~Hakurei Shrine~ > Alice's Art Atelier
[Music] Touhou music arranged by Z.A.
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Z_A:
Hello to all who came across this thread! I'll probably be posting some of my arrangements here. Here goes...

https://soundcloud.com/user-595154314/headless-hunter

[old info]This one has a rather long history, being the first real Touhou arrangement that I made. I just happened to notice how two compositions had the same tempo and started thinking of a way to fuse them together. It finally turned out like this, combining the heavily modified guitars, both rhythm and solo, and drums (also re-worked) from one composition, and the bass/lead lines from ZUN's Dullahan under the Willows, and some parts of it also got transferred to the rhythm guitar line. The strings are mine though, probably the only part of this composition not borrowed from elsewhere. While keeping that in mind, I tried to make my further arrangements more "personal", so that I could truly call them my own - this one is actually more of a remix thing than a real arrange, even though it was translated from the midi that I made, not using the sounds from the original tracks like it's usually done with remixes.

This arrange is the most ZUN-ish among the, admittedly, scarce amount of my works so far. It even loops like any Touhou composition would. Listen till the middle, if you like - the second half is the same.  And, well, no fade-out, no nothing. Ah, this post is getting way too long. Anyway, what I wanted to say is that this piece was probably just a training of sorts for me, before I'm ready to make real music and my own great compositions and arrangements. I just don't like the idea of making something half-heartedly, even if it's just for training, so I did my best (I have slightly more experience now than I had back then and I still think it's okay). The last thing that I changed in this composition before posting it here, after getting helpful recommendations from Mea and Waluigi, was the soundfont used to render the midi. With the default Windows soundfont it sounded, well, not exactly bad, at least to me, just somehow cheap. I can't really put that feeling in words. The soundfont used this time is Arachno SoundFont, and I am not ashamed to show it to people anymore ^^ so, please, listen and comment on what you heard. I would especially appreciate some detailed criticism, so that I knew where to improve. I'll post my other works too, as soon as I'm done with finalizing them - changing the sound, like I did with this one.[/old info]

The updated description here.

Remastered version:
https://soundcloud.com/user-595154314/headless-hunter-remastered


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https://soundcloud.com/user-595154314/yy-the-chosen-one

The really long explanation goes down below. Read it if you like, also, please listen and comment.

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https://soundcloud.com/user-595154314/chaos-dial

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https://soundcloud.com/user-595154314/hardcore-youkai-shoujo

Another piece with some magnificent description attached, which you can read below.

Remastered version:
https://soundcloud.com/user-595154314/hardcore-youkai-shoujo-remastered

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https://soundcloud.com/user-595154314/flower-land-of-the-past-present-and-future

Let's rock! Also, the story, as usual.

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https://soundcloud.com/user-595154314/end-of-daylight

An arrangement... eh, I don't even know what this style is called, do you? And the various issues with it.

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https://soundcloud.com/user-595154314/dreams-and-phantasms

Some more ska, and a bit of story.

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https://soundcloud.com/user-595154314/pristine-lead

You're here to listen, not to read, right? Or are you?

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https://soundcloud.com/user-595154314/catadioptric-starbow-garland

Christmas carol, ZUN's + Z_A's version! Story below.

And a new version of it:
https://soundcloud.com/user-595154314/catadioptric-starbow-garland-ver2019
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https://soundcloud.com/user-595154314/kaikidan-a-dream-unforgotten

An almost-metal arrangement with some story.
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https://soundcloud.com/user-595154314/magical-catastrophe-shikigami

An actual metal arrangement with hella lot of reading.
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https://soundcloud.com/user-595154314/a-distorted-mind

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https://soundcloud.com/user-595154314/dream-material

lol I forgot to update the post last time. Anyway, this time - a punk arrangement with a little story, unlike it occurs with these things usually.
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https://soundcloud.com/user-595154314/blizzard-rider

Mid-winter fun! Letty, Mixolydian, hi-hat ruined by SoundCloud - it's all there.
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Non-Touhou:
https://soundcloud.com/user-595154314/the-final-page
GenericArrangements:
dangit it's your first one and it's already so much better than my mixing

I like this. Just a thing or two though:
 - Your mixing of drums is... interesting. Snares, hi-hats, crash cymbals, etc. are generally equal in reverb (just spread out), while kicks are very dry (toms are also dry, but not to that extent). You have the crash fairly close, but the snare is hidden too far into the background. The bass drum's reverb is alright, but some prefer a bit more impact (I personally don't mind). For a rock/techno song like this, drums should be vital.
 - The piano was a little bit jarring when it first soloed (there's a sudden change from thick texture to thin texture). I'd suggest having the piano play incredibly quietly a few moments before, with a slight build-up. Possibly also increase the volume in other parts during that solo only slightly.

Nothing much else. Me like.
Z_A:
Oh boy, my English was so bad there =_= so sorry about that, I just got tired after a long day. I hope it's at least comprehensible.

--- Quote from: GenericArrangements on June 23, 2017, 07:05:40 AM ---dangit it's your first one and it's already so much better than my mixing

I like this. Just a thing or two though:
 - Your mixing of drums is... interesting. Snares, hi-hats, crash cymbals, etc. are generally equal in reverb (just spread out), while kicks are very dry (toms are also dry, but not to that extent). You have the crash fairly close, but the snare is hidden too far into the background. The bass drum's reverb is alright, but some prefer a bit more impact (I personally don't mind). For a rock/techno song like this, drums should be vital.
 - The piano was a little bit jarring when it first soloed (there's a sudden change from thick texture to thin texture). I'd suggest having the piano play incredibly quietly a few moments before, with a slight build-up. Possibly also increase the volume in other parts during that solo only slightly.

Nothing much else. Me like.

--- End quote ---
You probably don't need to worry about that at all, my arrangement is fairly complex, but on the other hand you are able to makes yours daily, while mine usually take me half a year or so. Talk about efficiency.

-As for the drums, in this situation I do rely a lot on the soundfont. I felt the drums were a bit fake in some aspects, after I changed it, but I wasn't sure how I should go about it. Or even whether this was possibly the right sound that I just hadn't been used to. I'll try to pay more attention next time, so thank you!
-That's a break, not a solo ^^ at least that's what I intended it to be. I noticed that too: the piano just rings much more than it should, an undesired effect from the soundfont change as well. I don't even know the proper name for that sort of sound - feedback or sustain or... Well, it's not even a bad thing, it just doesn't exactly fit this composition. So, the problem lies deeper than just the volume adjustment. I did try to fix it somehow, but failed. Next time I'll really use a DAW and hopefully I'll be able to solve problems of this kind.

Thanks for listening and for the explanation! I'm really glad you liked it.
GenericArrangements:

--- Quote from: Z_A on June 23, 2017, 09:01:16 AM ----That's a break, not a solo ^^ at least that's what I intended it to be.
--- End quote ---
oops


--- Quote from: Z_A on June 23, 2017, 09:01:16 AM ---I noticed that too: the piano just rings much more than it should, an undesired effect from the soundfont change as well. I don't even know the proper name for that sort of sound - feedback or sustain or...
--- End quote ---
Yes, that echo is caused by the sample itself. I know Arachno's Grand Piano soundfont is very echo-y, which is why I prefer to use Timbres of Heaven's piano.


--- Quote from: Z_A on June 23, 2017, 09:01:16 AM ---Thanks for listening and for the explanation! I'm really glad you liked it.
--- End quote ---
No problem!
Z_A:
I just wanted to post it sooo much, I had to finish it in a hurry... No, really, in my case that's considered "in a hurry" indeed ^^

https://soundcloud.com/user-595154314/yy-the-chosen-one

The story behind this arrangement is not as long as the first one's, but it's somewhat more exciting and eventful (the "events" being mostly various fails on my part). To begin with, I accidentally came across this Akiyama Uni's tune: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H9QvWA8JgY, and I was like "waitwhat, touhou and ska are compatible!.." I had really liked ska music for quite a long time, but for the last several years I almost completely forgot about that. This song reminded me of it, and naturally affected my decision to make a ska arrangement. Choosing the composition to base upon was a captivating process in itself, considering the VERY specific requirements of the ska genre. Well, what came out isn't an authentic ska tune, since, uh, the accordion is most certainly not a traditional instrument in ska music. Neither is the Akiyama's theme really, but close enough. I was somewhat inspired by the aforementioned piece, although only the last part sounds quite close to Akiyama's style, the rest of the composition much less so. As for the accordion... I have to admit, it's devastatingly hard to make a ska song without vocals; it's basically required, and the singing parts usually have only the guitar, bass and drums playing - totally non-melodical instruments in ska genre, and that doesn't work for Touhou at all. I supposed having just a single instrument play the main line all along was really boring, hence this form of alternation.

The parts of the original composition were rearranged, loosely based upon the other version of Necrofantasia from Magical Astronomy, which I like much more. Compared to the original song, the parts order follows like this: 2-3-4-1-2-3-4-5 (fading out). I just don't like the 5th part, it's too simple, so I chose to leave it for the fade-out on purpose, and ironically, the way I arranged it really made it resemble Akiyama Uni's style the most. The 2nd part was the intro in the Magical Astronomy version, so here I had it play first. All in all, I tried to follow the general ska guidelines as much as I could, I even did a bit of a research to avoid the largest portion of fail, and this composition probably ended up much less complex than the first one. It should be noted, however, that I did have not one, but two pieces available to base the first composition upon, also, in this case I only used the main melody from Necrofantasia, and added the rest (drums, guitar, etc) as I saw fit, thus pursuing my goal to make a more "personal" arrangement, as I had said before. Hope you like it, and please tell me if not, whether entirely, or just certain parts: I really strive to improve my skills, and your feedback is essential for that.
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