Contra - Waterfall by Jorito | MSX Resource Center

Some game music gets stuck in your head because they catch your imagination and creativity. That can be annoying at times, and even more so when you are a composer. MRC crew member Jorito has had this fascination for Konami's Contra level 4 "Waterfall" song for a long time, but never did anything with the ideas it triggered.

Until now, that is. Finding both time and inspiration at the same moment, he got to it and came up with an interesting take on this classic game song. Combining the power of the orchestra with the power of rock already gave promising results, but with the help of some contributing live musicians the song really came to life. So apart from Jorito's overall arrangement and virtual instruments you can also hear Ivan Hakštok on rhythm guitar, Erik Vreven on drums and Sixto Sounds on lead guitar.

So there you have it, a full on rock/orchestral take on Contra's waterfall theme combined with some (not so) subtle references to the level 1 "Jungle" theme in the calmer parts of the song. The song can of course be downloaded from our downloads database or played with the MSX Music player on your right, but it can also be found together with some more music on Jorito's Soundcloud page or Youtube channel.

Relevant link: Contra - Oh noes, there be aliens in my waterfall! by Jorito

Reacties (13)

Van mars2000you

Enlighted (6615)

16-07-2014, 22:03

Excellent arrangement, Jorito, you are the Master of Symphonic MSX !

Van meits

Scribe (6583)

16-07-2014, 23:19

You gathered quite a band mate... Very well done...
Cheers

Van anonymous

incognito ergo sum (116)

16-07-2014, 23:41

Thanks guys!

@Meits: working with live musicians really makes a big difference. Too bad I couldn't arrange an entire orchestra

Also me and Erik (who did the drums) are working together on another fun li'l project in an entirely different style. Let's find out what we can come up with...

Van nerlaska

Master (166)

17-07-2014, 16:56

Impressive!! Thank you!

Van SkyeWelse

Champion (471)

18-07-2014, 16:40

Very nice Jorito. You don't often hear an arrangement of the Waterfall music from Contra. Always enjoy listening to your arrangements.

Do you put these up at all at OCRemix btw?

-Thomas

Van Jorito

Mr. Ambassadors (1816)

18-07-2014, 16:44

SkyeWelse wrote:

Yeah, the plan is to place (some of) them on OCRemix too. If they pass the judges committee, that is I'll submit it somewhere next week, and then it'll be weeks until they have managed to judge it. So don't wait for that, just enjoy the song

Van syn

Prophet (2148)

24-07-2014, 00:04

Good use of orchestral instruments in this one., although I dont like the strings playing the main melody from 0:21 to 0:32 (I personally would have liked something more punchy/in-your-face) but it works well in the other parts. I do feel the song seem bit crowded, as if stuff is getting pushed into the background somewhat .. like the drums/guitars, unless it was your intention. I am listening on headphones though so it may sound different on speakers. My favorite part is from 1:07 until 1:41, its awesome.

Overal a great remix.

24-07-2014, 21:00

Cheers, thanks for the feedback, and glad you like it! It's a bit crowded indeed, with a lot of stuff happening at the same time (I really should stop adding tracks sooner ). Therefore the drums and some other stuff are more in the background by intention, otherwise you'd have heard a cacophony worse than this one

As for sounding different on speakers, it does. I referenced it on a few different systems and this is the compromise I came up with. Still a lot to learn about mixing tho!

Van mesiasmsx

Prophet (3455)

24-07-2014, 21:45

Thanks Jorito!!

25-07-2014, 00:06

IMHO You don't need to test on too many different setups though, just studiomonitors and a "crappy set" like a boombox/mini hifi set or whatever will suffice (most producers have such thingy in their studio setup for quick test).

Another good test is through your car's audio system because of the odd acoustics in there

16-07-2015, 19:14

Heh, released a year ago already! I redid the mix to clear some of the mud out, updated version available here: https://soundcloud.com/jorito/contra-msx-aliens-in-my-waterfall

16-07-2015, 22:01

Yeah this sounds better from what I remember (its been a while since I heard your original version, but here about everything sounds clear). GJ

16-07-2021, 09:33

Necrobump! I did another update of this track a few months ago and released it as part of a compilation album called “Bits & Bops” on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, etc. It has a few more tunes that you might know from the MSX too, so maybe worth checking out:

Contra - Waterfall by Jorito

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