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My next major work


DZComposer

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It's been a while since I have done a major piece of music. I have started on a grand Star Fox medley that will cover music from all five games.

Some parts will star mostly true to the original, while others I will play around with them a lot. For instance, the piece opens with a solo trumpet with clarinets playing the SF64 theme in a minor chord progression quite different from the original. I used to not like this theme very much, but it has grown on me. I have become fond of the slight "Turkish" sound to the second part of it.

Cues in the medley:

SF64 Theme -> SF2 Theme -> SF1 Asteroids -> SF64 Venom 1 -> Corneria -> Krystal's Theme SFAd -> Krystal's Theme SFC

Cues that will likely appear (no particular order)

SF1 Theme, Star Wolf, Zoness, Krystal's Theme (SFAd), Krystal's Theme (SFC), Speeder Chase (SFAd), Peppy's Sacrifice (SFAs), Game Clear (SF1), Game Clear (SF64), Menu (SF64), SF64 Victory Theme, SF64 Failure Theme, more.

The piece focuses on brass, but will include all orchestra sections. I am also using this piece to practice my Horn writing.

http://www.dzcomposer.com/betamusic/sfmed-wip04.mp3

THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS. IT IS FAR FROM FINISHED.

Instrumentation:

1 Piccolo

3 Flutes

2 Oboes

1 Cor Anglais

4 Bb Clarinets

1 Bass Clarinet

1 Contrabass Clarinet

2 Bassoons

1 Contrabassoon

4 Horns

4 Trumpets

4 Trombones

1 Tuba

1st Violins

2nd Violins

Violas

Cellos

Basses

2 Harps

Timpani

Marimba

Xylophone

Vibraphone

Glockenspiel

Tubular Bells

Snare Drum

Bass Drum

Cymbals

Concert Toms

Gong

Misc. Perc.

Piano

Choir (SATB)

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Am I the only one that hears a clipping sound in the music?

 

Aisde from that, I like it! It may rival the original theme in terms of long term impact. Excellent dynamic range and good instrumentation. The only thing that makes a 9/10 instead of a 10/10 in my book is Im extremely partial to brass and percussion.

 

However, I'd ease off on the intro to Asteroids. It scared the crap out of me on that first strike.

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This is pretty sweet bravo! major stuff here, excited to hear the finishing touches on the piece X3  5 out of 5 Fay-brays s7ai.png

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I am proud of how this piece is going so far. I feel it is orders of magnitude better than most of my past works. I credit actually sitting down and reading up on some theory a bit. I'm by no means an expert there, but the knowledge I have gained is already preventing me from making some of the kinds of mistakes I have made earlier. Also, my discovery of Cubase's iterative quantize feature helps, too.

Another thing I have been trying to do is write more realistic parts. It's not too challenging for most instruments, but I will say this: Writing for Harp is a bitch (Hence why I am scoring for two harps because what I want to do can't be done with just one. The harps are actually sharing the melody in the SF2 theme). Octaves aside, harps can only play 7 distinct notes at a time. You can pedal on the fly to change what notes are available, but that can get awkward.

 

However, I'd ease off on the intro to Asteroids. It scared the crap out of me on that first strike.

It's supposed to scare the crap out of you. Think of it as the peace of Lylat being suddenly shattered by Andross' fast moving invasion.

As far as the clipping, I think it is the flash player. I have noticed it is slightly louder than the MP3 by itself. It's a rough cut anyway, so I'm not too bothered by it.

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nice-stack.gif

 

 

The thing I like best about DZ's arrangements are that they always make you reflect upon things more deeply than one would under normal circumstances.  Bravo, as always.

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Nice DZ, I like how the arrangement flows very well.

 

And its not complete? I think its very good already :D

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It's a long way from complete. It will probably be in he neighborhood of 15 minutes long, possibly even up to 20.

I've been out of town, so I haven't been able to work on it much this week, though things are coming along.

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  • 1 month later...

If the SNES Corneria BGM could be described in one word, that word would be Ostinato.

What is ostinato? Ostinato is a (usually) short selection of notes played repeatedly.

Corneria is largely built on two ostinatos. The first is the eighth-notes:

http://www.dzcomposer.com/miscfiles/corost01.ogg

The second is the slightly syncopated one:

http://www.dzcomposer.com/miscfiles/corost02.ogg

I took the idea of ostinatos even further, adding many more to the Corneria section of my piece. The eighth and sync ones remain, but I add more. Both harps are playing ostinatos as are the clarinets and the strings, pizzicato.

It also turns out that the SF64 Corneria actually fits polymelodically inside the SNES one! Listen for it in the pizz violins.

http://www.dzcomposer.com/betamusic/sfmed-corneria.mp3

I have a lot more planned for this section. It will contain more of the SNES and N64 Corneria BGMs intertwined. And of course Ostinatos, which the N64 BGM had as well.

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  • 1 month later...

Sometimes simple instrumentation can be just as nice as the full orchestra.

Here is Krystal's SFAd theme from the medley. It starts out with a solo horn, backed by chords in the strings and a walking part shared by both harps. Then the strings and double reeds take the melody at a strong mf, finishing on forte when the horn section comes in with a short run to accent the minor chord. Though I think I will add a dimenuendo there to bring it to a nicer close. The goal is to transition to Krystal's SFC theme, which will start out distant and then end sounding like a classic Hollywood love theme.

The chord progression stays mostly major chords, with a hint of dissonance at the end with a diminished and a minor: A D G A D G A D G D C#dim A D Gm D. I love this progression Just the right touch of dissonance.

http://www.dzcomposer.com/betamusic/sfmed-adkrystal.mp3

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I don't normally make sheets of my works, but I am seriously considering doing a live performance of that horn solo in Krystal's theme.

Here is the sheet for that solo (transposed into F pitch)

eGpG7Kz.png

This also shows how tempo changes can make a piece of music sound totally different. Those 32nd notes at the end come out almost as long as the 16ths elsewhere.

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This is based off of Krystal's Theme in Star Fox Command?

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Adventures (the one with the sax). The command version will follow right after, but I haven't written it yet.

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@DZcomposer

Amazing work!

Unfinished or not it sounds better then the star fox 64 3D credit theme you made a while back(After all these years I still have it downloaded to my PSP and it never gets old)  

I'm curios though, what program did you use to create this instrumental beauty??

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My older works are not an indication of my current composition skills. Despite not having any major works in the past couple of years, I have improved my methods.

One improvement was due to upgrading my DAW box. I can now load solo instruments alongside the sections and use them for the divisi parts. This adds a level of realism to the sound. I've had these same sounds for years, but I have never gotten this level of realism out of them until now. Makes me want to see what I can do with the new stuff on the market. But I need to save my money for a new car, so that's not going to happen any time soon.

The second improvement is I increased my study of music theory. I know have a firm grasp of tonal center and I have a better understanding of chords than I did back then. I used to not really care about keys or chord progressions. Problem is, keys and chord progressions are the foundation of tonal music. I used to just throw notes in and if I liked it I moved on. Knowing what I'm doing helps the process move faster as it is less trial-and-error composing. Also learning things helps a ton. For example, Key and Scale are not the same thing. Key establishes the tonal center, scale establishes which notes are used.

The third is leveraging Cubase's randomize functions and focusing more time on articulation and phrase shaping. This makes the work sound more human and less computer.

As far as software I use, I use Cubase 6, Kontakt 5, and libraries by EastWest, Garritan, Tapspace, and VSL. The sheet music was made with Finale 2012.

For example, the horn solo posted earlier is using the VSL Solo Horn. Over the years I've probably spent upwards of $2000 on sample libraries.

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Nice music, but I like guitars. Maybe I should learn so I can make metal Star fox.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here's a complete WIP to the point where I am working:

http://www.dzcomposer.com/betamusic/sfmed-wip002.mp3

The medley is now a little over 7 minutes long. I figure I'm about 40-45% there.

I decided to shorten Corneria from my original idea. I think those ideas would be better in their own arrangement.

With Krystal's Theme SFC, I am starting in the middle. I emphasized the Tango-esque feel of the middle section of the piece and added some Spanish flair to it. I still have to write it, but immediately following where it stops, the main melody of the theme will come in. First time will be much like the OST verson, but it will build to a repeat sounding like a Hollywood love theme the second time through with horn, Horn, and MORE HORN.

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  • 1 month later...

Update!

Krystal's SFC theme is complete. I also have included Zoness and the SF64 Star Wolf theme.

Krystal:

A slight Spanish style opening that develops into a love theme.

Zoness:

The more I work with it, the more I love the score from Star Fox 64. I used to think it was inferior, but there really is some hidden epicness in there. Zoness is a great example. It's such an epic piece, but the shit samples used in SF64 and SF643D do it no justice. I really need to do a standalone work with this one again.

Star Wolf:

This Star Wolf theme takes a little bit from every one of its appearances, from the original SF64, to SFAs, and even SFC. I've even re-used a few things I've done with it in the past. By taking the best of this theme's various appearances, I think I have created one of the most epic versions of the theme.

http://www.dzcomposer.com/betamusic/sfmed-wip03.mp3

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I threw together a standalone version of Star Wolf:

http://www.dzcomposer.com/betamusic/medleystarwolf.mp3

Download

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thumbs-up-matt-leblanc.gif

 

I really like that arrangement; it captures the greatest aspects of both the SF64 and Assault themes, and blows them both away while it does so.

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  • 1 month later...

I knew that this composition was something special, but once the Star Wolf theme kicked in toward the end it became something unforgettable. Nicely done.

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I threw together a standalone version of Star Wolf:

http://www.dzcomposer.com/betamusic/medleystarwolf.mp3

Download

 

 

God damn it, why the hell didn't the Star Wolf theme in SF643D sound like this? :/

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  • 4 months later...

I just want to say that I am still working on this, though I am putting it on the back-burner for a while. I have decided that I want this medley to contain music from the new SF game, so it will probably not be finished until holiday this year or early next year. After the hashing-out of parts will come the polishing.

This has become the biggest musical project I have ever undertaken, and I want to do it right. In the meantime, I will work on other, smaller, projects such as Mercenarios.

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