New main menu music!

Create music and sound effects for mainline or user-made content.

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vultraz
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Re: New main menu music!

Post by vultraz »

Sounds great! :) I especially like the bit around 2:44 - 2:47. The fadeout transition around 3:20 - 3:24 sounds weird to me, though. It's like the track ends and then abruptly starts up again. It's rather jarring. Besides that, loving it!
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Re: New main menu music!

Post by Sapient »

West wrote:This any better?
Yes, that definitely fixed the two little things that I noticed. I like your changes. The music is very stirring but not overboard. It sounds great! Perfect for the main menu. Thanks.
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Inky
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Re: New main menu music!

Post by Inky »

Too bad about that part at 2:11, part of what I liked about it was that it was so different but of course that can be a bad thing.

Probably it's just me again but those last 3 notes at the very end sounded a bit strange, they seem to come out of nowhere and I sort of expected it to go somewhere but the piece just ended. And it seemed to me at 3:02 that the lower notes were maybe a bit loud and harsh sounding?

It sounds really awesome! I've already listened to it a bunch of times :D
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West
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Re: New main menu music!

Post by West »

Inky wrote:Probably it's just me again but those last 3 notes at the very end sounded a bit strange, they seem to come out of nowhere and I sort of expected it to go somewhere but the piece just ended.
That's the opening phrase of the main theme repeated one last time.
Inky wrote:And it seemed to me at 3:02 that the lower notes were maybe a bit loud and harsh sounding?
Yeah, well FF trombones tend to be loud and harsh, and that was sort of the point, adding a bit of edge to that ending part. That's not to say the levels are 100% right at this point so thanks for the heads up ;)
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doofus-01
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Re: New main menu music!

Post by doofus-01 »

West wrote:
Inky wrote: Probably it's just me again but those last 3 notes at the very end sounded a bit strange, they seem to come out of nowhere and I sort of expected it to go somewhere but the piece just ended.
That's the opening phrase of the main theme repeated one last time.
I understood what those notes were, but also see what Inky is saying. Would it sound more resolved if the last note of that phrase went lower like how the older main menu track opens, or ended on a chord, and were held a little longer? (My lack of technical chops is showing, hopefully you get what I mean.)

Aside from that minor thing, it sounds good to me, and I believe it fits the title & set-up menu screens perfectly. Great work!
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Re: New main menu music!

Post by pyndragon »

This sounds great! I have just two comments:

First, I'm in agreement with doofus-01 that the ending could be a little stronger.
doofus-01 wrote:
West wrote: That's the opening phrase of the main theme repeated one last time.
I understood what those notes were, but also see what Inky is saying. Would it sound more resolved if the last note of that phrase went lower like how the older main menu track opens, or ended on a chord, and were held a little longer?
My personal (amateur) suggestion would be to layer the harp back in with an ascending broken chord repeated as an arpeggio. This sounds nice in my head but I have not actually tried it so take that with a grain of salt.

My other comment is that I feel like the crescendo at 0:38 is a bit aggressive.

Otherwise it's great!
WhiteWolf wrote:I'm not sure if it's my place to argue, but I rarely spend 3 and a half minutes in the main menu. Unless this track is also meant for in-game music, I think it's too long.
Generally speaking you don't want to cut the main theme short. If you look at the previous theme pieces, they have all been over 3 minutes. You'll see the same for Civ 4 and 6; in fact, the latter is found in two forms, with a shorter version gracing the opening cinematic.
Is this version already GPL? Meaning, can it be edited and put into add-ons? :D
Just to add to what West already pointed out, UMC music can now be provided under CC licenses, not just the GPL.
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Re: New main menu music!

Post by Celtic_Minstrel »

WhiteWolf wrote:I'm not sure if it's my place to argue, but I rarely spend 3 and a half minutes in the main menu. Unless this track is also meant for in-game music, I think it's too long.
Actually, this may be partly why it's long. It's probably better if the main theme doesn't give way to a different theme while you're still at the main menu, unless you're actually pausing to listen to it or otherwise staying at the main menu for an abnormally long time.
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West
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Re: New main menu music!

Post by West »

Again, sorry for the delay :/ The orchestral project template I'm using for this is close to seven years old (it has kind of a fitting sound, cosidering that the rest of the Wesnoth music is also pretty old by now) using some borderline ancient 32-bit plugins, and it has given me no end of problems lately. It crashes a lot and last time it happened it screwed up the file beyond repair. I had to go back to a backup that was almost two weeks old and recreate parts of the tune, which is why this has taken so long.

New version here.

In my mind this is pretty much finished now, but let me know what you think.
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Re: New main menu music!

Post by vultraz »

Sounds excellent! Only small nitpick I have is the transition at 3:17 still feels a bit awkward, but besides that I definitely think this is done. :) Ah, ya know what, ignore my peanut gallery comments. After another listen or so it sounds perfect. Definitely done, I'd say.

Great work! :D
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Re: New main menu music!

Post by pyndragon »

I'm a lot happier with the crescendo and finale now, don't know if the former is a placebo effect or not, but it definitely sounds complete to me. Great work!

Some of the things I really like:

I feel like this revision captures the essence of more songs. Maybe I'm just paying more attention, but for example, I hadn't noticed any direct allusion to The King Is Dead before, and now it's definitely there.

I'm really excited about how that turned out, too. It blends really well with the rest of the song, and the song works very well on its own, but to me, as someone who has focused on the music of Wesnoth directly quite a bit, this quotation calls out the very strong emotion of The King Is Dead in a powerful way. It has the feel of, say, looking back on the betrayal of Gerard rather than directly experiencing it, and I think that fits the vision of the piece very well.

Overall, what I see as a piece with a lot of emotive resonance, one that can speak right away to new players, but that those players can eventually grow into as they become more familiar with Wesnoth.

Again, excellent work and I can't wait to hear it in game!
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West
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Re: New main menu music!

Post by West »

Thanks guys!
vultraz wrote:Only small nitpick I have is the transition at 3:17 still feels a bit awkward, but besides that I definitely think this is done. :)
TBH I never really saw a problem with it in the first place. It's a ritardando and a brief rest, nothing awkward about it at all imo :)
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Re: New main menu music!

Post by Coffee »

Like others in this thread I'd like to say you've done a great job here with this piece.

When I first read the title of this thread I was a little worried, as I've come to like the old main title music (didn't like it initially and knew it was being discussed for replacement) -- but after listening to this there is no doubt that this new one is a truly excellent and worthwhile title music. Thank you.
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doofus-01
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Re: New main menu music!

Post by doofus-01 »

It sounds great! It'll fit perfectly.
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Re: New main menu music!

Post by Ephelemi »

I really like the new main menu music. I also think it is an improvement over the old one which I never really warmed up to.
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Coffee
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Re: New main menu music!

Post by Coffee »

Just wondering if this is ready to go in to the game?
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