I'MMMM THE BEST - Mario Kart 64 Win Result Synthwave

[Ridiculously Garrett]

WIP: My personal favorite song from MK64, colored a little differently.

The sweet memories of getting lucky with a lightning bolt and using it on my older brother as he went over the jump in Wario Stadium, plummeting towards sudden demise.

Edited April 11 by Ridiculously Garrett
Updating wip

[bluelighter]

It sounds promissing ! The arrangement is a little short, you should develop a little if you want to post on OCR. But the direction is good :)

 

[Steele]

1. I like the different feel that you're going for. Makes it seems pretty different and original sounding.

What distracts me a bit is how it sounds a little muddy. The song is already in a complex 11/8 which is already quite strange but what I noticed about the original is has really obvious chords that play on the first beat of the bar. This really holds it together in my opinion so maybe trying something similar to that might help give it clarity, unless you're wanting to make it quite ambiguous where the beat starts and ends.

2. If you're going for a synthwave sound, feel free to disagree with me here. My understand of the core aspects of synthwave come from the kinds of sounds used (80's or 80's inspired, which you already have some in there) but also, most synthwave songs usually have a drone bass playing, it often sounds really model and just keeps playing, usually semiquavers (8th notes). That being said, you don't need to actually include this, but if you want to sound synthwave, that's a really fast way to give it that sound.

Now that might not work too well with it being 11/8, I'm not too sure but right now because of the pulsing feel. It feels almost like Synthetic Djent. Which I like the idea of but Djent is quite punchy and powerful, synthwave is more mellow and constant usually. It feels somewhere in the middle and that's not bad, maybe it needs to be worked on a bit more. You could be onto something quite original sounding

3. I agree with @bluelighter That it is a little short. Maybe consider adding a new section into the piece that has a different feel. Hell if you're feeling crazy, the idea of a synthwave version of this with singing involved and a piano solo like you've already got might slap really hard but I'm getting carried away. Another section you could consider is a really slow ethereal break where it's mostly slow pads and ambient.

Here is the singing example I was reminded of. 

 

 

Love what you have so far. I'm just some rando so take or leave the advice. Good luck with developing the idea further :)

[bluelighter]

I haven't seen the 11/8 time sig, proof that it's well done and fluidity. Hope we'll hear a new version:)

Sounds good!

 

 

[Ridiculously Garrett]

Thanks for the input to both. I am actually making this in 11/4. Use the ride cymbal in introduction (right ear) as a metronome marker. You might notice when you do this, it sounds like the off beat once we reach beat 6. This is because on beat 6, the kick drum (and bass following it) becomes the off beat, syncopating the side chain effect until the top of the next measure. This occurs on every measure.

So the original rhythm is intact, but when you count it this way, you get interesting syncopation, or off beats... it's all an illusion!

But anyways, I will take the sound design and eight note rhythms into consideration. I do believe the kick and bass pattern (and obviously the time signature) is the main culprit for it straying from the traditional synthwave feel.

Let me play with it, and most importantly complete the arrangement, and we will see how it sounds then. I appreciate the input.😁

 

EDIT: and the chords during the melody section follow the syncopation, because I have them bouncing onto the beats that the kick and bass are playing. Maybe I should try placing them on the on beats and see how it sounds... as it stands though it's an even 11 chords through beat 5, and another 11 through beat 11, so it is currently even in the measure, just syncopated because it's an odd measure... interesting dilemma, especially to Steele's point because synthwave isn't typically syncopated like this.

Edited 7 hours ago by Ridiculously Garrett

[Ridiculously Garrett]

You guys motivated me to update... Not very polished but here's a rough arrangement. Fleshed it out adding the "secret ending" bit for the second chorus, and an all new straight ahead groove that I want to flesh out the solos to more. A little reminiscent of Luigi's Raceway...

Edited 4 hours ago by Ridiculously Garrett