Shenmue (1999) Intro scene- music score orchestra

Steinberg Lounge
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Hi cubase forum this is my Shenmue music project that I finally can release.

Shenmue 1999 Intro scene 6.00min

Game: Shenmue
Platform:Dreamcast
Release:1999
Designer: Yu Suzuki
Composers: Takenobu Mitsuyoshi (Sound Director)
Yuzo Koshiro
Takeshi Yanagawa
Osamu Murata
Ryuji Iuchi

Re-imagining, arranging of orchestra: mithius/lastburai (me)

SFX and voice from the game was gratefully provided by wude at the Shenmue dojo, thank you

Additional Sfx was added and mixed by me.

This piece of music is from the intro that plays in the game where Lan Di kills Iwao Hazuki

Version 4A is the original orchestral version with SFX and vocal arranged by me no score was used it was done by ear. And it is my representation of the original, or close as to the original. Including the cut of music that occurs.

Version 4B is the original as in version 4A but without SFX and vocals and also without the cut, it is the full version.

Version 4C Is a re-arrangement of some of the melodies from original score. I added some instruments consisting of more ethnic type instruments such as Bawa, Er Hu, Guzheng, Xiao and a few others. I added 4 distortion guitars, 2 clean guitars and a bass guitar in addition to the rest of the orchestra. The bass guitar is mixed perhaps at a low volume, because the orchestra also has a bass I decided to lower the bass guitar. This version also includes the SFX and vocals, there is also the cut that occurs somewhere near the beginning again like the original.

Version 4D is version 4C but without SFX and vocals and also without the cut, it is the full version.

Do not let the slow pace of the music deceive. This was extremely difficult for me to get right for some reason to play the guitar and bass parts precise, slow and due to the way the tempo fluctuates of the orchestra, when doing tremolando. There is really no places where the tempo is steady, using ramp tempos, where the ramp moves across a wide range of bars, it may sound odd but this is the reality of things. Also to create very long sustained notes with a guitar is another difficulty that seems to come natural to other string instruments.

Thanks for listening any feedback/critisim/thoughts and so on… would be great

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Very cool, love the choice of Shenmue and I think you did a nice job with the execution! Definitely a lot of work, but a good product to show for it.

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Hi I very much appreciate the comment Chris,

Shenmue is a great game that never got the conclusion it deserves.

I think you did a nice job with the execution

Thanks, I am not sure how this was received by everyone, in that if they like it or not. I received no feedback from the many places I have posted this, only here did I receive feedback.

Yeah there was a lot of work involved, so many instruments and of the 2 versions by far the the most difficult version was the version with the added guitar. At one point I thought this might be beyond me to play it. Well the problem was not so much the playing but the doubling of the tremolando of the guitars L and R, in the intro. The reason it was so difficult was that the tempo fluctuates and shifts radically. It might not seem it but it really does, so many tries to get that correct :slight_smile: still not 100% but it was my best shot.

The one saving grace was that the music is at a slow tempo so there was some hope.

I am really grateful you took the time out to listen and to comment.

Cheers Chris

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Must tell you I thought it was a totally outstanding piece of work. Can’t believe I actually viewed the entire thing.
You should be proud of the work you did. That music fits in perfectly, to me. Bravo