next »

[TonyManfredonia]

Hello, friends and developers!

My name is Tony Manfredonia, and I started a weekly tutorial series designed to help you improve your video game music and add interest to your compositions! In each video I transcribe a famous or memorable piece of video game music and explain what makes certain elements effective.

The above hyperlink goes to the playlist created so far. It's all taught through notation, but I do my best to make it clear even if you don't have a solid grasp on music theory. I know musically inclined people have various ways of "doing" music (through DAWs, just for fun/by ear acoustically, etc.), but hopefully things are clear.

I will post each new video in this thread. Please reach out if you have any questions, comments, or feedback. I'd love to hear from you and get your input as I continue this series! Heck, I'd love to hear from you just to see what's up and what music you're working on!

Take care

-Tony

[TonyManfredonia]

A new video is up! This week's topic is about the use of thematic Imitation and Expansion. I transcribe Aerith's Theme to demonstrate this.

I'd love to hear what you think! Feel free to reach out to me through here, or my Website and Twitter

[ecplav]

I've only watched the video talking about the Downbeat so far. Really liked it. It's interesting. Not too long, not too short, just the right amount of information, and you explain it well.

My personnal understanding of music = interaction creates sound/noise. So, maybe some people will think you're not going deep enough, or delving into complex enough stuff, but for me this is perfect.

Still concerning the Downbeat video: I wished you made us listen to both of the music examples again by the end of the video. Showcasing once again the differences between the two would be a very good closure for such a kind of tutorial, I think.

Anyways, please keep on the good work

[TonyManfredonia]

Still concerning the Downbeat video: I wished you made us listen to both of the music examples again by the end of the video. Showcasing once again the differences between the two would be a very good closure for such a kind of tutorial, I think.

Anyways, please keep on the good work

Thank you for watching! I also appreciate this feedback. Moving forward with this series, I'll do an audio repeat (A vs. B) at the end of the video. I'm glad you like it! I'll do my best to have one each week

[TonyManfredonia]

A new video has emerged! This week also uses Aerith's Theme as an example. The topic I focus on is Inversion, with brief recapping of Imitation.

I look forward to your feedback and comments. Let me know if you have any questions! 

-Tony

[nwizrt]

I think I saw the tutorial playlist a few weeks ago when browsing on youtube but didn't notice that you made it. What I think is very nice about the tutorial series is that it reminds me of design pattern on programming or modeling workflow on 3D modeling. They add so much to your bag of tools and ready to make your work more effective and efficient.

One thing, though. Since you are using excerpts of other popular works, have you considered using some sort of game screenshots to add on the video thumbnail in addition of the music score? I think the thumbnail might appear a little bit daunting even though the presented ideas are pretty simple but useful.

[Zorg]

Hey, you should put a number in the title of your videos, like
Small Change, Massive Difference #001 - Rhythmic Anticipation
for example. This way it's easier to follow the whole series.

[TonyManfredonia]

Thank you both for the feedback! Great ideas on both the titling and the thumbnails. I'll be working on my next video this Saturday (two more days). I'll apply those details to the playlist. Hopefully it's possible to change the title of each video! The thumbnails won't be a problem.

I'm glad you like the series! My schedule's changed recently, so Tuesday's are no longer the best for me to make them. It'll most likely be weekly on Saturdays at this point. I just moved, so I'm settling into a new job and new routine.

Stay tuned!

[TonyManfredonia]

This week's video is up!

I had to change my regular upload time to the weekend due to a new home and new routine. Either way, enjoy the video!

This episode touches on Chromaticism and Neighbor Tones, all through the transcription of the "Athletic" theme from Super Mario Bros. 3

See you next week!

-Tony

[TonyManfredonia]

Hey guys!

My latest video was just uploaded. Through my transcription of "Space Junk Galaxy" from Super Mario Galaxy, I explain the use of the Lydian mode. Let me know if you have any questions or feedback! I'm happy to accommodate my videos to your needs and requests

See you next week!

-Tony

[Silkworm]

Just wanna say I love these videos and hope you continue doing them! The title doesn't lie (that sonic track without the syncopation made me literally cringe ).

I do recognize and use some of these concepts just kinda, naturally, but it's really cool to learn what's actually going on and have terms to relate to. Like, "Oh, so that's called pedal point". 

I had no clue about "modes" either although I know that "dreamy feel" of the lydian. You can hear it in the underwater theme from Mario 3 too:

.

Wow, it's just one small change to the scale. So easy to implement! Had to play around with it (very rough). Gonna remembering this one and I'm definitely interested in what other modes have to offer.

[TonyManfredonia]

Wow! I really appreciate you letting me know how much you're enjoying the videos! I also listened to your music that uses the Lydian mode. Great job! It definitely has the dreamy feel. That's a word that perfectly suits Lydian.

Great find on pointing it out in the Mario Bros. 3 Water music, too :D

[TonyManfredonia]

Here's the latest video! In celebration of this week's E3 2016, I decided to demonstrate The Dorian Mode through The Legend of Zelda. Particularly, the Temple of Time music from Ocarina of Time. After great reception about the Lydian Mode video, I figured the next few weeks I'll work on all of the basic modes.

I'm planning on doing an "Advanced" music theory / game music series (maybe monetized?) that will explain further modalities that require a bit more knowledge. Simply plotting ahead.

Either way, enjoy the latest video, and Happy E3!

Best wishes,
Tony

[Silkworm]

As soon as you said "royal" I checked out the first piece that came to my mind and lo and behold, it seems to use dorian mode in d-flat (if I'm not horribly mistaken).





I'm pretty sure it's used quite a bit in the Shovel Knight OST too



Pridemoor Keep
Not so surprising considering the dorian seems to be linked to the medieval.

After great reception about the Lydian Mode video, I figured the next few weeks I'll work on all of the basic modes.

Looking forward to it! The modes are very interesting to me at least. Although I can see how they would not be as interesting/useful unless you have at least somewhat of an understanding of basic scales. If you plan to go deeper it's probably a good idea to make it a separate thing just like you were thinking.

[TonyManfredonia]

The newest entry is here! It was uploaded yesterday, but with Father's Day happening I didn't have much time to link it anywhere

In any case, I continue my trek through some of the standard musical modes (this week is about the Mixolydian Mode). Chrono Cross won versus Pokemon in a poll I ran. Thanks to Jack Menhorn for pushing me over the edge 

[TonyManfredonia]

My newest video was just uploaded! Nothing says evil boss music like the Phrygian Mode! This week's topic focuses on my transcription of "Magus' Theme" from Chrono Trigger. Take some time to hone your music-making this Sunday

I hope you enjoy it!

[TonyManfredonia]

It was a crazy holiday weekend (4th of July), so I apologize for the delay. In celebration of America and its ability to trend video game music on Vine, I decided to transcribe Kirby's Dreamland "Gourmet Race" track. This, of course, is the music that's all over the Vine social media platform hahahah.

Enjoy! The video covers the big ol' bass in music.

[Codimal]

Hey man, I'm really into music and I tried multiple times to get into music theory, but I couldn't wrap my head around it, not because I couldn't understand, but because I couldn't see the usefulness of learning it. Now I watched a couple of your videos and I finally got what music theory is for. Thanks a lot for your tutorials.

[TonyManfredonia]

Hey man, I'm really into music and I tried multiple times to get into music theory, but I couldn't wrap my head around it, not because I couldn't understand, but because I couldn't see the usefulness of learning it. Now I watched a couple of your videos and I finally got what music theory is for. Thanks a lot for your tutorials.

Wow! I'm so happy my videos could help you :D

Thank you for letting me know; I'll be sure to keep up this series. Eventually I'll move into an alternate series that'll focus more on compositional orchestration. But in the meantime, stay tuned, and thanks for watching

[TonyManfredonia]

This week's entry is here! A little more about the Bass, this time involving harmony. Today's transcription is "Midna's Theme" from Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess! It's slightly more advanced than last week's video, but I hope the message is conveyed for those of you with varied skill levels. I did my best to accommodate to everyone's knowledge-base.

Let me know if you have any questions!

-Tony