Dungeon Music

Big Zamboza · Post by **Big Zamboza** » Fri May 22, 2009 6:48 am

Hey everyone, I have been following the progress of Tamriel Rebuilt for a while now, and wanted to offer any help I can, as I am such a big fan of the Elder Scrolls series, and finally have the time to devote to this. I have supplied a couple of quick examples of some dungeon music which may be of use.

The first sticks quite closely to Jeremy Soule's Oblivion dungeon feel, whereas the second is quite different. To me personally, it feels as if it is stuck between sounding like Bioshock and Oblivion, heh. I was thinking along the lines of replication, rather than a whole new original feel, but please do tell me if I am thinking against others' thoughts and opinions.

Anyways I'd be very grateful in hearing if such stuff will be helpful, and I'll get to work on some other stuff.

Zamboza

Don Bernardo · Post by **Don Bernardo** » Fri May 22, 2009 4:08 pm

Hi Zamboza!

I just listened quickly to your dungeon tracks. They have a great sound and I think they're very fitting. The second one is especially interesting. I enjoy the drums that slowly emerge out of the background and all those weird flutes.

Dungeon tracks are not actually a very high priority now, since no Hammerfell dungeons have been created yet (I think they're great to have around though, and fun to make). Would you be able to create either a "public" or "explore" track for us? And then we'll see about getting you promoted to modder. I'm very interested to see what you'll come up with!

Oh, and...
could an admin please move this thread to Showcase?

Lady Nerevar · Post by **Lady Nerevar** » Fri May 22, 2009 4:13 pm

done

we do actually have several dungeons created for hammerfell

Bloodthirsty Crustacean · Fri May 22, 2009 4:49 pm

I just have to congratulate you on your avatar, and then leave the floor to the experts.

Big Zamboza · Post by **Big Zamboza** » Fri May 22, 2009 6:30 pm

Ah, sorry about putting the post in the wrong place; that is pretty typical of me :/

I can get straight to work on anything and everything, although if there is a list of what is needed or something similar, that could be quite handy for a bit of direction. Do you hope to get entirely separate soundtracks for each area, or cross some stuff like battle music, weather related music and such?

Also, glad to see another fan of Phoenix Wright, hehe.

Don Bernardo · Post by **Don Bernardo** » Sat May 23, 2009 2:02 am

The original plan was to script different music to play in different regions of Hammerfell, but it turned out that the Oblivion engine really has no reliable way of doing that. There's a discussion here where a guy tried to make such a script:
[url]http://tamriel-rebuilt.org/old_forum/viewtopic.php?t=19710[/url]
Later, this guy's plugin was found:
[url]http://www.bethsoft.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=878782[/url]
Regional music could possibly be achieved using that, I think we're just waiting for some brave soul who has an interest in music and scripting to go through and start experimenting with it.

The other thing we have to do is make the music. My goal for now is to put together a new Explore and Town soundtrack that we could in the near future actually playtest in Hammerfell. To a certain extent it has to keep the Oblivion style, but still be different and creative, and tell the player "you're not in Cyrodil anymore".

Lady Nerevar wrote:we do actually have several dungeons created for hammerfell

Sweet!!

Big Zamboza · Post by **Big Zamboza** » Sat May 23, 2009 5:57 am

Hey again, I made a couple of new things earlier on - a 'Public' and an 'Explore' piece. If there is anything that you feel like suggesting please go ahead, as the Explore piece is merely a minute long, and the Public piece changes quite drastically (and both are a bit boring, hehe). I'll probably add/alter things at some point once I get a few more ideas for them.

Also...I tend to work really quickly, so is it a problem for me to upload things with this frequency? I am happy to slow things down if it is considered more appropriate.

Regarding the scripting things; I wouldn't have a clue myself, but could try asking around a couple of places.

Big Zamboza · Post by **Big Zamboza** » Sat May 23, 2009 11:01 am

Another 'Explore' Piece..

Don Bernardo · Post by **Don Bernardo** » Sun May 24, 2009 5:20 am

That is fast!
If you're able to work fast then go for it, we'll be able to hear more of your ideas this way.

I like the music-box sounding instrument in #3, I think you could take that and go somewhere with it.

I like #5 a lot better though! Take that feeling and stretch it into 3 minutes and we've got an Explore. That part where the strings cut out (1:10) works really well I think.

#4 does sound really Public-y, but there was something bugging me about it. I think maybe in my mind I'm already expecting Hammerfell's cities to sound more exotic. How we should go about doing that is not really well-defined yet, and if you have any ideas you can certainly bring them to the table. Other than that though, if you did want to work on this one, and if we did get regional music working, we could definitely use this for the island of Stirk.

So for the purposes of your showcase, I'd say expand your ideas from either #4 or #5 into a three minute track, and you're good.

Big Zamboza · Post by **Big Zamboza** » Mon May 25, 2009 8:33 am

Here is #5, stretched to about 2:50. I added a few more natural progressions in, and I think it has enhanced the feeling of it a bit more which is quite pleasing, although it appeared that any more stuff started to work negatively with it. I have a few more tracks on the go atm, but it would probably work better if I just post things which have been completed and ready for review.

SpartanPride · Post by **SpartanPride** » Mon May 25, 2009 10:08 pm

I'm not a reviewer or anything. Just stopped by to say that your song is brilliant.

Don Bernardo · Post by **Don Bernardo** » Tue May 26, 2009 2:35 am

This is great! Hey what software do you use? I'm curious. Yeah, I wouldn't add anything more to it for fear of spoiling it somehow.

And....
this gets my recommendation!

So eventually an admin should come along and promote you, and after that go ahead and start a thread in the music section where you can post your music from now on.

Big Zamboza · Post by **Big Zamboza** » Tue May 26, 2009 4:48 am

Heh, thank you both for the compliments; very pleased it has gone down well. = )

Regarding the software, I use quite a lot of things within many projects. I use Logic Studio simply because I was trained with the software by a few teachers (ofc...every other DAW is pretty much just as good). Providing all aspects within Logic are used well, it is generally adequate enough for most genres - all the way from Breakcore to Funk to Metal. For creating convincing electronic genres it would also be worth investing in some decent hardware too. I have managed to get by with just a Korg Kaoss Pad kp3 up to this point, so that would be a big recommendation.

But for orchestral scores and classical music I generally put a load more emphasis onto 3rd party software such as Garritan Personal Orchestra, Symphobia, Eastwest Symphonic Orchestra...HALion is another really good one too actually. The great thing about them is that there is very little requirement for manipulation of the sound produced, as they are all pretty damned convincing. All that really needs to be done is the composing itself, a little mixing and mastering, then any other little desired effects to enhance what is already there.

I found that GPO is a really great piece of software to start playing around with, as there is such a small amount of effort required and with a really great payout. Also it is pretty cheap for what you end up getting.

Lady Nerevar · Post by **Lady Nerevar** » Wed May 27, 2009 9:12 pm

i love it, and since the sound guy agrees: Member Promoted for Music. i like how it is sweeping and epic while at the same time being kind of calm and personal. would go brilliantly in a trailer

Post by **Haplo** » Wed May 27, 2009 9:41 pm

Congratulations on being promoted, and welcome to Tamriel Rebuilt!

Big Zamboza · Post by **Big Zamboza** » Thu May 28, 2009 12:03 am

Thank you for the welcome; great to be involved with the project! I'll try to keep everything else I make up to the same standard - I am currently working hard on some 'Battle' ideas, so I'll get them posted soon.

Also thanks Lady Nerevar. You've pretty much annotated the backbone of thought I put into that track, so I'm really pleased it came through the piece itself!

Big Zamboza · Post by **Big Zamboza** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 9:02 am

Hey, just to explain as to why I've posted nothing further for ages - I've had a big load of stuff to work on as of late, but I should hopefully get back into full swing next week.

NexUmMonastica · Post by **NexUmMonastica** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 9:21 am

Real Life grabs us all by the balls. Don't sweat it.