Fruitcake MIDI Forum Treasury

[Dr Fruitcake]

If I were asked to assign today's update some sort of unifying theme, it would be "remixing things in the style of... other things." Astonishing eloquence aside... I've got no fewer than three pieces for you!

Two of the three are Videogame Remixes. The first is entitled "Donut Lifts (Super Smash Bros. Brawl Stage)"; its material is taken primarily from Yoshi's Island and remixed in such a way that it might fit into the aforementioned upcoming fighting game. The second is "Kirby in Glitter Gulch"; it's the theme from Banjo-Tooie's Glitter Gulch Mine level, remixed in the style of a Kirby game.

The third piece is an Original Composition -- although it would be more accurate to categorize it as an Original Remix. It goes by the name of "Althea's Theme (DDR Mix)", and... well, the title is pretty much self-explanatory.

Enjoy, if you're so inclined!
_________________
""

[Damian]

Aaaand listening. Donut Lifts is absolutely awesome so far! I love that melody. It seems a bit heavy to actually be something in Brawl, but I see where the idea came from--it's quite a nice standalone remix anyway.

Moving on: Glitter Glutch Kirby? Haha wow... this is awesome XD Send me the kirby soundfont please! And perhaps let me know which ones are prominent to the game itself. ...And yeah, seriously, that was the most awesome thing evar. Thank you for making my day.

Now then... DDR Mix! I can't say I remember the original tune, but meh. So far this sounds like Rainbow Road. But now it got a little heavier and does sound dance-ish. Sweet. Yep, that was pretty good too. Nice to see your awesome style back in place again
_________________
when the world is sick, can't no one be well? but i dreamt we was all beautiful and strong
-
listen to my music!
-
facebook | twitter | last.fm | youtube

[Upsilon]

[Conian]

Donut Lifts is really awesome, although I can't help feeling you went a little overboard on the reverb. The percussion could have done with some more volume as well. I completely love that ukelele-ish thing (around 2.30 it's the main instrument. Is that the same thing with those vibratos at 0.55? Because that one sounds great, too!) you've got playing there. It's nothing less than awesome. Ahh, the accordion from "Crazy Accordion" makes yet another appearance. Is it me, or is it panning around again? Nevertheless, I love that sound! (It's actually the only accordion I can stand) Hmm, that twanger thing... it sounds great as well, what did you use for that? Great banjo, too. But whoa... where did you find those violins? *low bitrate sample'd* I'll try and dig something up for you, because these are almost as bad as the ones you used before these. All in all, this song is AWESOME (it just stopped playing), though it's a bit too much for Brawl, like Damian already said.

Right, Glitter Gulch Mine... Now THAT song brings back some memories of my time trying to fit in with the OC Remix community... As proven by this... Whoa, it really fits to the Kirby style! Those instruments! Awesome! What soundfonts did you use?! ... Okay... WTF is

[Shadow Blade]

About the Donut Lifts thing, I just thought of somthing. This might get some dumb replys, but here it goes: Have you ever though of, maby sending this to Sakurai for him to use it in Brawl? I dunno. It sounds pretty good, and it does sound like it would be used in Brawl. So whatever.
_________________
http://gadgettr.deviantart.com/

[Damian]

In short: No.
_________________
when the world is sick, can't no one be well? but i dreamt we was all beautiful and strong
-
listen to my music!
-
facebook | twitter | last.fm | youtube

[Sammich Ultima]

hahahahah

[Shadow Blade]

Oh well. It was just a suggestion. It would still be cood to see somthing that Dr. Fruitcake made to be in one of the most anticipated games of the time.
_________________
http://gadgettr.deviantart.com/

[Damian]

And equally impossible.
_________________
when the world is sick, can't no one be well? but i dreamt we was all beautiful and strong
-
listen to my music!
-
facebook | twitter | last.fm | youtube

[Dr Fruitcake]

Um, yeah.

I appreciate your enthusiasm, S'lade, but realistically speaking: I've only barely begun to make a name for myself, much less THAT big of a name. First things first, eh wot? I need to work on making my way into the professional field long before I start worrying about sharing credits space with the likes of those hotshots.
_________________
""

[chzrm3]

Mm, it's not what you know, it's who you know. If Fruitcake was Sakurai's son or something, you can bet your ass his music would be popping up in smash brothers, kirby, etc. I mean, look at the theme for brawl, that little opera deal. It's really not that great. I mean, I've never bothered to listen to it outside of the trailers, whereas with Melee's theme there's tons of remixes and variants of it that are awesome. Still, the guy that made that theme is probably some widely respected guy who was approached and asked "CAN U MAEKS THeME?"

Plus there's tons of elitism in the vidyagaems industry, loads of networking, etc... imagine if Sakurai pushed even ~one~ song from a composer he's utilized for years aside to make room for Fruity?

Newai hawt songs, kokori forest is the shiz.
_________________
[quote="Someone's sig on the AoC forums"]THis game really is more geared towards the adult then, teenbeat wow. This mmo makes u think, somthing a teenager hates to do. -Skopas, eloquently discussing how grown up AoC is.

No read comprehension is not your strong point so I'll you a picture for you. -ubeenhad, just before he a picture for me[/quote]

[quote="Wormy"]I wish I could supply, as everyone else as, good news regarding my love life but sadly not as I am currently shagging a fat girl until I find someone better. [/quote]

[Conian]

[The Dragon]

As simple as it may sound to just use community/small-name composers who may be just as good or better for a purpose, the biggest issue is a legal one.

I was thinking about this last night. Say you're running a game development company and you're looking for materials for your game. Such as textures, models, music, code, etc. Why pay a studio when you could just hire or buy off the internet?

The problem with that is the source. If you got a "freebie" or "fan compositions" and decide to put those into your game, you may suddenly get a lawsuit on your hands because the person who submitted it to you sold you someone else's work, and the person you paid is long gone. The upshot is that to avoid problems in the future, pay someone with a weighted name or have someone on staff.

[Damian]

Haha Chzrm, you're talking about the biggest of the bigwigs in the video game music area.

But really, they hired tons of composers for Brawl to do various remixes--primarily, though not entirely, the original composers for respective series that are represented in the game. Some aren't at all, though, and are just well known composers.

Even if it sounds pretty good, as Kevin's music does, they aren't going to use it, and it would probably be dismissed if he were to make a futile effort at getting it in there. It... just doesn't work that way at all. It's kind of a naive notion.
_________________
when the world is sick, can't no one be well? but i dreamt we was all beautiful and strong
-
listen to my music!
-
facebook | twitter | last.fm | youtube

[Shadow Blade]

Ok whatever. But some day, Dr Fruitcake.....some day...
_________________
http://gadgettr.deviantart.com/

[Sammich Ultima]

[The Dragon]

It's not simpler, it's additive.

They don't go to them just for this or just for that, it's all these things.
_________________
Some things are best read out of context.

[Sammich Ultima]

i can promise you they wouldn't pick up composers just breaking into the industry even if legal issues weren't present.

[The Dragon]

Major PC game companies still hire "no-name" studios to do sound and music related compositions. Of course no one will hire someone just getting into the industry, but that's more a matter of skill. Someone who's just starting may not even know what they're doing yet.

But when you get down to hiring someone to do a task, the issue of legal responsibility is the biggest one. If someone found out Uematsu didn't do any of his own work, Square would be in a world of hurt. After all, buying music is cheaper than waging a legal war over credit, and it's always the people in the middle that get hit the hardest.

I've worked with a development team that was very close to their fanbase. However close they got though, they were not willing to share their content and get assistance in developing new content from anyone that wasn't specifically on their payroll. I remember asking them why I couldn't help them with coding their game, and their biggest fear was legal ownership.

As an example, Microsoft has been hammered on for the possibility that they used code licensed under the GPL in Microsoft products. This would be a big deal to MS as they would legally be required to release the source code of any product that uses that code, no matter how small. And anyone that understands Microsoft's fiscal engine should realize that their profits are based largely on keeping the source code tightly wrapped under lock and key.

Suffice to say, even if (literally) everyone knows a composer and there was any question of legal ownership of the composer's creations, there is no way in hell they would be hired. A successful development or publishing team would be the first juicy target. Lawsuits are a scary, scary thing.

[Sammich Ultima]

of course not all composers can be famous, so major PC companies will hire composers that aren't household names (i mean that's obvious really, it's just a livelihood for many...), but you can bet they won't just hire someone with no previous experience/projects under their belt. it doesn't happen. not if it's a "major PC company" anyway. small-time independant film and game makers will though (which usually consist of three people and their dog.) which is where most new composers start! they get those sorts of projects on their resume first.

also, they had better hope they know what they're doing, because composing for films/tv/games is very competitive; you have little chance if you haven't got your head around the basics of delivering professional quality audio/music. that stuff is best learned before going professional. you're insane to take on a project, then say "oh crap, how do i composed?!" most composers breaking into the industry have a sufficient knack for the skills they need though - enough to get them hired for stuff. what they often lack is imagination

legal stuff is important, of course they're not going to hire a known plagiarist (if there is such a thing in the professional world...) thing is, companies have to consider legal issues with any composer they hire. they are usually protected against that sort of shit, and are generally speaking not hyperactively suspicious of composers they hire. it isn't in a composer's interest to plagiarise anyway, if they're trying to get their feet off the ground. usually when composers are hired they get fairly-to-VERY bespoke musical demands, so i imagine FINDING the right stuff to plagiarise would be hard anyway.

i can quote you some interactions i've had with some professional composers if needed - they largely echo what i've said about companies primarily hiring based on name/reputation and experience, rather than talent and especially not due to qualifications.

[Sam]

[The Dragon]

Pretty much. It was developed by students under a different guise at a school for developing computer games. Valve liked what they did, and who could blame them?

Valve was pretty no-name when they started too, I might add. They got lucky with their first release which is not something everyone can say.