Ridiculously Garrett Posted June 24 Posted June 24 (edited) EDIT: Forgot the most important part... record scratch. Updated wip below. Katamari Stars 2025-06-24 2253.mp3 Source: Edited June 25 by Ridiculously Garrett Updating wip Rukunetsu 1 Quote
Liontamer ⚖️ Posted June 24 Posted June 24 Cool instrumentation choices. If you can get it sounding more fluid/humanized, the concept has legs. :-) Ridiculously Garrett 1 Quote
Ridiculously Garrett Posted June 24 Author Posted June 24 Thanks. I'll have to work that out. I decided I like the original chord progression (with the Bb minor chord instead of dominant/altered) better so I updated. Easier to keep the melody intact which I think is necessary since the style is so whacky. It's more moody with the minor as well. I'll work on arranging/humanizing. Quote
Ridiculously Garrett Posted June 26 Author Posted June 26 (edited) Katamari Stars 2025-06-26 2233.mp3 EDIT: So I'm seeing my main problem with arranging/mixing is I don't have access to a whole lot of versatile, high quality sounds. I'm not super pleased with the piano sound - I think it sounds fine as the chords, but the melody just sounds thin and robotic. I need a better sound or two for the melody(ies)... it will help keep it interesting and contrast with the piano better. Especially since, if you evaluate “mainstream” arrangements from the 50s for example, the instruments that are melodizing and harmonizing change about every 8 bars, keeping the piece interesting. Same goes for big band jazz. Count Basie makes it especially easy to see this. He’ll have the brass “call” the melody in the A section, with woodwinds “responding”, then for the B section swap them (woodwinds call and brass respond), then when refraining the A section will swap back. In bebop and hard bop, you may or may not see this less in the arrangement, but you have solos, and even trading solos, between instruments to keep things interesting. This is even common in some hip hop groups. A Tribe Called Quest has each member taking turns with their verses, synonymous with the bebop solos of a previous era. There are even spoken references in the lyrics to bebop throughout many different hip hop artists from that time, the 90s. But I digress… point is I need more interesting, quality sounds. Edited June 28 by Ridiculously Garrett Quote
Rukunetsu Posted June 28 Posted June 28 Definitely like what you've got goin on here. Ridiculously Garrett 1 Quote
Ridiculously Garrett Posted yesterday at 02:32 PM Author Posted yesterday at 02:32 PM (edited) Katamari Stars 2025-07-05 1201.mp3 - Added vibraphone and organ leads to make this more dynamic (and get rid of that filthy piano lead). This will set the stage for better arranging. - Added vocal pad in C section with record scratch. Reminds me of Katamari. - Fixed some drum timings. Still more to be done. - Added reverb bus for all instruments and adjusted as necessary. I like how it feels more like a live arrangement with the added reverb bus. Further adjustments may be needed. - Added keytracking to EQ for better definition of individual instruments. Overall adjusted EQ, especially of higher frequencies. - Overall finished arrangement? It is very dynamic, and I tried to keep the idea of "change it every 8 bars" at the forefront. Edited 23 hours ago by Ridiculously Garrett Quote
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