Arranging Music [Audio]
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.ค. 2023
- The Smash Bros. series features an incredible array of arrangements from other games' soundtracks. Today, I'll explain some of the things we had to keep in mind while arranging tracks.
Each song needs to be identifiable, yet have its own appeal as well. - เกม
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It must be a great honor for Junichi Nakatsuru (Smash Ultimate's Sound Director) to be the only person with nostrils in Sakurai-San's cartoon world
XD Truly so
they're extra ears
SoulCalibur!
Looked him up, expected him to have a massive schnoz but his nose looks unremarkable.
🤩THE Nakatsuru of Soul Calibur fame!?
I never noticed how well the intro of Full Steam Ahead matches with the countdown, even though it's one of my favorite remixes.
Same.
as a musician who wants to compose for games after college, its really rare to find any resources on arrangement, and trust me ive looked! thanks Sakurai and team for making this!
as a game design student who composed for my own games it's also a great resource ! and yeah I've also looked at how to arrange x and y and tips for making game music and it's really rare and tough to find anything useful.
The wealth of knowledge Sakurai has, even if it must feel like simple advice to him, is endlessly valuable. There's a reason every other platform fighter just can't compete with smash
Check in with your jazz department if you have one!
Given just how many fan arrangements the Touhou games have, I feel like there's got to be a guide on arranging somewhere, but it's probably in Japanese.
At the very least, I feel each arrangement have a clear formula to them. There's many arrangements where they almost just change up the instruments and call it a day, that's usually pretty boring.
There's arrangements that just try to improve the quality to the current day's standards. I find them to often be hit-or-miss since sometimes they fail to reproduce a particular sound that makes the song feel special (particularly with 8-bit and 16-bit musics). Smash Bros musics are usually pretty good at doing these.
There's arrangements that aim to completely change the mood/genre, they're often used within a same video game nowadays and are super awesome when nailed correctly. These are commonly known as leitmotif, and a prime example would be the main theme of Smash Ultimate that got like 30 different arrangements to fit different situations (menu screen, game over screen, battle theme, etc.)
There's arrangements that try to mix up multiple musics together. One type are Medleys where they just stick multiple songs next to each other. There's a few of them in Smash bros, but I'm personally not too much a fan of these. Some other try to really blend them together in a way that seems seamless, and the less you feel the songs as separate, the more awesome these remixes are. One such way is like Sakurai said in the video, blending in a different song for a moment can feel like a guitar solo if done correctly.
And then, sometimes I do find arrangements that are sooo different you can't even tell what they used from the original song. Strangely enough, I find that most of these are amongst the best songs within the Touhou remixes, probably because these are done by composers that aren't afraid to step outside of boundaries. But then you also lose all the "nostalgia" factor.
Well, the main question is: What do you want to arrange this piece for? That might help narrow things down a bit.
I totally feel him on the disappointment angle, I don't mind too much when they change the tempo or genre entirely, but when it's like 5 seconds of barely-recognizable melody and then 2 minutes of basically original music it's like, why even bother
Luckily that situation hasn't applied to any Smash songs I've heard
I appreciate how Sakurai insists on maintaining the core identity of an original piece when arranging it. I don’t usually care for arrangements that go way off the rails.
Midna's Lament remix, FFVII theme.
@@yannatoko9898 I'm gonna go ahead and save myself the heartbreak and not look those up ;>.>
Except for Stickerbrush Symphony.
Obviously.
A while ago I was listening to some fan remixes of games I like, and lots of them where awesome, but with a lot of them I had to check the name of the video multiple times and pay extra attention to the music in order to see where was the original song.
Agreed. Some things should be left well enough as they are.
I'm reminded of an interview with Grant Kirkhope back when Banjo-Kazooie was revealed for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and he talked about getting e-mails from Nintendo and Sakurai about the song he was arranging, Spiral Mountain. Weird thing was, Nintendo gave him instructions that were basically the opposite of what Sakurai was looking for, at least that's how he described it, but he definitely didn't mind, he'd be more than glad to do whatever Sakurai asked of him.
That is one of the many reasons why I admire Sakurai. He truly knows the craft and his humble personality must be a joy to work with.
Well Said, Also Cool Rocket Racoon Pic
In the Super Smash Bros Brawl soundtrack, I remember Motoi Sakuraba's arrangements a lot. (Airship, Jungle Level Ver 2, Mario Tennis/Mario Golf, Battle Scene / Final Boss (Golden Sun)
They had a very distinct shared style.
i feel you but, ngl i hate the Parasite Queen arrangement he made
That's Tales STYLE for You.
Sakuraba has a style that lets you know it's his music.
Yoko Shimomura as well. Her Treasure Trove Cove remix sounds like it came right out of Destiny Islands from the first Kingdom Hearts.
@Segtend0 I 100% agree! First thing I said when I heard it for the first time
Yeah he’s sick. He also arranged one of the brawl main themes if I’m not mistaken (the epic choir one). He’s really great. Also in the Dark Souls games.
One of my favorite parts of Smash Ultimate was listening to all the great remixes of the music. I always love hearing about the process of making music, considering I do that myself.
Good music in a fighting game is really important. Playing Marvel Infinite, then modding out the standard music with UMvC3's soundtrack is a world of difference. It actually makes the game more fun and motivates you to keep playing, even if you're not sitting back and focusing on the music. I cannot express how much of a difference a good song can make to the game
I can't believe how just pointing out the need for a little introduction for the pre-battle countdown made me realize how many of my favorite songs have one incorporated. Light Plane, Corneria (now Star Fox Medley)... even the unremixed songs use this same method. Either I'm really dumb, or this was so well implemented that it just seemed like something you wouldn't notice regardless.
The music in each new Smash Bros game is almost as exciting to me as who the new characters are! I remember when Terry came out and I basically used my Switch as a music player for a while. It's really cool to have a little more insight to how it's made. My favorite track from last time was the F-Zero Medley by Takenobu Mitsuyoshi. I can't help but love his energy in every song he sings, so I hope he comes back to Smash again.
I think it's great that Sakurai lets each composer choose what they feel like arranging (it's the reason we got Jun Senoue remixing a Mega Man track in Sonic's style, for example), but that might also be the reason why we have like 10 versions of DK Island Swing instead of more varied sources. I guess a bit of nudging doesn't hurt and it's probably what Sakurai did with newer series, which have a more streamlined music line-up in Ultimate.
The problem with tracks like the DK Island Swing is that it feels like they make a new remix every game, and then they build up. Other songs like the Mario Ground theme have this problem too
@@ballisticboo7808 yeah, Donkey Kong has some of the most beloved music of any game, and yet they gave us the exact same song umpteen times.
I could think of so many tracks that would fit in Smash perfectly; Scorch 'n Torch, Melancholy Mining, Irate Eight, Lockjaw's Saga, Sawmill Thrill, Cranky's Shop, and Volcano Dome just to name a few.
@@ballisticboo7808
I really feel that with Lost In Thoughts All Alone, three versions of the same song from one game.
It's a good song but Fire Emblem Fates has loads of other great music it could contribute to Smash, I could imagine some epic renditions of Alight, Dark Fall, Road Taken and more.
Man, Brawl's Final Destination is such a masterpiece of music and design.
I'm really blown over by how much of Sakurai's personal passion and knowledge of games goes into Smash Bros. It's become a celebration of the whole industry, and the ways it represents earlier titles in long-running franchises helps validate the games that their creators may have distanced themselves from. As a big Metal Gear fan, I was thrilled to hear new arrangements of tracks from the MSX2 games, even though Kojima and Konami don't seem to reflect on those titles as much.
Smash Bros is much bigger than a fighting game. It's the history of videogames being put into the spotlight and celebrated through the medium of a fun, exciting, accessible game.
The music in Smash is one of the most consistently good elements, it’s mind boggling to think you had a hand in supervising each and every track.
I note that the game style arrangement (intro > main > divergence > main > outro) is also the way it's done in these TH-cam videos! Nice work!
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
I love how people compose music for games!!
I thought I recognized a pattern when a lot of the songs in Ultimate were 2-3 minutes! Nice to see behind the scenes the reasoning behind that!
Yasushi Asada is my favorite arranger in smash.
I feel like he is one of the best for utilizing combination of orchestras and rocks.
And his arrangement of Divine Bloodlines is my all-time favorite. That song alone what made me a Richter main.
He also did remix for Harmony of Despair version which is also fantastic.
Divine Bloodlines has to be one of my favs from SSBU as well. The guitar performance in there is soooo nutty!
I just want to say thanks for incorporating music from lesser known titles like Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. It's nice to hear some great music that I would not have heard otherwise.
That game's soundtrack was absolutely bananas. They did NOT have to create 3 separate versions of every battle theme with metal, dubstep, and genres I couldn't even name, but they went HARD 🔥🔥
I am currently doing a Music Course in College, and needed this video! Thanks, Masahiro Sakurai!
I don’t know how much music I’ll end up writing when I go fulltime, but I’m glad I have enough musical experience to express my ideas to other composers.
Also, it’d be so fascinating to see the list of all the candidates for Smash arrangements. Would be really cool to see some Dark Matter Saga or Return Era Kirby games get some Smash-styled remixes…
I’m currently studying to be a composer in college, and I’m hoping to compose for video games at some point in my life. Thanks for these arrangement tips, Sakurai-san!
Frankly, the two/two-and-a-half-minute length guideline ends up feeling a little restrictive on the soundtrack, you know? While most matches will only last a few minutes, some music tracks could still benefit from more freedom in their construction to bring in variety, be they shorter looping pieces or longer epics. In Smash 4's development, some of the pre-existing tracks were even re-edited to fit these length guidelines, usually to the track's detriment, like DK Rap losing entire sections.
For a related anecdote, Guilty Gear Strive's character themes often don't get past the intro by the time matches in that game are over, but I wouldn't have things any other way. I'm glad those tracks exist as they are and are as ambitious as they are.
As an arranger myself I have to agree with him here. I started arranging because I felt like there were too many arrangements which went way off the rails, and lost the identity of the piece they work from. It's a lot of fun when everything comes together and you feel like you've delivered something familiar yet unique.
I'm a sucker for listening to different arrangements of familiar songs. It's also interesting hearing how they'd sound with 8-bit or 16-bit soundfonts.
“The tempo and energy have to be suitable for a competitive game.”
Environmental Noises: exists
The Roost
Electro plankton
@@ac.j5800 Art Lesson
Another fantastic video from Sakurai! I love Smash Bros. music and listen to it almost daily, so I appreciate this deep dive. And Sakurai stated that he usually picks out WAY MORE songs to consider than actually remixed, that tells me that if there is another Smash game, there will be no shortage of music remixes in it.
The Super Smash Bros. series is filled to the brim with amazing rearrangements, so it's always nice to take a look behind the scenes and see how they came to be.
Also, I had never known that about the Full Steam Ahead rearrangement until now. Guess I just didn't notice or something.
As a composer/arranger myself, I wholeheartedly agree with your way of handling music in your games
Smash bros Remixes and MK8 music gotta be the craziest music nintendo be making
My personal favorite arrangements are from Rio Hamamoto (megaman 2 medley, gerudo valley)
He’s just so raw and he’s originally a tekken guy
Interesting to hear that mistranscription is a common problem with Smash arrangers. I've wondered for years if they're allowed access to reference material like MIDI data, score sheets, and stems, but I imagine the difficulty of providing such material would become heightened with the inclusion of music from third-party publishers.
I always wondered what Sakurai's process and methodology for picking possible music tracks for Smash Bros. Really insightful!
From time spent listening to remakes and remixes, I think it's easier to maintain a song's identity going up-tempo than down-tempo. Sometimes a chill/lofi or quirky remix introduces elements that, while it keeps the remix from being too plain, interfere with the core melody.
Though wow, I wouldn't have thought Sakurai went to the original composers for new arrangements. That's an impressive amount of pull and dedication.
Thanks for all the amazing musicians and Sakurai himself for keeping the integrity of the melodies used for Smash songs. Every Smash game delivers with the high amount of banger tracks in them.
Kind of wondered how some of the tracks were chosen. Probably wouldn't have guessed that the composers chose from a list, which might explain some of the odder picks. Love the Mega Man Starforce theme, but never would have guessed it'd make it in.
His explanation of the role of his sound director and himself was actually pretty cool! He provides feedback because he knows what he may like or might be liked in music, but the sound director is like a translator, helping to bridge the mindset of the game designer and the musicians.
I still remember when I found out Tsukasa Masuko did some arranging for Smash. He is one of my favorite composers, and all of the songs he worked on turned out so well.
I'm real curious how Michiko Naruke wound up with the Zelda medley in Smash Bros. Brawl. It's not a pairing I would have thought of, but it works SO well.
The arrangement of Treasure Cove from the game Banjo Kazooie (Grant Kirkhope) by Yoko Shimomura is so good. 😁
Smash is a big reason why I became an enthusiastic about video game music.
The process of organizing Smash's countless arrangements had been a burning question of mine for a while, thanks for giving the insight!
so amazing, sakurai! thanks for all the dedication!
This was something I was interested in knowing about. The cool thing about this is that you have composers who've never worked on certain franchises before getting the chance to add their twist to a song from any series represented in Smash. I bet literally every composer was clamouring for a piece of Mega Man and Castlevania.
Music in videogames are really important things for me, when there is a good music in video game the whole game would be good, definitivy in Super Mario Galaxy games have awesome soundtracks. 🔥🔥
When a new Smash Bros. drops, I always am excited to see what songs are remixed. I know characters and stages are the main focus, but there are a ton of fantastic songs out there that deserve love in Smash.
A perfect video as always. I'm working on creating a stage musical, so I try and use a similar process when talking to my composer. Since we're creating original compositions, I try and give examples of a few similar songs to emphasize the tone we're going for. I'm also very happy to hear that Sakurai-San has bought so many Game Soundtrack CDs; when I was a little boy I was obsessed with finding any I could get my hands on.
I absolutely love how Smash celebrates video game music. It's wonderful how we have so many options for music alone in these games. I wish other franchises would follow suit like KOF XV's DJ Station.
Darn, I was hoping to hear him say something about the music that gets used in these videos!
I hope for whenever there's a new Smash or an update of a previous Smash that Arata Iiyoshi can be invited back to contribute again (and maybe some Pokemon Mystery Dungeon music can be added as bonus Pokemon music).
Another thing to remember is that the skillset for arranging music is slightly different to the skillset of composing music. When arranging music, you have the artists original vision for the song and have to figure out how to contrast and compliment it. When you're composing for a studio, you still have to work for another artist's vision, but you're entirely responsible for figuring out how it translates into sound. You're the sound equivalent of a level designer or a set designer.
The advice in the video wouldn't have been that useful 15 years ago, but now game remakes are becoming more common, so knowledge of how to arrange old game music is becoming something the whole industry should learn.
As much as I love the varied gameplay and the character speculation, the music of Smash is right up there too as my favorite aspects of the franchise. Thank you for making the series even more special to fans of ALL nintendo/video games!
1:35 And this is the reason music like Pollyanna, the DK Rap, and Id (Purpose) have been shortened in recent Smash games.
Meanwhile, One Winged Angel from FFVIIAC is 6 minutes long
my faves are the Mega Man 2 arrangements. Wily Stage 1, Woodman are incredible. The Earthbound ones are great too.
Nice! >:]
I imagine the music process for, say, Mario Kart 8 was similar? After all, each course can be completed in about X to Z amount of time so (1) the song needs an ability to loop but (2) you should be able to hear most of it before you reach final lap when (3) the music changes to its "final lap" reprise, which itself you should be able to hear most of before crossing the finish line.
Definitely my favorite video so far. What can I say? I really love music.
I look at the deviation as "adding a rock solo" to the classic tracks; especially noticable in 16-bit or previous generations, since many of those had loopbacks of only 40 seconds or so.
Now... choosing songs to feature in medleys?! That's a challenge. For medley tracks, I generally find that a timer battle instead of stock battle works good...
Maybe it's not common, but I like the idea of having a 3-to-5-minute beatdown with scorekeeping so there's always some tension about the score, and keeping it hidden!
3DS Smash Run was also *fantastic* for showcasing the music, too!
I like so much of the arrangements of Megaman music. The Ultimate ones in specific are so good, sell the feels of each stage, and brings tunes of their respectives games mixed so well, the megaman 3 and 5, which i didn't played, but hearing the remixes and search about the original music makes feel of these games have the best soundtrack of the franchise, and the smash team makes more awesome.
My favorite is Darkman stage (Mega Man 3)
If an future smash game happens could an remix of title theme of Mega Man 5 be there too?
…do you mean Shadow Man from Megaman 3 or Dark Man from Megaman 5
@@rdxdd
I hear the both games so much that i confused myself, is dark man from 5.
So much themes in it and looks like 1 song entirely, for me is one of the best songs of smash Ultimate.
One of my favorite gaming soundtracks of all time is Symphony of the Night's because it never limited itself to only arranging songs around setting or atmosphere, despite the fact the game had an additional challenge of making its single environment (technically 2 counting the Inverted Castle) look so varied and colorful. In the same game where you have tracks that merely convey the feeling of traversing the environment like the Dracula's Castle theme or Dance in Gold, you get head bangers like Lost Paintings and The Tragic Prince, and Michiru Yamane somehow made it all work. It's truly masterful
symphony's OST is awesome. I slightly prefer Aria/Dawn over SotN myself, but Aria/Dawn borrow a lot from SotN/classicvania.
Another incredible video, keep it up Mr. Sakurai!
This explains why Brinstar, Crimean Army Sortie, and Super Sonic Racing had pieces cut in order to fit the loop.
Learning how to steal like an artist is the most vital part of creation
It speaks volumes to me that they’d even bother doing a brand new arrangement for something as old and -obscure- atypical as Mario Paint. Ultimate’s celebration of video game history is not merely surface level!
Mario Pain ain't obscure, the heck are you talking about.
@@roskiart8750 Only speaking from my own experience. I learned about Mario DDR, Hotel Mario, and Mario Teaches Typing long before Mario Paint! In any case, I'm glad it got a sick arrangement.
@@matthewjones6786 Well, it's just your story is the inverse of most of the general public. Mario Paint sold by the millions unlike any of the games you listed.
@@roskiart8750 Huh, you're right! As an artist, I do love that an art game got so much attention.
interesting to hear about the sound composition process
Wow. These are some super super helpful pieces of information!
Shogo Sakai does many great arrangements!
Kirby's and Mother 3 Composer.
So does the ACE Duo from Xenoblade...
-Fortress Boss (Super Mario World)
-Gang-Plank Galleon (Donkey Kong Country)
-Beneath the Mask (Persona 5)
-Spark Man (Mega Man)
-Halland / Dalarna (Minecraft)
I don't know how intentional this was, but the editing from 1:31 - 1:38 made for an incredible rearrangement of the main theme's opening.
Early for Masahiro Sakurai video is a great thing.
The Smash Bros OST remix that stuck the most in my mind was Gerudo Valley on the Smash Bros. 4 3DS.
I've listened to countless remixes, covers, retakes of the Gerudo Valley track that spawned all over the Internet, but while they all add their own twists and takes, the SMash 4 version is the only one that truly feels as a true remake, an enhanced version that still gives the same feels as the original one, while adding more instruments and detailed sounds
I’m still a bit bummed there was no Minecraft music disc medley, I think they could of done a great job remixing those songs
Amazing that Sakurai is also good at audio like this
Smash bros is one of the greatest game series musically and one of my personal favorites to listen to. With that in mind, I was disappointed with most of the new remixes in ultimate. I felt that for the most part they did not live up to the arrangements in previous titles, to the point that I wondered if there was any oversight into them at all, or if the arrangers were simply allowed to send in whatever they wanted. After watching this video I can see that's not the case, so I wonder what the cause is.
CRAZY how many songs there are in Ultimate!
Imagine being Grant Kirkhope (the only person outside of japan to arrange music for Smash Ulitmate)
You forgot Toby but Grant Kirkhope was the first...I wonder if he can do an arrangement of Clotho from Columns.
Wait, didn't David Wise compose the Spiral Mountain remix?
(Unless I'm misinformed.)
Fascinating! 👍
I love you sakurai you are an inspiration
Sakurai was probably the one who asked Takenobu Mitsuyoshi to do an F-ZERO medley, since Mitsuyoshi did such a good job on the Daytona USA soundtrack, and they're both racing games.
The point on timing with the looped main theme played partially through at 2:30 seems basic in retrospect but it’s so smart - it definitely feels like Smash music fits fighting games a lot as a result.
I’ve played Guilty Gear Strive a good amount, and while I actually really enjoy its OST in contrast to a lot of its other players, it’s very clear Daisuke - a seasoned FG developer AND composer - didn’t consider this aforementioned point when composing, which is definitely to the game’s detriment when most themes aren’t even halfway finished before a game is over.
Sakurai is both a gamer and a Game developer, truly a God sent
3:27 Agreed. I hate the remixes that completely bury the melody in the new stuff.
I really really really love this. 🔥🔥❤❤
I'm so touched that they put a Spirit Tracks level in Smash and used the theme here as example... often I feel like I'm the only person that played that game 😆
I hope he someday goes over his compression technologies. We need to know how he compressed all that audio to fit on a 16GB Switch cartridge. I even heard a rumor that if the game was uncompressed, its file size would balloon upwards of 60GBs or something!
So in a nutshell, fit within the game but keep it faithful
I think it would be really neat to show a compilation of songs and how they came about from the originals.
This will help me out in the future
Thank you! :D
It's crazy to me that Sakurai listens to ALL the music. Like, he's got enough to do as director, that just adds soooooo much to his plate!
Capcom should have watched this video before they ruined street fighter 6 ost.
3:18 this is so true. Sakurai based.
As much as I respect the work that many people put into big arrangements (specially those with well known orchestras), the majority of them always felt weak to me. They usually don't have them same feel as the original pieces and rather they're it's own thing.
I love that Sakurai has criteria for these things, cause music is essential in Smash as a celebration of videogames history.
I can almost guarantee you Sakurai wanted to sing the praises of Shogo Sakai, Jun Ishikawa, and Ace+ amongst some of the other greats
I love the effort put in the arrangements of key themes for Smash Bros. However, if there's one arrangement that left me dissapointed because the song loss it's strenght is with Xenoblade 2's Counterattack. The original track is already perfect.
I love this channel!
I love arranging music!
The last moment where game songs are changed.. I FEEL THAT! Don't get me wrong.. sometimes it's great.. but some arrangements or changes just make the song feel not like the song.
Heck remakes lately been rearranging songs and make the more powerful instruments LESS powerful or change it with a different instrument.
it's why some remakes of games I feel like the changes to the music were bad and others were good.
Cool video. But I really want to hear the stories of creation of Super Smash themes as every entry has its own melody. What makes the decision against Sakurai advice to keep the melody the same.
Please talk more about the music process. I'd love to know how the composers work their magic, the deeper the insight the better!
knowing this info, it figures all the ones Yoko Shimomura did were certified bangers.