Smooth McGroove | |
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Personal information | |
Born | Max Gleason December 5, 1984 (age 38) |
Occupations |
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YouTube information | |
Channel | |
Years active | 2012–2019, 2021, 2023–present |
Genre(s) | Music, a cappella |
Subscribers | 2.7 million [1] |
Total views | 635,9 million [1] |
Last updated: February 13, 2024 |
Max Gleason, better known by his stage name, Smooth McGroove, is an American YouTuber known for recording re-arranged a cappella versions of video game music. [2] [3] [4] He typically appears in his videos in a Hollywood Squares-like split-screen featuring multiple versions of himself singing and beatboxing all the parts simultaneously, often complemented by a video of the relevant game being played.
Gleason's musical career began when he was eleven years old and began playing the drums. He eventually started teaching private music lessons to support himself. [2] In college, Gleason began recording some MIDI tracks and posting them on MySpace, but never got much recognition for them. Later, he and some friends of his started a rock band, and in addition to being the drummer, he was responsible for the audio mixing. The band fell apart, and a few years later, Gleason decided to do more music. He began rapping about video games, and he gradually moved to a cappella music. [4]
Gleason has recorded music from many popular video game series, including The Legend of Zelda , [5] Super Mario , Sonic the Hedgehog , Final Fantasy , [6] Mega Man , [7] Undertale and Street Fighter . [8] Gleason's videos have garnered millions of views, and he eventually left his job giving private music lessons to focus fully on his a cappella videos. [9] When asked about working with more modern tracks, he sided against it, stating that "music for video games today serve a more atmospheric role with less of a focus on memorable melodies". He noted that the Elder Scrolls series was an exception. [10]
A Starbound patch known as "v. Enraged Koala" released in early 2014 added a microphone feature including sounds by Gleason. [11] [12]
In 2014, Gleason provided narration for an episode of the video game webseries Did You Know Gaming? covering the F-Zero series. [13]
Gleason's cover of the "Gardens" theme from the 2008 video game LittleBigPlanet was included in the 2014 sequel LittleBigPlanet 3 under the title "Secret Gardens". [14]
Across 2019 and 2020, Gleason was dealing with personal medical problems and had shut down his Patreon and produced no content, but returned to production of his a cappella covers in March 2021. [15]
Gleason was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and was raised in Yukon, Oklahoma. As of 2013, he lived in Oklahoma City with his cat, Charl. [2] [3] [4] Charl is a black cat who has made numerous appearances in Gleason's videos.
Music performed a cappella, less commonly a capella, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term a cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato musical styles. In the 19th century, a renewed interest in Renaissance polyphony, coupled with an ignorance of the fact that vocal parts were often doubled by instrumentalists, led to the term coming to mean unaccompanied vocal music. The term is also used, rarely, as a synonym for alla breve.
Shigeru Miyamoto is a Japanese video game designer, producer and game director at Nintendo, where he serves as one of its representative directors as an executive since 2002. Widely regarded as one of the most accomplished and influential designers in video games, he is the creator of some of the most acclaimed and best-selling game franchises of all time, including Mario,The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong, Star Fox and Pikmin. More than 1 billion copies of games featuring franchises created by Miyamoto have been sold.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is a 1998 action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was released in Japan and North America in November 1998 and in PAL regions the following month. Ocarina of Time is the first game in The Legend of Zelda series with 3D graphics.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is an action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the third game in The Legend of Zelda series and was released in 1991 in Japan and 1992 in North America and Europe.
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is an action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. An installment in The Legend of Zelda series, it was released in Japan on December 13, 2002, in North America on March 24, 2003, and in Europe on May 2, 2003.
Koji Kondo is a Japanese music composer, pianist, and sound director for the video game company Nintendo. He was best known for his many contributions to the Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda series of video games, among others produced by the company. Kondo was hired by Nintendo in 1984, becoming the first person hired by them to specialize in video game music. His work in the Mario and Zelda series have been cited as the most memorable in video games, such as the Super Mario Bros. overworld theme.
Rockapella is an American a cappella musical group formed in 1986 in New York City. The group's name is a portmanteau of "rock" and "a cappella". Rockapella sings original vocal music and a cappella versions of other songs. Over time, their sound has evolved from high-energy pop and world music style toward a sound more influenced by R&B. Rockapella found their early and enduring success in Japan. They are most successful for their role as a house band and comedy troupe on the PBS children's geography game show Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?.
A mashup is a creative work, usually a song, created by blending two or more pre-recorded songs, typically by superimposing the vocal track of one song seamlessly over the instrumental track of another and changing the tempo and key where necessary. Such works are considered "transformative" of original content and in the United States they may find protection from copyright claims under the "fair use" doctrine of copyright law.
Metroid is an action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo. The first installment in the Metroid series, it was originally released in Japan for the Family Computer Disk System in August 1986. North America received a release in August 1987 on the Nintendo Entertainment System in the Game Pak ROM cartridge format, with the European release following in January 1988. Set on the planet Zebes, the story follows Samus Aran as she attempts to retrieve the parasitic Metroid organisms that were stolen by Space Pirates, who plan to replicate the Metroids by exposing them to beta rays and then use them as biological weapons to destroy Samus and all who oppose them.
Numerous video games were released in 2011. Many awards went to games such as Batman: Arkham City, Portal 2, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Madden NFL 12, NBA 2K12, WWE '12, WWE All-Stars and Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. 2011 also marked the worldwide release of the Nintendo 3DS.
Peter James Hollens is an American singer-songwriter, producer and entrepreneur. He has been involved with a cappella music since 1999 when he and Leo da Silva founded the University of Oregon's a cappella group, On The Rocks, known as the first official collegiate a cappella group in Oregon. He regularly releases new music videos to his YouTube channel. With over 5 million followers and over 3 million subscribers, his content has received over a billion total views since 2011.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a 2017 action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch and Wii U. Set at the end of the Zelda timeline, the player controls an amnesiac Link as he sets out to save Princess Zelda and prevent Calamity Ganon from destroying the world. Players explore the open world of Hyrule while they collect items and complete objectives such as puzzles or side quests. Breath of the Wild's world is unstructured and encourages exploration and experimentation; the story can be completed in a nonlinear fashion.
Starbound is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Chucklefish. Starbound takes place in a two-dimensional, procedurally generated universe which the player is able to explore in order to obtain new weapons, armor, and items, and to visit towns and villages inhabited by various intelligent lifeforms. Starbound was released out of early access in July 2016 for Windows, OS X, and Linux, and for Windows via Xbox Game Pass in December 2020.
The year 2014 saw a number of events in the video game industry. No new major consoles were released, but updates and upgrades were: the New Nintendo 3DS was released in Japan and Oceania, and Sony released new model 2000 PS Vita systems in Europe & North America. In video game-related corporate acquisitions, Amazon purchased the online video game streaming service Twitch, and Facebook acquired the virtual reality company and product Oculus. Nintendo released Amiibo in 2014, companion figurines that could be scanned by the 3DS and Wii U systems. On Twitter and other Internet social media, the Gamergate controversy began.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds is a 2013 action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. The game is the 17th in The Legend of Zelda series and is a sequel to the 1991 title The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Announced in April 2013, A Link Between Worlds was released in Australia, Europe, and North America in November, and in Japan a month later.
Did You Know Gaming? is a video game–focused blog and web series which launched in May 2012. The site features video content focusing on video game related trivia and facts, with occasional journalistic investigations into gaming's lost secrets and forgotten products. Each video is narrated by a number of popular internet personalities and industry professionals including JonTron, Arin Hanson, Smooth McGroove, David Hayter and more.
Mike Tompkins is a Canadian musician from Ilderton, Ontario. He primarily records acapella covers and original songs, using only his mouth and voice. He has been partnered with Maker Studios, but is now an independent artist. He has been featured on both the Today Show and The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
Maytree (메이트리) is a South Korean five-member a cappella group.
Richard McLean Giese, known professionally as Social Repose, is an American singer-songwriter and YouTube personality.
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