Sonic Heroes - Mystic Mansion (Patreon)

Happy Spooky Season Gamers! I'm extremely excited to share this piece with you all. 

I've been really enjoying experimenting with some funkier arrangements these past couple of years, and I feel like I've finally reached a point where I'm comfortable writing/producing in that genre. As someone whose current job is to create retro spooky/funky music, I couldn't pass up an opportunity to give that style a spin in the Sonic universe.

Something I want to infodump about is one of the pieces of software I used heavily throughout this arrangement. As a sampler/ROMpler/synth enjoyer, I recently purchased Roland's ZENOLOGY plugin. I don't usually go into detail about the software I use because I figure it isn't relevant for most listeners, but I'm breaking that rule today because I was so surprised with how much I ended up enjoying it.

I think what I like about it is that it's like a modern retelling of the 90's samplers that I love - it provides a huge range of acoustic instruments as well as synths, but it never tries to overstep by being "too realistic." Instead, it focuses on a better quality of sound and production, which as a composer/arranger for games I find infinitely more useful.

I can't tell you how disappointed I've been with the landscape of modern sample libraries recently. I feel like so many overcomplicate themselves, or completely miss the mark of an instrument's tone or playability. Working with this plugin has felt inspiring, simple, and it solidified my feeling that a bit of realism is worth giving up in service of a good mix/tone. 

Anyway, enough about that! I've always considered the idea of doing sample library reviews, but I never really had a good outlet/audience for it. Please excuse my enthusiasm. :p

There's not a whole lot to go into detail on about this piece. I gave it a slight 16th swing and I did a whole lot of part writing for it. My go-to funk arrangement instrumentation usually goes something like this: 

Drums with some sort of breakbeat layer > Hand Percussion > Slap Bass layered with rounded Electric Bass > lower register Clavinet > Electric Piano of some sort > B3 Organ > Lead Instruments

I didn't go into much detail this time around, so if you have any specific questions feel free to ask in the comments! This month has been extremely tough, so more than ever I appreciate you all listening to my tunes and generally just being a positive element in my life. Stay Spooky!