Bespinben's Arrangements! (020: "The Way Home" [帰り]~ PKMN Super Mystery Dungeon)

[Bespinben]

Sticking to the classic tunes, but always adding something fresh. Thank you PMD GtI soundtrack. In all honesty, I found the original "Happiness" from PMD1 a little annoying almost, but with the nice new B section in this arrangement with its more reflective, pensive quality (at least, that's how I interpreted it), I've grown more fond of this tune. Hope you all will too. (Critique is always welcome!)

[3DS] Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity:
{NEW} "Mission Clear!":
[MUS] [MIDI] [PDF]
[MP3]

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EDIT: Youtube video is now up!

[Bespinben]

Remember when I used to only ever make 2-piano arrangements? It's been awhile, so I thought I should do one, only this time, it's actually for 4-hands on one piano, because most people don't have 2 pianos sitting side by side in their living room. That, and the Post Town song just begs a sense of tumult and togetherness, a feeling that I see better realized when the two players are banging away right next to each other.

..but yeah, I love this song. It's great. Enjoy~

[3DS] Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity:
{NEW} "Come On in to Post Town!" (4-hands duet):
[MUS] [MIDI] [PDF]
[MP3]

Youtube video coming soon!


Thanks Dusk for your amazing solo rendition too!

(Spent nearly hour chiseling that Rescue Badge pic. out of a screenshot in Paint. Ugh...)

[Brassman388]

Very good arrangement! Very balanced in tone and range.

The only thing I have to say about it is that visually it isn't very striking. I would suggest rewriting the whole thing with eighths with a swing feel. That should get rid of most of the visual clutter.

Other than that, the whole thing sounds pretty near flawless.

[Bespinben]

BRASSMAN!?!? Woah!

Anyways, thanks for the critique. You're always very good at that. Heck, I think the last time you helped me... you fine tuned my Sky Tower orchestra piece, and now it's a 20K view video!
Help me understand something though - there's a lot of full triplet runs that in my mind are a lot easier to read in 12/8 rather than swing 4/4. It would just seem very disorienting in a place like measure 35 to have 2 eighths together representing a swing, whereas in the top staff there are triplet runs. That, and a lot of music from this series has somewhat of a Gaelic feel to it, which gives me more the impression of compound time.
(Ultimately, my resistance stems from my non-exposure to swing pieces, so that's a bias )

[Brassman388]

Aw shucks, you're making me blush. I do what I can. Also, you're one of the few arrangers (that I knew from back then) that actualy tried to improve his writing and ear. Not very many will or even can do that.

But on to business.

I'm saying use a mixture of both. The good thing about contemporary music is that they have a tendency to combine new and older styles. We see that quite a bit in video game music. But the main goal here is not to create an 'exact' replica of what you're hearing. We already know that by the ways you've translated this music into a four hands piano arrangement. Now, the people who look and listen to this sheet (being that they're music literate) will already know what to look and listen for. Honestly, I'd much rather look at a few 3's above a few mentioned triplets rather than a whole lot of staccato eighths with a ton of rests following them. You can get the same effect by condensing it to two eighths rather than punishing the whole piece for just a few triplets.

Keep in mind, this is just an opinion. Play with it some, you'll be surprised how good you can get a sheet to actually look. Whenever I thought I would be done with a sheet, I would think soon after, "Does this sheet look good enough for someone to pay money for?" I know that is an irrelevant question since, you  know, but that wouldn't diminish the fact that every time I wrote something new, I would always strive for that quality.

Well, there you have it. I'll be on the watch if you need anything else. Keep up the good work, man.

[Bespinben]

Youtube video is now up! See if you can spot what I did on the loop

Honestly, I'd much rather look at a few 3's above a few mentioned triplets rather than a whole lot of staccato eighths with a ton of rests following them. You can get the same effect by condensing it to two eighths rather than punishing the whole piece for just a few triplets. 

You know... that actually makes a lot of sense. I think I will play with that notation once I get around to submitting this to the site. However, for some reason, I always really dislike whenever engravers write something like Schubert's "Ave Maria" with one measure notated with triplets, and the rest is "assumed" to still be that. I dunno, it just bugs me, especially when the voice part has strict 16ths over the assumed triplet ostinato. In my mind, that seems to fall under the same logic as the swing thing. Rest assured though, I will try it out.

[The Deku Trombonist]

Whenever I thought I would be done with a sheet, I would think soon after, "Does this sheet look good enough for someone to pay money for?"

That's a really cool way of looking at things.

[Bespinben]

In some ways I feel this song embodies the idea of your undying friendship with your partner far better than "I Don't Want to Say Goodbye". Great songs both of them, but the vast breadth of emotion this composition contains, complimented by its many musical variations (one of the reasons finishing this took so long was because of that!), really makes it hit home. I hope my transcription has done the song justice.

[DS] Pokémon Mystery Dungeon 2: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky:
{NEW} 74: "Memories Returned" / "Memories of You":
[MUS] [MIDI] [PDF]
[MP3]

[K-NiGhT]

My heart ;-;

[Clanker37]

I hope my transcription has done the song justice.

It most certainly has! But just a question; why did you choose to being in 7/4 instead of using an anacrusis? Wouldn't is simplify it? (Though I can appreciate that simplicity isn't a focus in your arrangements...)

[mikey]

My name is Pika Montoya
You killed my partner
Prepare to cry

[Bespinben]

My name is Pika Montoya
You killed my partner
Prepare to cry

Just one of the many reasons I'll never leave NSM (not permanently anyway!)
(totes new sig!)

It most certainly has! But just a question; why did you choose to being in 7/4 instead of using an anacrusis? Wouldn't is simplify it? (Though I can appreciate that simplicity isn't a focus in your arrangements...)

AH! Well, I figured, since I was making a 9/8 measure later at m.34, it wouldn't come as quite a surprise if I inoculated the player first with the 7/8. That, and I don't like using anacrusis when the total number of beats is so close to being a whole measure - at that rate, I might as well write in 4/4 with an eighth rest on beat 1.
In my defense, I would say that at least the first 3 pages are fairly simple

[Latios212]

Few things make me more excited than that moment when I open one of your new arrangements, because I know I'll never be disappointed. Example: this.

The memories returned (played through this game over 7 years ago)... I feel them. Beautiful. Amazing job!! I hope to play this one day!

[Xaoz]

I never played any PMD game... Everytime you upload one of these, I wonder why.... It is beautiful 

I wish everyone on NSM would put that much thought and passion into their arrangements.

[Maelstrom]

Nice song. But no tears. I don't do "crying."

Except for chapter 10 of Fire Emblem Awakening