I first started working on 8-Bit Theory in celebration of Linkin Park’s iPhone/iPod Touch game 8-Bit Rebellion. It had appeal that enticed my inner nostalgic gamer, and inspired me as a composer. The idea of creating legitimate 8-bit versions of some of Linkin Park’s music became quite a challenge from the get-go. The principles of traditional 8-bit composition did not necessarily mesh well with the way Linkin Park songs were often structured, and because of this, simply translating their music into sequences of waves, pulses and white-noise weren’t going to cut it.

It was important that the album had a unique sound unlike anything that could be found on the net, and through various uses of hardware and software, 8-Bit Theory manages to balance the softer and heavier sides of Linkin Park’s greatest hits. Utilizing 8-bit assorted sounds while keeping true to the band’s style was the most important rule of thumb during the composition process. The process resulted in a much more raw sound that allowed for range I hadn’t seen in other 8-bit interpretations on the web.

Opting out of simply using VST plugins and software shortcuts proved to be the more challenging aspect of creating 8-Bit Theory. It really limited the composition aspect, forcing me to rewrite all sequences yet maintaining the band’s original work. Through careful layering, tricks and improvisation, 8-Bit Theory maintains a great deal from Linkin Park’s original pieces yet translates it to 8-bit with almost no losses. Using a much more raw sound also meant greater range of distortion by taking advantage of the low-resolution of 8-bit sound, which also allowed me to emulate the band’s heavy use of distorted guitars, something else I’ve not seen a lot of 8-bit interpretations do.

In the end, though I called the album “8-Bit Theory” in reference to the band’s debut Hybrid Theory, roughly only 58% of the album is featured here. Some songs just did not translate well to the 8-bit style to my liking and thus, were not included. However, to make up for that, I decided to expand the library to include songs from Hybrid Theory, Reanimation, Meteora, Minutes to Midnight and their song from the Transformers movie, New Divide. I hope that makes it up to anyone who expected a complete translation of the Hybrid Theory album.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoy 8-Bit Theory as much as I enjoyed making it!