Star Fox Music Fan Findings (Remixes, etc.)

[Patch93]

Massive update on the SF1 Controls N64 remix. I made it sound more like the SF64 menu theme this time around.

 

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/114986671/controls64.ogg

[psy_commando]

Well, I'm not sure I like those instruments, they don't really fit all that well. And I thought the N64 menu music was inspired from the creepy music that plays after a few secs at the "press start" screen.

 

Also, you've used my favorite arrangement of the main theme, StarFox Soft Arrangement by Robert Harrington !

 

@DZ : It does sounds a little weird.. Though what annoys me is when he pulls the string too much and it does that very loud PING !

When I rarely play some acoustic guitar, it happens all the time and frustrates me a lot..

[Patch93]

I used the melody from his MIDI, but I made the bass and harmony myself.

 

Also speaking of that, I made a N64 version of the SF1 title music that involves a mash-up of the funky beats after the 64 title fanfare and the creepy music after the SF1 title music. It's a bit crappily crafted though, and there are some popping issues with the render, so I'll have to work on it later.

[GPlowman]

Hi there. I'm new to the site/forum. I came across it when I was researching a bit more about Starfox while I was creating my own orchestral arrangement of the Starfox credits theme.
 
Always loved Starfox from the very beginning. Though I haven't had a Nintendo system for so long now I've not played any version of it in many years.
 
Still, I wanted to arrange my own version of the theme, and I've done so in the style of John Williams. Here I tried to instill a bit of the Star Wars and ET orchestrations. I used the Space Armada theme to kick it off (and end with), and the credits theme for everything in-between.
 
This seems like a great place to post a link for you guys so here you go. 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voPe6kjjHUg

[Patch93]

Yeah I listened to this a while ago, sounds nice.

[psy_commando]

Yeah, that's some great work ! I loved it !

Though, I don't really like the idea of modifying starfox music to sound like star wars music. But I still do like it.

[GPlowman]

Thanks. Well apart from the beginning there's no real alterations, just orchestration choices that are more like Star Wars. Lots of more direct orchestrations that are copies of each other so wanted to try something different.

[Patch93]

I managed to rip the Hi-Hat and Acoustic Drums from the F-Zero X OST.

 

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/114986671/Star%20Fox%202%20-%20Meteor%20%28N64%20Style%29.ogg

 

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/114986671/Star%20Fox%20-%20Training%20Mode%20%28N64%20Style%29.ogg

 

Also, here's that title screen remix I was talking about earlier, I don't think the transition to the mashup worked out as well though.

 

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/114986671/Star%20Fox%20-%20Title%20Screen%20%28N64%20Style%29.ogg
 

[Snys93]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voPe6kjjHUg

 

Ah, this takes me back to the good ol' days.

[DZComposer]

Some things I found while looking for a new front page fanstuff entry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29IN_QEsiVg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3YgEMuaebM

[psy_commando]

I don't know if it has been posted here already, but here you go :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qy5Yn5aMrI

 

[TubaMan]

Hi I'm new to this website, I wrote this piece of music for Flute, Bb Trumpet, Baritone Horn, Trombone, Bb Tuba, and Horn. I called it Nintendo Orchestra but I'm going to change the title soon. This music includes Gerudo Valley from Zelda Ocarina of Time, Super Mario Galaxy 2, and Star Fox SNES Corneria. I'm making a part 2 soon for it. http://musescore.com/user/78342/scores/98089#download            

Nintendo_Orchestra..pdf

Nintendo_Orchestra..mp3

[TubaMan]

 I also wrote Star Fox 64 Area 6 for a Tuba quartet. Tell me if it sounds good                         http://musescore.com/user/78342/scores/96378                                                                                      

Star_Fox_64_Area_6.mp3

Star_Fox_64_Area_6.pdf

[RennardFuchs]

If you make a song mix you should remember to change the tempo in some places... the Corneria part is pretty slow, it doesn't resemble the speed and intense of the level. Well, I'm not a big fan of songs with only one king of instrument, but that depends on the taste
Anyways, keep up with the practice, and you'll get better and better

[TubaMan]

 Thanks, I started to write those pieces when I was still getting use to my music writing app, I'm currently writing a new score and the music speed matches the music from the games. I'll post it on here as soon as I'm done.

[Fox McCloud 64]

Oh, cool! Someone else who likes to transcribe. I'm not the best at it but I try to do what I can. Do you play any other instruments besides the tuba?

[TubaMan]

 I play Tuba, Trombone, Ocarina, and some flute.

[Fox McCloud 64]

I play the trumpet and the french horn. I can play the tuba and trombone but I have to write down which keys to press and the slide positions. So I still need to work a little more on that. Anyways, nice to meet you and good transcribing, its not always very easy to do.

[TubaMan]

I finished the sequel to my previous piece. It has the Super Mario World Theme, Pokemon Gym Theme, Star Fox Assault Theme, and Super Smash Bros Melee Theme. The instruments in the piece are Flute, Bb Trumpet, Baritone Horn, Trombone, Bb Tuba, and Horn.     Here is a link to my score the mp3 was to big to upload.  http://musescore.com/user/78342/scores/98702

 

Nintendo_Ensemble_part_2.pdf

[DZComposer]

A few things:

 

Firstly, please take the time to clean your scores up. They are a little hard to read when you just take the default rendering. Scores should be clean and consice. An example: Your tuba ensemble, measure 26, 3rd part: That should really be a half rest and a single 8th rest before the 16th notes rather than 5 8th rests. Another example: The note beaming during Gerudo Valley in your "Nintendo Orchestra" is confusing. Typically you only want to beam 1 beat's worth of notes.The only reason to do more is to group parts of runs together, but even then it is not necessary.

 

Score Order. While not a huge deal, for your Nintendo Orchestra, a more correct score order should be: Flute, Trumpet, Horn, Baritone, Trombone, Tuba. A more "Orchestra" score order would swap the trumpet and horn. Score order groups by family (Woodwinds, brass, etc.) and generally lists from highes-pitch to lowest. Horn is a bit of an oddball, main reason it is above trumpet is because the horn is sometimes considered an "honorary woodwind instrument," and the woodwinds are right before the brass on most scores.

 

So, for a full symphony orchestra, the usual score oder is: Flute/Piccolo, Oboe, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Bassoon, Contrabassoon, Horn, Trumpet, Trombone, Tuba, Percussion, Timpani, Violin I, Violin II, Viola, Cello, Bass.

 

As far as arrangement itself, you need to really think about the ensemble you are writing for. The Area 6 for Tuba you did was an intriguing idea, but for some reason you put a triad chord in the first part. As a tuba player yourself you should know that the only way that line could be played is divisi, which would require two additional players solely for one note. You should really consider revising that.

 

"But i'm using a sampler!" you say. To that, I say "So?" You'll make much better music if you stick to what the real instruments can do. You're not writing an electronic song, you're writing an acoustic song. Remember that. 

 

Not to say that you can't ever break this rule, just make sure you have a real musical reason rather than a put-notes-on-the-page reason to do so.

 

Secondly, you need to be aware that chords can get really muddy below E3 (C4 = Middle C). This is why most tuba ensemble work has at least one tenor tuba (or euphonium or baritone horn if need be) part. It gives you freedom to go above middle c regularly to clean your chords up. Each note should come through clearly. The reason it gets muddy is that the frequency is low enough that the sound waves from the different pitches start interefering with eachother, which muddies-up the sound. Instead of a nice sounding chord, you get a muddy mess of low-pitched noise.

 

Tempo

Please learn how to use the tempo control in your software. 120BPM is not suitable for all music. In fact, tempo changes are a staple of art music, so it is something you should really know how to do. Biggest Example: Corneria in your Nintendo Enselble. That was like 40BPM too slow. Maybe even more. It is worth noting that in the original song, those were 16th notes. Making them 8ths and 120BPM makes it drag really bad.

 

Balance:

Remember, some parts are more important than others and sould be more pronounced in the sound.

 

Dynamics:

Back when I used to frequent OverClocked Remix, I would offer criticism to WIPs there, and this was the number-one thing I found with works there, and it is something that I struggle with myself: Lack of Dynamic contrast. Popular music has almost no dynamic contrast, and what little there is gets stripped out in post when they compress the bejesus out of it. Art music is different.

 

This is the theme from TESIII: Morrowind. It is considered by many to be one of the most epic video game themes written. Yet it is also quite simple.

It's pretty much the same two phrases played three times. What makes it epic? It's all in the dynamic contrast and chord structure. It starts out quiet, climaxes loudly, and then quiets douwn into the denouement.

 

Dynamics help give a piece directon. Direction is very important in art music. When writing a piece, think of it as a journey: Where are you going? How do you plan on getting there? Tempo changes and chord structure changes can also add to direction.

 

Remember your literature class? Remember the Dramatic Structure? Your teacher probably drew something like this on the board:

 

Art music follows a similar structure. A beginning, a journey, the end of the journey, and a resolution.

[TubaMan]

I change the name of my "Nintendo Orchestra" piece to "Nintendo Ensemble" and I fixed some notes this morning, I also fixed the tempo to the Corneria theme, I also did this by ear it is not always going to be perfect. I also wrote those pieces while I was still getting use to my Music Writing app. I'm able to use the app way better now then when I was writing those pieces. I'm also fixing the Horn parts right now to make them higher. The Star Fox area 6 theme I wrote for a Tuba Quartet was just me testing the Music writing app. I'm also not quite use to writing Horn parts, and Woodwind parts.

[TubaMan]

I just finished my new piece for a full band.
http://musescore.com/user/78342/scores/104440

[DZComposer]

You need to transition between the different songs.

Also, you need to clean your key signatures up. I see double-sharps everywhere. That means you wrote the score in the wrong key. The correct key will have few accidentals, and double-sharps and double-flats should be very rare.

Also, during the Kirby piece, you crammed all the chords in the bass range and it sounds terrible. I would suggest you do a little reading into chord voicings. In a nutshell, the farther down in pitch you go, the farther apart the notes need to be. I heard this in the Zelda theme, too.

This is bad because of the laws of physics. If you want the full rundown, look up overtone series.

MIDI File: http://www.dzcomposer.com/chordvoice.mid

Listen to the MIDI file. Notice how much better the last two chords sound than the first one.

The middle chord is technically the best, as it is the closest match the overtone series for the key of C. (The actual C overtone series is the minor 7th chord)

Also, there were some notes that sounded out of key in places.

[Invisible Fire]

Here's one for Adventures

 

 

[TubaMan]

I'm almost done transposing the ending from Star Fox 64, I should be done this week. Right now my music program is glitching and placing barlines every where. So I might be a little late on posting it.