Samples used in Sonic games

[Cstyler]

Sounds pretty much AquaticBase-ish for me.

[Double Agent Motobug]

I just wanted to drop in and tell you... this whole thread blew my mind. I knew about the Rush stuff, but not the rest. O_O.

[Inaba]

Nice thread! Regarding Red Hot Skull, here is something I found interesting(I don't recall seeing it posted here yet, so...) :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWyn1qCEnpg

Some of the guitar riffs in RHS sound a bit similar to the melodies here. You can even hear the "Aahs" (Which I assume are the exact same ones that are used in RHS)in this if you listen closely, although they are shorter and appear more frequently than they do in Red Hot Skull.

Edited August 19, 2011 by Inaba

[DudeManGuy]

For Sonic CD, the Little Planet music was sampled from

Edited August 26, 2011 by DudeManGuy

[Ivo the Egghog]

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 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxEottYd3tE

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, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpwCHNDVbJc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZy6VAr69qg obviously sampled Arrow’s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkGgdIBX1to Ever wonder where the vocals in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xE5c8ugVYVc came from? You’ll never guess. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-tuy6kI8q8&t=0m8s 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 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTS1AGnrBkY were taken from The It's http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Qa18NflWtk 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 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aokgQyzCCP0 Can you hear those faint "ha"s in the background? They seem to be from The Peech Boys' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqNRWSCJAGk&t=8m17s 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

Damn! Someone did their homework! I don't really have anything to add, but I just wanted to say this was a GREAT read/listen! Very cool.

[Meow]

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.....

[Nerfuffle]

I don't think this one has been mentioned yet. Though, I hear the Megaman series has its own history of borrowing as well.

vs

Not a music sample, but

for those who played Sonic Heroes.

[Linkabel]

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?

Sorry to bring back this thread but did Sega really used a sample from the beatles? This is actually impressing since it is really hard for beatles songs to get sampled or even used

[Double Agent Motobug]

I wanted to revive this thread to say I found a few more samples, though I don't know their origins...

at 49 seconds in, you can hear the "HIT IT!" sample from Sonic CD's Stardust Speedway (There are some Sonic Rush samples going on in that video, too!) Additionally, Although most sirens sound the same anyway, I wanted to make note of

for sounding just like the Bad Future Stardust Speedway sample. =3

[Blue Blood]

Sorry to bring back this thread but did Sega really used a sample from the beatles? This is actually impressing since it is really hard for beatles songs to get sampled or even used

[Linkabel]

Pretty sure it's not a sample they used, and is actually just a common guitar riff.

probably still it will be cool if they did sample it (found out though that the the beatle song itself its a cover so I guess it might be more possible it was a sample)

[DJ EAR]

I stumbled onto a sample the other day. (2 actually, but the other one is from Jet Grind/Set Radio)

So, Please 2 Enjoy.

Looney Tunes - Tree for Two (Sylvester, Spike, and Chester) VS Metal Scratchin

[PC the Hedgehog]

Never realized the main track from Haunted Ship was used so many times before Rush Adventure. Which I'm perfectly okay with, because it's awesome as all get out and needs to be exposed to more ears.

[azoo]

One I thought you guys would like to know about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_awAKW445g

[Double Agent Motobug]

Right, here's a big ol' bump to this very interesting topic.

So I've been talking a bit with Mr.Hideki Naganuma, of Jet Set Radio and Sonic Rush fame, about his compositions and so on. There's two things that I've learned recently that are pretty relevant to this topic, so I hope no one minds the bump. I'd post this over on Sonic Retro as well, but their forum colors murder my eyes (D; White text on black backgrounds) and I've forgotten my password/username... Anyhoo:

1) He says that he had no involvement with Sonic Unleashed at all, and was unaware of the similarities between "Somethin' Jazzy for your mind" and "Windmill Isle".

2) Apparently all of his samples come from (direct quote) "Sampling CD", which I assume he means one of those disks that you can get with royalty free sampling clips on 'em. He also further clarified that he did not use the song "Louie Louie" for Back 2 Back, and that the clips apparently were not from that song.

EDIT: Yeah, he says they come from a sampling CD that SEGA owns, and he thinks it's commercially available~! I'm asking if he knows where exactly one could get such a CD, since I figure it'd be a really interesting thing to have.

(Also an interesting note is that he also claims he's working/has worked on a "3DS and PSP (Vita?) game under a different name", but he had no connection with Generations 3DS asides from them using his original mix of Back 2 Back. Interesting. Perhaps Monkey Ball?)

Edited January 30, 2012 by Aptiva

[Double Agent Motobug]

Double post, but for a good purpose O: !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg2oT-qLD6w

"To the Batmobile, let's go!", It was used in both Sonic Shuffle's "Feel Noisy" and Sonic Gems Collection's "Sonic 6290 Mix" (The Sonic CD megamix). =D

Edited February 27, 2012 by Aptiva

[BlazingTales]

That was unexpected, I think I just found another sample! I was re-listening to Jet Set Radio's soundtrack for about the millionth time this week, and when I made it to "Yappie Feet", I heard a familiar background tune. You can hear it at around 20 seconds into the song:

At first I thought I recognised it from Sonic Rush, as its music and JSR's share a lot of similarities. Then I recalled another Sonic soundtrack with a very... unique style.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWGAVzIu8jg

SHAKE IT SHAKE IT SHAKE IT BABY

The instrumentals are almost identical! This brings up quite a few interesting questions. Where was the tune taken from, and are there any other samples in Free Riders' soundtrack? If Rocky Ridge's vocals were indeed also sampled, I'm half-curious to know the original context. xP

Edited June 2, 2012 by BlazingTales

[Boostitude]

Great post. 10/10. Would listen again.

[Kimb]

Not sure if a sample...but I'll mention it anyway xD!

I noticed some parts of the Werehog Boss theme that seem to be inspired by Benny Goodman's ''Sing sing sing''

[media=]

Specifically starting around 1.30....for both ( oh well whaddya know )

Good ol' big band jazz C:

[Faseeh]

It's kinda sad really. Till this day, I've yet to find out where "HUEHUEHUE" came out.

[#AR]

Here's a funny one that I found.

A lot of you have played Jet Set Radio Future, right?

Well go to this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NGZTgultwE

and listen around 3:38.

Sound familiar?

Yep. This was sampled in this song right here:

[Wentos]

To this day, Sonic Rush's soundtrack fascinates me. Well, I think I may have found the origin of What U Need's vocals.

The sample, at 34 seconds:

The original (to my knowledge) at 40 seconds.

Edited October 12, 2012 by The Playful Pikachu

[NotOminous]

Hope you people don't mind a noob bumping this great thread. I found it via google.

 

I just wanted to add a sample source that I don't think I saw mentioned yet.

 

It's the "GO!" from Launch Base in Sonic 3.

 

Just to remind you, from 8 seconds on:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZH1o8N9PXU#t=8s

 

Here's the original in Run DMC's "Peter Piper" at 1m54s. The Launch Base version is sped up by roughly 30% (from my own experiments)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo5-74dWGS0#t=1m54s

[spinny]

Bump~!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9bN8JBwk_s

 

Dat intro.

 

guilty of hearing it as "ay fuck ye ay fuck ye ay fuck ye on the cactus floor" as a kid but thats besides the point

 

Some hear it as a rap about Eggman being on the loose, leading to some believing the sample was constructed inhouse...

 

Welp, I dug through a free sample pack yesterday, and...

 

https://app.box.com/s/yv6krtbbfxnlyo7o5jky

 

Sound familiar? :3

[MamboCat]

I hear it as "Egg's gonna get! Egg's gonna get it! Oh no! Oh no!"

 

But yeah, there are so many samples in the Japanese sound track, I wouldn't be surprised.