I have an ongoing series of works where I take video games and put my own music to it as a way of flexing the composition muscles and to see what I could bring to the table. It can be tough; I tend to really enjoy the games that I pick to rescore and the composers who have scored them originally are superb! In this series, I try to bring a unique spin to the game and try something different than the original offered without being influenced by the original (as much as I can).

Super Mario Sunshine

It’s finally here!

This rescoring was a very special one, because it was done with live performers in front of an audience (inspired by Austin Wintory’s Journey Live). I had the very special help of Jennifer Webbert (vibraphone), Arman Bahraini (electric bass), Elizabeth Kania (flugelhorn), and Zachary Gartrell (video game) to help me perform this live, and it was killer! This was actually the last piece of my senior recital at Virginia Tech and was what helped me graduate in composition.

The piece features an eclectic mix of instruments to help demonstrate the exotic nature of the scenes and game. The bass part was originally written for cello, but after not finding a cello player and seeing how willing Arman Bahraini was to learn, I decided to get him on board and he did a fantastic job, learning all of the parts by ear. Elizabeth Kania is always great to work with and is a considerable trumpet player, and Jennifer Webbert is a spot-on percussionist. Zachary Gartrell, friend and fellow magician, did a fantastic job of playing the game more cinematically to allow for the music to have greater impact.

Super Mario Sunshine Rescored was meant to be a more encompassing experiment in game audio, as it not only includes music, but also some sound effects performed live. For instance, when talking to Piantas in the game, I choose certain performers to play the speaking sound in a very Banjo-kazooie-like way. Afterwards, the musicians have to find where they are in the music and continue, which is no small feat. Also, I experiment with a rainmaker to mimic the sounds of water, all to immerse the audience into the game.

I love Super Mario Sunshine’s soundtrack. It is perfect and fits the theme of the game in a way that is extremely memorable. I did not want to copy the original composer, so I decided make the music into something that was groovy and light, very similar to bossa-nova, but still retain a slight aura of mystery and something not being quite right. The first scene (the beach) has a toe-tapping, light-hearted melody that is sprinkled ever so slightly with mystery. Once Mario goes into the hotel, Jennifer transitions with vibraphone and the music changes to something that is more relaxing, but also creepier. Ghosts have flooded the hotel and it is up to Mario to find the hidden shine sprite inside. I use chromatic sections to emphasize ghosts, while keeping the melody of a pop/jazz/bossa song. I think the music gets close to muzak, which is perfect for a hotel, but still has sections that are interesting to listen to. Choosing to use a trio also helped create a more intimate atmosphere for the game and really makes it have a feeling of being at a tropical resort.

Overall, this came out super nicely and I am super fortunate for being able to work with fantastic performers. Doing a Video Game Rescored live was a great experience and I would absolutely love to do more of these, even with the challenges of keeping everyone together and in time with each other. The result is an experience that is completely immersive and helps elevate the experience of a great childhood video game.

Kirby’s Return to Dreamland

I took the themes from the first level of the game and tried to do something a bit different than was originally scored. My first goal was to make the scenes fun, bouncy, and childish. Then, I needed to make the all of the music crossfadeable at any time, so the music can transition seamlessly. I decided to make the grass and cave theme of the level based off of the same musical material to ease transitions. The formal structures of the two are roughly the same, but inspired by different kinds of music. The grass theme includes piano solos, rock and roll drums, and toy inspired instruments like flute, toy piano, and bassoon.

For the cave theme of the level, I wanted to create a subterranean sound. I included vibraphone, electric bass, horns, and pitch-shifted drums to create a deep and rumbly hip-hop groove, still using the same theme from the grass section, but in a minor key. The reverb is also amped-up to give a cave aesthetic presentation. I want the player to hear the grass portions of the grass theme, but skewed by the cave’s viewpoint.

For the last section of the level, Kirby gets the Ultra Sword ability which turns him into an unstoppable destruction machine. For this, the music should be abrupt, and turn off the atmosphere of the previous scenes. I wanted to make the player feel like they have complete power and control, so metal-inspired jazz was the best option. I use double bass drums, distorted bass guitar, Hammond organ, and horns. The scene concludes with Kirby and friends transitioning into a portal, concluding the scene that I scored for.

Gears of War

This re-scoring was definitely a fun one! I took a scene from one of my favorite late childhood games (I guess this is a child-friendly game, right?) and put my own epic strings and brass arrangement to it. I wanted to make the scene as intense as I could, so naturally baroque-inspired counterpoint is the way to go. I made two themes, one for the Cogs (the heroes) and one for the Locusts (the enemies) and wove them together in counterpoint to create the music. I must say after the fact, using stock sounds for the score doesn’t sound super great, but the musical material is there! Maybe one day I will revisit this and put better sounds in place when I can afford quality sounding instrument patches, or record an acoustic version.

Super Metroid

Super Metroid Rescored was my attempt to do something dark, mysterious, and badass! I decided that I wanted to create a feeling of loneliness in a way that is polished, electronic, and original. My compositional process for it was to incorporate Schoenberg’s twelve tone system to form the melody and harmony, while using some experimental sounds for the timbres. Some sounds that I used included filtered white noise (to create a sense of pitch), looped small chopped samples to create a totally different sound, and heavily portamento-infused monophonic synthesizers with a phat drum machine background. The results were definitely interesting, and at times scary, but the twelve tone system worked to form unity with the composition. That Schoenberg knew what he was doing! Try not to get the melody stuck in your head!

 

Metal Gear Solid 3

With Metal Gear Solid 3, I wanted to do scoring that was more specific; I wanted the music to reflect what was going on screen at exact moments. Although I scored this to a linear playthrough, it would not be impossible to add something like this to the actual game, as long as one had enough cues created to play at certain moments in the music. When writing this, I had to compete with the original composers of the game who did a phenomenal job on the soundtrack. I took this more as an exercise in scoring to specific video actions, and what better scene to do this than the epic battle with the Boss herself!

I wanted to convey beauty with the Boss, as she is very much represented with the flowers on screen during the battle, so I used a piano part to do this with the signature guitar sounds from the 1960s. I had some help with this one: the guitarist is my friend and colleague Daniel Ezra who had not picked up guitar in quite a while when recording this. I wrote the part out, notated it, and got Ezra in a recording booth. I recorded him with a line-in after trying out some mic techniques and ultimately deciding that the pickup on his acoustic-electric guitar was probably the best option, even though it did not sound terribly great. Then, I cleaned up the recording and applied my own chosen guitar effects and amp modeling to get the clean distorted sound that I wanted.

This project, although maybe not fitting for the ultimate boss of Metal Gear Solid 3, was a great exercise in matching what was happening on screen and I feel like it could be dropped into a game.