Idea Thread For Music

[Aleksi]

Hello,

Here is a little sticky open to suggestions regarding the music. I think it is good to post all ideas in one thread instead of creating so many.

I, for my side, like the idea of making music for a boss, or a special situation. As someone proposed in another thread, it would be nice to have something too when your faction leader is low on HP.
I already started working on that...

Please leave a post for any other idea you think would be good for the music.

Cheers,

Aleksi.

[Stilgar]

I really wish wesnoth-5.ogg would be either updated, replaced, or removed. Ever since I started playing many versions ago, I've thought it to be the worst music in the game, and I was quite surprised that it stayed in when a lot of the other old music was removed. Even if it was just remade to be longer and have some more variation & flavour, it would be better.

As someone proposed in another thread, it would be nice to have something too when your faction leader is low on HP.

Is this really wise? I would think it would have similar problems to the old system of having theme music for each faction on multiplayer and switching them back and forth, though it would happen less frequently.

[Aleksi]

I really wish wesnoth-5.ogg would be either updated, replaced, or removed. Ever since I started playing many versions ago, I've thought it to be the worst music in the game, and I was quite surprised that it stayed in when a lot of the other old music was removed. Even if it was just remade to be longer and have some more variation & flavour, it would be better.

Well, its only percussions. Our goal is to leave only the gameplay music. Hopefully we will be able to have something like 8 of them. Little by little we will trash all the old ones.

[Masacroso]

I would like to hear a theme with chorus (and orchestra for sure) and another one with a bagpipes (in orchestra), a little celtic, this maybe tremendous with the faerie ambient It is just only a idea, Im not composer sorry I have heard the music of this game and is awesome, same or better than any others games, it's really good.

EDIT: another idea that I had is make a song with a traverse flute as the main instrument with a accompaniment of some goods drums marking the rithm

[toni]

what do you have against wesnoth-5?? i think it sound nice and wouldn't like when it would be removed.

[Temuchin Khan]

what do you have against wesnoth-5?? i think it sound nice and wouldn't like when it would be removed.

I think they're tallking about an older wesnoth-5, before the current one was even written.

[toni]

oh, sorry. i didn't know this.

[vonHalenbach]

I would like to hear a theme with chorus (and orchestra for sure) and another one with a bagpipes (in orchestra), a little celtic, this maybe tremendous with the faerie ambient It is just only a idea, Im not composer sorry I have heard the music of this game and is awesome, same or better than any others games, it's really good.

EDIT: another idea that I had is make a song with a traverse flute as the main instrument with a accompaniment of some goods drums marking the rithm

I like the idea of medieval music with a voice. I have found a professional female singer, who performs in latin language.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image ... ominis.ogg

This piece is under PD-Licence, so can be used even in little pieces for GPL-Music.

[ancestral]

Change
I like a song that changes as it goes, that does more than just adds or removes instruments. It seems like some of the newer pieces have a repetitive baseline and the same 8 measure theme (or however long) played over and over throughout the entire song. Transition, bridges, and variation are good things. I like to be surprised! Repetition is generally boring.

That being said, I think one-repeating themes can work well if done correctly. Like many I'm sure, I am a big fan of "Still Another Wanderer" — it uses just one theme over and over — though even that song has some lovely transitions to make things unique.

I want to be able to listen to a song in the first 20 seconds and know that essentially I haven't heard the entire thing, that maybe the next 20 seconds or next 2 minutes will take me different places. I love "Knolls of Doldesh" very much for this.

Leitmotif
I still think it would be great to borrow motifs (label them if need-be) and use them in different songs to make a thematic unity between musics. (Perhaps that's easier said than done!)

I was recently introduced to Europa Universalis III, an excellent game but with a great soundtrack too. It uses about 20 songs and has a few major themes which get mixed and borrowed throughout. The music is more variation of just a few themes since it applies them to different styles of music (a microcosm of the game itself, where there are hundreds of nations and cultures present) but the music flows beautifully and the themes are quite distinct and memorable.

Like many of the great musical scores, I think you really begin to understand the feeling of flow and connection in the music, and of course, identify with the themes present. I think it's for this reason many of the great composers rely on this technique not only for the personification and storytelling aspect, but because it returns to things familiar and grabs the attention of the audience.

[mabeenot]

One of the things that makes Wesnoth so great is the soundtrack. Keep up the great work.

I think a nautical/seagoing piece would be nice for campaigns where battles take place on islands or story segments that show travel across the sea.

Some weather-themed music could give the impression that a storm is brewing, rain/snow is falling, or there's lightning and thunder.

A lot of the darker themes seem to fit the orcs very well, but I don't feel the undead deserve the same thumping soundtrack. They ought to have a creepy feel, maybe with violin dissonance, English horn or organ music.