Tricky to capture the atmosphere

[Alzheim]

Even though the game music is great, I guess you might get tired of it after some while. At least I did. I thought I would try to put together some music myself. I did some composing some years ago, inspired by the Wheel of Time series. This time, however, I do not seem to be able to capture the amosphere. It would be really fun composing something again...

I have this bunch of Midi files that should contain a song that could be reused or at least help me get started: http://www.wothymns.com/midi/midi.rar

Please, help me. I do not mind being criticized as long as the criticism is constructive.

 

[Raybur Ravenloc]

well, i'm uhh.. acoustically challenged... so i'm no help with it. But sounds like a good idea, and sounds like its what you like to do, so go for it!

 

[Orion]

Go ahead. As far as I know, it would be the very first music mod in existence for this game.

Music in battle mode should have a fast tempo, though. We don't wanna fall asleep while hacking a swadian to death.

Music on the map should change depending on the time of day. It shouldn't be upbeat and happy when it's the middle of the night, for instance. However, it shouldn't be really slow and uh.. "dream-like" in the middle of the afternoon, either.

 

[roborob]

ummm, actually there were a couple of music mods.

 

[Lobo]

Yeah but I think they were made from licenced band's music and that can't officialy be used wihout the licence so they dont count

 

[Sir Prince]

I windows media player 10 can't read those non-music files.

 

[Alzheim]

Can´t read midi files? How strange...

Well, here is a rar with MP3 encoded songs. Just get yourself a RAR extractor utility from www.tucows.com or something, unpack and start listening: http://www.wothymns.com/mp3/mp3.rar

NOTE. The MP3 songs in this archive are just a fraction of the number of midi songs posted before and I do not think any of these songs fit the game.

BTW. Do you think I should stick to medieval-sort-of instruments or may I use synths, guitars etc?

 

[Sir Prince]

BOth, maybe make two mods or two parts.

I meant I couldn't use anything in the _vti_cnf files.

 

[Alzheim]

Sorry for double-posting but I forgot to ask about the comment from Orion: "Music on the map should change depending on the time of day".

How do one accomplish that? To my knowledge I can only state that a song can be played on the map, city and/or in battle. It would be awesome if I could choose which song to play depending on time of day.

 

[Ryuta]

There're so many of them...

Which one do you think is the best? Give us maybe 5-10 candidates.

 

[Manitas]

I liked those in the 'shadowspan' folder.
Maybe it's because they are somewhat rearranged mids from Duke Nukem 3D , they bring me some good memories.

 

[CptBarnaclebeard]

I have listened to maybe ten or so tracks, so obviously I haven't looked at everything, but hoping that it was a fairly accurate sampling, here are my thoughts. I would generally say that the music is good in and of itself, however, I would also say that most of what I heard wouldn't suit my tastes for Mount and Blade music, at least as it is now. I think the music needs to be of a more serious and solemn tone, obviously, not funeral music, but just a little darker and less percusive. My other qualm is with the instrumentation. I like the use of the organ, but in general, I think the use of strings, brass, and chorus stuff sounds best in battle. I think guitar, if acoustic, could be very good. In summary, the music is very good, but not very suitable to the game, though others might disagree. As PrinceScamp said perhaps making two versions would be best. Either way I appreciate what you are doing and do encourage you to pursue this endeavor.

 

[Alzheim]

I´ll see what I can do. For a sample of songs, try
1. Egwene
2. Winter Night
3. Lady Moiraine
5. Min
6. Hand of Light
7. Night Guards
8. Age of Legends

I do, however, agree that the songs do not fit the game. That was my original problem...

Perhaps I should put together three completetely new songs instead and let you guys choose which one to go forward with. Someone having a web server where I can post the stuff?

I will start with city or map songs, not battle songs...

 

[Janus]

1. Egwene
2. Winter Night
3. Lady Moiraine
5. Min
6. Hand of Light
7. Night Guards
8. Age of Legends

Wheel of Time, eh? That got my attention. Downloading now.

 

[Orion]

Just use whatever you think sounds right, release it, and we'll eithe applaud you for your good work, applaud while pointing out minor mistakes, or just sit here talking about how much it sucks and how we want our time back.

 

[Alzheim]

That will be just fine. I´ll make the songs very, very short to begin with then

Now, someone having space on a web server somewhere for work in progress? It would be great if there was support for polls. I could then upload three versions each time I make a change to a song and let you choose the best/least worse version. It would then, at least partially, be your fault if the final result sucks

I will also upload and keep the branch tree updated so that everyone can download all versions that have been uploaded and see how the song has evolved.

An idea of how the song could be developed (each one being a branch point):
1. Put together main tune. Very simplistic
2. Refine and complete the main tune
3. Add additional patches (instruments and effects) except percussion.
4. Percussion
5. Mix and encode MP3
6. Finalize

A roll-back to previous branch point will be made if enough people find that all three alternatives suck.

 

[Alzheim]

Well, here they are. Four little pieces:
http://www.fenrisoft.com/mb_repository/modules/PDdownloads/singlefile.php?cid=10&lid=49

Let me know if any of the songs are worth continuing working on. If they all suck, let me know why.

 

[Corto]

Okay, I listened to your themes several times through and now some comments follow:

Theme 1: I found this to be a bit too melancholic for my tastes. Sounds more like a piano concerto than a good soundtrack piece for M&B. Perhaps the piano instrument should be altered/changed?

Theme 2&3: These are basically variations of each other. I liked theme 2 better, it might actually work as a soundtrack theme song. But even in that the guitar instrument should probably be replaced with a flute or some other even more fragile sounding instrument (just an idea).

Theme 4: Too slow. Also the pauses in the theme do not sound good if I imagine it as a M&B soundtrack piece.

In summary: they all seem to be little too much in minor tune. I think your themes need a seriously pompous and epic boost to them: horn sections, drums, major tunes, anything. Something more heroic and dramatic, in other words. IMO these themes are not yet suitable for a M&B soundtrack mod as they are. But you *do* have some potential. Keep working.

Sorry about the mostly negative feedback. They're just my thoughts.

 

[Alzheim]

Ok. I`ll try that.
The tricky thing is that the music has to work as a backgound song. You shouldn´t actually even notice the music in the game. The ingame music somehow manages to be both bombastic and anonymuous, so I know it can be done, though.

 

[Alzheim]

By the way. There is a new topic. This one should be closed.