Chrono Trigger - Secret of the Forest Ambient Remix - by Zack Sottolano Zack Sottolano (Zisotto) 2014-10-18 | This is my remix of Chrono Trigger's "Secret of the Forest" theme. I have titled it "The Depetrification of the Submerged Forest." I think it has a very underwatery feel and I think it is the equivalent of taking a chill pill as well!Chrono Trigger is arguably one of the greatest RPG's of all time. Not only does it boast one of the best plotlines, but it also has one of the best soundtracks ever created, in my opinion. The score was mostly written by Yasunori Mitsuda, along with a few tracks being written by Nobuo Uematsu. The source material for this one (link: youtube.com/watch?v=i_QxGtXSa9E) is extremely well known and has been remixed hundreds, if not thousands, of times. It is a really relaxing, memorable, and soothing melody. I thought I'd brush up on my remixing chops and steer this into a more ambient mix. I wasn't planning on having this turn into a 10 minute piece, but the most important focus for this one was to create a soundscape that was very lush, and I quickly realized in order to fully explore my idea for this song, it'd take some time to develop the sound. I never really did a piece in this style before. It gets frantic early on and then mellows out about halfway through with some laid-back drums, and finally finishes off kind of edgy. The other issue I wanted to learn about and explore more was instrument development, and I tinkered for many hours to tweak the sounds, using effects such as delay, reverb, distortion, EQ, flangers, arpeggiators, envelope shapers, filters, compressors, panning, pitch adjusting, reverse processing, and quite a few more. I also developed sounds in Halion 5 from scratch and honed them to my liking using a zillion different knobs and automating controls such as volume and send effects. I cut down on my total instruments from my last video game remix from 205 down to only 64 for this one. I kind of realized my Wizards and Warriors mix was a bit chaotic and had too many different instruments and too much activity, ideas, and effects going on all at once, so I wanted to it be more cohesive this time around. I utilized virtual instrument plug-ins including pianos, an ocarina, orchestral harps, flamenco guitars, and mostly a ton of "world" and ethnic instruments to give it a more earthy feel. Some of those include a balalaika, pan flutes, a canapa, a balafon kalimba, a Celtic Harp, Himalayan Chimes, a Ney, and a few more. These were rounded off by more traditional instruments such as strings, but with surreal effects added so that they complimented the ethnic instruments, and also the inclusion of various pads for texture and character. I had a lot of fun making this one, it's probably a much different spin on the source material than what most are used to, but that was my intent, as I felt the song greatly lended itself to a subdued vibe that I wanted to experiment with, rather than just throw some beats and effects together. I'm pleased with the result and hope this song takes you away on a blissful reminiscience of the glory days of the SNES, traveling through time with Crono and Co!Special shout-out to Joel Rivera who basically had to force me to play this game!
Wanderlust - Blue Fields Cover [FF8][Piano][World Map Theme] Zack Sottolano (Zisotto) 2017-12-21 | Blue Fields. Who could forget this memorable melody sparking you to action as you first exit Balamb Garden with Squall & Co? This is one of those songs that is permanently etched into my brain due to the countless hours spent grinding on the world map. This whole soundtrack is one of Uematsu's best, but I always liked the sense of mystery and comfort in the repetition of the notes this particular song evoked. I figured the best way to get it out of my head would be to create my own unique interpretation.The final piece in my Piano Collections project, I present to you "Wanderlust". This is a wistful piano-centric orchestral arrangement I composed of the song "Blue Fields" from Final Fantasy 8, originally written by my favorite composer Nobuo Uematsu. Blue Fields can be heard anytime you are traversing about the world map, and is instantly recognizable, catchy, and just gets you in the mood to jaunt about, explore and adventure around the captivating world of FF8. The version used in the game, linked below, is much more up-tempo and has a march-like cadence to it.*ORIGINAL SONG:youtube.com/watch?v=RNdGoENQNQ4For my re-interpretation, I wanted to keep with the piano theme, and slow it down into a plodding, gently developing, brooding, contemplative, and introspective piece. To do this, I first recorded the piano part with light reverb (sorry I didn't make any piano videos for this song) using this sheet music (under Disk 1 - Blue Fields): *SHEET MUSIC:http://ffmusic.ffshrine.org/ff8sheet/ff8-sheet-music.phpAfter that, I duplicated the piano part so it plays twice in succession, as the song itself is fairly short, and I wanted enough time to experiment with it. I wanted to have 2 different variations of the theme to keep it evolving, so for the first part, I focused on orchestral arrangements with countermelodies and soft ambiance. For the second play through, I stripped down some of the ambiance and created a 2nd piano part using a mellow grand piano preset on my Kawai ES7 digital piano and added delay and reverb effects. I then just improvised for about 2 hours with the song on a never-ending loop until I came up with something I liked as an accompaniment melody and laid that track down, which I think added a very ethereal, dreamy quality, a bit similar to my Helen Jane Long cover. I purposely didn’t follow the exact melody of the song for the second half with the improvised piano, and made it a bit more discordant and harsh.The song features 44 tracks, including 4 piano live recordings, violins, ambient textures, pizzicato style strings overlaid on the left hand of the piano to give it that poppy, airy sound like it has in the game…and mostly floaty soundscapes I created messing around with synths and using the wonderful creation engine that is Omnisphere Spectrasonics 2. I impressed myself by somehow recording, mixing, and mastering this entire song in 3 sessions over 2 days (pretty long 6-8 hour sessions though), a minor miracle for someone who usually agonizes and obsesses over every small detail.Piano Collections will feature 8 tracks and will be submitted on December 21st through Distrokid and should be out on Spotify and elsewhere within the week. Please give it a listen! I am taking the remainder of the year off from musical projects to perhaps work on a website and enjoy the holiday. Starting in January I will be working on my first original solo album which will infuse piano, chill hop, electronic, and ambient. As always thanks for listening. Tell your friends! Subscribe! Enjoy!-Zack
Watermark Reprise - Enya [NEW Version] Zack Sottolano (Zisotto) 2017-12-15 | Welcome back listeners! Today I bring you the 3rd and final remake of my piano covers that will be featured in my "Piano Collections" album, which should be out within the next 2 weeks on Spotify. From Enya's debut album in 1988, this is the title track, Watermark. I very faintly added an ocean scene with very little opacity underneath the original video for some calming vibes. Look closely and let the waves sweep you away. This song reminds me of innocence, youth, simplicity of living, and holds a lot of fond memories for me. Hope you enjoy.-Zack*Follow me on Spotify: open.spotify.com/artist/2tat9MZnRP8BZIHiYiR4Td*Support me on Patreon: patreon.com/zacksottolano*Listen on SoundCloud: soundcloud.com/zack-sottolano
Eyes On Me Reprise - Nobuo Uematsu [NEW Version][FF8] Zack Sottolano (Zisotto) 2017-12-06 | ***Listen with headphones for a more intimate experience******If you have intimacy issues or desire a less intimate experience, try listening with a plutonic friend while avoiding eye contact***Settle into your PJ's and moccasins (or strip down nude if you prefer), heat up a cup of cocoa (or bourbon if that's your cup of cocoa), and ease back into your favorite rocking chair as you soak in the sonic delights of Nobuo Uematsu's "Eyes On Me" from Final Fantasy 8, with an added twist. In this video, I use my grotesquely disembodied hands to play the piano with unparalleled mediocrity. This is the 2nd of 3 remakes I am doing for my Piano Collections album, which will include 8 songs in total and be available on Spotify and all platforms this month, December 2017. I will be spicing up my "Watermark" cover by Enya next, with some fancy audio techniques, as well as actual spices, such as turmeric, sage, and oregano. I'd also like to take a moment to thank everyone who has supported me on YouTube as well as Spotify. If you have supported me in a real life, offline format, that too is something I treasure. My embellished cover of Helen Jane Long's "Eclipse" landed on some big playlists such as Release Radar and Discover Weekly, and garnered about 20,000 streams and almost 12,000 unique listeners in its first month, which was totally unexpected, greatly appreciated, and an awesome surprise. The rest of my tracks haven't fared too well just yet, so I felt inclined to work more on the piano-related cover material for now, hence this upcoming album.For this remake, I kept the original piano track from 3 years ago, and decided to scrap everything else, which was essentially only a basic, generic-sounding choir track. I'll leave the old track up as I did with "Near Light" in case listeners prefer one version over another. I decided to shift the feel of the song in a new direction by writing a silky smooth, slippery-like-a-seal countermelody for a classic nylon string guitar. I have never really written guitar parts before in any orchestration because I don't play guitar particularly well. I actually don't play it at all. But I was able to capture a delicate and pretty sound by tweaking some of the VST instrument Audio Inserts on a stock nylon strings plug-in, and felt it was a perfect compliment to the piano. I live-recorded all non-piano instrument tracks using my Novation Launchkey MIDI controller, which included a handful of pads, section strings, a violin, a viola, pizzicato strings with delay FX, some ambient and atmospheric effects, a subdued, haunting choir effect (around 1:44), and bells/chimes. I tried to write all of the parts very subtly, so as not to overpower the beautiful piano part, aside from the guitar track, which is meant to be interwoven with the piano. I ended up with 20 tracks, a pretty modest amount for me. I used my usual equipment for recording, Cubase for mixing and mastering, and Omnisphere Spectrasonics 2 for VST instruments. Thanks again, and enjoy.-Zack
Near Light Reprise - Olafur Arnalds [NEW Version] Zack Sottolano (Zisotto) 2017-11-28 | Hello again, faithful internet wanderers! I have been working hard to create a more public presence over the past month, so I haven't been able to upload new material. I am happy to say that my music is now available for your listening pleasure on all major platforms: Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music, Google Play Music, Amazon, Deezer, and Pandora, to name a few. Just search for my name "Zack Sottolano".I am intending on putting out my first original solo EP album comprised of piano and lush chill vibes, in early to mid 2018. Before I embark on that journey, though, I wanted to compile some of my more popular piano covers into an album titled "Piano Collections" so that it is also available on Spotify, etc. One of the songs I wanted to include was Olafur Arnalds "Near Light", a song I covered as one of my first song attempts about 3 years ago. I always felt I didn't do the song justice because I was fairly inexperienced back when I started out. So I decided to dust this piece off and give it a polish. I rewrote all of the orchestration and automated it with an OCD-like compulsion that would make even the most anal-retentive person proud. I added some new string parts and dreamy piano touches here and there. Nothing too extravagant. The only parts I kept were the original piano recording I did and the synth sound toward the middle. I am going to keep the old version up as a reminder of my progress and for nostalgic purposes.I am going to also re-do my Eyes On Me cover as well as my Watermark cover over the next couple weeks (and will release first here on YouTube) before submitting all of the songs for the Piano Collections album. So stay tuned for that!As always, your support is always appreciated. If you like what you hear, please subscribe and come back! Thank you for listening :)
vicissitude - Original Song - Chilled Electronic - Zack Sottolano Zack Sottolano (Zisotto) 2017-10-26 | Hello, friends. It's been a while. A year and a half actually. The reason for the hiatus was a combo of things: Finishing a programming degree, living at work, dying at work, relocating far away from my hometown, and feeling I didn't have enough balance in my life to tap into my creative energies. But now I'm finally feeling in a proper place to return to my composing and music production in the studio. I feel much more focused now after some major life shifts. I had to relearn a lot from my old bag of musical tricks, but I think I picked it back up puhreety, prettyyy, pretty quickly *insert Larry David meme here* and churned out this original song in about 10 days. The song is called "vicissitude", which is reflective of my current state of life, being in a new environment. The name can be defined as a change or variation, an alternate state, changing phases or conditions, the ups and downs of life…I interpret it sort of as the flow of life and the way people and situations evolve, mutate, change over time, circle back around…perhaps an awareness of impermanence in anything…and accepting this so as to appreciate living in the present more and being grateful for the people, lessons, and circumstances in your life. That's what I tried to convey through the music, at least.This song, produced in Cubase 8.0 with a heavy dose of VST plug-in assistance from Omnisphere Spectrasonics 2, features 198 total tracks, tons of written automation and delay effects, and nearly imploded my computer, not an easy task considering it's stacked with 32GB RAM and an i7 processor. In fact, I had to export the audio mixdown into 6 separate segments of wav files and then stitch it together in a completely new project because my computer couldn't process the massive amount of instrumentation in one fell swoop. I wanted to create both a deep, resounding beat and bass with driving, forceful drums, but also an ethereal, dreamy soundscape to contrast this and act as a bed of airy, pleasant-sounding noise for the drums to traverse and break through. I tried to focus first on beefing up the drum tracks against the creation of my background textures. I got the idea for the song after messing around on the piano and simply started with just a 2 chord progression: A minor to F major. Since the song is centered around a constant change, I tried to re-invent various new melodies which stemmed from the harmonies, with no clear cut main melody, although some EDM style trumpets/brass and a floaty, heavily reverbed pizzicato string synth took over briefly here and there. Halfway through the song, I completely shifted gears and changed the key and feel of the song from a darker, more cryptic vibe to an uplifting, happier, hopeful one… kind of Enya-ish quality at some points. An issue I tried to zone in on was to not muddy the song up since there are just so many layers of sound with the absurd number of tracks (my biggest to date by a lot)…as I'm aware this is something I'm notorious for…overproducing a song. I'm going to try to make this a priority more going forward…I think I just had to get it all out of my system with this song. I also want to concentrate on cutting my overall song length down and having more replay value. In the spirit of upcoming Halloween, I decided to parse through several hours worth of Vincent Price sound clips, including the first half of the movie The Last Man on Earth…and it turned out his voice was perfect for adding a horrific spin to the song. I also included a few samples of his wife in the movie, Virginia Morgan, voiced by Emma Danieli. I am now in the elite company of Michael Jackson and Alice Cooper for artists collaborating with the velvety-voiced godfather of the macabre in their music! I hadn't intended for it to happen, but his voice kind of gave it a bit of a horror vibe I was really enjoying, so I played it up to that end and I tried to swap the lyrics around to reflect terror and darkness during the first segment, and then a lighter, optimistic quality for the second half. If you listen closely around the 2:43 mark, you'll hear JB Smoove (Leon Black on Curb Your Enthusiasm) make a brief appearance on the downbeats with some "Yeah"s. I had originally included a lot of his vocal clips in the song, but ultimately it just didn't make sense with the song's style so I cut 99% of it out, aside from those brief 4 measures.As always, thanks for listening, especially to my continued supporters who have stuck around during the long absence. I hope to have more steady releases coming out moving forward and would like to try and get a presence going on Spotify in the near future, so stay tuned. ***Listening with quality headphones is advised for the best aural experience***Don't forget to hit that subscribe button!!Become my Patron!: patreon.com/zacksottolano
WHO MADE YOU? [Cornel West Remix] [Original] [Myth of the Self-Made Man] Zack Sottolano (Zisotto) 2016-07-23 | Shatter the myth of the self-made man by listening to this song and Cornel's message!This piece is pretty experimental and completely different than what I normally make, but I feel it’s important to continue to evolve as an artist and musician, and this song just seemed to write itself, and I had a ton of fun creating it. My girlfriend had showed me this clip [youtube.com/watch?v=40cIIFYb6z0] of Cornel West’s awesome and inspiring Self-Made Man speech some time ago, and I re-stumbled upon it on YouTube about a month ago. I had been making 4 or 5 different loops over the course of a couple days and hadn’t done anything with them, so I decided to rip the audio from his speech and just mess around and see what I could come up with. I tried it out in one of my loops that I thought suited his voice and was pretty pleased. I only had 8 bars and kind of forgot about the idea for a month. Yesterday, I was feeling motivated to produce and was mentally in the zone, and I wrote and mixed this entire piece over the past 2 days, in about 17 total hours. The track was produced in Cubase 8.0, and I also utilized Spectrasonics Omnisphere 2. There are approximately 50 tracks. I wanted to make it sound very gritty, filthy, ominous, and dark, yet enigmatic, inspiring, and enlightening. I think the music really complements his raw, assertive voice. All of the audio samples are from the YouTube clip linked above, and all the music is original and written by myself. I tried to stay mostly true to the flow of ideas in his speech, but I did take artistic liberties at times and mix parts around to give it some smoother vibes. It is not all in chronological order. There’s definitely hip-hop influences and RnB elements mixed within. I tried to also include my signature ambient stylings throughout the piece as well. I made use of various audio send effects and created a few sounds from scratch in Omnisphere. This is only my second time working with actual audio samples, so it’s not quite as polished as my usual music, but I think it’s pretty close! Hope you enjoy!Thank you to my lovely gf Marlana for coming up with the idea for the song title!**Listen with quality headphones for best sound**Zack’s SoundCloud: soundcloud.com/zack-sottolanoZack’s Twitter: twitter.com/zacksottolanoBecome my Patron!: patreon.com/zacksottolano
Anabiosis - Original - Ambient - Zack Sottolano Zack Sottolano (Zisotto) 2016-06-12 | Anabiosis is an old Greek word meaning “a bringing back to consciousness; reanimation after apparent death.” One might twist that definition to mean a rebirth, or second chance. Death doesn’t have to mean the termination of physical being. Death simply can be perceived as an end. It is often unwanted and undesirable. Sometimes it is necessary, however, for new life. It is a natural byproduct of being alive, and a universal experience which everyone must face at some point.The photography used are all pictures taken by myself today while walking on the charming Karl Stirner Arts Trail, a place which holds a lot of happy memories for me. It also connects to a local cemetery which is included in the pictures. I recently acquired a Canon EOS 70D SLR camera and have been trying to teach myself various photography techniques so hopefully you enjoy the shots. Having a camera handy definitely makes you try to spot beauty in crevices and corridors you may have normally overlooked. The photos also include my lovely feline, Rupert the cat.I wrote this song using all live recording, meaning I played each part and recorded each track…well, live. I used Cubase 8.0 and Omnisphere Spectrasonics 2 to mix and produce the final product and clean up some tracks. Video production was done in Cyberlink PowerDirector 14. Surprisingly it took me only 1 week to create this song and put everything together. I would classify it as a bit of an uplifting ambient beats style, at least initially. I used a lot of earthy instruments and ambient textures to create a somewhat dream pop sound, though it becomes very dark and reflective halfway through. There are faint water noises near the 06:00 mark coming through to indicate renewal. There is also the presence of some 80’s style synths that I tweaked to achieve a very rich, heavy weight to them. There are 61 tracks written in total. I divided the song into 3 parts: Birth (00:02), Life (01:36), & Death (03:57), and tried to model the sounds accordingly. The magic and wonder of birth (not just of children, but of ideas, relationships, friendships, movements, etc.) …Life: the joy of being alive, sharing and experiencing with others, making connections, love, forming ourselves and our identity. Lastly, the section pertaining to death, I tried to exude a deep somberness that was an extension of my personal state of mind. I actually started writing the beginning of this piece during a very exhilarating period of potential rebirth in my own life, which is reflected in the happy, plucky sounds. When I began writing this final portion, I had come to a realization that something very important and dear to me was coming to an end. As much as I may squirm and struggle to preserve it, as with death, the circumstances were beyond my grasp. I was not planning on writing the ending as it is and had instead intended for a more upbeat vibe throughout, but I felt overcome with grief, sadness, and helplessness, and it spilled into the psyche of my music. Composing this last melody is the only thing that let me embrace the pain and really feel its effect on me, which I think is necessary to move past it and continue to grow without being overcome. If hurt is internalized and ignored, it eats away at the soul. Making this music really helped me, and I want this song to be a source of healing and empowerment to other people suffering from hurt and pain in their lives to feel regained power, strength, purpose, and control over their lives. Thank you for listening.* Become my Patron!: patreon.com/zacksottolano * SoundCloud: soundcloud.com/zack-sottolano* Twitter: twitter.com/zacksottolano
Zack Sottolano - DKC - Aquatic Ambience Remix - KONGS FINAL SWIM [Cinematic][Ambient] Zack Sottolano (Zisotto) 2016-04-15 | Ahh, Donkey Kong Country. I can still remember the first time I played this masterpiece of a game for the trusty SNES. I was enjoying a fine day of swimming at the community public pool, saturating and infusing my 11 year old skin with dark, Caribbean suntan oils, causing all the poolside mothers and grandmothers to gawk and eventually be forced to dive into the pool to cool down their rapidly ascending body temperatures before Zack Fever overtook their helpless bodies. Was it possible for an 11 year old to have such a stunning, nearly asphyxiating physique? (Some of my memories of this day may be a little fuzzy). After finishing up a day of cannonballs and snack bar pierogis with the fam, I headed over to my sister's friend's house, Lauren, where I was offered to play this new game, DKC. I was totally blown away by the state of the art graphics (which, for the time, were the most beautiful of any game I'd played to date). Even more so, I was really taken aback by the soundtrack, which seemed to capture every nuance of the environment; the real feel of adventure, excitement, and mystery lurking around every corner, behind every imaginary wall, underneath every crevice, inside every magical, propellant barrel. I was completely enchanted with the diverse and perfectly meshed sounds. I remember even pausing on certain levels (as the music would continue to play), and leaving the music on as the "Mood music" for my room, and also when I went to sleep. I would later discover the composer was the famous and brilliantly innovative David Wise, who remains to this day as a favorite composer of mine. I would credit a great deal of his work as my inspiration for trying my hand at creating, developing, and producing my own music. Thanks, David!This piece holds a rather loose interpretation of the original, which I'll link below. I'd categorize this mix as having a cinematic quality to it while still trying to retain elements of ambience, though a bit more brash and assertive than your typical ambient. I took a look at the sheet music to assist with writing and just started composing various tracks to accentuate the melody, creating counter melodies and original harmonies. Eventually I got quite carried away to arrive at the final product you are listening to now; there is a lot of artistic liberties taken that stray a good deal from the main melody. I began this project back in October and have been chipping away at it off and on for 6 months, investing a painstaking amount of time, and altering it over 50 sessions, sometimes completely scrapping sections, other times, endlessly tweaking controls to get just the right sound. I ended up with 139 total instruments, mostly all of which feature written automation of some sort controlling volume, modulation, and effects. This song was created using Cubase 8.0, and also a new addition to my repertoire, Omnisphere Spectrasonics 2, which I can't say enough positive things about. The vast amount of customization of sounds is unreal, and you could spend weeks just going through the pre-set instruments, let alone using the synths and other tools to create your very own unique vibrations. I used an SNES emulator to play through the stage and capture the video footage. Aquatic Ambience is probably one of the top 3 most recognizable and memorable tunes from the game, so I hope my interpretation does it justice. Thank you for listening! :)Original Source Material: youtube.com/watch?v=LDvKwSVuUGAPiano Sheet Music for my Fellow Pianists!: http://www.ninsheetmusic.org/download/pdf/1992Become my Patron!: patreon.com/zacksottolano
Where is my Mind? -Maxence Cyrin [Mr. Robot][Pixies][Piano Cover] Zack Sottolano (Zisotto) 2015-10-11 | Do you like Mr. Robot? Do you like the Pixies? Maxence Cyrin? Music? Do you like the song Where is my Mind? Do you like ANYTHING!? There's no pleasing you, is there?!After getting completely absorbed in the hit hacker TV show Mr. Robot a couple weeks ago, I was delighted to hear this familiar tune during episode 9. "Where is my mind?" is an awesome song by The Pixies that plays during the end scene of one of my favorite movies, Fight Club, when Edward Norton's character officially disconnects from his alter ego, Tyler Durden. The Pixies' version is very rock-oriented and has cool clashing guitar riffs. On the conch (new phrase I'm pushing to take over "on the contrary"...plz help), this piano cover arranged by French pianist and composer Maxence Cyrin puts a melancholy, classy, elegant and simple spin on the original. It's fairly uncomplicated to play and seems to glide effortlessly on the keys. Its subtle beauty can put you to sleep even when playing it, so be careful, fellow pianists! This song chimes in when Elliot is also experiencing a similar detachment from his fictitiously created alter ego(s?). This video was shot using a vintage filter. Audio was recorded on my Kawai ES7 digital piano and mixed through Cubase 8. I added no effects aside from reverb. Hope you enjoy! Thank you for listening and subscribing! :D#fsocietySHEET MUSIC: http://southpawbrown.com/wp-content/uploads/Where-is-my-mind.pdf* Become my Patron!: patreon.com/zacksottolano * SoundCloud: soundcloud.com/zack-sottolano* Twitter: twitter.com/zacksottolano
Castle Hunting - David Nevue (Piano Cover) Zack Sottolano (Zisotto) 2015-10-11 | Amidst the falling temperatures of Autumn, keep your sense of adventure keen and your spirit warm and fiery with this lovely, magical piano tune from David Nevue's 2001 stellar solo piano album "Postcards from Germany." David composed this CD after a visit to…you guessed it, Germany, and perfectly captured the feelings of awe and wonder at the architecture and culture with his captivating compositions. Specifically, I would suspect this song is about jaunting and gallivanting about from castle to castle. I personally associate it with the joy of being a kid and exploring new places for the first time, creating vivid memories filled with admiration for the world, and its secrets, mysteries, and surprises. Perhaps daydreaming about visiting majestic places from the safety of your bedroom while peering out the window, glimpsing a sunny afternoon fading into night. The first time I heard this song, I instantly loved the simple, light-hearted and beautiful melody and had to learn it. It is surprisingly as much fun to play as it is to hear, as a lot of the chord progressions flow nicely together. It is played on my Kawai ES7 and recorded into Cubase 8 through a Focusrite Scarlett Audio Interface. I didn't add any effects aside from reverb to make it a bit more dreamy and cohesive. I wanted to return to my roots and leave the electronic sounds inside my bag of tricks for a bit and just play some piano. Thank you to David Nevue for creating such magnificent music! If you want sheets, please support the musician and buy his sheet music here: http://www.davidnevue.com/sheetmusic.htm I hope this song brings some peace and merriment to your day. No stuffed bunnies were harmed during the filming of this video. They were, however, aurally delighted.* SoundCloud: soundcloud.com/zack-sottolano* Twitter: twitter.com/zacksottolano
Zack Sottolano Galimatias - Original Electronica Song Zack Sottolano (Zisotto) 2015-09-25 | Have you ever heard someone say "Testing, test test" on a microphone and thought, "Wow, that would make a great song!" Me neither. But one thing led to another and yadda yadda yadda, this song now exists. I originally started recording a piano cover of Janet Jackson's "Again" and decided to use my new Rode microphone to make my singing debut and do some spoken word of the lyrics over the piano in a pseudo-British accent with some improvisations. Which was predictably horrible. But seeing as how I've never worked with vocals or audio files for that matter (aside from when recording the piano, as I usually work with MIDI), I decided it was time to teach myself and I wasn't ready to scrap my extremely corny samples just yet!So this song was born and started out as a joke. I thought the phrase "Testing, test test" which permeates throughout the song had a certain flow to it, and built the rest of the song around it. I sliced up clips of my Oscar-worthy spoken word performance, and sprinkled them throughout the song. I added some effects such as pitch shifting (to get the really high, child-like sound and also at the end the sound of a woman's voice), delay, reverb, and EQ. But all the voice clips you hear are from my angelic-sounding larynx. All music, composition, and arrangement was created by me. Galimatias is an antiquated word that means "stupid, confused, meaningless talk" aka gibberish which I thought sums up the vocals of this song. If you are looking for a deep, spiritual meaning in the lyrics, you've come to the wrong place, PAL! But hey, it's all about the music! It was fun to work with vocal audio for the first time and learn how to manipulate it, so I'm excited to do more stuff with lyrics in the future. Thanks for listening! Frumma frumma frumma! :DSoundCloud: soundcloud.com/zack-sottolanoTwitter: twitter.com/zacksottolano
Cuddle Jam - Inspired by Star Ocean 2 - Original Surreal Orchestral Arrangement by Zack Sottolano Zack Sottolano (Zisotto) 2015-08-22 | Welcome back, faithful listeners! Star Ocean 2: The Second Story is one of my mostest favoritest RPG's from my youthful days spent soaking in the wonder and creativity of the artificial worlds of video game splendor while my body slowly drained of Vitamin D from lack of sunlight. This game's soundtrack is a bit of a sleeper hit, IMO…it's a top 5 PS1 soundtrack, if you ask me, though a lot of people may have not even heard of it. The composer, Motoi Sakuraba, makes the characters, emotions, and landscapes come alive with his incredibly lush, engulfing yet soft, tender, expressive and subtle compositions. I've always greatly admired his work, particularly in this game; it's phenomenal. The melodies are often so simple, yet so rich and full of nostalgic feels. I'm always amazed with how much awesomeness composers from the late 90's/early 00's were able to cram into the meager PlayStation 1. (YouTube won't let me have a super long description, so if you'd like to read more about the song's production, check my comments below!)This song is loosely based around the song "Cuddle" from the game. Here is a link to the source material for comparison. Definitely check out the whole soundtrack too, it's outstanding! SOURCE MATERIAL: youtube.com/watch?v=aw2zRnCAXAUThank you for your continued support everyone! Please subscribe if your ears are happy after listening :)My SoundCloud: soundcloud.com/zack-sottolano
Zack Sottolano - Ghost Chase - Original Composition Zack Sottolano (Zisotto) 2015-08-07 | This song is about some sneaky ghosts getting all up in your shit. It's full of filthy bass lines, some haunting, phantasmagorical sound FX, unholy drumming from beyond the grave, and enough ectoplasmic, undead synths to keep even a ghost's heart pumping.I'm really getting into creating original pieces lately. I finally figured out how to sidechain in Cubase, which allowed me to create the pumping effects and add some crazy texture to the song. I linked up the pads, bass line, and arpeggiated flute to the kick drum side chain trigger using sends, and also connected a few other instruments to the sidechain as well near the end. This is probably my favorite song I've created so far, so I hope you enjoy it! Thanks for listening! A good pair of headphones will give you the best quality listening experience. If you don't subscribe, Mr. Ghost will kill you in your sleep! :(
Zack Sottolano - Neuroplasticity - Original Composition Zack Sottolano (Zisotto) 2015-07-25 | Neuroplasticity can be defined as the changes in neural pathways and synapses due to changes in behavior, environment, neural processes, thinking, and emotions. I like to think of it as an inherent ability within us to re-wire ourselves, adapt, and evolve based on life experiences and through the acquisition of knowledge. Breaking free of the challenges of ritualistic, habitual routine and thought process can be challenging. Many people find comfort in the common mainstream narratives handed down to them. This song is about having the courage to know oneself and discard tired, regressive ways of thinking despite social pressures. This is my first original piece in quite a while. I've been working on solely original stuff now as I feel I've learned enough from making remixes to be able to craft my own material. I may still revisit some remixes down the road for fun, though! I wanted the song itself to represent a constantly evolving and progressing idea. It circumvents around a main theme and creates variations and alternative pathways to explore its end destination. It's jammed with counter melodies which, in some sense, are supposed to reflect the chaotic nature of multiple thoughts streaming through one's head, while still trying to remain harmonious and fluid as a whole. I used 69 virtual instrument tracks to create an environment filled with synapse-y like sounds, pulses, electronica, and an extreme amount of synths and automation. I really tried to focus on developing individual instruments and synths in Halion Sonic, and created a lot of send effects. Delays, reverb, EQ, arpeggiators, beat designers, and the like were used to create specific desired effects. This was all made in Cubase 8.0. I wanted the overall mood to be uplifting and optimistic. I hope you enjoy!I am already working on my next song, so please subscribe and come back for more listening pleasures in the future! :)I had to include a picture of Krang from TNMT in the vid. Krang likes this kind of music. #Donatello4Lyfe
The Binding of Isaac - Serenity (Piano) Zack Sottolano (Zisotto) 2015-06-08 | If you thought you were having a shitty day, consider the story of Isaac. Isaac's mother has been hearing voices from above and decides she must sacrifice her son via butcher knife to appease the gods. Based on the biblical text of the same name, this game is filled with some pretty haunting and chilling, but nonetheless awesome melodies composed by Danny Baranowsky.I've been on hiatus from the music scene for many months due to time constraints from school and work, so my producing skills are a little rusty, and I wanted to hop back into it with an easy (to produce) piece. I am hoping to create some new original material in the coming months and branching out into some different genres I've been experimenting with. This song was recorded on my Kawai ES7 into Cubase 7.5. I duplicated the piano track and added tape saturation, a vintage compressor, an envelope shaper, and some minor EQ, as well as a ModMachine and some reverb effects to help create the sound I wanted. This arrangement of the song was written by Scamper205, check out his channel! I found parts of it surprisingly difficult to play and it took quite a few takes to get this one right. Thank you for listening. Please subscribe! :)
Helen Jane Long - Eclipse Re-Envisioned by Zack Sottolano (Dualing Piano + Orchestration) Zack Sottolano (Zisotto) 2014-09-21 | The song "Eclipse" is from British composer Helen Jane Long's album Porcelain. I highly recommend checking out this album, along with her other 2 – Intervention and Embers. Her style tends to focus around melodic piano and various string accompaniment and is extremely soothing, calming, and refreshing. She also composes music for movies and commercials and you'd probably recognize her song The Aviators from the British Airways commercial. For a comparison to the original song, here is a link to the track I replicated: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y52P4wgo1QgAfter writing 205 VST tracks for my last massive undertaking, I decided it'd be a nice break to do a simple piano song. Initially intending to only cover the piano part and then add strings in Cubase, I started recording the piano track. However, the remixer in me came out to play, and I started tweaking audio effects on my piano through Cubase. The main piano melody has a compressor and reverb effects, and is also developed further with EQ, an envelope shaper, and tape saturation. This all creates a nice soft, resounding ambient piano sound. After further tinkering, I created a really neat piano effect and sound by using EQ, tape saturation, another envelope shaper, a vintage compressor, reverb, and a delay effect. The result is that the 2nd piano has a dream-like quality of soft repeating reverberation that echoes the note several times after it is pressed. I found this sound extremely pleasing and wanted to include it in the song, so I ended up listening to the main theme while improv-ing the 2nd melody many, many times until I liked what I came up with. Then I recorded the 2nd piano part from memory (which is the 2nd video box in the top right). It is intended to compliment rather than overpower the original melody, and consists of a lot of running scales. I should also note that I included a 3rd piano part for 2 sections that I wanted to add the 2nd piano sound, but didn't have in the take that I did when I shot the video. I didn't feel it necessary to include a 3rd video because there was only about 15 seconds of playing in it total, so if you hear some phantom notes when I am pressing no keys, then you've discovered the 3rd piano track which is video-less, and I congratulate you on the find!I duplicated both piano tracks in Cubase to create a richer sound, and then wrote parts for a violin, an echo on the violin, a cello, and also an entire string section. Aside from writing the original harmony piano part, I also took some artistic liberty and wrote an original solo for the strings which begins at the 2:06 mark and continues through until the 3:02 mark, in place of the strings from the original. The rest of the strings I attempted to write by listening to the song and playing it by ear.I learned some new techniques while transcribing the strings. I learned how to add tremolo effects (the shaking "trembling" effect you will hear on certain sections. I also learned how to use automation to control the volume in the midst of recording, to create swelling, peaking, and a nice ebb and flow of string sounds. Reverb was also added to the strings along with vibrato, and the large string section has some stereo enhancing effects to create a more luxurious and rich quality. I did some auto-panning effects on the violin too during the unique original melody part to really make it pop and come across the speakers. Throw in some mixing and mastering and you've got a finished track!Hopefully some of this will help any musicians trying to learn how to recreate a certain sound using their DAW! I know it can be frustrating sometimes wanting a certain sound and not knowing how to get it. I am really pleased with how this turned out, and think I may prefer it to the original, but that's probably just my musician's ego talking.I also learned how to put video within video to make this YouTube clip. I used Wondershare Video Editor. I edited and cropped both videos first in Windows Movie Maker and then imported them into Wondershare. If you are pondering whether or not you are having a seizure at the 0:50 – 1:15 section or not, rest assured, you are probably not. My mom called my phone during the recording causing the video to freak out. Thanks mom!I hope you enjoy the song! It's perfect for sleepytime, studying, or just getting into relaxation mode! Turns out I really like writing orchestration, so I may do more of these types of songs. Thank you so much for listening! :)
Wizards and Warriors Chillstep Remix Kuros Kompression - Zack Sottolano Zack Sottolano (Zisotto) 2014-08-31 | Join me, children, as we embark on a magical adventure aboard the sensory landscape of your aural receptors. In this piece, which can eloquently be summed up as a monumental shitstorm of my OCD, I tackle the challenge of breathing fresh oxygen into some of the most memorable 8-bit themes from the classic NES games Wizards and Warriors and Ironsword: Wizards and Warriors 2, composed by the magnificent David Wise, also known for composing the music to the Donkey Kong Country series. Utilizing 205 unique instruments and sounds and clocking in at just under 9 minutes, this was easily my biggest musical challenge to date. I've been chipping away and tweaking this for over a month, with somewhere over 60 cumulative hours. I attempt to learn a new facet of the music production processes with each song, and this time I focused on tempo switching and manipulating synths using plug-ins and adding send effects to create the desired sounds for various instruments. I also worked with some vocal kits to spice the tracks up. At its fastest, the beat hits 245 bpm, so don't listen to this song if you're getting ready to sleep!There are quite a bit of original melodies I created to transition between the 3 themes I explored in this remix, and it is heavily layered with multiple original counter-melodies and harmonies, while still trying not to be chaotic or overwhelming the main themes.It kicks off with the Wind Mountain theme from the 1st stage of Ironsword: Wizards and Warriors 2. The middle song is "Outside Castle IronSpire" from Wizards and Warriors, and I finish up with an epic take on the opening Title track from Wizards and Warriors, perhaps the most well-recognized and attempted song from the series.This game always used to make me feel heroic as a kid, and I had this odd habit of playing it every year on my birthday. The melodies are timeless and still relevant and being replicated 20+ years later. I tried to put a unique spin on this jam and have listened to it probably literally over 2000 times to create this finished product, and I don't think I can ever listen to it again haha. It was created exclusively in Cubase using an assortment of VST instruments and effects. Sit back, put on some headphones, and enjoy! :)The first picture was made by me using artistic effects in powerpoint, as was the cover picture. I'll include time links to the various parts:Intro: 0:00Wind Mountain Theme: 0:34Interlude: 2:15Outside Castle IronSpire: 2:25IronSpire Outro: 3:09Intermission: 3:45Build-up: 4:03Intro to Title Track: 4:47Title Track: 5:42
Zack Sottolano - Through The Darkness - Original Composition Zack Sottolano (Zisotto) 2014-07-25 | It is my pleasure to bring you my first original track release, "Through the Darkness." It is an atmospheric journey featuring 82 different instrument tracks. Kind of a sinister intro fused with some trance, electronic, and dance elements. Took around 20 hours to create. I am pleased with the outcome. I've come a long way in only 2 1/2 months of music production, I think. I'm really excited to learn more. Hope you enjoy!© Zachary Sottolano 2014
Enya - Watermark ***OLD VERSION*** (Piano + Harmony Cover) Zack Sottolano (Zisotto) 2014-06-30 | NOTE: This is the first, older version of this song I did. For a more pleasant sounding cover I recently did, follow this link!: youtube.com/watch?v=MxKFnM2tk7wChanging pace significantly from my last upload, I wanted to slow things down, and decided on a whim to do this song. From Enya's debut album in 1988, this is the title track, Watermark. I find her music extremely calming and uplifting and just wanted to see if I could replicate it to some degree. This proved rather difficult as she uses, at times, hundreds of vocal tracks layered together, along with synths. Since I don't have a microphone yet and my voice isn't quite as angelic as hers, I thought it more fitting to attempt to recreate some of the mood by mixing choir and vocal virtual instrument plug-ins in Cubase.I recorded the piano part which was quite simple and took all of about 5 minutes to learn, and once recorded, duplicated it and ran it through a tape saturator and some EQ to give it more richness and a more ethereal sound. Then I just layered several vocal, bass, and string accompaniment tracks that I wrote and added reverb.This song reminds me of innocence, youth, simplicity of living, and holds a lot of fond memories for me. Hope you enjoy.
Zack Sottolano - Wild Arms: Port Town Theme Re-Imagined - Original Arrangement Zack Sottolano (Zisotto) 2014-06-22 | DISCLAIMER: If you dislike the woodblock, do not listen to this song or you may become suicidal.Ironically, I have never played this RPG, which is unusual considering I've played nearly every RPG known to mankind in my younger days. However, once I stumbled upon this ridiculously catchy tune in the midst of spirally into an endless YouTube abyss of music videos, I couldn't get it out of my head. I tried to re-envision this song in an attempt to exorcise its hold on my neural pathways. I can't express how much joy I get from recreating my own unique versions of music like this. I love the production process and building layer upon layer of sound. It's new to me, as I only played piano, hand bells, and oboe, and have no prior experience with music production. I did this entire song over a 2 day period of about 10 total hours. I ended up with 39 different instrument tracks and did the entire song in MIDI. I am used to learning songs with sheet music for the piano, however I am pretty proud of myself as I did this entire transcription of each instrument listening by ear. While the main themes are present, I added my own additional melodies, counter-melodies, harmonies, etc. so hopefully it does justice to the original and makes you feel a little frisky.This song was written by Michiko Naruke. Here is a link to the original song from the game for comparison:youtube.com/watch?v=lBEvtA4UuwkI'd love to do this for a living, if anyone would like to hire me to make video game music! From my brain to your ears...enjoy!
Zack Sottolano - Legend of Zelda Mash-Up Medley - Original Arrangement Zack Sottolano (Zisotto) 2014-06-17 | ***Please listen with headphones or quality speakers for the best sound!***For my favorite game series of all time, The Legend of Zelda, I wanted to do an original arrangement. I've been experimenting in Cubase now for a month or so and have really gotten the hang of creating loops, sequences, drum patterns, and special effects. This entire song was created by myself and mixed painstakingly for probably 15-20 hours in Cubase using 36 different instrument tracks, each written note by note. I suppose you could call it a bit of a mash-up. It features the Opening Title Track from Ocarina of Time, the Lost Woods (Saria's Song) also from Ocarina of Time, and I also threw in the "Indoor" theme from Zelda II: The Adventures of Link for the original NES! I wrapped it back up at the end with the end of the Title Track. I was initially planning on just doing a piano recording with a light orchestral back-up arrangement of only the Title Track, but wanted a break from the usual piano vids. I ended up really enjoying the production process and am quite pleased with how this turned out! I'd really love to make a lot more of these types of creations.All of the transitions between the main themes are original compositions I created. I tried to bring some new variation to the main melodies featured as well. I also added some fancy artwork, most of which was created by fans of the series. I hope to have captured a bit of the innocence and adventure of the series. And I hope you enjoy listening to this piece! Don't forget to subscribe to my channel if you like what you hear and want to be notified of when I release new videos!Credits: Music from the Ocarina of Time was composed by Koji Kondo. Music from Zelda II: The Adventures of Link was composed by Akito Nakatsuka.
Eyes on Me - Nobuo Uematsu ***OLD VERSION*** Final Fantasy 8 (Piano + Choir Cover) Zack Sottolano (Zisotto) 2014-06-09 | NOTE: This is the first, older version of this song I did. For a more pleasant sounding cover I recently did, follow this link!: youtube.com/watch?v=C-gwiPFxFUoChanneling my inner video game nerd, I put together this original arrangement of FF8's "Eyes on Me." Nobuo Uematsu is easily one of my top 5 video game composers, so a tribute to his genius was long overdue. I had to pick from 1 of over hundreds of my favorite Nobuo songs, but thought this was a good place to start.The piano track stays true to the original (minus one blunder at the end), and I also added my own arrangement of vocal harmonization that I mixed in Cubase that I think fits the song nicely without being overpowering or taking away from the piano. The end result is a unique-sounding piece that will hopefully breathe some fresh life into an old song (I can't believe this game is 15 years old) while still sparking feelings of nostalgia for all of you old-time RPG freaks like myself. Enjoy.
Olafur Arnalds - Near Light ***OLD VERSION*** [Piano + Orchestra Cover] Zack Sottolano (Zisotto) 2014-05-30 | NOTE: This is the first, older version of this song I did. For a more pleasant sounding cover I recently did, follow this link!: youtube.com/watch?v=Nc3CjAvDCVoThis is my first time using a digital audio workstation (Cubase 7.5) to add any effects. Took me several hours, but I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out! The piano part was recorded directly into a Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 audio interface with my Kawai ES7. Everything else was mixed using virtual instruments in Cubase. There are tracks for 2 violins, a viola, a cello, a synth, drums, drum effects, and 2 special sound effects. I really love this song and wanted to create a somewhat unique arrangement, so I tried out Dubstep style drum kits and samples to give it a little spice without detracting (hopefully) from its beautiful simplicity. Hope you enjoy!Olafur Arnalds Website: http://olafurarnalds.comSheet Music: http://olafurarnalds.com/sheet-music
Dire Dire Docks - Super Mario 64 (Piano) (Better Quality Audio) Zack Sottolano (Zisotto) 2014-05-22 | One of my favorites from Super Mario 64. Music written by Koji Kondo. Played on my Kawai ES7 using the New Age Pad voice. It appears this song is a must-do for all YouTube pianists bursting onto the scene, so I figured I'd get it out of the way.Sheet Music: http://www.freewebs.com/heliumkidd/videogamesheetmusic.htm
Dexter - House Theme (Piano) Zack Sottolano (Zisotto) 2014-05-18 | After polishing off all 8 seasons of Dexter in under a month during a particularly aggressive Netflix marathon with my girlfriend, I felt it appropriate that I pay homage to the haunting, yet brilliant composing of Daniel Licht. Props to Olga Blue for the transcription. Props to my phone for the pre-21st century video quality. Props to my left hand for having spastic seizures for the duration of this video, allowing me to hit all the notes. Sheet Music: http://www.olgablue.com/sheets.aspx
Le Matin - Yann Tiersen (Piano) Zack Sottolano (Zisotto) 2014-05-02 | A lovely piece written by Yann Tiersen from his 2005 album Les Retrouvailles. I first learned about Yann while watching the movie Amelie, for which he composed the score. Le Matin is French for "The Morning."I layered Concert Piano with a Wood Bass to achieve the march-like quality, and added some reverb. This is one of E.T.'s favorite songs, so he was more than happy to hold the sheet music in place while listening.Sheets here: http://sheets-piano.ru/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Le-Matin.pdf
Dire Dire Docks - Super Mario 64 Piano Solo Zack Sottolano (Zisotto) 2014-03-06 | EDIT- Better Audio Version: http://youtu.be/EujzaqOJ9Js I apologize for the poor, hard-to-hear quality of the sound on this one. It was my first video upload and I'm still pretty new to the video and music editing processes. Click on the link above to see the same video and music, but with easier to hear audio.One of my favorites from Super Mario 64. Music written by Koji Kondo. Played on my Kawai ES7 using the New Age Pad voice. It appears this song is a must-do for all YouTube pianists bursting onto the scene, so I figured I'd get it out of the way.Sheet Music: http://www.freewebs.com/heliumkidd/videogamesheetmusic.htm
