PaperMikes"Farewells are bittersweet... but as long as you live, you can never escape them. To feel sadness is to live... but as long as you are alive, the future is a blank page."
After a very long time, I'm happy to present an orchestral cover of "Proof of Existence" from Super Paper Mario, which is one of the last pieces you hear in the game!
I spent the past couple of months learning about orchestral music. I wanted to do better than the last cover I did, which also originated from Super Paper Mario. Back in February, I didn't know as much as I did now, so I was really stuck while making this. However, after the 85 hours I put into this one piece -- not including the time I spent learning -- I finally reached an end. I'm very happy to have finished this and kept some kind of promise. It's been so long since I've ever finished such a big project.
Unlike previous covers, there were a lot of things I had to take into consideration. I needed to arrange things by foreground, middleground, and background, make use of multiple orchestral libraries, and many other small details that you'd consider for a real orchestra (like giving woodwind players time to breathe, or let them switch parts between one another). I also worked with instrument articulations and dynamics, so the music varies in volume and expression (this was the most tedious thing to accomplish).
Nevertheless, I'm happy to have come this far with such a large and time-consuming project, and I thank you for listening to my music, no matter at what point. I hope this lets you relive fond memories of Super Paper Mario, if you have any! I know it has for me. ^^
Proof of Existence【Orchestral Cover // Super Paper Mario】PaperMikes2018-08-31 | "Farewells are bittersweet... but as long as you live, you can never escape them. To feel sadness is to live... but as long as you are alive, the future is a blank page."
After a very long time, I'm happy to present an orchestral cover of "Proof of Existence" from Super Paper Mario, which is one of the last pieces you hear in the game!
I spent the past couple of months learning about orchestral music. I wanted to do better than the last cover I did, which also originated from Super Paper Mario. Back in February, I didn't know as much as I did now, so I was really stuck while making this. However, after the 85 hours I put into this one piece -- not including the time I spent learning -- I finally reached an end. I'm very happy to have finished this and kept some kind of promise. It's been so long since I've ever finished such a big project.
Unlike previous covers, there were a lot of things I had to take into consideration. I needed to arrange things by foreground, middleground, and background, make use of multiple orchestral libraries, and many other small details that you'd consider for a real orchestra (like giving woodwind players time to breathe, or let them switch parts between one another). I also worked with instrument articulations and dynamics, so the music varies in volume and expression (this was the most tedious thing to accomplish).
Nevertheless, I'm happy to have come this far with such a large and time-consuming project, and I thank you for listening to my music, no matter at what point. I hope this lets you relive fond memories of Super Paper Mario, if you have any! I know it has for me. ^^Reverse Hills - Shin Megami Tensei IV【Synthesia】PaperMikes2020-05-27 | Hello! Here's a Synthesia piano tutorial for "Reverse Hills" from Shin Megami Tensei IV!
The repeating notes (purple) can make the lead notes (green) harder to see, so I hid them at 0:40. The exact same pattern is still being played, but it's just invisible.
Hope this helps! The MIDI below does not have any notes omitted.
If you don't do this already, I strongly recommend slowing and/or pausing the video when you need to. The notes are there, but they can look confusing sometimes.
0:12 and 0:22 have an E shared between the lead (red) and other chords (blue). 0:19 and 0:24 have a C# shared between the antiphony (green) and other chords (blue).
Towards the end of the video, a bunch of fast-played chords (green notes) are made invisible until they reappear. This was done to make things easier to see. They play exactly the same as before.
Hope this helps! The MIDI file below does not have any notes omitted.
Some notes (purple) can make the whole piece seem tricky, so I made two versions: one without any changes, and one with almost all the purple notes removed. You can find both MIDI files down below.
The purple part shares the B note with the countermelody (yellow) at 0:33.
The timing isn't exactly the same as the original's, but it's similar. If you want a steady and consistent speed to play it at, a tempo around 90 BPM is pretty good.
Slogging through FLUDD's voice over and over while trying to do this was awful. I couldn't even look at the music's waveform properly because his voice was so much louder. I think it's a miracle I even got a tempo down.
Anyway, hope this helps! Good luck to you and have a good day. :)
From 0:52 to 1:04, I made the yellow notes dominate over the lead notes (purple) so they could be seen much easier. Note that during this time, the lead is playing in octaves, but just to reiterate, I adjusted notes for viewing purposes.
The yellow notes were disabled after 0:16 to make it easier to see the melody (purple). They play exactly the same until a change is pointed out.
The yellow notes were also disabled from 2:00 to 2:22 because they're exactly the same as they play at 0:52. They were temporarily made invisible to make it easier to see the other notes.
I also wanted to try something different with the background, so I'd appreciate it if you told me if it bothered or distracted you.
The chords (green) at 0:32 were temporarily disabled to allow the bass notes (blue) to be seen easier. Both parts play the same patterns as before. The rhythm of the bass notes also remains the same around that time, so similar notes are played even when they're overlapped (like at 0:47, A2).
The lead notes (red) from 1:14 - 1:18 were raised an octave for easier viewing. They were also raised an octave from 2:09 - 2:29.
The bass notes from 2:02 - 2:09 are repeated until they appear again. At 2:29, it's the same pattern as what you saw from 1:55 - 2:02.
Both MIDI files are listed below. The original has all the notes and no changes whatsoever. The second version is exactly what you see in the video.
Most of the leftmost notes at 3:02 were made invisible for easier viewing. They are the same patterns until otherwise noted. The MIDI down below won't have any notes removed.
Additionally, I added a measure after the Gravity Dive section at 2:49. If you change the time signature to 5/4 and back to 3/4 when it's over, it matches up with the original music. Unfortunately, it didn't work for the MIDI, so I kept the time signature the same and spaced it out.
Hope this helps! Have a nice day. Sorry this request took forever to fulfill.
It's important to note that there are a few overlaps that can be missed. 0:21 and 0:29 has the lead (red) and chords (blue) share the top B note. Aside from those, everything else is visible as long as things are slowed and/or paused.
Hope this helps! Sorry this request took forever to fulfill.
The green and red parts mostly play the same notes in a different manner. The bass notes (blue) on the left only play in octaves, so you'll know what to play as long as you can see one of the notes. ^^
The lower D# being played in octaves (purple notes) is shared with the green and red parts at 0:22.
I also raised the main melody (yellow notes) at 0:42 to make it easier to see.
Hope this helps! Sorry this request took forever to fulfill.
The notes were cluttered and hard to see, so I made a modified version and played that one first so it'd be much easier to understand what was played. Parts were raised and lowered by octaves for an easier viewing experience.
Hope this helps! Have a nice day. Sorry this request took forever to fulfill!
There were no octave changes made to the music. All you should know is that the Gb note at 0:28 is shared between the red (arpeggio) and blue (lead) notes.
It's been quite a while since I've uploaded a tutorial. I hope this helps! Have a good day. I'm sorry that it took forever before I uploaded this tutorial. Unless my computer gets struck by lightning or something like that, the rest of the requested tutorials will come every day! I'm glad to be back. :D
This piece is quite simple. It uses the G# minor pentatonic scale, so we'll only be using five different notes. As long as you keep these five notes in mind, you'll be fine!
There's just one thing to keep in mind while watching this. The melody (blue) and countermelody (yellow) will share the same G note at times, such as the G at 0:10, 0:21, 0:35, and 0:52. The A and A# at 0:26 are also being shared. Hope this helps! :)
Note: I strongly recommend that you download one (or both) of the MIDI files so you can easily see which parts you want to play. Visual-wise, this piece can seem pretty complicated, so I made two versions. The first MIDI you'll see is the music without any changes by octaves, while the second one was made with YouTube in mind.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- MIDI 1 Notes ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The G note at 1:03 is shared between the chords (green) and melody (red).
The E note at 1:21 is shared between the chords and melody.
The C note at 1:26 is shared between the melody (red) and other notes (purple).
----------------------------------------------------------------------- MIDI 2 Notes ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The melody (red) and sustained notes (yellow) between 2:08 and 2:27 were raised by an octave.
The melody and right-most notes (yellow) between 2:32 and 2:49 were raised by an octave.
The melody and right-most notes (purple) between 2:50 and 3:03 were raised by an octave.
Hope this helps! :)Rainbow Road - Mario Kart Wii【Synthesia】PaperMikes2019-04-02 | Hello! Here is a piano tutorial for Rainbow Road from Mario Kart Wii! This is probably my favorite Rainbow Road from the series.
To make things easier to see, I raised the countermelody (purple notes) by an octave. The first note of the chord (green notes) at 0:39 is also shared by the bass part (blue notes), so that's where the missing note is.
This one was actually quite simple to finish, and with the way the piece is, there was no need to make any changes to make the notes easier to see. Hope this helps! :)
The underwater background sprite was ripped by Beam Luinsir Yosho from the Spriters Resource!Overthere Stair - Super Paper Mario【Synthesia】PaperMikes2019-03-06 | Hello! Here's a piano tutorial for the Overthere Stair from Super Paper Mario!
With this one, it can be a little tricky if you don't slow it down to see the notes. As usual, I also made some adjustments to make the notes easier to see.
The melody (yellow notes) between 0:25 and 0:41 was raised by two octaves. The melodies (yellow notes) between 0:49 and 0:54, and between 0:58 and 1:02 (ending on D) were also raised by an octave.
The F# and E notes at 0:34 and 0:36 are shared between the orange and blue notes.
The notes are very close to each other, so I made a few changes for easier viewing purposes.
For starters, the chords at the beginning (orange notes) are obscured from 0:08 until 0:59. They play the exact same notes until they reappear. The MIDI file will have them in place!
The melody (red notes) at 0:23 was raised by two octaves.
The lead (green notes) and countermelody (red notes) at 1:05 were raised by an octave.
You'll notice that the bass notes at 0:54 are quite far apart, and ask for really long stretches. They were simply put that way for accuracy's sake, so feel free to move them closer together, or adjust them however you want in order to play them. :)
The lead notes (purple) at 0:59 and 1:59 were raised two octaves to make them easier to see. The chords (orange) at 1:17 and the lead notes between 0:29 and 0:40 were also raised an octave for the same reason.
The left-most chords (green notes) at 1:29 share notes with the other chords (orange) at times. These green notes alternate between second-inverted C minor chords (C Eb G) and Db major chords (Db F Ab, but we don't play the F).
Later on, you will notice that the trills (orange notes) cover the lead (green notes), but no worries! For the duration that the lead is obscured, it's still playing the same notes as before. When the lead starts to change, it will already be clearly visible. This also applies to the chords (red notes).
The chords (red notes) between 0:37 and 0:48 have also been moved down an octave to make them easier to distinguish from the other notes.
Anyway, after playing the demo a few days ago, I just had to do this one! It's very catchy. I hope this helps! :)
The lead notes (red) and triads (green) share notes at times, so if the lead notes ever make up a part of the triads, know that it's simply covering a note or two of the chord to make it easier to tell what notes the lead is playing. This applies to the notes at 1:44 (yellow) as well. The G# note is covered by the lead sometimes.
The countermelody (purple) at 0:39 has also been moved up two octaves so that it's easier to distinguish from the other notes.
Note: The majority of the yellow notes have been moved down an octave to make them easier to distinguish from the lead notes. They also share notes with the bass part (blue notes) from time to time, which are the following: E at 0:13 and 0:27, F and A# at 0:36, and F# and A at 0:38.
------------------------------------------------------ -Main Channel (Gaming): http://www.youtube.com/user/shadowmetalmario1 -Twitter: twitter.com/PaperMikesFull of Danger - Mario Party【Synthesia】PaperMikes2018-10-05 | Here is a piano tutorial for "Full of Danger" from Mario Party! The MIDI download link is below.
Note: During the last half of the music, the green notes were moved down an octave to make it easier to distinguish them from the orange notes.
This one was weird to work with. It's a lot shorter and much more simple than the last piece I worked on (which was "Proof of Existence"). I went through many levels of detail with that one, so when this cover was just the opposite, it didn't seem to make much sense to me.
This could have actually been done in less than two weeks, I'm quite sure, but I spent a lot of time trying to find something wrong with this one, because it was just very simple overall. At some point during this week, I just decided to cut it out and finalize what I already had. My goal was to ensure that this was loud enough, in order to improve on a mistake I feel I made last cover. I guess not every orchestral cover will be that hard!
Anyway, thanks for listening, and I hope this one lived up to some expectations! :)Great Turquoise Zone - Sonic: Triple Trouble【Synthesia】PaperMikes2018-01-28 | Here's a Synthesia tutorial for Great Turquoise Zone, from Sonic Triple Trouble!
It's been a while since I've done much here. I was mainly busy with another music cover (which is finally done now, at last!), but now that it's over, I can finally move on to others!
With the way I've tried to raise the quality of that VGM series I do, things take a lot longer than before to do. However, I'm still looking to increase the range of VGM I can cover! This year, I'm looking to focus on synths, so I guess we'll see how that goes.
Besides that, hopefully this tutorial was helpful, and all is well!Great Turquoise Zone【Remake/Cover】PaperMikes2017-10-12 | Hello again! Here's the result of a project I finished not long ago, which was to recreate Great Turquoise Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble.
I'd say that it turned out a lot nicer than I thought it would. I made my own 8-bit piece before, but never dove into how I can get the sounds. It was surprisingly challenging, since I didn't use a soundfont (and after all the Game Gear soundfonts I tried didn't meet my needs). It was worth it, though, because now I feel more confident in changing envelopes to achieve different sounds! Sure, it took a month to finish, but that's fine.
Right now, I'm focused on taking a new approach to things, in which I cover more music I'm familiar with to be able to provide more content, so the next cover should come soon as well! I'm a bit worried, since I don't know if that means there'll be a drop in the uniqueness of each individual piece uploaded, but that's just something I'll have to see for myself.
Anyway, thanks for listening! Hope you liked it! :D
------------------------------------------------------ -Main Channel (Gaming): http://www.youtube.com/user/shadowmetalmario1 -Twitter: twitter.com/MaestroMikes -YT Talk: http://yttalk.com/members/mikes.29217 -Discord Server: discord.gg/ywJBJHASong of Healing【Majoras Mask Piano Recording】PaperMikes2017-09-22 | Hello everyone! I recently got a longer A-to-B USB cable, so now I can connect my keyboard to my computer for MIDI input! I was messing around with using different sounds and VSTs, so I ended up recording this. It's been a while since the last upload, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to try this!
Majora's Mask is one of my favorite Zelda games (although I actually really enjoyed most of the ones I've played). Video game music was the primary reason I started learning how to play the piano many years ago, and this was one of the easier pieces to learn, so it had to get on my repertoire at some point. I guess it's been pretty hard-rooted in my brain ever since.
Anyway, hope you like this cover! I have another video I'm hoping will get done next week, so I guess that's something to look out for.
It's been about two years since I've ever composed anything original in FL Studio. I have to say, after covering so much video game music and learning techniques as a result of doing that, this wasn't as hard as I thought! Filling things out was almost like solving a simple puzzle, but figuring out whether certain parts really fit was the real challenge.
Typically, almost all of the music I cover is a challenge one way or another, so I'd expect the same of original pieces. However, I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel confident doing this again. It really feels like I've demonstrated all of the things I've learned so far! I have a lot of music ideas just sitting in a folder begging to be messed with, but for the first time, I feel very confident in completing at least a few of them.
I'd say this is a pretty good sign that I'm very familiar working with common/orchestral instruments. I suppose synths are the next major tools I need to figure out, because I can't do much with them to save my life!
This is probably my hardest cover yet. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I say that just about every time I finish one, but this took two months to figure out. I'm happy that I got pretty close to it, though. I finally have some experience with timpani and contrabassoon layering, as well as more string modifications I never really thought of. I can't remember using horns or trumpets for an orchestral piece, either, so I'm mainly happy that I got some experience with them.
I initially thought this would be too much for me to handle -- and it was pretty hard -- so I'm glad I still stuck with it, even if that meant it wouldn't release until two months later.
With that being said, I'll be presenting (and tackling) a somewhat different kind of challenge not long from now, so hopefully that doesn't tear my limbs apart and pick on my confidence again!
In the meantime, I might do some channel organization here (mainly just the titles).
------------------------------------------------------ Here are a handful of sites that I can be found on! -Main Channel (Gaming): http://www.youtube.com/user/shadowmetalmario1 -Twitter: twitter.com/MaestroMikes -YT Talk: http://yttalk.com/members/mikes.29217 -Discord Server: discord.gg/ywJBJHAKids Land - Chameleon Twist【Synthesia】PaperMikes2017-07-26 | After totally forgetting to upload a tutorial (I'm sorry), here it is! Not a very complicated piece, but I'd say it sounds just as nice as it was originally.Ordon Ranch【Zelda: Twilight Princess Remake/Cover】PaperMikes2017-05-18 | Here's a new cover I did for Game Suite Zone: "Ordon Ranch" from Twilight Princess! This was composed by Koji Kondo, Asuka Ota, and/or Toru Minegishi.
I realized that I put this down in my task book for a May 17th deadline. I felt like this was a bit too soon for the next cover to be released, but I figured I might as well pretend it's set in stone and follow the book anyway. I really pushed myself to upload this by today, so I'm pretty proud of myself.
What I really can't wait to tackle next is a seemingly-traditional-styled orchestral piece. I'm confident it's going to be a pretty big challenge, but I'm doing it anyway. I want those music production experience points!!
Anyway, hope you enjoy this one! Hopefully you think it sounds close to the original.
Better description coming later. I'm tired. Stop rendering at 98% after hours of work, will you Sony Vegas? Pfft.
"Later" also took two months. Double sorry. Working with something like this was definitely a first for me. I definitely feel more comfortable using pitched percussion (like xylophones and marimbas), but I still need to figure out what pad sweeps are. I've mainly dealt with your average instruments, so synthesis is a new concept I'm hoping to figure out soon.
------------------------------------------------------ Here are a handful of sites that I can be found on! -Main Channel (Gaming): http://www.youtube.com/user/shadowmetalmario1 -Twitter: twitter.com/MaestroMikesJungle Adventure【Mario Party Remake/Cover】PaperMikes2017-03-11 | Here's a cover of "Jungle Adventure" from Mario Party! This is more so a "remaster" kind of thing, where I just tried to use the same instruments to breathe new life into it. This was also made for my first episode of Game Suite Zone, where I try to unveil the instruments, sounds, and techniques that go into video game music. youtube.com/watch?v=Z2pTlFmyqOo
This one wasn't difficult at all, which is new! I recently got a new VST that has instruments from multiple regions, so I ending up using mostly Latin and African instruments, which was interesting. I learned quite a bit about sounds I didn't even know were instruments! This should definitely help me with more covers, and composing down the road.
You know, it's been forever since I last uploaded something original. I've spent more time on covers than original stuff at all, really. Perhaps I'll give it another try someday! Anyway, hopefully this sounds good to you!
------------------------------------------------------ Here are a handful of sites that I can be found on! -Main Channel (Gaming): http://www.youtube.com/user/shadowmetalmario1 -Twitter: twitter.com/MaestroMikes -YT Talk: http://yttalk.com/members/mikes.29217Promise - Super Paper Mario【Synthesia】PaperMikes2017-03-04 | Here's a Synthesia tutorial for "Promise", from Super Paper Mario! Terribly sorry that it's just being uploaded. It should have been out much sooner.
Anyway, the piece is quite empty without all of those extra sounds and percussions. I considered adding some bass notes to even it out, but I figured it'd be best I don't try to drastically change things this time around. With that being said, I recommend playing the chords a bit more often, or just messing around with the chords in general, to prevent things from sounding empty, if you prefer.Kids Land【Chameleon Twist Remake/Cover】PaperMikes2017-02-20 | Here's a cover of Kids Land from Chameleon Twist! Synthesia tutorial coming soon!
In an attempt to gain more experience with using certain instruments, I decided to cover this on a whim! I was apparently pretty determined to finish it this month, too, because this only took two days (~16 hours). I guess I must be getting a lot better! Notes repeat a lot, so it was more of a matter of making them sound good and preventing the music from sounding empty.
Anyway, Chameleon Twist is a childhood game of mine that I played a ton. Seeing how it's pretty old, I was curious as to how I could update its music! By covering this, I finally got to use a tuba, as well as a piccolo and trumpet piccolo in unison. Thanks to me covering Rainbow Castle from Mario Party back in January, I was introduced to using petite percussion (tambourines, shakers, etc.) to fill the sound, which was what I did for the third section. After covering Kids Land, I also feel pretty confident in using celestas and marimbas for silly-toned music like this.
Let me know what you think of this! I'm curious to hear what this sounds like to others.
------------------------------------------------------ Here are a handful of sites that I can be found on! -Main Channel (Gaming): http://www.youtube.com/user/shadowmetalmario1 -Twitter: twitter.com/MaestroMikes -YT Talk: http://yttalk.com/members/mikes.29217Promise【Super Paper Mario Remake/Orchestra Cover】PaperMikes2017-02-16 | Happy Belated Valentine's Day! Here's an orchestral cover of Super Paper Mario's "Promise", as requested! Synthesia tutorial coming soon!
I tried to finish this in January, but clearly never did, so I wanted to have it out by February 14th (unfortunately, a day late). The thing about this piece is that the original has a lot of different background noises that really filled the space for sound, and the transitions didn't seem too consistent, so I was confused. I'm inexperienced with making such sounds with instruments, so I did the closest I could get before the 14th, and finally managed to layout the music's progression.
There wasn't much to really transcribe (the main melody repeats a lot), so I had to see what else I could do. I've been casually taking a closer look at how Nintendo composes music, so maybe that helped a little bit (like ending it how it started, and having some instruments (horns/piccolos) to accompany the lead melody).
In the end, I'm mostly proud of being able to tackle this cover, but I'm definitely still conflicted as to how decent (or non-decent) it sounds, so feedback is appreciated! Thanks for listening. :)
I wanted to practice more orchestration, as well as understand percussion better, so I thought I'd go for a favorite childhood theme of mine! This one never gets old, and as a rarity, I think this is just as full-sounding as the original. Super proud!
I'm happy that I somehow managed to get this out within six days! I did not expect this. So far, although short, I've been on a roll when it comes to getting work done, and that's awesome! I'm actually ahead of schedule, for the first time! Super cool! Here I was, thinking nothing would change this year, yet my effort is working somehow. I've got to make up for all of the music I could have made!
Next up is "Promise" from Super Paper Mario. I've been on task so far, so perhaps I can actually get that done before the end of the month!