Analyzing "MEGALOVANIA" Undertale OST (LFA # 1000) | Basterd's LFA (Layman-Friendly Analysis)

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]Next up, we have Megalovania by Toby Fox from the Undertale soundtrack. Once again, everybody, this is a bastard Zelfe, a lay unfriendly analysis. I'm a professionally trained musician, composer, and my objective here is explain things in a way so that you don't have to be one to understand what is happening here musically. So, if you like the sound of that, make sure you're following the channel, subscribe to the channel, whatever you use, like the video, share the video, comment, turn on notifications, become a member. Once again everybody, don't forget to join the Discord server, join the Patreon, subscribe to the gaming channel, how to request songs if you're not in the live stream. Members getting early access to the content. I have a spiel to listen and a bunch of other things at the end of this video. So stick around for that later down this video, so stick around for that. Disclaimers showing on your screen right now, so go ahead and pause the video to read them in full.

[00:00:47]Otherwise, please be patient with me. I am acoustic and guitared and I don't have a script. So please keep that in mind. Also, for those of you um to wondering, yes, um this week we are celebrated, we're recording this, we are celebrating one year of LFAS. We started our LFAS a year ago. And this right here, Megalovania, LFA number 1,000.

[00:01:13]We have done 1,000 LFAS, and I figured we might as well. We might as well. So without any further ado, Megalovania, let's go.

[00:01:36]Okay, so we start with our initial melody which contains our initial motif.

[00:01:42]Motif being the smallest version of your musical idea, the seed, the essence from which everything else comes from. This motif is immediately sequenced.

[00:01:51]Sequencing is when you repeat a musical idea from a different starting point.

[00:01:56]However, what we are doing over here is that we are doing a partial sequencing.

[00:02:02]So, a full sequence would be that you take a melodic idea and you repeat the whole thing from a new starting point.

[00:02:08]For example, let's say we have this, we have this over here. And now if I were to sequence it, that means I'm repeating the same idea from a new starting point.

[00:02:22]That kind of stuff. Um, but what we're doing is a partial sequence. We are not going to we're not going to switch the whole thing. We are just going to sequence part of it. In this case, we are sequencing the first note. I think um I think we're having so we have this motif over here. Uh and then instead of repeating the whole thing, we are just moving and sequencing the first the first note.

[00:03:06]So, we're just repeating the same idea and we're just moving the other one giving us this or or we are just doing this descending slowly descending line. Uh let me just go back a second and let's see where this goes.

[00:03:31]And now we bring in a guitar. Of course, these are done via uh synths. We are we're synthesizing. We're using music sample like audio samples, but we are now including what sounds to be a guitar. And the guitar is now highlighting that sequence itself going down the same notes that the lowest note that is being sequenced is doing. Let's see where this goes.

[00:04:04]We bring in the drums.

[00:04:07]We unleash the melody. And now we have a doubling. Doubling is when you have more than one instrument doing the same thing at the same time. In this case, we bring the violin um the violin sample to now play the motif itself. And that is doubling because now we're having, you know, the violin sounds a lot more epic than just the initial synth. We are now having both of them playing at the same time along with the heavy metal drums and the guitars and the bass. The bass is doing the baseline. We get this.

[00:04:41]Let's see where this goes.

[00:04:48]Nice.

[00:04:57]and we switch over to our first solo. So when you are making music, you want to keep a careful balance between what is familiar and what is new. Too much familiarity, too much repetition, too much of the same thing, you risk boring the listener, they tune out. Too much new material too quickly, you risk overwhelming the listener, they tune out. There is one universal exception, no matter the style or genre, which is solos. You bring in a solo and as long as it sounds cool enough and it fits enough, you can get away with almost anything. Meaning that the principle of familiarity and new material becomes more relaxed. So what are we doing over here? We are keeping the same guitars.

[00:05:35]We are keeping similar drums. We have toned down the drums a little bit. And we have now brought the keyboard here giving us a solo. Now the keyboard is giving us rhythmically very much the start of the phrase.

[00:05:51]We're getting that at the very first and then we are going out and doing something else. A way to be able to distinguish solos from just regular melodies is that solos are usually going to sound like they are uh improvised that they are or that they are showing off or that they deviate a lot from the original material. Like for example, the melodies that we're getting, those slides and everything, not exactly the uh not exactly the same um melody that we're getting. Not very related to the material that we're doing, but who cares? It sounds cool. That's what we're getting over here. Now, if we were going to be talking form and structure, we are following the structure most likely of that of a lead sheet music. So lead sheet is if I bring up the blue bossa.

[00:06:40]Uh lead sheet is this kind of music as opposed to regular sheet music. Uh if I bring you let me bring a um a piece.

[00:06:49]Let's bring in um a piano sonata by Mozart. Let's bring in a piano. I think this is a piano. I think this was one of the piano sonatas.

[00:06:57]Uh yeah. Here we go. So as you can see over here uh this is piano sonata number 12. This is the one in F major by Mozart. And as you can see, every single individual note, it tells you exactly how to play it, how to do everything, and it just gives you the whole playthrough all around. It gives you every single detail that you could ask for. And this is usually regular sheet music, and this is very common for classical music. However, jazz, funk, blues, uh, R&B, a lot of times more of these contemporary genres will use the lead sheet method. What is the lead sheet method method over here? You can see medium up. We're using blue bossa as an example. Medium up bossa. Medium up bossa. This is the style. This is going to be for the drummer to determine. So the drummer knows what style to play or everybody knows what style to play. Then we have of course key signature, time signature. We have the melody playing over here. And then I have we have on top here these little um letters over here. These are the chords that you're supposed to play. So the entire ensemble gets the instructions on what to play and everybody in the ensemble gets the same sheet of music. And if you can see over here, even if you were to play this whole thing, which Blue Boss is such a beautiful melody, you might be able to get maybe one minute of music. But if you look up a recordings of Blue Bossa, 8 minutes long, 9 minutes long, 10-minute long recordings. Why? Because the form of lead sheet leads to a lot of solos. So how does Blue Boss work? You can see over here play head twice after solo DS alcod. Now uh what does that mean? We play the melody. Head is usually the melody. We play the melody a couple of times and then after that we are going to go back and just play the chords and instead of playing the melody we are going to start rotating between the instruments and everybody's going to play a solo. So we are now doing this.

[00:08:52]We did a couple of plays of the we introduced the melody. We then introduced the um the melody with the full ensemble and now first solo. We're introducing the first solo and then we are going to probably go for something different. Uh this is how it works. DS alcod ds that means deno this little uh s looking sign over here. That is a seeno the sign which means um that you go back to this portion over here. Ala, which means that you end the track at the start of this bar over here. So, let's continue the solo. Let's see where it goes.

[00:09:38]Second iteration of the solo. We are now including a second line. So, we turn the solo into a duet and we are now engaging in some counterpoint. Counterpoint being the study the art of melodies. how they are, how they develop, how they interact with one another, usually in the context of having two or more at the same time.

[00:09:56]And in this case, you can hear them at times they are doing what is called parallel motion, which means that they are both doing the same thing from a different starting point. And then they start doing a similar motion. Similar motion means that each of them is basically going generally in the same direction, but they're doing it differently. So yeah, we're having that happening. Let's see where this goes.

[00:10:26]We bring in the trumpets over here. And now the trumpets are doing a partial I would say a reduction of maybe the um we're doing a reduction of the retrograde. So reduction being another way that you can develop your material in which you play a faster version of something you've done before.

[00:10:53]And on top of that we are doing a retrograde. Retrograde is basically you are playing whatever you're doing backwards. So an easy um an easy one if we take the motive right that means we need to go oh god that's a very long motive.

[00:11:17]So that means what?

[00:11:23]So we have a very complicated melody to go through over here, but we're going through it backwards. We're doing some of these moments a little bit faster.

[00:11:30]And of course, we are doing a partial version of the motive so that we can we don't have to worry about the whole thing. It seems like at the very least the start of the rhythm is always the same. And then we go for this. We bring the trumpets for that retrograde of the motif. Let's see where this goes.

[00:11:54]This one over here was an inversion. Um, this one over here, an inversion.

[00:11:57]Inversion being another variation of the type where you basically play a reflection upside down of the motif.

[00:12:04]This is probably maybe a retrograde inversion. Um, retrograde. So, let me give you a simpler version, right? So if we have this motif over here, then if we're doing an inversion, we're basically playing a reflection upside down.

[00:12:19]And if we do then the retrograde inversion, we're doing that backwards. And the retrograde of this one would be just so yeah, we're doing that from a more um complicated motive over here. Let's see where it goes.

[00:12:39]We repeat the motive. The retrograde inversion.

[00:12:50]There we go. The inversion again.

[00:12:53]The inversion with a descending chromatic with with just a descending scale at the end so that we would have a smoother time going back to the start of the piece. Uh this is fairly common to see when we are adding this basically as a um as a credential motif. It this is just an additional tale of the ending so that we can just go back to this moto.

[00:13:17]Welcome today. How you doing? So yes um very very impressive how it's just built off the same kind of thing. Smooth line is actually a bad time smoother time. I mean for the player it's a bad time but it gives the melody a smoother time to go back because the thing is we are having the this melody over here right like we're having the melody going up over here and over here and even if we play it um and if we do this version of the melody we are having basically the melody um what if I were to do this we're going to be doing a retrograde going to retrograde and an inversion so we're having this going on over here and the melody we've been playing is giving us a lot of ups and the basically the variation that we have would end up up here. But in order to not have that sound just abrupt, we are just adding an extra bit of line over here so that it sounds a lot more smooth as we go back.

[00:14:21]And speaking of going back, yes, I went back and made the Patreon. Uh, the Patreon is now up and running.

[00:14:26]patreon.com/jamesrbastard.

[00:14:29]Uh, subscribe to today, follow it today, linked in the description. If you want to support this channel more than you already are by watching and subscribing, all that stuff, consider joining the Patreon. Do join the free tier at the very least. If you're not planning on giving anything, any money or anything because this is where the non-gaming LFAS will go. That means anime, film, TV, label, music, the stuff that usually we can't or that we won't do on the main channel goes over here. what we do on YouTube is inherently fair use, but that does not stop bad actors from abusing the system. So, in order to just not deal with that, it's going to go here on the Patreon. That's going to be free for everybody. Those LFAS will be free for everybody. There will be content behind the payw wall, of course. Uh that will be stuff along the lines of the music lessons that I have uh that I have in in the works. That's right. I'm going to have music lessons teaching you music from scratch and as much as I can teach that kind of stuff. Of course, higher tiers get more perks, all that good stuff. So, consider joining the Patreon today. linked in the description.

[00:15:23]Patreon.com/jamesrbastard.

[00:15:25]Thank you to those who have already joined and are supporting this channel, particularly real nemesis and French guy. Your support means the world to me.

[00:15:32]I appreciate it very, very much. And yes, if you want to join, link in description if you want to support the channel more than you already are.

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[00:15:41]Linked in the description. Anyway, let's go back to um to the track. We're having this really cool retrograde inversion.

[00:15:49]Let's see where it goes.

[00:16:03]So now we are doing a partial elongation of the motif. So we had a reduction before and now we're doing the opposite which is elongation.

[00:16:13]Elongation is that you are playing a slower version of something you've done before. We are bringing this new synth over here giving us this particular texture and we are getting basically the first few notes but we are playing them so slowly that that is now just the motif over here.

[00:16:34]It's just a partial elongation. We're not doing the full phrase but we are doing just enough so that it's still the motif. Let's see where this goes.

[00:16:43]slide.

[00:16:46]Oh, in a few weeks, man. All right, we bring back the original and now we are having the elongation with the original superimposed on top of one another engaging in some more counterpoint.

[00:17:03]Nice.

[00:17:06]A little break over there. Okay, we bring in another synth over there. Now doing what are called accents. We're having some accentuation done via the instrumentation. Accentuation being that you're highlighting specific points in the rhythm with another instrument. As you are hearing over here, we had that other synth hitting very very quickly, very small, and very uh shortly, but it it highlights specific points of the melody. Let's see where this goes.

[00:17:33]All right, we bring the guitar in.

[00:17:38]The guitar outlining. So now that we've been h spending so much time outlining the higher part of the motif, now we're outlining that um that part that we were sequencing at first. We start of course with a retrograde. Now we do the original. And since we're using still the rhythm for it, it works. Let's see where it goes.

[00:18:04]A really good guitar.

[00:18:07]Nice. Repeating one more time. How's it going?

[00:18:15]Okay, so it looks like we're doing one more run.

[00:18:18]There we go. We bring back the motif and we Okay, so we have one more run. We are doing a different sequencing. We bring back the original motif. We start the way we ended. We ended the way we started. Let me hear.

[00:18:42]And we end it with a half cadence so that we can loop back. So when you are making music, you're doing one of two things. You are building tension or you're resolving that tension. That point in between we call the cadence.

[00:18:56]Cadence and resolution uh or cadence with resolution. Cadence is building expectation and meeting that expectation. And usually this is something that you do with your chords.

[00:19:06]And right now we are doing what is called a half cadence. Half cadence means that you build that expectation and you do not and deliberately do not meet it. You deliberately do not resolve that tension so that you can create that momentum so that you can resolve in the following section in the following piece or so that you can loop back to the start. In this case it is made so that we can loop back to the start and have this piece play forever. And with that, there you have it. Megalovania by Toby Fox featured in Undertale or from the Undertale sound. I'm so used to the feature from the Undertale original soundtrack. Our LFA number 1,000.

[00:19:51]Once again everybody, this has been a bastard ZFA, a layman unfriendly analysis of a professionally trained musician composer. And my objective here has been to explain things in a way so that you don't have to be want to understand what's happened here musically. So if you're watching this on the YouTube video archive thing, thank you for watching. Make sure you're following the channel, subscribe to the channel, whatever you use, like the video, share the video, comment, turn on notifications, become a member. Once again everybody, don't forget to join the Discord server. That's where everything gets announced first. Whether there's the streams going live, the videos going up, the channels, updates, projects, giveaways, everything gets announced there first. Of course, we have the community there. We hang out, we chat, we steal memes from other people so claim them as our own. and where I host our Vintage Story. VINTAGE STORY community server. It used to be a Minecraft mod. Now it's its own standalone game focused more on the survival aspect of it. It's cheaper than Minecraft. I love it. I prefer it. I'm not sponsored by them or anything. I just really love the game to the point that I built a PC just to host a server for this, which is available to join via our Discord community server. So, join the Discord today linked in the description. Also, I forgot to mention earlier, thank you for a year of LFAS on top of that. So, I appreciate it. And um yes, share these videos with everybody that you know. Use the hype function on YouTube. We have a group on the Discord that coordinates for that. So link in the description help the channel grow.

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[00:22:13]We play videos on the later part of the stream and then the vaults, the recordings go over here. We've been playing through the limit company. We play through just shapes and beats. uh Hollow Night, that kind of stuff. And every game we play eventually ends up over here. So, subscribe to the channel linked in the description or search on YouTube. Same username as James our bastard. Just up the J for a G and you got it. And uh yeah, there you have it.

[00:22:37]LFA number 1,000, dude. Megalovania, Toby Fox, Undertale. Really good stuff.

[00:22:44]And in general, just so much fun, dude.

[00:22:46]Really good stuff. Really good stuff.

[00:22:48]But uh yeah, let's move on. Let's move on.