ReMix: Cave Story 'Moon Rhapsody'

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Cave Story

Besides being photogenically goofy from birth, Doug's been a consistent force on our forums, goes to the same school as the panel's own pixietricks (Peabody), and is a talented multi-instrumentalist with an emphasis on percussion. For this charming ReMix, our second from Cave Story, he played live flute, and even got his MomUltimA to help out on violin and viola. It's great to have a musical family - both of my older sisters are musical, but it seemed to skip a generation, as my parents are somewhat rhythmically and melodically challenged. Mr. Perry writes:

"This remix was my first project in sonar (or any digital music program) ever. I'm gonna try to refrain from saying too much about it to keep this from turning into an interview piece (i.e. a piece that sounds better while the composer/arranger is talking about it). When I got to the part of the game where Moonsong was playing, I was totally blown away by the level of atmosphere I was faced with. I suppose this would happen when every aspect of the game is coming from the same mind. So I really wanted to make something with it. The synth sounds were chosen really to keep rooted in the original, while the rest of the arrangement is what the themes presented in the original meant to me. Balcony came into play kind of as a fluke, but I kept the idea because in Cave Story, Balcony and Moonsong are the only two songs that play when you are outside. The arrangement is based really on what the melodic and harmonic themes mean to me."

The very first couple of seconds here, with wind and chimes, remind me of the intro to Bucks Fizz' "Land of Make Believe" - truly one of the most overlooked 80's cheesefests in existence, and one of my favorite go-to songs for the musical equivalent of high-grade Paxil. It's interesting, because as a percussionist, you'd think Doug would have mixed the drums here a bit louder - they're great, but in general the bass, which sits off to the left, tends to eat up more than its fair share of the frequency spectrum. Barring that EQ gripe, this is a lovely, expressive arrangement that marries distant, pure, celestial synth textures with living, breathing flute and solo strings, pushing everything along with a dynamic percussion track. It's got the same expansive, unreal atmosphere that Doug alludes to above, and then some. Jesse corroborates:

"This track is rock. The arrangement is sophisticated and emotive. The leads, bass, and drums are all sequenced beautifully. The live performances are fantastic. The composition and partwriting are the high point. Leads and counterharmonies weave in and out like dancing. The appropriate instrumentation and dynamic arrangement build a vibrant atmosphere."

I couldn't agree more, on all counts; for an initial result out of Sonar, it shows amazing potential and an already formidable handle on melding electronic composition with acoustic elements. Mastering is the only Achilles Heel here, and it's a small heel at that. Really rather teensy. Demure, even. And well-guarded by an armament of skillful arrangement and rich performance.

― djpretzel

Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
My fav Cave story mix. I really love this mix its just so relaxing.

- yosefu on May 27, 2009
I wish the drums were a little forward in the mix, as they are really tasteful and groovin, but otherwise this is good stuff. Nice live instruments, some cute track cameos that aren't too obvious, and a great written bass part. Some excellent drum fills near the end as well.
Ending was ever so slightly abrupt, but throughout, this is a very classy arrangement.

- OA on March 23, 2009
Beautiful arrangement, good changeups throughout and classy use of live instruments, synths, and samples. Great drum programming too (though, what do you expect with that kind of name?). This should've been on my playlist earlier.

- Nutritious on September 25, 2007
If the violin took a bigger role throughout the whole thing, this would be on my playlist forever. If you don't intend to do another work like that, at least edit this one use more of the other instruments that only briefly appeared.

- Indrik on April 2, 2007
Damn, that violin at 2:50 is great. Sends shivers down my spine, alas only for a short time. This mix could have used a little more energy, and both flute as well as violin can deliver that.
So yeah, nice song, but more POWER next time, plz. And more violin.

- Martin Penwald on December 12, 2006
It's a beautiful song and I love the violin. Not much else to say that hasn't been said already so I'll end it by saying I look forward to hearing more stuff like this from you in the future.

- Yamato2299 on December 7, 2006
Damn, this is a fantastic mix! I've been listening to it over and over for the past two weeks.

- Fray on December 2, 2006
Stylish! The drum programming is excellent for most of the mix, the violin at 2:52 is great and the synth solo afterwards is awesome.
Congratulations Doug, looking foward for more!

- Mr. Fox on November 17, 2006
Glad to see this up here, I knew you could do it Doug! I really like how you kept the atmospheric feel of the original Moonsong, yet you definatly developed it to give it your own unique style.
You and Jill have to collab sometime...
BTW Doug, Shiran says hi.

- VRemedyz on November 15, 2006
Man, weaksauce ending. It's like an Olympic figure skater beautifully starting a run that everyone in the stands knows, just KNOWS is going to get a perfect ten points, and then just stopping three-fourths of the way through and going over to the refreshment stand for a hot dog.
(they have hot dogs at Olympic ice rinks, right)
I agree with a few of the J's (oshit reality collapsing) on the drums, too: good writing, but more BEEF would've been nice.
Breakdown at 1:34 is awesome.
Kick in the crotch at 2:51 is awesome.
Solo at 3:08 is awesome.
Penultimate section at 4:21 is awesome.
[b]XD[/b]

- CHz on November 14, 2006
Audity wrote: Sounds more like a remix of Terra's theme from FF6 at points, with a hint of Metroid Prime atmosphere.

yaaay someone noticed :)
Thanks a bunch for the feedback guys! I'm totally psyched :D

- DrumUltimA on November 14, 2006
been waiting for this to be posted for so very long :]

- Red Shadow on November 14, 2006
5 out of 5 in my book. BIG thumbs up!

- themadmusicion on November 14, 2006
Having heard the main melody about 500 times before, it's gotten a bit boring, so it playing by its lonesome during the beginning wasn't great for me. Due to me knowing how the whole song sounds now, listening to the newly incorporated melody at about the one minute mark, despite it being quite lonesome as well, has me enjoying it now, due to its very remixed nature of "Balcony", so it's appropriate for buildup obviously, whereas I might not have understood it upon first listen. It's not until the Balcony section at 1:30 or so starts playing that the whole song piques my interest, regardless of what listen # I'm on. It reminds me of the calm piano section in Corran's Cave Story mix. Sounds more like a remix of Terra's theme from FF6 at points, with a hint of Metroid Prime atmosphere.
I'm not a fan of the great increases in volume. Strings are pretty nice otherwise, and I like the synth solo (that area of the mix sounds like a smooth rendition of some Mega Man song). The song follows no real genre guidelines, which has me really picky picky about things. But ultimAtely (lol) I find the combinations of instruments occasionally to not work out well to my liking; this is teamed with the volume issues. This remix is what it is, but personally I would have liked some additional elements thrown in somewhere, or some kind of other driving force (besides the bass), since as I mentioned before I don't really like the melody. The whole song's not really much of a solo Cave Story mix than it is Cave Story, Mega Man, Secret of Mana (the Balcony source tune and melody in and of themselves reek of SoM), and FF6. Okay okay it's a Cave Story mix :).
Regardless of any of my possible harshness given with my spoken opinion (perhaps I need to listen with speakers instead, or listen with a higher volume, which would probably be painful given the 2nd half of the song, something I very dislike [the bass is really nice at higher volumes, no matter the section of the song]), I will completely and eagerly await more submissions by DrumUltimA, since I think he's capable of a very wide range of techniques and genres.
Edit: actually listening to it with higher volume really makes me not think of the instruments having an out-of-place feeling anymore. However I still feel uncomfortable listening to those strings when they first enter.
1:14-1:19 right ear has some issues. I can somewhat hear some kind of musicality that was trying to be done with it, but it sounds a bit cluttered. Luckily besides the string volume, random singular synth-note volume increase, and possibly cluttered ending, this is pretty much the only "flaw" in production that I can spot, with my highly trained (not) production-noticing ears.

- Audity on November 14, 2006
As I've said before, awesome mix. Percussion is brilliant, live instruments (especially the violin and viola) are absolutely beaufitul.

- Geoffrey Taucer on November 14, 2006

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