OCR04798 - *YES* EarthBound "Get Down with Your Bad Self, Mr. Saturn!"

[Liontamer]

MASTERING DONE BY: Pixel Mixers

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Proudly done as part of Pixel Mixer's "PM Rockin'!" album, celebrating the 30th anniversary of EarthBound / The Mother series of games & releasing the 27th of August this year, 'Saturn Valley' is one of my favorite quirky-as-fuck songs across many-a-game-franchise I've had the pleasure to play and experience. I was sad to see no one pick up the song when the call came out to claim something for the album, so I took the initiative myself, and this will be the first (technically second, but Golden Sun isn't nearing release yet) Pixel Mixers joint I've ever done!

This actually came about...as a result of many different things: a joke between me and my best friend, some chatting with fellow community members in regards to my TimeShift album piece I've been mulling over to do (as in, exactly what to do with it...) and a concept of figuring out more about...I suppose myself, along this long and arduous musical journey. As people have pointed out several times here, no one really knows what or how to describe my music, as it always comes as a fusion between at least TWO genres and employing techniques across a wide spectrum, never settling on any one thing. The TL;DR of the TimeShift conversation was people's general hint at me taking the source(s) I've chosen and to do something...a lil' unorthodox with them, seeing as I gained some insight on a plausible idea in listening to and discussing the group Black Violin, which is comprised of two Black dudes absolutely killing it on said instrument, but to the backdrop of Hip-Hop drum n' bass. In some of my own observation not only on this site, but across other communities, hip-hop has been done with VGM and remixes a-plenty, sure, but it's seemingly not as welcomed or fully embraced by the larger audience--not to the degree that Heavy Metal, Rock and EDM in their variety has staked their claims and made huge waves. You'll see Urban genre(s) way less and far between than a solo piano piece, or another orchestral piece. Hell, I think aspects of Jazz and Blues are more keenly felt and appreciated more often. . . So...why the fuck not? Not only growing up in a household which cherished eclectic and wide-spanning tastes in music, I grew up in and amongst Urban genre scenes of all sorts, I myself being of the Afro-persuasion. And, it'd be a missed opportunity to functionally slip more of those facets into other genre-bends and VGM remixes where...maybe no one thought there could be an obvious connection (e.g. like in Sonic music, which has clear and tight ties to Rap and Hip-Hop and Alternative over the history of its franchise OSTs).

The "this came from a joke" side of it was purely because my friend was taking the piss and poked fun at me doing Phonk and Jersey Beat--due to our newfound love and hittin' the griddy on Creepy Nuts' "Bling-Bang-Bang-Born" from Season 2 of the anime Mashle: Magic and Muscles, and how listening to random Phonk and Russian Bass tracks literally made me lock-in hard-core in tackling the highest difficulty of Risk of Rain 2 as REX (one of my favorite characters in the game). Always wanted to try Jersey / UK Drill Trap, with a bit o' Phonk, as well as Electro-Swing--a genre that really stuck to me in the wake of listening to groups like Caravan Palace and Swingrowers over the past few years or so, (and other takes, like Genie's "A Friend Like Me", from Disney's Aladdin, done up in that style).

And...here we are. After extensive research, we got the smattering of Ragtime piano, the hip upright bass plucks, the New Orleans-style trumpet razz (and yeah...kinda uhm...a bit proud of myself managing to write / improv all of that from the source material, inclusive of the synth trumpet's riffs, trills, flutters, licks, etc), and those 'bones going ham, all wrapped in a neat lil' package of needing moar cowbell and phat 808s. I honestly dunno how the hell I managed, but I guess inspiration is bound to happen when the thought of those cute lil' pink guys shakin' ass to Jersey beats pushes you to the absolute limits of imagination. :D

**As a side-note, yes, some of the FX that sounds like cartoon noises is from EarthBound, and I also wanted to immortalize the lil' guys' unique dialogue ticks from the game. Utilizing Alter/Ego voice-banks, I simulated various Mr. Saturn onomatopoeia (sound-words) into actual percussive and rhythmic elements as part of the song, and these elements were hand-written MIDI notation, linked to various FX chains/sends and (soft) vocoding to get some backing layered synths to follow their tones, and add to the melodic and harmonic aspects of Saturn Valley. I wanted those lil' guys to sing! The words include:

• "Hi, OH, Hi!"
• "Hi Hi Hi!"
• "DinG, DinG!"
• "BOinG!"
• "zOOm!"

See if you can hear them in the song. ;)

At any rate, it was a blast making this. Learned a lot. Enjoyed a lot, and hope y'all enjoy it too! Set your wub-wub subwoofers to high, or bust out your bass-heavy ear-buds! This came from working with Pixel Mixers for the 1st/2nd time ever, but it certainly won't be my last with them. They rock; y'all rock. Let's keep the party groovin'.

Other musical references:

1. ZMiX / sparda716 - "Saturn Valley (Dubstep/Electro Remix)" (similar synths and basses used in the bridge section for this arrangement)
2. Fred Wesley - "Get Down Widcho Baad Self" (naming the song, LOL; literally that's it)

 

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Games & Sources

'Hi Hi Hi - Saturn Valley'

EARTHBOUND / MOTHER 2: GYIYG NO GYAKUSHUU; DISC 1, Track 4 - Theme of Saturn Valley, (Hi Ho); Composer(s): Hirokazu Tanaka, Keiichi Suzuki & Hiroshi Kanazu; Original Release Date: 02 November 1994; Label: Sony Records

[prophetik music]

opens with some quirky, heavily filtered instrumentation, and a beat drops at 0:27 (still under the filter) that's appropriately funky. nice hat work. the filter comes off at 0:41 and the groove becomes more apparent. there's some hinting at the melodic content, but it finally shows up in full at 0:55 in the muted trumpet. i can't help but notice there's no swing in this track, which i'd have assumed that a ragtime-influenced track would have - it became more noticeable with the offbeat-focused representation of the melodic material. even a little would have helped it sit back in the beat.

there's a break at 1:22, and we get some of the b theme. there's something high going on here that's a little too much for me, but what the instruments are saying is fun. this transitions 1:43 which is a copy/paste of 1:08 - really surprising given how much uniqueness has already been represented in this track. the drums drop in the back part of this and we get a tape stop-ish around 2:10 as a transition using the C material from the original. i like how long this transitional section is - we've kinda done the same thing for a while, and anything turbo-peppy like electroswing can get grating if it's going on too long.

there's the requisite VQ foley section, and we're into a new representation of the A melody. this is still pretty straight forward in how it's represented, but the backing elements have changed a ton here. there's a ton going on here, but you did a nice job layering it in instead of just throwing thirty countermelodic elements in at the same time. the A theme is repeated as a backdrop for a bunch of other exploration, and then it's done. i wouldn't have minded a more prepped ending, this is not much of one if at all.

there is a lot going on here! i think from a mixing perspective, this has a lot going for it. the bass focus is a bit too low for my headphones to properly represent, but i like what i can hear, and it doesn't sound too dense throughout. i like the added elements that you've brought in, and the arrangement (aside from the copy/paste at 1:43) is vibrant and ever-changing. i think it's a little meandering in the middle, but overall this is a great approach to a goofy original that keeps the fun without losing track of the plot. nice work.

 

 

YES

[Liontamer]

Starts out super-quiet, but purposefully boosts up at :27. Gets denser at 1:08 with some bouncier piano writing. Good transition into the chorus at 1:21. I'm appreciating the textures and sound design; nothing too flashy or sophisticated, yet everything combines very effectively. Strong dynamics as well.

The track was 4:46-long, so I needed to identify the theme for at least 143 seconds for the source material to dominate the arrangement

:52-2:10, 3:15.5-3:58.75, 4:00-4:12.5, 4:13.5-4:46 = 166.25 seconds or 58.12% overt source usage

I could be overlooking smaller references from a lack of source familiarity, but all I was concerned about was confirming that the vibes I had that the source usage was fine weren't just because I enjoyed the track.

Fun stuff, VQ! :-)

YES

[Hemophiliac]

This is a solid arrangement. I like the opening filtered beat making way for a bigger impact when the filter comes off at 0:42. The changes/additions to texture and section come right as they are about to run out their welcome. Borderline approaching repetitiveness, and then the changes come.

I didn't understand the story being told by the foley at 3:06-3:13. I don't need to grok it, but understanding why it's there in the grand scheme of things makes sense. It broke up the longer section from prior and let the recapitulation of the theme return afterwards.

Production is mostly clean with all the parts coming through clearly. The one exception is to that is the sub-bass in the final section. It did have some material lower than 20Hz coming through on it (3:33-end), so you gotta watch-out for that so it doesn't create any issues, plus it is very quiet. I have to wonder how this one would've worked with a more traditional bass in this final section other then just the kick + sub growl. More similar to the how the first 2 minutes bass is. It feels more substantial and present there.

This is a silly (it is Earthbound after all) track and absolutely has a place on the front page, let's go! Well done! YES