Patreon Peeks 34: Highlights of World 0 & 1 (Pac-Man Arrangement) (Patreon)

Hello everyone! When I finish a new arrangement, I like to go back and show my favorite parts of working on it. There will be some samples from the project attached here!

This arrangement was from Pac-Man Arrangement, an old refresh of the Pac-Man gameplay with new mechanics, and of course, new music. So, I decided to do a refresh of my own on this music, which influenced every decision I made here. It started with the JD-800 keyboard basically remastering the authentic sound of the melody, and a viola section sound (courtesy of Waffles' Pik Pack) that I could use for the strings. Meanwhile, I added my own touch by doubling the melody with a vox synthesizer, and added completely new horn parts using Logic Pro's built-in horn instruments. I've put together these parts, isolated from the rest, in the first sample, Pac-Man Arrangement - Melody and Horns.

The same sense of refreshment influenced writing the percussion in. Here I wanted to highlight the difference in drum machines between World 0 and World 1, so this next sample, Pac-Man Arrangement - Drum Machines, is right at the transition between the two. As far as I can tell, the original Pac-Man arrangement used a TR-606 sort of sound for World 0, and a TR-909 sound for World 1, and I happened to have both sound available (not the hardware, unfortunately).

Finally, the big spotlight of this arrangement was on the bass, and probably the most drastic change I made to the original. While it starts out with a normal synth bass, eventually I come in with recording live electric five-string bass, which changes up the bass writing, the harmony, and even has the song kind of stop in its tracks for a moment to let the bass do a small solo gesture. You can hear that gesture near the beginning of the Pac-Man Arrangement - Bass sample, where I do my best attempt at slap bass style. Thankfully the synth bass doubling the part can cover up little mistakes and ringing that survived the 60-or-so takes that bass took. It was well worth it though, to not only replay but refresh this already refreshing theme with some extra funk!