Music Making Month Marathon Megathread (of the Avatar)

Well Richard also gave a variety of examples including Metallica as reference material. So go figure. I'm sticking to my guns with orchestral and guitar themed music. I'll leave the more contemporary themed pieces to those more oriented to those specific instruments.

Sent from my GT-S5690M using Tapatalk 2

 

I'd love to give you a specific list, but I don't really have anything comprehensive. I'm sorry about that. I can say however that the reason I know that Richard is not particularly interested in music with a "movie score" type sound is because that is what he told the attending "Lords of the Manor" at the second dinner event in New York. At that event, he explained that he really prefers the instrumentation to be period-appropriate, and said more than once that the music that had been submitted and used in the Alpha phase of the game so far was exactly what he was looking for in instrumentation and overall feel.

I hope that helps.

 

I've got a new song today. It's a lot different than my last two, I tried to come up with something less percussive and more melodic. It's a lot simpler, but I like how it sounds. I call this one "The Long Walk". Like before, I'm trying to make the end of these songs able to loop into the beginning seamlessly. I know the ending sounds kind of abrupt, but if it loops it sounds perfect.

 

I've been a little busy, unfortunately. Securing a downtown apartment for myself.

I'm still dabbling in ideas and have some dungeon tracks coming along. I really enjoy the darker stuff, personally, so that's my tendency when I compose.

I'm happy to see any activity in this thread and will be watching closely as always. Big props to Kailef: he started out not even really knowing if he'd be able to make music, and it turns out he's banged 3 amazing tracks out in no time. Anyone interested should give it a try! You really don't know -- you could have a gem inside you that is just waiting to make its debut!

~Holt

 

The more I listen to what everyone is doing, the more I think I'm out of my depth here but I thought I'd give it another crack and worked through the flute melody I posted a few days ago. Anywho, here it is. Should loop well if nothing else!

 

Although Metal has a sort of RPG connection in some way, I'd prefer orchestral, chamber, and more organic electronic soundscapes to Metal most of the time.

I just think it is less in your face.

 

Yes, I like this style. I like this medieval feel.

Have you seen the work Clannad did for the Original (80's) Robin Hood British TV show ?

That had some good Celtic - Skara Brae type feel that might work well with the Ultima mythology.

Good for inspiration

 

I saw Clannad live at least once in the early 90s, but I've never seen the tv show. I'll have to youtube it.
Clannad was very nice though, I have found memories of that concert.

 

This song is a little bit of a different vein than what I've done so far. The big difference here is that rather than something that builds to a crescendo, it maintains the same steady pace throughout. Much like the other songs, it's designed to loop. (It actually does a better job at it than the previous songs. It kind of gets under your skin if you listen to it loop for a while.) I'm not sure if I like this one as much as the others or not. I'm definitely open to changes and suggestions.

It's called "On the Wind"

 

I'm working on another song, but it's nowhere near ready. When I return home tonight though, I think I'll post it here despite it's unfinished state, and hopefully get some feedback and ideas. This song is less of an offering for the game (although I expect it could still be used) and more of a concept piece. The name of the song is "Chaos: DarkStarr's Theme"

I'm finding it challenging to craft music that is still comfortable enough to listen to, while still feeling chaotic and pseudo random. I tried doing some time signature changes but all that did is make it feel like I was writing a "Yes" song from the 70's. *chuckle*

Anyhow, stay tuned, I'll upload it to my Soundcloud and post it here tonight - Perhaps all of you guys can give me some suggestions.

 

Here's another tune I started working on a few days ago. Not sure if it's a song yet or just a collection of ideas. Whatever it is, I'm calling it Blood Rain.

 

Okay. This is highly preliminary, but let me know what you think and how I should change it, if you'd like to help.

Very much a work in progress, this is supposed to have a chaotic, abrupt feel to it. I'm not sure it's really what I want, but I'm working on it.

It's called "Chaos: DarkStarr's Theme"

 

Really good man.. I like how most of the percussion and rhythm is in a very near done stage, IMO. Not sure what to recommend except I think it just needs a bit more flow and direction... If you feeling like collaborating I'd be willing to see if I can add something to it and send it back to you.

@Santa Clause = reminds me a bit of Final Fantasy style tune. Kind of relaxing too.

 

My apologies to Holt for not posting sooner, but since we're lacking in free harmonic material, I'd like to offer something.

Anyway, if you follow along that nice circle of fifths, you'll find this harmony: I vi IV V I = (in C) C, Amin, F, G, C. This is a standard harmony in everything from classical to pop, but today I heard a pleasant variation on it that I must share. I vi iv V I = C, Amin, Fmin, G C. You can put it in any key you want if you know how. I left it in C for simplicity's sake but play around with it. Its been around for hundreds of years so you don't have to worry about any legal battles over it. The only difference here is the IV chord (in this case, F) which uses a borrowed iv chord from the key of C minor, making it F minor instead of major.

 

Kailef was kind enough to send me his stems to play with, I have to say that I had A LOT OF FUN with this!!

:edited:
I made my own version featuring rock guitars and some changes here : (edit update)

If anyone wants to give feedback that's cool... Not everything is done but when I get back to it later I will send him the tracks that I did and maybe him or someone else can improve some things even more...


thanks again Kailef for the great stems..
X

 

I'm really excited to share this next track. With permission from Ome the Bard (Earl Burton George), I added some percussion to his composition "Tavern Song". As you may know, Tavern Song is already in-game as one of the Shroud of the Avatar musical tracks.

Huge thanks to Ome for allowing me to work with his great song. I've only been trying to compose songs of my own for a short time, but I've been doing percussion for significantly longer. (Although I'm much more used to playing live) Because of this, I'm a bit better at doing drums alone than I am at trying to deal with the entire creative process from start to finish.

Note that this song is written and copyrighted by Earl Burton George, all I did was add some live percussion to it. I didn't even mix or EQ it, he did, I just gave him the raw drum stems that I recorded.

 

Tavern Song is one of my favorites in the game! I thought you did a great job with another layer to the sound without it being intrusive.

 

Thank you. I tried really hard to not overpower the song and just compliment the melody. I appreciate your kind words.

 

I've got another modification today. This is a change to my own track, "The Clockwork Storm".

If accepted, this song is intended to fill the role of the "Kobold Industry" / "Gritty Industry" front line theme song in Shroud of the Avatar. It is changed from the previous versions I have done in that it has a harsher feel, with an industrial sounding rhythm and various distorted "metal striking metal" sounds throughout the track. I'm definitely interested in comments and suggestions to improve the track before I officially submit it. (I think I'll want to reduce the volume of the metal hits a bit and blend them in a bit more.)

The "clockwork" ambiance of the song is diminished somewhat. I still like it, but it's become gritter to the point where I feel it might need to be renamed. What do you think?