Welcome back, music enthusiasts. I present to you my third long-ass music analysis video. It’s for Stellar Stellar by Hoshimachi Suisei. We'll break down music theory stuff (diatonic and non-diatonic harmony, cadences, progressions, etc.) plus a bit of production stuff (synth basics, mono + stereo + polarity, filtering, etc.) plus some stuff about feeling rhythm (drum grooves + counting the sections with weird phrase lengths + keeping your place in this tune), all as it relates to this song! I have a short history with this tune and have been thinking about diving into it for a bit, especially because I figure the pre-chorus and some other parts may be hard to count and might trigger some confusion for some folks. I figured I could help with that. And also the interesting changes throughout the tune, and final chorus especially. And also all the other cool stuff there is to talk about in this tune.

I intended for this one to be shorter than my first two, and it is, but not by much. There’s just too much stuff to say. But anyway that's that! Enjoy the video.

COOL STUFF BELOW

The music analysis playlist!!!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRaduCsp6ujqpBrN8TpklRhsYkshcA6OL

Here's the new Ko-Fi. Join for early access to videos and the power to suggest future videos. You can also commission me for work. There's like nothing there at the moment but I'll get around to populating the page soon hopefully. https://ko-fi.com/raidsrc

You can also drop me a tip on PayPal if you enjoyed this video. Or if you're cool.
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/raidsrc

My Website, Spotify, Bandcamp, Instagram, Twitter, and other stuff.
https://raidsrc.me/links

Also check out Petty Tactic, the super cool J-rock band I'm in.
https://instagram.com/pettytacticband

And here's a link to OffKai Expo, the Vtuber convention happening in July, which I may or may not be doing a whole bunch of cool official stuff at... who knows?
https://offkaiexpo.com

On Still Wings, the track that played around 1:14:42.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0IYxmQ0Fs0

Me shredding the Stellar Stellar synth solo with a GameCube controller clip
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9ksrwvnX_Q

REQUIRED READING
Andrew Huang's music theory video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgaTLrZGlk0
Ted-ED's "How to read music" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN41d7Txcq0
Pianote's music theory video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CFP9DF706s
Berklee Online's Synthesizer basics - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3udLCvoCC0

Timestamps
0:00 Intro
2:07 prerequisites + more rambling
3:45 start + 2 golden rules for counting this tune.
5:16 preliminary info. key signature, time signature, tempo.
6:49 hyper dense rich texture. acoustic instruments and electronic/synth voices.
7:27 the bassline informs the changes
9:52 verse 1 plucky synth & how to synthesize a plucky saw yourself
16:02 thin highpassed drums, highpass filter demo
17:31 SUPER COOL ANNOUNCEMENT OFFKAI EXPO
18:22 verse 1 chords. the b7 major chord, 5-1 cadences, and stellar stellar verse 1’s neat augmented chord substitution
30:21 how to count the pre-chorus
34:12 chorus. cutting out the low end right before a drop, texture thickening out, drum ‘n’ bass groove
35:44 interjection 1: extensions/extended chords
41:14 stellar stellar’s royal road progression (def not the last editor's note)
46:07 chorus chords quick look, the delayed 2-5-1 at the end
49:01 on 2-5-1 cadences, a crucial building block of jazz harmony (and Western harmony in general).
1:00:41 the delayed 2-5-1 continued
1:01:42 interjection 2: slash chords
1:04:57 repetition legitimizes, repetition legitimizes, repetition legi-
1:05:58 a beautiful rich texture of instruments outlining the tonic chord, our home base
1:07:37 onwards…
1:08:50 into chorus 2. thinning out the texture before the drop in multiple ways
1:10:59 an explainer on mono and stereo audio, polarity inversion, stereo width, overdubbing, and more. also how manipulation of stereo width serves to amplify the contrast between sections of this song.
1:20:05 back to the chorus. drum groove demo, it’s all contrast!
1:21:16 SYNTH SOLO. the synth and vocals leave space for one another. the importance of space/silence. also i’ve heard that downer before.
1:25:22 approaching the final chorus. highpass filtering demo 2. tension building, and then released.
1:27:55 final chorus chord progression overview. lots of G# 7 → C# m, also cool ascending chords with stepwise root motion.
1:36:58 ending
1:39:59 addendum (ko-fi.com/raidsrc) + real ending + check out this chiptune