http://soundcloud.com/output-1
My friend Nick (also aka'd as "The Output") mentioned to me that we were welcome to use his music for the CP -- it's worth a look anyway, even if the community says no go. It's hard to describe his music -- it's I think the most accurate way he described it to me was "electro-drone/video game music." More information on that later -- for now, listen, and ask yourself if it's worth considering.
I think it might be premature to decide on a soundtrack before we even have a storyline, but it's something to keep in the back of your minds.
Songs I recommend listening to:
Questionable Discontent
Dance Please
Songs I, personally, would vote against:
Where did you go cover by Ticio Sante (REMIX) --> the version that he's remixing totally ignores rhythm. It's not his fault, honest.
10 AM Automatic (Black Keys Cover) by Harbingers of Cool --> that's nick's version of a song my band covered. it's interesting, but I don't think it'll fit in as a video-game soundtrack.
Just listened to a few,
Ensemble A1 sounds very alienesque sci-fi to me.
And I think that Dance please would definately be good for use in fast-paced action situations.
saves me doing it during college next year :P
I dunno, I'm kinda partial to selections from this... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCBsdtAEYZA&feature=related) or better yet... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D4t5g2x_jE)
And this... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9amA9aAq50w)
(I DO expect that all three videos will be watched to completion!)
No seriously Dance please is great... reminds me of the menu cycle from FE.
I also really do think that some of the chord progressions favored by arrangers in DCI can be harnessed to the effect of great drama- as that is what they are designed to do.
I'm more of a rock guy, really, but still, some of this stuff is pretty sodding awesome. And I agree with MX on Ensemble A1
My band could possibly provide some atmospheric instrumental rock... but dont count on it :P
Which gives me an idea of a mini community project, similar to what Black Mesa: Source are doing. Call on the community to compose its own music for its own project.
Quote from: ScrapPool on August 26, 2009, 09:07:30 PM
I dunno, I'm kinda partial to selections from this... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCBsdtAEYZA&feature=related) or better yet... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D4t5g2x_jE)
And this... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9amA9aAq50w)
(I DO expect that all three videos will be watched to completion!)
No seriously Dance please is great... reminds me of the menu cycle from FE.
I also really do think that some of the chord progressions favored by arrangers in DCI can be harnessed to the effect of great drama- as that is what they are designed to do.
While I'm glad that people do pay attention to DCI, most of the music played is too "in your face" to be good background music. A large bugle line like that doesn't provide the correct sound for game background music
usually.
Quote from: VSMIT on August 26, 2009, 09:27:39 PM
While I'm glad that people do pay attention to DCI, most of the music played is too "in your face" to be good background music. A large bugle line like that doesn't provide the correct sound for game background music usually.
Haha I was doing a poor job of being sarcastic.
I actually said:
"I also really do think that some of the
chord progressions (favored by arrangers in DCI) can be harnessed to the effect of great
drama- as that is what they are designed to do."
Note the use of the phrase 'chord progressions'. Not 'bugle line'.
This is why I try to be thorough when I post- that strategy is better for sharply defining what is going on in my brains so that it is easily transmittable to your brains as information. :-o
A more thorough elaboration of what I said might be:
AS Someone with decent experience in the matter, for me it is worth putting forward that the chord progressions used often in DCI are designed to profoundly interact with the brain in a chemical sense on a level which is not normally achieved with "normal" M, m, or IV chords seen in "everyday" music. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDs7taPjEp4&feature=fvw) Versus the nonstandard, yet intricate and explorative chords. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B49N46I39Y)
In short, DCI chord progressions are a means to project interesting chords in a
non-boring way.
It is also worth noting that I never suggest their use in actual looping, background game-play music. It was instead implied that they could be used as a constructive tool during independent times of intricate story development (via the use of the term "drama"). (Maybe a cutscene is an example?)
While game-playing, I usually listen to Pandora: often it's a various post-rock station, perhaps Pelican Radio, Isis Radio, Mogwai Radio, or something. I'll even go Philip Glass or Burzum sometimes. Or Tool. Tyr as well.
I kind of the think the in-game music for this CP should be exploratory and unusual, not a standard "rock music." I would be willing to whip up a track or two to submit as well.
That's assuming we are composing/putting it together it ourselves -- something I kind of assumed we would do.
Thoughts?
Music, if done at all, is a final phase addition. So are movies, or at least the final movies timed for music and dialog.
I must humbly disagree. Movies could be built around music, take George Lucas for example.
Setting the atmosphere for a game is very important. If you ever play with CD music turned on, the same map can be played in a totally different light depending on the track playing. An eerie silence with a few wildlife noises would add to the low mist and ponds on Mire, for example.
This isn't to say it should be first priority. If anything, music and sound FX should be done on a second branch of the CP alongside the development of assets and story, rather than "the next step." A small team devoted to the music could interact with the story developers to try and capture the mood of the map and mission.
People greatly under-estimate the power of soundcubes... i use them all the time.
I think this community project should have a lot more sound. In the previous ones they kind of slacked off on the amount of sound effects.
yeh but you try making/finding them. it aint easy.
Nope. But we have tons of people signed up for this. Don't you think we could come up with a few more?
Read the quote here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Sweetback's_Baadasssss_Song#Music
I think we should take this approach: For each cutscene, for each battle, for each level, for each race, we should be asking ourselves "What should the music be here? What tone, quality, and color should it have?"
If we do that as we design the levels, maps, races, ect, I imagine it will flow together nicely.
In real game and movie design music, VOs, and finished movies come LAST. Trying to do them earlier just makes wasted effort and time as things change.
Well, are we Hollywood or are we an independent movie studio?
Ok, fine. We won't decide anything.
My point is that is what years of experience has them do.
Its true, if you say, did a cutscene, and then want to change the colour of some units, you'd have to redo the cutscene.
We would need to know what kind of atmosphere we are going for before we decide on what music to use. I personally think we should be going for a much darker effect than BZ2, closer to BZ1 if anything. I would recommend using classical music if possible, strings being the ideal family because they are so versatile and can convey anything. Watch any decent film and you'll find that most of the soundtrack is played by strings. We would also need to convey anger, hate, tension, possibly more emotions than I can name in a short post. Of course, aside from the main negative emotions, we would also need music to convey the short-lived romance between Adam and Eve.
Of course, composing and recording this music would be difficult. However, Half-Life 2 modder Fakefactory (who made the quite controversial Cinematic Mod) used an almost entirely string-based soundtrack in CM, which is strikingly more effective than the dance/electro/trance/rock fusion that Kelly Bailey composed. The music was entirely taken from copyright-free soundtrack teasers and the like, and he has had no problems with it. It makes the game incredibly atmospheric.
In short, that is what I suggest we do.
And may I add that it has just hit me how truly epic this mod is going to be.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we are about to eclipse every installment in the entire Battlezone saga.
Hadley out.
Quote
And may I add that it has just hit me how truly epic this mod is going to be.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we are about to eclipse every installment in the entire Battlezone saga.
Talk is cheap. Releases aren't.
When you
finish a mod -- and last I checked, the planning is still not even close to being finished -- you can speak up like this.
-- GSH
lol
Just being optimistic :-D
Take a lesson from me: when I implemented DX9, I didn't go boasting about anything. I kept quiet, and worked. Only 2-3 testers knew what was in development before I sprung the first private patches on them. (Though, anyone who'd looked at my wish list online would have gotten warning even before pb4a released. Anything that's on the first page of a google search I consider to be public knowledge.)
Remember this rule: underpromise & overdeliver.
-- GSH
I've been thinking about something, the new community project might entice more players onto the 1.3 patches. Fingers crossed anyway. :-)
Given what's been proposed -- "more of everything ever done in a mod, and done even better" -- I suspect it'll be a long while before things release.
-- GSH
QuoteAnd may I add that it has just hit me how truly epic this mod is going to be.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we are about to eclipse every installment in the entire Battlezone saga.
Hadley out.
Don't count on it!!
It may be better than any other mods that are now released or in development... but I have plans to make a mod that is better than any other mod that has ever been made by anyone... EVER!! For any game!!
QuoteRemember this rule: underpromise & overdeliver.
I have... and plan to.
Quote from: Mr X on August 30, 2009, 12:57:43 PM
I've been thinking about something, the new community project might entice more players onto the 1.3 patches. Fingers crossed anyway. :-)
It should. Didn't FE get more players into 1.2?
i usually have the music off...
Hi, all. Retro here. Was one of the principal initial organizers of BZ2:FE.
On music: my suggestion is also to hold off on decisions at this point, at least until the atmosphere of the mod is locked in. The music should match the major plot direction. Always good to discuss, but I wouldn't recommend devoting significant energy to it.
To see my point, boot up the original Battlezone and listen to the martial title track. It's a perfect fit for that game because it nails the setting and narration.
Woah, Retro, haven't seen ya in awhile (since the Pandi forum and BZ2CP1 days). Welcome back. :D
Yeah, I agree. Keep it in mind, but don't decide anything.
Good to havde you, retro!
I'd hate to be seen as forcing my iterests here but since the mod will most likely involve time travel, i have two iron maiden recomondations[though adding the song to the mod may require band permission.]
Deja vu: because you are travaling through time and feel like you've been in the situation before
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIjPwzL_5Yk
caught somewhere in time: the name pretty much explains it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6OXAVV64Vo&feature=channel
listen to them both all the way through before replying.
I don't think we would be able to use them for copyright reasons.
again, we could ask.
I don't think the music should have lyrics. It can have vocals but please no words. The other two didn't have any and i think we should stick with the trend.
Definitely not lyrics. Singing, but in a more classical style - no words as such, just a few 'aah's or something. And not something that somebody else has released and holds copyright on. For a start, they wouldn't respond to requests (if they're anywhere near famous) and second, the RIAA (that right? american copyright nazis?) would kick our asses and we'd be shut down.
We really don't want to work on this yet. We want music that fits the mood of the mod, not music that sets the mood of the mod. Make the mod first, do the music last.
Lock topic and open it up after the mod is ready?
Or just don't post in it.
It is worth talking about.
There are times when Lyrical music works in game... particularly in ass-kick sections. My favorite example is in Halo 2, you break into a room and the brutes and elites are killing each other with some crazy rock in the background with lowered (though not muted) lyrics...it really set the trigger finger off.
But when you are watching a space cruiser gracefully gliding through the stars, or when you are driving a sentry through the trees on a recon mission or something non lyrical music works best.
Quote from: bb1 on September 10, 2009, 11:04:00 PM
It is worth talking about.
There are times when Lyrical music works in game... particularly in ass-kick sections. My favorite example is in Halo 2, you break into a room and the brutes and elites are killing each other with some crazy rock in the background with lowered (though not muted) lyrics...it really set the trigger finger off.
I love that song, It's blow me away by Breaking Benjamin one of the most memorable parts of Halo 2.
agreed, i love BB and thier new album is coming out the 29th
Lyrical music is NOT a good thing unless it's whispering or chanting. It's distracting to the player and if the player is concentrating on what he's doing, he's not listening to the music anyway...
HOWEVER...
I really agree with N1 in that we really should wait until we find a mood to fit the music.
Definitely.
agreed.