Hollow Knight: Greenpath Jazz Arrangement || insaneintherainmusic

Music like this kinda just makes you want to pull up a bench and sit down for a while, eh? Insaneintherainmusic's jazz cover / remix of Greenpath from "Hollow Knight"

Man, where to begin on this one... so my story with Hollow Knight started back in last December, when I lost my Switch on the train coming back from a weekend trip I took to New York City. I unfortunately lost my Switch and all my physical games, but I had purchased Hollow Knight a while back as a digital download... and man, am I glad I did! I got a new Switch in February, installed Hollow Knight (since I had already purchased it), and loved it. It's such a great game. Not done with it yet, just about 10 hours in.

The idea to cover this song came from my request sheet, actually! I've been feeling a bit burnt out of all the Sinnoh music that I've been covering lately, so I decided to take a look at the Song Request sheet I maintain, and see if there were any songs that stood out. To my surprise, there were a lot of requests for this song and City of Tears (which I might do next) from Hollow Knight - I had no idea there was quite a demand for this music. The request sheet is really nice for helping me understand what you guys want to hear, and to discover new games with great music that I should play! Please consider submitting a request if you have one!

You may have seen from the video and the thumbnail that I have a new upright bass! A friend of mine is leaving Berklee soon, and was looking to downsize a bit, so he sold me this upright bass at a bargain. I love playing it so much, it's so much better than using samples to get MIDI upright bass sounds, haha, it looks so much better on camera too. It's really hard to play well, as my intonation on it isn't super great (I will admit, I used quite a bit of Melodyne on the bass in this cover to get it better in tune), but I am looking forward to continuing to practice, improve, and use it in future videos!

To me, the atmosphere in Greenpath feels pretty dark, but also cozy at the same time. I wanted to reflect that with this arrangement, so I went for an arrangement in the style of Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band! I've been really into groups that use bass clarinet as part of the horn section, and Myron Walden of the Fellowship Band plays a mean bass clarinet. I really wanted to stretch the timbral capabilities of the jazz combo, so I kept the instrumentation fairly simple, while also striving to use unique unison combinations to add a lot of color throughout the arrangement. Having a real upright bass made this so much more fun. In addition, being able to record live drums has been such a blessing! I used timpani mallets, sticks, and brushes in this cover to get a huge variety of timbral possibilities out of the drumset, and I'm super pleased with it. I've got a Promark Sizzler chain on top of the ride cymbal, and I think it sounds awesome when you hit the cymbal with a mallet. Of course, a cymbal with real rivets would be nicer, but maybe someday...

I always like to give my arrangements a pretty big sense of contour, and this one developed quite nicely! I knew I wanted some really quiet sections like the intro with fingered electric guitar and double bass in the high register, and also some louder sections like the climax of the sax solos in the middle of the chart and towards the end. It's kinda cool to look at the waveform of the audio file when I've finished mixing to see how well the waveform compares to my intentions dynamically speaking. Hope you guys enjoy this one!

♫ "Greenpath" from "Hollow Knight" composed by Christopher Larkin

SOCIAL MEDIA:

[JoCat]

one of my favorite musicians doing a cover of my favorite area of one of my favorite games <3

[emmbeesea]

YES THAT BASS CLARINET.

I approve of this arrangement so much.

[DrPumpkinz]

Oh my, a City of Tears cover would be _divine_ (no, not that one), especially with vocals, and _especially_ especially if it follows the buildup from the game and not the OST version.

[GRAAAAGH]

Now imagine a jazz arrangement of Hornet’s music...

[tobyk]

The utter disbelief I’m in is immeasurable and my day is made

[alio]

"Smooth and subtle jazz combo sounds"

All music videos need a description of the song at the start of the vid

[Lithori]

Carlos's biceps looking dummy thicc here, wow

[bFreezin]

So who's excited for Christopher Larkin's music in Silksong? I heard he's going to have an actual orchestra this time, so I'm super excited to hear it's soundtrack

[nolanoliver]

When I played this on my switch, this place was one of the only places where I could hear the fan whirring away. I assumed it was ambient noise at first since it was so constant. Hearing this song played by you and without the fan is more surreal than I would have initially thought. Thank you for this amazing cover!

[ubiquityphantom]

And now there is officially only one instrument left that I can play that carlos can't which he will probably learn it soon.

[Gatitasecsii]

Your channel is seriously one of the absolute best gems in the whole YouTube. Above all other cover channels because when I see others cover they rarely even arrange the music differently, they just play it on an electric guitar and call it a metal cover. They almost never even add solos.
You change the music enough that we can tell you put a lot of work, but you keep it magestically sounding like the original, and then your solos are so incredibly good I seriously cannot avoid bopping my head.

[whstjvm]

6:30

The bugle call motif is really cool at the beginning of the tenor solo!

I really enjoy the warm sound of the new mouthpiece. It's a nice contrast to the bright, almost piercing tone that you hear from a lot of tenor players -- perfect for the tranquility of the music!

[erich.]

In response to the description:
City of Tears, yes! Next time you need a break from lovely Sinnoh tracks, please give it a look!

[acblook]

I don't even need to listen to this it's going straight in my best music playlist

[gavinchaston]

It is impossible to not feel comfort at Greenpath's theme, but you sir attune its meagre form unto serenity and Ascend...

[didishufford]

Hollow Knight is the first game I've ever bought, and playing blind has been one of the most euphoric experiences I've had in a video game. Thank you so much for this arrangement, Carlos!

[josephmurray]

When your binging the soundtrack then go in youtube just to have this be the first thing in your recomended

[majesticmelon]

Carlos with the reminder that I need to play Hollow Knight still

[OCBased]

Dude... this is sick. I’ve wanted a hollow knight cover for a while, and you chose one of my favorites on the soundtrack! Gotta love that Bass Clarinet.

[metalemup]

Hollow Knight deserves some jazz love too!