The Dangerous Symphony

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gmlion
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The Dangerous Symphony

Post by gmlion »

Hi to everyone,
today I come with a new proposal. This time is a real try at a music that could be used in Wesnoth, as the title says, in a dangerous situation/level.
Here the link:
http://www.isound.com/mp3player/play.ph ... &id=541492

I tried to follow the suggestions in the other topic, keeping it as interesting as possible.
And, so far, it is perhaps my best composition :)

Hope to hear many comments ;)
Ciao
Gianmarco
Last edited by gmlion on August 27th, 2008, 2:09 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Tyler Johnson
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Re: The Dangerous Symphony

Post by Tyler Johnson »

Hey Giancarlo, very nice piece. I don't know if I would call it dangerous, because a very important element is missing...percussion! :D Usually when I think of a dagnerous situation, there are pounding bass drums and perhaps snare drum. This reminds me of something Shostakovich would write, it has a very russian feel to it.

Couple things I want to point out: I thought the high violin was a little loud when it comes in at 1:30, 4:00 and 5:00, try lowering the volume and adding a flute or piccolo to double that part and see how it sounds. It will give it a much smoother sound, and more of a fantasy sound rather than just a piercing violin.

Also, the end kind of left me hanging, with the leading tone on the violin.

Nice work though!
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gmlion
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Re: The Dangerous Symphony

Post by gmlion »

Thank you very much!
Concerning violins, it is something i was also thinking listening again to the music...I will make some changes and post a new version soon.
The final string is to attach the end to the beginning and make the music loopable.

On drums, I really don't know what to do. Surely they would give a stronger emotion, but I'd like to avoid to transform it in an action cue.
Thanks again :),
Gianmarco
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zookeeper
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Re: The Dangerous Symphony

Post by zookeeper »

Well, sounds good to me, especially if you'll fix the piercing violin. However, you don't need to really make the piece especially loopable. Most often playlists with at least two tracks are used, so the same track typically doesn't get to loop anyway.

Note that I don't care or understand much about the technical quality of the sound. I'm sure our music devs have ideas on how to improve on that. I also don't personally care if a track is as good as what we're formally aiming for (our official music quality standards are rather high, yet we have lots of old really crappy tracks which fall lightyears behind)...I just care about whether it's an improvement to the game or not, and this sounds like it would be.

As for the percussion, I'd assume some battle drums would fit in there nicely, if you'd make the intervals long enough.
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Aleksi
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Re: The Dangerous Symphony

Post by Aleksi »

Hello,

Its pretty good so far. But i find the middle part strange, you change atmosphere so fast. It seems like its just another music glued to it. I would work on that, what do you think?

Aleksi.
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gmlion
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Re: The Dangerous Symphony

Post by gmlion »

@Aleksi
I'm not sure about that. Since you asked I will make a "fork" without that piece, but I think that being a background music some sort of "breath" even in a tension music is not that bad.
Second thing: eventually, what drum samples have you used for your Title Screen music? Other than the fact I like them (and the music, too) very much, it would be a good idea to have some consistency between musics using similar samples where possible.
Note that I don't care or understand much about the technical quality of the sound. I'm sure our music devs have ideas on how to improve on that. I also don't personally care if a track is as good as what we're formally aiming for (our official music quality standards are rather high, yet we have lots of old really crappy tracks which fall lightyears behind)...I just care about whether it's an improvement to the game or not, and this sounds like it would be.
Mmm... Is it a good thing or a bad thing?? :p

I'll upload a new version soon. Feel free to answer in the meantime :)
Ciao
Gianmarco
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Aleksi
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Re: The Dangerous Symphony

Post by Aleksi »

I'm not saying that you have to take this middle part out, its just that i comes up very surprisingly. A good transition would be more appropriated. But then, its your music, so your call! ;)

As for the opening Menu music, its funny that you are mentioning it. I was just about to reveal a new version. Actually, a brand new Opening. I started to re-orchestrate the current one, and finally decided to go for a new one.

The samples i used for the current on are East/West's Platinum Symphonic Orchestra.

The one i am about to release is mostly VSL; Vienna Symphonic Library, as i upgraded my equipment.

Aleksi.
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gmlion
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Re: The Dangerous Symphony

Post by gmlion »

Well, I hope to hear your new theme soon. :)
Are VSL much better than Eastwest (I know they are much BIGGER :-p)? I use them too (Gold Edition), and I like them.
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Aleksi
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Re: The Dangerous Symphony

Post by Aleksi »

gmlion wrote:Are VSL much better than Eastwest (I know they are much BIGGER :-p)
Bigger, and more expensive. But way, wayyyyy better! I can barely listen to my EW collection sounds anymore...
VSL sounds have a lot of body to them, a very real touch and amazing legato.

But, it is harder to mix and you've got to have some good reverb behind it. At least, they don't have EW's hollywood sound type, which i got really tired of... It gets much closer to the real instrumentalists. Only flaw, not quite as powerful in terms of attack, as in Velocity, and no real "ppp".

You will get an idea when you hear the new piece i'll upload in a few days.
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gmlion
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Re: The Dangerous Symphony

Post by gmlion »

Hi, I have the new version of the music here:
http://www.isound.com/mp3player/play.ph ... &id=540748

Drums added, added a statement of a theme in the quiet part, and other modifications you'll listen yourself :)

What do you think?
Ciao
Gianmarco
Rain
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Re: The Dangerous Symphony

Post by Rain »

I like it musically. Pretty entertaining! Overall, I'd agree that this piece could use more defined percussion to give the listener more of a 'jolt'. Snares, snares, snares! Use them more. They can really help give a more militaristic scope to the percussion scheme.
Timp and bass drum could add a bit of bass to the piece and if combined with some minor cymbal 'crashes' played on the same beat can potentially create a nice big orchestral percussion ensemble sound.
You'll find that shaping the sound of the percussion is almost as important as the rhythms they play. Making a bass drum resonate properly isn't very easy to do, but I think it work wonders for a piece like this, where most of the attention is given to the higher registers with the various instrumentation you are using.

Also, quite a bit of this piece is just a tad waltzy for an orchestral battle theme. It's really not a problem if you accent different beats to give the impression that the piece is in a different time signature but it sounds a bit straightforward with that oom pah pah thing going on.

I think the instrumentation is nice though and it's clear that you know what you want to do musically and carry it out well so no gripes there.

Nice piece...
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gmlion
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Re: The Dangerous Symphony

Post by gmlion »

Thank you :)
Also, quite a bit of this piece is just a tad waltzy for an orchestral battle theme
That's what i'd like to avoid...(the orchestral battle theme)
It should be more a danger situation, and this is also the reason I didn't covered it with snare drums and bass drums.
Ciao
Gianmarco
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zookeeper
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Re: The Dangerous Symphony

Post by zookeeper »

Sounds really nice to me now. West is our current music gatekeeper, so I guess we'll wait until he drops by to ok this for inclusion.

So, a few things:

1. Whether you make revisions or not, we need it as an .ogg before it can be put in the game.
2. It needs a name, is "Dangerous Symphony" it?
3. Have you read the legal notice sticky and agree to place the piece under the GPL (since GPL is not very suitable for music we'll hopefully change the license at some point, but that's what we have now)?
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gmlion
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Re: The Dangerous Symphony

Post by gmlion »

Hi again :)
- Yes, It should be the name :-D
- I've read the licensing part and I'm ok with that, don't worry.
- I'll post an ogg when West will eventually come in, that's no problem

I'm happy you liked my work
Ciao
Gianmarco
Rain
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Re: The Dangerous Symphony

Post by Rain »

gmlion wrote:Thank you :)
Also, quite a bit of this piece is just a tad waltzy for an orchestral battle theme
That's what i'd like to avoid...(the orchestral battle theme)
It should be more a danger situation, and this is also the reason I didn't covered it with snare drums and bass drums.
Ciao
Gianmarco
... I don't follow. I guess what I am saying is that you could use the percussion to get rid of the waltzy feel, not necessarily add to it. You could have the percussion playing the rhythm of offbeats and syncopate it so it makes the waltz rhythm a bit less noticeable.
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