Dark Exploration Theme

Hi everybody!! I was recently invited to score for another FOSS RPG called Summoning Wars....so here it is!! It's meant to be a loosely structured piece. I'm thinking something ominous and slightly meandering, no clear chord progressions and rhythms. A cinematic sound, something you would expect to hear when the protagonist is moving through dangerous territory, music that sets a mood rather than drawing attention to itself. (copied part of a post there lol)

Anyway, I'm looking for comments...like usual, I used LMMS and freebies to compose this :D

Thanks for listening!!

Dark Exploration Theme

P.S. Trying to get my views on Youtube up, so is there any chance of using that link instead/as well please :D

I liked the beginning very much, it was really all tension and somebody's watching me stuff so I think you really made a good sound there. I didn't like couple of things near the end which are: The percussions (I think they were too loud at parts, especially the rattle) and the pizzicato motives, I think they came in too suddenly are were also too up front in the mix. Tweak those and you have a really cool ambiental track.

I actually liked the little pops of sound that Phantom mentioned. I guess it's up to you to decide whether or not you want more ambience than subdued activity. Personally, I think you overused the bass trombone a bit and made him stay up out of his money register too much.

Very nice. Definitely very well-suited for a game. But you're mistaken, there's a very clear chord progression. bVI, V, bVI, V, etc..., i, V6, I, bVI, bVII, bVI, V. Pretty vanilla minor progression, not that it's a bad thing because it sounds pretty cool.

Nifty, Cheeselord! I like the mood you create.

I like your panning but I feel like there's some inconsistency with your reverb. For example: the shaker could have had a slight bit more at 1:15. Same with the pizz. strings @ 1:45.

Neat track!

-John

Hey there

Really a great job on this piece man! Those tremolos: are they normal ones? One tip to improve is to make those tremolo's sul ponticello, especially for the viola's, that's a REALLY scary sound, haha.

I have got to say that I LOVE the shakers :) Which samples are those?

Greetz

Phamtom; I think you hit the nail on the head on both counts...after listening to it for a second time, it seems that the shaker IS too loud, and I forgot to set the pizz to a fx channel *facepalm*

Peter_W: I know the trombone's a little up compared to usual, but I have a good commercial freebie trombone compared to a very poor french horn....I chose sound over realism :P

John A: I'm not sure about the shaker, but you're probably right *runs off to change*

Jigaat: THanks!! All my samples are from http://freesf2.com so the tremelos...I'm not sure, they're just cello + strings . Unfortunately, sul ponticello isn't on the menu for me though :( freebies don't offer much more articulation than that

Anyway, a warm thank you to everyone that has commented, and keep them coming, they're much appreciated!! :D

AH HA!

I have those drums in the beginning :D

Epic sounding!

And those strings! And those brass! -took your advice and went on a downloadallyoucanspree-

:D

I like the RAWRDARK feeling this gives.

Excellent job!

Really like the Crying noise that one Brass instrument made near the middle.

Thanks Wendall...and yay for freebies!! :D *high fives* Now we'll both be happy composers ;) Glad you liked it!!

This is good. My preference though would be to have a long decaying reverb on some of the instrumentation so as to add that spatial awareness which marries so well with these types of games. "Good thinking material" which is what you need when planning a strategy/creeping forward/watching for enemies etc. Some of the sounds are a bit sharp and obtrusive which just need to be tweaked down in the mix so that they don't jump out at you and jar the already great atmosphere that you have constructed. Nice work.

yo yo cheese

awesome start, you brought in the threatening vibe indeed. also its great for RPG exploration, on the first minute i thought its meant for a title theme, to my ear after 0:40 the 2 note riff became abit repetitive, but it might work on the gameplay.

i think you went for some good orchestration, the start is pretty much polished already, i would insert a delay/reverb on the last accent of the flute at 0:19-0:20 it sounds dreadfully dry. precussion is abit too front like phant said, i could go for more development in the piece but that's just me.

btw, i think its awesome you can create such a great sounding and believable mock-up with freebies, i take my hat for you sir.

hey , very good piece , it fits pretty well in a scene like the one you described ,the pizzicato strings gave an uncomfortable feeling to it ( i guess thats what you were aiming to ) . anyway i liked your piece ! keep it up

Ooooo thanks for the comment ppl!!

Kev1: TBH, I really suck with choosing reverb, and it's really touch and go with all of my setups. I think you're right too hehe, thanks for pointing that out *runs off to mess with epicVerb*!!

J: The music director for SumWars specifically wanted a ambient piece with little chord transition and development whcih is why the piece is like it is. And of its longlvity, we'll just see what the players say ;) After listening to it again, I agree on the flute decay (my pro 1337h&x mixing ski11s like usual :P ) and yeah, thanks for commenting, and thanks - freebies are hard to use, but rewarding (and it's free)!!

abd_zibdeh: Thanks a lot and glad you enjoyed it :D