[GEN] Sonic the Hedgehog 3 - "File Select" by Nine Lives

[Zeta]

Submission Information:
Series: Sonic
Game: Sonic the Hedgehog 3
Console: Sega Genesis
Title: File Select
Instrumentation Solo Piano
Arranger: Nine Lives

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[NineLives]

Source:

[Libera]

This generally looks pretty good.  My main concern is with bars 10-17 where I don't think the left works all that well.  Let me talk about that first, and then I'll list off the smaller stuff afterwards.

The main issue I think with 10-17 is that the bass drops out completely, which leads to the arrangement suddenly sound very lopsided compared to the original.  One possibility would be to write the bass in just like it is in the original and then add some of the harmony into the RH, but then you will lose some of the rhythm of those little chord stabs.  Another option would be to try a similar pattern to the one you have currently, but with the bass notes at their correct octave.  You may also want to restrike the new bass note every 2 beats like in the original (rather than every bar, as it is currently).  Although this will make the leaps larger than they are currently, you could alleviate this a little by dropping from triads to dyads in these little chords stabs.  I should also point out that these chords don't seem quite right to me and I'd suggest you have another listen to them, using the bass to help you work out what is going on there. 

-I think starting on beat 3.25 in the pickup is a little confusing.  I'd suggest starting on beat 3 with a sixteenth rest, to make that rhythm more readable.
-You can add in the Ds in the chords in bars 9/21.
-Personally I would just get rid of the written-in key changes.  Each one only lasts for four bars and I think it'll be completely readable without them.  If you do really want to keep the, you should use double barlines on all of them.
-I would reconsider whether all of the dyads in bars 22-29 are really necessary or are just going to be a barrier to performance.  I think particularly the ones in 25/29 are quite tricky and I don't think much would be lost if you dropped them aside from maybe the first and last note.  Something to think about anyway.
-I'd actually recommend an F# over the Gb in bars 23/27 to avoid the Gn/Gb flat, but you may want a courtesy natural for the next Fn if you do this.  This isn't super important.

If you need any help with any of the above, then feel free to ask.

[NineLives]

-I think starting on beat 3.25 in the pickup is a little confusing.  I'd suggest starting on beat 3 with a sixteenth rest, to make that rhythm more readable.
-You can add in the Ds in the chords in bars 9/21.
-Personally I would just get rid of the written-in key changes.  Each one only lasts for four bars and I think it'll be completely readable without them.  If you do really want to keep the, you should use double barlines on all of them.
-I would reconsider whether all of the dyads in bars 22-29 are really necessary or are just going to be a barrier to performance.  I think particularly the ones in 25/29 are quite tricky and I don't think much would be lost if you dropped them aside from maybe the first and last note.  Something to think about anyway.
-I'd actually recommend an F# over the Gb in bars 23/27 to avoid the Gn/Gb flat, but you may want a courtesy natural for the next Fn if you do this.  This isn't super important.

All this should be taken care of.
For left hand on measures 10-17, I've just simplified it to the bass line for now. I haven't quite figured out how to incorporate the chords in a satisfying way yet, but I'll update it as soon as I can settle on something.

[NineLives]

All right, so I changed up the left hand a bit. Hopefully, it's an okay way to go about it. The chords are kind of mixed with the bass notes when they're playing together, but if it's better to ditch that idea and just put in the chords in as they come normally, I can do that, though I'd probably need help figuring the chords out in case I'm way off. They're not particularly my strong suit.

[Libera]

I'd probably need help figuring the chords out in case I'm way off. They're not particularly my strong suit.

Well currently they are way off, although they seem to have gotten worse since last time.  I think maybe you have become confused when you removed the key signature changes and so you now have chords like F7 rather than Fm7, Cm7 rather than C7 etc.  I would recommend having another look through this as I don't think it is out of your ability to fix those mistakes.

With the chords here I would try to be consistent.  Bars 14-16 is pretty much just a transposition of bars 10-12 so they should probably look the same (at least in the left hand).  For example, if you have a Bb-F dyad on beat 2.25 of bar 14 followed by a Bb-C-En (it should be natural here) chord on beat 4.5, bar 10 should have an Ab-Eb dyad on beat 2.25 followed by an Ab-Bb-Dn chord on beat 4.5.  Hopefully what I'm saying makes sense but if you need to ask any questions feel free.

[NineLives]

I think maybe you have become confused when you removed the key signature changes and so you now have chords like F7 rather than Fm7, Cm7 rather than C7 etc.  I would recommend having another look through this as I don't think it is out of your ability to fix those mistakes.

I only half-understood this statement here. I assume this was only for measures 10-17 again, and I changed a few notes' accidentals manually while keeping the same key signature. When I listen to the source and the sheet playback, they sound pretty accurate to me now. I might be mishearing though.
The chords/dyads have been changed accordingly to your request now too, or at least they should be. If I missed something there, let me know.

[Libera]

Yeah it looks like you fixed it now, awesome.

Now that we've fixed what the left hand should actually look like, the only real discrepancy I'm hearing is that I don't hear the middle voice in the second half of bars 11/15, i.e. the Ab -> C in bar 11 and the Bb -> D in bar 15.

Other than that I don't have anything else to add.

Edit: Although I should probably ask what the deal with 'The SEGA Sound Team' credit is?  Is that standard for this game on the site?  I fully admit I am not up to date on the Sonic crediting situation.

[NineLives]

The sheet has been updated.

Although I should probably ask what the deal with 'The SEGA Sound Team' credit is?  Is that standard for this game on the site?  I fully admit I am not up to date on the Sonic crediting situation.

Yes. That is the standard for the sheets of this game in particular due to the fact that there are about nine different composers credited for this game, which doesn't include the uncredited Michael Jackson. What makes it worse is that there isn't any official source online that tells who specifically composed which song.

[Libera]

Cool, approved.

[Bloop]

Looking pretty good! Just a few (mostly rhythmic) things:

-m3: The rhythm on beat 3 should be the same as in the pickup measure (so 16th rest - grace note+8th - 16th)
-m7 and 19: The G on beat 3 should be on the 2nd note of the tuplet (so triplet 8ths: 8th rest - grace note+8th - 8th)
-m9 and 21-29: You've disconnected some 16th note beams when there's a 16th rest on the beat, but imo it'd probably look better (and maybe is even more correct) to connect these to the 2 sixteenths that follow.
-m22-24 and 26-28: I think you can add the lower voice to the 16th notes on beat 2.5 and 3.25, it's pretty playable once you're in that position.
-m23 and 27: I think you can write the F#'s as Gb's, since they're chromatically approaching the Fn (you can then delete the courtesy accidental in m24 too)
quick edit: apparently libera suggested the F#'s, which does work too if you consider the melody has Gn already, but I usually tend to prefer chromatic approach stuff over cross-relation stuff. Your choice I guess :p

[NineLives]

Everything should be updated! I think I'll keep the F#'s too.

[Bloop]

Great, just two tiny things:
-m3: This rhythm is still wrong now :p It should look like this:
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-I also just noticed that the pickup measure shouldn't be included in the measure count: you can use the Measure Tool to exclude it (double click on the measure and uncheck "Include in measure numbering"

[NineLives]

All done!

[Bloop]

Great!
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