Author Topic: [Music] Aka Kyuketsuki's work  (Read 9340 times)

Aka Kyuketsuki

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[Music] Aka Kyuketsuki's work
« on: February 23, 2015, 05:12:00 PM »
A place for music ? ALL MY YES.
Ahem, anyway. I'm Aka Kyuketsuki, a bit new here, and I would like to share some of my work ! Indeed, I love to listen to Touhou inspired songs, as well as make them. Although it doesn't resemble ZUN's style at all, I prefer to stay close to my style.

I'm currently working on a series of songs based on a Touhou fangame idea of mine, which is called 東方幻想降雨 ~ Unification of the Artful Rain (I might try to make this idea come true in Danmakufu, but I'm too new to ph3 to try something this advanced  :V ).
Have some previews !

Evanescent Skies ~ Rain Dance (Title Theme)
Petal Waves Through the Fields (Stage 1 Theme)
Searched Sunlight Flower ~ Searching Youkai (Stage 1 Boss Theme)
Two Ways' Enigma ~ Mythical Road (Stage 2 Theme)
Overthrown Forces (Stage 2 Boss Theme)
Radiant Sky of Spring (Stage 3 theme)
From a Stormy Night to a Shiny Day ~ Weather Drive (Stage 3 Boss Theme)
Mountain Slices the Waterfall ~ Nameless Valley (Stage 4 theme)
A Child's Umbrella (Stage 4 Boss Theme)
Diamond Tears in the Palace (Stage 5 Theme)
Illusion Through Reflection ~ Crystals of Fate (Stage 5 Boss Theme)
The Never-ending Rainfall (Stage 6 Theme)
Storm's Last Water Drops ~ Unification of the Rain (Stage 6 Boss Theme)
The Unification of the Artful Rain (Last Spell Theme)
Drizzling View from the Nameless Mountain (Ending Theme)
Apparition of the Artful Spring (Staff Roll Theme)
Lands of Eternal Winter ~ Cold Purity (Extra Stage Theme)
Oneiric Snowstorm (Extra Boss Theme)
Road to an Unknown Cataclysm, Once More (Secret Stage Theme)
Unseen Madness (Secret Boss Theme)
Last Sinner of the Full Moon (Last Words Theme)  /Not remastered yet


I made my best to stay close to what a Touhou fangame could offer, I hope you like it. :3c  Note that all the songs of the fangame idea are available, but with poor quality instruments; I'm remastering them on FL Studio to give them a prettier sound, but you can still listen to them to give yourself another preview. Enjoy !

Also making some unrelated originals Touhou songs for fun !

Psychic Mind Reverie
An original theme made for a Sumireko Usami script I plan to upload someday.

Link of Emptiness ~ Monophobia
An original song made to test the Touhou soundfont, with a stage 6 feeling in mind. I wanted to use this in script, but this will be when I'll have the courage to learn to make stages :p
« Last Edit: October 30, 2016, 08:57:00 PM by Aka Kyuketsuki »

Aka Kyuketsuki

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Re: [Music] Aka Kyuketsuki's work
« Reply #1 on: March 01, 2015, 11:01:35 PM »
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJaBdz8v748 - Radiant Sky of Spring (Stage 3 theme)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9sBHZJC74M - Mountain Slices the Waterfall ~ Nameless Valley (Stage 4 theme)

Added two originals so it makes a 6 stages idea. I will make the bosses' theme later though !

Aka Kyuketsuki

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Re: [Music] Aka Kyuketsuki's work
« Reply #2 on: April 02, 2015, 09:17:56 PM »
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adv99H7ZKq4 - From a Stormy Night to a Shiny Day ~ Weather Drive (Stage 3 Boss Theme)

There is Stage 3 ! Now, only Stage 4 to do and there will be only remasters to do to finsh the entire compilation !

Gusano Wornis

  • Member of Team Mystique
Re: [Music] Aka Kyuketsuki's work
« Reply #3 on: April 02, 2015, 10:27:55 PM »
I've Heard the half of the songs, but they show you have talent, the only problem are the instruments used, even if you remastered on fl studio they are still low quality, its like a GM soundfont :/, at least the brass is fine and sounds fine(its like the hyper canvas one), the guitar is also fine

but when you get the correct vsts and soundfonts you get good quality things, for example, look at my renders on my soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/gusano2314
I do use a soundfont that haves real instruments from an SD-90, so its the real ZUNpet and cia. also I use Edirol Super Quartet(piano and bass) and Edirol Hyper Canvas(the rest of the instruments).

I wish i could get someone like you for my game, I am a danmakufu ph3 scripter so I can do it, but I don't have music composer :(
carrying dead weight since 2015~

Re: [Music] Aka Kyuketsuki's work
« Reply #4 on: April 03, 2015, 01:13:00 AM »
A little off-topic

I do use a soundfont that haves real instruments from an SD-90, so its the real ZUNpet and cia. also I use Edirol Super Quartet(piano and bass) and Edirol Hyper Canvas(the rest of the instruments).

Whatever that soundfont is, it's just a cheap copy compared to the real hardware. It's also completely illegal. I've written more about that here:

https://www.shrinemaiden.org/forum/index.php/topic,17752.msg1150614.html#msg1150614

So yeah, don't just go around mentioning that you use this soundfont because that's just as bad as proudly admitting that you've pirated or stolen something. It doesn't matter if it sounds bad compared to the real thing or if you just play with MIDI files for fun.


As for Aka's music, I've listened to some of the tracks and what's really bothering me is the mixing, not the sound of the instruments. I'll see if I can give you some more specific feedback when I have some free time, but one good thing to do (even if you have years of experience) is to compare the composition you're working on to other music done in a similar style. See if your mix feels like it's lacking something compared to the music you're using as reference, and search the web for ways to fix what you feel is missing. You'll learn a lot doing just that.

Aka Kyuketsuki

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Re: [Music] Aka Kyuketsuki's work
« Reply #5 on: April 07, 2015, 03:54:00 PM »
Quote
I've Heard the half of the songs, but they show you have talent, the only problem are the instruments used, even if you remastered on fl studio they are still low quality, its like a GM soundfont :/, at least the brass is fine and sounds fine(its like the hyper canvas one), the guitar is also fine

Thank you ! But yeah, free soundfonts are usually cheap, but still effective. I'm not really into illegal stuff either :/ I do what I can with what I have.

Quote
As for Aka's music, I've listened to some of the tracks and what's really bothering me is the mixing, not the sound of the instruments. I'll see if I can give you some more specific feedback when I have some free time, but one good thing to do (even if you have years of experience) is to compare the composition you're working on to other music done in a similar style. See if your mix feels like it's lacking something compared to the music you're using as reference, and search the web for ways to fix what you feel is missing. You'll learn a lot doing just that.

Do you mean some instruments louder than other than others ? Or maybe clipping because of the sound of the instrument being too high ? I'm really interested about what could make me improve, so if you would like to be more specific, that would be great ! And yes, I often listen to others' work, and I see that I should use more instruments as a bass instead of 1 or 2... I'll try that for my next songs ! :D

Aka Kyuketsuki

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Re: [Music] Aka Kyuketsuki's work
« Reply #6 on: May 02, 2015, 01:49:48 PM »
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4okTDDia7JU - A Child's Umbrella (Stage 4 Boss Theme)

Finally done with the originals, for now ! I'll be moving on to remaster the old ones now :)

Aka Kyuketsuki

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Re: [Music] Aka Kyuketsuki's work
« Reply #7 on: May 03, 2015, 12:02:57 AM »
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkeP-pbgQFo - Diamond Tears in the Palace (Stage 5 Theme)
Back to the remasters !
This one is a bit different than the others. Even the original seems different compared to this one actually. Maybe the different soundfonts create that difference  :derp:

Aka Kyuketsuki

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Re: [Music] Aka Kyuketsuki's work
« Reply #8 on: July 12, 2015, 03:48:37 PM »
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_89h8X6lQA4

The Final stage theme is done, after struggling for the piano and finding a better rain sound ! :/

Mеа

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Re: [Music] Aka Kyuketsuki's work
« Reply #9 on: July 14, 2015, 01:40:12 PM »
I love the sound of rain, but this sample you've gotten sounds a bit... too close to the ground. I'm reminded more of a concrete floor than rain, though that sounds odd. It 'grounds' this atmospheric sort of sound you're going for with the pad-y choir. Maybe a more 'aerial' sort of rain might be nicer. And maybe also add some more swells in and out into it to make it a bit more artistic rather than just dumping it into the back. That quiet section came as a moment of relief.
Sounds of rain though, like.
Naked expression; purple raspberry flavour

Aka Kyuketsuki

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Re: [Music] Aka Kyuketsuki's work
« Reply #10 on: October 31, 2015, 02:07:42 AM »
Thanks for telling me all this stuff to improve, very nice of you guys !  :3
Psychic Mind Reverie
Link of Emptiness ~ Monophobia

Made a soundcloud account (about time) to publish some originals  :derp: Hope you enjoy it !  :blush:

Aka Kyuketsuki

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Re: [Music] Aka Kyuketsuki's work
« Reply #11 on: February 27, 2016, 01:11:49 PM »
« Last Edit: May 30, 2016, 03:20:06 PM by Aka Kyuketsuki »

Mеа

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Re: [Music] Aka Kyuketsuki's work
« Reply #12 on: February 28, 2016, 03:48:36 AM »
It sounds quite nice. On the other hand, there's no melody until about 3 minutes into the song. Until then, we have a melodic line that's only an outline of the harmony (ZUN uses these a lot in transitionary passages, a good example being Native Faith). So nothing that necessarily grabs your attention. The melody is fine enough, the melody itself anyway. But it's a little too elaborated and restless, it doesn't want to stop and rest and let me know that it's the melody and not just some fancy running pianistic figuration or improvisation over the harmony. I would suggest that you take the important notes of that melody and let the rest sink into the back a bit or mix it off to the side somehow. I keep thinking the melody is going to stop around 'here' somewhere but it keeps continuing wandering around until it comes in again in the next phrase. Silence is a good thing, it helps to let the listener know the breathing of the melody, the comma in the sentence. Question? and Answer.
As an example, in that third measure from where 3:13 starts, where it goes C#-BD, bah→→ba↓dum↑, everything after that D, that third beat on the third measure of that phrase until the answer comes in on 3:19, I would suggest either softening that passage to put it further back from the foreground or putting it in another instrument or leaning it towards the left or right channel or whatever.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that, right now your melody and countermelody are melded into one line and are indistinguishable. That and/or your melodic cadences could use some advice. To that I will provide this example, Sleepless Night of the Eastern Country. The first theme, the first melody starts from 0:06. The first utterance of this melody ends on 0:12. It's made of two halves, two phrases, the first one from 0:06-0:09 and the second phrase from 0:09-0:12. Each of these phrases can be further divided into two short halves. Notice that the rhythm of the melody is the same for both halves of the first phrase, and the first half of the second phrase. Instead of following the same rhythm for the last half, the second half of the second phrase has a different rhythm. Notably, the melody ends early and the rhythm stops, as a sort of breathing point, a resting point, to let the listener know that this is where the melody rests and stop. That this is one whole unit and that the melodic unit ends here. After this short breath, ZUN proceeds to do a little scale run at the end of this last half to lead into the start of the new melodic unit, most of which is a repeat of this first melodic unit.
That was about melodic cadences, or resting points, you want these to form a coherent unit of melody. Silence is a good thing. As for countermelodies, we can still use the same song. The second theme comes in at 0:30. The first phrase of this new melody ends at 0:36. The actual melodic line stops at 0:33 and holds until the end of the phrase, but the countermelody comes in at 0:34 under a different instrument. This way, not only do we get a clear distinction between melody and counter melody through timbral--different instruments-- and registral--countermelody is higher in pitch-- differences, we also get to preserve that long 'silence' or resting point in the melody because it's being held for like two whole measures. The countermelody provides that aural interest by coming in during that long resting point without disturbing the restingness of the melody.
So currently, your example has no rest and the countermelody is being 'sung' by the melodic instrument, which, being melded together, ruins the melodic line. I hope I was able to elaborate enough clearly without sounding like a pretentious thing. I do like the overall sound of what you have there, just the melody could use some advice.
Naked expression; purple raspberry flavour

Aka Kyuketsuki

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Re: [Music] Aka Kyuketsuki's work
« Reply #13 on: February 28, 2016, 10:58:01 AM »
Thanks :3 I love how precisely you explain how I should improve <3 I absolutely get your point though. The song indeed lacks melody and is more about plain cadences. I will admit that it's my fault for being lazy :v

I pretty much stayed close to a "faithful" remaster, changing one or two things in the notes. That's pretty much an "instrument" remaster. But I am aware of that mistake and I'll try to correct my old songs (because these are pretty old, I agree that staying close to the original would be a bit boring). When I'll do the next remasters, I'll be aware of that.
But let's say that I did evolve in 7 months :v
Dimensional Light Absence OST Preview

Although being preview, that shows songs with richer melodies, I'll let you be the judge of that ~ Thank you for taking your time to give me constructive criticism.

Aka Kyuketsuki

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Re: [Music] Aka Kyuketsuki's work
« Reply #14 on: March 02, 2016, 09:54:49 PM »

Aka Kyuketsuki

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Re: [Music] Aka Kyuketsuki's work
« Reply #15 on: April 29, 2016, 03:40:14 PM »
Two new remasters !

The Unification of the Artful Rain (Last Spell Theme)
Drizzling View from the Nameless Mountain (Ending Theme)

I noticed Fruit Limiter was on by default, which made most of my songs too loud :c
Now it shoud be a bit better, I hope  :ohdear:

Aka Kyuketsuki

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Re: [Music] Aka Kyuketsuki's work
« Reply #16 on: May 30, 2016, 03:18:26 PM »
Yey, Staff Roll theme has been composed ! (well, it's more of an arrangement but oh well  :V)

Apparition of the Artful Spring (Staff Roll Theme)

Aka Kyuketsuki

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Re: [Music] Aka Kyuketsuki's work
« Reply #17 on: October 14, 2016, 07:45:11 PM »
Lands of Eternal Winter ~ Cold Purity (Extra Stage Theme)
Oneiric Snowstorm (Extra Boss Theme)

Hey it's been a while ! Updating this to put the EX stage and boss songs here ~
« Last Edit: October 16, 2016, 02:02:50 AM by Aka Kyuketsuki »

Aka Kyuketsuki

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Re: [Music] Aka Kyuketsuki's work
« Reply #18 on: October 30, 2016, 08:56:12 PM »
Road to an Unknown Cataclysm, Once More (Secret Stage Theme)
Unseen Madness (Secret Boss Theme)

Some new originals/remasters, just in time for Halloween ! Enjoy ~