Magical Starsign - Bena Rikashi (MnP124)
Outline
Compo: MnP (Meat 'n Potatoes)
Congratulations to Wassup Thunder for winning the last round! As a result, he get's to choose this month's MnP source! Here's what he had to say about his pick:
"Here's an obscure tune from my youth! Not many have heard of Magical Starsign, an old RPG on the nintendo DS, but you should hear the track Bena Rikashi, the theme of a bustling city on a wind planet! It's short (only 30 seconds of material), simple, sweet, and gots lots of room for interpretation!" - Wassup Thunder
GAME: Magical Starsign (Nintendo DS)
SOURCE: Bena Rikashi
Deadline: 26th May @ 1PM
Closing Date: 28th May @ 1PM
Vote Ends: 6th June @ 1 PM
MnP ARCHIVE - made by Trism
Resources
Rules
MISSION STATEMENT
The goal of Compo:MnP is to promote that "meat and potatoes" conservative approach to remixing: this includes the mood and composition of source tunes. It is up to the remixer to create their own personalization, or to simply give it a sound upgrade. Moreover, the compo is a great opportunity to hone your remixing skills and give video game music the respect that is due. SOME reinterpretation is recommended, but not required.
MnP Instructions/Guidelines
- Source-Picks are limited to the era of gaming 1984-2006. In other words, Nes/Sega Master to PS2/GC/Xbox 1. Still not sure, about this one yet. Gonna do a poll to see what community census thinks, in the future.
- Modifying the Source is fine, so long as it doesn't sound completely separate from its original intent.
- If you're gonna do a genre change, at least make sure the original aspect of the source is not lost.
- Tempo changes are fine, as long as it's not a big change. I'm talking like, going from 80bpm to 140bpm.
- Submissions must be at a maximum of 20mb (keeping in step with ThaSauce's file size max), and submitted as a MP3 file.
- Only 1 entry per participant. Previous winner cannot participate but can submit a BONUS entry.
- Try to avoid making quality-based comments on submissions until after the Round is concluded. It is to avoid a Bias in Votes.
MISC/TIPS
- When picking a source tune, make sure it has a MIDI to make people's lives easier.
- In-game sound FX are permitted, so long as they don't comprise the whole track (i.e. replacing entire MIDI tracks with just sfx)
Entries (4)
Some weird product of bluegrass, jig, maybe some country, and washboard. Fiddle, pan flute, and guitar strumming among others. For titular reference, Puffoon is the name of the planet Bena Rikashi is on.
It gets rather challenging when the source material provided barely scrapes 40 seconds lol. Also doesn't help when it uses extremely simple rhythmical ideas. Definitely a fun tune sure, but very simplistic, so i had to try and use my brain for this one.
Tried adding heavy swing beats, almost like something from the Caribbean, to carry the chords and melody along, which kind of works actually. Also there is a sort-of B section, with a different chord progression and melody. I looped the melody quite a bit, but only because i was dealing with very short material. Hope you have fun with this.
What if the nonsensical plot of the show 'The Boondocks' collided with the trappings of a JRPG Isekai anime? :D
*WARNING: Mild Explicit Language - Discretion is Advised*
----
Genre(s): Trap-Hop / Hip-Hop / Rap
BPM: 132
Key: G Major
Tracks/Channels Used: 16
Mood: Parody
2nd Source Used, "Gimme Some More" by Busta Rhymes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un3NkWnHl9Q
Focuses This Round:
* Layering Lyrical Sampling to Song Melody
* EQ
* Song Dynamic Play
Notes:
- Inspiration is from making a half-serious, 'joke' song, and in taking up the moniker HoboKa kinda bequeathed on me as being a miniature SilvaGunner. They do a lot of work with video game mash-ups and posing them as "high quality rips" for hilarity value, so I wanted to take a turn on the wheel with a parody song of sorts by mixing up some lighthearted, goofy JRPG town music with hardcore rap.
- This was me trying to take the literal definition of "meat and potatoes" approach to a higher extent within the Hip-Hop & Rap genre of music. "Potatoes" being the new percussion & beat, and "Meat" being Bena Rikashi's melody vibes. :) The "Garnish"? The lyrics, of course.
_ Yes, I do realize that Busta Rhymes is a SMIDGE too fast (possibly) for the BPM. BandLab Online doesn't allow for too much fine-tuning with speed and tones / semitones, sadly, and it took me days just trying to adjust it the best I could... xD
- This is my first time really trying to go for way more lyrical work, rather than just using voice samples from film and video games.
- Was tempted to utilize the 'Theme from Psycho - Overture' 00:30 sample Busta used in his song (the tense, spooky violins as the hook/riff), but decided against it for the sake of staying more to MnP.
- Hope you enjoy. :) I had a slightly aggravating, but overall blast making this.
DONT VOTE FOR BONUS ENTRY.
I busted out a bunch of folksy, organic samples that I haven't used for a while, aimed at getting a real festive, lively interpretation.
To help flesh out the short source, I added a reprisal and variation to the first part where I mixed up the chords and bass parts some, along with melodic variation. I kept bringing in new instruments to keep things fresh as I went along XD. The second half of my composition aimed at getting a bigger, grander feel with wide string chords. And taiko drums!