Brad Buxer and the S3 Mid Boss Theme

I do still have the emails -- I contacted Hiroshi Kubota (Jimita) a while back. Very helpful guy, although there were some details he didn't remember. I've posted bits and pieces of his replies on various threads, but if someone wants the whole interviews, I can dig them up and send them. They are in Japanese and I had a Japanese speaking friend quickly translate them once for me in person, so you'll have to work with that, although running them through a translator gives a decent idea of his responses.

Now that we're talking about this again, I remember reading an email reply from Brad Buxer posted on a forum way back in 2002-2003, before the whole MJ thing came to light. Someone emailed him to ask about the composition process, what songs he did etc... and I distinctly remember Buxer's reply being very harsh (again, this was before MJs involvement came to light), although if I recall correctly, he did give some information, and basically said "please do not contact me about this again." I've searched for this thread for quite some time, and was wondering if anyone had ever seen it. For all I know, the forum it was posted on may be long gone, but I thought I'd throw this out anways.

 

Cirocco's or any reply for that matter. I'm sure we all would like to read the original quotes when including this info the wiki.

So please, all of you who have replies from any devs, please post them away, making a new thread if necessary. Else, from here in a few years other people will just disprove all these facts by just saying that there's no source for them.

 

Mkay, but if this is the only thing I ever get from him, then we just gotta deal with it. :P Anyways, I asked him a general question about his claim to work with MJ and Brad on "levels 2 & 3".

He said "5 guys (me, Brad, Bobby, Darry, Geoff) spent what seemed like countless hours creating compositions with MJ... and then trying our best to technically balance what SEGA team wanted to create music for the sonic game. I was hired by Brad to come in to create different music cues and arrange on a lot of other ideas too. It was a long time ago... and was kinda challenging to say the least."

I have sent a follow up question, but nothing has come from it. I'll give it a few more days to be sure. Also, I have attempted to contact Bobby, Doug, Geoff, and Darryl as well. And the thing with Brad seemed fishy. He stated outright Dec 09, that he worked with MJ. So maybe he is more willing to talk now?

 

It's nice to finally hear something about the actual composition process for once. Hopefully he'll reply again. Thanks for that!!

 

No problem. ;D But like I said, this might be the only thing that I get from him, so yeah.

 

Some info about I posted about Setsumaru. I forgot to post that he says he does NOT know who composed Data Select.

 

Good news and bad news about Sonic Generations (and a few S3&K themes):

Good news: The Big Arm remix was arranged by Cash Cash (w/Jun Senoue). Official video: right here.

Bad news: The "Endless Mine is by the same composer as City Escape" theory has now very definitely had a hole put into it by none other than Alex Makhlouf, as seen in this recent comment from the above video.

So it WAS their/Alex's idea after all. We can only hope now that the link is more than just a coincidence.

........

Next up for potential confirmation info. is the History of Sonic Music 20th Anniversary Edition CD released yesterday. Flying Battery hasn't seen a proper release yet, so it has a chance to have proper info (along with Neo Green Hill Zone, Leaf Forest, Sonic Stage [Emerald Beach(?)] and Route 99 from the GBA games.)

 

Wait, how is that good news? I thought we knew that back in the summer? Or were you saying Jun was the composer?

 

I suppose it's more a case of "what's old is new," the fact being that the comment I quoted was made within 24 hours of my last post and it was from the official video, which has only been up for about a week now. Even if the information regarding Big Arm was old, the rest was not. [And it's also nice to support the official release ]

Fact is I wasn't aware of that news until that point in time. I'm by no means all-knowing; I just try really, really hard, and even then I'm still just a learner in this field.

Besides, not everyone's on the same page, here. People tend to learn about different things in different ways - not everyone's gonna learn the specifics about MJ et al.'s involvement in Sonic 3 from this forum. There's a lot of variables out there to keep track of, and all we really have to do as analysts is make sure they're all recognized accordingly when they need to be.

As such, I've provided evidence that the "EM&CE" connection isn't as stable as previously determined and what to except on the horizon for the less in-tune with the multiple CDs released this year.

 

Ok well I have an update. Cirocco responded to me with this.
"I believe that there is a lawsuit going on or about to go on. Sega owes a lot of people money from the Sonic stuff. Speak with Bobby Brooks (see my friend list). He may tell you a LOT more about everything....."

So this is why people (and SEGA), don't like the Sonic being brought up... And after this, I went on ask Bobby Brooks. He told me I needed to contact his laywer and I need to back off of his personal business. Oh well...
At least I still have Cirocco. He still hasn't checked out the links I've sent him. So give it time and we will get more answers soon. = )

 

You know... I've never thought of that before. Perhaps that does factor in.
But whatever it is, these guys do NOT like this subject. SEGA has even barred the Japanese composers from talking about it, and MJ's team is just as reticent.

Speaking of which, Masaru Setsumaru finally responded to me last week, but didn't answer any questions. Either he doesn't understand the level of English I asked him in, or doesn't wanna answer. Oh well.. I can't give up.

 

This could possibly explain why no composers were credited for the S3K/Chaotix tracks in Generations, although Mariko Nanba was credited as part of the White Space composers. Wasn't Tomonori Sawada credited for Sky Sanctuary before in a previous album release?

It's just a mess. Until we find out who did what, then people will either just credit the SEGA Sound Team as a whole, or continue to do the usual “let's credit Jun Senoue and Howard Drossin for everything even though they only contributed a few tracks” approach.

 

Yea he was, along with Milpo for Sonic 3 title, Angel Island, and Sky Sanctuary. Nowadays thought, it's just SEGA.
And this is exactly what I told Cirocco. I told him that don't most artists want to be credited for their work, and not have a bigger name on the project automatically assumed to have done your work?

 

""I believe that there is a lawsuit going on or about to go on."

So I believe it's a new, if not a future lawsuit. Bobby Brooks seemed pissed when I asked him. Told me he had legal issues, and that I needed to back of his personal biz. So I wonder if the "legal issues" were the lawsuit?

The people I REALLY need to contact are Tomonori Sawada, Tatsuyuki Maeda, and Sachio Ogawa. But all three are still employed by SEGA, so I wouldn't get any info from them anyway.

Cirocco doesn't seem reticent like most others do. he even confirmed that he worked with MJ without me even asking. He also told me to go to Bobby (who didn't wanna talk), so maybe we will eventually get the info someday.

 

Hey Dissident,

Thanks for all the great work, Scirrico has always seemed like a decent guy when asked about this. I remember reading a thread at a Sonic related website MANY years back (around 2003-2004), where someone had contacted Brad Buxer about Sonic 3 (nothing MJ related, just wanted to know about the composition process of the songs and other general information.) The guy posted Buxer's reply, where Buxer basically told the guy to **** off and leave him alone. Seems the people who've contacted Brooks, Geoff Grace, etc... have gotten similar replies.

Any chance you could ask Scirrico about the composition process itself (inspiration, instrumentation, time it took to work on the songs, how many tracks they wrote etc...) ? I was actually thinking about asking him via facebook, but since you've already got a rapport with him, thought I'd ask you first. This could still give us valuable information. Regardless, thanks either way for all the great work and the interesting information!

 

I would not say I have a rapport with him. Even thought he doesn't seem like he wants me to to **** off, he still doesn't answer the questions. And I will eventually ask him about the process itself, but I can't guarantee he will respond.

 

MTV did kind of make a story of this, you know, and the number of views of the vgmdb topic it links to (46,956 as of this writing, as opposed to the usual topic barely making triple digits for just views) shows that quite a few people did take notice of this.

We're basically left with those who have lived under a rock with regards to the topic or the hardcore neighsayers that show up in any kind of debate.

You know, I only just remembered something that makes the crediting on the OST so contradictory, especially when it comes to Senoue (whom we know so much about already). Senoue was once asked by our own Sik about his "favorite track" in Sonic 3 when he got his copy of the game autographed (I can't find the forum right now, but I know it exists. Just ask the guy himself). It should go without saying that when you ask a composer that, they would refer to their own tracks because they hold more meaning to them as the creator than to anyone else, so he was basically asked what his "favorite track [that he made]" was.

His response: the magnetic orbs bonus stage. Be it an indirect approach to the matter or the sheer fact that he revealed some amount of information, this hypocrisy cannot be ignored, be it here, on the 10th Anniversary CD, or in ICEKnight's hack.

OK, I need to set this straight once and for all:

The deal with me and the 10th Anniversary CD is that when I confirm one of the names on there, I bar them from the rest of the tracks in order to make locking on with the remaining composers for the remaining tracks that much easier. And yes, I said composers; only composers are credited for each track, which is why Masaru Setsumaru isn't credited for the arrangement of the S&K theme (track 12).

Fact is, each composer of the three in the data (Sawada, Kashima, Drossin) had to have composed at least one track, so Sawada, without a doubt, composed either a) S3's main theme (which is actually in doubt) [see below], b) Angel Island, or c) Sky Sanctuary, since we've already go two confirmations: one for each of the other two composers.

-In analyzing the composer information, I came to the conclusion that anyone who was still working at Sega at the time of the CD's production was credited normally. Kashima, who wouldn't leave the company for another year or so, was thus on there. Also on there (but on other tracks) was Jun Senoue, so he's automatically eliminated from any of these. Next, given the above, Ogawa, Setsumaru, and Maeda are also eliminated b/c they were still employed by the company at the time (and still are) and thus should have been credited like Kashima and Sawada were had they actually done those tracks. MJ et al. shouldn't be a factor here b/c of all the red tape and none of those themes appearing here to begin with.

-This leaves Uwabo (who we previously confirmed did no composition work) and Nagao (left before the end of the 90s). I harp on Nagao b/c he wouldn't be credited based on the system devised by the given information but cannot be eliminated that easily. However, with Uwabo successfully eliminated from all track compositions (and arrangements), the rest of the tracks were Nagao's for the taking. That is, before Nagao himself revealed something interesting...

-Going back to Page 5 of this topic, Masafumi Ogata, someone completely unlinked to S3, is said to have composed its main theme. Though Nagao is unsure of this, he is sure that Ogata also composed the "theme song" of Sonic Drift (where "Sonic - You Can Do Anything" is used for the invincibility jingle), and that makes me think he is right on this hunch. Combine this with how the S3 main theme is used for Sonic Drift 2's invincibility jingle (replacing a definite Ogata composition) and the fact that Ogata also left Sega by the CD's release and you've got the last big breakthrough for the CD.

So, let's review:

Track 12 (Title Music from Sonic & Knuckles) is known to be composed by Howard Drossin via Virtual Sonic (Sonic & Knuckles Theme), so that covers Drossin, one of three names given in the disc's data, and it's basically been concluded that he did none of these other tracks in any way, shape or form. This leaves Kashima and Sawada.

Track 15 (Special Stage) was confirmed by Kashima himself a decage ago, when he was known by Milpo. Further interviews (again, Page 5 of this topic) reveal that this was his only composition, so that covers Kashima. This only leaves Sawada on the list.

Track 14 (Sky Sanctuary Zone) is linked to Sawada by me because it sounds the most like some of his other work. Tell me this (confirmed as Sawada's) doesn't sound like SS. How about this one and its arrangement (both by Sawada). Sawada is all over that high synth sound, and it doesn't hurt that I concluded months ago, before I knew any of those confirmed tracks, that he composed that track and others that shared the same type of sound simply by accounting for known roles in the series and then taking what few context clues I had to assign each sets of tracks to a composer (for Nagao and Sawada, mainly). Furthermore, the other two tracks on the CD just don't sound that close to his known work.

Track 13 (Angel Island Zone) is linked to Nagao by me b/c of his lack of credit. Everyone else on the team had the potential to be on this CD, with no perceivable obstacles to speak of. As a result, Nagao goes almost unchallenged for this track (and for a time, track 11 as well). The only other possibility is that someone we wouldn't know anything about turned out to do it.

Track 11 (Title Music from Sonic 3) is now linked to Ogata thanks to Nagao's reply. Just like with Nagao, Ogata fits the CD's crediting criteria like a glove (he also left by the end of the 90s), and this knowledge only helps to solidify the aforementioned tracks, as it designates each artist to a single, definite target. I realize that Ogata IS credited for "Sonic - You Can Do Anything" later in the album, but that is a "definite" credit (as vocal songs tend to have as opposed to basic VGM, case-in-point: Sonic CD's soundtrack information) which cannot be ignored regardless of Ogata's current place of employment.

 

Why are people still doubting if MJ worked on Sonic 3?

"5 guys (me, Brad, Bobby, Darry, Geoff) spent what seemed like countless hours creating compositions with MJ... and then trying our best to technically balance what SEGA team wanted to create music for the sonic game. I was hired by Brad to come in to create different music cues and arrange on a lot of other ideas too. It was a long time ago... and was kinda challenging to say the least." - Cirocco