Samples used in Sonic games

[SonikkuForever]

One of the most overlooked aspects of Sonic music is the usage of samples, the "borrowing" of sound clips from another song to use in a new song. This is very, very obvious in Hideki Naganuma's work, but even Jun Senoue and some other Sonic composers occasionally use sounds from other sources. But what exactly were the other sources? The answers may surprise you. Let's start with the Japanese Sonic CD soundtrack.

took a very obvious sample from Xavier’s “Work That Sucker to Death”. The opening bit was taken from the FunStar remix of Bob Marley's

For the backing, Hall and Oates' "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)" was used.

In Collision Chaos, you can hear

This may be taken from The Art of Noise’s

but it’s hard to tell. In Stardust Speedway (Present), the

came from DJ Grand Wizard Theodore and The Fantastic Five’s

“Hit it!” came from Kurtis Blow’s AJ Scratch.

Surprisingly, even the Saturn release of Sonic 3D Blast/Flickie's Island included a sample or two. The drum loop for

is a clear rip from Isaac Haye’s “Breakthrough”. There are probably more samples in the game, but I haven't identified any more yet. So I'll move on... to Sonic Adventure!

Sonic Adventure uses more samples then you would think.

It’s the same as the backing track from Supercat’s

may have sampled Jame’s Brown’s

may just be a coincidence that they used the same drum pattern, or it may be a sped-up direct sample. Which wouldn’t be a surprise, because everyone samples Funky Drummer.

took a vocal sample from another Sega game, Capcom vs. SNK 2, and sped it up. Nobody can find where said sample came from before Capcom vs. SNK used it, though.

Now for the very sample-heavy Sonic Rush soundtrack. First, we’ll start with

The main trumpet riff is clearly from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Vae_AkLb4Q, but where did the vocals come from? It seems as though they originated from Whodini’s

I took the “Spinning on the turntables back to back” and sped it up by 40-50%, and it sounds pretty darn close to the Sonic Rush samples. However, it doesn’t include the “Back to back, on a turntable stack” part of the song. My theory is that Naganuma put the phrase together himself using the pre-existing Whodini samples. But it doesn’t end there. In 2009, indie composer Mayhem used Naganuma’s Sonic Rush samples for his song,

obviously sampled Arrow’s

Ever wonder where the vocals in

came from? You’ll never guess.

Yep, Naganuma sampled one of the civil right’s movement’s speeches for a Sonic game. Or, more likely, he sampled another song that sampled the speech. Wrapped In Black's violin was clearly ripped from the Sega Saturn game Grandia. And the "duh duh duh"s from the beginning of

were taken from The It's

And while we're on the topic, the vocals in Ethno Circus aren't saying anything at all. They're just a bunch of unrelated vocal samples which Naganuma sliced, diced, and combined into unrecognizable gibberish.

Currently, there are two discovered samples for

Can you hear those faint "ha"s in the background? They seem to be from The Peech Boys'

The drumbeats could be sped-up samples from James Brown's "Godfather Runnin' The Joint". Now this one's really obscure. In “Jeh Jeh Rocket”, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhq0IpvyMQk&t=0m46s That was taken from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j-xr0Dv1wk. Naganuma took the “eeyah”s and sped them up. The "C'mon Mr. DJ!" in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxq59PSPE-w was taken from A Tribe Called Quest's http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQtMvJ1kdXQ&t=0m20s

Sonic Rush Adventure also used many samples, some of which were from Sonic Rush. However, there were also some new sounds added.

Haunted Ship sampled Techno Grooves' "Techno Slam". The infamous "beefcakes" vocals from the boss theme are from Kool Chip & Chuck Chillout's http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pr19jIAJK4U&t=2m28s

And that's all I've got for now. This is by no means a comprehensive list. If you can find more samples, by all means post 'em here! And before I forget, I want to show you something special. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCOoz8nN2NU

[Nitwit_Speed]

Back 2 Back is officially my new favorite Sonic song, if just for the Louie Louie.

Also, do we have any Rhythm and Blues fans? I have something to add to the pile:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k5ooaufrLM&feature=related

Yes, i am aware that i said R&B and posted the Beatles cover. Sorry.

This was bothering me for a long time. I KNOW THAT TUNE! BUT FROM WHERE?

[SonikkuForever]

Does this song sound familiar? It should, especially if you liked Sonic 06's soundtrack...

[Blue Blood]

Haha, I knew I recognised the opening for Tropical Resort. Not so much a case of sampling there but instead an homage I think.

Can't think of any particular samples off the top of my head right now, but this is definitely worth noting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkSr-6ANqg4

Does this song sound familiar? It should, especially if you liked Sonic 06's soundtrack...

Holy crap! It took a moment for that to hit me, but wow. That's definitely it.

Edited July 27, 2011 by Blue Blood

[no one]

Does this song sound familiar? It should, especially if you liked Sonic 06's soundtrack...

nnnnnnnnnnno... doesn't sound familiar...

[SonikkuForever]

Think Silver the Hedgehog.

[Blue Blood]

nnnnnnnnnnno... doesn't sound familiar...

Skip to 15 seconds in, and compare to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zvjYLAzJb8.

[Gamenerd]

Does this song sound familiar? It should, especially if you liked Sonic 06's soundtrack...

I see what you're getting at, but personally I'd say any similarities between that and Dreams Of An Absolution (assuming I'm right in comparing it to that) are coincidence, or just a generic house-y beat, rather than any sort of sampling or homage to Stardust. It's like how people say they hear Green Hill Zone in Dreams Of An Absolution - I can definitely see where they're coming from, but sometimes it just seems like people are hearing what they want to hear in it, because I don't believe it was an intentional remix; just like Mazuri and the Sonic 1 GG Credits tune.

[SonikkuForever]

Skip to 15 seconds in, and compare to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zvjYLAzJb8.

It works even better with the K-Klub Remix. Try playing both songs at once for a cool overlay effect.

[Blue Blood]

Again, not a sample. But interesting and the same sort of thing.

[redhellc]

I had no idea, great stuff here.

[Sean]

by 808 State sounds like Sonic CD while Spinball's Toxic Caves lifts its rhythm.

[Anon]

I knew samples were used, but I didn't realize there was quite a lot of them.

Quite interesting.

[Milo]

Not an actual song from a Sonic game's OST / VGST, but.....

And I don't think we need to go with the Sonic / Micheal Jackson comparisons.....

Edited July 27, 2011 by Ananze

[Hypermystics0nicHMSX]

SonikkuForever this is a great thread you made,

You deserve the rep+.

nnnnnnnnnnno... doesn't sound familiar...

[DC111]

This topic is destined for awesomeness. Signed in just to click some up-reps here. Great post, SonikkuForever!

I forgot about that track from Sonic Rush Adventure. Great track.

...I wish I had more to contribute to this topic.

[-Mark-]

Wow, some of those are pretty neat.

Still, I'm not really clued up on the music scene in general, but surely there's a border between 'sampling' (i.e. the vocals used in the Sonic CD boss tune), and outright ripping off part of a tune (Haunted Ship)?

Surely sampling in excess becomes plagiarism? I mean, what are the legal implications regarding it, anyway?

Edited July 27, 2011 by -Mark-

[The Tenth Doctor]

How about something that took samples from Sonic? We all know Richard Jacques version of Green Grove.

He later did the soundtrack fora game called Metropolis Street Racer. Listen carefully, it is very similar, especially the chorus.

richard Jacques, you sly one you...

[Frank Sinatra]

The music to Marble Zone from Sonic 1 sounds very similar to "Music To Watch The Girls Go By" from Andy Williams.

[Koopalmier]

The first post has a couple links that are wrong. The links "turn it up" and "General Offensive... for Sky Deck" lead to another song.

Fun fact: the "C'mon Mr. DJ" was also sampled in DDR Mario Mix's first track. That's not related to Sonic, but it may have been influenced by it.

... Yeah, I can't actually contribute to this topic. I'm too ignorant for that. ><

Edited July 27, 2011 by Koopalmier

[Voyant]

Same flute sounds

Edited July 27, 2011 by Voyant

[Legendary Emerald]

To everyone who says they "don't hear" the similarities between the "The Music Sounds Better With You" song and "Dreams of An Absolution"... get your ears checked. I was able to recognize how close the two songs sound within the first ten seconds, without having to read any of the later comments. The synth-piano flow is exactly the same as the main melody in "Absolution", and the punctual alarm-like sound is mimicked in it as well. It isn't an instance of sampling, but Bentley was certainly influenced by the song, judging by how very similar the music during the verses of "Absolution" is to "The Music Sound Better".

Also, now that I think about it, all this "song similarity" stuff, as opposed to actual sampling, is going a bit off topic.

Edited July 28, 2011 by Legendary Emerald

[ChikaBoing]

Something Jazzy or your Mind

Something I discovered recently.

Edited July 28, 2011 by ChikaBoing

[Barry the Nomad]

Something Jazzy or your Mind

Something I discovered recently.

Edited July 28, 2011 by Barry the Nomad

[ChikaBoing]

Great find! I love the Ollie King OST. Would make sense, as they're both SEGA produced.

I wonder why they never released it as retail( maybe too little content?) last generation or as a downloadable release now. It's not like it has any benefit as a Arcade game.