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1

Submissions / Re: [MOB] Fire Emblem Heroes - "Climb the Sky" by Code_Name_Geek

« on: August 06, 2022, 01:52:10 AM »

Back again with more edits.

You've moved this to start on beat 5 now rather than beat 4.

Whoops, 6/8 sometimes messes me up with beat labels. Fixed!

I don't see an E anywhere in this bar now.

I must have changed that after typing that part of the response... added it back in lol.

This looks better definitely, although I think it could still look a bit clearer./less awkward  Have you considered writing the left hand part out in just one layer?  I think it could look pretty sensible/readable in this way, and alongside some minor simplifications I think it could be really great.  Something like this:

Spoiler

[close]

Ignoring articulations and the right hand (what you can see of it) this is meant to be bar 34's left hand written out how it currently is on the left, and how I am suggesting on the right.  I guess the guiding principle for this style of accompaniment is 'get the bass notes in on beats 1 and 4, and then be free to jump away to the more interesting stuff when needed'.  If you like how that looks then I'd suggest trying it out on the rest of the left hand here.  (Note that this doesn't mean I think it's a good idea to always merge layers together for the left hand, and I think it works fine for all of the other parts in the sheet).

That does look a lot easier to read. I did the whole section like you suggested and it sounds a little emptier, but realistically it's probably closer to how it would be played anyways. Hopefully this works better!

Again this looks better, but could be a little more consistent.  In 38-45 you use one note harmonies, and mostly in 46-54 you use two note harmonies, but occasionally 3 (in bar 47) and 1 (in 54).  The extra note in 47 is definitely unnecessary (just remove the D or Bb) and you can add the E in for 54 (as mentioned above).  In terms of actual notes though.
-The E is more important in the RH than the A or C in bar 48 (since it isn't doubled in the left hand).
-I think instead of doubling the melody in bar 44 you could do something more like in 52, probably just the D.
-Not actually note related but watch the beams in bars 41/49.  They're colliding/almost colliding.
-The run in bar 41 sounds to me like G A Bb C (like in bar 54 but without the C#).
-I would move the rests in bars 38/46 up off the staff.

All these should be fixed.

-It would be nice to get the 7 sound in bar 58, so maybe change the RH second layer Bs to Ans.
-Next bars sound like G -> A -> D -> Bm7 -> Bm7 -> Dm/G -> Dm/F -> E7sus4 -> Asus4 -> A.  So it would be nice to have As on beat 4 of bar 60 and beat 1 of bar 61, Ds in bar 62 and an An in bar 63.
-The melody and the harmony are the wrong way around in bars 61-62.  It should go up to the Fn on beat 61 from the E and so on.  I think maybe my previous comment was confusing, but I was only referring there to the swap that occurred at the end of bar 62 going into bar 63.  61 was right as you had it before (although see above for more harmony).

These as well. You're right, I had gotten totally confused with the melody and harmony in 61-62, but that should be fixed with the harmony added in.

There are a few other miscellaneous presentation things that I could mention but since this will definitely need another look from me anyway I'll probably just keep this post shorter (I know I have a habit of making these posts look too intimidating).  Let me know if you need any clarifications on anything.  (Oh and thank you for posting the old version, it was very useful for me because it's been a while since I looked at this!)

No problem, I try to post the old versions whenever I significantly rework an arrangement. I did my best to clean up a few things presentation-wise but I'm sure there's some I've missed. Thank you for your patience!

2

Submissions / Re: [MOB] Fire Emblem Heroes - "Climb the Sky" by Code_Name_Geek

« on: July 11, 2022, 12:58:39 AM »

So sorry this took so long, I had some irl stuff happen and couldn't get to it until recently. I did my best to address all the feedback so far, but there are still some rough parts that probably need addressing.

-I think this should be written in Dm rather than keyless.  The chord progressions and melody all match Dm, sometimes borrowing D major.  The only bit where the key really changes is in bar 55 where it goes to Bm, but even this section quickly resolves back in Dm from bar 61.

Yeah this makes sense, done.

-I think the rhythm of the ostinato is slightly different in bars 2/4 etc. where it also plays on beat 1.5, but this simplification is probably fine.

Listening to it I hear what you mean, but I think it would be too unwieldy on piano so leaving it simplified seems like the better option.

-I feel like the eight note chords in bar 12 a bit much.  What about just octaves in the left hand?  Or just the bottom D and the A?  You will get a more balanced texture this way.

Makes sense. I like the 5th better than the octave so that's what I used.

-In bar 25-29 the chosen accompaniment pattern becomes a bit of a problem because it forces the bass too high really.  It loses a lot of the impact this way.  One way to get around this would be to omit the chord on beat 1 so that the bass can play at the correct octave, and then jump up for the next hit.  Another option would be to move stuff into the right hand.  There are also probably other solutions (maybe a combination of the two).

I did what you suggested with beat 1, replacing that chord with a chord in the right hand.

-I don't think spacing out the staves to such an extent in the third system of the second page looks very good, and it isn't really necessary either.  You can just use a 'cresc.' marking rather than a hairpin in bar 28 and you can keep the spacing exactly the same.  If you really want a hairpin instead, then I'd recommend messing around with the beam heights so that you can get the staff separation down a little; it looks a little silly at the moment.

Changing the accompaniment parts actually solved this issue, will keep it in mind for other parts though.

-The bass on beat 5 of bar 29 sounds like an E to me rather than a C#.

Fixed.

-The melody in bar 31 sounds the same as in bar 35 to me.  It would also be a lot less awkward to play.

Yeah I think you're right, also fixed.

-I feel like in bar 30 onwards we're overcomplicating things.  It looks like you have tried to put in everything you possibly can, but this leads to the arrangement looking quite messy and not particularly natural to play on piano.  My suggestion would be to first focus on the parts that really matter.  I would say those are the bass and the melody 99% of the time, and I think it's true here as well.  We can write the bass part in verbatim, so why not do that.  Then think about ways to 'beef' it up whilst staying natural (this is not always easy), rather than finding more and more parts to add in.  It seems like you want to have this part that you've written in the second layer of the right hand, and I can see why, but you should try to make sure it makes sense.  (Maybe it can go in the left hand rather than the right hand?  I can think of a few ways of making that work).  I'm happy to elaborate on any of this if you want, just let me know.

This was a hard section to tackle, but I've made some changes and it sounds a lot lighter now with the melody more prominent. The second layer has been mostly moved to the left hand, with a few parts in the right hand at the end of measures. The ostinato chords have been mostly removed since the rhythm is present in other parts, so it sounds complete enough without it imo. I'm aware that in performance the player will probably lift the bass notes on beat 1 early to play the accompaniment, but I thought writing that in would make it look too complicated? Let me know if you have any further suggestions.

-In bars 30/32/34 etc. it sounds like the A comes in on beat 3, not on beat 2.5 like in the previous section.
-The G on beat 4.5 in bar 33/37 sounds like it should come in on beat 4.
-In bar 37, it sounds like the first three notes of the right hand should be a third up, i.e. C -> Bb -> A -> G.

Fixed all of these as well.

-In contrast to 30-37, 38+ feels too sparse.  I think we can introduce some harmony for the right hand to play here (which may mean less has to go into the left hand, but there should still be more overall).  In bar 36 we get even more harmony parts added in, but the sheet looks exactly the same.  It would be nice for there to be some kind of buildup.

I did my best to add some harmony, but I'm not so sure about some of these parts. Thoughts?

-50-54 has a very unbalanced texture.  We have this single melody line up top supported by a very muddy and low accompaniment.  The standard way to fix these sorts of things is to move harmony from the left hand to the right hand (but we should also try to be somewhat consistent with what happened to bars 38-49).

Honestly this section sounded really bad when I came back to it, I'm not sure what I was doing when I arranged it. I moved some stuff around and hopefully it's a bit better.

-In bar 54 there is a slightly odd choice of harmony.  I think it might make more sense to have an A and an E underneath the RH, rather than the B-> C#.  It would probably also be easier to play if they weren't in the ostinato rhythm, but were just held instead (the left hand will be doing that rhythm anyway).

Because I ended up moving the G from the LH to the RH the ostinato rhythm is still there, but I took it out of the part with the run and omitted the B and the C# entirely. The E is now covered by the LH instead.

-I hear the chords changing more often in bars 55+.  I think it goes something like G -> A -> D -> Bm7 -> Em7 -> A -> Bm7 (those are the first four bars).
-Again, the left hand gets kind of heavy in this section (whereas the original still sounds pretty light throughout).  I would avoid writing in any of these low triads and instead focus on just the bass notes or maybe also the fifth.  You can fill out the harmony in the right hand and it will still sound light.

Yeah you're probably right, I usually have trouble with chords. The low triads did sound muddy so I tried to move the harmony notes to the RH and leave only the roots and 5ths in the LH.

-The melody gets kind of obscured in this section, particularly in bar 62-63, and I think it might be better to just keep the melody on top there.  I think it will be a little easier to follow aurally, anyway.

Moved the accompaniment below the melody, seems to work ok.

-I think it might be a better idea to use three 3 bar systems rather than a 5 bar system since you have the space to do that without going to an extra page.  (To be honest I think it would be better even if it meant you had to go to an extra page).  This applies to 21-29, and 46-54.

Done.

Thanks so much for the feedback, it's really helpful. I definitely see why this piece is so difficult now, and perhaps a little bit above my skill level. I should be able to answer quicker than I did this time at least

EDIT: Since I changed so much, here's a link to the old .musx file for posterity.

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Arrangement Contests / Re: Arrangement Contest No. 10 in A-flat Aeolian "Relaxing music to empty your head"

« on: July 04, 2022, 06:56:55 PM »

I’d also like to participate in this.

4

Project Archive / Re: Code_Name_Geek's Space Travel Project Sheets

« on: May 08, 2022, 01:54:02 AM »

Star Forneus
-m8 and 12: I don't hear the two 16th notes at the end of the R.H. in the original.
-For the whole of Main Theme, the R.H. should be an octave lower.
-For the whole of Boss Theme, the R.H. should actually be an octave higher :p Also, you could technically make this a 4-bar loop instead of an 8-bar loop, as m21-24 are the same as m17-20 anyway.

-Oh yeah, you're totally right. Fixed!
-Done.
-Also done, including making it a 4-bar loop.

Rocket Launch (Ending)
Yeah, not much to say here. I think the title is fine, though maybe simply "Ending" would make more sense, since that is what it's usually just called.

Decided to go with "Ending (Rocket)" since there is also an alternate ending with dancers that you get for clearing the highest level of the B mode (iirc), so it's less of a mouthful but still distinguishes between the two.

Thanks to both of you for the feedback!

5

Project Archive / Re: Code_Name_Geek's Space Travel Project Sheets

« on: May 04, 2022, 09:15:08 PM »

• For Boss Battle, I'm not hearing the grace notes in m17/19/21/23.

Ah yeah, I think I was confusing the fade-in attacks for pitch bends in those measures. Fixed!

• Maybe include the start jingle at the very beginning, since that's pitched unlike the other sound effects. This would match some of our other arcade-style soundtrack sheets like Dig-Dug, Galaga, etc. Up to you though.

The reason I left this out is the start-up jingle isn't actually in the game itself, only on the OST version. It also wasn't added to any of the other arcade-style tracks on the OST, only this one (I think since it's first in the track order so it was kind of introducing all of them?). So I thought it would be more consistent with the other tracks from this game to leave it out. But I can add it in if needed, just thought I'd explain my reasoning on that one.

I also added some articulations in the LH in the first loop to capture the bouncy feel of the bassline a bit better.

Thanks for taking a look!

6

Piano Arrangements / Re: Code_Name_Geek's Arrangements (NEW: Tetris, Persona 5, & Harvest Moon 2 GBC)

« on: April 29, 2022, 11:02:25 PM »

These are my two sheets for the Space Travel project, as well as one unrelated arrangement I finished up today.


Tetris (GB) - Rocket Launch (Ending)
[MUSX] [MUS] [PDF] [MIDI]

Super short track that plays during the rocket launch cutscenes that occur after scoring a high enough score.

Persona 5 - Star Forneus
[MUSX] [MUS] [PDF] [MIDI]

This track is from one of the retro-styled minigames that can be played on the console in the protagonist's bedroom, in this case some kind of spaceship shooter. Each of these minigames has its own unique chiptune theme, which is a really nice touch.

Harvest Moon 2 GBC - Winter
[MUSX] [MUS] [PDF] [MIDI]

This is an arrangement that's been in the works for a long time, but I was having a lot of trouble hearing the middle channel and ended up shelving it for a while. Thanks to Atcero's lovely tutorial on channel splitting, I was now able to finish it! My previous arrangement for this game listed the composer as Tsuyoshi Tanaka, but after more research I'm still unable to confirm this - which is odd since he was clearly credited for the previous games in the series. I'm not sure if I want to continue crediting him and potentially spread false information, so I haven't put a composer for this one yet.

7

Help Guides / Re: Guide to Foobar2000

« on: April 24, 2022, 08:23:44 PM »

Thank you for this tutorial!! I was aware of Foobar2000 but hadn’t gone through the process of figuring it out yet, and this made it so easy.

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Project Archive / Code_Name_Geek's Space Travel Project Sheets

« on: April 24, 2022, 07:17:28 PM »

Tetris (GB) - Rocket Launch (Ending)
[MUSX]

Super short track to start. This plays during the rocket launch cutscenes that occur after scoring a high enough score. There doesn't seem to be an official title for this track so I'm open to feedback or suggestions on that.

Persona 5 - Star Forneus
[MUSX]

This track is from one of the retro-styled minigames that can be played on the console in the protagonist's bedroom, in this case some kind of spaceship shooter.

A few things about this one arrangement-wise:
-There are three sections of this track - an opening jingle, and two looped sections that play for the two parts of the game. They aren't looped on the OST but I referenced this video to determine the loop points.
-There are some extra sound effects in the OST version that were either gameplay sound effects or didn't exist at all in the actual game, so I chose to omit those.
-I also simplified the bassline in the first loop due to the fast repeated notes.

9

Submissions / Re: [MOB] Fire Emblem Heroes - "Climb the Sky" by Code_Name_Geek

« on: February 16, 2022, 08:42:06 PM »

Yeah I slowed down m17 on my end and I wasn't hearing a repeat of the pitch.  I still hear the A in that phrase hold on for a tiny bit longer than the previous note, more like this:

Spoiler

[close]

Ah yeah, I had considered tying it before too, so I'm ok changing it to that.

-The spacing of m10 is a little off with the second layer, perhaps make it a bit like this:

Spoiler

[close]

Man Finale really likes changing my spacing back every time I edit measures, fixed lol.

-m59-60 RH hearing this a little more prominently in m59, but not hearing m60 the same way

Spoiler

[close]

Revenge of the 5ths. Fixed.

[/spoiler]-m63, while the E is the most prominent, I hear a D on top instead of an E because that prominent E is technically the one on the bottom of this cluster.  Beat 2.0 of m64 I actually hear as a C# rather than a D, with an A underneath it

Oh yeah, that makes sense. Now I'm wondering if the lead-up in the measure before should be different as well, but I can't quite tell...

Got the other few things as well. Thanks again!

10

Submissions / Re: [MOB] Fire Emblem Heroes - "Climb the Sky" by Code_Name_Geek

« on: February 16, 2022, 08:16:28 AM »

Take this with a grain of salt, but I think you want to keep this keyless.  F# G C B seems to be the note progression of the dominant string part in the opening four bars... to me it seems like keeping it keyless is the best way to accommodate the chords but I will not pretend to be an expert on music theory at all lol.

Yeah I was wondering if that might not be the best option... still open to hearing feedback on this but I'll keep it keyless for now.

-m10 the ascending 16th line I hear is C-D-E-F up to G rather than F-G-A-Bb to C

Gosh darn fifths get me every time lol. In retrospect, I did know the second one was higher and still somehow missed that. *facepalm*

-The rhythm that starts at m17... I'm not really hearing a 16th note repeating the note falling on beat 1.66 (the A eighth note).  To me it sounds more like either a 16th rest pause or that the D should be a quarter note.  This feedback applies for all other instances of the rhythm

To be honest it sounds like it's rearticulated to me, but both the family members I asked agreed that it wasn't so I think my ears are playing tricks on me. I am pretty confident the first note is a dotted eighth, though, it matches the previous rhythm from m. 5-12 (but legato this time). Hopefully what I have works better then.

Everything else I took your suggestions as well. Thanks so much for taking a look!!

11

Submissions / Re: [MOB] Fire Emblem Heroes - "Climb the Sky" by Code_Name_Geek

« on: February 13, 2022, 10:24:17 PM »

Some notes:
-There are a few chords in the left hand that I'm not sure about, especially around m. 17-20/42-45 and 25-29/50-54
-I haven't put a key signature yet since I'm not sure what to use, I thought maybe D minor but there's some parts that appear to be in D major?

12

Piano Arrangements / Re: Code_Name_Geek's Arrangements (NEW: Fire Emblem Heroes)

« on: February 11, 2022, 03:02:45 AM »

Two arrangements from some of my childhood games today!


Pinball Fantasies - Party Land: Intro
[MUSX] [MUS] [PDF] [MIDI]

I used to play this game all the time with my brother, each of us controlling one side of the flippers. This was our favourite table from the game. There are a few tracks in the linked video; this arrangement is the first one. It plays before starting a game, aka the music that would play while the table was idle if it were a real pinball table. (The original panning of the Amiga sound channels is preserved in the video below, check out this one for an equalized version if preferred.)

Snowboard Kids - Rookie Mountain/Ninja Land
[MUSX] [MUS] [PDF] [MIDI]

This is yet another game that I played with my siblings when we were young. The soundtrack for this game has always stuck with me, with its soaring melodies over driving rhythmic accompaniment. This track in particular is one of my favourites, and I actually started it all the way back when I was still going to school in person (which feels like forever ago now).

13

Piano Arrangements / Re: Code_Name_Geek's Arrangements (NEW: Fire Emblem Heroes)

« on: February 09, 2022, 01:16:13 AM »

Fire Emblem Heroes - Climb the Sky
[MUSX] [MUS] [PDF] [MIDI]

First arrangement of 2022! I fell back into Fire Emblem Heroes for the 5th anniversary event (five years, wow!) and remembered how much I love this theme. It was pretty challenging to arrange, but I'm happy with how it turned out. There are a few chords in the left hand that I'm not sure about, though, especially around m. 17-20/42-45 and 25-29/50-54. I also wasn't sure what key signature to use so if anyone figures that out feel free to let me know.

14

Submission Archive / Re: [SNES] Harvest Moon - "Star Night Festival" by Code_Name_Geek

« on: January 15, 2022, 09:41:43 PM »

Quoting from Gould's Behind Bars: "It is acceptable for the dotted note to share a notehead with a note without a dot as long as the rhythm of both parts is absolutely clear." That's pretty much the case here, so it should be fine!

That's good to know, thank you!

I don't have all that much to add either, just one very small thing: in m8 and 10, I don't hear the bottom layer being lifted on beat 4 (where the 8th rest is). Maybe you could tie this note to this beat? It's not a big deal either way, just something I noticed :p

Makes sense, done.

15

Submission Archive / Re: [SNES] Harvest Moon - "Star Night Festival" by Code_Name_Geek

« on: January 14, 2022, 03:40:44 AM »

I'm not sure, though I think it is perhaps a little confusing at the moment.  You could make it clearer by writing in an eighth note on beat 4 that the layer 1 half can be tied to (like in bars 25).  I don't really hear a noticeable lift on beat 4 anyway, so I think it won't affect how it reflects the original.

Yeah, I thought it was confusing too. I'm good with this solution, at least it's consistent throughout the passage. Files have been updated!