Jennerstein

Thanks for the comments. I'm going to move this back to Work in Progress and try to eliminate some of the annoying high end frequencies.

Bump for change in status to Mod Review.

Hello, I originally submitted a version of this mix to the judges panel in 2009. Here is the original version that I submitted 2009 Version MP3. The original was rejected for a few reasons. The piano sounded too muddy and far away, the strings didn't sound realistic enough, and the cymbal crashes were out of place. In general though, the judges liked the track. Five years later (hey, family life gets in the way ), I'm posting a new version for review. In addition to fixing the problems cited by the judges, I re wrote a lot of parts (adding a few new counter melodies), remixed, and remastered. Wanted to get everyone's thoughts on the new version before I submit it again. The new version to be reviewed can be found as an MP3 at soundcloud. Below is some of the text from my 2009 submission, to give you an idea of my thought process: After what seemed like months of trying to beat Bubble Bobble with my siblings, we finally defeated the humongous boss and watched the credits roll. I remember hearing music play over the credit and thinking that the prettiness of the melody was masked by the limitations of the NES' sound capabilities. Many years later, that thought surfaced again and I decided to see if I couldn't come up with a remix to do the music justice. I truly believe that video games should have a good payoff with memorable end game music. This piece has ambient, new age, and dance influences. One of the major changes I’ve introduced is an extended “chorus section.” The original piece of music had a chorus section that seemed to end a bit abruptly. To remedy that, I use a deceptive cadence (i.e. V -> VI) in order to extend the passage for a few more measures. I think this makes the melody flow better. I also organized the music in a pop-friendly format: intro, verse, verse, chorus, interlude, verse, chorus, outro. I really enjoyed playing with different patches within my soft synths (Omnisphere and Stylus) to recreate that Bubble Bobble experience. There’s crystal like sounds as well a waterdrop arpeggio during the interlude. The end product is a little bit of cheer-you-up new age/dance, my very own take on what a happy ending should be. I hope you enjoy. Looking forward to everyone's feedback. Relevant Submission Information: Name of Mp3 submission: Bubble Bobble Waterfall Ending Name of Game Arranged: Bubble Bobble (NES Version) Name of Individual Song Arranged from Game: Happy Ending (Note. The song is not specifically named on the OC Remix Bubble Bobble page, but can be found in the chiptunes as track 11. VGM Music identifies track 11 as "Happy Ending". More specifically, I'm arranging the music that plays over the credits. See . )

Thanks for all the comments guys! It's been interesting reading all of your feedback, and I definitely feel humbled by some of the compliments. I wanted to try something familiar with my first remix submission and thought a good piano piece would be a way to get my feet wet. At the time of composition, I made the decision to really focus on the emotion and atmosphere of Uematsu's melody. Virtuosity seemed too distracting (and I'm no Lizst by any means anyway), but I knew I could evoke my ideas through different harmonies, 1:30 to 1:37 is probably my favorite part of the piece because of the seventh tonality that ends up being a bit melancholy. If any of you have any suggestions for another piece that you'd like arranged let me know. I've been contemplating my next projects: I think I'll do one more piano piece in this style in order to practice the continuation of a genre, without rehashing. Does anyone have any ideas? Also, my "experimental" piece that I'm working is an original composition that is a more dance/techno/new age hybrid. However I'm definitely trying to found a good theme to remix in that style. -J

One thing that impressed me about Pianoteq's demo (and that ultimately lead me to purchasing it), was the fact that it's a virtual instrument based on modeling, not sampling. Pianoteq, in my opinion, really captures the feel of playing a real piano. This has to do with the fact that with modeling, the virtual instrument isn't limited to triggering samples based on velocity hits. Ivory has four to ten velocity layers, depending on the piano sounds and instrument settings you use. Pianoteq plays back the sound based on its model, which means that there is a theoretical limit of 128 different velocities (128 the maximum amount allowed with MIDI format). My main instrument is the piano, and playing Pianoteq felt quite a bit different than my Yamaha MotifES. It was easier to play expressively, especially when playing trills or accents. Another advantage that I find with Pianoteq is that it's only 20 megabytes. When compared to these massive sample libraries out there, it's like the virtual instrument equivalent of a Future Crew or Andromeda demo. I've been able to get it running on my MSI netbook if I turn down the sampling rate, and latency is still less than 10ms, which is amazing. -J

I'm curious as to what demos you tried, and how they played things out of time. If things are being played out of time, it usually means they weren't recorded into the computer accurately. The notation software programs I've used require you to record yourself using a metronome click in order to accurately reflect the correct notation. That being said, here are some of my recommendations: Professional Programs: These programs will cost you $$, and might have a pretty steep learning curve. But, they're mostly industry standard (i.e. features are used by publishing houses for sheet music engraving and such). Finale (I think they're up to version 2009) Sibelius 5 Hobbyist Programs: These programs are either inexpensive, or free, and would probably get the job done for you. But they're not going to have all the features of the programs above. Noteworthy ($49 according to website) MuseScore (free) I personally have used Finale (version 2004) and Sibelius. I switched to Sibelius about a year ago, because I was disenchanted with Finale's interface. I don't write sheet music enough to know either program's in's and outs, but I've definitely found Sibelius more user friendly. I can't comment on how good Hobbyist programs are, unfortunately. Hope that helps