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3. completed Kirby's Dream Land - The Rise of Dedede
MartinH posted a topic in Post Your Game ReMixes!
https://youtu.be/Cso-oqInw5k This is my very first remix of a theme that's originally from Game Boy. Since my last two remixes (from Earthbound and A Link To The Past) I kind of got stuck in combining more than one song in one remix, it put much creativity into works and makes it a bit more challenging. This remix contains three songs from Kirby's Dream Land, and I have built the remix as follows: 0:00 - Mt Dedede intro 0:38 - Roasted Sweet Potato Shooting & Title theme variation 0:49 - Title theme variation 1:00 - Mt Dedede 1:11 - New solo part (based on the Title theme) 1:33 - Mt Dedede 1:39 - Title theme variation 1:54 - Mt Dedede outro About the remix itself. It's has the highest bpm of any of my previous remixes: 179 bpm. Very fast and high paced, which in turn makes it quite intense. That is why some the parts in there plays in half tempo to calm things down a bit. I'm always true to the original pace which in this case is based on the theme of Mt Dedede. The bass line from the original was really awesome, so I put some work on it and developed it a bit further, then took it down to something more groovy and funky for the solo part and outro part. And speak of the solo part, I took some time to modify a new variation of my signature lead synth at 1:23 which I was really hyped about. I will use it much more in future remixes. Oh I forgot to mention the initial "crash" sound. That is an original SFX from Kirby's Dream Land which plays when you're flying on the star towards Mt Dedede and crashes into the castle at the top of the mountain.- 2 replies
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- game boy
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3. completed Super Mario Bros 3 - Undergroung Mancold
MartinH posted a topic in Post Your Game ReMixes!
https://youtu.be/4DT4SvMUSN8 This one took a lot of effort from me. I have been suffering hard from a mancold during the last week and meanwhile having a very hard time coming up with ideas of variations from especially the Underground theme I had to put in a lot of extra effort to go through with this. Colds can affect your music creation for sure, I really learned that now xD So I hope this sounds good with levels, panning and the overall mixing, because the cold kind of made my ears and nose canals really thick and my hearing was very affected. I wanted to release this now no matter what, and the consequences from the cold on this remix will be a reminder of how it affected me. So what about the music, first thing I wanted to do something no one's ever done with the Underground theme. Not that I'm looking around searching for remixes that are similar to my own, but putting these chords over the underground melody is nothing I've encountered so far. Nor have I encountered the variation of the underwater melody I wrote to the same chords. Mission accomplished I guess! I also made a more naked variation of the underground theme (1:01) with totally new chords followed by an ambience break (1:16). The ambience break is filled with african skin percussives and yet another underwater melody variation which evolves into a half tempo section (1:46) followed by Dream Theater inspired section (2:06). At 2:24 the song goes back to the initial underground theme and ends with a beatless short section with a reverbed synth underwater variation at 2:43. I guess there are several easter eggs to find in this remix, one of them is the coin and swim sounds I pulled from SMB3. Actually, putting a moderate amount of reverb to the coin SFX really makes it sound beautiful (given it goes in line with the key signature)! I hope you enjoy it, see you soon my friends! -
https://youtu.be/o_vGCof-kRw I put considerably more time on the production (EQ, panning, levels, sound balance) than any other so far. I felt I was getting behind in my skills of production so I really tried to fix some crucial issues I've had in the past. This was one of my greatest hypes in gaming history, I was in the 6th grade and one of my best friends from the 7th grade got this during spring 1999 (it was released in EU in december 1998). We've read a lot about it in video game magazines already and man... I remember it so clearly, when Navi tries to wake you up in that tree house, and then the moment you step outside into the Kokiri forest, it's a timeless, unforgetable memory that holds so many good feelings and excitement. So one thing I'm mentioning right off the bat is the "Hey!" sound which is an original voice from OoT, and of course it's from our little fairy Navi. I had some laughs experimenting with her voice in different pitches and amounts of reverb/delay, but this sounded the most serious and fit the best into the production in my opinion so... Speak of production, please give me some feedback on what you think about the EQ, levels, panning and such during this remix. I really want to level up in that aspect, so all feedback and suggestions for improvement is most welcome! Another sound effect coming straight from the game is the whistle blow you can hear at 1:25 which is originally from a castle guard or a Gerudo guard. I also hope I managed to catch a bit of nostalgia from the original song, which is always my main purpose with all remixes. The main core I used here is pure synthwave, with short breaks of an 80s funk style that always hit my nostalgia trigger hard. There is plenty of sidechaining, plucking and that classic 80s synthwave bass, and in the middle of it all a moment of classical harmony passing by like a deep blue river in a sunset of the Hyrule kingdom Nearly every chord in this remix is changed or additionally harmonised, but I think you will recognize it despite that. Thanks for listening and reading! /Neon X
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- synthwave
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https://youtu.be/hNDv9XmDxdo Hello guys! First I want to say thanks for the patience with me, I've much things going on IRL lately and therefore not been able to write so much on this remix. I had some time the last few days though and did manage to complete it. The theme of the Electrodrome course is so frikkin' cool, I had so many fragments of ideas for this which I think shows in the remix as well. I used many different ideas and sections, and I hope I managed to create decent transitions between them. And of course I hope you guys like at least some of them ^^ The original has some noise and cracking synths with a bit of distortion on some. I created a bass with the choice to turn on and off a distortion for different sections, for example at 0:54 I turn off the distortion which makes quite a difference. Another big change in the remix is 1:52 when the unintensified variation of a piece from the original starts. Groovy bass, warm chords and a running pad over a straight beat. It makes a more relaxed vibe to end this intense song with. Something to take notice of: Intro: 0:00 - I have no idea why I did this kind of intro, it just hit my mind at some point in late production that I wanted an odd rhythm for intro. And it needed an exaggerating amount of a low rated chorus/flanger effect Build up FX: 1:22 - Home made sound of an accelerating electric vehicle. Based on an atmospheric pad I used in at least 50 remixes Other than that, please enjoy and put this on whenever you race at Electrodrome Take care folks!
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https://youtu.be/DwJLgB_wPc8 I played this game quite early when it was released on SNES, but I never actually made a complete playthrough, so when I listen to this theme after this many years I have no memory of it. What really made me love it now afterwards was the rare time signature you hardly ever hear in video game music - 7/8. I know a lot of people don't know what it means, and it doesn't matter (I won't go into explaining it), it sounds really cool in this theme. I added a couple of more recognizable melodies from A Link To The Past as well - a variation of the Dark World theme and a variation of the Overworld theme/Hyrule field. I hope it made the remix more interesting and lively! This is how I sectioned my remix: 0:00 - Ganon Battle 0:45 - Dark World variation 0:59 - Ganon Battle (reprise) 1:23 - Overworld variation 2:13 - Ganon Battle (ending) And if you've listened through the whole Overworld variation part you should have noticed I changed the time signature to an ordinary 4/4 during a short while, just to get that groovy vibe. It's always an immense amount of nostalgia that hits me whenever I hear music from A Link To The Past, it was so popular and great when it came. And until today it's at least as great, and will be forever. It's a timeless story within a timeless and magical fantasy world you could relive at any time, and also kind of relive in its sequels
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https://youtu.be/Lyli7Ld4AYE I finally decided to go through with Balrog's theme from Street Fighter! This is such a good tune, I love the original for its easy form and potential to experiment with. I went towards an 80s disco style and had to go through with a key signature transposition to get the result I wanted, a bit tricky but it went well. The original has a nice groove I tried to stay close to, and the melodies are so easy to remember that they stay in your head long after the song has ended. I had so many ideas for this one, I just hope I chose one worthy and exciting! As I mentioned I went towards an 80s disco style, I really got the vibes from a late friday night out with the boys, drunk on life (and alcohol) just dancing that last dance before an unknown after party emerges. And during the after party, this groove goes on until early morning. Maybe you hooked up with a pretty girl (or boy) lying on a grass hill, holding hands and watching the starry sky getting more and more illuminated by the first morning sunrays. Cheers for a new day and for that old days we remember so dearly! And may there be peace once again. /Neon X
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https://youtu.be/CKcqx6JwrkM Since I'm almost a pure Nintendo player, the Sega world is kind of new, except for Sonic of course. But I never really played anything else from Sonic than the very first game, so Sonic 2 is new in every way for me. I was very surprised by the soundtrack, every song has so much potential! And there were some songs I just couldn't let go of, Chemical Plant was one of them. And I will grab more for sure! I would say this one goes under blues, funk, maybe fusion of some kind, and I really took advantage of those genres by tweaking my synthesizers to sound like instruments used regurarly in those genres. Dry, fast, max attack, not much effects except for the lead with some delay, and the bass with a heavy chorus effect (just like some of the 80s synth basses which I love). I wanted the remix to be very recognizeable from the original in many parts, but with some enhanced harmonies and fills from new composed lines. And then a completely new section - I'm not sure how I came up with it, it often just starts with one chord off from the original and then my head is spinning loose with countless ideas of which I just grab one and write down. For some reason I took some inspiration from Dream Theater starting at 1:22 - I think I would refer to it as an John Petrucci part where all things calms down, the tempo goes down to half and there are these extended tones from his singing guitar playing a beautiful melodic solo, maybe along in harmony with Jordan Rudess' wizard like keyboard play. The chords kind of follows how Petrucci would have wrote them too. Overall I just loved working on this song, the original is so catchy and fun. Really love this style and tried to extend it as much as I could without trashing the original too much. I already got suggestions on other Sonic themes, but would love to have some more. And if you know any more songs in this particular style I would be very interested in hearing them. /Neon X
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https://youtu.be/HZ9iIudnJOQ I really didn't plan to grab this theme right now, but for some reason I kept on listening to it a lot and couldn't resist. It's really great, and there are some clear similarities between this and the MK8 Rainbow Road theme. Due to the already complicated harmonies and theme melodies I didn't want to bring that much of my own composition into this one, I kept close to the original with some restyling. And wow, it does happen a lot in this one, such a great original composition. At some points I thought "do these chords really work together?", and when I listened to it after finish writing that particular line it really sounded great! I had many wow moments and I'm happy I chosed this song. Fun story related to Mario Kart Wii: At my bachelor party back in May 2014, my brother, some cousins and close friends made my day a Mario Kart day. First off was the gokart racing with real gokarts on a real course (I sucked by the way), and damn was that fun! I had to dress up like Mario with that red/blue plumber outfit, a mario hat and fake moustache. Afterwards we had a BBQ party at a friend's house followed by a Mario Kart Wii tournament, paralleled by a Track & Field (NES) tournament. During the video game tournaments we had a lot of shots and good drinks, and you can imagine how good we were at Mario Kart after a couple of hours. When we were done video gaming we went out on a club meeting up with the bachelorette party for my wife (!!!) which was the perfect timing and ending of that night. Maybe the best day of my life! I dedicate this wonderful song to that night, and all the people that made it happen. Thank you!
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3. completed Donkey Kong Country - Aquatic Ambience
MartinH posted a topic in Post Your Game ReMixes!
https://youtu.be/O4oWq4ockIQ I have been really scared of remixing/covering this classic and timeless song. It's so easy to ruin it that any changes could be devastating. I'm still afraid I have broke it, but I hope not! First of all the soundscape that the original has is so fragile, and by having that in mind I made sure to keep my sounds very close to that, but with much higher bitrate of course since it's SNES we're talking about. However, the sound quality in DKC is unbelievably high for a SNES game. I just took my standard synthesizer setup and started modify and tweak them to make all instruments sound quite close to the original. Except the piano, I changed it for a pluck sound from my Obsession synth. About my composition of this. As you can hear I kept really close to the original to begin with, adding some small changes. For example, I added a "real" beat and all melodies are playing with my signature lead synth. What was more interesting in composing this was how I could leave the original completely and take on another path. So I laborated with a splash sound to represent me diving from the original into my own composition, then immediately adding a bubbling underwater effect to continue with an introduction to a Mega Man-ish melody with the pluck synth. Dashing into a double time beat and the Mega Man melody I hold the intensity steady and then release it into a psychedelic synthwave groove, a bit like the groove I use at the end of my Bloody Tears remix. If you listen more carefully I use the original arpeggio in the background (the first you hear in this song) in this last section but change it over the chord's harmony. When I listen to this remix, I feel I can make so many more variations of it. Some day I might do an Aquatic Ambience suite or something. -
https://youtu.be/uPIZuvyO5KI This is my first ever attempt at doing something with a swing song, and I kind of look at this remix as an introduction in fusing my style with swing. That is why I kind of left out my usual original sections. The more I get into swing though, I will be able to compose original sections that extend the originals in a proper way. The biggest challenge was indeed the rhythm, took some time to adjust to that. Then also the jazzy chords that fills the original with cool harmonies. As I have explained earlier in my remixing, I transcribe everything by ear which simply means I listen to the original and write the song from what I hear. In this case it was a hard challenge because of the swing rookie I am. If you listen to the other half of the remix you'll hear at least something Neon X original - the solo. I felt quite satisfied with that, it gave the remix something new and different. Besides all that, my beat is not the same as the original, the bass and the rhythm synth as well. I'm really motivated in trying out more themes within the swing genre. For example from Super Mario World and Yoshi's Island. Actually most Mario games contains more or less swing themes. I hope you like what you hear folks, the swing is really a new side of my remixes. /Neon X
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https://youtu.be/JSjXXrYRHHk My first sub 2 minute remix, but still contains so many elements and variations. This could also be the most fun song I ever took under my wings. With the original reggae style I could easily add jazz and some blues elements, and spice it up with a pinch of synthwave. SMB3 was (and still is I think) my favourite Super Mario game so far. But then I haven't even played any Super Mario from the 21st century except New Super Mario Bros for Wii U. SMB3 on NES and on SNES All Stars was so much joy and they hold so many memories from those days. The soundtrack is timeless and simple yet so memorable and fresh, I could imagine me remixing the whole SMB3 OST some day. Some of the "easter eggs" in this remix: After the solos the SMB3 Underwater theme intro is used but restyled - 1:32 And at the end of the Underwater theme the SMB3 "Enter level" sound is played with a lot of reverb, but pitched down a whole tone to fit the key signature - 1:34 I used african skin percussive together with GameBoy drums on several parts I hope you enjoy listen to this, I really enjoyed creating it. And if it goes well I definitely will do more of this kind. There are many Super Mario themes that could apply for this style. /Neon X
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- super mario bros
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https://youtu.be/idzdVGPMlBs It's not too often I decide to make a remix/cover of songs from video games I never played. Trials of Mana is one of them, however I have been playing it like 10 minutes on a SNES emulator which I really don't count as legit playing. What I have been doing though, is listening to the soundtrack of it, which is truly amazing! Powell is a song that has a lot of potential for a great synthwave track, I used some of it, but to make it justice I probably would have to do 5 more versions. And man, does it make me wanna play the remake of Trials of Mana! Before I started the work with Powell I watched a lot of gameplay from both the old Seiken Densetsu 3 as well as the remake Trials of Mana. It's easier to create music if you've got some initial story or a moment to focus your mind on. What I'm looking for is to get feelings, emotions, vibes and link those to an existing memory, or in this case rediscover long gone memories. This song actually took me back to a completely different game when I had the long summer breaks as a kid. We had this attic dedicated to storage for seasonal clothing (winter clothes, summer clothes, you name it), but we also had an old CRT TV, large, and really old (1980-85 ish), but color screen and perfect for connecting your SNES console to it. I think it was the summer break between 5th and 6th grade when I played the RPG Terranigma a lot. And I remembered just how I felt sitting up there solo, trying to pave way further into the fantastic story of that game. That feeling of freedom, just diving into the story of your game, no worries of taking too much time playing, your friends just a phone call away. The exact same feelings bubbles up while listening to Powell, it's really amazing actually, how music can drag long gone memories and feelings of specific moments to the surface once again no matter how far away in time they was made. This is remix is dedicated to all those memories, just waiting to be dragged out of your brain beam making you feel good and rediscover memories you maybe didn't know you had in storage. /Neon X
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https://youtu.be/_DRPmlVpfck First thing, I really can't describe how emotional it was to do this theme. I was brought to tears several times (as I've mentioned in my teaser post for this). And since I started doing it, I haven't got the will to stop listen to it. This is one of the most beautiful pieces ever made, video game or not. Nobuo Uematsu is pure genius and out-of-this-world musical. If I had only 1/1000th of his musical mind I would be famous long ago lol. By now you've probably heard this was very much like the original, only with the differences of my synthesizers, and some arrangement differences. I did not have heart to put a beat and a fitting bass line to this, I wanted it to be as soft as possible. I hope you can appreciate what I've done with it and bear to listen through the whole remix. There is so much love and emotion for each second, and the emotions I went through is inexplicable. I'm a real soft guy haha, cries in every movie and game I experience. I used my latest alternate lead synth here, but had to set up the equalizer and soundwaves of it with multiple settings not to get it to sharp at high notes and to "bassy" at lower notes. Tricky, but worth the time.
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https://youtu.be/N3jCsGeEf_k Hello folks! I'm not sure why I started creating this remix, I just felt such an eager to focus some love on one of the best games ever made. And the intro is really something, I remebered the jaw dropping when I saw it the first time back in 1998. I had one good friend who owned a PS and I'm so happy I got the opportunity to be introduced to this masterpiece when it was somehow new. I have to confess, this is the most difficult remix so far. Not only because of the grand composition by master Nobuo Uematsu, but also because of the original style is aligned to the orchestra/symphonic genre which is far away from my ordinary synthwave/retrowave. I tried to mix both styles in this one piece. 0:00 - Opening One of the best introductions to any video game in my opinion. The atmosphere and visual impression are spot on to what kind of place Mako City is. I wanted to modernize and absorb the theme into my synth style, and I hope I succeeded with that without too much loss of the original. 1:17 - Bombing Mission This theme is so cool, and so fitting to the intensity of the mission before you. I couldn't stray too far off the original's boundaries without losing too much brilliance from it (I tried a couple of variations) so I kept it as it is, mostly. I added some chords here and there, and of course a drum beat. The lead synths used here are multiple variations from my signature lead, tweaked to sound a bit more like brass which the original composition is all about. I'm not sure why I keep transcribing everything by ear, it's really hard sometimes which showed clearly while writing this remix. All the things happening in this theme was hard to keep track of from time to time, and it took me forever to just finish the transcription xD I guess it's kind of more freedom to just transcribe any song you want, instead of searching for MIDI files or sheet music. But enough about that! Thanks for listening!
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- final fantasy vii
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https://youtu.be/pnFpdDQ03Mg My first attempt of remixing/covering music from this classic SNES city simulator! This is one of my most nostalgic titles from the SNES, my best friend had this and I think we played it weekly for several years. Nevertheless, the music of SimCity wasn't as cover friendly as for example Mega Man 3. Jeez, did I stumble upon different and advanced chords and harmonies in this one. I had to find myself a MIDI file of the original song to hear all notes and chords properly. Hence, this remix is not very much unlike the original but my style is without doubt fused into it. Of course I made a few changes and "upgrades", among them the 6/8 80s beat. I also modified my signature lead synth to a completely new alternate one, I already had the signature and one alternate. This one's completely new, but from the same lead synth. I also used a new bass, Hot Tube it is called. Atmosphere I wanted to make a slightly-rainy-morning-in-traffic atmosphere for this remix. I thought of the time I'm spending whenever I need to drive to my office (I've got about 100 kilometers over 75 minute drive to get there) which results in listening to music and processing thoughts around it. The beat is mainly 6/8 half tempo with a smaller section in full tempo which gives the impression of a bit less intense song. This represents the kind of roads I'm driving to work - highway, high velocity, less traffic during the time of the day I'm driving (aiming to drive during less intense traffic). Because of this I can always keep one ear on the music and enjoy the heck out of my work travellings. If this remix is somehow appreciated I will do more from SimCity in the future! I enjoyed creating it myself, and hope you will enjoy listening!
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https://youtu.be/F9XpI-clEiE THIS IS MY FINAL REMIX FROM MEGA MAN 3! At last, I've really come to the end of this fantastic remix journey for one of the most amazing video game soundtracks ever made. For this grand finale I've created something completely new. The original Password theme is more of a swing genre song, I remade it to an 80's billboard hit (kidding), no but the sound is very similar to the 80s decade with warm tones and floating chords along with those synth plucks and piano synth melodies. For the main melody I'm using my alternate signature lead synth. Starting off with that classic 80s fade in including distant chords and muffed pluck, I was looking for that happy feeling you get from the moment of resolution in 80s high school movies, when the main character's love finally admits the love is mutual from his/her side (or something alike). With that said, I'm finishing this remixed soundtrack with a feel-good-song, I hope you will enjoy it! For the first time ever, I'm raising the key one note in the end for an even more uplifting feeling (maybe too much of a cliché, but I'm doing it anyway).
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https://youtu.be/Z7GlCNi5ddg This particular theme from MK64 have been a hard nut to crack, I've been listening to it now and then for almost a year and I always thought I wasn't ready to remix/cover it. However, I recently decided to give it a shot now when almost all MM3 remixes are completed (one left). I knew early in the working with this that I wanted to put the Super Mario World Castle theme in here in some way. It presents itself at 2:23, I recommend you to listen to the whole song though and you'll see that this part really adds to the entirety of it. The atmosphere of that part is quite inspired by a theme you can hear in Unreal Tournament 2004 - the map called Tokara Forest. As you've probably heard by now, I'm using a new snare drum. I wanted to try a more modern electronic snare for once. I've used that 80s power snare for long now. Please tell me what you think of it compared to my standard snare drum. In the intro I'm also using some percussive indian skin drums (like traditional indian world music) I kept the content of the song at a minimalistic level, no solos, minimum amount of melodies, atmosphere at a high level. And I hope the listeners can somewhat can fall into the atmosphere of this and let the tone and chords speak for themselves. As I write this I have listened many hours to this remix (I finished it early and wanted to get in the proper mood for changes and adjustments), and it really gives me vibes I haven't got in any other of my remixes. The overall atmosphere in this remix is very infinite I would say. I thought of a huge alien space facility/fortress/castle, where Bowser sits on the throne ruling a distant planet (the video art I used says much about that atmosphere). By thinking that way I decided to give it the name of Alien Koopa Castle, silly maybe, but compared to just Koopa Castle it says so much more. The monstrous scream is the original sound of Bowser from MK64 but with added reverb and volume, mandatory for any remix of this song The video art took a great deal of time for this video. Even if I only added the Bowser castle to it, the time and effort for making it fit in colors, shape, lightning took me like 4-5 hours (yes, it's way more than usual). The castle itself was taken from another artwork where it stands on a cliff surrounded by floating lava, and if you look at the castle in my art there is a white/light blue liquid pouring out, that's originally lava as well. Thanks to Photoshop and a lot of pixel by pixel erasing I managed to get it to fit the rest of the background smoothly. Thanks for listening, and reading (if you made it here)! If this kind of remix style is appreciated I'm definitely doing more, was a lot of fun. It was almost like therapy thanks to the atmospheric take, a very unique experience for me.
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https://youtu.be/13PamW4wmFA I had a hard time starting this one off, with too little motivation and ideas I initially just transcribed it to have that part done. I soon realized the section starting at 0:12 is all about samba or maybe bossa nova, really special in comparison to the rest of MM3's music. I took that as an advantage and kind of synthified and NeonXified it to what you can hear now. I hope you like it, I thought it was kind of cool and not very similar to recent remixes I've written. Then, at 0:41, the original takes a turn to another genre, and so did I. This is more of a light version of my own synthwave style, but with many chord and key changes not very similar to what I usually do. Starting off at 1:10, I did something completely new - a synthwave oriental section starting with some ambient melodies, and then continue with a (nowadays mandatory) solo section (1:38), still with that synthwave oriental touch. I leave all details to the listerers to discover for themselves My inspiration to this remix is a plan I've got for a project I will try to carry through this summer. It's an outdoor bar/dinner place/barbeque area/sun deck. I'm imagining a lot of scenes, light settings, music, drinks, food, good friend's company, and family quality time. Especially the samba/bossa nova section represents all the good times we will get from this in the future. The light synthwave section represent all work that has to be done to reach the goal of having this project finished. And the oriental synthwave section might just represent the toughness, sweat and tears we'll have to endure until it's finished.
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https://youtu.be/OyzUjhCxkwA A song with many variations and genres! I took advantage of all original sections in this one and experimented with different genres, the result is kind of a cinematic remix, like a song from a movie spiced with my ordinary synthwave style. I wanted the remix to feel like a story told only with atmosphere, melodies and beats. What the story goes like is up to the listener, naturally affected by the story in MM3 of course. I hope this song brings back memories for you guys, it sure did for me! You know, writing these remixes is not totally emotionless or mechanic, it's a process of emotions, feelings and memories. And I can never imagine what memories it brings back, old or new. Since the original is very naked (no drums or percussions), only played with 3-4 instruments, this really is a heavily arranged version of it, I think I used 13 instruments (including drums and percussion) and 1 FX.
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https://youtu.be/3gwEv3T01T4 After watching all Twilight movies during the last week I was emotionally affected, and as usual it affects how my music turns out. As a boss fight this remix might not have that intensity all the time, but it got lots of emotions and state of minds, also lots of parts! The part introduced at 0:47 is of hope during hard times/battles (just like I did in the MM3 Boss Battle remix), this however is much inspired by the music of a band called Liquid Tension Experiment (J Petrucci, J Rudess, T Levin and Mike Portnoy) which I've listened to countless hours back in the days. The first "break" part at 0:24 have several sources of inspiration, among them the Twilight movies that I recently watched. I wanted to create some sad feeling together with an imagination of a scene where the big boss and the protagonist find themselves equally matched, takes a paus and get into a deep conversation, with a proposal to just lay down their weapons, stop the battle and leave in peace. Then at 0:47 they almost comes to an agreement, but big boss just can't accept he couldn't defeat the protagonist and start the battle once again at 1:09. But after just a moment at 1:25 big boss realize this isn't gonna work, they need to come to an agreement or they both will not survive this battle. They talk for a while, and at 1:37 the protagonist is suggesting a pretty good deal they both can accept. Like a sigh of relief they part ways at 1:48 and hope is the winner of this battle where both sides survive. I hope you like my take on this theme, thanks for listening and reading!
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https://youtu.be/YvjoqAdVXh4 This is the winner from my 1k sub special remix poll which won with a whopping 50% among 4 other remixes. I thought this would be an easy theme to just remix and go with flow as I sat there transcribing and arranging it - but no. There are many "empty" sections in the original that I believe weighs up by actually driving this course so I had to come up with something more interesting. I'm not sure I succeeded, but I added some extras at the end of all melody lines, put different chords and some lesser FX between melodies with the help of the same synth that's playing the solo at 1:44. The solo and chord progression behind it is very inspired by the music of Pat Metheny which I listened a lot to back in the days. I thought a more melodic jazz section would fit nice to this song. I also wanted the beat to just go in this remix, never stop, only keep that pace to maintain groove and race feel. The intro was made with a sampled sound of someone sitting in a car accelerating with an automatic transmission (I think). Then I made the first line of music sounding like it would play in a bad car stereo. The brake FX is sampled from Mario Kart 64 along with all voices you can hear of Toad throughout the remix. I only pitch his scream a couple of times. After the solo section at 2:12 I put some different chords on the melody sections which gives them a more interesting approach, I also slightly adjusted the original melodies. The end is meant to represent the culminating last sprint right before the finish line in a race. Other than that, this is probably my top 2 favourite song from Mario Kart 64, along with the Rainbow Road theme. Really love the atmosphere and feeling of free drive when actually playing this course. There is certainly a special feeling when driving by night, it makes me think of synthwave, neon lights and really chill music.
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https://youtu.be/7tmfVg5Z1NQ Recently a dear relative passed away. As I write this the funeral is just a couple of days away, and the mood and feelings in me have begun to adjust for it. I think it's an important thing to know when listening to this remix since music I write is strongly affected by my current feelings, mood and energy. There is a sad mood and atmosphere over this remix (duh), the original is more distonal and a bit horrifying, but in the first place I wanted to create a more harmonically beautiful piece to keep some distance to the original, the sadness came with my loss. Almost all melodies in my remix are original compositions which makes this quite unique and almost completely my own. The only thing I actually reused exactly as it is from the original is the tones of the bass, however the chords are totally new. There is two layers of pluck synths which plays near the chords harmony and kind of never stops, it gives the remix a special atmosphere. The drums is my ordinary drum synth together with a couple of GameBoy drums, straight and clean beat. I felt like changing the video background after I finished the remix, I thought this is one was a better match to the mood and atmosphere, and it also kind of made me feel better because of the color scheme!
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https://youtu.be/oG0EW0X1UBw The first time I heard the original I thought it had such potential for a really fat refrain (section 2 starting at 0:27). I tried to apply some fat drums and a deep straight on bass to that section. I also tripled the melody voicing at 0:40 from a doubled one. Overall I always thought this is a cool song, I always like a bass playing the same note where the chords change above it. At 0:52 I did a completely new section where a couple of plucks playing different shapes together with an ever rising chord progression and bass. Then it takes off at 1:07 with a very much MegaMan inspired groove from an octaved unison lead synth over a half tempo groove followed by a solo starting off at 1:20 where I put a massive amount of delay on the lead synth. Next up is a variation of the main theme (section 1) where I occassionally change the drum beat time signature to 3/4 from 1:48, but the rest still plays in 4/4 which gives a confusing but yet progressive and controlled groove. Finishing up with another fat refrain where I pitch up the melody voicings an octave to get a peak, and then pull it all down to minimum level of intensity at 2:52 with a single bass tone under some changing chords. I tried to get an unpleasant atmosphere in those chords together with a similar feeling of when you're listening to James Bond themes. On top of that there is a xylophone playing one repetitive tone in this last section, and also in section 1 (from the beginning and at 1:36).
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https://youtu.be/raS81bYxK2g I went straight into this knowing I wanted it to be styled just like my Gemini Man remix. I think that synthwave jazz style is very adaptable to this song. My favourite part of this remix is 1:19 to 1:26 which is half way through a solo when my alternate lead synth plays unison with a piano and making some unexpected rhythm and melodies before a short silenced pause. Feels so groovy and jazzy. I made some alternate chord progressions in some sections of this song, for example at 0:32 to 0:45 where the key changes slightly in a way you probably heard in many progressive styled songs. I played that kind of chord progressions a lot when I went to a music high school at the age of 17-19 years old, and also after that. It's something you can apply to many styles and get a really beautiful sound and atmosphere from. If you noticed in this song, the bass almost plays the same note at all times, but with a nice groove to it. This also gives a very special harmony to the chords, when the bass note stays the same and the chords are moving underneath it. An example for you who is interested in music theory, the refrain (from 0:32) goes like: DbAdd11, Abm7/Db, A6#11/Db, Gb6sus9/Db where the third chord, A6#11/Db, gives that key change effect that I think is so beautiful, despite the bass staying at Db. Another cool thing about the refrain is right after these chords it goes up a couple of keys from Db to E which I just love in the original as well. In its entirety I think this theme is so good and remixing/cover it was true pleasure and joy. I hope you can chill with it or just dig it as much as I do. About the background, I tried to create some kind of widescreen monitoring the first part of the stage itself. MegaMan is watching carefully as he needs to go in there and infiltrate Wily's fortress. I hope you all like this! Thanks for reading and listening.
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https://youtu.be/I4Gh3jeTFZ8 Because of the nostalgia it brings to you, I wanted the start of this song to sound just like the original but with some new instrumentation. Then I took advantage of the original 3/4 tempo but remade it like that good old 6/8. The original is a very short theme, I think I doubled the length at least, but since it is supposed to be the intro of the upcoming Fortress themes I kept it short. At the start of the song I wanted to sample that alarming sound you hear from Wily's flying shuttle just before this song starts in the game, but unfortunately the sampling went terrible so I skipped it. But now you know that I wanted to add it at least success There are many minor 7 chords in this song, but I extended it with a section that successively slows down and consists of a clean C minor followed by an A minor7b5 to get a tension effect and a feeling of uncompletion, very much intentional.
