game music

KeyserSoze

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=174695457

Kind of an unusual pimp I guess, but I figured this was the best place to get feedback. This is my attempt at composing game music... I figured instead of forking over $50 - $100 to license some crappy generic music, I'd try my hand at making my own crappy generic music. This is for a personal project of mine. Do you think this would work as the title-menu music for a casual/indie game?

[edit] forgot to mention, the loop is only 0:57 long, but I doubled it before uploading so you can here it loop once

Steve Schulze

Its a bit harsh sounding. I think it'd benefit from tweaking the levels somewhat. Its also kinda stilted. You need need to flow into your main instrument a bit better. The sudden explosion of sound can work and work really well (65 Days of Static are masters of this) but you need to handle it carefully so that your track doesn't become clunky.

Keep at it. What you've got here is a good start - you've got some interesting sounds going and the beginnings of a decent track.

My mate Pselodux does a lot of 8-bit styled stuff. Might be of some use to you. Where is it/How'd I do/Cccool is probably a good place to start.
http://www.mp3.com.au/artist.asp?id=8711
65 Days of Static have some videos and music you can check out here for some structure reference. Drove Through Ghosts to Get Here (theres a video in media) is probably a good one
http://www.65Daysofstatic.com

Armanguy

im no music buff but you need to slow that stuff down man you move to quickly into other melodies you need to transition them slowly your main beat is nice and i like it work with that instead of just throwing random crap in there.

KeyserSoze

Thanks for the input guys. I see what you mean about the transitions being too abrupt/clunky. I'm a bit limited since I want this to be a ~1:00 piece that's loop-able, so I can't be too subtle with changes or have gradual, epic build-ups like 65daysofstatic (or other such post-rock/electronic/experimental groups... which I love btw). This isn't going to just play once... it's going to loop over and over and over for as long as the user stays on the menu.

Hopefully I'll have time to work on this some more, and I'll try to get the different elements to flow together more and maybe experiment with the sounds / tweak the melodies a bit.

acc

That's some freaking hardcore music for a menu. What is this game, KILLATRON DEATHPOCALYPSE X?

Neo_God

Was this done with Fruity loops?

I dig it, but I agree that it's a bit hard for menu music.

Parnell

I actually like it. A bit ear piercing at parts...but a pretty cool tune.
B

Wells

I like it.

blasting it.

also, killingpeople gives you a hug.

Penzer

I think its pretty decent, definitely better than I was expecting to hear when you said you'd just try to make your own for fun. I'd say its just a little bit to much on the high end. If you can pitch shift it down to a bassier sound just to take the high pitch edge out, then that would be much nicer.

KeyserSoze

Thanks for the comments everyone. Yeah Neo, I made it in Fruity Loops (they call it "FL Studio" now). They have some neato guitar simulators. And lol @ acc... not exactly, but I think you just inspired me to create the most BRUTAL VIDEO GAME OF ALL TIME.

I made some minor changes to the composition and tweaked the settings a bit, so hopefully it doesn't sound like someone trying to use an overdriven fast-food intercom as an amp anymore. If you want to check out the updated version, it's the same link as before (posted again below, for lazy people like me who can't be bothered to scroll up).

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=174695457

KeyserSoze

Just did a bit more editing and uploaded a third revision... I tried to add a bit more variety to the melodies (not sure if it loops as well now, though).

Joseph Silverman

I don't know much about music, but I like the first one a lot. Reminds me of Comix Zone, for some reason...

bounchfx

I think it's cool. It really depends on the kind of game, I think.

Rhinokey

i like bits and pieces of it, tho its a bit random for my taste, no real structure. the hi hat seems a bit harsh and detached from the rest of the song.
heres a dir of random music snippits from me, nothing finished, but just a lot of junk i've made
http://www.tmhunt.com/sounds/

i think you need to work a lot more with your drums and structure, deadspace was an industrial space station level theme for a game cholden was goofing off with.

fireflight was another metal themed game track.
the loz ones, are my cover of Legend of zelda theme

but my faves are roger wilcos and the sunshine songs.. a lot of similar versions of it with little differences


was trying to make a myspace music page, but its not workin!

{scumworks}

never tried fruit, but if you want some more control I would recommend trying reason. Its a great almost all-in -ne software, tho I used wavelab and now protools along it.

Steve Schulze

Fl Studio does everything one needs without any excess complications. Particularly good for the newbie like master Soze here.

I'm digging Sunshine, Rhinokey. Thats some nice work.

Rhinokey

most everything on my site was done with Reason i really like using it, tho i've yet to come close to tapping into its pottential

thanks jack, i put a good bit of time in it.. Its inspired a bit by some of the instrumental pieces that Mortiis does. i really need to get back into making some musics

Michael Knubben

scum: claiming Reason gives you more control than something you've never tried, especially considering the closed nature of the former, is slightly amusing.
The songs's quite good, and you've used Slayer well, i think. I like the 'lead'. maybe some highpassed drumrolls and general glitchy stuff could help alleviate the emptyness a bit?

coldwolf

KeyserSoze: If this is the kind of music I'm to expect when I play your game... where the hell can I get your game? I wanna play it just for the music Great stuff man, tho I like the first version best. I'd eventually like to make my own shit in FL Studio as well, and this stuff is actually kind of inspiring. Cheers.

Steve Schulze

[ QUOTE ]
i really need to get back into making some musics

[/ QUOTE ]Yeah, me too. Its been years since I've produced any tracks.

dj snyder

oh damn, we can post music here?

nice btw

KeyserSoze

Alright, well I wasn't completely satisfied with how my first track turned out, so I wanted to try another one (I figured I'd just bump this thread instead of starting a new one).

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=174695457

The new track is aptly titled "new song." The first 0:20 of the song is an intro, and the following 0:55 is the part that loops. It's still a bit rough at the moment, but I think I like this one better. I think it has a bit of an early 90s alt-rock vibe.

Michael Knubben

This one seems to take the midi-guitar (yes, i know it's not midi) much too serious. The last one worked so well because it worked with Slayer2's weaknesses, rather than against them. This one just highlights them by trying to be too fluid. If you're going to go with this composition, at least get someone to play it on guitar (i'd do it if i had it with me). If someone records it clean, i could even try a few different distortions for you, i have a few nice plugins that could work with this song.
If that's not an option, maybe a bit more variation would do the track good. A palm-mute and strum every now and then, a bit of automation on the volume and damping, stuff like that.

I still prefer the first one, because it's not trying to fool anyone into believing it's really guitar. It sort of reminds me of bands who use distortion on keyboards, which works really well with the sequenced nature of the sounds.

Rhinokey

i'm torn, i like the more structure in the new song, but its still verry jerky and all over the place i'm personaly more of a rif based guy, and like my musicwith more structure, thats totaly a personal preference and a lot of people like more free form music,

KeyserSoze

I agree with you MP about the FL Slayer not working so well with this new track. Even though I like this new one more in many ways, it still needs a lot of work (especially the percussion, which I had trouble getting to sync well with the other elements), so I think I'll just stick with what I came up with before. It was fun playing around in FL Studio, but I don't want to spend much more time on this part of the project.

Anyway, thanks for all the feedback you guys have given me, it's really helped. Even though I didn't come up with anything spectacular (which was never my intention), I'm satisfied with the result and think this is, at the very least, adequate for my purposes.

[edit] Rhino, now that I think about it, I think the reason it turned out jerky and all over the place was because the way I developed the track. I played around with the guitar simulator until I came up with a short riff or melody that I liked... I ended up with several different melodies that seemed to work together, but I just threw them all in the song without much consideration of where they should go or if they even belonged. I think that's what makes it seem a bit incoherent. That's definitely something I'll need to work on if I ever come back to this or start a new one.

Steve Schulze

I think what you've got now would work quite nicely as an underscore or bass line kinda deal. Layer a melody on top and you'll potentially have something pretty nice.

Rhinokey

the way i work on a typical track is i take a generic bass snare 4/4 drum line, then over it i make a main riff usualy 1 or 2 measures, then either duplicate that progresion with bass using either root notes for something simple or embelishing it with some runs, then over that i come up with melodys and such with more guitar or difrent instruments. usualy when writing i just stack all this up on the same 1 or 2 measures, after i'm sure all the sounds work together and none of the notes are off or out of tune i start aranging, take one of the melodys maybe put it in as a intro with a hi hat tic, then work into a bass line and some rythym, swap out a lead here or there, to build parts, i like the old intro, then verse chorus verse maybe add a bridge, or an outro, so when i get my difrent chunks of the some together where they work well together, i go in and work on the drums, making the drum work well witht the song is somethign i overlooked for a long time, just having it bass snare hihat the whole way thru. but drums are just as much part of the song as the guitar.

for example, a lil pieces of synth music on my site i listed before, called fireflight, nothing special or awesome about it, just a fun nites work the drums at the intro are a slow come in when the guitar riff starts, and the drum pattern changes with the parts of the song to accent it, and drum rolls to accent the repeats of riffs, and alternating drumm patterns for verses and chorsus.

I'm no instructer i don't even consider my self good at this, but its something i like to do and i put a lot of thought into it.

oh an extra note, when programming synth lines i try to think about setting it up as a real drum set, and how a real drummer would play. like not being able to hit everythign at once, since drummers have 2 hands (most of them)

the drumm line to fireflight without the guitars is also on the site as just fire.mp3 so you can see how they go together