Topic: Castlevania-ish music

[G-Han]

I've probably heard more time in listening to Yamane than the amount of days I'm old, so it's easy to copy hear musical style for me now. Today, I wanted to create an example to show it's plain easy to create a Castlevania-ish song, I've spend less than an hour on it, so it's not very profound.

http://guanvanzoggel.googlepages.com/Improvania.mp3

[uzo]

I guess its easy since you just ripped out the notes of an existing Castlevania song, and put them to a stale repetitive beat.

Good job newfag; proving you're no where near the talent of Yamane.

[A n t r a x x]

I kinda like it, but this is far from being original with the tune. You copied Michiru up and down.

I hear "Forest of Jigramunt" and "The Pinnacle" all over that piece, among other famous CV songs. How can you go claiming it's easy to create a CV song and then proceed to come up with nothing original yourself. Of course it's gonna sound like CV if you just copy it anyway.

Also, where are the hi-hats and cymbals. It's a very empty sounding piece. It's not bad, but it certainly isn't Yamane-quality. Maybe you should finish it and repost.

I can write a better tune than this, an original one, but getting all the parts to sound right together is the hard part. And Michiru is VERY good at both; especially in the console games.

Don't go criticizing someone else's work if you can't do any better. Michiru's songs are more complex than you think. Although there are times when she slouches. Por was kinda evidence of that.

[Long John Silver]

reply to #3

i hear some of dos clocktower and aos corridor in it rather than those two you mentioned.

[A n t r a x x]

In Reply To #4

Actually yeah, I meant Cursed Clocktower; not Pinnacle. I still stand by Jigramunt (or Gaze Up at the Darkness, if you will).

Jigramunt starts at 0:48 and fades back to Curse Clocktower at 1:00

[G-Han]

The Clocktower, too? I know I used The Forest of Jigramunt and a bit of the Corridor theme, but there are no clocktower influences as far as I know (only the instrument might resemble). And this wasn't an attack at Yamane('s style) or something, just to show that this is one of her typical ways of composing. For example, the bass I used in this song can also be heard in Crucifix Held Close, Corridor, possibly Clocktower, Gaze up at the darkness for example. Also, the reason why I created this improvisation was when I heard the Monastery song from Order of Ecclessia: it, too, contains that same bass.

Anyway, my point is: I don't want to criticize Yamane (hell no, I'm actually looking forward to see her again this year), but the has this typical pattern she often uses.

[fallenangel86]

well, i'm not really a video game/even castlevania music geek, but i did start looking stuff up when i came across the awesome rendition of bloody tears from the "dracula battle perfect selection" track, while looking for some iron maiden.

that said, i'm somewhat of a bass player myself, never professionally, just playing around when i feel like it. from what i've learned and what i know, bass playing was never meant to be what les claypool(primus) or victor wooten make it. just like drumming was never meant to be what john bonham(led zeppelin) makes it. both instruments were designed soley for keeping the beat of a song, but of course someone will come along that practices the heck out of it, and makes better than average use of it.

so try to understand, simply for the sake of keeping a beat, a re-usable bassline, and even a 1 note bassline, either making a galloping type sound, like iron maiden often makes use of, or hitting the note and letting it ring for 4 seconds before hitting it again, is perfectly acceptable.

[A n t r a x x]

And it's not just Yamane... it's kind of the videogame sound beat. Lotsa oldschool tunes use this.

[CVfan13]

In Reply To #5

I actually hear all of those tunes you two mentioned, as well as Gaze up at the Darkness. It's not bad, actually.

[darkmelee]

http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/160951

maybe something more along these lines, then?  some elaboration is really what's missing from your track. i know you said you only took an hour, but maybe you should try and take... 2 hours.

this only took me about 2-3 hours with some after-fixes.