Battle theme

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

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Rain
Music Contributor
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Joined: September 27th, 2005, 4:44 am

Battle theme

Post by Rain »

Been a while. :)

I thought I'd get the coming new year started off on a good note by writing a new battle theme.

http://www.allacrost.org/staff/user/rain/Wesnoth09.mp3

Kind of intense, kind of heroic. Didn't have a pre-conceived idea on where the piece might fit. It's kind of quirky, but might work SOMEWHERE. :mrgreen:
IoN
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Re: Battle theme

Post by IoN »

Hm, sounds kind of too experimental to me. I don't mind dissonance, but this didn't seem to have any memorable moments in which it resolves to a consonance, unlike your Knalgan theme (which is, by the way, my favorite piece on the Wesnoth soundtrack).
Rain
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Re: Battle theme

Post by Rain »

hehe. Yea, the piece could be a bit too contemporary stylistically in a few spots, though the piece is similar to Knalgan theme in that it resolves from dissonance into consonance.

I am happy you like the knalgan theme. I was trying to make an intense piece. Now that I listen to this with a bit more objective ear, I can definitely hear a bit of Bartok influence in there. There are some pretty strange harmonies in there@ :twisted:
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Akkarin345
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Re: Battle theme

Post by Akkarin345 »

It reminds me of something to do with Final Fantasy.
I like it, but at 2.00 there is a *clunk clunk* sound which i have no idea which instrument that is. To me it doesn't fit in.
IoN
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Re: Battle theme

Post by IoN »

Rain wrote:though the piece is similar to Knalgan theme in that it resolves from dissonance into consonance.
Really? Well, I hear a few spots, but they aren't particularly memorable, in my opinion. :P
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Turuk
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Re: Battle theme

Post by Turuk »

I do not have much in the way of value to add, other than that I really enjoy this piece. Like Akkrarin345, it reminds me a bit of Final Fantasy, and I think it could make an excellent background music to a movement scenario, a heroic dash to the end of the road, up the mountain, or wherever the hero must rush off to in an effort to save the world.

Great work, as always. :)
Mainline Maintainer: AOI, DM, NR, TB and THoT.
UMC Maintainer: Forward They Cried, A Few Logs, A Few More Logs, Start of the War, and Battle Against Time
Rain
Music Contributor
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Joined: September 27th, 2005, 4:44 am

Re: Battle theme

Post by Rain »

Thanks Turuk. I've done a bit more additional sound work on shaping the piece up. I haven't gotten around to posting the new version but I'll do so soon. I'll also include a few others pieces I've been mastering.

Akkarin... there are many instruments playing at the part you mentioned. Can you be a bit more descriptive about the sound of the instrument?
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Akkarin345
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Re: Battle theme

Post by Akkarin345 »

It is a percussion instrument, wooden blocks or something? I'm not sure what it is called. I probobly know by sight what it is but not by ear.
Rain
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Re: Battle theme

Post by Rain »

Alright here's the new version.

http://www.allacrost.org/staff/user/rai ... le2009.mp3

It's close to being committable. Not sure where it would be used but we can include it for use with scenario work if we want or battles.

I'm also going to go ahead and post brushups of some of the other material that I've been heavily eq'ing.


http://www.allacrost.org/staff/user/rai ... mn2009.mp3 - Solemn Autumn. I think West mentioned something about this theme potentially working for a screen where the player is modifying their army. Not sure what he meant by that, but I've taken a lot of the muddy frequencies out of the piece and clarified.

http://www.allacrost.org/staff/user/rai ... eFinal.mp3 - Previous character/tragic theme that I've cleaned up.

http://www.allacrost.org/staff/user/rai ... snoth1.mp3 - Related to Knalgan theme thematically and this was written to be used in individual scenario work per situation and possibly as a credits theme should we need it.
PPH
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Joined: January 13th, 2009, 12:52 am

Re: Battle theme

Post by PPH »

I like this piece of music. It is quite dissonant and modern sounding at some partis, but I think it is appropiate for the game anyway because of the rythm and atmosphere it creates.

Now with the criticism:

The sample library you used seems to be a good one, but I think the sounds are a bit distorted. They sound a bit dry. Might be too much EQ, I don't know. EDIT: Maybe it's the reverb?

At 3:51, approximately, there's a sound coming from the left. I think it's a percussion instrument that plays very fast, but it sounds like some kind of interference, or as if an effect had been applied unintentionally to one of the percussion instruments and then mixed with the rest of the music. It disappears at 3:59.

I didn't like the ending. The previous part, everything that leads to the ending, is good, but somehow the ending seems to disappoint me when it arrives.

Very nice work!
Rain
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Re: Battle theme

Post by Rain »

PPH wrote:I like this piece of music. It is quite dissonant and modern sounding at some partis, but I think it is appropiate for the game anyway because of the rythm and atmosphere it creates.
Cool.
PPH wrote:The sample library you used seems to be a good one, but I think the sounds are a bit distorted. They sound a bit dry. Might be too much EQ, I don't know. EDIT: Maybe it's the reverb?
Hmmm. Well if it sound a bit dry, I associate that with dullness and I can kind of see that. it would probably make more sense to say the sounds maybe haven't been eq'ed enough, if anything. I think the reverb is probably distorting a few of the sounds, though I detect nothing too recognizably severe to my ears. What I mean is that nothing really sticks out.

/scratches head.

I dunno.
At 3:51, approximately, there's a sound coming from the left. I think it's a percussion instrument that plays very fast, but it sounds like some kind of interference, or as if an effect had been applied unintentionally to one of the percussion instruments and then mixed with the rest of the music. It disappears at 3:59.
hehe yea. That effect is a bit goofy. I am not even sure what instrument that is. It falls under a patch that is misc. orchestral percussion. It's kind of a weird sound and I implemented it to propel the melody forward a bit differently. Not sure my exact reasoning for picking that instrument/sound/effect at the time but I was hoping it would be subtle enough to do it's job without being distracting. It seems I might've been wrong here.
I didn't like the ending. The previous part, everything that leads to the ending, is good, but somehow the ending seems to disappoint me when it arrives.
I think my methodology and composing method sometimes includes looping. I am considering whether to develop the piece more and was planning on the piece looping back into the beginning.
Very nice work!
Thank you. :)
PPH
Posts: 143
Joined: January 13th, 2009, 12:52 am

Re: Battle theme

Post by PPH »

Hmmm. Well if it sound a bit dry, I associate that with dullness and I can kind of see that. it would probably make more sense to say the sounds maybe haven't been eq'ed enough, if anything. I think the reverb is probably distorting a few of the sounds, though I detect nothing too recognizably severe to my ears. What I mean is that nothing really sticks out.

/scratches head.

I dunno.

Thank you. :)
Yes, I think it's the reverb. But, like you say, it's nothing severe. Probably won't be noticed by most. It's not that it sounds bad, it just sounds a bit different than one would expect.
Rain
Music Contributor
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Joined: September 27th, 2005, 4:44 am

Re: Battle theme

Post by Rain »

Sooo yea..

Can a few fellas give me the word on whether these pieces are in shape to be used for certain parts of the game storyline, battle, character theme... whatever...
Rain wrote:Alright here's the new version.

http://www.allacrost.org/staff/user/rai ... le2009.mp3 BATTLE

It's close to being committable. Not sure where it would be used but we can include it for use with scenario work if we want or battles.

I'm also going to go ahead and post brushups of some of the other material that I've been heavily eq'ing.


http://www.allacrost.org/staff/user/rai ... mn2009.mp3 - Solemn Autumn. I think West mentioned something about this theme potentially working for a screen where the player is modifying their army. Not sure what he meant by that, but I've taken a lot of the muddy frequencies out of the piece and clarified.

http://www.allacrost.org/staff/user/rai ... eFinal.mp3 - Previous character/tragic theme that I've cleaned up.

http://www.allacrost.org/staff/user/rai ... snoth1.mp3 - Related to Knalgan theme thematically and this was written to be used in individual scenario work per situation and possibly as a credits theme should we need it.
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