Choosing an arrangement?

[mickomoo]

Forgive me if there is a topic on this, but I want to remix a song however I dont know how to get over that threshold between cover and genuine rearrangement. What kind of ideas/things do you consider in order to begin to reinvent a song?

[Garpocalypse]

My old formula went something like this

Homage the source-remix the source-Homage the source again.

That was great for keeping familiarity but was pretty limiting otherwise

More often than not I find that starting with original chord progressions and harmonies then working in the melody I want to use is less limiting but much easier to lose familiarity. So to keep things together I make sure all of my decisions are related to some aspect or idea to the game/stage itself. Roughly 50% of the track the listener should expect, the other 50% you get to do almost anything you want.

everyone has their own solutions to these issues but that's why i loves da remixins'!!

it's a very unique musical challenge.

Edited October 4, 2013 by Garpocalypse

[DarkDjinn]

Forgive me if there is a topic on this, but I want to remix a song however I dont know how to get over that threshold between cover and genuine rearrangement. What kind of ideas/things do you consider in order to begin to reinvent a song?

This is less about getting started, but can help keep you on track - I am working on my first remix right now, and it's going well. But I have someone that keeps listening to it as I make more progress on the rough demo of it. I'm finding it very helpful to have feedback throughout the creative process instead of just at the end.

[Argle]

I try to think of a genre that I would like to adapt the source material to.

[Flexstyle]

My general process includes (but is not limited to) the following methods:

- Take the middle of the source track and use it as the intro. This lets listeners know that "hey, this is a familiar track, but WAT THIS IS A NEW ARRANGEMENT WAT WAT." Basically, just rearrange the source's sections to fit whatever structure you're going for.

- On the note of that above, maybe even combine sections of the song. Take a melody from one, and then use another section of the song as the counter-melody. Even better, take another source and use THAT as an addition. This makes it seem like you're super-innovative when all you're really doing is a glorified mashup.

- Take a recognizable melody and elaborate on it. Maybe elaborate a couple different variations with different instruments. This is helpful in two ways: it lets you squeeze more remix time out of a small section of source, and also lets the world know that you are creative and funky.

- Take one instrument in the song (the bassline, for instance), and turn it into a lead line with some modifications. You can squeeze a TON out of a source if you just give each of its elements their own time in the spotlight.

- Don't be afraid to add a little bit of original work interspersed with the source material. See previous comments re: creativity and funkadelicality.

The above is phrased rather facetiously, but that's honestly the basics of how I approach a game remix. It's stupidly simple once you really boil it down, but the kiddos love it so I keep doing it.

[Rozovian]

I cut the source into little bits, and use those bits in new ways. Best examples of how that's worked out are Eye of the Storm or Dragonfood, both being based on very simple melodies and both ending up with a brand new arrangement. EotS reuses the three-note pattern from the source in different ways, you can hear one take on it starting on the beat and another just before. Dragonfood takes what's effectively a four-note pattern and messes with its rhythm in a lot of different time signatures.

Once you have your little melody bits, start messing them up. Screw with rhythm, mode, everything. If a melody begins on the notes of a chord - try it on a different chord. The intro to the SMB theme works well as an example. Works fine on an E major chord, but I could just as well rewrite the melody with the notes of a minor chord. It'll automatically change the mood.

After a while of messing with melodies like this, I'll have a few bars based on the original but in a new mood. Repeat the process with a different part of the source to write a few bars of a different part of the new arrangement, and then just figure out how the bridge the two. Once they're bridged, see if there's anything to add in between, source references or something.

I can take the theme form Halo, and make an arpeggio from the first three notes, in whatever time signature I want. Then I add the melody on top of it. If I want to, I can alter the melody a bit. Underneath those two, I add chords and bass. These can be different from the original. All I need is a few parts, based on source, to piece together into a new arrangement.

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I can divide the main Halo motif into separate little melodies and use them separately. It divides quite well into four parts. Say I use the first for a verse/build-up kind of thing, and the second for a chorus. The third is so similar to the first that it doesn't matter much, but the fourth can be used for a different part. There, I've got three parts.. Now to piece them together into an arrangement.

Where do I want to go with it? First of all, I've got my buildup part, so whatever intro I have should lead into that. Long, dj-friendly intro? Big booming intro featuring the chorus melody and then going straight into a break and buildup? Some instrumental noodling before the drums come in? Just fade in?

Then I've got my chorus. The buildup should naturally lead into this part. If the idea is indeed for the verse part to serve as a buildup, then some filter and other effects should slowly open, and additional instruments should come in. Just before the chorus part, I would add a reverse crash, snare roll, or just drop out the bass and bass drum. I'm thinking of some kind of dance style here, a different genre could have a drum fill or something else lead into the chorus.

Then what? Well, I can go to the verse/buildup thing again, I can keep playing the chorus, but in a more subdued way, or I can go to a third part. Maybe I want to go to the buildup part again, but then to the third part before the second chorus. I can make the ending based on any of the parts I already have, it just has to wind down after the chorus. Now I know where to go. This example ended up being: intro-A-B-A-C-B-ending. That's an arrangement.

--

Though when I'm actually doing this, I tend to not be this analytical about it. I just decide that I want a new part, and start screwing with the source until I've come up with something, and then use that. I often end up with a lot of small parts all referencing different parts of the source, or even other tracks if I think it'd make sense, both musically and thematically. Whatever my sources, the idea is always to take a melody, a part of the source and make it work in whatever context I want. Sometimes this changes the context. Sometimes it changes the melody.

[AngelCityOutlaw]

You compose an original piece and then look for other melodies and content from other pieces that you can incorporate into yours.

Much easier process than trying to wedge your way into an existing arrangement and figure out how you can add your own stuff to it.

[timaeus222]

This is my approach if I really want to be complex and I'm getting stuck.

I actually listen to the source, and think of a mood I like or want to evoke. I then try to mentally improvise a rhythmic variation on the melody to match a groove that fits the mood I'm thinking of. Usually, drums and a lot of backing float around in my head while the melody is being improvised. I improvise a bassline out loud to follow an implied chord progression once I write out the percussion and the melody. That bassline forms my chord progression, and I fill that out to create that section of the remix. It tends to work out rather well since I don't follow the original chord progression and my jazz choir background helps me with formulating basslines that actually work.

I also really like Flexstyle's Variation genre idea (genre as in Rondo, Aria, Fugue, Minuet, etc. Yes, Variation goes way back into the 1600s~1730s lol). It's genius if you really know how to do it well. Like

. Focus on the "Devil's Lab" source and notice how many different rhythmic and textural variations there are. Incredible. And there was more coming that faded out. To think it started out pretty conservatively (the FM bassline was a recreation of the original bass sound, and the percussion was emulating the original's percussion). In a sense, almost like a Fugue (variations of one theme in many different textural ways). <3 Edited October 5, 2013 by timaeus222

[Esperado]

I try to think of a genre that I would like to adapt the source material to.

I agree that a genre adaptation usually works well, especially for a newer remixer . You are presented with a semi-specific set of musical "rules" with which to work inside. At that point you just study the genre and listen to a good bit of music from that genre and take notes on how they work and try to emulate what they're doing. Looking at how songs are arranged by listening to them is extremely helpful to me when im stuck

[Spi.der.men]

I try to write the remix the way I think it would be written if the game was released today. That makes you straddle the line closer to "cover" than arrangement, but I think it evokes a better response from nostalgia. Jake Kaufman's work in Duck tales Remastered is a good example of what I'm trying to get at.

[Katajun]

I like to just learn the main melody and chords on guitar, then just mess it up. Play half of the main hook then just go crazy with whatever I want. Usually ends up like crap, but eventually, you get some good stuff.