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MusicallyInspired Group: Musicians Posts: 1445 Joined: June 2001 Posted: May 16 2003, 20:33 I'm writing the soundtrack for a computer adventure game like the old game company Sierra used to make (ie- King's Quest, Space Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, etc). Pegasus Interactive is the non-profit (at this point) online game-making team I'm working with (no website yet). I've written a couple songs already, but I want to get everyone's opinons about this one because it's acoustic guitar based and it's the result of what years of listening to Mike Oldfield's music and playing guitar have done to me. It's the theme of the hero of the game (the guy you play). This particular theme is going to be re-worked many times to give different emotions about the hero's predicament throughout the game soundtrack (it might even be an influence on the game's theme itself I'm still working on that). The game is set in midevil times. The basic gist is you're a knight who's becoming a wizard. But it's much deeper than that. Anyways, this is his theme. http://smc.sq7.org/brandon/brian.ogg Sorry, I only have an OGG file this time. -------------- BrandonBlume.com "The beauty in life is in the embracing of the variety of things. If all the world was blue there would be no colour blue." Back to top

Music, the ancient language... Group: Musicians Posts: 407 Joined: Jan. 2003 Posted: May 16 2003, 21:10 Allright, here we go again: Sound: more than enough quality for a computer game, if you ask me. Just one remark. I'm not into guitar playing or such, I just held the thing in my arms twice in my life or so. But I notice many guitar songs (even Mikes) have those 'glitchy' noises on it. I once asked a friend of mine who plays a bit guitar what this noise is, and he said it's quite normal. Well, that might be and it might be fully accepted in the 'guitar world', but I don't like it!   It's distracting and ruins the whole 'color' of the marvellous guitar sound, IMO. And if it is something artistic or traditional or such, then at least it isn't appropriate for games. Just my thoughts. Composition: Is that Ommadawn part two I'm hearing there? Cool. It seemed to be 'crossed' with another theme of another song, no? The theme of a piano in a popular vocal song... don't know the title. Just know it because I once used it in my songs. I especially noticed it when the strings started to play. Anyway, nice composition. It has got everything a main theme needs. As the games is situated in midevil times, I'd be tempted to add some quints, as this maybe sounds a bit to soft for a 'midevil hero theme'. But if you say you're gonna play on with this theme to catch different emotions, then this is hard to comment this, isn't it. General: lose the 'glitchy sound' and it'll be nice. -------------- Read everything I write at own risk. I cannot be held responsible  for depressions and/or suicide attempts of any kind, caused by reading my posts. Back to top

MusicallyInspired Group: Musicians Posts: 1445 Joined: June 2001 Posted: May 16 2003, 21:55 First off, that 'glitch' sound you're referring is the guitar fret noise made from moving your fingers across the strings on the fretboard. It's unnavoidable . And I think it adds to feel of the 'era' (although I don't just think it's good for that era. IMO it makes a tune more realistic and down to earth. Taking it out would make it not a guitar song anymore). About the quality, good adventure games such as the old Sierra ones were much like good movies. They really brought you into the story. Which is what our game is going to do. So the quality has got to be very similar to that sort of atmosphere. Realism is a key thing or the atmosphere in the game is ruined. It's got to capture you into the story. So the highest quality and most realistic music is what we're aiming for in this game. And about it being too soft, it isn't really the theme of the game yet, it's the hero's theme. The director of the project commented on it with the words "noble yet despairing" which he said perfectly describes his predicament around the beginning of the game (which he knows more about than I do at this point, so I suppose it passes). And, yes, I will be playing around with it throughout the game. And about it sounding like Ommadawn and some other tunes....maybe it creeped in subconsciously, I don't know. It wasn't intentional, anyway. Thanks for the words, Ancient, as always . -------------- BrandonBlume.com "The beauty in life is in the embracing of the variety of things. If all the world was blue there would be no colour blue." Back to top

bevy Group: Members Posts: 295 Joined: Nov. 2002 Posted: May 17 2003, 10:12 now u got me this time.. ogg file? what do i need to play this file.. i have wmedia player and real player but they wont play it?? Back to top

MusicallyInspired Group: Musicians Posts: 1445 Joined: June 2001 Posted: May 17 2003, 11:16 Get Winamp at www.winamp.com. But get version 2 because version 3 is system demanding and frankly I don't like it. Everyone uses version 2. Winamp is the best player out there, so I suggest keeping it . -------------- BrandonBlume.com "The beauty in life is in the embracing of the variety of things. If all the world was blue there would be no colour blue." Back to top

bevy Group: Members Posts: 295 Joined: Nov. 2002 Posted: May 17 2003, 12:49 CHEERS.. Winamp works fine.  yup very nice. yes fret noise's are sometimes hard to avoid,but 'hey' they dont bother me.  i love tubular bells for this reason, you can even hear mike taking sharp breaths in some sections. but it adds to the whole feeling of the album Back to top

Music, the ancient language... Group: Musicians Posts: 407 Joined: Jan. 2003 Posted: May 17 2003, 14:35 Are those fret noises really unavoidable? How come I didn't notice it in this way in other guitar songs before then? Isn't there some digital tool or so that cuts a particular frequenty or such? I checked out some of Mike's guitar songs, and yes: fret noises everywhere present, mostly unnoticed. But I just can't help them being so annoying at your track! You know what, I'm going to play it for some of my friends, they are almost all gamers, so that's a representing group, no? I'll post again if I have gathered some reactions. -------------- Read everything I write at own risk. I cannot be held responsible  for depressions and/or suicide attempts of any kind, caused by reading my posts. Back to top

bevy Group: Members Posts: 295 Joined: Nov. 2002 Posted: May 17 2003, 16:10 yes u can lower fret noise a bit,(without software,but i am sure there is some software out there) if u mess about with positions of mic (more to the base of the guitar) this will help lower it, but if u are using an  acoustic guitar with pic ups this can be a bit more tricky,, will admit, just  listened 2 the track again and they do seem 2 be very loud. but again very nice track Back to top

MusicallyInspired Group: Musicians Posts: 1445 Joined: June 2001 Posted: May 17 2003, 19:35 Quote You know what, I'm going to play it for some of my friends, they are almost all gamers, so that's a representing group, no? Not if they play Action, 3rd person, RPG, FPS and Strategy games etc etc . This game is of the (now dead) classic adventure game genre. I doubt anyone who plays the games of today would appreciate it. I would think people more like story writers would appreciate the genre, and film scorers the music. Because that's basically what it is. An interactive movie/story. It may be possible to decrease the volume or even just get rid of the fret noises, but I'm not going to. That's like abandoning all acoustic instruments and doing everything digitally and with MIDI. It's just not a guitar theme without the fret noises. Maybe you're a digital person and it bothers you, but like you guessed earlier, guitarists aren't . Call me stubborn along with those people who think the original Tubular Bells has a charm that shouldn't be tampered with if you wish, but I think it's going a bit too far and kind of narrow-minded to get rid of fret noises altogether. I'm actually surprised this is an issue at all lol. Get rid of fret noises? That's just so un-thought of . You just know it's a guitar theme and it has that feel when there's fret noises. I must admit, I wasn't prepared for criticism in this area. It caught me off guard that this actually caught your attention . Even when I couldn't play guitar or knew anything about them at all I knew what they were and that it's unavoidable (unless you play a keyboard). I don't think it sounds bad either. To me the fret noises and the guitar notes are just synonomous and just....go together. -------------- BrandonBlume.com "The beauty in life is in the embracing of the variety of things. If all the world was blue there would be no colour blue." Back to top

MusicallyInspired Group: Musicians Posts: 1445 Joined: June 2001 Posted: May 18 2003, 13:06 Ok, I think I've waited long enough now to tell you guys. The guitar (for those of you who haven't yet guessed) is not a real guitar. It's a MIDI guitar played on a keyboard. Though it might not be a surprise to some of you. I added the fret noises in after I played the guitar part which is probably why they sound bad . Perhaps I'll get rid of a few of them and decrease the volume a bit. Were you fooled? -------------- BrandonBlume.com "The beauty in life is in the embracing of the variety of things. If all the world was blue there would be no colour blue." Back to top

Music, the ancient language... Group: Musicians Posts: 407 Joined: Jan. 2003 Posted: May 18 2003, 13:22 Now that explains a lot! Pff... unavoidable! But it sounds quite realistic to be a MIDI. I actually don't fully believe you!    Why the sudden intention to do something about the fret noises? Suspicious if you ask me!   And btw: I'm not a digital person. I'm just doing fruityloops cause I don't have the money to hire an orchestra! -------------- Read everything I write at own risk. I cannot be held responsible  for depressions and/or suicide attempts of any kind, caused by reading my posts. Back to top

MusicallyInspired Group: Musicians Posts: 1445 Joined: June 2001 Posted: May 18 2003, 13:56 Quote Pff... unavoidable! Quote Why the sudden intention to do something about the fret noises? Suspicious if you ask me! Well, a couple other people mentioned it was a little loud and one person (who knew it was MIDI already) said a real guitar wouldn't have that many fret noises going on. ow being a guitar player I know that there are fret noises everytime you move your hands across the fret board so I knew it couldn't be too many. But it did stand out to her so I figure something must not click right in people's sub-conscious mind when they hear it. So I thought a little change might actually be preferable. Then again, it's not that bad as it is, IMO. I don't know what I'll do in the end. I don't think I'm going to actually use this particular version anyway...maybe on the CD soundtrack...but in the game it's going to be written differently blending with various other themes. -------------- BrandonBlume.com "The beauty in life is in the embracing of the variety of things. If all the world was blue there would be no colour blue." Back to top

BOOsTER Group: Musicians Posts: 1024 Joined: Jan. 2003 Posted: May 18 2003, 14:07 well Brandon...I would like once to hear a track done by you...and say I don't like it but well I simply can't ...maybe later! this one is great really hero-ic -------------- http://www.djbooster.net Back to top

Ecco Group: Musicians Posts: 229 Joined: Nov. 2002 Posted: May 18 2003, 14:26 Hello Brian. Haven't listened to the track yet because at the moment we're downloading something that's supposedly going to ease the agravation of AOHell. Just confused about something--wouldn't it be easier just to play the guitar part on a guitar rather than using MIDI and then adding fret-noises (which yes, Music the ancient lingo, ARE unavoidable at times) afterwards? -------------- http://www.myspace.com/twilighttide Back to top

MusicallyInspired Group: Musicians Posts: 1445 Joined: June 2001 Posted: May 18 2003, 16:21 Firstly my name's Brandon . Second, I don't actually own a real acoustic guitar. Only electric. And I don't have a good mic either. -------------- BrandonBlume.com "The beauty in life is in the embracing of the variety of things. If all the world was blue there would be no colour blue." Back to top

Ugo Group: Members Posts: 5495 Joined: April 2000 Posted: May 18 2003, 18:14 My only comment on this is simply the following: FANTASTIC TRACK. Thanks, Brandon, & please put more online. P.S.: Does your game's hero have a name? If yes, what is it? -------------- Ugo C. - a devoted Amarokian Back to top

Ugo Group: Members Posts: 5495 Joined: April 2000 Posted: May 18 2003, 18:36 And about the much-argued-upon fret noises: I have lots & lots & lots of non-oldfieldian MIDIs where the player is supposed to be imitatin' an acoustic guit, and they contain lots & lots & lots of those noises and they're not tedious at all, at least to my (cloth?) ears. So, Brandon, if you really want to keep this piece realistic, don't remove 'em and don't de-emphasize 'em at all. They're alright as they are. -------------- Ugo C. - a devoted Amarokian Back to top

Q! Group: Members Posts: 110 Joined: Dec. 2002 Posted: May 18 2003, 19:09 Quote (Music @ the ancient language...,May 16 2003, 21:10) more than enough quality for a computer game, if you ask me. You obviously haven't heard any of Matt Uelmen's work. Now, as for that song: it's pretty good, reminds of Heroes of Might and Magic 2, although it sounds a bit syntetic. Try making the sound more 'raw' or add some backgroud ambient noise maybe? Don't know. If this is a fantasy world, add a flute. edit: oh, it is fantasy, I missed that part. -------------- http://qisgod.host.sk/ Back to top

MusicallyInspired Group: Musicians Posts: 1445 Joined: June 2001 Posted: May 18 2003, 21:10 Quote Does your game's hero have a name? If yes, what is it? The hero's name is Bryan. Bryan the knight. Who's becoming a wizard. It's deeper than that, though, as I've said before. There's a king who's name is Peter. lol I know it sounds kind of childish, but the director/writer said the game was very allegorical of real-life events and the names were needed like that for some reason. From what he's told me, though, the story is (and will be when it's finished) very good. Quote Now, as for that song: it's pretty good, reminds of Heroes of Might and Magic 2, although it sounds a bit syntetic. Try making the sound more 'raw' or add some backgroud ambient noise maybe? Don't know. If this is a fantasy world, add a flute. Like I've said before, I doubt very much that this particular version of this theme will be included in the game. It will be rerecorded and embedded in the soundtrack in different ways in different areas. Ie - mixed in with other themes in the introduction sequence. It will change moods throughout the game giving different emotions depending on the scene and situation. It's basically a musical template. Though it may make it into the credits maybe? Or maybe on the soundtrack CD. We'll figure something out, anyway. Thanks for the words, guys. I'll keep you updated on the game and maybe every now or then release a track here and there . -------------- BrandonBlume.com "The beauty in life is in the embracing of the variety of things. If all the world was blue there would be no colour blue." Back to top

Ecco Group: Musicians Posts: 229 Joined: Nov. 2002 Posted: May 19 2003, 01:02 Hello Brandon, Sorry for the name confusion, guess that's what I get for not double checking; I could have at least spelled it 'Bryan' heh. Anyway, in the case of not having a real guitar, congrats on your creative resourcefulness! -------------- http://www.myspace.com/twilighttide Back to top

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