Northern Rebirth - Music

Post by **Taurus** » December 25th, 2006, 7:13 pm

I am currently on the lookout for music for my campaign Northern Rebirth. I created a few pieces myself, but they are pretty poor... (if anyone want's to check them out they are with the campaign on the campaign server.)

West is currently in the process of making a piece for the first scenaro - "Breaking the Chains." The piece - still a work in progress and apparantly only half finsihed - can be heard here. We were hopping for a little bit of feedback on it.

There are quite a few scenarios that need music so if anyone would like to contribute, please PM me, or post a message in this tread. I am pretty open and relaxed, espeically as far as style is concerned, so if your style is a bit un-wesnoth like, I couldn't care less as long as the piece goes with the scenario.

Post by **West** » December 28th, 2006, 9:16 am

Doesn't seem to be a great deal of interest in this matter... nevertheless, here comes a new version with some changes and enhancements.

The second half of the "big & dramatic" part is still very much unfinished and I have yet to come up with some transition that leads into the choir part at the end. In fact, I don't even know if the choir part should be in this piece at all. Or?

Let me know what you think. Personally I still think it sounds a bit thin, like it needs more low end, but even the bass instruments in Orchestral sound very weak in the lower register. I've tried to layer some stuff but it all turns into a mush rather than sounding powerful. I might have to quieten down the first part a bit more to allow for more contrast instead. We'll see what happens.

You can get the clip here.

Post by **Taurus** » December 29th, 2006, 1:19 am

West wrote:Doesn't seem to be a great deal of interest in this matter... nevertheless, here comes a new version with some changes and enhancements.

Hey West, thanks for the new version and no matter if this thread is not a big attention catcher. I am intrested and that is what matters most

The second half of the "big & dramatic" part is still very much unfinished and I have yet to come up with some transition that leads into the choir part at the end. In fact, I don't even know if the choir part should be in this piece at all. Or?

I personally like the choir. I feel that it breaks it up and adds variaty to it. This is important expeically when this piece is played about 10 or 20 times over the corse of the scenario.

Let me know what you think. Personally I still think it sounds a bit thin, like it needs more low end, but even the bass instruments in Orchestral sound very weak in the lower register. I've tried to layer some stuff but it all turns into a mush rather than sounding powerful. I might have to quieten down the first part a bit more to allow for more contrast instead. We'll see what happens.

You can get the clip here.

I personally think it is sounding pretty good as it is. I think that right now the biggest risk you are facing is that of trying to make it too perfect. And when that happens, you slow down and loose enthuasiam. There is even a risk you will abandon the project halfway. Believe me, it happens to me alot in life.

What I would reccomend is you wrap it up - even if you are not compleatly satisfied with it - and move on to the next scenario. That is would would bennifit 'Northern Rebirth' the most right now. If/when you get a flash of inspiration you can always go back to it and work on it some more. It's kind of like the way an artist usually works on multiple paintings at one time - or the way an author works on multiple books at the same time.

Post by **West** » December 29th, 2006, 7:29 am

Taurus wrote:I personally like the choir. I feel that it breaks it up and adds variaty to it. This is important expeically when this piece is played about 10 or 20 times over the corse of the scenario.

The choir stays then. I just have to figure out a way to make it fit in.

Taurus wrote:What I would reccomend is you wrap it up - even if you are not compleatly satisfied with it - and move on to the next scenario.

Wrap it up already? It's just 2 minutes long; listening to it over and over again will probably get repetitive very quickly. I've added a new section though, but I'm not sure if it really suits the mood of the piece. Maybe I'll upload a sloppy version of it later today so you can judge for yourself.

DraconicBlessing · December 29th, 2006, 7:40 am

West, as usual, I love your work.

That is all.

(Well, not quite!) I hadn't consciously noticed that it was so short, however I've only listened to it three times. I too like the choir! Keep up the good work, (also, I'd love to hear a "sloppy version"!)

Post by **Redeth** » December 29th, 2006, 11:10 am

Nice. The first part of this piece brings me memories of Seiken Densetsu III, an old SNES RPG with some of the best soundtracks ever for a videogame.

Post by **Taurus** » December 29th, 2006, 7:10 pm

West wrote: Wrap it up already? It's just 2 minutes long; listening to it over and over again will probably get repetitive very quickly. I've added a new section though, but I'm not sure if it really suits the mood of the piece. Maybe I'll upload a sloppy version of it later today so you can judge for yourself.

lol, guess not. Well, I just don't want you burning yourself out that is all. I'll leave it up to you.

Looking foreward to your 'slopy version'

Post by **West** » December 31st, 2006, 2:50 pm

New version! Still not finished but the next version will probably be the final -- at least for the time being. I have a couple of new ideas that I want to try out, and I know that if I start working on them now, there's a risk that this piece will never be finished.

I decided to remove the new section I mentioned in my previous post. Didn't fit in at all, it was one of those things you write late at night with your headphones on, thinking it sounds awesome, but when you listen to it the next day it's really... well, not so good

It's around three minutes now and I think that'll have to be long enough. It's just that I'm so close to the piece that it feels a lot shorter than it really is; I listened to the World of Warcraft soundtrack the other day and realised that most of those tunes are just around 2:15 -- and they don't feel short. So it won't become any longer than this, I have all parts I need, I just need to make it sound good.

Everything up until 1:48 is pretty much finished. The strings leading into the harp part are still a little unclear, and some stuff will obviuosly need to be added to the harp part as well. It's not supposed to sound that lonely and repetetive, it's just a placeholder. Maybe I'll let the intro theme return again, played on the woodwinds, or I'll just do something else. We'll see.

Get the new version here, and happy new year everyone!

PS:I have removed the older versions from my site. I don't see why anyone would want to listen to them.

Post by **Taurus** » December 31st, 2006, 10:04 pm

Man, I am really stoked about this one. It sounds awesome! You are right about that little part you mentioned, it does need a bit of work but you're on the right track. I was also thinking about using this piece for the big showdown scenario (warning - spoiler) when Tallin finally gets some momentem going and lays a massive seige from all sides to the main orcish fortress. (end of spoiler).

I was also planning on doing a major release of Northern Rebirth sometime on New Years day. If you think you'll have the piece finished by then then it would be great to include it.

Post by **vonHalenbach** » December 31st, 2006, 10:39 pm

Hi West !

I have listened to your new music several times. It is not easy to find flaws in the last file (northern_rebirth-idea-03.ogg) because you are a very skilled musican.

I have made some notes:

I agree with you that the beginning is perfect as it is and needs no changes.

The part between 1:54 and 2:04 where the strings make the transition between the fast and slow part i think the strings were screeching a bit. maybe too high or too fast played. (I know that these were not real instruments) Can you make them play a bit lower and maybe with more variation?

On 2:28 is a pause of nearly one second. I think that don't fit in. It sounds too abrubt.

The file should be much more compressed. It has 8 MB for 3 minutes music. Can you sample the final piece with 128 Kbit? I think that is enough quality.

I would like to thank you for your contribution and wish you a very good new year.

Greetings
Stefan

Post by **West** » January 1st, 2007, 2:07 am

Taurus wrote:I was also planning on doing a major release of Northern Rebirth sometime on New Years day. If you think you'll have the piece finished by then then it would be great to include it.

Depends. It's 2:40 AM here and I just got home. I don't know what time zone you're in (was it somewhere in Canada?), but I won't be able to work any more on it until maybe 12:00 CET. At the very least. But feel free to use the present version (03) if you want. It's not finished but it's useable. If I get a new version fished sometime tomorrow I'll give you a holler.

And now: to sleep, perchance to dream.

Post by **Taurus** » January 1st, 2007, 2:32 am

West wrote: Depends. It's 2:40 AM here and I just got home. I don't know what time zone you're in (was it somewhere in Canada?), but I won't be able to work any more on it until maybe 12:00 CET. At the very least. But feel free to use the present version (03) if you want. It's not finished but it's useable. If I get a new version fished sometime tomorrow I'll give you a holler.

And now: to sleep, perchance to dream.

Pacific Time is the time zone I am in (LA, San Diego, Vancouver and so on). As I am typing this message, it is 6:30 PM December 31st. So anytime in the next 30 hours or so would be great.

Post by **TimothyP** » January 3rd, 2007, 12:59 am

Boy, this is great work for a custom campaign! Nice to see you work at completing something, West! Overall I really liked your motives. There were one or two parts where it started feeling awkward, almost jazzy. That threw me off, but it wasn't long before it recuperated into something more fitting. Keep going!

--Timothy

Post by **West** » January 3rd, 2007, 7:46 pm

TimothyP wrote:Boy, this is great work for a custom campaign! Nice to see you work at completing something, West! Overall I really liked your motives. There were one or two parts where it started feeling awkward, almost jazzy. That threw me off, but it wasn't long before it recuperated into something more fitting. Keep going!

--Timothy

Jazzy, eh?

I can assure you that was totally unintentional as I'm not really into jazz. At all. Glad you like it.

Post by **West** » January 10th, 2007, 1:00 pm

Sorry about the lack of updates Taurus, but my monitor has been terminally ill for a while now and it's getting worse. It works for like 15 minutes at a time, then the screen turns pink and flickers crazily and I have to turn it off for a while. Makes it kind of hard getting any work done

I have ordered a 19" Viewsonic TFT though and I'll have it sometime next week. Just so you know that I won't be able to finish the piece -- or make music at all -- until then.