Super Mario World - Overworld (Patreon)

The quintessential Super Mario World track! This song in particular is extremely nostalgic for me since it's likely that SMW was one of the first games I ever played growing up. Because of that, the pressure was on to make an arrangement that lived up to those memories I had. This is how I went about it:

0:00 - Mario music is always involved with a lot of genre fusion, so for the instrumentation of this track I drew from a lot of sources. Some that come to mind were Dixieland jazz, other American Folk music, funk, polka, and Mario's own roots in chiptune. 

0:02 - The main strumming section of this song is made up of mandolin, ukulele, and banjo. Regular acoustic guitar seemed a bit too dark for such a fast pattern. The ukulele is playing offbeat chords, the banjo is playing arpeggiations, and the mandolin is strumming for the entire section.

I really love how front-and-center the tuba sound is in the bass. Never be afraid to mess with your mic settings in whatever VST's you're using! Almost every instrument I use in nearly all my work has a close mic bias.

0:05 - The melody in the original was a steel drum sample, so I tried to maintain a hint of that in my own version. This time around a sharp, bright synth pluck is taking the lead, with the steel drum sample feeling more like an aftertaste. Later on, a muted trumpet, xylophone, and glockenspiel joins the lead. 

0:13 - Onto the second "verse," some fluttery woodwind arpeggiations add interest to the background, while some drawn out "pastoral" solo strings play chords. 

0:20 - At this point most of the ensemble drops out so a solo clarinet can take the lead line. I chose clarinet because it seemed to suit the jazzy diminished chord in this section. Any time a melody is full of pseudo-chromatic movement my mind immediately goes to woodwinds. 

Having a sparser ensemble here lets the rhodes piano shine in the background. :)

0:27 - Everybody shows up to play out this climactic section, with new inclusions being the trumpets and saxophones. (Also I layered the trumpet with an SC-88 sample because it brings the overall sound forward in the mix).

0:34 - I split this break into two sections: one featuring bright, frantic woodwinds and the later being a dark, close-knit solo string part. 

0:42 - Onward to the next loop! It would be impossible to cover this song without featuring the Yoshi drums! They have their own "melody" almost so I tried my best to match the interval between each drum. 

Other additions include an accordion playing on offbeats, a shaker, a full drum set and a separate electric kick. A square wave also joins the melody line for this loop. 

3:04 - I always knew that if I covered this song I'd want to end it with the level complete fanfare! 

If you have any further questions about the arrangement let me know! Thanks for listening! <3