After a 4-bar intro in 6/4, the pattern is 2 bars of 11/8 (subdivided 3 3 2 3), 3 bars of 5/8 (3 2), 8 bars of 6/8 (3 3), and finally 2 bars of 7/8 (3 2 2).

Also worth checking out from Dragon Quest 4 is Necrosaro (Evil One) – the second section has a complex irregular meter in the upper voices over a 4/4 bass ostinato. From the same composer, there’s also Devil’s Tower from Dragon Quest 6.

Mother 3 – Strong One
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdEF9FlXNno

Anyone ever played Game & Watch Gallery 2 (if you’re Australian, it’ll be called Game Boy Gallery 3), and played the Helmet game? Have you ever got to the 3rd stage with the fireballs and Thwomps? The music basically has: 16 bars of 5/8
4 bars of 6/8
2 bars of 13/8 (or [7 6]/8)

I did a “remake” of the Gabriel Knight song for my mother who really loves this tune but didn’t like the quality and length of the original. In my remake I kept the original 7/8 parts and therefore also kept the somewhat mysterious feel of the song.

Later I decided to make another “remix” for my own enjoyment, re-scoring the 7/8 parts to regular 4/4. It gave a total different “feel” to the entire song.

(For those interested, both versions are in my “Game Music Set” on SoundCloud.com at http://soundcloud.com/omnidextrous/sets/game-music)

In the end I think I’ll be doing more irregular songs to regular 4/4, as long as fans don’t start to throw things at me. ;-)

I do a bit of small-time composing, and one of the first things I ask myself about a piece when I sit down to write is, “what do I want the listener to feel at this moment?” Sounds have an amazingly ability to evoke emotions, and as a composer I will shamelessly pull any trick I can think of to manipulate the listener.

What emotions do irregular rhythms convey?

Irregular rhythms make us feel excited and unsettled. They make you feel like something unexpected is just about to happen; something is just about to come at you from around a corner, so to speak.

Irregular rhythms increase our level of alertness. They are energetic, and cause us to ramp up in expectation of action or fight/flight.

Irregular rhythms are often paired up with a melody line that has a short leap in interval followed by a glide back down, as in the sample from World of Warcraft. The line starts with a short eighth note that propels the melody up a third, followed by a six beats of a sustained glide back down. The irregular rhythm’s job is to energize that initial lift, then keep the attention going during the glide back.

Irregular rhythms do get tiresome if they are repeated too often. The brain memorizes the pattern, and lowers its attention level because the perceived threat never materializes. One solution is to have a very long pattern, such as the 29-bar Orc theme. I like to throw in an irregular rhythm during the bridge of an otherwise regular song, just when the listener thinks they know what to expect.

2. I actually think of “Death Egg” as a slow 6/8 with emphasis on the two beats. This also aligns well with the melody that comes in later. But again, it’s just a preference (well provided it makes logical sense).

3. To B’s defense “alternating measures of 6/8 and 7/8″ isn’t wrong, as 7/8 followed by 6/8 followed by 7/8 (etc.) still fits the pattern, and it sounds like B wasn’t being specific about which was first.

4. I hear “Bats” as 3/4. Going back to my first point, this has the waltz feel. Sure, its measures can be “paired up”, but a measure in music isn’t expected to contain the entire phrase. 6/4 is more complicated than 3/4, which fits well here.

But to take a step back, please, let’s not start argue over the thread. There’s nothing wrong with disagreeing, but we could all be a little more respectful and polite about it.