Colby Allen tbh, that's what i'm doing too. And honestly... So far it's been the easiest way to learn it! (For me at least, ha) Like, takes a lot of videos, but with each new one you pick up a little somethin here and there. Then by the next video, new concepts arent new anymore. Not -familiar- yet i guess but you still go 'oh hey. I heard that before.' Idk i think its pretty neat
Hey, 8-bit. I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate you spending so much time on the musical examples. In my experience, other similar videos on RUclips tend to blast through relatively short musical examples, whereas your last excerpt, for instance, was almost a full minute long. In my opinion it is absolutely essential that when you are learning a new musical concept, you spend as much time as possible listening to works that use that concept. Just hearing someone explain the theory is not good enough. So, thanks again for that. Your videos are excellent!
Taking large excerpts from music is only really possible with independent musicians that don't have an entire team behind them sending copyright strikes to people who upload or use their music. You couldn't do this with The Beatles for example, unfortunately.
I don’t know much of the lingo, so for me it’s 100% essential 😅 It’s nice just to hear all these really cool melodies people have made, while listening for particular parts that are particularly good ^.^
I'd been thinking of trying out both Hyper Light Drifter and Fez for a while, but your video pushed me over the edge and convinced me to play them both
I never have linked up most of Disasterpeace's music with Modal Jazz (despite being a Jazz head). I always related it more to Satie, Debussy, and similar colors of music. That said, Deluge is an amazing tune, so thanks for including it (I just hope you don't get pinned for it by copyright claims). Interesting stuff! I also see you opted for "Chromatic Mediant" this time 'round versus "non-functional." We gotta spread the greatness of Chromatic Mediants! Haha. ;) Keep it up, man!
It is funny to see people talk about Bill Evans' voicings on So What being revolutionary, yet you can find those same voicings in Romantic and earlier 20th Century music. Don't get me wrong, I love Bill Evans and his voicings.
Haha, Yasunori Mitsuda... KNEW IT! The king of kings in VGM (in my opinion). Reading some of your interviews and such, I can definitely see those being influences, I just never really thought of Modal Jazz when checking out your tunes. Rich, you should have quantized your notes to triplets! Don't you know "to Jazz" requires the swing!? Haha, just kidding. Side note... getting a reply from Disasterpeace made my day. I love your music! I listened to the Hyper Light Drifter OST for so long before ever playing the game that when I finally played it... I had nostalgia in the game of the OST. Now that's bizarre!
That's some beautiful analysis... The dude knows what he's doing. My favorite piece of his is Panacea. It's like... Debussy and Chopin had a music baby, and Disasterpeace is that music baby. Also, I wonder... I wonder if sometimes you are finding things in people's music that THEY didn't even know was there. For example, when I'm composing, I don't think about the chord structure, I don't think about "this is a major 9th" or "this is the 2nd chord to the tonic" or whatever. I go by feel, and if it feels right, it is right. And that's what I play. I also wonder if, while yes, what you are saying is true, it isn't the analysis that the composer would give you. The composer might describe an entirely different thought process, or perhaps even have an entirely different tonic in their minds (if any). That would be a fun thing to explore: Perhaps analyze a piece of music, and then ask the composer to tell you what they thought was significant while composing it.
while yes, usually you are playing what sounds good, often when composing the composer is thinking about how the different chords evoke different emotions. For example, when I'm composing, if i want something to sound uplifting and hopeful, I might build a melody around a 2-5-2-5 progression. What Disasterpiece seems to be doing is basically discovering a whole plethora of new "sounds" in the chord movements that evoke different emotions, such as the ambiguity of a sus chord with the root as shown in the first example.
Well, I think you do a wonderful job on the piano. I can't play Through the Fire and Flames either, but I really appreciate what you can play! :P Thanks for your awesome music man! It definitely gives me the good magical feels. :)
Having never heard these pieces or played these games before, I think one of the other things that jumped out at me (besides the really well explained topic of the video) was the relationship with tempo that these songs have. Specifically, a very loose, flowing one. Nocturne from Fez, in particular, seemed to have strong use of rubato tempo to create a vibe that's more ethereal and ambient than more rhythmic pieces like Flow. Even some pieces with a more fixed tempo, such as A Chorus of Tongues, are structured in a way that feels looser and less rigid, especially the way it seamlessly flows from 4/4 to 3/4. It's an interesting style and I really say it works well with the kind of chord progressions used. Great video, can't wait to see more!
Your videos make me wish my middle school music teacher hadn't convinced me that I would never be any good at music just because I struggled to memorize scales. Maybe if I'd stuck with it I might have learned enough music theory to be able to follow the things you talk about. That said, I think Disasterpeace is a great artist to analyze. His work is really distinctive and I remember being ecstatic to learn he was attached to Hyper Light Drifter. The soundscapes he crafted for that game really did the heavy lifting conveying the tone and mood, and I still regularly come back to the soundtrack to listen to it on its own, too.
2 years late, but I'm a megafan of music theory and I couldn't name all the notes in an E major scale without thinking about it a lot. I agree HLD is a great game for music, it's worth trying to play this stuff on the keyboard or something
His “Rise of the Obsidian Interstellar” album was my running music for MONTHS. Some amazing time signatures and grooves there, too, “Club Foot” being a great example.
Disasterpeace is by FAR my favorite modern score composer, and FEZ is my favorite soundtrack of all time. I keep coming back to this video because seeing some of my favorite music written out and explained makes me cry.
So great to finally see some some light shed on the mechanics of this guy's music. Disasterpeace has been one of my absolute favourites ever since I played Fez, but his style has always struck me as inscrutable and daunting- despite me wanting _so_ badly to imitate it (you know how it goes...). Despite not really understanding it, though, I think that tendency toward unexpected harmonic shifts has actually been sitting in the back of my brain for years, influencing my compositional efforts without my conscious knowledge. Wow... if that's the case thanks for bringing this topic up! Now I can _deliberately_ throw myself against a compositional style I don't understand instead of just doing it by accident.
I love your musical analyses. They tend to tap into things I already know like mode compatibility and harmonic movement, but also show how these things work on a psychological level. I love your videos dude. Keep up the great work!
I gotta say, this is one of the most accessible videos to come out of this channel in some time. I love learning about music theory in this way, but I'm definitely a beginner and I get lost in a lot of 8bmt videos. I'm not sure if it's just the clear examples or if the scriptwriting is improving, but I'm really happy to see somewhat easier-to-grasp videos from the channel! keep up the great work!
saw marcel the shell this weekend, turned to my companion during the credits, and remarked on how much i liked the soundtrack. turned back to the screen and there was disasterpeace, listed as composer! this man doesn't miss! and i started thinking about this soundtrack and this analysis too
Really cool analysis! This video was the point for me where I finally began to understand music theory, thank you for that! However as a fan of Impressionism I would have to add that despite the analysis holding up perfectly, Disasterpeace said that he was mostly inspired by Debussy and Ravel for the Hyper Light Drifter soundtrack, not Modal Jazz. It even has the "Impressionism" tag on his Bandcamp. Nevertheless, the analysis is great and Modal Jazz is indeed very cool.
there are actually meaningful parallels to be drawn between impressionism and modal jazz. in particular, one of the most distinctive impressionist concepts is pandiatonicism, the practice of using all notes in a diatonic scale at the same time, often in an atonal fashion. (this is an oversimplification of course) this is very similar to the effect that a walking bassline and solos have on jazz harmony: a scale effectively becomes a single chord, so meaningful chord motion is only achievable by changing scales. in this lens the two styles are surprisingly natural companions, and i think that makes them equally valid avenues for analyzing the hyper light drifter soundtrack!
I wanted to let you know that I wait every month for you next video and this has quickly become my favorite channel. They're such high quality of work and help me improve my own compositions. Keep it up.
I was hoping you'd mention A Chorus Of Tongues somewhere in here! It's frankly my favorite track of the OST and the theory that went into it still confounds me with how deep and nuanced it is. The entire HLD soundtrack is astoundingly good, and by the sounds of it I'll have to give Fez a look as well. Great video, dude! Loved every second of it.
I've watched this video probably over 30 times. The information presented here is so useful and well explained. I might as well put you in the credits when I finally publish music
I always come back to this video and others in this channel after some time. As time passes I feel like I understand music a lot better, so its good to return to these inspiring videos and understand them a bit better every time.
This video on Disasterpeace is a masterpiece. I know some people might have preferred a faster pace, but I'm aghast at each person who suggest that. I'd like an Undertale analysis, although the Gaster piece might be difficult to analyse.
I fuckin love Disasterpeace. Ever since I saw "It Follows" the first thing I noticed about the movie was how uniquely atmospheric the music was. Been a huge fan ever since. Love his composition.
I’be been listening Disaterpeace for almost 10 years now, and I haven’t found anything close to the emotions and feelings I get from his music. I always felt mesmerized how his music fits to the projects was a part of. To the point, where I felt like it’s the music that stood out from everything else. This is just magical, and brings so much joy and feeling of life itself.. Anyways, I’m barely understand theory of music, but still this is amazing to be able to understand a little about greatness that lies beyond the notes. Thanks for amazing videos. So freaking amazing.
This is by far my favorite video on your channel. I come back every few weeks to rewatch it because there's just so much to learn from it! Plus, the examples and Distasterpeace's music is absolutely beautiful. This video altered the way I think about music and I love finding common tones between simple and lush chords, and playing around with the ideas you analyze in this video. Very neat stuff as always, keep up the fantastic work.
I’ve only been playing the piano (pretty much my first instrument) for a little over a year now. But videos like this make me so much more excited in learning and mastering it to make such pretty pieces like the ones he and many other game composers( Lena Raine from Celeste to name one ) and move others as well
I especially appreciated the segment at 12:09 where, as you talk about the two notes tying the progression together, you show us each chord, allowing us to clearly hear those two notes and how their character changes within each chord. I often feel like I'm just barely on the edge of understanding a lot of music theory, and these practical illustrations really help!
Really appreciated your polished delivery, research, and editing. It's easy for these sort of analyses to either be too soft to be useful, or make ludicrous unsubstantiated claims about how or why things work. It feels like you're treading a wonderful balance of depth and emotional justification. Awesome work!
This video was really interesting to me, as I'm currently working on a piece using Cm9, Fm7, Em11, EbM13 (#11), with all of them centered around their common note, G. This gave me some great ideas on how to relate all of these chords, and I think your channel is one I'll be coming back to often after this!
Sounds like the beginning of flamenco sketches at the end of the video. That's such a gorgeous vamp. Bill evans is amazing. I guess I never thought about the modal jazz approach in this type of music, but there does seem to be a lot of jazz and fusion influence in video game composing, so it doesn't surprise me. Very interesting analysis.
As a drummer who studied jazz at university, I have to take my hat off to Disasterpeace. The man has a great ear. It's interesting to view this as a musician who doesn't play video games. Respect where it's due.
Thanks for shedding some light on how this guy composes his amazing music (even if it all is still a bit obtuse to me); been a fan of his music for a long time, and enjoyed his perfect blend of melody/harmony-mastery and production-mastery. A Chorus of Tongues is still one of my favorites, and seeing how the two pedal-tones bear the whole piece through all the harmonic changes is so damn beautiful. I also have a penchant for how this guy handles musical pauses and silence, as also evident in this piece, and in The Refiner's Fire, which might be my favorite track of the whole ost, never ceases to give me chills.
Im came to this video to learn more about Memory and why that song sticks so hard to me. Jumped when I saw it was your first example, thank you for making this video
I realize it's not exactly 8-bit, but Team Fortress 2 has a plethora of bombastic big band music to dissect. Might be a good series to consider if you wanted to bust into the realm of games not based out of the 8/16-bit era.
A lot of these progressions and voices remind me of the impressionistic harmony that exists within the music of artists like debussy, I really like it a lot it's cool to dive into
im a big fan of Vreeland - hes the best thing in bit music since Yuzo Koshiro or the genesis era in general. Fantastic video - a lot of the theory is lost on me but the abstract concepts you explained really helped me. Thank you.
I'd just like to say thank you for making these videos, because I know squat about music (I can play a little by ear, and that's the extent of my musical abilities) but I feel like I'm learning a little from watching these. Have you ever played Golden Sun and it's continuation, Golden Sun: The Lost Age? They came out of the Game Boy Advance (the first was a launch title) and the music in the is amazing! Maybe you'd have fun listening to it. My best friend can't stand turn-based RPGs outside of Pokemon and hasn't played it, but even she has the soundtrack.
This is great! It's really weird because I've been playing around with the idea of a Soundtrack Story on Hyper Light Drifter, and then this releases, lol. It's interesting how Disasterpeace is linked to jazz in the 60s-70s era, I never would've really thought about his chord progressions like that.
Charlie McCarren (from the Composer Quest podcast) and I helped record that one video of Disasterpeace! Glad you could use it :D I really loved this look into his music, definitely some food for thought on the next thing I make.
These videos are always so well put together, and are a joy to watch as someone who knows a little more than the basics of music theory, but is otherwise clueless. I really love people who share their deep knowledge of a subject like this, and appreciate all the time you put into this. If you ever have the time for it, I think it would be awesome to see a video about the piece "Elemental Stars" from Golden Sun. The game's composer also composed for Dark Souls. It's a little-known (at this point) GBA game, and the entire soundtrack is very good.
Man, you're so good at transcribing... haha. Any tips on going about to develop good transcribing skills? Anyhow, LOVE your videos man, so much information presented in a nice way.
@@Jus_Gold yeah, that's true, at the time I misinterpreted tentacrul's sibelius video as much worse than it was without looking into any more information for myself, but now that I've looked into it more, I know that I was wrong
Been waiting for a video like this. Disasterpeace has been one of my number one favorites, and hearing an analysis of his work means a lot to me personally.
I'll never forget hearing Disasterpeace's chiptune albums Atebite and the Warring Nations and Level (not to mention the sublime Rise of the Obsidian Interstellar) a decade ago, which seems unreal to think it was that far back. And yet, here we are, with the man getting more and more deserved love and attention as the years go by. Cannot wait to see what he has in store next. You are quite correct about David Peacock's Disasters for Piano arrangements-- they are a perfect representation of Rich's unique harmonic style.
12:10 that relationship is also used in the Xenoblade Chronicles Valak Mountain (night) theme. It’s beautiful. Thanks for the vid! You make amazing content.
Ahh, too bad you didn't comment on Rise of the Obsidian Interstellar!!! That album is one of my favorite musical memories from early teenhood. Still, great video!
If you still like Rich’s music, I just read an old but wonderful article about that album! It was more about music history than music theory, but still did the album justice! Year late reply but still a reply lol. proglodytes.com/2017/08/29/joes-garage-disasterpeace-rise-of-the-obsidian-interstellar/amp/
I was listening to DP, then I happened to watch his workshop video, then I noticed this video here and... man...! Great stuff! An 8bit music theory channel?!? WHAT?!? Subscribed!
Great analysis. I've listened to the Hyper Light Drifter soundtrack incessantly since it was released and always wondered how it worked but couldn't transcribe it properly. Thank you for this video. Also, I like how you explain the music in terms of Modal Jazz where each progression is based off of distinct scales, but it can also be explained through traditional western music theory which is also worth mentioning. For example in the song A Chorus of Tongues; it can be explained as using secondary dominants, deceptive resolutions, and substitutions to obscure the tonality of A. F#7 being the V7/ii deceptively resolving to a D major chord(sub of Bm) instead of a B minor chord, which implies the tonality being temporarily shifted but never really granted. And with the G# in the Dmaj7(#11) wanting to resolve back to an A major chord but instead F#maj7 is substituted for the tonic further making the tonality unclear. A progression of I6/9 - V7/ii - IV7(#11) - VI; all fitting nicely within the key of A major.
Been avoiding this video because wtf is Disasterpiece (besides a Slipknot song), but apparently this is about modal jazz and I've been missing the fuck out.
I love Disasterpeace, and "Flow" from Fez in particular! Thank you so much for doing this video (and the "Deluge" reference, I'll have to check Shorter out!)
These videos help both with my music theory and provoke me to learn more about underlying aspects that would have made the video too long. Keep them up man
Have you heard the music for Celeste? In the songs "Resurrection" and "awake" she (Lena Rein) uses this chord progression: Am(maj7) C/G Fmaj7(#9) E7 It's a simple declining bass progression with some small additions that make it pretty awesome
Man this is freaking cool! I just discovered this channel and I feel like I've stepped into another world. I will stay and learn the ways of the natives.
Never listened to this composer. That "Memory" track instantly pulled me in, simple as it is. Oh, and I would love to see you do one of the old British computer-game composers, like Tim Follin, Rob Hubbard, Martin Galway, Ben Daglish, etc.
The song Mark Time by Kenny Wheeler also uses the same relationship between chords as in Flow, but the other way around, moving it a half step down instead of up. Gbmaj7#11 to F-11. (then Amaj7#11 to Ab-11, C to B, Eb to D, back to Gb) Check it out if you like the j a z z
Disasterpiece is such a wonderful artist. He really knows how to set the atmosphere of things and is good at making the music feel vast and open without it feeling weird.
AVE VERUM CORPUSSSSSSSS i love your videos so much. i have learnt so much about all kinds of music from your chanel because THEORY is so cross-compatible. thanks for the qual content Mr 8-bit theroy
Nicee approach. I think to my self that after all, every music theory analyses is possible. The most important induction feeling at this compositions is get acostumed with the melody sound or lead voicing, and making internal voicing changes with the objective to creating the expected emotions.
Ever looked at the original (piano) music for The Sims (the very first game)? Specifically the Build mode and Buy mode songs. Anything interesting to say/analyse in those songs? Love your videos/analyses btw!
I love pretending to understand all of this, while in reality I just pick up a few basic ideas from it. Oh whale. I'll learn, I'm sure.
Colby Allen tbh, that's what i'm doing too. And honestly... So far it's been the easiest way to learn it! (For me at least, ha)
Like, takes a lot of videos, but with each new one you pick up a little somethin here and there. Then by the next video, new concepts arent new anymore. Not -familiar- yet i guess but you still go 'oh hey. I heard that before.'
Idk i think its pretty neat
I learned most of my theory this way, and then went to college. Now I'm in college and theory is really easy :P
Gabriel Miller niceeee! its rad to hear that it pays off, dude : D
Check out 12tone's video on Neo-Riemannian Theory. That should open things up in your mind.
Me too
Hey, 8-bit. I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate you spending so much time on the musical examples. In my experience, other similar videos on RUclips tend to blast through relatively short musical examples, whereas your last excerpt, for instance, was almost a full minute long. In my opinion it is absolutely essential that when you are learning a new musical concept, you spend as much time as possible listening to works that use that concept. Just hearing someone explain the theory is not good enough. So, thanks again for that. Your videos are excellent!
Taking large excerpts from music is only really possible with independent musicians that don't have an entire team behind them sending copyright strikes to people who upload or use their music. You couldn't do this with The Beatles for example, unfortunately.
I don’t know much of the lingo, so for me it’s 100% essential 😅
It’s nice just to hear all these really cool melodies people have made, while listening for particular parts that are particularly good ^.^
TFW Disasterpeace includes Chopin's Prelude in E Minor in one of the endings to Fez *and then cuts off the last two bars*
I'd been thinking of trying out both Hyper Light Drifter and Fez for a while, but your video pushed me over the edge and convinced me to play them both
Wise choice
I've played Fez myself. It's a really good game, no doubt, but that soundtrack truly elevates it to something transcendent. 😊
did you ever play them?
Fez is truly a unique game worth playing 100%
FEZ is my fave game of all time and the music design and implementation plays a big part in that.
I never have linked up most of Disasterpeace's music with Modal Jazz (despite being a Jazz head). I always related it more to Satie, Debussy, and similar colors of music. That said, Deluge is an amazing tune, so thanks for including it (I just hope you don't get pinned for it by copyright claims).
Interesting stuff! I also see you opted for "Chromatic Mediant" this time 'round versus "non-functional." We gotta spread the greatness of Chromatic Mediants! Haha. ;)
Keep it up, man!
It is funny to see people talk about Bill Evans' voicings on So What being revolutionary, yet you can find those same voicings in Romantic and earlier 20th Century music.
Don't get me wrong, I love Bill Evans and his voicings.
Haha, Yasunori Mitsuda... KNEW IT! The king of kings in VGM (in my opinion).
Reading some of your interviews and such, I can definitely see those being influences, I just never really thought of Modal Jazz when checking out your tunes. Rich, you should have quantized your notes to triplets! Don't you know "to Jazz" requires the swing!? Haha, just kidding.
Side note... getting a reply from Disasterpeace made my day. I love your music! I listened to the Hyper Light Drifter OST for so long before ever playing the game that when I finally played it... I had nostalgia in the game of the OST. Now that's bizarre!
I also related them to the French modernism more!
@@GUIM1797 could you tell some of this romantic musics ?, i'm really interested to hear but don't know what search to find them :)
That's some beautiful analysis... The dude knows what he's doing.
My favorite piece of his is Panacea. It's like... Debussy and Chopin had a music baby, and Disasterpeace is that music baby.
Also, I wonder... I wonder if sometimes you are finding things in people's music that THEY didn't even know was there. For example, when I'm composing, I don't think about the chord structure, I don't think about "this is a major 9th" or "this is the 2nd chord to the tonic" or whatever. I go by feel, and if it feels right, it is right. And that's what I play.
I also wonder if, while yes, what you are saying is true, it isn't the analysis that the composer would give you. The composer might describe an entirely different thought process, or perhaps even have an entirely different tonic in their minds (if any). That would be a fun thing to explore: Perhaps analyze a piece of music, and then ask the composer to tell you what they thought was significant while composing it.
That's kind of how I harmonise while singing I just go with what sounds nice
while yes, usually you are playing what sounds good, often when composing the composer is thinking about how the different chords evoke different emotions. For example, when I'm composing, if i want something to sound uplifting and hopeful, I might build a melody around a 2-5-2-5 progression. What Disasterpiece seems to be doing is basically discovering a whole plethora of new "sounds" in the chord movements that evoke different emotions, such as the ambiguity of a sus chord with the root as shown in the first example.
Well, I think you do a wonderful job on the piano. I can't play Through the Fire and Flames either, but I really appreciate what you can play! :P
Thanks for your awesome music man! It definitely gives me the good magical feels. :)
True and agree, but there are still times you think 'I want a fat lydian triad right there'. We have our favourites :P
lol, I'm all about that glorious 9th chord.
WHAT? one of my FAVORITE RUclips CHANNELS uploaded a video about one of my FAVORITE MUSICIANS?
Wow, didn't know this. Gotta check out Disasterpeace for sure! Great work, as usual! :D
If you can, play the games with the music. Hyper light and FEZ are two really rare instances (for me) where the music and game have been inseparable.
Love your work too, like Morning Dew
Having never heard these pieces or played these games before, I think one of the other things that jumped out at me (besides the really well explained topic of the video) was the relationship with tempo that these songs have. Specifically, a very loose, flowing one. Nocturne from Fez, in particular, seemed to have strong use of rubato tempo to create a vibe that's more ethereal and ambient than more rhythmic pieces like Flow. Even some pieces with a more fixed tempo, such as A Chorus of Tongues, are structured in a way that feels looser and less rigid, especially the way it seamlessly flows from 4/4 to 3/4. It's an interesting style and I really say it works well with the kind of chord progressions used. Great video, can't wait to see more!
SomniRespiratory Flux if you haven't played any of these games you're really missing out man! Especially Hyperlight Drifter, that game is just art.
Your videos make me wish my middle school music teacher hadn't convinced me that I would never be any good at music just because I struggled to memorize scales. Maybe if I'd stuck with it I might have learned enough music theory to be able to follow the things you talk about.
That said, I think Disasterpeace is a great artist to analyze. His work is really distinctive and I remember being ecstatic to learn he was attached to Hyper Light Drifter. The soundscapes he crafted for that game really did the heavy lifting conveying the tone and mood, and I still regularly come back to the soundtrack to listen to it on its own, too.
Me too
It's never too late to learn
Hey. I know this is 2 years late.
Don't give up on what you want to do because of shitty teachers. You can still learn theory if you want to.
2 years late, but I'm a megafan of music theory and I couldn't name all the notes in an E major scale without thinking about it a lot. I agree HLD is a great game for music, it's worth trying to play this stuff on the keyboard or something
His “Rise of the Obsidian Interstellar” album was my running music for MONTHS. Some amazing time signatures and grooves there, too, “Club Foot” being a great example.
Dude, thnx for pointing that album out. I'm obsessed now. Club Wolf is amazing. It has a pattern of 7/8+9/8 followed by 7/8+8/8. So cool.
I just love FEZ's soundtrack. It adds so much to the experience
Disasterpeace is by FAR my favorite modern score composer, and FEZ is my favorite soundtrack of all time. I keep coming back to this video because seeing some of my favorite music written out and explained makes me cry.
So great to finally see some some light shed on the mechanics of this guy's music. Disasterpeace has been one of my absolute favourites ever since I played Fez, but his style has always struck me as inscrutable and daunting- despite me wanting _so_ badly to imitate it (you know how it goes...). Despite not really understanding it, though, I think that tendency toward unexpected harmonic shifts has actually been sitting in the back of my brain for years, influencing my compositional efforts without my conscious knowledge. Wow... if that's the case thanks for bringing this topic up! Now I can _deliberately_ throw myself against a compositional style I don't understand instead of just doing it by accident.
rare andrew cunningham spotting in the wild
I love your musical analyses. They tend to tap into things I already know like mode compatibility and harmonic movement, but also show how these things work on a psychological level. I love your videos dude. Keep up the great work!
I gotta say, this is one of the most accessible videos to come out of this channel in some time. I love learning about music theory in this way, but I'm definitely a beginner and I get lost in a lot of 8bmt videos. I'm not sure if it's just the clear examples or if the scriptwriting is improving, but I'm really happy to see somewhat easier-to-grasp videos from the channel! keep up the great work!
saw marcel the shell this weekend, turned to my companion during the credits, and remarked on how much i liked the soundtrack. turned back to the screen and there was disasterpeace, listed as composer! this man doesn't miss! and i started thinking about this soundtrack and this analysis too
Man, I love Disasterpeace. Fez was my introduction to it and now I just listen to his music for fun. He makes beautiful soundscapes.
Thank you, thank you so much for covering Disasterpeace’s work! He is one of my most favorite video game composers. You’re awesome!
Thanks for playing examples a ton in this one! I like it when you explain something and let us listen to it right away to let it sink in!
Really cool analysis! This video was the point for me where I finally began to understand music theory, thank you for that! However as a fan of Impressionism I would have to add that despite the analysis holding up perfectly, Disasterpeace said that he was mostly inspired by Debussy and Ravel for the Hyper Light Drifter soundtrack, not Modal Jazz. It even has the "Impressionism" tag on his Bandcamp. Nevertheless, the analysis is great and Modal Jazz is indeed very cool.
there are actually meaningful parallels to be drawn between impressionism and modal jazz. in particular, one of the most distinctive impressionist concepts is pandiatonicism, the practice of using all notes in a diatonic scale at the same time, often in an atonal fashion. (this is an oversimplification of course)
this is very similar to the effect that a walking bassline and solos have on jazz harmony: a scale effectively becomes a single chord, so meaningful chord motion is only achievable by changing scales.
in this lens the two styles are surprisingly natural companions, and i think that makes them equally valid avenues for analyzing the hyper light drifter soundtrack!
Bryd Ave Verum Corpus 4:47 - Love that piece
conradthe2. God bless you 😢 took me a while to find someone who could tell me the name of this piece.
8-bit Music Theory + Disasterpeace = heaven
He is my absolute favorite video game soundtrack artist. I have many albums of his, so thank you for sharing him for more people!
I wanted to let you know that I wait every month for you next video and this has quickly become my favorite channel. They're such high quality of work and help me improve my own compositions. Keep it up.
I’ve never heard any of this guy’s stuff before and my god it’s all so gorgeous
I was hoping you'd mention A Chorus Of Tongues somewhere in here! It's frankly my favorite track of the OST and the theory that went into it still confounds me with how deep and nuanced it is. The entire HLD soundtrack is astoundingly good, and by the sounds of it I'll have to give Fez a look as well.
Great video, dude! Loved every second of it.
I've watched this video probably over 30 times. The information presented here is so useful and well explained. I might as well put you in the credits when I finally publish music
I always come back to this video and others in this channel after some time. As time passes I feel like I understand music a lot better, so its good to return to these inspiring videos and understand them a bit better every time.
Hyper Light Drifter has one of my favourite soundtracks. I've listened to it time and time again and I still can't get enough of it.
This video on Disasterpeace is a masterpiece. I know some people might have preferred a faster pace, but I'm aghast at each person who suggest that. I'd like an Undertale analysis, although the Gaster piece might be difficult to analyse.
I fuckin love Disasterpeace. Ever since I saw "It Follows" the first thing I noticed about the movie was how uniquely atmospheric the music was. Been a huge fan ever since. Love his composition.
Reasons why im a fan of rich's work now 💖 As soon as i played HLD i immediately fell in love... he's definitely good at what he does
YES my two favorite things, new 8bit mt upload and Disasterpeace. Thank you for your work
I bought Hyperlight Drifter largely because of the music. Thank you for explaining how its technically structured in such fine detail.
I’be been listening Disaterpeace for almost 10 years now, and I haven’t found anything close to the emotions and feelings I get from his music. I always felt mesmerized how his music fits to the projects was a part of. To the point, where I felt like it’s the music that stood out from everything else. This is just magical, and brings so much joy and feeling of life itself..
Anyways, I’m barely understand theory of music, but still this is amazing to be able to understand a little about greatness that lies beyond the notes. Thanks for amazing videos. So freaking amazing.
This is by far my favorite video on your channel. I come back every few weeks to rewatch it because there's just so much to learn from it! Plus, the examples and Distasterpeace's music is absolutely beautiful. This video altered the way I think about music and I love finding common tones between simple and lush chords, and playing around with the ideas you analyze in this video.
Very neat stuff as always, keep up the fantastic work.
I’ve only been playing the piano (pretty much my first instrument) for a little over a year now. But videos like this make me so much more excited in learning and mastering it to make such pretty pieces like the ones he and many other game composers( Lena Raine from Celeste to name one ) and move others as well
I especially appreciated the segment at 12:09 where, as you talk about the two notes tying the progression together, you show us each chord, allowing us to clearly hear those two notes and how their character changes within each chord. I often feel like I'm just barely on the edge of understanding a lot of music theory, and these practical illustrations really help!
Thank you for a superb analysis, it's answered questions I've had about the Hyper Light soundtrack for months!
Really enjoy your channel and appreciate the Disasters for Piano mention!
LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO i love disasterpiece i always thought he sounded like if debussy had a synth
Really appreciated your polished delivery, research, and editing. It's easy for these sort of analyses to either be too soft to be useful, or make ludicrous unsubstantiated claims about how or why things work. It feels like you're treading a wonderful balance of depth and emotional justification. Awesome work!
This video was really interesting to me, as I'm currently working on a piece using Cm9, Fm7, Em11, EbM13 (#11), with all of them centered around their common note, G. This gave me some great ideas on how to relate all of these chords, and I think your channel is one I'll be coming back to often after this!
Time to check this guy out, didn't know he made so many works that i already appreciate.
Sounds like the beginning of flamenco sketches at the end of the video. That's such a gorgeous vamp. Bill evans is amazing. I guess I never thought about the modal jazz approach in this type of music, but there does seem to be a lot of jazz and fusion influence in video game composing, so it doesn't surprise me. Very interesting analysis.
As a drummer who studied jazz at university, I have to take my hat off to Disasterpeace. The man has a great ear. It's interesting to view this as a musician who doesn't play video games. Respect where it's due.
Thanks for shedding some light on how this guy composes his amazing music (even if it all is still a bit obtuse to me); been a fan of his music for a long time, and enjoyed his perfect blend of melody/harmony-mastery and production-mastery. A Chorus of Tongues is still one of my favorites, and seeing how the two pedal-tones bear the whole piece through all the harmonic changes is so damn beautiful. I also have a penchant for how this guy handles musical pauses and silence, as also evident in this piece, and in The Refiner's Fire, which might be my favorite track of the whole ost, never ceases to give me chills.
Im came to this video to learn more about Memory and why that song sticks so hard to me. Jumped when I saw it was your first example, thank you for making this video
I am SO excited to meet Disasterpeace in March! He's a guest at VGM Con in Minnesota. Never heard of him prior, so this video comes at a perfect time!
I realize it's not exactly 8-bit, but Team Fortress 2 has a plethora of bombastic big band music to dissect. Might be a good series to consider if you wanted to bust into the realm of games not based out of the 8/16-bit era.
he doesn't limit himself to 8/16 bit music. heck, this very video only talks about music released after 2010
But all the music described is tied to video games with art that is pixel in nature.
Red not necessarily
Red it’s just that 8-bit is his brand or aesthetic if you will
These videos are so incredibly well done. Thank you for the time, effort, and knowledge you share so freely. There's a lot to learn here.
A lot of these progressions and voices remind me of the impressionistic harmony that exists within the music of artists like debussy, I really like it a lot it's cool to dive into
im a big fan of Vreeland - hes the best thing in bit music since Yuzo Koshiro or the genesis era in general. Fantastic video - a lot of the theory is lost on me but the abstract concepts you explained really helped me. Thank you.
I'd just like to say thank you for making these videos, because I know squat about music (I can play a little by ear, and that's the extent of my musical abilities) but I feel like I'm learning a little from watching these.
Have you ever played Golden Sun and it's continuation, Golden Sun: The Lost Age? They came out of the Game Boy Advance (the first was a launch title) and the music in the is amazing! Maybe you'd have fun listening to it. My best friend can't stand turn-based RPGs outside of Pokemon and hasn't played it, but even she has the soundtrack.
Thanks I appreciate your analysis - if not for our total comprehension - for our intuitive connections to these complexities.
This is great! It's really weird because I've been playing around with the idea of a Soundtrack Story on Hyper Light Drifter, and then this releases, lol. It's interesting how Disasterpeace is linked to jazz in the 60s-70s era, I never would've really thought about his chord progressions like that.
Charlie McCarren (from the Composer Quest podcast) and I helped record that one video of Disasterpeace! Glad you could use it :D I really loved this look into his music, definitely some food for thought on the next thing I make.
These are great videos, thanks for making these. I really appreciate the quality of each one with the gameplay, excellent scores, and meaty analysis.
I absolutely love the music disaster piece creates and amplifies hyper light drifter so much.
Man, I really hope you make a theory and harmony course or something. I'd buy it. Your breakdown videos are amazing!
I'm blown away by the quality of this video. Amazing job.
These videos are always so well put together, and are a joy to watch as someone who knows a little more than the basics of music theory, but is otherwise clueless. I really love people who share their deep knowledge of a subject like this, and appreciate all the time you put into this.
If you ever have the time for it, I think it would be awesome to see a video about the piece "Elemental Stars" from Golden Sun. The game's composer also composed for Dark Souls. It's a little-known (at this point) GBA game, and the entire soundtrack is very good.
Man, you're so good at transcribing... haha. Any tips on going about to develop good transcribing skills? Anyhow, LOVE your videos man, so much information presented in a nice way.
Spend a lot of time transcribing songs by ear. Start with melody, then move to harmony, you'll pick it up. Use MuseScore, or if you can pay, Sibelius.
@@27shogun58 *shivers intensely* never sibelius
@@iamveryconfusedabout Sibelius and Finale both have their drawbacks, but fluency in at least one is enormously valuable professionally.
@@Jus_Gold yeah, that's true, at the time I misinterpreted tentacrul's sibelius video as much worse than it was without looking into any more information for myself, but now that I've looked into it more, I know that I was wrong
Great vid as always. The bit at the end is awfully reminiscent of the first bit of Flamenco Sketches, thought that was a nice touch
Been waiting for a video like this. Disasterpeace has been one of my number one favorites, and hearing an analysis of his work means a lot to me personally.
nice little Bill Evans at the end
sosoyo180 yesssssss I'm glad someone else noticed haha
Flamenco Sketches if I'm not mistaken
I'll never forget hearing Disasterpeace's chiptune albums Atebite and the Warring Nations and Level (not to mention the sublime Rise of the Obsidian Interstellar) a decade ago, which seems unreal to think it was that far back. And yet, here we are, with the man getting more and more deserved love and attention as the years go by. Cannot wait to see what he has in store next. You are quite correct about David Peacock's Disasters for Piano arrangements-- they are a perfect representation of Rich's unique harmonic style.
loved the peace piece reference at the end.
12:10 that relationship is also used in the Xenoblade Chronicles Valak Mountain (night) theme. It’s beautiful. Thanks for the vid! You make amazing content.
I love the way you notate the pulse of the measure quite clearly. So easy to follow. You're not making my eyes bleed, lol
Ahh, too bad you didn't comment on Rise of the Obsidian Interstellar!!! That album is one of my favorite musical memories from early teenhood. Still, great video!
hyper light drifter and fez inspired me in terms of composition, but rotoi got me to eventually pick up my guitar
If you still like Rich’s music, I just read an old but wonderful article about that album! It was more about music history than music theory, but still did the album justice! Year late reply but still a reply lol.
proglodytes.com/2017/08/29/joes-garage-disasterpeace-rise-of-the-obsidian-interstellar/amp/
@@nikonradish smh i finally had some spare money recently and forgot to buy the album lol
I was listening to DP, then I happened to watch his workshop video, then I noticed this video here and... man...! Great stuff!
An 8bit music theory channel?!? WHAT?!? Subscribed!
Great analysis. I've listened to the Hyper Light Drifter soundtrack incessantly since it was released and always wondered how it worked but couldn't transcribe it properly. Thank you for this video.
Also, I like how you explain the music in terms of Modal Jazz where each progression is based off of distinct scales, but it can also be explained through traditional western music theory which is also worth mentioning. For example in the song A Chorus of Tongues; it can be explained as using secondary dominants, deceptive resolutions, and substitutions to obscure the tonality of A. F#7 being the V7/ii deceptively resolving to a D major chord(sub of Bm) instead of a B minor chord, which implies the tonality being temporarily shifted but never really granted. And with the G# in the Dmaj7(#11) wanting to resolve back to an A major chord but instead F#maj7 is substituted for the tonic further making the tonality unclear. A progression of I6/9 - V7/ii - IV7(#11) - VI; all fitting nicely within the key of A major.
Just discovered who Disasterpeace ism mind blown. Searched up anything that covers his music writing and thank god you guts did it!!! Awesome.
Been avoiding this video because wtf is Disasterpiece (besides a Slipknot song), but apparently this is about modal jazz and I've been missing the fuck out.
No wonder I love his music so much. He definitely seems like he knows what he's doing.
The content you are making is an absolute blast to watch !
I love Disasterpeace, and "Flow" from Fez in particular! Thank you so much for doing this video (and the "Deluge" reference, I'll have to check Shorter out!)
I have a better appreciation for the HLD soundtrack now
every time I learn a bit more about music theory, I come back to this video and understand a bit more about what you're saying, thanks!
These videos help both with my music theory and provoke me to learn more about underlying aspects that would have made the video too long. Keep them up man
Have you heard the music for Celeste? In the songs "Resurrection" and "awake" she (Lena Rein) uses this chord progression:
Am(maj7) C/G Fmaj7(#9) E7
It's a simple declining bass progression with some small additions that make it pretty awesome
I hope he talks about Celeste someday.
I’m so glad you did a disasterpeace video. HLD’s soundtrack is one of my favorite.
I don't remember ever being as happy at seeing a video being released as I am right now. THANK YOU, 8-bit
I'm a huge big fan of yours and Vreeland's work, great video! Keep them coming!
Amazing video as always! Loved the Flamenco Sketches outro!
I love these videos. I know enough to understand everything you say, but just enough that everything you say is completely new to me.
Thanks for the William Byrd snippet at 4:34. One of my favorite motets.
Man this is freaking cool! I just discovered this channel and I feel like I've stepped into another world. I will stay and learn the ways of the natives.
YES YES YES, i've been waiting so long for a feature on rich. he's my favourite
Never listened to this composer. That "Memory" track instantly pulled me in, simple as it is.
Oh, and I would love to see you do one of the old British computer-game composers, like Tim Follin, Rob Hubbard, Martin Galway, Ben Daglish, etc.
The song Mark Time by Kenny Wheeler also uses the same relationship between chords as in Flow, but the other way around, moving it a half step down instead of up.
Gbmaj7#11 to F-11. (then Amaj7#11 to Ab-11, C to B, Eb to D, back to Gb)
Check it out if you like the j a z z
This is the best channel in youtube hands down
Disasterpiece is such a wonderful artist. He really knows how to set the atmosphere of things and is good at making the music feel vast and open without it feeling weird.
I've loved Disasterpeace's music for a while now, but I never thought about how much theory it was rooted in. Really interesting stuff.
AVE VERUM CORPUSSSSSSSS
i love your videos so much. i have learnt so much about all kinds of music from your chanel because THEORY is so cross-compatible. thanks for the qual content Mr 8-bit theroy
Man... You're analyses go deep, son! I need to read up on some jazz theory XD
Nicee approach. I think to my self that after all, every music theory analyses is possible. The most important induction feeling at this compositions is get acostumed with the melody sound or lead voicing, and making internal voicing changes with the objective to creating the expected emotions.
Ever looked at the original (piano) music for The Sims (the very first game)? Specifically the Build mode and Buy mode songs. Anything interesting to say/analyse in those songs?
Love your videos/analyses btw!
The Build themes from the first Sims are still my favourite of the series. Very Keith Jarrett-y.
Thaks bro, I was always intrigued by Hyper Light Drifter's music, and this video made me understand the thought prcocess behind it a lot better.