The thinking behind Planeshift's music?

[josephoenix]

* josephoenix creates a new message "One symphony orchestra, for use in-game."

* josephoenix attaches Orchestra.orch

* josephoenix sends to Talad

I once thought about using my school's symphonic band, but we don't really have a recording studio. Also, we aren't that great :|

josePhoenix

[Tabasco_Lyaph]

No not a real big one like the london symphony orchestra but we have oneof swedens best music shools and a few of my friend go there, maybe could talk them into do something as a school project? I dunno about it but would it work? I have all the resources for recording and orchestra and i maybe could get hold of at least a smal orchestra

[Karyuu]

It might be a fun project for you to take on, just personally :] Try to remaster one of PlaneShift's current tracks, and if you're successful, send it to Talad.

[Xordan]

For any recorded music (for a game/movie/etc), it needs to be played perfectly (e.g. exactly as written, and with feeling). Only a professional orchestra can really provide that (mainly due to time restrictions rather than the skill needed, although the more skill the less time needed I suppose). So until we get one of those along with a recording studio, samples will have to do.

The game music (as in any game) is designed to just be something nice and atmospheric in the background rather than coming from any ingame source. The kind of music really depends on the location it's being written for, but we want medieval-classical, maybe even Baroque.

[Tabasco_Lyaph]

I'll make a try and see what you guys like of it

[zanzibar]

You don't need an orchestra for troubador-esque music though.

[Tabasco_Lyaph]

I'm do know that, am learing a few music producer progs like Fruity loops and Reason 3.0...

[Gharan]

  I recommend Cubase SX Lyaph

[Tabasco_Lyaph]

Tried it but i am having a hard time getting the hang of it.. BUT i'm going to learn it in school 

[zanzibar]

Xordan has a point.  Recording music is a tedius, exhausting, often frustrating process.  Even when you do have a perfect performance, you might suddenly discover an error in the recording process itself such as some noise or distortion etc.

The kind of music really depends on the location it's being written for, but we want medieval-classical, maybe even Baroque.

The ingame music is very modern.  I'd describe it as post romantic video-game music.


Baroque music was common in the 1700's.  That's way too late for Planeshift.  With medieval music, we're talking about 400 years earlier and even earlier than that.  Troubadour music.  These were songs about epic battles and kings and having wild parties.  The language used was Romance (Roman), a transitory language between ancient latin and modern day French (as well as Italian, Romanian, Spanish, etc.).


Here are some examples:

http://www.amazon.com/Music-Troubadours-Ensemble-Unicorn/dp/B00000IX6O
I've previewed the songs on this and I'd have to say the best clips are "Lady, For You", "It Is Fine To Sing", "Estampie: Reis Glorios", "Praise, Now, Praise, Praise",

There's an instrument in some of the recordings that sounds a bit like a piano.  It's probably a dulcimer.  Dulcimer's aren't very common in Western music anymore, but they're very popular in Iran.  In fact you probably heard a lot of the Middle East in these recordings:  This is because of the influence of the Persians and the Ottamin Empire on Europe.  The Greeks also had a lot of contact with the Syrians and other such nations.  A big influence came in the form of music.  Knights and nobles would also have been exposed to Middle Eastern music during the crusades.



Here's a good one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Riquier-Troubadour-Perceval-Ensemble/dp/B00002409V/sr=1-5/qid=1160971574/ref=sr_1_5/202-2428040-6721420?ie=UTF8&s=classical

"Plus Astrees No M'es Donatz" is definately worth a listen.



Here's another good one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rudel-12th-Century-Troubadour-Herve-Berteaux/dp/B000023XUL/sr=1-8/qid=1160971574/ref=sr_1_8/202-2428040-6721420?ie=UTF8&s=classical

"La Passion Du Jeu: Decius"



Now check out some middle eastern folk music and compare it!  These recordings were done by Maza Meze, a toronto group.  (http://www.mazameze.com/)

http://www.mazameze.com/assets/whitesite/Mp3s/tapo.mp3
http://www.mazameze.com/assets/whitesite/Mp3s/anatoli.mp3
http://www.mazameze.com/assets/whitesite/Mp3s/Birdos.mp3
http://www.mazameze.com/assets/whitesite/Mp3s/bahiaout.mp3

Do you hear the similarities in orchestration and instrumentation?  Also the fact that most of the time, there's only a single vocal line - traditionally, there is very little use of vocal harmony.




So really, any kind of orchestral music is undesireable if your goal is to have music that is period-appropriate.






On Cubase:  I've worked with it.  It's not very intuitive and it only works on Macintosh computers, but it does the job.

[Xylaal]

Pro tools is still considered the industry standard but folks have gone to Digital Performer and Logic (a bit laborious) as well. I highly recommend Sonar 5 Producer (pro version of a cakewalk product) it's very user friendly.  Sonar 6 comes out next month.

[zanzibar]

What's your opinion of Cool Edit Pro?



Edit:  Here's another link that is really worth checking out.  I posted it in the video thread a long time ago, but it fits in this thread.

http://www.timrayborn.com/Video.html

[Gundam Shimmabuku]

I think that some people are right about how the music just dosnt seem to fit the world we reside in.
for me, the most important thing in a game is it's mood. How well it sucks you in and makes you believe you live in this world. Music can very very deeply effect the mood.

Let's take(Dare I say it?) RuneScape for example. Pretty crappy game, but the music just completely kills any sign of a slightly good game in it. This is mainly because of its annoying melodies, and it's high pitched, fraud, instrumentals. Planeshift Is not nearly as horrific as the music of runescape, but it still kinda hurts the feel of the game.

Now Enough of my complaining. Here are some suggestions.

NEWGROUNDS
A place filled with wonderful musicians who would probably be willing to write and compose music for this game for free, seeing as how its just a hobby for most. Here are some people who I would suggest you listen to:

Madboss
http://newgrounds.com/audio/view.php?id=1580280&sub=58459
WuSchell
http://newgrounds.com/audio/view.php?id=1623083&sub=62360
and Evil-Dog
http://newgrounds.com/audio/view.php?id=393421&sub=5047
(He has some rock, but alot of good classical)

Hope I didnt make anyone mad, and that I have some good suggestions.

Thanks for reading.

[zanzibar]

@Gundam Shimmabuku:  It's great that someone decided to revive this thread.  I was really disapointed with how quickly it died.  Did you read my post?  What did you think of the music I linked to?

About Madboss:  I listened to the first and second track.  It sounds more like a modern movie soundtrack influenced by video games than it does classical music.

About WuSchell:  Listened to the first track.  It's very simple music despite the fancy orchestration, and again... it's more like a modern movie soundtrack than classical music, complete with the flute from Titanic.  I actually really liked the piano at the end - it was very America, if you're familiar with him.  He did the music for the movie "The Last Unicorn" if you've seen it.

About Evil-Dog:  I'm not sure why you made a link to this guy... it seems to all be pseudo punk.

[Gundam Shimmabuku]

I listened to the music you posted. Some of it wasnt bad, but it was a little thin. Like Guild Wars' music. But Some of it I liked.

Madboss I really like. I know what you mean about the more modern theme though.

Wuschell is like my hero. He has some really good japaneese-influenced peices that he writes that I like, but may not fit planeshift that well.

Evil dog. Well, theres alot of orchestral songs mixed in with the punk ones. Let me give you direct links to his orchestral songs:

The Sands Of Time
http://evil-dog.com/ambient/thesandsoftime.mp3

Blessing
http://evil-dog.com/ambient/blessing.mp3

Second Awakening
http://evil-dog.com/ambient/secondawakening.mp3

Another World
http://evil-dog.com/ambient/anotherworld.mp3
(Kinda liked this one because it had a chilling melody,plus the beat to give it a "cool" effect.

Mideval Agora
http://evil-dog.com/ambient/medievalagora.mp3
(I think He is addin real flutes and clarinets in his final version)

Death
http://evil-dog.com/ambient/death.mp3
(very short)

Gost Presence
http://evil-dog.com/ambient/ghostpresence.mp3
(creepy)

World of Legends
http://evil-dog.com/ambient/wol.mp3
Or the remix(with a beat)
http://evil-dog.com/ambient/wolremix.mp3

Epic loop (loop it if you can)
http://evil-dog.com/ambient/epicloop.mp3



There is more of his stuff at his website, www.evildog.com

If you scroll to the bottem, it looks like he is into developing, which could be something completely different.

Thanks again