Music Team

So, theme music.

Again, it's getting better, but there's still alot you can do.

In the piano bit, try having the notes rise rather than fall as a variation.

Again, the variations are great, and this is coming right along, but be careful. We need to tread the line between interesting and catchy. It is losing a bit of the catchiness.

I'd suggest trying to to the same piece, exactly identical, but mix up the insturments. Use a few really weird things, saxaphone, digeridoo(sp?), crumhorn, whatever. Just things you wouldn't expect to hear in a peice like this. Weird stuff like that can really give a different perspective.

The theme sounds really good right now ben but its missing something.
Tenebrarum's right about adding instruments but we don't need any more distinctive melodies. I think if we add a lower slightly unheard section we could have a solid piece.
And perhaps a little percussion.
Just a little.

Hey Guys!

Some users asked for different menu music that is NOT the theme. Bashi replied to my post about the theme and how we may use it as menu music.

Quote :

Bashinerox wrote:

That would be cool, yes, but what i actually meant was:

in the main menu you have an intro, and then a looping section


[---intro---][---loop---]

with the intro being one sound file and "loop" looped forever, i suggested maybe 1:08 to 2:20, but maybe rearranged with sections cut or made longer to accommodate the fact that it is looping.

however when you click new game and the cinematic introduction begins, the song restarts, but not in "loop mode", essentially playing the full song.

[---intro---][---what was looped in the main menu, but played only once---][---remainder of song---]

which would essentially be the equivalent of what you have now.

This here will most likely the formula that I will use if we decide to use the theme as menu music.

What I need to know is if we want a reduction of the theme as menu music. Please post your opinions here.

I think the theme would be great as menu music. If we use one piece as the theme and menu, they are going to remember it. The current theme is good and memorable, I say we use that.

Editors can be a different tune, but the menu is the one players hear every time they start the game, and so is the one that will be remembered.

Anyone given any thought to music played by your organisms in the society stages?

Tenebrarum wrote:

Anyone given any thought to music played by your organisms in the society stages?

We've discussed this. It would be pre-recorded tracks.

~sciocont wrote:

Tenebrarum wrote:

Anyone given any thought to music played by your organisms in the society stages?

We've discussed this. It would be pre-recorded tracks.

Would there be any way to make the music relevant to the current age? For example, in a medieval equivalent, medieval-sounding tracks can play.

~sciocont wrote:

We've discussed this. It would be pre-recorded tracks.

Yes. I mean, thought on actually making a few for experimentation. Also, how will we animate singing/playing insturments so that it fits with the music?

The Uteen wrote:

Would there be any way to make the music relevant to the current age? For example, in a medieval equivalent, medieval-sounding tracks can play.

I vote that we catagorize music into certain styles, multiple versions with different insturments being used to play the songs, so that styles can rise and fall as arbitrary mechanics regardless of technology.

Tenebrarum wrote:

~sciocont wrote:

We've discussed this. It would be pre-recorded tracks.

Yes. I mean, thought on actually making a few for experimentation. Also, how will we animate singing/playing insturments so that it fits with the music?

The Uteen wrote:

Would there be any way to make the music relevant to the current age? For example, in a medieval equivalent, medieval-sounding tracks can play.

I vote that we catagorize music into certain styles, multiple versions with different insturments being used to play the songs, so that styles can rise and fall as arbitrary mechanics regardless of technology.

I agree with Uteen and Tenebrarum on a few factors.

1. The music played by organisms will be pre-recorded tracks. Already discussed.
2. I agree that the music played by organisms should reflect the time period each races is in. For example -

If we have a race which has a tribal theme to it, I can write using djembes, congas, talking drums, african gourd marimba, ect. (African and tribal hand instruments in particular.

If we have a race in a Medieval English/Anglo-Saxon era - I can create medieval chant, historically correct to mankind's evolution of music. Now this would NOT be the type of music you'd hear in medieval video games. In fact, I would strongly go AGAINST that. That music implies more of a fantasy feel. The goal of Thrive is simplicity, science, and playability. Science does not equal fantasy. Therefore, the medieval music would most likely be Gregorian Chant, motet, simple instrumentation such as tambourine, viol de gamba, viol, baroque flute, ect.

If we have a race more sophisticated or bordering on Renaissance-era stuff, we can incorporate renaissance music to Baroque music. Examples to listen for would be Palastrina, Dufay, and Tallis, all the way to the Baroque era which would be J.S Bach, Handel, Telemann, ect. As the society evolves, we can go into the Galant Era (There IS NO CLASSICAL ERA!) This would be Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart.

Then the race can progress into Romantic, Post Romantic, Blues (WWII), Rock and Roll (Post-WWII), and so on to today's electronic music. I'm skipping a big section after Post-Romantic because that's when atonal music and the 12 tone system came up into play, and I don't think our audience wouldn't want their creatures to play something without a tonal center, rhythm, or ect. Plus that stuff really went under the radar and the only people that would catch it would be music majors like myself, and musicologists.

To all those musicologists and music majors playing Thrive, too bad.


In end, since someone said the theme music should be the menu music, I'm going to do exactly that.

I'm noticing a trend, and it's bothering me.

-Please stay on topic
-Please read the posts beforehand
-I NEED the feedback of the rest of the team to continue my work. If we keep getting off topic, I don't think I'm ever going to finish the soundtrack. So PLEASE Stay on topic and give me concise and direct feedback on the questions I ask of the community.

Ben

hongchong7 wrote:

Hey Guys!

Some users asked for different menu music that is NOT the theme. Bashi replied to my post about the theme and how we may use it as menu music.

Quote :

Bashinerox wrote:

That would be cool, yes, but what i actually meant was:

in the main menu you have an intro, and then a looping section


[---intro---][---loop---]

with the intro being one sound file and "loop" looped forever, i suggested maybe 1:08 to 2:20, but maybe rearranged with sections cut or made longer to accommodate the fact that it is looping.

however when you click new game and the cinematic introduction begins, the song restarts, but not in "loop mode", essentially playing the full song.

[---intro---][---what was looped in the main menu, but played only once---][---remainder of song---]

which would essentially be the equivalent of what you have now.

This here will most likely the formula that I will use if we decide to use the theme as menu music.

What I need to know is if we want a reduction of the theme as menu music. Please post your opinions here.

I would say yes to a reduction for menu music (at least as the loop, the intro could probably be full theme).

Thanks Ben, however, I want to add something here: Styles are not a linear developement, and will likely not simply evolve as ours did. There are a few basic components that we can use to dictate the changes, but otherwise changes should occur fairly randomly, not bound to a predictable pattern.

Now, the two largest factors in music are goals of the music and available insturments.

Goals of the music can be Participatory Entertainment, Spectative Entertainment, or Ceremonial.

Participatory Entertainment is more widely popular before mass media (Specifically Radio) and will generally have a simple tune, usually vocal to prevent the unskilled from being excluded, (Though this may vary from culture to culture, my Caelumnen for example see lack of insturmental skills as the exception, not the rule.) and may rely on simple structures like call and response. Look to Folk Songs, Drinking Songs, and the like for examples.

Spectative Entertainment will generally only occur amung the wealthy, or as wandering performers otherwise. After mass media is adopted however, they should become the most common form of entertainment. This is standard. More impressive than Participatory. Most fluid in style. Most styles will spawn here.

Ceremonial is, in my opinion, the most interesting. Depending on the point of the ceremony these can vary wildly, but for our purposes let's say that ceremony is refering to political/religious ceremony where part of the goal is to have no deviations whatsoever. Before written music, this means that it will likely be multipart, and while the parts themselves would be very simple, together they can make a sound as complex as you like.

Now, on to insturments. Early music tends to be very percussion-heavy, as most insturments fall under that catagory early on. Percussion insturments are the easiest to make and therefor almost exclusively the first invented. This music has heavy beats and, amung the more flexable races, very easy to perform simplistic dance to.

As insturments able to produce tunes are invented, music becomes very melodic. This is where distinct styles really start popping up. Vocal music becomes more important here as well.

When one begins hitting synthesizers, electric insturments, and computer-generated sounds and editing, music ceases to be about melody as much as it is about making full use of the available technology. More creative players might use these technologies to create fun but unnessecary insturments, creating certain sounds electronically but requiring operation similer to regular insturments. These can be very fun to watch. Look up Animusic on YouTube (Especially "Starship Groove") and you should get a sense of the visual performance value of this.

Now, don't forget that we're talking about styles of music. They'll pop up anywhere and anywhen. Ceremonial encompases not only Gregorian but many styles present in First Nations(Native Americans, Aboriginals, Bushmen, etc.). Think about how easily the styles of The Beatles could have fit into court ballads in 1325. Think about Traditional Slavic + Techno. Think about Banghra Rock. The evolution of music is so complicated that we cannot begin to hope to replicate it, and randomness, to an extent, gives a semblance of realism.

Also, I suggest making the songs several times, with different sets of insturments, to help make easy the spawning regardless of tech.

longpost is correct

Very good point. That's something to keep in mind.

Lots of music to write... Sweeeet...

Also, this Music Team Thread is getting really freakin' long, so I'm gonna probably start a few new threads when the time arrives. This is starting to get kinda unorganized.

Good idea.

So, I finally figured out what it was about the theme music that bothers me so much: If you remove all parts but the central melody, it's not singable enough; it doesn't sound like a good song all on it's own.

I've got an ambient loop for the cell stage ready. It's already made, I just have to record it.

Bob Blackmon wrote:

I've got an ambient loop for the cell stage ready. It's already made, I just have to record it.

I'm excited to hear it.

Yeah I'm working on something that might fit both the Cell and Space stages. I'll upload it to my soundcloud. However, I think I'm going to make a Thrive soundcloud, which I hope might become the official space for our music aside from the Indie/ModDB.

WTFBerserk! wrote:

Yeah I'm working on something that might fit both the Cell and Space stages. I'll upload it to my soundcloud. However, I think I'm going to make a Thrive soundcloud, which I hope might become the official space for our music aside from the Indie/ModDB.

I already made one.

Then by all means, share it once more. We'll have to point the new musicians to that next...

Me like, that is all.

Cell stage loop

The first one is the base recording if someone wants to edit it themselves.
The second one is my edit using a freeware editor. It's meh, I guess.

If you guys think this sounds good then I can record it under better conditions another time.

Bob Blackmon wrote:

Cell stage loop

The first one is the base recording if someone wants to edit it themselves.
The second one is my edit using a freeware editor. It's meh, I guess.

If you guys think this sounds good then I can record it under better conditions another time.

I love it.
It's Awsome dude

ido66667 wrote:

Bob Blackmon wrote:

Cell stage loop

The first one is the base recording if someone wants to edit it themselves.
The second one is my edit using a freeware editor. It's meh, I guess.

If you guys think this sounds good then I can record it under better conditions another time.

I love it.
It's Awsome dude

It's pretty good, but really, It doesn't sound very ambient.

Quote :

It's pretty good, but really, it doesn't sound very ambient.

Well you could add a few ambient noises to it like quiet chimes or the occasional water noise. As well as removing the slow strum at the end to make it loop better. Blend it with other tracks or make it quieter. Something.