Thats it I cant take it!!!

[Kixie]

yes i would like that very much too. bards are my favorite RP character. They most reflect my real life. Its dissapointing that you cant really be one in morrowind however. *cries*

[derwoodly]

I would leave the vocals out.

In my humble opinion, vocals will become irritating as they will be heard over and over again.

[Karyuu]

At the same time, I hate entering empty taverns and hearing vocals in the background. If there are several NPCs hanging around, that\'s fine. But vocals when no one is around... meh. I hope it shall not come to that.

[alphenar]

yeah.  i\'m definitely down with the silence.  voices coming from nowhere is too much like real life.

don\'t you guys have that problem?

[jcterminal]

oh i dunno, i think it\'d be pretty cool to have a trigger so that if a certain amount of people in the tavern causes a muffled discussion sort of noise, or maybe an npc performs in the corner.

Originally posted by Karyuu
At the same time, I hate entering empty taverns and hearing vocals in the background. If there are several NPCs hanging around, that\'s fine. But vocals when no one is around... meh. I hope it shall not come to that.

[Fanomatic2000]

I liked the vocals in \"Drakan: order of the flame\". Say what you will about the game, but the music really had athmosphere.

Vocals doesn\'t have to mean anything. You dont have to sing in any special language to give athmosphere and feeling to your music. Voices are ideal for environments such as Dungeons, Temples, Beautiful places, Woods, Deserts and palaces.
If you want you can experiment with the voices to make them sound strange and unhuman. That should add to the feeling as well.

I wish you good luck with the music-creation. I will give it a shot as well as soon as I buy a new sound-card and get my expensive music-program to work.

[Cyrandir]

I kinda like the # of people trigger thing... just my opinion

[Karyuu]

Aye, same here! The trigger is a great idea Just as long as the number of people/voices is reasonable

And...

\"Voices are ideal for environments such as Dungeons, Temples, Beautiful places, Woods, Deserts and palaces.\"

Beautiful places? Woods? -Deserts-? Don\'t you think those require more serenity and a certain.... well, lack of vocals and lack of a great number of people? At least that\'s the way I see it. Woods = not a populated city, last time I checked.

[willaert]

We\'re talking about two or three things at once when we\'re talking about vocals: voices as background noise (tavern sounds with a trigger--good idea BTW), vocals in a track where someone is singing words, and wordless vocals used as another kind of instrument.  

I think that wordless vocals work like violins when it comes to evoking mystery, great emotion, beauty, or even horror.  We\'re accustomed to hearing that in movie scores such as LOTR and the woods of Lothlorien, and in war movies that have vocals based on ideas in Carmina Burana (e.g., Glory, Star Wars).  I even think of the beginning of the game \"Descent 3\", where a solo voice is used with great effect to convey loneliness and sadness.  

In all these, I don\'t recall wondering where the singing was coming from-- it was the mood that was evoked by voices that was the purpose in using them.  The woods of Lothlorien music isn\'t a great example, I suppose, because the elves are singing a lament for Gandalf, and it almost sounds like the music is coming from somewhere in the woods.   But you get my point-- the instruments or vocals aren\'t there because there is an orchestra or a choir present in the actual scene (or in the case of a game, the location) but because those sounds make us feel something.  

Nick

[Karyuu]

Then once again, it must be planned carefully.

[Ratheus]

when im playing everquest, i load up on king diamon, slayer and arch enemy (i usually play evil toonz). It would be cool, if you could choose a different set of songs depending on your character/guild\'s alignment.

[Dalec]

If you are evil, then you will probably spend more of your time in evil settings, and to make a setting well, you have to have music to set the mood. I.E. if you are evil, you will tend to hear more of an evil setting.

[Fanomatic2000]

Whoops, I meant voices = vocals, but I understand that it could be confusing in this connection

Correction:  Vocals are ideal for environments such as Dungeons, Temples, Beautiful places, Woods, Deserts and palaces.

[Adeli]

Whemy, if by vocals you meant people singing a lyric, then no, by no means should you use vocals. Lyrics and games don\'t mix, as people have radical variations in taste.

Senseless vocals, such as a chant add to the atmosphere of a game, ala Final Fantasy VIII, the music that played whenever Edea appeared. Not a good game, but FF\'s have always had brilliant soundtracks.
Any vocals should be completely incomprehensible.

As for different music for different locales... Temples should be accompanied by soft \'holy\' music. Willaert\'s link was broken by the time I saw this thread, so unfortunately I haven\'t heard his sample.

I believe a tavern should have a lively, jumpy beat to it. They are places of merriment afterall, and not meant to be melancholic. If the aforementioned tavern were to be a seedy, dank establishment, then naturally it would be accompanied by equally dank music.

Wonderful examples for audio are the Baldur\'s Gate games. Never let it be said that Black Isle and TSR don\'t create an immersive world, such as that working on PS no doubt wish to create.

The music is a reflection of the atmosphere. As I said before, unless it is in a temple or similar place of worship, the music should be entirely instrumental.

I think this makes sense. I hope I conveyed my point.

edit: another note; samples of background noise become very repetitive and annoying after a while, avoid at all costs.

[Ikarsik]

mm music is so cool lol i use sybelius to write stuff. It takes a long time to write stuff but lol especially when writing  guitar and using major chords but im still studying guitar in music so i will be able to make guitar to =P

I think tubular bells was already used in the current cave music lol so none of that.

um like strings for temple is what ill try.

with guitar i only ever played diablo 1 but i liked the town music with the guitar and um recorder or whatever very calming music but also kinda majestic