New Theme

[Rain]

New Theme. I've been really busy of late, but I wanted to find a bit of time of late to try to write a piece for wesnoth. I originally had this in my mind as a battle piece. I think the piece has enough intensity w/ the chromatic harmonies, but I'd like a few outside opinions on the piece before I develop it further.

DIE!!!

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


(Also, I've been trying to spend time a decent amount of time getting my orchestral samples up to date.)

[zookeeper]

The link doesn't really work.

[Rain]

Thanks. Got it!

[Turuk]

This is, as always in my music posts, an uninformed opinion, but I like your piece, at least from after the first minute or so. That first minute just all seems to sound similar to me, and would do well as a tension building piece, but it does not seem to have enough variation for a title theme, in which the user might not be on the front page to hear the full song.

[Rain]

This is, as always in my music posts, an uninformed opinion, but I like your piece, at least from after the first minute or so.

Thanks. The dissonance is pretty heavy, no?

That first minute just all seems to sound similar to me

Similar to what?

and would do well as a tension building piece, but it does not seem to have enough variation for a title theme, in which the user might not be on the front page to hear the full song.

I was actually worried there might be too much variation. I think that seems a bit more possible, but then again you did mention your opinion was uninformed. :p

lol jk. I think for battle pieces for Wesnoth, I do have a tendency to try to find complimentary moods for some of the longer tracks to be played in-game. A title theme would be nice. Maybe I should isolate the fuller melody about 3/4 for use as a possible title theme.

[Turuk]

Hmm, I think that the dissonance was so heavy, that it all just sounded similar in that all of what I heard started to go together. I wish I could use proper terms...

I can see what you mean about the too much variation though, later on in the piece, there does seem to be a lot bouncing around, but I didn't really mind that all, you had it flowing together very well. My only thought was that the first minute seemed to have little variation/blur together (as described poorly previously ) and I don't see that many people staying on the front screen long enough to get the most from your song.

[Rain]

Hmm, I think that the dissonance was so heavy, that it all just sounded similar in that all of what I heard started to go together. I wish I could use proper terms...

Yea, I see what you might mean. I've thought that way about dissonant music at one point- that it all kind of sounds the same. I think I probably need to clean up a little bit and add some additional instrumental choices if I am going to build tension properly.
We'll see.

I can see what you mean about the too much variation though, later on in the piece, there does seem to be a lot bouncing around, but I didn't really mind that all, you had it flowing together very well. My only thought was that the first minute seemed to have little variation/blur together (as described poorly previously ) and I don't see that many people staying on the front screen long enough to get the most from your song.

Thanks for clarifying. I do think some of the first minute prolly needs to be cleaned up.

A title theme will need to be more prompt in getting to the point.

[marcusvinicius]

I liked at all, get a review on doublebass. I think you can get a plus power using tuba+doublebass, trombone+doublebass. I tought that music is "overstringed", maybe you can use woodwinds and brasses a bit more.

[Velensk]

Another amateur opinion. Though one that contradicts what others have said.

I liked much of the selection of instruments, however I felt that the song lacked momentum and focus. It sounded much the same the whole way through and it didn't really feel like it ended so much as it stopped continuing.

EDITED for more complete expression.

[Jetrel]

The "wall of strings" in the first 2/3 of the song is ... to put it brutally, a train wreck. I understand the idea behind the heavy use of dissonance and such, but I think it's being focused on so strongly as the thing you're trying to do, that you're having a loss of basic musicality in the first part. Dissonance seems to be something that can be added on top of an already solid "musical foundation" in a song, but can't be the core building block.

For an analogy with cooking, pretend dissonance is salt. Salt can greatly enhance, say, some roast chicken, but you start, methodologically, with the chicken. You add the salt to the chicken; you don't start roasting a pile of salt and decide to add a chicken to it halfways in.

For a related experience I've had; I've been doing experimentations with "simultaneous contrast" (putting opposite colors like blue+red, cyan+yellow, magenta+green next to each other to create a visual interference effect that makes things sparkle). I've had a few "train wrecks" of sprite art, though, because I've tried doing that as my fundamental building block, and I end up with sprites that are both badly shaded and colored. It's something great to add to an already good piece, but trying to start with it as my goal just seems to end up a disaster for me.


I think you can definitely get somewhere with this song, I'd just probably re-instrument the first bit of the song to not be just pure strings, and put a bit of melody in there.

The last 1/3 of the song is great, and so is the way it contrasts the first section.

[Rain]

Yea dude, totally. The beginning part isn't intended to be a nice smooth ride through the park.

I intended for it to sound that way. If you look at other pieces of similar type (ie Webern), you'll notice that it's not really clashing as much as being grating harmonically. It's supposed to sound that way. I do think it might be a little messy but I like the way it sounds and wouldn't change too much from it. However, I do agree that I maybe should start off with a more consonant melody in the beginning to provide a sense of contrast as the piece goes into more dissonant territory.

I think if I rework this piece, I'll probably include more materials from the 2/3 part of the piece. We'll see how that goes.

Thanks for the help guys.

[Rain]

I liked at all, get a review on doublebass. I think you can get a plus power using tuba+doublebass, trombone+doublebass. I tought that music is "overstringed", maybe you can use woodwinds and brasses a bit more.

Definitely man. I think I will consider this when re arranging the piece a bit.