Voice Samples in Tempest 2000 Soundtrack

[doctorclu]

Lately in Shinto's Jaguar Game By Game podcast featuring Tempest 2000 he discussed a few of the origins of the voice tracks in the Tempest 2000 soundtrack. The main interesting fact was "Television is the retina of the mind's eye" being a quote from the movie Videodrome.

 

Then further facts have been found:

 

I just noticed one of the songs in the episode(I'm listening right now) is using a soundbyte from Sam Kinison going "ow owwww!". Anthrax used that same one for one of their songs. Wow, 90s!

 

This was all fascinating, and I started to reply in Shinto's podcast message thread, but decided to do this right and create it's own thread. Maybe this has already been discussed. Maybe there is a website somewhere mentioning where all the voice tracks came from. If so, please share.

 

For starters, from the Tempest 2000 wiki entry:

 

"The original Jaguar version's music was created by Ian Howe, Alastair Lindsay and Kevin Saville^[3] of Imagitec Design Inc. (AKA Dream Weavers),^[4] who also created the music for Jeff Minter's Defender 2000 on the Atari Jaguar."

 

Throwing that in there in the hopes they will stop in and add some information if they see themselves in a search.

 

Here is what we have already worked out on what the songs are saying. Thanks Justclaws for the quotes that follow.

 

1. Thermal Resolution
*Drop the bass now
-Rock the bass now

2. Mind's Eye
Play (duh!)
*Television is the retina of the mind's eye
-Television is the retina; the mind's eye

S1500:

have Videodrome on VHS. Seen it several times. The original "television is the retina of the mind's eye" sounds different. Imagine the mad scientist guy from Fringe saying it. That's what it sounds like in the movie.

Shinto:

Thanks for the confirmation on Videodrome! The picture of the Brian O'Blivion character totally doesn't match the voice in the game soundtrack, but I thought it could have been a difference in pitch or something. I wonder why it was re-recorded for the CD soundtrack; I thought the voice in the original version of Mind's Eye sounded, I don't know, more convincing. Play. Yes, soundtrack voice, I think I will.

3. T2K
Let's go
1999
C'mon Paul, we'll never die

4. Ease Yourself
Ease yourself back into consciousness

-For some time I joked that "back in consciousness" sounded like they were using Gurgi from the Black Cauldron and slowed down his voice saying "Munchings and crunchings". (3:08 of the linked video) - Doctor Clu

5. Tracking Depth
-

6. Constructive Demolition
*Bring the bass back
-Bring the beat back
-Bring the big bat

7. Future Tense
Just what is it that you want to do?
We're gonna have a good time
*More in store in the future
-Hardcore is the future
This is not over yet
It's just the right thing to do

8. Digital Terror
Let's Go

9. Hyper Prism
Ladies and Gentlemen
Enter a world
There it is
Next time you need to lose yourself in a jungle of ambient sounds
Now, for the first time ever
Digitally recorded
In case you'd like to hear more

10. Glide Control-CD Version

Bonus level 1- Game Version - The in game version of "Glide Control"

No voice tracks, just where you hear "Yes" the most. Which was a game activated sound. Curious to know who the "Yes" voice actress was. - Doctor Clu

11. Ultra Yak
"Screaming!...hehe"- JustClaws

I just noticed one of the songs in the episode(I'm listening right now) is using a soundbyte from Sam Kinison going "ow owwww!". Anthrax used that same one for one of their songs.

 

-I thought this sounded a lot like Sam Kinison. The other yelling, in between Kinison's yelling, reminded me of the pig demons in Doom, or at least a similar Doom like sound. - Doctor Clu

12. 2000 Dub
*What I'm goin' to bust into is goin' to be some serious stuff
-What I'm goin' to bust into, dude, is some serious stuff
Funky
Jive
Rastafari

 

One thing is for certain, fans of the Tempest 2000 have their preferences. I think most like the game mod music since that is what you grew accustomed to, though there are times when the CD track offers more interpretation of the music not possible with the mod format.

Personally, I love mods.

Alright, spill what you know, or think you know, about the voice tracks above.

[Schmudde]

I’m an American from the Midwest but I grew up listening to a lot of British and German electronic music, so I might be able to provide some insights.

6. Constructive Demolition
“Bring the Beat Back”

Like Videodrome's “Television is the Retina” sample, this sample is likely a riff off of The KLF’s song Justified & Ancient (1991). Here is the link to the sample, “Bring the Beat Back,” cued up at 1m34s.

It’s an amazing song that might seem like an unlikely influence but also listen to Constructive Demolition back-to-back with this KLF tune, What Time Is Love?, and spot the influence:

KLF is a pioneer of trance music, something that Jeff Minter is known to like. If you want more evidence, here is Jeff Minter using the “Mu Mu” sample straight from What Time Is Love? (starts at about 0:47) in his game Space Giraffe.

7. Future Tense
Robot voice, jungle music

 

This track is very reminiscent of German techno outfit Snap!’s 1992 track The Ex-Terminator, straight down to the robot voice.

Future Tense’s robot voice: https://youtu.be/c9XCsrAHlCo?t=51s

The Ex-Terminator: https://youtu.be/myFu0jtXcd8?t=24s

Ex-terminator will build into a lot of the elements you hear on the T2K soundtrack.

This album was a pop and electronic chart-topper in the UK around the time T2K was being made.

2. Mind's Eye

Videodrome

 

This might be more trivia than a direct influence, but Front 242’s underground masterpiece Masterhit (1987) was the first song to sample Videodrome. You’ll hear it 20 seconds in, “You Know Me…”

Videodrome subsequently became a very popular film to sample because of its techno-dystopian overtones.

Still, if you listen to Masterhit, it isn’t a huge stretch to get to the T2K soundtrack:

Enjoy the music!

 

~ü

Edited January 30, 2016 by Schmudde

[doctorclu]

I’m an American from the Midwest but I grew up listening to a lot of British and German electronic music, so I might be able to provide some insights.

 

6. Constructive Demolition

“Bring the Beat Back”

 

Like Videodrome's “Television is the Retina” sample, this sample is likely a riff off of The KLF’s song Justified & Ancient (1991). Here is the link to the sample, “Bring the Beat Back,” cued up at 1m34s.

 

It’s an amazing song that might seem like an unlikely influence but also listen to Constructive Demolition back-to-back with this KLF tune, What Time Is Love?, and spot the influence:

 

 

KLF is a pioneer of trance music, something that Jeff Minter is known to like. If you want more evidence, here is Jeff Minter using the “Mu Mu” sample straight from What Time Is Love? (starts at about 0:47) in his game Space Giraffe.

 

That is a cool song. I have liked KLF ever since "Doctor'n the TARDIS."

 

I like the female singer in this song. Reminds me of Real McCoy (Another Night) with the lady singer with the guy rapping. Great stuff. I have this single of Doctor'n the TARDIS along with the other track "What time is love". I did not get into the other track as much, but now that there is a possible Tempest 2000 connection or influence, I like it a lot more.

 

7. Future Tense

Robot voice, jungle music

 

This track is very reminiscent of German techno outfit Snap!’s 1992 track The Ex-Terminator, straight down to the robot voice.

 

Future Tense’s robot voice: https://youtu.be/c9XCsrAHlCo?t=51s

 

The Ex-Terminator: https://youtu.be/myFu0jtXcd8?t=24s

 

Ex-terminator will build into a lot of the elements you hear on the T2K soundtrack.

 

This album was a pop and electronic chart-topper in the UK around the time T2K was being made.

Definately the same robot voice. Nice!! At the very least they might have used the same robot technique or robot sample.

2. Mind's Eye

Videodrome

This might be more trivia than a direct influence, but Front 242’s underground masterpiece Masterhit (1987) was the first song to sample Videodrome. You’ll hear it 20 seconds in, “You Know Me…”

 

Videodrome subsequently became a very popular film to sample because of its techno-dystopian overtones.

 

Still, if you listen to Masterhit, it isn’t a huge stretch to get to the T2K soundtrack:

 

 

Enjoy the music!

 

I certainly have! Yep, I can see how this would have been an influence for the "T2K" main track if nothing else.

Edited January 31, 2016 by doctorclu

[jaybird3rd]

I didn't check the podcast that the OP mentioned, so I don't know if it was mentioned there, but I recognize the first few voice samples from "Future Tense" from the 1966 film "The Wild Angels":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsHly9UuQ-A

(Skip to about 1:27)

[JFD62780]

Okay.

 

Just to set the record, about the T2K track...

 

That voice you thought said "C'mon Paul, we'll never die!"?

 

I learned based on actually listening to the track since I nabbed the soundtrack in a Napster session in 2000 *ahem* sampled some clips from the Soundtrack CD from the Jagu-Sounds page linked in this thread's first post, that it actually said:

 

"Hardcore will never die!"

 

The Hardcore in that case referring to the Hardcore Rave that the soundtrack featured.

 

Figured it must be said; that Mondegreen was untouched for 15, maybe 20 years, and it HAD to be killed.

 

...oh, and incidentally, there are MOD versions of the missing CD tracks as well! THANKS, FADING TWILIGHT! XD

Edited September 19, 2016 by JFD62780

[lotek_style]

Since I have integrated Fading Twilight into the Fujiology Archive there is a new URL:

 

ftp://fujiology.untergrund.net/users/ltk_tscc/fujiology/MUSIC/FT/TUNEZ/GAMES/T2K/

[Clint Thompson]

7. Future Tense

Just what is it that you want to do?

We're gonna have a good time

*More in store in the future

-Hardcore is the future

This is not over yet

It's just the right thing to do

 

Great thread!

 

I always thought they were saying "Mind threat into the future..." which is how I came up with my Twitter handle MindThreat - Sometime in 2012 IIRC, a group would create a metal band called Mindthreat and there were a few nights I was getting a ton of tweets because of the band name. Not to be confused with the Punk version of Mind Threat from the 80s that disbanded sometime in 83.

 

I was for the longest time going to get a few JV1080s but then sold myself on a few JV2080s only to completely bypass them because the new Native Instruments Maschine MKII is incredible and the value/performance far outweighs anything of these older synth top boxes.

[Rick Dangerous]

Awesome research gentlemen. I have always wondered about some of the sound clips in Tempest 2000. Psuedo-philosophical ramblings and various "deep" statements were all the rage in 90's electronica, and I always get a kick out of them They still can be found in today's electronica, just listen to the album Neon Future by Steve Aoki and you will know what i'm talking about...haha

[LianneJaguar64]

Sorry to bump thread but I just happened to be playing Ridge Racer on PSX, and the 6th track, 'Rhythm Shift', happens to feature the same 'Rock the bass' from Thermal Resolution and 'Hardcore is the future' from Future Tense! I'm not sure who composed RR's music, but I found that amazing regardless, these games (RR arcade and T2K) must had been worked on at the same sort of time, so I doubt that one is ripping off the other (as it were)...

[Flojomojo]

I don't think you should be amazed ...both games feature fairly typical riffs on electronic dance music. This style was very popular in British nightclubs as much as a decade before either game came out.

 

Have you seen the letter to Jeff Minter from "Atari's" lawyer alleging that the music in TxK was indistinguishable from the Tempest 2000 soundtrack? It's not, though it's certainly in the same genre.

 

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/03/txk-dev-on-atari-legal-threats-attack-me-they-should-have-hired-me/

[LianneJaguar64]

I don't think you should be amazed ...both tgames feature fairly typical riffs on electronic dance music. This style was very popular in British nightclubs as much as a decade before either game came out.

 

Have you seen the letter to Jeff Minter from "Atari'a" lawyer alleging that the music in TxK was indistinguishable from the Tempest 2000 soundtrack? It's not, though it's certainly in the same genre.

 

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/03/txk-dev-on-atari-legal-threats-attack-me-they-should-have-hired-me/

Not having been alive I wouldn't know still think it's pretty cool, but I take your point

[Yak]

Right up until a few days before the ROM went final we actually had the "Television is the retina of the mind's eye" sample directly from Videodrome in there. It was redone (by Imagitec IIRC) in the last few days when people got worried that we might get into trouble using the straight sample.

 

The "Yes!" sample was done by Ted Tahquichi's wife. Originally there was Flossie baaing in there but they decided they wanted a human voice.

 

And yes I am certain KLF was an influence. To point Imagitec in the right direction I made them a videotape of me playing the game as it was at that point and I dubbed over some of my favourite tunes that I thought fit the game well and I am sure there would have been some KLF on that tape as I was (and I remain) a big fan of the KLF.

[JFD62780]

Well, there you go! Straight from the Mouth of the Yak!

 

And honestly, the baaing? When I was listening to that Floaty MOD, I thought that was a creaking door! Damn lo-fi sampling...

[+davidcalgary29]

Somewhat related: I sat down with T2K for the first time in a couple of years at PRGE, and noted at one point, after a quick series of powerups, that the game responded with "Dude". I don't recall having seen that particular encouragement before, even though I've spent many hours on the game. Does anyone know how or when "Dude" is triggered in T2K?

[Zerosquare]

It's been a long time since the last time I played Tempest 2000, but I think it triggers the X^th time you collect a power-up in a level, for some value of X.

 

EDIT: just checked the Tempest 2000 source code. You need to collect 8 powerups in the same level to trigger it, which is why you don't see it often.

Edited October 16, 2023 by Zerosquare

[+davidcalgary29]

Excellent!