This video is an instrumental cover of Museum from the Animal Crossing series, originally composed by Kazumi Totaka. Instruments featured are piano, bass guitar, flute, clarinet, trumpet, and a plethora of programmed instruments via my MIDI keyboard!
Original Composer(s): Kazumi Totaka
Developer: Nintendo
Arrangement, performance, editing: Brooke Ferd
This piece is not exclusive to New Horizons, it is the universal museum theme for all games. I was surprised to hear how slow and basic the NH version is! It totally works for the game; in fact, all of the AC music must be \"atmospheric\" to an extent as it lines up with the gameplay! Instead of condensing an arrangement to woodwinds, I did the opposite: Build from a simple theme. Because it's a cover and doesn't serve an in-game purpose, it was appropriate to add buildups, arrivals, and flesh out the instrumentation. If you can identify the arrival quote at 0:41, you're my hero!
For the mix, I doubled the live bass guitar with a programmed Upright Bass, because the Upright has just enough of the percussive quality that I wanted from a bass. If you're wondering why you hear an upright but I'm playing a bass, just know it's doubled! I also panned a little more than I usually do, added a universal reverb rather than having each woodwind voice sit in its own separate reverb, and EQ'd the crap out of the clarinet (no music shops open due to the quarantine, so I had to use a size 2.5 terrible student reed). I've never even heard of this reed brand, which is always a bad sign :P
I do NOT have New Horizons, but yes, I have played the Animal Crossing series for over a decade now. Special thanks to my friend Gwenith for lending me the cartridge to record game footage!
Any cover suggestions, feedback, or general comment, feel free to leave a comment below!
