Gario

Gah, I never have anything clever or '1337' to say on anyone's birthday... I hate my life. Oh, by the way, Happy Birthday, Froggy!

Alright, fair point. I personally believe, however, that the samples are only 10% of the music - the other 90% comes from the composing, mixing and mastering which can be accomplished without any extra cost. Besides, he's playing live so the samples are not as much of an issue (at least not the guitar sample). I think Zircon wrote a thread on how to write music cheap (or at least within certain budgets), so it's not impossible.

I liked your take on Worms 2 soundtrack, AnSo... I need to go out and listen to it soon so I can figure out what 'squidgy' means, but when I do I'll learn something new (which is always awesome). By the way, what is your musicology paper about? I'm always interested in new things when it comes to music - not to mention a swedish take on something (Americans always try to overcomplicate things with their 'experimentalism'...). Person #2 to show interest .

Umm... isn't the Gerudo Valley song already in a quasi-Mariachi format (with some spanish guitar)? Just listen to the source - that should be fine enough .

Hello everyone! I have no clue how many of you analyze music (for fun, to learn something, for anything really - to be honest, I've analyzed music longer than I've written it ), but I'm gonna throw this up and see where it goes. For the sake of this thread, it's probably wise to only bring up VG music (it's OCR, after all), but if you want to bring up anything outside that genre, be my guest - I'd be more than happy to discuss it (and I'm sure others would, too)! Now, if your not a music theorist or anything, that's fine - if you listen to music I'm sure you've heard interesting things in a song and it's caught your interest, yet you also noticed no one else heard the same thing. The point of this thread is to show other people some very interesting musical tricks and the like that you've heard in a song but others may not have. Don't worry about any technical language - just try to get the point across as best as you can. Perhaps there will be other people here that can clarify the technical tricks that occur and help you learn how to use the techniques better. If you want to just comment on another person's analysis, please feel free - I encourage discussion on the discoveries of others. Please keep the flames down, however - really, I don't know what anyone could flame about here, but you never know. I'll start the discussion by talking about my favorite VG music... well, basically of all time. That's right, Silver Surfer, baby! In particular, I'm looking at the Title theme. Every track on this game kicks ass, but this one has a pretty exceptional level of ass-kickage. It is one of the most advanced piece of chiptunage out there, and I'm here to show you all why. The degree of single-channel polyphonic lines is absolutely incredible. Basically, a single channel may only play a single note at a time, but the way the notes are played imply more than one line (or instrument) at a time. Using the power of Emulation (I own the game, don't worry), I'll separate the channels so the effects I'm talking about are easier to hear... A single rectangle wave... An example of that 'polyphonic line' occurs well at 0:09 - 0:23 (and again at 1:12 - 1:32). There is a note that is quickly played an octave above is an example of a polyphonic line in action. Remember, a single channel may never play more than one sound at a time, so in fact the sound cuts out when the higher note is being played. Now, this isn't the only VG soundtrack that does this, but the way the Follin brothers do it, however, is so seemless it deserves some special attention. Listening to it closely, it sounds like they took the waveform and had it play the low sound first, filling the ear with the low sound before introducing the upper 'blip' then immediately returning to the lower sound. The effect that comes from that particular placement is that the ear retains the sound of the lower note while the higher note plays, thus giving the illusion that two sounds are playing (when that is physically impossible, given the hardware). Even more interesting is that the higher note is implied in your brain, so you fill out the octave throughout the span of the note in your mind. Now throughout this song these polyphonic lines occur all the time. Take a look at the other rectangle wave playing in this song (there are two given at any time in a NES game). 0:16 - 0:53 sounds like a series of chords (that's right, chords) playing through when it is only physically possible for a single note to be playing at any given time. It's easier to hear what they do, and the trick is pretty common in NES & C64 games, in general - arpeggiate chords as fast as the system can play the notes in order to make a single line play complex chord structures. However, the Follin brothers use this in conjunction with other not-so-easy-to-hear polyphonic tricks to create a rich, complex environment unmatched by any other game on the NES system (it even challenges most 16-bit systems soundscape, as well, IMHO). The best is still to come, however... the Triangle wave. Seriously, what the hell?! 0:09 - 1:16 may repeat the same thing over and over again, but damn, is it a hell of a line to repeat! There's not one, not two but three (possibly even four) instruments being implied there. The pulsing bass, a strong, diving bass drum, and the weaker toms and snare... all on the channel that cannot even fluctuate the volume (let alone play more than one sound at a time). Simply amazing (especially when you add the noise channel [which cover the hats and the 'snare' of the drums] to the triangle to create a full array of drums with the bass - without ever using the PCM!). Now, this isn't unique (Megaman 3's intro triangle does the exact same thing), but I've never heard a game that does nearly as seemlessly. How did they do it? The toms and the snare are designed similarly to the rectangle wave I discussed above - the sound cuts out for such a short time that the ear still percieves the bass sound as something that is playing when it is not. The diving bass drum, though, lasts longer than those short sounds - basically past the threshold of when we imply and connect the sounds mentally. I believe that they first hit the bass note sound, followed it by a sudden change to the bass drum sound which dives back into the bass sound again(cutting out for the snare and toms whenever they needed to). Because the sound dives into the original bass it ends up sounding like a part of the bass. However, because of the music before (0:00 - 0:09), the bass drum sound also sounds like a bass drum. Using the power of context and cutting sound out, they created three or four different sounds using a single sound at a time. Put all of these channels together and you get an amazingly complex soundscape using only four channels (and one of them can only make different samples of white noise). The parts were certainly great, but the sum of the parts compliment each other so well that they really amount to more as a whole. Basically, I've always been amazed by their complete mastery over the hardware that the Follin brothers had. I could go on for pages about other little tricks and doodads that they used in this song alone (that's besides the other eight great songs written for this game), but I want to leave room for others to bring something else up (and possibly bring up those doodads at another time). Don't worry about the size of my post - I don't expect anyone to spend over an hour writing an analysis of anything on here (although it certainly would be welcome!). In fact, any other analysis I make will more than likely be shorter than this, but I just love that soundtrack so damn much. If you notice something interesting that you don't believe anyone else has heard in a song, post it here!

Heh, not true, dude. Look at mister Heineken on the front page, there - Beer bottles and Audacity could accomplish that (and I'm sure SHIBbYinc has a computer - unless he's posting here psychically )... free software, some decent mics (~100 - 200$ is sufficient, probably less) and some decent beer (~40$ worth). Pretty cheap, in my opinion; it just took a shitload of creativity.

Isn't that checklist that LT mentioned from the WIP forum (or Feedback: Workshop ReMixes...I'm not used to that name yet )?

I love single-synth music - it really pushes the limits of what you can do on something musically. Chiptune writing (real chiptune writing, not the sound-alikes) is close to this, although you've got four channels to work with... It's always fun doing things like that - it pushes your skills as a composer, for sure.

Heh, I actually didn't know about it until you made mention of it on one of the threads I was in a few months back, DS (don't remember which, exactly)... I don't mind that it's getting a little extra advertisement, myself - even if most the people here know about it already.Then again, that's not my call, either .

I think the language you used really threw people off, here. 'Work for free' is something I don't think you'd be willing to do (you damn well better not, anyway )... 'Help someone out on a free project' is probably more on the lines of what you want to say, and is probably what your music is best suited for, at the moment (everyone needs a place to break through - I believe that's what your looking for, here). Again, I don't know if the OCR forums are the right place to look, but I gave some suggestions of other places to showcase your skill and make that request (and you do have talent to showcase, so that's a good start, there). If you want to write music for free, well you're in the right place - we always have something going on here (contests and such), and we're always willing to help you out with criticism if you'd like. I like your stuff, though - at least what you posted. I'd critique it but I don't want to fill Community with that gibberish (just the gibberish that I have, already ).

Wow, Ambient, that's pretty harsh - I actually like the source ... (I take no offense, though ) Perhaps I'll emphasize 1:07 in my mix just to bug you . Best of luck, all!

Well, nice round everyone. Thanks for the votes . Sorry to hear about your computer, DjMokram... That's never any good . However, there may be a chance that you can extract the files from the hard drive as long as that isn't what went out - I'd still be interested to hear what you had, if you could ever get it recovered (just out of pure curiosity).

Yeah, I'll be joining this one (most likely), as the game rings heavily into my own childhood... Quick question, though - as long as this source is prominent, are other sources from other games allowed in the mix? I've got this craaaazy idea floatin' in my head, but I need to know if incorporating other sources are allowed.

Soooo... if GLL put up a source would he still be allowed to submit a mix while TheoConfidor couldn't participate, or would GLL be forced to sit out (or at least submit a bonus mix, not a competitive source) if he submited? It's an odd scenario so I'm just curious how you plan on setting up the next round .

Umm... holy shit, your right. The last comment on here was... well, before I was even signed up for this site. Heh, I'm grateful for the bump, though - if it isn't accepted, at least I'll have been able to listen to it, now. It's pretty sweet, overall.Sorry about the loss of the original file, though - that's never any fun. I wish you the best in the resubmission process! Oh, by the way, is that a Kid Chameleon remix up there?! Past them trees... God, the memories.

As a finished piece, I enjoyed it... for the most part. Sadly, this is one of those songs that I personally feel shouldn't be handled with a guitar, but that's just me (and I'll wait patiently for Snappleman/Nekofrog/other guitarist to bash me for the opinion ). For what it is, though, I'd say you got the effect of flawlessly . I really like the flow of the song - it's logical and enjoyable. The source permeates a bit too much through the song; I'd have liked to hear more soloing and such throughout (like at the end of the song). Otherwise, nice song, and thanks for sharing (and brilliant use of doubletime at the last portion of the song )!

Sorry, the name - Gario. Race - Random (seriously, it's nice not letting the other player know what you are, and that's the only way of doing it ) ...and thanks for the maps

Wow, the cripple was amazing... especially the Youtube comment... lol... I'm a little fucked for laughing at this, but seriously...

Well, if you need a place to post your music here, I'd recommend this. That's dedicated to original works so posting some example works should be perfect, from there. Just don't expect to see any job opportunities - it's like trying to sell milk to a cow, here. If your looking to write something just for fun why not look into it here or here? I'm sure many of those people are looking for musicians just like you - willing and (assumingly) able. If you post your music here I'm not sure you'll have any better chances finding work, but you might get some useful critiques of your music. Good luck with this (and McVaffe, your damn good with your predictions...).

lol, I'll join. The D2 patch is taking way too long for my tastes, so this would be a nice diversion until then If I do this, I totally claim a match-up with Garian. Gario vs Garian... admit it, it would be cool, in a strange sort of way. I agree with Nekofrog, though - prizes are probably not necessary for this. I'll play either way . I haven't played this game in ages, though - I wasn't terrible at it, but you know how things are - you play against a Korean that's training for the world tournament and it crushes you hopes at ever being any good at it and you give up (he raped me with his insane terran metal madness - I lost my starcraft virginity that day ) I think I've finally gotten over it, though - just tell us the match-ups and times. I'll go practice for it before so I won't be a complete failure by the time it starts . By the way, are the maps you all are suggesting somewhere on the internet? I haven't played bnet in ages so I don't know what new maps have been floating around.

Wow, that was a pretty intense compo, this time around! Looking at everyone's voting I feel guilty for not adding details for everyone's mix... Meh, I'll do it next compo - I'm too lazy to fix this now . Get some good music up, TheoConfidor! Damnit! I spelled 'you're' wrong... Thanks for pointing that out, JH64 (not that there's much I can do about it )

lol, I just noticed your response there, Will (it was drowned amid the wave of Analoq masturbation jokes...). I felt the last contest was extremely difficult to rate, too - perhaps there is a trend going around, in this contest .

*fwap fwap* Wait, what? I wasn't paying attention.

lol, I was just curious - I'd like to see what everyone got, too