Mario Kart 64 - Toad's Turnpike

[MartinH]

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.