[MOD] Expanding the Electronica radio station - help me pick tracks!

GrijzePilion

In The Sims 3, a game with a certain emphasis on parties and going out to the clubs, the Electronica genre of music isn't very big.
Of the 20 packs released for the game, only 3 have added music to the station and the newest is Late Night, from 2010. In total, there's probably little more than 20 tracks on the radio, all from a very specific time period.
So there's definitely room for more and newer music. And given that, with some effort, it's possible to add tracks to existing radio stations, or to create entirely new radio stations, I intended to double the amount of available music.

I would like you guys to contribute tracks, to make suggestions, because I'll never be able to make this mod happen if I don't get input from others with other music taste and other music knowledge.
I'm looking for distinct sounds and styles - if it's from the last 30 or so years and if you can dance to it, I want to hear it!

Here are a number of things I'm mindful of:

1. Is the track the right length (3-5 minutes)? If not, I can edit it?
2. Are there lyrics in the track? And if so, could they be mistaken for glibberish? If there are, but they couldn't, can I find an instrumental version?
3. Does the track sound good in the game? Is the pacing right, would the devs perhaps have picked this track themselves?
4. Would you hear this track in a club? And would you dance to it?

Here's the current track list:

Jokers of The Scene - Baggy Bottom Boys (Electro House / 2009)
Duck Sauce - Barbra Streisand (Disco House / 2010)
Deadmau5 - Complications (Progressive House / 2008)
Underworld - Cups (? / 1997)
Edelweiss - Bring Me Edelweiss (Instrumental / New Beat / 1988)
Major Lazer & DJ Snake - Lean On (Instrumental / Deep House / 2015)
Transistorcake - Mr. Croissant Taker ( ? / 2012)
Mord Fustang - Lick The Rainbow (Electro House / 2011)
Daniel Avery - Naive Response (Chill House / 2013)
Mr. Magnetik - Remanence (Trance / 2012)
Bananarama - Venus (Instrumental / Hi-NRG / 1986)
A Guy Called Gerald - Voodoo Ray (Acid House / 1988)
The Bloody Beetroots ft. Steve Aoki - W.A.R.P (EDM / 2009)


I think, ideally, about half should be recent tracks (2010-now), with 25% older tracks (2000-2010) and 25% retro stuff (80s and 90s).

And in case you're wondering about copyright: You can listen to it on YouTube on your PC, so if you export those audio files and play them in a video game, for personal use, that's the same thing. So this is fully legal.

Again, if you have suggestions, let me know!

Saltysea21

I Don't Wanna Be In Love - Joe Manina

No Money - Galantis

Faded (tiesto's northern lights remix) - Alan Walker

I'd Love to Change the World (matstubs remix - Jetta

Ark - Ship Wrek and Zookeepers

Those are just a few of my favorite electronic type songs.

GrijzePilion

All but one of those aren't gonna work - too heavy on the vocals. Couldn't really find instrumentals either.
I'll keep the last one in mind, maybe that one's good.

Avatarit

That's a cool idea, I love the electronica channel.
But I think the "sounds like glibberish" is a tough demand... In my game I use regular songs with the custom music channel and it's sounds alright.
Anyway I'll think of songs in the next few days and if I'll come up with something I'll post here.

TreyNutz

Tiesto - Get Lifted. Might be too chill, but it's an instrumental.

Sasha - Xpander. This is the version I like. The original is longer.

Bronski Beat - Hit That Perfect Beat Boy. Retro. Has vocals but you could probably edit those out and end up with 2-3+ min of HiNRG.

Chicane - Saltwater. Has vocals, but they aren't in English so it's pretty much gibberish to me. I think it's essentially a remix of Harry's Song by Clannad. I don't recall any English vocals on the album version but It's been a long time since I've listened to it. I'm not familial with the remixes; there are several on YT.

Underworld - Cups. This is a live version, which is more club friendly (IMO) than the album version. Has some vocals. I don't think the album version does.

Above & Beyond: Air for Life and World on Fire. Air for Life has some vocals, but could pass for simlish if you don't listen too closely. I think I had to look up the lyrics to figure out what they were. I don't recall any vocals in World on Fire.

ZeeGee

I like this one. You can download the MP3 through the creator library at YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYj2JE-naaM

GrijzePilion

TreyNutz wrote: »

Tiesto - Get Lifted. Might be too chill, but it's an instrumental.

Sasha - Xpander. This is the version I like. The original is longer.

Bronski Beat - Hit That Perfect Beat Boy. Retro. Has vocals but you could probably edit those out and end up with 2-3+ min of HiNRG.

Chicane - Saltwater. Has vocals, but they aren't in English so it's pretty much gibberish to me. I think it's essentially a remix of Harry's Song by Clannad. I don't recall any English vocals on the album version but It's been a long time since I've listened to it. I'm not familial with the remixes; there are several on YT.

Underworld - Cups. This is a live version, which is more club friendly (IMO) than the album version. Has some vocals. I don't think the album version does.

Above & Beyond: Air for Life and World on Fire. Air for Life has some vocals, but could pass for simlish if you don't listen too closely. I think I had to look up the lyrics to figure out what they were. I don't recall any vocals in World on Fire.

Great stuff, thanks. I'll give 'em all a listen and see which ones work. From what I've heard so far, about 10 seconds of each song, I think there's some really good ones in there.

GrijzePilion

Okay, small update:

Tiesto - Get Lifted: It's alright, I think it could work. Personally not a fan of this kind of music, and Dutch DJs just make the worst trance IMO. I say that as a Dutchman.

Sasha - Xpander: I think I'll include this one. Makes for good background music. It's quite long, so I'll have to cut it down like I did with Deadmau5's Complications (which is also roughly 9:30).

Bronski Beat - Hit That Perfect Beat Boy: Tempted to put it in, because I'm very partial to 80s stuff*. But it may be a little too Hi-NRG and I'm not sure if it'll work without the lyrics. Would definitely like to have a Hi-NRG track in, though. How about New Order's Blue Monday? That's a classic, have it in my Custom Music already.

* I think Voodoo Ray will sound great in-game, but I primarily put it in because I just HAD to have an 80s house track.

Chicane - Saltwater: Not sure about this one. I think it'll come out sounding like a YouTube video from 2009 if you play this in-game.

Underworld - Cups: Nice length, very "clubby" sound like you said. Gets bonus points for being Underworld (I'd have put Pearls Girl in if not for the lyrics).

Air For Life - Above & Beyond: Good one. Not my kind of music, but I think it'll work.

Above and Beyond - World On Fire: Now I personally like this one better than the last, but I'm not sure it'll work. My go-to method for "trying out" music is playing a video file of Sims dancing in a club and seeing if the music that's playing makes sense there. For this one, I can't quite figure it out.

TreyNutz

GrijzePilion wrote: »

How about New Order's Blue Monday? That's a classic, have it in my Custom Music already.

That's a good one. I like Bizarre Love Triangle better and found an instrumental too. But either one would be nice.

GrijzePilion wrote: »

Underworld - Cups: Nice length, very "clubby" sound like you said. Gets bonus points for being Underworld (I'd have put Pearls Girl in if not for the lyrics).

I thought of Pearl's Girl but kind of remembered lyrics. Didn't see an instrumental of Dinosaur Adventure 3D either, although perhaps that could be edited. Rez is long and would have to be edited, but I don't think it has any vocals. I'm not sure how either would work with sims dancing.

GrijzePilion

Okay, here's a few more songs I may want to put in. I'd like to know how you guys feel about these.

Daniel Avery - Naive Response. From GTA V's Soulwax FM. Kind of a chill, deep track with a simple beat.

Transistorcake - Mr. Croissant Taker. Also from GTA V. GTA's devs really seem to know what music does and doesn't work in a video game. I think this'll work pretty well in-game.

The Prodigy - Narayan (Instrumental). Another one of those songs I want to put in because I personally like it. Afraid it won't work, though. I have a 4-minute version without the vocals.

Mord Fustang - Lick The Rainbow. This one would work well. Will probably put it in, though I'll make it shorter.

808 State - Pacific 98. 1998 remix of the 1989 original, which I already have in my Custom Music. Personally not a fan of the sax, but pretty catchy otherwise.

808 State - Donkey Doctor. Very futuristic sound for the time (1989). Without vocals, I think it'd be pretty cool.

Justice - Waters of Nazareth. Maybe it's just me, but I keep thinking I should put more GTA songs in. This one's from GTA IV, and it's plumming RAW. This song does not 🐸🐸🐸🐸 around, and you need to ask it for permission to listen to it.

TreyNutz

I like Lick the Rainbow, and Naive Response reminds me of an Underworld song, but I can't figure out which one.

SimsILikeSims

I physically converted music I had bought over the years in iTunes and elsewhere to mp3's and physically put the mp3's in my Electronica folder for Sims 4, and in my Rave folder for Sims 1, and in my techno folder for Sims 2. Only Sims 3 doesn't have subfolders in the custom music directory (boo).

Here's some of my favorites I put in my music folders for dance music: (Title - Artist/Band)

Barbara Streisand - Duck Sauce
(Almost anything by Cascada)
Fade to Grey - Visage
Galvanize - The Chemical Brothers
I Took a pill in Ibiza - Mike Posner (Seeb Remix)
Move Any Mountain - The Shamen
Everybody's Free (to feel good) - Rozalla
Safe and Sound - Capital Cities
She Wolf - Shakira
Smalltown Boy - Bronski Beat
Theme from S'Express - S'Express
World in My Eyes - Depeche Mode
People are People - Depeche Mode
Midnight City - M83
When Love Takes Over - David Guetta
Pump Up the Jam - Technotronic feat D.O.N.S. (DONS Club mix)
I Begin to Wonder - Dannii Minogue
Happy Nation - Ace of Base
Better off alone - Alice Deejay
Sandstorm - Darude
Get Ready for This - 2 Unlimited
I Like to Move it (Theme from Madagascar movie)
Titanium (feat Sia) - David Guetta

GrijzePilion

Don't know why I hadn't thought of Barbra Streisand, it's pretty much perfect for the game.
Great picks, by the way, I didn't know a lot of them and they're very useful to me.

Galvanize - The Chemical Brothers: Already thought of it, but didn't think it'd fit.

Everybody's Free (to feel good) - Rozalla: Now I'd like to use this one, but it's not going to work without the lyrics. And I'm not going to be able to edit them out.

Safe and Sound - Capital Cities: Sure. It's in Simlish already so that's super convenient. Love me a bit of modern synthpop, and it makes for good club music too.

Smalltown Boy - Bronski Beat: Great song. But if I can't find a good instrumental on YouTube or Soundcloud, and if it doesn't sound exactly the same as the original music, I can't include it.

Theme from S'Express - S'Express: It's pretty catchy. I'd use the 12" version and cut all the lyrics out except for the part that goes "suck me off, suck me off, suck me off". Then if you'd listen to it in game you'll go, "did I just hear that?"
But I can't, because there's lyrics all over the important bits.

People are People - Depeche Mode: Oddly enough, I'm not at all familiar with Depeche Mode. But I really liked that one. I want to use it in the game (again, instrumental version) but I don't want to have too many 80s songs. So I'll have to get rid of some that I already have now.

Midnight City - M83: Been there, done that.

When Love Takes Over - David Guetta: Not bad, but the instrumental sounds weird without the lyrics. So I can't put it in.

Pump Up the Jam - Technotronic feat D.O.N.S. (DONS Club mix): Yeah, probably. I'll see about the lyrics thing.

I Begin to Wonder - Dannii Minogue: Yeah, could work.

Sandstorm - Darude: No.

Get Ready for This - 2 Unlimited: Well I'm Dutch, and this is probably my favourite song that we ever made (bar Golden Earring's When The Lady Smiles), so I do really want to put it in. But I don't think I should.

Titanium (feat Sia) - David Guetta: It has the right sound, but it won't make sense without the lyrics.

SimsILikeSims

A tip to find instrumentals that sound the same as the original song when the original song has lyrics - look for karaoke versions. Another song that is already in Simlish that might work - Suffer Well by Depeche Mode.

GrijzePilion

SimsILikeSims wrote: »

look for karaoke versions.

Karaoke versions are often poorly made covers, and unless it sounds exactly the same, or exactly the same within reason, I'm not having it.

GrijzePilion

Okay guys, I have two questions and maybe you can help me out with them:

1. How long would you prefer the songs to be? I cut a lot of them down, so I can make them short (2.5 - 4 minutes) or long (4.5 - 6 minutes). Right now the shortest is 2:52 and the longest is 4:54.
2. I need more songs from the following time periods: 1992-2000 and 2010-2017. I'd like to have 5 more from both periods, so please feel free to suggest some!