Octopath Traveler II Main Theme Big Band Jazz Version (insaneintherainmusic) @insaneintherainmusic

insaneintherainmusic Purchase Octopath Traveler II: bit.ly/InsaneinTheRain_OctopathTravelerII

This video is sponsored by Square Enix.

It’s been a while since I’ve made a video game cover on this channel, huh? Well, when Square Enix reached out to me and asked if I was interested in doing a cover of the Main Theme from Octopath Traveler II, I said “uh, yes!” The original Octopath Traveler is one of my greatest inspirations for JRPG-style video game music. The score feels so much like classic RPGs, but realized with modern recording technology and live players. Of course, the game is great too! I knew that a piece this complex and layered would need a large ensemble to capture all the layers, so I decided to write out this arrangement for big band! The first half of this arrangement feels like a more modern big band arrangement that has a bit of influence of orchestral music, but by the time we get to the second half, the swing kicks in, and it feels like a good ol’ burnin’ big band chart! I had a lot of fun recording all the horns for this project! I’ve been spending quite a bit of time working on my brass playing since choosing to stop making YouTube videos regularly, and I think it shows in this video! Thanks so much to my good friend @Dom Palombi for joining me on this recording and providing some drums to round out the ensemble!

Drumset - @DomPalombiMusic

♫ “Main Theme” from Octopath Traveler II composed by Yasunori Nishiki

SOCIAL MEDIA:

Twitter • • • twitter.com/insanerainmusic
Instagram • • • instagram.com/insaneintherainmusic
Patreon • • • http://bit.ly/supportinsane
Discord Server • • • discord.gg/Ju97889

updated 1 year ago

Octopath Traveler II Main Theme Big Band Jazz Version (insaneintherainmusic)

insaneintherainmusic 2023-02-28 | Purchase Octopath Traveler II: bit.ly/InsaneinTheRain_OctopathTravelerII

This video is sponsored by Square Enix.

It’s been a while since I’ve made a video game cover on this channel, huh? Well, when Square Enix reached out to me and asked if I was interested in doing a cover of the Main Theme from Octopath Traveler II, I said “uh, yes!” The original Octopath Traveler is one of my greatest inspirations for JRPG-style video game music. The score feels so much like classic RPGs, but realized with modern recording technology and live players. Of course, the game is great too! I knew that a piece this complex and layered would need a large ensemble to capture all the layers, so I decided to write out this arrangement for big band! The first half of this arrangement feels like a more modern big band arrangement that has a bit of influence of orchestral music, but by the time we get to the second half, the swing kicks in, and it feels like a good ol’ burnin’ big band chart! I had a lot of fun recording all the horns for this project! I’ve been spending quite a bit of time working on my brass playing since choosing to stop making YouTube videos regularly, and I think it shows in this video! Thanks so much to my good friend @Dom Palombi for joining me on this recording and providing some drums to round out the ensemble!

Drumset - @DomPalombiMusic

♫ “Main Theme” from Octopath Traveler II composed by Yasunori Nishiki

SOCIAL MEDIA:

Twitter • • • twitter.com/insanerainmusic
Instagram • • • instagram.com/insaneintherainmusic
Patreon • • • http://bit.ly/supportinsane
Discord Server • • • discord.gg/Ju97889

Ever just want to blast some bari sax while thinking about a mole who is mad at you for not saving?

insaneintherainmusic 2024-10-19 | ...

Mr. Resetti (Animal Crossing) Cover

insaneintherainmusic 2024-10-17 | Sometimes you wake up one day and just want to blast some low A's on bari sax while thinking about a mole who is really mad at you for not saving your progress... so that's why I made this video :) This is just a fun one-off, hope you all are doing well!

♫ "Mr. Resetti" from "Animal Crossing" composed by Kazumi Totaka*

*Assuming Totaka-san wrote it, can't find definitive proof!

A swanky swing tenor sax feature for the Veteran Cat in Little Kitty Big City!

insaneintherainmusic 2024-06-13 | Little Kitty Big City on Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/1177980/Little_Kitty_Big_City
Little Kitty Big City Soundtrack on Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/2912860/Little_Kitty_Big_City_Soundtrack
Little Kitty Big City Soundtrack on streaming platforms: https://album.link/us/i/1738342035

A flute theme from Little Kitty Big City! This song was also in a Nintendo Indie World Showcase 🤯

insaneintherainmusic 2024-06-12 | Timestamped link to the Nintendo Indie World showcase in case anyone wants to see it! youtube.com/live/lTjjKC9gHPM?si=CIsowcdETA-07NYl&t=86

Little Kitty Big City on Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/1177980/Little_Kitty_Big_City
Little Kitty Big City Soundtrack on Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/2912860/Little_Kitty_Big_City_Soundtrack
Little Kitty Big City Soundtrack on streaming platforms: https://album.link/us/i/1738342035

I recorded tenor sax and flute on the Little Kitty Big City soundtrack! 🐈‍⬛

insaneintherainmusic 2024-06-11 | Playing music for video game soundtracks has always been a dream of mine, and I'm really grateful for every opportunity I get to do so! :D

Little Kitty Big City on Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/1177980/Little_Kitty_Big_City
Little Kitty Big City Soundtrack on Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/2912860/Little_Kitty_Big_City_Soundtrack
Little Kitty Big City Soundtrack on streaming platforms: https://album.link/us/i/1738342035

My sax solo moment in the Attorney of the Arcane soundtrack! 🎷

insaneintherainmusic 2024-06-10 | Attorney of the Arcane on Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/1590230/Tyrion_Cuthbert_Attorney_of_the_Arcane
Attorney of the Arcane Soundtrack on Bandcamp: insaneintherainmusic.bandcamp.com/album/tyrion-cuthbert-attorney-of-the-arcane-original-soundtrack
Attorney of the Arcane Soundtrack on Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/2487580/Tyrion_Cuthbert_Attorney_of_the_Arcane_Soundtrack
Attorney of the Arcane OST on streaming platforms: https://album.link/us/i/1694059891

Jazz Breaker (from Infinite Guitars OST) Composed by insaneintherainmusic

insaneintherainmusic 2024-06-08 | I wrote this funky battle theme for the game Infinite Guitars... and filled the melody with a LOT of notes!

Infinite Guitars on Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/1309080/INFINITE_GUITARS
Infinite Guitars Soundtrack on Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/2237680/Infinite_Guitars_Soundtrack
Infinite Guitars Soundtrack on Music Platforms: https://album.link/us/i/1725824190

So happy to have a new video again for you all! Since choosing to step away from YouTube at the beginning of 2022, I’ve been primarily focusing on creating my own music for video games (which has been going fantastically!). It’s been a couple of years since then, and while I have projects going on that I can’t share yet due to non-disclosure agreements, I DO have some game music projects that have been already released to the public. In an effort to make my channel a more up-to-date portfolio of my music and to keep all of you in the loop, I’m going to be uploading performance videos of some songs that I’ve composed or worked on for games that have already been released. Since I don’t tend to set up my filming gear while I’m actively working on composing a song, these videos will feature performance footage that’s recorded separately from the audio (sometimes quite separately, this song was recorded in 2022!), but I think the video will still be an accurate depiction of what’s going on in the audio. I’ll also be including some screen recordings of various VST plugins that I use in my music. While I do have experience playing instruments like bass and drums live, in some cases, a plugin just sounds better for the musical purpose I’m trying to achieve, so I’m including footage of them in these videos! Please look forward to more!

Writing this song for Infinite Guitars was really fun! This track was actually one of the first ever songs I composed for a game from the ground up! I knew this track was going to be used as a battle theme, and in Infinite Guitars, the battle system combines RPG turn-based combat with rhythm-game style input challenges. Because of that, I wanted to be a bit fiendish and try and write a melody that has a LOT of notes to make the rhythm game portion a bit more difficult for the player (and more fun for me to perform haha!)

This track also had a few implementation constraints related to how the battle music functions in-game! Because there’s a timed rhythm game portion that synchronizes with the background music, the game has to be able to loop the song but also keep track of what is currently being played to the player, so it can present the proper rhythm game challenge after the player picks their move. This meant that the song needed to be composed in distinct sections with distinct melodies, and the melodies needed to be able to be separated into short chunks, which would function as the rhythm game challenges. You can see how some of this works in-game in the gameplay footage I included in the video. It’s a really innovative concept, and I’d like to see it used more!

Hope you enjoyed this return to making videos on here! I have more songs I'd like to showcase from games I've worked on, so please stay tuned for those!

♫ "Jazz Breaker" from "Infinite Guitars" composed by Carlos Eiene

LINKS:
❤️ Support my music on Patreon • • • http://bit.ly/supportinsane
🎷 insaneintherainmusic Signature SYOS Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece • • • syos.co/en/artists/carlos-eiene
(I am playing a SYOS Alto mouthpiece in the video - there is not currently a signature model for sale!)

SOCIAL MEDIA:
🐦 Twitter • • • twitter.com/insanerainmusic
📷 Instagram • • • instagram.com/insaneintherainmusic
❤️ Patreon • • • http://bit.ly/supportinsane
💬 Discord Server • • • discord.gg/Ju97889

Im going to be uploading some new performance videos + shorts!

insaneintherainmusic 2024-06-07 | Please look forward to new performance videos and shorts soon!

Playing the Lake theme from Pokémon at the real-life version of Lake Verity (Lake Toya in Hokkaido!)

insaneintherainmusic 2024-06-02 | ...

Surge of Power (Megaman Battle Network 6) Saxapella - insaneintherainmusic

insaneintherainmusic 2023-11-21 | Jack in, Saxman, execute!

Well, this is something new for the channel! Since returning to creating YouTube videos, I've been at work on some big projects that are going to take a long time to complete. While working on those projects, though, I got the itch to make something a bit more simple that I could produce myself... and that's where the idea of a saxapella came in! Despite becoming interested in many different instruments over the years, saxophone is still my primary instrument, and it's the instrument I feel the most comfortable expressing myself on. I thought it'd be fun to make a video where I only use saxophone to see how much I can get out of the saxophone family. I've done this once before with my arrangement of "Mario Raceway", but there were drums in that video, and I didn't own an alto or soprano saxophone, so I was a bit limited in what I could do.

When I was picking a song for this, this song immediately jumped to mind! I am a huge fan of the music from the Megaman Battle Network series, since after playing a ton of Pokémon as a kid, I ended up sinking my time into Battle Network because I just couldn't get enough of that kind of RPG. BN6 is my favorite Battle Network game, and it comes with an absolutely incredible boss battle theme that never fails to get me hyped when I hear it. I've considered arranging this for a while, but the arpeggios and technicality necessarily to pull off this arrangement definitely intimidated me and made me question what kind of ensemble this could be arranged for. With the saxapella, though, it actually worked super well. Though it forced me to play an altissimo G on soprano sax (yuck!) this arrangement actually translated really well to saxophones! I had a lot of fun practicing to get the fast arpeggios in this theme down best I could.

Hope you enjoy! I don't expect this kind of video to become the primary content of the channel anytime soon, but I figured this would be a fun experiment :)

♫ "Surge of Power" from "Megaman Battle Network 6" composed by Yoshino Aoki

Gameplay footage by ethan0248910 (youtube.com/watch?v=Ll3QIdV2cdM)

🎼 Sheet Music of this arrangement • • • bit.ly/3R9Fqhu

LINKS:
❤️ Support my music on Patreon • • • http://bit.ly/supportinsane
🎷 insaneintherainmusic Signature SYOS Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece • • • syos.co/en/artists/carlos-eiene

SOCIAL MEDIA:
🐦 Twitter • • • twitter.com/insanerainmusic
📷 Instagram • • • instagram.com/insaneintherainmusic
❤️ Patreon • • • http://bit.ly/supportinsane
💬 Discord Server • • • discord.gg/Ju97889

Luigis Mansion Theme Duet with my Dog

insaneintherainmusic 2023-10-31 | ...

Ripped a sax solo over a track by @DaanDemmers. for the upcoming game Breeze in the Clouds! 🎷

insaneintherainmusic 2023-10-30 | I LOVE getting to add solos / horns / other live instruments to tracks like these! Not enough sax solos in game music LOL. The other horns in this little clip are me too!

Check out the game on Steam! store.steampowered.com/app/1823210/Breeze_in_the_Clouds

DK Island Swing / Jungle Hijinx (from Donkey Kong Country) One-Man Jazz Big Band

insaneintherainmusic 2023-10-13 | Benny Goodman and Donkey Kong are both the Kings of Swing!

🎵 Stream / Download this Song • • • https://song.link/us/i/1711649579
🎼 Sheet Music • • • bit.ly/48SCYmb
❤️ Support my music on Patreon • • • http://bit.ly/supportinsane
🎷 insaneintherainmusic Signature SYOS Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece • • • syos.co/en/artists/carlos-eiene

It feels incredible to be back here on YouTube posting a new arrangement after all this time! I've already said a lot in my comeback announcement video, so I'll keep this description section just about this particular arrangement, haha!

DK Island Swing is a song that I've wanted to arrange for so long, but always felt too intimidated to take on the challenge! I did reference it in my 3-part Jazz Video Game Medley series, but I've never arranged it as a standalone piece. With the title of the song and the iconic drumbeat intro, this song obviously references the famous jazz tune "Sing, Sing, Sing". Hearing this, I thought to myself "well, what if DK Island Swing was actually recorded by a big band?" I wanted to take on that challenge for a while, but there were a couple of problems: One, I didn't have the brass instruments in my arsenal that I would have wanted to use to perform this with the ensemble I wanted to and Two, the song is a bit short!

Since I'm originally a saxophone player, learning to play brass has certainly been a challenge for me. I started dabbling in trumpet in 2019 (I think?) and honestly it took me quite a while to start sounding halfway decent on the instrument. Fast forward a couple of years, and now I think my trumpet playing is sounding decent! I've also been working on trombone to round out the big band brass section, and ALSO a tiny bit of tuba (this video is my YouTube tuba debut!). Brass has been challenging - I'm very happy with my improvement but I'm definitely not fluent on those instruments. Kind of feels like learning a new language, haha!

Regarding the shortness of the original DK Island Swing track, that was always a unique feature of the original song that I found particularly interesting. The original track has a fairly long intro, a somewhat short swing section, and then a slower middle section before looping. I really wanted to emphasize that swing section in my arrangement, while also making sure to include the slower middle section (which sometimes gets left out in other arrangements of this song.) To help out with this, I decided to include some melodic material from "Jungle Japes", which is an arrangement of DK Island Swing by Grant Kirkhope that appears in DK64! It's really funny that you can tell _exactly_ which part of the song is Kirkhope's part because it's written in his signature style, but I think that helps round out the arrangement quite a bit, haha.

This video was a ton of fun (and effort!) to put together - feels good to be back, and I hope you enjoy!

♫ "DK Island Swing" from "Donkey Kong Country" composed by David Wise
♫ "Jungle Japes" from "Donkey Kong 64" composed by Grant Kirkhope

SOCIAL MEDIA:
🐦 Twitter • • • twitter.com/insanerainmusic
📘 Facebook • • • facebook.com/Insaneintherainmusic
📷 Instagram • • • instagram.com/insaneintherainmusic
❤️ Patreon • • • http://bit.ly/supportinsane
⚙️ Gear • • • amazon.com/shop/insaneintherainmusic
💬 Discord Server • • • discord.gg/Ju97889

Student vs. Professional Alto Sax

insaneintherainmusic 2023-08-26 | ...

Played my first gig in Japan at a VGM Jam Session in Shimokitazawa!

insaneintherainmusic 2023-08-14 | ...

My best attempt at a Western movie-style trumpet solo!

insaneintherainmusic 2023-07-06 | Maybe it needs some more vibrato...

"The Eyetaker" from the soundtrack of "Tyrion Cuthbert: Attorney of the Arcane"
Composed & Performed by Carlos Eiene (insaneintherainmusic)

Get the game and soundtrack for "Tyrion Cuthbert: Attorney of the Arcane" on Steam!: store.steampowered.com/app/1590230/Tyrion_Cuthbert_Attorney_of_the_Arcane

Stream the soundtrack: https://album.link/us/i/1694059891

Website: insaneintherainmusic.com

#vgm #attorneyofthearcane #trumpet

When youre a trumpet player in a medieval kingdom

insaneintherainmusic 2023-07-05 | When you're a trumpet player in a medieval kingdom

"Wyverngarde" from the soundtrack of "Tyrion Cuthbert: Attorney of the Arcane"
Composed & Performed by Carlos Eiene (insaneintherainmusic)
Euphonium by @Goofyeuph

Get the game and soundtrack for "Tyrion Cuthbert: Attorney of the Arcane" on Steam!: store.steampowered.com/app/1590230/Tyrion_Cuthbert_Attorney_of_the_Arcane

Stream the soundtrack: https://album.link/us/i/1694059891

Website: insaneintherainmusic.com

#vgm #attorneyofthearcane #trumpet

Really glad I managed to sneak an ominous French Horn solo into a game soundtrack!

insaneintherainmusic 2023-07-04 | "Call of the Unknown" from the soundtrack of "Tyrion Cuthbert: Attorney of the Arcane"
Composed & Performed by Carlos Eiene (insaneintherainmusic)

Get the game and soundtrack for "Tyrion Cuthbert: Attorney of the Arcane" on Steam!: store.steampowered.com/app/1590230/Tyrion_Cuthbert_Attorney_of_the_Arcane

Stream the soundtrack: https://album.link/us/i/1694059891

Website: insaneintherainmusic.com

#vgm #attorneyofthearcane #frenchhorn

This accordion part is so fun to play (and dont ask me how I came up with that modulation at 0:14)

insaneintherainmusic 2023-07-03 | Sometimes the key change just comes to you!

"Noble Waltz" from the soundtrack of "Tyrion Cuthbert: Attorney of the Arcane"
Composed & Performed by Carlos Eiene (insaneintherainmusic)

Get the game and soundtrack for "Tyrion Cuthbert: Attorney of the Arcane" on Steam!: store.steampowered.com/app/1590230/Tyrion_Cuthbert_Attorney_of_the_Arcane

Stream the soundtrack: https://album.link/us/i/1694059891

Website: insaneintherainmusic.com

#vgm #attorneyofthearcane #accordion

I Released My First Video Game Soundtrack! Tyrion Cuthbert: Attorney of the Arcane

insaneintherainmusic 2023-06-23 | Purchase Tyrion Cuthbert: Attorney of the Arcane on Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/1590230/Tyrion_Cuthbert_Attorney_of_the_Arcane
Tyrion Cuthbert: Attorney of the Arcane Soundtrack on Bandcamp insaneintherainmusic.bandcamp.com/album/tyrion-cuthbert-attorney-of-the-arcane-original-soundtrack
Stream the Soundtrack: Coming soon!

The Wind is Howling - Breeze in the Clouds OST (Performance Video)

insaneintherainmusic 2023-05-19 | The Wind Domain in Breeze in the Clouds is filled with big band jazz - and I got to perform most of it!

Wishlist Breeze in the Clouds on Steam! store.steampowered.com/app/1823210/Breeze_in_the_Clouds

"Breeze in the Clouds"
Developed by Stormy Nights Interactive LLC
Published by Humble Games
Trailer Edit by Layer

"The Wind is Howling"
Composed by Carlos Eiene & Alan Garcia
Performed by Carlos Eiene
Casey Brefka - Trumpet
Dom Palombi - Drumset
Mix & Video Edit by Carlos Eiene

Music and images used with permission by Stormy Nights Interactive LLC.

SOCIAL MEDIA:
Twitter • • • twitter.com/insanerainmusic
Facebook • • • facebook.com/Insaneintherainmusic
Instagram • • • instagram.com/insaneintherainmusic
Patreon • • • http://bit.ly/supportinsane

A cozy town theme for the game “Infinite Guitars” using only* guitars!

insaneintherainmusic 2023-04-11 | *I use the term guitar liberally LMAO
Infinite Guitars is available now on Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and PC!

Infinite Guitars OST (Carlos Eiene Compositions)

insaneintherainmusic 2023-04-08 | Here are all the songs I wrote for Infinite Guitars!

INFINITE GUITARS is an Rhythm RPG about fighting mechs with Guitars Solos! Out NOW on Xbox, Nintendo Switch and PC. Released March 30th 2023.

Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/1309080/INFINITE_GUITARS
OST: store.steampowered.com/app/2237680/Infinite_Guitars_Soundtrack

The Infinite Guitars Soundtrack is composed by Nikko Ronsayro, Twinkle Park, Fat Bard, Daryl Barnes, Izuna Drop, Louie Zong, Ponpoko In the Distance, Shady Cicada, Skybridge, Carlos Eiene and 2Mello.

All compositions in this video by Carlos Eiene.

0:00 Jazz Breaker
1:37 World Map Theme
3:29 Town Theme

insaneintherainmusic - Insane In The Rain (Insane In The Rain)

insaneintherainmusic 2022-11-18 | Purchase Insane In The Rain Digital Download / CD / Vinyl: insaneintherainmusic.bandcamp.com/album/insane-in-the-rain
"Insane In The Rain" Sheet Music:
insaneintherainmusic.com/sheetmusic

Ah yes, the song titled “Insane in the Rain” from the album “Insane In The Rain” by insaneintherainmusic… definitely not confusing, huh? Jokes aside, I knew pretty early in the process of writing the music for this album that I wanted to write a self-titled track. It wouldn’t have felt right to write a track called “Carlos Eiene'' since that just feels a little… self-centered and weird, but writing a track about the username I’ve used for many years feels good. It felt like a good way to reflect on what “insaneintherain” has meant to me, and how it’s changed since I first came up with the username.

I reflected on what “insaneintherain” has meant to me over the years over the process of making this album. Obviously, creating this YouTube channel has changed my life dramatically. I’m not sure I would have met all the wonderful people I have as a result of sharing my love for video game music on the internet if I hadn’t made the channel. But during this period of reflection… the thing that stood out to me was that none of the videos I made were easy to make or effortless. I very much enjoy the work involved in creating a musical creation that I’m genuinely excited about, and that excitement helped propel me through difficult times, like learning to play difficult parts on a new instrument, or learning new things about music production. So to me… the essence of “insaneintherain” is pushing through those difficult times. In other words, when the rain comes… you go insane (in a good way!)

So, that was the intention with writing this song! I wanted to write a song that was kind of like my “theme song” - if there was an insaneintherain game show, this would be the song that would play, I imagined. However, when I finished mixing all this music and listened through the final album with the band, I told the band that “I love the other 7 tracks on this album… and I only just kinda like this one.” Something about this track felt off to me, as if its true meaning hadn’t quite settled with me yet. Rob brought up a point suggesting that maybe I had ended up writing something that accomplished a different goal than my original intention, and then it hit me! The song Insane in the Rain isn’t really my own personal theme song… it’s a theme song for the insaneintherainmusic you all see on YouTube. Now, this isn’t to say that the insaneintherainmusic YouTube persona is not genuine. However, with any kind of social media, a creator must choose what is shared with their audience… those choices that they make are part of the art itself. I choose to mostly present myself in an energetic, positive, and uplifting way, which is what I think this song represents! I have my share of bad moments, for sure, but I usually choose not to share those. I want to perpetuate good vibes in others, which is why I portray that in my videos. So, this is all to say… once I listened to this song again with this perspective in mind, the song felt right to me!

So THAT’s the complicated story behind Insane in the Rain! I recorded a full big band’s worth of horns for this track, and even squeezed out a high Eb on the lead trumpet part (high for me!), so I’m proud of how this track came out! Since this is the last track on the album, and the last description I’ll be writing for this set of videos, I’d just like to say… thank you so much for supporting this album! Making this first ever original album was a big experiment for me, and I’ve learned so much in the process of making it. I’m so grateful to have had the chance to work with this incredible band, and happy to have involved quite a few of my friends in this project. I hope to hold close both the lessons I’ve learned and the people I’ve worked with for whatever comes in the future! Can’t wait to see what comes next :)

Trombone - Andrew Sumabat (@sumabatman )
Tenor Saxophone, All big band horns and Percussion - @insaneintherainmusic
Electric Guitar - Josh Vasquez (@XnarkyVGM )
Piano - @robkovacsmusic
Electric Bass - @NicoMendozaMusic
Drums - @DomPalombiMusic

Composed & Arranged by Carlos Eiene
Co-produced by Andrew Sumabat, Josh Vasquez, Rob Kovacs, Nico Mendoza & Dom Palombi
Recorded July 12-13 2022 at Avast Recording Company in Seattle, WA
Engineered by Cosmo Rossi
Mixed & Mastered by Carlos Eiene
Album Art Photography by Sebastian Tseng (Alpha 1 Studio)
Album Art Design by Carlos Eiene & Sebastian Tseng

Camera Operators - Peter Gillette, Ro Panuganti, Allison Martin, Katey Ritchey
Video Editing - Peter Gillette
Color Grading - Peter Gillette

insaneintherainmusic - The Missing Piece (Insane In The Rain)

insaneintherainmusic 2022-11-11 | Purchase Insane In The Rain Digital Download / CD / Vinyl: insaneintherainmusic.bandcamp.com/album/insane-in-the-rain
"The Missing Piece" Sheet Music:
insaneintherainmusic.com/sheetmusic

Every artist’s first album has got to have their own take on a breakup song in it… right? Well, here’s mine, haha! The Missing Piece is about the grieving process induced by a loss in your life. For me, it was processing the feelings of breaking up from a long-term relationship, but for you, it could be about losing something or someone close to you… there’s a lot of things that can cause us to grieve. I think it’s important for us to go through that grief so we can move on with our lives and ultimately feel better, but there’s no denying that processing those emotions is really hard and painful. For me, my music has always been what I’ve turned to to get my emotions across. I definitely struggle with expressing my emotions in words (though it’s something I’m working to get better at), but it has always felt much easier and impactful to say it through music! You’ll have to forgive me that this breakup song doesn’t have lyrics LOL (though maybe you’re thanking me for that)

This slow 6/8 soul ballad feel gives off such a vibe of “yep, this sucks, and it’s going to suck, but eventually it won’t, so let’s just keep trudging through until we’re through all of this!”. This piece is definitely about a sad story, but I like to see it in a positive, reflective way. Despite how one might feel in a moment of grief, nothing can take away the great memories you have, and those are still worth holding and cherishing for what they are. I’ve learned it’s okay to move on from a sad parting while still holding positive memories for what they are. After all… we’re all just trying to live our best lives, and I think we should take the good moments we can get.

So that’s the story of my song, The Missing Piece, haha. I think the sax solo at the end of this one is one of my favorites I’ve ever done. It’s not harmonically complicated or even particularly difficult to play, but to me it feels like it really says what I wanted to say emotionally, and that’s what’s important here. Hope you enjoy the song!

Trumpet - Andrew Sumabat (@sumabatman)
Tenor Saxophone - @insaneintherainmusic
Electric Guitar - Josh Vasquez (@XnarkyVGM )
Piano - @robkovacsmusic
Electric Bass - @NicoMendozaMusic
Drums - @DomPalombiMusic
Strings - Budapest Strings

Composed & Arranged by Carlos Eiene
Co-produced by Andrew Sumabat, Josh Vasquez, Rob Kovacs, Nico Mendoza & Dom Palombi
Recorded July 12-13 2022 at Avast Recording Company in Seattle, WA
Engineered by Cosmo Rossi
Mixed & Mastered by Carlos Eiene
Album Art Photography by Sebastian Tseng (Alpha 1 Studio)
Album Art Design by Carlos Eiene & Sebastian Tseng

Camera Operators - Peter Gillette, Ro Panuganti, Allison Martin, Katey Ritchey
Video Editing - Peter Gillette
Color Grading - Peter Gillette

insaneintherainmusic - Flow (Insane In The Rain)

insaneintherainmusic 2022-11-04 | Purchase Insane In The Rain Digital Download / CD / Vinyl: insaneintherainmusic.bandcamp.com/album/insane-in-the-rain
"Flow" Sheet Music:
insaneintherainmusic.com/sheetmusic

I wrote this piece as a follow-up to my original song “Forward”, first released on the channel in 2019! Originally, I had a pretty detailed write-up of what each section of the song is supposed to represent, and I’ll leave that to you if you want to go to the video description of the original version and read it! In summary, though, this song represents the flow of energy over time. As we wake up and go to sleep, there is a rhythm present during our days that ebbs and flows. One commenter on the original Flow video also described their experience listening to Flow with certain sections of the song mapped to different points during one’s lifetime, which was really fascinating to me, since I hadn’t thought about this song with that sort of time scale before - though the song is definitely about the passage of time in some way.

When I released the 2019 version of this song, my instrumental palette had been growing for a couple of years, but it wasn’t to the size where I thought it could capture all the colors that I wanted to express for a song like this. This song is supposed to be big and vast! After all, it’s describing something as big as the flow of time and energy… that’s pretty big to me. Because of that, when it came time to select songs to put on this album, I knew that doing a re-arranged, fuller version of Flow was high on my list. In this version, I was able to get so many more colors added that I had really wanted to previous: an expanded woodwind section, a full brass section (!!!), and a real string section, since the previous version only had MIDI strings! In terms of the horizontal arrangement of the song, I think the structure is nearly exactly the same… but to me, the tone colors and orchestration just feel so much more vivid and bright, and they tell the story I was trying to get across in a much better way!

I’ll share with you some little bits of musical symbolism in this song! The octave Bb’s in the piano that start the song continue metronomically throughout the entire piece (though occasionally they do shift to B naturals, and maybe some A’s?), and are intended to represent the flow of time. They’re like seconds ticking away, though this song isn’t at a BPM where they line up to be exactly a second in length. I wanted this pulsating energy to continue throughout the entire piece to represent how time never stops, and just keeps marching. The brass chorale in the middle of the piece (previously saxes) is meant to represent a pause in consciousness. If we’re talking about the time scale of the piece as if it were a single day, this is when I would be taking my mid afternoon nap LOL - that’s why the music goes rubato, but the time in the piano keeps going!

I hope these details and long explanations don’t come across as overly pedantic to you, the listener, haha! You’re free to completely ignore my explanation and listen to the song however you like! However, I know I like to read little backstories of the pieces of music I listen to, so maybe you’ll find some value in this. Please enjoy!

Tenor Saxophone, Flute, Clarinet, Trumpet, Horn, Trombone, Synth Programming, Percussion - @insaneintherainmusic
Electric Guitar - Josh Vasquez (@XnarkyVGM )
Piano - @robkovacsmusic
Electric Bass - @NicoMendozaMusic
Drums - @DomPalombiMusic
Strings - Budapest Strings

Composed & Arranged by Carlos Eiene
Co-produced by Andrew Sumabat, Josh Vasquez, Rob Kovacs, Nico Mendoza & Dom Palombi
Recorded July 12-13 2022 at Avast Recording Company in Seattle, WA
Engineered by Cosmo Rossi
Mixed & Mastered by Carlos Eiene
Album Art Photography by Sebastian Tseng (Alpha 1 Studio)
Album Art Design by Carlos Eiene & Sebastian Tseng

Camera Operators - Peter Gillette, Ro Panuganti, Allison Martin, Katey Ritchey
Video Editing - Peter Gillette
Color Grading - Peter Gillette

insaneintherainmusic - Resistance (Insane In The Rain)

insaneintherainmusic 2022-10-28 | Purchase Insane In The Rain Digital Download / CD / Vinyl: insaneintherainmusic.bandcamp.com/album/insane-in-the-rain
"Resistance" Sheet Music:
insaneintherainmusic.com/sheetmusic

I have always had the hardest time writing battle themes - or at least, music that sounds like it could be a battle theme! I’ve always naturally gravitated towards focusing on melody and harmony when I write music, so I sometimes tend to leave rhythm behind. Since a strong driving rhythmic foundation is such a huge part of what makes a battle theme work so well (at least in my opinion, moreso than harmony and rhythm), it’s always been a big challenge for me to write a battle theme. For this original album, though, I knew that I wanted to tackle that challenge head-on, and force myself to write a battle theme!

I’ve read the book “The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield quite a few times. It’s a relatively short book that captures the creative struggles of being an artist. If you’ve ever made anything from scratch or done something most people would consider a “creative activity”, you know that sometimes, it can feel like pulling teeth, even though in your heart, you know it’s the right thing to do. Pressfield, in his book, calls this “Resistance”. Resistance is defined as whatever prevents you from achieving what your inner creative voice wants to produce. I think it’s a really interesting way of thinking about concepts like Writer’s Block, and it’s helpful to recognize the presence of Resistance when feelings like self-doubt and lack of motivation come up.

All this to be said - I felt a tremendous amount of Resistance when writing this song! It was super challenging for me to tap into the level of intensity that I think a great battle theme requires. In the end, though, I’m happy with how things turned out. I had a few different working titles for this song in my head, but, in a very meta fashion, I decided to call this “Resistance” in the end. So this is a battle theme… all about how difficult it was for me to write a battle theme LOL. What a concept!

I think a lot of inspiration for this track came from various JRPG battle themes I’ve listened to, such as various Pokémon battle themes, You Will Know Our names from Xenoblade, and the Decisive Battle themes from Octopath Traveler. This is the first track on the album where I added quite a bit of extra instrumentation (trumpet section, horn section) layered on top of the core band recordings, and I think it gives this track a bit of an orchestra rock hybrid sound, which is really cool! We had a heck of a time rehearsing this track and putting it together - it’s really challenging to play. As a band, though, I’m glad we were able to overcome our collective Resistance and bring this track to you! Hope you enjoy 😄

Alto Saxophone, Horn, Trumpet, Synths - @insaneintherainmusic
Electric Guitar - Josh Vasquez (@XnarkyVGM )
Piano - @robkovacsmusic
Electric Bass - @NicoMendozaMusic
Drums - @DomPalombiMusic

Composed & Arranged by Carlos Eiene
Co-produced by Andrew Sumabat, Josh Vasquez, Rob Kovacs, Nico Mendoza & Dom Palombi
Recorded July 12-13 2022 at Avast Recording Company in Seattle, WA
Engineered by Cosmo Rossi
Mixed & Mastered by Carlos Eiene
Album Art Photography by Sebastian Tseng (Alpha 1 Studio)
Album Art Design by Carlos Eiene & Sebastian Tseng

Camera Operators - Peter Gillette, Ro Panuganti, Allison Martin, Katey Ritchey
Video Editing - Carlos Eiene, Peter Gillette
Color Grading - Peter Gillette

Insane In The Rain Full Band Album Listening Party

insaneintherainmusic 2022-10-24 | Join the band that recorded "Insane In The Rain" for a full album listening party / Q&A live stream!

Purchase Insane In The Rain Digital Download / CD / Vinyl: insaneintherainmusic.bandcamp.com/album/insane-in-the-rain
Sheet Music (Individual Songs & Full Album Collection):
insaneintherainmusic.com/sheetmusic

Full Band:

Saxophones / EWI - Carlos Eiene
Trombone - Andrew Sumabat (@sumabatman )
Guitars - Josh Vasquez (@XnarkyVGM )
Piano / Rhodes - @robkovacsmusic
Electric Bass - @NicoMendozaMusic
Drums - @DomPalombiMusic

Video - @RoPanuganti, @AllisonMartin, @petergillette8236, Katey Ritchey

insaneintherainmusic - Ubuntu (Insane In The Rain)

insaneintherainmusic 2022-10-21 | Purchase Insane In The Rain Digital Download / CD / Vinyl: insaneintherainmusic.bandcamp.com/album/insane-in-the-rain
"Ubuntu" Sheet Music:
insaneintherainmusic.com/sheetmusic

Quincy Jones is one of my big musical inspirations: he's someone from a jazz background who has managed to cross over into a ton of different genres and work with a ton of different artists, all while maintaining his sense of self and being a great human! So, when he put out a book earlier this year called "12 Notes: On Life and Creativity", I ate it up - it was such a good read. I've also read his book "The Quincy Jones Legacy Series: Q on Producing: The Soul and Science of Mastering Music and Work".

In one of those books (maybe both, I don't exactly remember), Q talks about his experience meeting Nelson Mandela, and learning about what the term "ubuntu" means. Ubuntu is an African philosophy that generally translates to "I am because you are", highlighting the way that as humans, we are all intrinsically connected, and none of us can exist completely in a vacuum. I thought this term was so beautiful, and it struck me at a great time. When I originally came up with the idea for this song, I was attending PAX East in April of 2022, and it was my first large video game convention since the COVID-19 pandemic prevented these gatherings from happening. It was so wonderful to see so many friends again, and I realized just how much I missed the feeling of being connected to people. I think... that's Ubuntu :)

I think there's no better genre than jazz at encapsulating Ubuntu. There are a lot of different definitions of jazz, but a commonality among most of these definitions is that jazz has improvisation, and thrives when members of the band get to interact with each other. This human interaction in the music is so much fun, and that's something I wanted to portray in this piece in particular. If you listen closely, you can hear a few great moments in this performance of this tune where the members of the band are clearly listening to each other and running with each other's ideas. It's so much fun, and that is the spirit of Ubuntu!

Tenor Saxophone - Carlos Eiene
Trombone - Andrew Sumabat (@sumabatman)
Electric Guitar - Josh Vasquez (@XnarkyVGM)
Piano - @robkovacsmusic
Fretless Electric Bass - @NicoMendozaMusic
Drums - @DomPalombiMusic
Percussion & Synths - Carlos Eiene

Composed & Arranged by Carlos Eiene
Co-produced by Andrew Sumabat, Josh Vasquez, Rob Kovacs, Nico Mendoza & Dom Palombi
Recorded July 12-13 2022 at Avast Recording Company in Seattle, WA
Engineered by Cosmo Rossi
Mixed & Mastered by Carlos Eiene
Album Art Photography by Sebastian Tseng (Alpha 1 Studio)
Album Art Design by Carlos Eiene & Sebastian Tseng

Camera Operators - Peter Gillette, Ro Panuganti, Allison Martin, Katey Ritchey
Video Editing - Carlos Eiene, Peter Gillette
Color Grading - Peter Gillette

Down The Rabbit Hole - Skullgirls 2nd Encore OST (Performance Video)

insaneintherainmusic 2022-10-14 | I had the opportunity to record some instrumental performances for Black Dahlia’s Stage Music for Skullgirls Second Encore!

Stay tuned to official Skullgirls social media accounts for the final release of Black Dahlia's character and her stage theme!

Trumpet, Alto Sax, Tenor Sax, Trombone, Baritone Sax - Carlos Eiene
Horn Arrangement - Carlos Eiene
Composition and Production - Darren Malley
Video Edit - Carlos Eiene

Music and images used with permission by Hidden Variable Studios.

SOCIAL MEDIA:
Twitter • • • twitter.com/insanerainmusic
Facebook • • • facebook.com/Insaneintherainmusic
Instagram • • • instagram.com/insaneintherainmusic
Patreon • • • http://bit.ly/supportinsane

insaneintherainmusic - Invisible Man (Insane In The Rain)

insaneintherainmusic 2022-10-07 | Pre-order Insane In The Rain: insaneintherainmusic.bandcamp.com/album/insane-in-the-rain
Sign up for vinyl campaign launch notifications: insaneintherainmusic.com/iitrvinyl
"Invisible Man" Sheet Music:
insaneintherainmusic.com/sheetmusic

Sometimes, when you feel alone in the world, and you feel like nobody can understand or relate to what's going on with you, it's easy to feel invisible. I've felt invisible at many times in my life, and that's what Invisible Man is about. Invisible Man is about the story of feeling as if you're walking through life alone. Even though nobody is truly alone in life, it can sometimes feel that way, and that feeling of being alone can be crushing and painful. That feeling has to come out somehow... and that's why I wrote Invisible Man.

Depressing story aside - this was a really difficult song for me to produce, both in terms of technically notating everything down on paper, and also mixing / recording in the end. Funny enough, this song came to me when I was having a hard time falling asleep one night after a bad day, and I got out of bed and just started noodling at my MIDI keyboard in front of my computer. I recorded my noodlings, and the idea for Invisible Man was what came out! I guess that part of the process was pretty easy, haha.

I'm very happy to be able to feature the Budapest Strings on this track! I've had only a couple of opportunities to work with a live string orchestra on one of my compositions / arrangements before, and these players did a great job of bringing my vision for this tune to life! I really wanted this song to deliver on the sorrow that I tried to imbue into it when writing, and I think these players did a fantastic job at bringing that out (despite the fact that much of this song is in Bb minor - sorry string players!)

Picking apart every detail of this arrangement would take forever and more characters than I have in this description... so I'll just point out Rob and Josh's solo spots throughout the tune. Rob's playing of the "anime moment" piano solo was spectacular, and Josh's guitar solo at the end sounds just as wailing as I wanted it to. So glad to have been able to work with these players to put together a production like this!

Flugelhorn - Andrew Sumabat (@sumabatman)
Tenor Saxophone - Carlos Eiene
Electric Guitar - Josh Vasquez (@XnarkyVGM)
Piano - @robkovacsmusic
Fretless Electric Bass - @NicoMendozaMusic
Drums - @DomPalombiMusic
Strings - Budapest Strings
Percussion & Synths - Carlos Eiene

Composed & Arranged by Carlos Eiene
Co-produced by Andrew Sumabat, Josh Vasquez, Rob Kovacs, Nico Mendoza & Dom Palombi
Recorded July 12-13 2022 at Avast Recording Company in Seattle, WA
Engineered by Cosmo Rossi
Strings recorded August 17 2022 in Budapest, Hungary
Mixed & Mastered by Carlos Eiene
Album Art Photography by Sebastian Tseng (Alpha 1 Studio)
Album Art Design by Carlos Eiene & Sebastian Tseng

Camera Operators - Peter Gillette, Ro Panuganti, Allison Martin, Katey Ritchey
Video Editing - Carlos Eiene, Peter Gillette
Color Grading - Peter Gillette

insaneintherainmusic - Luminaire (Insane In The Rain)

insaneintherainmusic 2022-09-23 | Pre-order Insane In The Rain: insaneintherainmusic.bandcamp.com/album/insane-in-the-rain
Sign up for vinyl campaign launch notifications: insaneintherainmusic.com/iitrvinyl
"Luminaire" Sheet Music:
insaneintherainmusic.com/sheetmusic

Here's the first brand-new original song on Insane In The Rain (since Forward was originally written in 2019!) I am a huge fan of Snarky Puppy, and while writing a song that sounds like Snarky Puppy wasn't exactly the goal of this track when I sat down to write it... in the end it ended up sounding a LOT like a Snarky Puppy track and I am super okay with that!

The name "Luminaire" comes from the game Chrono Trigger! In Chrono Trigger, the main character Chrono eventually gets access to a very powerful light magic spell called Luminaire. In the attack animation, he rises into the air, and lets out this big explosion of light that does big damage to all the enemies on screen. I thought this was a nice metaphor to capture the meaning of this song!

I think every person has some kind of light inside of them - through everyone's differing experience of being human, we all develop different things that make us unique. When people find their way to share that unique light inside of them with the rest of the world... something special happens. That is the essence of Luminaire, just like how Chrono uses the attack in Chrono Trigger!

When I told this story to the band, we started referring to anyone's solo section as their time to "Luminaire" all over the track (in similar language to throwing up... gross!) You could say that Dom Luminaired all over this track with his drum solo at the end... and Rob's piano solo beforehand was also a Luminaire. There's too much going on in this track for me to draw attention to everything, but some of my favorite parts are the fretless bass solo at the beginning, the way the guitar melody during the chorus interplays with the horn backgrounds, and all the percussion throughout the song :)

Trumpet - Andrew Sumabat (@sumabatman)
Tenor Saxophone - Carlos Eiene
Electric Guitar - Josh Vasquez (@XnarkyVGM)
Piano - @robkovacsmusic
Fretless Electric Bass - @NicoMendozaMusic
Drums - @DomPalombiMusic
Percussion & Synths - Carlos Eiene

Composed & Arranged by Carlos Eiene
Co-produced by Andrew Sumabat, Josh Vasquez, Rob Kovacs, Nico Mendoza & Dom Palombi
Recorded July 12-13 2022 at Avast Recording Company in Seattle, WA
Engineered by Cosmo Rossi
Mixed & Mastered by Carlos Eiene
Album Art Photography by Sebastian Tseng (Alpha 1 Studio)
Album Art Design by Carlos Eiene & Sebastian Tseng

Camera Operators - Peter Gillette, Ro Panuganti, Allison Martin, Katey Ritchey
Video Editing - Carlos Eiene, Peter Gillette
Color Grading - Peter Gillette

insaneintherainmusic - Forward (Insane In The Rain)

insaneintherainmusic 2022-09-09 | Pre-order Insane In The Rain: insaneintherainmusic.bandcamp.com/album/insane-in-the-rain
Sign up for vinyl campaign launch notifications: insaneintherainmusic.com/iitrvinyl
Insane In The Rain Sheet Music Collection: insaneintherainmusic.com/sheetmusic

Forward was one of the first original songs that I ever released on YouTube, originally uploaded to the channel on January 12th, 2019, and has always been one of my personal favorites! To me, Forward was the first “serious” attempt I made at experimenting with uploading original compositions on my channel, so I saw no better song to use as an opener on my first original album!

I originally told this story in the video description of the 2019 version, but I’ll retell it here for sake of thoroughness. At the time of originally writing this tune, I had been getting a few comments suggesting that I try to write an original tune of my own, since I had almost exclusively been uploading arrangements of video game music. At the very beginning of 2019, I attended MAGFest, an annual video game music festival that happens in Washington, DC. On the flight home from MAGFest, I coincidentally ran into one of my Discord mods, Adkkid. As we chatted, we somehow got on the subject of what my next video was going to be, and I decided at that time to write a new original song.

At the time, I was going through a rough patch in a relationship, and I was really struggling in my daily life. I think it was especially hard for me since it was my first time going through something quite so emotionally painful, as I was relatively young. I think some of those emotions I was experiencing needed to be let out, which manifested in me writing this song! This song “Forward” is about… well, moving Forward - It’s about keeping your head up and moving forward through the challenges that we all face in life. I think the uplifting melody, strong groove, and high energy capture that mindset.

Between the 2019 version and this version appearing on Insane In The Rain, the arrangement did go through quite a few changes. The structure of the tune is pretty much the same (though the solo section after the guitar is a bit longer than the 2019 version), but the chorus is the part that I changed the most. The chorus originally had this offbeat oom-pah vibe that I never really liked after publishing the first version of the tune, so I decided to change it to something that gelled a bit better with the rest of the tune. I’m a huge sucker for big hits on beat 2 - can’t get enough of that, haha! I also added some layers of synths throughout the tune to beef up the production a bit. A few swooshes and reverse hits went a long way to really making this song as hype as I wanted it to be! My biggest inspirations for writing this tune were T-SQUARE (one of my favorite bands - they have an EWI!) and the various Megaman Battle Network soundtracks, which were some of my favorite games as a kid!

EWI (Electric Wind Instrument) - Carlos Eiene
Electric Guitar - Josh Vasquez (@XnarkyVGM )
Piano - @robkovacsmusic
Electric Bass - @NicoMendozaMusic
Drums - @DomPalombiMusic

Composed & Arranged by Carlos Eiene
Co-produced by Andrew Sumabat, Josh Vasquez, Rob Kovacs, Nico Mendoza & Dom Palombi
Recorded July 12-13 2022 at Avast Recording Company in Seattle, WA
Engineered by Cosmo Rossi
Mixed & Mastered by Carlos Eiene
Album Art Photography by Sebastian Tseng (Alpha 1 Studio)
Album Art Design by Carlos Eiene & Sebastian Tseng

Camera Operators - Peter Gillette, Ro Panuganti, Allison Martin, Katey Ritchey
Video Editing - Carlos Eiene, Peter Gillette
Color Grading - Peter Gillette

Announcing the next chapter of insaneintherainmusic on my 10 Year YouTube Anniversary!

insaneintherainmusic 2022-09-08 | Pre-order Insane In The Rain: insaneintherainmusic.bandcamp.com/album/insane-in-the-rain
Sign up for vinyl campaign launch notifications: insaneintherainmusic.com/iitrvinyl
Insane In The Rain Sheet Music Collection: insaneintherainmusic.com/sheetmusic

The Neon Riverside - Magic: The Gathering Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty (Original Composition)

insaneintherainmusic 2022-02-15 | Stream this song and the rest of the Magic: The Gathering "Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Official Soundtrack" on 2/18! ffm.to/neondynasty #sponsored #KamigawaNeonDynasty #MTGNeon

I'm so excited to have had the opportunity to work on this music for Wizards of the Coast alongside many other great musicians! Please enable Closed Captions for my Composer's Commentary on this track (I'm trying this out with this video!)

Shakuhachi - Zac Zinger

This video is sponsored by Wizards of the Coast.

SOCIAL MEDIA:
🐦 Twitter • • • twitter.com/insanerainmusic
📘 Facebook • • • facebook.com/Insaneintherainmusic
📷 Instagram • • • instagram.com/insaneintherainmusic
❤️ Patreon • • • http://bit.ly/supportinsane
⚙️ Gear • • • amazon.com/shop/insaneintherainmusic
💬 Discord Server • • • discord.gg/Ju97889

Im Done Being a Content Creator.

insaneintherainmusic 2022-01-01 | Update October 12 2023: I've decided to un-retire! Please see my new announcement video for further information: youtube.com/watch?v=stxMfs083fg

Thank you all so much for watching and listening over the years - my life would be nowhere as great as it is now without you all. I hope to keep developing, growing, and most importantly... having fun. No, this is not a joke.

Contact: insaneintherainmusic.com/contact

0:00 I'm Not Uploading Video Game Covers Anymore.
2:23 Being a Social Media Personality
10:31 Legal Reasons
19:03 My Perspective on the Culture of Video Game Music
24:45 At a Personal Level
28:30 So What AM I Going to Do?
34:47 What's Going to Happen with the Channel Specifically?
35:28 To My Fellow Creators

Channels mentioned:
The Consouls: youtube.com/c/TheConsoulsBand
Eric L: youtube.com/c/EricLTrombone
Charles Ritz: youtube.com/c/charlesritzmusic
LuminousMusic: youtube.com/c/luminousmusic/videos
The 8 Bit Big Band: youtube.com/c/The8BitBigBand

And a couple of others I didn't mention by name, but still recommend:
Ruscel Torres: youtube.com/c/ImRuscelOfficial
Sean R Hanson: youtube.com/c/Sean081799
Tyler Mire: youtube.com/c/TylerMire

Bramble Blast (Super Smash Bros. Brawl) Jazz Cover - insaneintherainmusic Collective

insaneintherainmusic 2021-11-20 | The unofficial anthem of the Subspace Emissary!

Sheet Music • • • bit.ly/3DgcSJT
Support my music on Patreon • • • http://bit.ly/supportinsane

Guitar - Josh Vasquez (@XnarkyVGM)
Piano & Synth Bass - Rob Kovacs (@88bit)
Fretless Bass & Violin - Nico Mendoza (@NicoMendozaMusic)
Drumset - Dom Palombi (@DomPalombiMusic)

This song is so unique! There are a huge amount of remixes and arrangements of game music for Smash, but throughout the history of Smash, few have stood out to me as much as this track. This is a remix of “Stickerbush Symphony” from Donkey Kong Country 2, which is a masterpiece in and of itself, but somehow manages to construct an entirely new narrative out of the original track. While the original track is pretty calm and relaxing, this arrangement is much more driving and energetic, while retaining some of the lightness of the original. I associate this track most with playing the Subspace Emissary, one of my fondest childhood gaming memories 🙂 Overall, this track is a brilliant example of how a new arrangement or remix can completely change a source song, and give it a new meaning, or life of its own entirely! I definitely learned a lot from transcribing this arrangement, and hope you dig the arrangement for this ensemble 😄

This was an arrangement I DEFINITELY could have not pulled off on my own, since there are so many moving parts and intricate little things going on in the background! Big shoutouts to all the band members for their awesome playing and contributions to the overall recording!

♫ "Bramble Blast" composed by David Wise, Original Arr. Michiko Naruke

SOCIAL MEDIA:
🐦 Twitter • • • twitter.com/insanerainmusic
📷 Instagram • • • instagram.com/insaneintherainmusic
❤️ Patreon • • • http://bit.ly/supportinsane
💬 Discord Server • • • discord.gg/Ju97889

#ssbb #dkc2 #insaneintherainmusic

The Roost (Animal Crossing) Jazz Piano Arrangement

insaneintherainmusic 2021-11-06 | Brewster is home 😭

Since the Animal Crossing Wild World soundtrack is not commercially released in the US, this track won't be available on streaming services.
Sheet Music • • • bit.ly/3wfaFvz
Support my music on Patreon • • • http://bit.ly/supportinsane

I was sitting at the piano one evening (that’s when all the arrangement ideas seem to happen for me these days, haha), thinking of a tune to arrange, and I randomly started playing The Roost! This was one of the first video game songs I ever covered on piano - there’s even a video of me playing it on the YouTube channel I had before insaneintherainmusic, so a very long time ago! I had an idea to turn this tune into a Disney-esque ballad, something that retained the quiet majesty of The Roost / Brewster, while also being triumphant to celebrate Brewester’s return to Animal Crossing New Horizons. This was a bit of a challenge since the original theme is relatively short, but with a lot of creative arranging, including composing an original B section based on the original melody of the tune, I came up with this arrangement - hope you dig it!

I wish I had video of all the other orchestral elements in this arrangement to show, but they're mostly sample libraries! If you're curious, I'm using Spitfire Chamber Strings for this, and Vienna Symphonic Library for the harp, celesta, and timpani.

♫ "The Roost" composed by Kazumi Totaka

SOCIAL MEDIA:
🐦 Twitter • • • twitter.com/insanerainmusic
📷 Instagram • • • instagram.com/insaneintherainmusic
❤️ Patreon • • • http://bit.ly/supportinsane
💬 Discord Server • • • discord.gg/Ju97889

#animalcrossing #acnh #brewster

A CYBERS WORLD? Cover (Deltarune Chapter 2) - insaneintherainmusic Collective

insaneintherainmusic 2021-10-16 | This is a bop... that's all I have to say.

Stream this track • • • https://song.link/us/i/1590959417
Sheet Music • • • bit.ly/3k7Lcz4
Support my music on Patreon • • • http://bit.ly/supportinsane
insaneintherainmusic Signature 3D Printed Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece (This affiliate link supports me with your purchase!) syos.co/en/artists/carlos-eiene?affiliation=6147d201050302001e48abcd

Guitar - Josh Vasquez (youtube.com/c/XnarkyVGM)
Piano / Synth - @88bit
Bass - @NicoMendozaMusic
Drums - Dom Palombi (youtube.com/c/DomPalombiMusic)
Video Edit - Pete Gilette (twitter.com/djSteamyPete)

Just like running into Spamton for the first time, I had a similar “heck yeah” moment when I first heard this track in Deltarune Chapter 2 - it was like the “Field of Hopes and Dreams” of Chapter 2! This feeling is one of the best feelings in a video game, I think, when you enter a big new area for the first time, and you’re greeted with an awesome theme that sets the mood. A Cyber’s World is absolutely one of those tracks, and I instantly knew after hearing it for the first time that I really wanted to do something with it! I will admit I wasn’t really expecting a cyber-themed world in Deltarune Chapter 2, but it was fun to explore and held true to the Deltarune / Undertale spirit super nicely 🙂

This is also my first band collaboration video in a LONG time! I’ve been itching to make music with some more VGM folks, and for some reason this track just seemed like the right opportunity! I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Rob (88bit), Josh, and Dom in person at various conventions (still haven’t met Nico yet IRL, we’ll get there!!!), and have really enjoyed hearing their own playing and renditions of video game music. I’ve always felt that there’s a real difference playing video game music with other folks who are also into video game music, as opposed to ensembles of people who can really play their instruments, but just aren’t into games / VGM for whatever reason. I think this theory has been proven by this group’s existence because MAN, I don’t think I’ve ever had an online collaboration that gelled as well, both musically and interpersonally as this group! We’re not exactly a band, but I think you can expect to hear more music from this group of musicians in the future, because this was a ton of fun!

♫ "A CYBER'S WORLD?" composed by Toby Fox

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BIG SHOT Jazz Cover (Deltarune Chapter 2)

insaneintherainmusic 2021-10-09 | HOLY [[Cungadero]] DO I LIKE JAZZ!

Stream this track • • • https://song.link/us/i/1590080982
Sheet Music • • • bit.ly/3GPFdZz
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Thanks to @peanut3423 for helping me with the Spamton vocals! twitter.com/AlexRochonVA

The second I ran into Spamton, I got the same feeling I did when I first ran into Napstablook when I first played UNDERTALE: I LOVE THIS GUY. What a silly yet relatable character. It's so cool how many different melodies and motives were weaved into this battle theme, it's like Toby challenged himself to see just how much could get crammed into one theme! I've seen quite a few comment sections on OST uploads debating over just what motives were referenced, and what each of the references "mean". Regardless of who's right or wrong in those debates, it's so cool to see people dissecting threads that tie different pieces of video game music together across the game universe of UNDERTALE / DELTARUNE. Super cool to see!

There are so many wacky harmonies in this battle theme, which was really cool to see (and also a pain to transcribe, haha). Most of it is based around constant structure harmony in which the melody is harmonized a minor third below, regardless of what the key actually suggests. This is pretty cool in this song in particular, since most of the melodic lines imply that this is in Bb minor, while the main riff in the tune starts on an F harmonized with a D natural a minor third below it, definitely not in Bb minor. A very fun and technical song to play :)

Special shoutout to @peanut3423 for the performance as Spamton! I was initially unsure as to how I'd incorporate the vocals in this track, but I happened to run across his Spamton dub on Twitter, and reached out to him to contribute some vocals to this song! His contribution added a ton to the song :)

DON'T FORGET TO [Like and Subscribe] FOR MORE [Hyperlink Blocked].

♫ "BIG SHOT" composed by Toby Fox

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Route 113 Jazz Cover (Pokémon Ruby / Sapphire / Emerald) [2021 Version]

insaneintherainmusic 2021-10-02 | This place somehow made walking around in a field full of falling ash behind a volcano seem like it'd actually be pleasant!

Stream this track • • • Soon!
Sheet Music • • • bit.ly/2ZQqHQj
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I've spent a whole year and some change covering Gen 4 Pokémon music... so why not spend a little bit of time with Gen 3? For those of you who don't know, I released an album WAY back in 2014 called "Back To Your Littleroots". It was my first ever video game music arrangement album, and started my trend of creating Pokémon-themed video game arrangement albums! I think it goes without saying that my music-making abilities in 2014 were WAY different than what they've turned into today in 2021, so I thought it'd be fun to revisit one of my favorite tunes from Gen 3, and see how my interpretation of it has changed... 7 years later. In the grand scheme of things, 7 years isn't a lot of time, but for me, it feels like forever. I was in high school when I covered this for the first time!

With live music returning to a fuller extent across the United States, I recently had the opportunity to see Herbie Hancock perform here in Seattle, and seeing that show really reminded me just how much I love jazz and his particular style of music! I like music from a lot of different styles, of course, but there's something special about small jazz ensembles going at it and playing a tune together, and that inspired me to arrange this song in this way. There are times when the musical situation calls for a full expanded orchestration, and I think this is not one of those situations, so it was nice to just record some sax, piano, bass, and drums for this. I really dig how groups like the Yellowjackets use synthesizers along the typical piano sound - the long intro in this arrangement wouldn't be nearly as cool without that fluffy pad behind the piano sound :)

Hope you all enjoy this! Will probably be uploading some Deltarune covers soon after this one - I've had a lot of stuff going on lately, but I feel like I'm moving in a positive direction, and that's always a good thing :)

♫ "Route 113" composed by Go Ichinose

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Treasure Town Broadway Orchestra Cover (Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time / Darkness)

insaneintherainmusic 2021-09-18 | Nobody else was going to make the broadway-style orchestral version of Treasure Town I always wanted, so I decided to make it happen 😎

Since the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Explorers soundtrack was never commercially released in the US, this track won't be available on streaming services.
Sheet Music • • • bit.ly/3o2RrWp
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The Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series is one of my favorite series of all time for a lot of reasons, with the music being one of them! Occasionally I'll just let the a full OST playlist of Mystery Dungeon Explorers run on shuffle so I can be reminded of all the banger tunes that are in this game. I was doing this once, when I ended up on the Treasure Town theme, and I happened to find that someone had left these lyrics written in the comments section of the YouTube upload... and I loved them! They fit the song so well. A few years later, I came back to this YouTube upload and had the thought "why hasn't anyone made a full version with these lyrics?" So, I did it myself :)

There's so much technical stuff going on in this arrangement and I don't really feel like it needs to be over-explained, so just listen and enjoy! This was my first time ever recording lead vocals for a cover (I've done choral stuff before but those don't count, haha), and it was a uniquely challenging experience. Hope you enjoy :)

Lyrics:

[Verse1]

What a great big world, a sight to behold,
What a perfect place to be!
What a great big world for life to unfold
and it's filled with mystery!
All my friends are gathered around
and it's such a sight to see,
and we work and play and get through the day
like a great big family!

From the mountains to the praries,
The heavens down to the ground,
All the creatures great and small,
Our song makes the world go 'round!

[Verse 2]

It's a great big world, a sight to behold,
An enormous place to explore,
With the friends we make and treasure we take
Who could ask for something more?
In this world there's so much to do,
And so much we can't understand,
But we work and play and get through the deay
And we do the best we can!

In the mornings when we wake up,
And in the night as we lay,
All our spirits join together
In song, to sing our tears away!

(Repeat Verse 1)

♫ "Treasure Town" composed by Arata Iiyoshi
Lyrics by ScytheRider (Originally from their fanfiction: fanfiction.net/s/4298303/14/Pok%C3%A9mon-Mystery-Dungeon-Silver-Resistance)

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What if Hollow Knights Soundtrack was Jazz? (Rescoring Challenge)

insaneintherainmusic 2021-09-04 | Hollow Knight Jazz Rescore Inspiration Playlist: open.spotify.com/playlist/0YryB9MT3SLBMGYm8Zy7o8?si=84a97389acaa4674

Get "Songs of the Deep" (the music I composed for this video) on Bandcamp: insaneintherainmusic.bandcamp.com

Stream "Songs of the Deep" (the music I composed for this video) on all platforms: https://album.link/us/i/1583960590

Sheet music: bit.ly/3q6mXVQ

Matt Sellick's channel: youtube.com/c/TheMSellick

Thumbnail art by InfernoSilentDragon: twitter.com/PyricInferno

0:00 Intro
3:23 The Video Game Rescoring Challenge!
5:12 Choosing Musical Influences
8:28 Greenpath (In Bloom)
12:29 Forgotten Crossroads (Lonely Nomad)
17:11 Hornet (Thread the Needle)
22:28 City of Tears (Splashes of Sorrow)
28:38 Conclusion

They let ME write music for an Attorney Video Game?

insaneintherainmusic 2021-08-21 | Support Attorney of the Arcane on Indiegogo! indiegogo.com/projects/attorney-of-the-arcane-courtroom-visual-novel#

Play the demo on Steam! store.steampowered.com/app/1590230/Tyrion_Cuthbert_Attorney_of_the_Arcane

Soundtrack Preview EP on Spotify
https://album.link/us/i/1582195143

Soundtrack Preview EP on Bandcamp
insaneintherainmusic.bandcamp.com/album/tyrion-cuthbert-attorney-of-the-arcane-original-soundtrack-preview

Developed by Diamondhenge Entertainment
diamondhenge.com

0:00 Intro
1:27 Attorney of the Arcane OST Preview EP
2:02 Spotting the Game
4:03 Courtroom Trial (Music & Analysis)
6:50 Courtroom Lobby (Music & Analysis)
8:28 Celeste's Theme (Music & Analysis)
11:46 Outro

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Rooted in Tomorrow - Video Game Hometown Theme (Original Song)

insaneintherainmusic 2021-07-31 | Rest easy, there is always tomorrow.

🎵 Free HQ Download on Bandcamp! • • • insaneintherainmusic.bandcamp.com/track/rooted-in-tomorrow
🎵 Stream this song on major platforms! • • • https://song.link/us/i/1586750776
🎼 Sheet Music • • • bit.ly/3mLpPp5
❤️ Support my music on Patreon • • • http://bit.ly/supportinsane
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This was a fun one to put together! I actually recorded this maybe a month ago, but hesitated on releasing it until now. When working on covers, there was somewhat of a sense of security in releasing them, kind of like “oh, I know at least someone is familiar with this game song, so somebody’s definitely gonna like this and get what I’m trying to say in the arrangement!” That safety net isn’t necessarily there with original music - it feels like I’m sharing a lot more of myself in the music… which I think is exactly what I should be doing! Still feels scary though, but I’m working to overcome that fear by sharing this with you all, so here you go!

I’ve already written a hometown-y tune in “Feels Like Home”, but weirdly enough, I think this tune feels more like a Hometown theme than Feels Like Home does. Feels Like Home might be better suited for a town you come across either later in an adventure or a decent while in, while this tune definitely feels like a first town or two theme to me. It’s been really interesting to compare the two in how they turned out, since they were both based on a similar concept.

I wanted to try something new for myself and do a day/night variation on these tracks! The two games I took most inspiration from for the day/night versions were Xenoblade and Pokémon DPPt - Sinnoh’s nighttime music variations don’t tend to be drastically different from the original, which is kind of how I like it! The night mix here is in a different key, slightly slower, uses a different lead instrument, and has a slightly lighter orchestration. Xenoblade’ s night themes tend to be really REALLY different (like Mor Ardain’s night vs day theme), and in retrospect, it might have been fun to go that hard on varying up the arrangement, but maybe I’ll save that for a future track!🙂

Something I tried in this arrangement was experimenting with muting some of the tracks I had recorded to see how the mood might change. Looking back at my tune “Tactical”, I think it was pretty cool, but maybe just a bit busy for a piece of background music, depending on the associated gameplay. Part of it, weirdly enough, is the amount of high frequency content? I used a pretty generous high shelf in mastering for Tactical, and I think it made the track just a bit too bright and in-your-face, which might not be exactly what you want for background music. I kept the mix a little darker this one, and also dialed back the orchestration by muting some things. For example, the daytime mix had a whole drum part in it originally, and a few more trombone parts, which I ended up muting. I think it gives the theme a lot more space, and is easier to listen to! I definitely tend to be an “over-arranger” when it comes to writing music, so this is just a way for making up for my natural tendencies in the arranging process, haha!

Hope you all enjoy this! I’ve got another medium-slow tune coming up, but then I want to try and dip my toes into writing some battle themes!

♫ "Rooted in Tomorrow" composed by insaneintherainmusic (Carlos Eiene)

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Tactical - Video Game Jazz Map Theme (Original Song)

insaneintherainmusic 2021-07-24 | Choose your units, plan your strategy, and complete the level in the least number of turns possible for maximum reward!

🎵 Free HQ Download on Bandcamp! • • • insaneintherainmusic.bandcamp.com/track/tactical
🎼 Sheet Music • • • bit.ly/3BKyNY8
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I'm back! Feels good to be making videos again. I've got a whole separate video on my second channel reflecting about my time off, so I'll spare you an explanation of why I took time off and what I learned, and instead get into talking about my new project!

As previously mentioned, this original album I'm working on is going to be comprised of music based on video game music archetypes, and I happened to choose a map theme for this first tune! I imagined this being a tune that would underscore a strategy game like Fire Emblem, Advance Wars, and Final Fantasy Tactics. In retrospect, this ended up sounding a lot like a few different Fire Emblem tunes I love... but I guess that's just my influences shining through! The mood I was going for here was one of forward motion, but at a walking pace, not a running pace. Since tactical games progress on a unit-by-unit basis, and the actions are rather methodical, I thought it'd be best to give the music a constant medium tempo, to give the player a nice backdrop to think over. Plus, I think the chill vibes that this song and orchestration have are well suited for having the player think things through!

I'm using a couple of new instruments in this composition: the rainstick and djembe! I picked up this rainstick a while ago (it's in my name, I mean, how could I not?), but struggled to find a place to use it in a song. I decided to incorporate it into this song to add to the "earthiness" of the texture. While the rainstick does imitate water, I think the sound of the beads inside the instrument are a really organic and earthy sound... and paired with the djembe, I think they add a lot of cool texture. It makes me think of the feeling you get when you run your fingers over a really old, dusty, dirty map, which totally makes sense for this style of writing, at least for me!

I've also got to mention that little animation I put together at the beginning of the video! I've been wanting to learn After Effects for a while, and I thought this project would be a cool opportunity to try out some of its functions! I'm hoping to create short little animations like this for future videos to provide some context as to what scene / type of tune I'm trying to write. I had fun using Azgaar's Fantasy Map Generator and adding some graphical elements of my own to create a grid system like something you'd see in a tactics game. I have played around with AE a bit before, but this was a really fun way to learn some new tools, or... tactics!

Hope you enjoy this! Writing these descriptions out is something I always look forward to, and I've found that especially for original compositions, writing out a little synopsis like this helps me reflect on my compositional choices and better understand my own process better, so it's a win win! See you in the next one :)

♫ "Tactical" composed by insaneintherainmusic (Carlos Eiene)

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Battle!! Torna (Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna The Golden Country) - Big Band Jazz Arrangement

insaneintherainmusic 2021-06-05 | Jazz-influenced battle themes in RPGs are one of my favorite things ever. Xenoblade 2's DLC absolutely DELIVERS!

Stream this track • • • https://song.link/us/i/1573456872
Sheet Music • • • bit.ly/3CP02BY
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Good lord, I love this battle theme. While many of you may know that I love the soundtrack of Pokémon Diamond / Pearl / Platinum, I think Xenoblade Chronicles 2 might surpass it for me! Sinnoh is absolutely home to my favorite childhood soundtrack, but Alrest is a bit more fitting for my current tastes - gah it's just so good! So many good themes, including music from the base game and the awesome DLC. Xenoblade 2's DLC "Torna, The Golden Country" is probably the best DLC I've seen in any game - such a full fleshed-out expansion of content from the base game, but with just enough twists to keep things fresh and interesting. Also, the music is notably jazz-influenced... so I'm super down with that, haha.

This particular battle theme, though, is just so special! The piano riff in the beginning fits right in with the percussive, groove-oriented style of piano playing that I really like, and the energy is just so good! This is a track that I’ve wanted to arrange for so long, but just didn’t really have the right tools to pull off the ideas I had for it. Now that I’ve spent quite a bit of time on drums, bass, and brass instruments, I finally felt ready to tackle this monster of a theme!

This is my first time posting a big band arrangement on this channel where I’m playing ALL the parts. Saxes, trumpets, trombones, and rhythm section… goodness, this took a lot of effort to put together, haha. Recording the saxes was a relatively easy process, but tracking all the brass took many hours! I’m not as consistent of a trumpet / trombone players as I like, so there were a lot of repeat takes, and a good amount of Melodyne used. All done for the sake of making the best final product I can, though! I’m super pleased with how this big band arrangement turned out! Not sure I’ll be doing too many of these “one man big band” videos since they take so much time, but maybe I’ll do some from time to time! Plus, not every song needs this kind of orchestration…

I also enjoyed playing around with some lighting and different video editing techniques than usual! I had these LED light panels that I usually used in the piano room, and decided to use them as color lights for this shoot - I really like what they did to the video, especially on shots like the bass bone, drums, and piano! I also pulled out the motorized slider again for some cool motion shots, and added some subtle motion in post on other shots. Let me know what you think of this style of video - it was fun to put together! I always feel a little weird experimenting with video stuff, since I am most certainly a musician first and a videographer in a distant second… maybe third or fourth, haha.

Hope you enjoy! I know a lot of folks have been requesting this one, so I hope you enjoy my take :)

♫ "Battle!!/Torna" composed by Kenji Hiramatsu

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The Descent - Original Composition by insaneintherainmusic

insaneintherainmusic 2021-05-20 | An epic descent into madness...

Stream this track • • • https://song.link/us/i/1568316282
Sheet Music • • • bit.ly/3BKyNY8
Support my music on Patreon • • • http://bit.ly/supportinsane
insaneintherainmusic Signature SYOS Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece (Use discount code "INSANESYOS" for $10 off!) • • •syos.co/en/artists/carlos-eiene

Well, this was a fun video to make! I wanted to write my version of a video game prologue theme, and this is how it turned out! I’m pretty sure I’ve never heard a big band + strings 7/8 fusion jazz video game prologue, but hey, I would be so excited to hear one done in this way! It’s always really fun to just let the creative mind run free for a while, and this is the result of that.

My idea behind this song was some sort of “descent into madness”. This song starts with a solo piano arrangement and eventually progresses to intense 7/8 fusion jazz B over C polychord hits in the brass... so I’d call that a progression towards madness, haha. I’m curious as to see how you guys interpret this composition, so let me know what you thought of while listening in the comments below!

This video is also the first video featuring me playing a whole big band’s worth of instruments! It’s something I have wanted to be able to do for a really long time now, and I’m happy to have finally made it there. While of course I’d prefer to record all this stuff with a real big band filled with a lot of other players, that’s sometimes just not practical with the amount of time it takes and space it requires. Having the option to do it all at home is really really nice! I’m certain I’ll be using all these resources in upcoming videos and other projects. I hope it means you guys can enjoy an increase palette of instrumental colors to listen to in my arrangements.

♫ "The Descent" composed by Carlos Eiene

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insaneintherainmusic Studio Tour 2021

insaneintherainmusic 2021-05-08 | Finally, an updated tour! I earn a small commission if you choose to purchase anything through the affiliate links below!

0:00 Room Overview
7:32 Wind Instruments
19:40 Accordion, Upright Bass, Upright Piano
22:35 Drums & Cymbals
29:19 Guitars & Basses
34:30 Percussion & Misc.
44:28 Organ & Piano
48:53 Microphones
59:58 Desk & Audio Hardware
1:12:44 Video Equipment
1:19:16 Software
1:27:30 General Gear Q&A
1:33:48 The Most Important Piece of Gear & Closing

Wind Instruments:
Soprano Saxophone - Yamaha Custom Z
* Vandoren Blue Box 2.5 Reeds amzn.to/3upzR0J
Bb Clarinet - Jean Paul Cl-400
* Vandoren Blue Box 2.5 Reeds amzn.to/3er2iWx
Alto Saxophone - Jean Paul
* Vandoren Blue Box 2.5 Reeds amzn.to/33lQ3nI
EWI 4000S
Tenor Saxophone - Selmer Super Action 80 Series II
* SYOS Signature Mouthpiece bit.ly/3em93IW
* Boston Sax Shop 2M Reeds
* Francois Louis UltimateLigature amzn.to/33lnDKz
* Balam Back Strap
Flute - Trevor James Cantabile
Baritone Sax - Yanagisawa B990
* Francois Louis Ultimate Ligature
* Otto Link Tone Edge 8 Mouthpiece amzn.to/3b5yLzi
Bass Clarinet - Kessler Custom Low C Bass Clarinet
* SYOS Signature Mouthpiece bit.ly/3vO4jSs
Trumpet - Jean Paul TR-430
Flugelhorn - Austin Custom Brass Doubler’s Flugelhorn
Trombone - Jean Paul TB-400

Guitars & Basses:
Johannes Kohr K64 3/4 Upright
Fender Deluxe Stratocaster http://imp.i114863.net/rnaBO3
Ibanez Artcore AS-53 Semi-Hollow Guitar http://imp.i114863.net/qnzBZL
Ibanez SR505 5-String Bass http://imp.i114863.net/ZddZ0W
Mitchell T313CE Acoustic Guitar
Giannini Classical Guitar
Ibanez M522 F Style Mandolin http://imp.i114863.net/P0OW4Q
Fender Player Jazz Bass http://imp.i114863.net/5b5xYN

Keyboard Instruments:
Melodica - Hohner Instructor 32 http://imp.i114863.net/kjONZd
Accordion - Hohner Hohnica 1305 72 Bass http://imp.i114863.net/e41bgz
Kawai Upright Piano
Californian Theatre 287 Electric Organ
Yamaha C5 Grand Piano
Roland RD88 Digital Piano http://imp.i114863.net/AoPG27

Drums:
Gretsch Catalina Maple 7-Piece Drum Kit http://imp.i114863.net/Vyx0BE
Zildjian K Custom Dark Cymbal Pack http://imp.i114863.net/JrKW4E
Meinl Cymbals Byzance Vintage Benny Greb Sand Series Set http://imp.i114863.net/Zd6RBk
Yamaha Recording Custom Steel 5.5” x 14” http://imp.i114863.net/WDy0AX
Tama Soundworks Maple Snare 6.5” x 14" http://imp.i114863.net/EaEWOK
Zildjian K Custom Dark 10” Splash http://imp.i114863.net/OReWOn
Sabian Dave Weckl Serenity Flat Ride http://imp.i114863.net/3PJLyd
Zildjian 22 inch A Zildjian Swish Cymbal with Rivets http://imp.i114863.net/4eGqyo
Promark 5A Sticks http://imp.i114863.net/yRqBjW

Percussion:
LP City Congas http://imp.i114863.net/mgO0j1
Meinl Bongos http://imp.i114863.net/qnzBmL
Djembe Direct 50” Chilean Cactus Rain Stick
Meinl Didgeridoo http://imp.i114863.net/9WLrn3
RhythmTech Tambourine http://imp.i114863.net/P0OWRQ
Meinl Medium Shaker amzn.to/3eXwLum
LP Egg Shakers http://imp.i114863.net/a1O4jM
LP Aspire Bar Chimes
LP 8” Triangle amzn.to/3xU4OvW
Cosmic Percussion Sleigh Bells
Generic Kazoo
Focalink Alto C Ocarina
Generic Train Whistle(s)
Generation Bb Pennywhistle
Conn Song Flute
LP Guira http://imp.i114863.net/0J91RJ
LP Cowbell http://imp.i114863.net/b3O0jk
Pearl Bell Set
5 Hole Ocarina

Misc:
MXR Talkbox http://imp.i114863.net/3PJLmd
Alesis Samplepad Pro http://imp.i114863.net/RyGW2b

Microphones:
AT4040 Large Diaphragm Condenser http://imp.i114863.net/NK9m22
AT4041 Small Diaphragm Condenser http://imp.i114863.net/yRqB4W
Shure Beta98H Clip-On Condenser http://imp.i114863.net/MXAWRo
Shure SM57 Dynamic Mic http://imp.i114863.net/7maQ1Q
Shure Beta52 Dynamic Mic http://imp.i114863.net/LPKWRY
Sennheiser e604 Dynamic Mic http://imp.i114863.net/x9LRzv
AEA N8 Ribbon Mic http://imp.i114863.net/QOjW23
Earthworks PM40 Piano Mic Bar http://imp.i114863.net/jWeBJ0

Desk Setup & Audio Hardware:
Focusrite Clarett 8PreUSB http://imp.i114863.net/qnzBOY
Scarlett OctoPre http://imp.i114863.net/DVyJR2
Scarlett 18i8 http://imp.i114863.net/jWeBJP
AZ Studio Workstations Spike 88 Desk
Neewer Mic Arm amzn.to/3fefgpR
Audio Technica ATHM50X Headphones http://imp.i114863.net/e41bkO
Vic Firth Isolation Headphones http://imp.i114863.net/GjK2Em
Yamaha HS8 Studio Monitors http://imp.i114863.net/159V29
Mac mini
iPad Pro
MouKey Bluetooth Page Turner Pedal
Sonnet eGFX Breakaway Puck (eGPU) amzn.to/3usP1Cd

Cameras and Video Gear:
Sony A6400 amzn.to/2PVx6oR
Canon Rebel T3i
GoPro Hero 7 amzn.to/3ba1S4N
GVM Motorized Camera Slider amzn.to/33ic9HM
Cayer Heavy-Duty Tripod amzn.to/3xMY8jr
LS Photo Studio & Fovitech Softboxes amzn.to/3nUp38d
GVM Led Light Panels amzn.to/3nRTAUl
Manfrotto Tripod amzn.to/33zo2t7

Software:
Evernote (Note Taking)
Reaper (Digital Audio Workstation)
Adobe Premiere (Video Editor)
Photoshop (Thumbnails)
Adobe Audition (Mastering)

Miscellaneous:

BAM Softpack Saxophone Case
Looker (Beagle Puppy)