~Hakurei Shrine~ > Alice's Art Atelier
[Music] GenericArrangements' Music: Track 3: Lonely Night ~ Illusionary Night
GenericArrangements:
Oops, I missed last month. I was busy.
Arrangement #7: LINK
Really, if I had something else to post (that I was particularly fond of at the moment), I'd post that instead. Unfortunately, I'm very busy, and that's how it's going to be for the next few months.
This is an actual 2A03 chiptune piece (I use FamiTracker for this stuff). I don't believe I've posted one here yet, but uh... yeah. Here's one. Part of the original piece gave me Mega Man vibes (or at least had good opportunities to fiddle with it so that it'd work), so I messed around and got this. Again, not overly spectacular, but it's fine for now.
Hopefully I'll be able to get something more out next time, but really I should be putting my focus into other places right now (and my ability to focus is atrocious lol). Maybe don't expect anything within the next few months (until about December or so), though I never stick to what I say, so actually I'd recommend not trying to expect things... not that... anyone was anyway lol.
Z_A:
I didn't comment much on your pieces of late, but I probably should. It's actually... well, okay, I'll try to be honest)
#4 is very very good (I do like ska music, like I've said before), the only thing lacking is length: the piece is way too short and the expectations were high (=
#5... funky, very nice! However, between 0:37 and 0:50 the high-pitched synth doesn't do the trick: this part seems a bit empty-ish. The rest is okay though, great job!
#6 OMG OMG I LOVE BOTH PIECES THAT YOU USED but... well... you certainly modified them (but not too much: the Alice's theme is very close to the original, actually), but was the change for the better? I think the original Flowering Night is very good as it is, hence it requires some exceptionally great musical ideas at least not to make a worse arrangement compared to the original, let alone a better one. Your interpretation of the piece is okay, hopefully it represents your vision, but I still prefer the original.
Also, the "Drumkit version" is better.
#7 oh THAT rocks! I'm gonna analyze the piece to learn what I did wrong about Yuuka's theme. This also inspired me to download the Famitracker, but it's kinda complicated... maybe I'll try it someday, HertzDevil is cool and I want to be like him when I grow up etc.
-----
--- Quote ---not that... anyone was anyway lol.
--- End quote ---
Oh please don't be like that, I like what you're doing and you know I follow your work closely to maybe get some hints on how to become a better arranger myself. Anyway... please focus on what's important right now, the arrangements can wait. All your fans, me included, can wait too.
GenericArrangements:
--- Quote from: Z_A on September 15, 2018, 10:06:05 AM ---#4 is very very good (I do like ska music, like I've said before), the only thing lacking is length: the piece is way too short and the expectations were high (=
--- End quote ---
Thanks! I love ska music myself, and actually am not too proud of this particular arrangement, though it's more about the mixing than anything. It's short for... "reasons" but I could make an extended version one day.
--- Quote from: Z_A on September 15, 2018, 10:06:05 AM ---#5... funky, very nice! However, between 0:37 and 0:50 the high-pitched synth doesn't do the trick: this part seems a bit empty-ish. The rest is okay though, great job!
--- End quote ---
This one's actually my favourite, enough so that I actually have a modified version on me (which adds a guitar layer and uses the baritone saxophones more, as well as changes to percussion sounds), but I'll post that when I feel it's done. The guitar should fill in enough sound in the section you mentioned.
--- Quote from: Z_A on September 15, 2018, 10:06:05 AM ---#6 OMG OMG I LOVE BOTH PIECES THAT YOU USED
--- End quote ---
Ah, I see you are a man of culture as well.
--- Quote from: Z_A on September 15, 2018, 10:06:05 AM ---but... well... you certainly modified them (but not too much: the Alice's theme is very close to the original, actually), but was the change for the better? I think the original Flowering Night is very good as it is, hence it requires some exceptionally great musical ideas at least not to make a worse arrangement compared to the original, let alone a better one. Your interpretation of the piece is okay, hopefully it represents your vision, but I still prefer the original.
--- End quote ---
This particular idea is something I consider every so often. In the end, I don't make arrangements in an attempt to be better than the original (because that's kinda hard for most of them). I usually make arrangements to give a new flavour to the melodies. My use of Flowering Night here was just because I needed a good chorus section, styling the whole thing like Rhythm Heaven music, as well as... "reasons" (again), and overall it's got a very different vibe to it, not really trying to be better than the original.
--- Quote from: Z_A on September 15, 2018, 10:06:05 AM ---Also, the "Drumkit version" is better.
--- End quote ---
Yeah.
--- Quote from: Z_A on September 15, 2018, 10:06:05 AM ---#7 oh THAT rocks!
--- End quote ---
Thanks again!
--- Quote from: Z_A on September 15, 2018, 10:06:05 AM ---I'm gonna analyze the piece to learn what I did wrong about Yuuka's theme.
--- End quote ---
The thing here is that I felt your arrangement of Yuuka's theme was meant to be of a different style of rock. As much as there are elements you can use from here, there's plenty of things that won't work, and things you'll have to come up with yourself/research with similar kinds of rock. Particularly try looking for rock pieces in 3/4, as well as maybe rock solos.
I'll usually try to give (slightly shoddy) advice when you post things.
--- Quote from: Z_A on September 15, 2018, 10:06:05 AM ---This also inspired me to download the Famitracker, but it's kinda complicated... maybe I'll try it someday, HertzDevil is cool and I want to be like him when I grow up etc.
--- End quote ---
Oh yeah, Famitracker is really hard to get used to, but really fun when you get the hang of it. Just keep trying and maybe check out a few tutorials and sample projects.
--- Quote from: Z_A on September 15, 2018, 10:06:05 AM --------Oh please don't be like that, I like what you're doing and you know I follow your work closely to maybe get some hints on how to become a better arranger myself. Anyway... please focus on what's important right now, the arrangements can wait. All your fans, me included, can wait too.
--- End quote ---
...yeah I often pretend like I'm just throwing things at the wall with no one watching. It just boggles my mind that people actually listen to my silly things.
Also yeah, I'll be focusing on that stuff (which I have), though in pretty much all of my free time I've been making music anyway, so there may still be monthly stuff after all.
GenericArrangements:
I mean I know I said that I probably wouldn't post something but then I later said that I would so idk here's something:
Arrangement #8: LINK
I also said it would be stuff lying around (or at least that could be inferred), so here's this thing. Just me messing with orchestral ensembles again. It's actually the result of not achieving my initial goal but sticking with it anyway so it's not amazingly substantial. It is one of my longer works though, considering I usually never go over 3 minutes.
Maybe next month I'll have something of a more interesting nature, though I'd only have about 4 days of free time for it.
Also it has always occurred to me that I should be actually saying what the arrangement is of - if it's not meant to be a "challenge" to figure it out - but I never do it.
...
something something PC98 Makai always felt more intense than PC98 Hell.
Z_A:
This is nice, a film score-like thingie, I only think that the main rhythm pattern lasts too long and it would be best to introduce the change sooner. Putting that aside, a rather high-quality work.
--- Quote ---Also it has always occurred to me that I should be actually saying what the arrangement is of
--- End quote ---
You probably should, because of copyright issues, though I don't think ZUN will find out any time soon.
Also, it's been bothering me for a while, so: is Akiyama Uni okay with using his works just like ZUN? Since, uh, they are different people and TasoFro and Team Shanghai Alice are different organizations, and maybe have a different opinion about it...
--- Quote ---I don't make arrangements in an attempt to be better than the original (because that's kinda hard for most of them). I usually make arrangements to give a new flavour to the melodies.
--- End quote ---
I started thinking about it as well, so here's what I figured: it's probably not really about which is "better" or which is "worse", but maybe something about finding "undiscovered potential" in a song? For example, Complete Darkness is already amazing as it is, and it has fully discovered its potential, so an arrangement is really out of question, and even though it's chiptune-like, the best that can be done is changing the instruments only a little, while staying as close to the original as possible. Flowering Night (from Phantasmagoria) does indeed have some potential, but most of it has already been discovered in the most popular arrangements, the Akiyama's version from SWR and in the Night of Nights, so like I said, it requires an exceptionally great idea to make a proper arrangement. The idea, as in finding something about the song that, when brought forth in an arrangement, would illuminate it from a different angle, and make it sparkle with fresh meanings like a new thing (wow... such metaphors...). Like what I tried to do with Yuuka's theme: IMO, it has great potential as a rock piece, that noone else hears (well... at least some people don't), and so I tried to show it from that perspective. I think I figured at least some of the problems with my arrangement, so I'll post a fixed version eventually, but that's a thing to be discussed in my thread, not yours =P most of your arrangements do have this "fresh meaning", so yeah, great job!