Arrangement of the Week

Game Music

Arrangement of the Week: Fisherman’s Horizon (Christmas Ver.)

December 11, 2015 | Michael Hoffmann | Comments Off on Arrangement of the Week: Fisherman’s Horizon (Christmas Ver.) Share this

What makes a “Christmas version” of a piece a Christmas version? Until I started looking up arrangements for this month, I had never given much thought about what gives the holiday genre of music its sound. There are certainly some specific tropes and conventions used for such pieces. Having said that, I think today’s Arrangement of the Week is an excellent example of the holiday music genre.

Last year Scarlet Moon Productions put out a Christmas themed game music album, Scarlet Moon Christmas EP, which included contributions from a number of artists. One of the tracks, by game composer Goomin Nam, is an arrangement of “Fisherman’s Horizon” from Final Fantasy VIII.

The original track is already well known by many Final Fantasy fans, and Nam doesn’t stray too far from the original tone of the source material. The arrangement captures the essence of many modern day holiday covers. A light electric piano, slowly building strings, and some light melodies on the acoustic guitar all help create a serene and relaxing cover.

Part of what I like about this track is that there’s nothing too complex about the arrangement. Different sets of instruments take turns with the melody, including the guitar, some woodwinds, and of course the piano. No improvising or flashy solo parts. Just a simple and straightforward arrangement. All in all, a great Christmas themed game music track.

Do you have any favorite Christmas themed videogame music covers? Let us know in the comments below. You can check out Goomin Nam’s “Fisherman’s Horizon (Christmas Ver.)” on OC ReMix and I’d highly recommend checking it out on the full Scarlet Moon Christmas EP at Loudr and iTunes.
Game Music

Arrangement of the Week: Eastern Ice Field

December 4, 2015 | Michael Hoffmann | Comments Off on Arrangement of the Week: Eastern Ice Field Share this

During the month of October, we had a series of Halloween themed Arrangement of the Week entries. It was fun highlighting some pieces within a specific category, so I thought it would be nice to do something similar for the holiday season. So for the month of December, Arrangement of the Week will be featuring winter and holiday themed pieces from the game music remix community.

First up is an electronic remix of Sonic the Hedgehog 3’s “Ice Cap Zone” from Jimmy Hinson, aka Big Giant Circles, titled “Eastern Ice Field.”

The piece has a slow opening, starting off with some atmosphere effects and wind chimes. As the remix name implies, this arrangement has some eastern flavor to its sound. The first instruments to emerge are a plucked zither, a harp, and a flute-like lead. At around 0’53” the percussion comes in to give the track a more electronica focused vibe. These elements combine to create a wonderful hybrid sound of electronic and eastern instruments.

What makes this arrangement stand out for me are the transition and improv sections. Sections like 2’03” feature a handful of interesting shifts in tone. The mix quiets down and ramps back up all in a very short time span. The track is full of other fun changes and surprises, including a fake out ending at 3’10”. I also liked the choice by Big Giant Circles to focuses more on the chords and textures, rather than the bass line, which is more prominent in the source piece. Overall, it’s a great winter themed track to help start off the month of December.

Have any favorite winter or holiday themed remixes you’d like to share? Let us know in the comments below. You can check out Big Giant Circles’ “Eastern Ice Field” on OC ReMix.
Game Music

Arrangement of the Week: My Monkey Drives a Maserati

November 27, 2015 | Michael Hoffmann | Comments Off on Arrangement of the Week: My Monkey Drives a Maserati Share this

Here on the Arrangement of the Week we’ve had a lot of the metal rock entries. So this week I thought it would be a good change of pace to feature a cover from a different rock sub-genre. Enter our chiptune rock arrangement of the Donkey Kong Country 3 track “Hot Pursuit” from artists jmr and streifig, who make up the duo Marshall Art.

The soundtrack to Donkey Kong Country 3 has an interesting history. Most notably that it has two completely different soundtracks. The SNES version was mostly written by Eveline Fischer, while the Game Boy Advance version has a completely reworked soundtrack by David Wise. This arrangement of the DK3 track “Hot Pursuit” is from the former and is titled “My Monkey Drives a Maserati.”

The track takes off right from the start, evoking much of the same energy present in the original piece. At first the chiptune instruments dominate the track, but the electric guitar and drums steadily build a presence. At various points, like the 1’30” and 2’30” mark, the synth instruments drop out to allow the guitars to have the spotlight. In each instance they act as brief interludes that contrast well with the rest of the arrangement.

What I enjoy about the track is the overall blending of the chiptune sounds with the modern rock instruments. The track sounds like it could exist as an actual track within the game. As I mentioned, the chiptune elements start off as the primary sound source, but the guitars eventually find space to show off and really add to the piece. All in all, it’s a fun arrangement with plenty of energy.

Have you heard any good chiptune rock covers, arrangements, or remixes this week? Feel free to share them with us in the comments below. You can check out Marshall Art’s “My Monkey Drives a Maserati” on OC ReMix.
Game Music

Arrangement of the Week: The Last of Us

November 20, 2015 | Michael Hoffmann | Comments Off on Arrangement of the Week: The Last of Us Share this Arrangement of the Week: The Last of Us

For this entry of Arrangement of the Week, we’ll be looking at an arrangement from a more recent game. The Last of Us, like many great games, boasts a wonderful score. The game’s main theme “The Last of Us” is a beautiful and mournful piece from composer Gustavo Santaolalla, that sets the mood for the game’s world and story perfectly.

The arranger for this week’s selection is nckmusic who presents his own acoustic interpretation of the main theme from The Last of Us.

Much of what nckmusic does with music isn’t too far from the tone of the original soundtrack. If anything, this version is much more solemn. The arrangement begins with the piano playing the opening arpeggios that were previously performed on guitar. When the strings come in to accompany, they create a haunting ambient boom in the lower register, helping build on the sorrowful atmosphere. At 1’37” a solo cello enters with another solemn presentation of the original melody.

What I like most about this arrangement is how small scale and intimate it stays. While later parts of the track do build up with percussion, and even a few siren effects, it maintains its haunting and somber tone throughout. Overall, a wonderful adaptation of an already excellent piece of music.

Have any favorite game music arrangements, remixes, or covers? Let us know in the comment section. You can check out nckmusic’s “The Last of Us” arrangement on OC ReMix.
Game Music

Arrangement of the Week: The Depetrification of the Submerged Forest

November 13, 2015 | Michael Hoffmann | Comments Off on Arrangement of the Week: The Depetrification of the Submerged Forest Share this

This week I thought we’d take a break from the electronic dance remixes and listen to something a little more relaxing. The Chrono Trigger soundtrack has a number of memorable and distinct pieces that help make it a favorite of many game music fans. One of the more relaxing tracks from the game is “Secret of the Forest” by composer Yasunori Mitsuda.

Today’s Arrangement of the Week is an ambient electronic remix of the piece, titled “The Depetrification of the Submerged Forest,” by artist Zisotto.

Right from the start the remix sets up a wonderfully tranquil atmosphere. Plenty of resonant and slow building synth effects are present to build a relaxing and otherworldly sound. The piece also takes its time building up. It’s not until the 1’25” mark that we even hear the recognizable arpeggios from the original track.

The remix is also fairly long, lasting almost 10 minutes. Part of this is a result of how long Zisotto waits and builds up the synth instruments and atmosphere. It’s not until around 2’42” that the main melody gains some prominence over the rest of the instruments. However, there’s plenty of movement and consistently fresh elements being added to the remix to maintain the listener’s interest. Most of the ambient tones remain present throughout the whole remix, providing a consistently chill vibe all the way through.

Have any favorite ambient remixes, arrangements, or covers of game music? Share them with us in the comments below. You can check out Zisotto’s “The Depetrification of the Submerged Forest” on OC ReMix.
Game Music

Arrangement of the Week: Desert Castle Theme

November 6, 2015 | Michael Hoffmann | Comments Off on Arrangement of the Week: Desert Castle Theme Share this

One of my favorite things about searching for remixes and arrangements for videogame music, is that it often leads me to discover music from games that I’ve never even heard of. Today’s Arrangement of the Week selection led me to one such discovery.

The “Desert Castle Theme” is a piece from the Nintendo 64 game Chameleon Twist. The game is a 3D platformer that stars a blue chameleon, named Davy, who traverses the game’s difficult levels by using his incredibly long tongue. Despite owning an N64 back in the 90’s, I don’t recall ever seeing or playing this game. So it was a cool surprise to find a track from the game being covered by metal remix artist ToxicxEternity.

As with many of the other metal remixers on YouTube, ToxicxEternity performs the various parts of his creation on camera, with gameplay footage displayed behind him. Like the original piece, the arrangement opens with a few chord riffs before launching into the melodic material. The melody itself transfers quite well to the electric guitar and doesn’t receive a whole ton of embellishment, which I actually like in this instance. There are a few dramatic flourishes added during repeats of the melody, but each iteration sticks fairly close to the original “Desert Castle Theme” track.

Most of the build up and improvisation comes during the last section of the piece. Around the 2’03” mark ToxicxEternity turns his focus on the opening chord progression, with some rapid arpeggios building on top of the accompaniment guitar riffs. A few synth instruments come in as well around 2’55” before the arrangement starts to wind down. All in all, it’s a simple and well polished metal arrangement that highlights the music of a lesser known game soundtrack.

Have you discovered any cool game soundtracks through metal remixes, arrangements, or covers? Let us know in the comments below. You can check out more of ToxicxEternity’s metal videogame covers on his YouTube channel and you can support more of his work on Patreon and Twitch.
Game Music

Arrangement of the Week: Ghosts of the Marble Hall

October 30, 2015 | Michael Hoffmann | Comments Off on Arrangement of the Week: Ghosts of the Marble Hall Share this

Our final Halloween arrangement, like the Banjo-Kazooie entry, is another piece that is not from a horror game, but rather from a set of pieces that play in a game’s more unsettling environments. For this last Halloween Arrangement of the Week, we are looking at a spooky arrangement of the “Ghost House” and “Castle” tracks from Super Mario World.

This arrangement comes to us from artist CrimsonZeal and is an orchestral reimagining titled “Ghosts of the Marble Hall.”

The piece starts off with the an erie rendition of the “Ghost House” theme. The combination of woodwind arpeggios along with the percussion and strings evokes an appropriate atmosphere for the music’s original setting. The arrangement takes on a more cinematic battle tone once the “Castle” theme kicks in. The main melody is actually present in both source pieces, but the arrangement takes more cues from the “Castle” track, particularly with the strings at 1’25”.

What I particularly enjoyed from this arrangement is the way the “Ghost House” material builds up into the “Castle” music. It’s a great transition that maintains the sense of dread that often accompanied playing through the game’s original levels. Another nice touch is the sudden drop off of the music at 2’30” to a coda featuring the strings. It gives the piece a more somber ending, that I really wasn’t expecting. Overall, a great orchestral arrangement.

Have any favorite orchestral arrangements of your favorite game tunes? Let us know about them in the comments below. You can find and download “Ghosts of the Marble Hall” on OC Remix.