the meantime, I'd like to thank you all for supporting me on YouTube over this journey. Watch the vid where I spill my guts on my feels, and upcoming stuff.
2024-02-07 16:45:42 +0000 UTC
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I just released "Spring Yard Zone," rewritten from scratch with a BRAND NEW EXPANSION for #SonicTheHedgehog fans to groove to on an otherwise-ordinary Monday. Had a lot of fun exploring and building on this track.
Please consider becoming a paid Patreon if you'd like to support my work! Every little bit means more time I can devote to your favorite gaming tunes.
2024-02-05 15:38:38 +0000 UTC
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Check out my recent short where I show off the original characters from the first Mortal Kombat game (1992), reimagined by Fooocus AI and some clever (and difficult) prompting. What are your thoughts? Is A.I. shaping up to be a game-changer, or does it still have a long ways to go?
In the meantime, grab full-sized versions of the artwork here!
2024-01-03 05:17:46 +0000 UTC
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➡️ DOWNLOAD THIS SONG: http://tinyurl.com/4s6w7t7m
👍 SUPPORT MY WORK ON: patreon.com/maestrodraven...
2023-12-31 17:35:37 +0000 UTC
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This is the third of my "Final Crash" editions of the Streets of Rage video game soundtracks. For new viewers, these soundtracks are faithful note-for-note recreations of Yuzo Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima's original SOR songs, built from the ground up with NO remix stems, and NO samples. Everything has been meticulously recreated from scratch. Next, I build entirely new sections onto the existing songs to flesh them out and give them more character and scope.
These are my compositions...
2023-11-25 03:39:11 +0000 UTC
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This is the second of my "Final Crash" editions of the Streets of Rage video game soundtracks. For new viewers, these soundtracks are faithful note-for-note recreations of Yuzo Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima's original SOR songs, built from the ground up with NO remix stems, and NO samples. Everything has been meticulously recreated from scratch. Next, I build entirely new sections onto the existing songs to flesh them out and give them more character and scope.
These are my composition...
2023-11-25 03:36:19 +0000 UTC
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After almost a decade of constant revisions, training and experience, I've released the ultimate version of my Streets of Rage expanded & enhanced soundtracks. For new viewers, these soundtracks are faithful note-for-note recreations of Yuzo Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima's original SOR songs, built from the ground up with NO remix stems, and NO samples. Everything has been meticulously recreated from scratch. Next, I build entirely new sections onto the existing songs to flesh them out a...
2023-11-25 03:30:42 +0000 UTC
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It's the 32nd anniversary of Streets of Rage's original release on the Sega Genesis. I'm commemorating it with a high-quality recreation of the original box art. I've shared this on YouTube and X, but Patrons get the FULL-RESOLUTION copy!
Enjoy it!
2023-08-03 10:13:40 +0000 UTC
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The long wait is finally over! It's time for another soundtrack project, and SONIC THE HEDGEHOG has taken the stage. I wanted to get this soundtrack done early for two purposes. First, many of you have been clamoring for me to tackle this project (I see you, Nikos!) and two, I wanted to use it to drive more growth to the channel.
This soundtrack is going to come fast, as I already have all the expansions in my head, but I wanted to take time to get the Title Theme down corre...
2023-08-02 02:09:44 +0000 UTC
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Another gift for my Patrons, the first of many to come. Here's a series of artistic wallpapers for the first round of "The Revenge of Shinobi," to commemorate my newly-finished Expanded & Enhanced album. These wallpapers come in several prominent resolutions, right up to super-wide 5120x1440. Enjoy!
2023-07-16 19:01:13 +0000 UTC
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The original version of "My Lover" felt like 10% of a finished ending theme, and I wanted to greatly flesh it out without over-extending its allure and welcome. This meant beefing up the section with a twofold approach:
1) To stress the importance of the "good ending," and the saving of Naoko from certain death at the hands of Zeed's trap.
2) To create a much more compelling, rousing and triumphant ending theme that takes into account everything Joe Musashi went through during the...
2023-07-16 17:20:20 +0000 UTC
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The original version of "Silence Night" plays when the main player fails to rescue Naoko from being crushed to death during the final battle with Zeed, thus triggering the bad ending. The original 40+ second version of the song only hints at the tragedy of it all. I wanted my expansion to put the listener in the mind of Joe Musashi, and the anguish and sorrow he would have felt over failing at his task, and losing the love of his life. I also wanted to amplify the atmosphere by adding in some...
2023-07-16 17:19:14 +0000 UTC
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Behold, the evil Zeed head-banging that heavy metal hair around to the tune of an expanded version of "The Ninja Master." For many Revenge of Shinobi fans, this was a stressful race to figure out how to slay this evil foe before Joe Musashi's beloved Naoko lost her Z-axis under the weight of a massive concrete ceiling. I wanted to play up the frantic panic and chaos of this song while still retaining those "breaks" in the mayhem that encouraged players to stop and wonder what those holes in t...
2023-07-16 17:18:09 +0000 UTC
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"Labyrinth" is a track with very little content, and the constant repeat was always something of a huge annoyance in the original game. This is particularly true due to the nature of the level, which forces players to memorize a series of pathways and doors in order to reach the end. That can take a long time. I always imagined a fleshed out version of the song that wouldn't be so monotonous and repetitive, which would make the process of locating the exit more enjoyable. Here it is.
...
2023-07-16 17:17:06 +0000 UTC
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After the very lengthy and complicated "China Town" expansion, I wanted to get back to basics for "Over The Bay," and focus on sticking close to the elements that make it such a fun little dance number. The expansion is a series of variations on the main theme with a few breaks thrown in between to pump up the intensity. It's straightforward and meant to get the blood pumping. Nothing more, nothing less.
➡️ DOWNLOAD THIS SONG: 2023-07-16 17:15:34 +0000 UTC
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The expansion for "China Town" has been in my head for years, which made the compositional part quite easy. It was the balancing and perfecting processes that took up a large bulk of the time. I wanted it to feel both electronically dreamy, and traditionally Asian-inspired, with several instruments committed to that goal. You, listener, will decide if I succeeded or not. This is, to date, my most ambitious expansion, and a deeply personal one for me. It's also the one many of you were waiting...
2023-07-16 17:14:26 +0000 UTC
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"The Dark City" is a simple tune, but sometimes those are the worst ones. Got severe writer's block with this one, and had to spend a few weeks figuring it out in my head before I could come up with something that made me happy. This is a jazzy tune, so I played that up with some smooth saxophone in the expansion just to liven things up, without straying too far from the base tune.
➡️ DOWNLOAD THIS SONG: 2023-07-16 17:13:09 +0000 UTC
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The best way to sum up "Ninja Step" would be to use the phrase "industrial funk." There's equal parts factory mechanics and equal parts old fashioned funk and street hop in this track, and I used that as the basis for my expansion. The idea was to trigger memories of old-style street dancing from the 1980s when partying and having fun were the order of the day. This meant I had to "funkify" the song even more by building on the original in a very precise way. All the old song triggers a...
2023-07-16 17:11:58 +0000 UTC
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"Run Or Die" was the song that broke me about 5 years ago. I lacked the skill I deemed necessary in order to make a proper go of music making, and I realized that I would have to start over from scratch if I wanted to make a decent return. After my first version of this song, I purged my back catalogue and started over from scratch with Streets of Rage, before eventually coming back full circle to Revenge of Shinobi. This is my "revenge track," a return to form with full confidence in m...
2023-07-16 17:10:07 +0000 UTC
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For this song, I wanted to pump up the expansion with the same frantic energy as the base tune. At the same time, I wanted to inject some feeling into it as well, almost like a very brief break in the storm before the intensity ramps back up again. A triple-piano seemed like the best bet, along with a few sampled sound effects from the actual game to round it all out.
➡️ DOWNLOAD THIS SONG: 2023-07-16 17:06:56 +0000 UTC
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"Make Me Dance" is a favorite tune of mine from the original Revenge of Shinobi soundtrack, so it was good to give this another go after so many years. I based this version on the expansion template I did a few years ago before I wiped my catalogue and restarted. It has the same level of variation with a lot more energy, and I'm happy with how it came out. Hopefully, so will you.
➡️ DOWNLOAD THIS SONG: 2023-07-16 17:00:06 +0000 UTC
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