Hi everyone, I have been experimenting with ModPlug Tracker lately working on some basic composition, but I am a bit stuck on my current composition. It's a piece for a platformer level, specifically the pirate world of BlockyMan currently being made by Stompy which you can read about in his journal. I'm still very much a beginner at music composition so I've been using this as a learning exercise as I go. I'm going for a retro video gaming feel, so I've limited myself to using only four channels (three melodic, one percussion) and only using simple waveforms for the instruments other than the drum samples. I currently haven't put any volume control in there as I'm not sure if that would spoil the retro feel or not. My main concern is that I've been working on this piece on and off for quite some time now when I get stuck on other projects and it's got through a large number of revisions; the result is a bit of a mash between different styles. I'm not sure of the best way to tie it all together. It also doesn't loop as well as it should, and I'm not sure if it needs to be a bit longer (it's only 43 seconds long as is). I'm also not that happy with the present arrangement, but I'm never happy with that! I'm not sure exactly where to put my finger on the point I need to improve right now. I'd appreciate it if anyone would like to listen to the music as it is and offer some pointers as to how I should go about improving it. If you can play Impulse Tracker (via Winamp, for example) I'd recommend downloading that version; it's more accurate to how it will be played, not to mention the file size is tiny. If you can't I've got an MP3 version up as well. I had to stuff them into zips as I can't seem to get GameDev's FTP working at the moment. Pirates of Polaris (zipped Impulse Tracker version, preferred, 6 KB) Pirates of Polaris (zipped MP3 version, 658 KB) Thanks!

David, hey. Listened to the piece. Sounds pretty good. I have a few thoughts that struck me. Perhaps I will evaluate a bit more indepthly at a later date, when its not 4:50 in the AM. (Ah well, sleep sucks)

Anyhoo, the style of the melody seems to be working pretty well. Its a nice homage piece. The voices are syncing well, the sounds are warm and even. Very old school, and for that alone I appreciate the effort. In addition, the 3 part voicing is very free but I don't feel that the main melody is standing out enough from its partners. I would get your lead up front and move your accompanying voices back a bit so that the melody becomes a bit more discernable.

The chords I think could be a good focus. Try inverting the bass chords at various points to provide a sense of tension. Dissonance can be a very good friend. It has taken me a LONG time to realize that.

I am not sure how familiar you are with theory, but one thing that I am noticing is that you are ending your cadences a bit abruptly without giving your musical materials the chance to develop. What I mean is that, it doesn't ever feel that you are ever letting each section develop tension and release. It seems that each section is release...release...release...and so on. know what I mean? I think that might be what is making the piece a bit predictable...

I think by adding some tension and dissonance into the bass pattern, and some unpredictability into the rhythms, it might project the piece forward at a different angle. Video games are fun to experiment with and some times unexpected variances in musical materials produce desirable qualities that enhance gameplay.

Don't be afraid to stray off the path if you feel the need. Getting your hands dirty with composition can be a very rewarding process.
Just experiment and develop your ear and your sense of compositional detail will improve.

Good luck!

Quote: Original post by Rain 7
David, hey. Listened to the piece. Sounds pretty good. I have a few thoughts that struck me. Perhaps I will evaluate a bit more indepthly at a later date, when its not 4:50 in the AM. (Ah well, sleep sucks)

No worries. My sleep patterns are completely out of whack too due to my presently massive consumption of caffeine [smile].

Quote: Anyhoo, the style of the melody seems to be working pretty well. Its a nice homage piece. The voices are syncing well, the sounds are warm and even. Very old school, and for that alone I appreciate the effort. In addition, the 3 part voicing is very free but I don't feel that the main melody is standing out enough from its partners. I would get your lead up front and move your accompanying voices back a bit so that the melody becomes a bit more discernable.

Will do. I need to play around more with the volume of the instruments. Do you think it'll be worthwhile to put in some volume dynamics? At the moment every track stays at a fixed volume, but I'm unsure as to whether it'll spoil the old school nature if I put in some dynamics. I suppose I can just put them in and listen.

Quote: The chords I think could be a good focus. Try inverting the bass chords at various points to provide a sense of tension. Dissonance can be a very good friend. It has taken me a LONG time to realize that.

I'll experiment with that and check how it goes. Given I'm limited to three voices I usually try and make each of them hit the three notes of a chord at key points, which often makes the bass hit the tonic. I'm not that skilled yet in harmonisation so I'm pretty much figuring out what works as I go.

Quote: I am not sure how familiar you are with theory, but one thing that I am noticing is that you are ending your cadences a bit abruptly without giving your musical materials the chance to develop. What I mean is that, it doesn't ever feel that you are ever letting each section develop tension and release. It seems that each section is release...release...release...and so on. know what I mean? I think that might be what is making the piece a bit predictable...

I'm not that versed in music theory; I only really know basic chords and the rest I figure out with experimentation. Luckilly Wikipedia can help fill in the gaps if there's a theoretical explanation I don't fully understand [smile].

If I understand right, then I agree that I've got too many finishing strong I chords in the phrasing. It's a byproduct of how I wrote the initial melody; it's a mash of a bunch of sea shanty like phrases that I threw together.

How do you recommend I add more tension to the piece? I can change the melody so it doesn't land on the tonic as often and put less of an accent on some of those chords, but is there another way you recommend?

Quote: I think by adding some tension and dissonance into the bass pattern, and some unpredictability into the rhythms, it might project the piece forward at a different angle. Video games are fun to experiment with and some times unexpected variances in musical materials produce desirable qualities that enhance gameplay.

That's a good suggestion; I'll play around some more with the rhythms and bass line. It's a bit too easy to cut and paste segments when working on the computer, so I guess I'm a bit too used to repetitiveness in my music.

Quote: Don't be afraid to stray off the path if you feel the need. Getting your hands dirty with composition can be a very rewarding process.
Just experiment and develop your ear and your sense of compositional detail will improve.

Good luck!

Thanks for the advice!

I like the sound of the piece, the slide on the synth together with the somewhat staccato feel give it a nice flavor
as far as mixing goes, mids do have a way of stealing the show volume wise, especially with vintage sine/saw/square wave sounds. Raising the bass and the drums would make it a more even sounding mix, but like you said, keeping the volumes flat gives it a distinctly 80s feel

I definitely think letting the melody and bass "escape" (?) the tonic for a while would make the song sound more vibrant - landing the melody on the fifth somewhere in the middle, or maybe fooling around with some suspended 2nds or 4ths - could let the bass or melody hang a note above the tonic, or wander around a bit

I love the vintage synth sounds, they're so much fun - good work!

Quote: Original post by Trapper Zoid

Quote: Anyhoo, the style of the melody seems to be working pretty well. Its a nice homage piece. The voices are syncing well, the sounds are warm and even. Very old school, and for that alone I appreciate the effort. In addition, the 3 part voicing is very free but I don't feel that the main melody is standing out enough from its partners. I would get your lead up front and move your accompanying voices back a bit so that the melody becomes a bit more discernable.

Will do. I need to play around more with the volume of the instruments. Do you think it'll be worthwhile to put in some volume dynamics?

You bet! I think the sounds are what give it that old school vibe. Volume dynamics will help the music to stay more engaging. Changes in volume shouldn't take anything away from the old school feel.

Quote: I only really know basic chords and the rest I figure out with experimentation. Luckilly Wikipedia can help fill in the gaps if there's a theoretical explanation I don't fully understand [smile].

Well then, it seems that you are well on your way! [smile]

Quote: If I understand right, then I agree that I've got too many finishing strong I chords in the phrasing. It's a byproduct of how I wrote the initial melody; it's a mash of a bunch of sea shanty like phrases that I threw together.

Yea, thats exactly what I mean. btw I definitely distinguished that 'shanty' vibe when listening to the music. Its fun stuff!

Quote: How do you recommend I add more tension to the piece? I can change the melody so it doesn't land on the tonic as often and put less of an accent on some of those chords, but is there another way you recommend?

Harmony is first what jumped into my head in regards to creating tension, but orchestration is really big on on this as well. However, as you are working with the 3 voice setup, the choices presented in this scenario, are limited at best.

For a piece like this, dynamics can go a long way. Additionally, perhaps play with the drums in order to create tension. Have the snare hit an offbeat one measure, and hit the same on- beat in the next measure. This also can create unpredictability. The trick is having it sound intentionally unpredictable! :D

Take care

Ryan

*GASP*

You use Impulse Tracker (or, really, ANY tracker)! That's AWESOME! I used to use Impulse Tracker back in the day.

Love the track -really good stuff :) Sounds very NES :)

EDIT: Oh, you said ModPlug. That's okay, it still counts! :)

I was definitely a Modplug addict back in the day. *sniff* where have those days gone??

Quote: Original post by swhite
I was definitely a Modplug addict back in the day. *sniff* where have those days gone??

They're still here, at least for me [smile].

Thanks for all the comments everyone; sorry I haven't got around to updating my music here yet (sorry most over all to Stompy who I'm making this for!). I'm still planning on making changes to this pirate tune but I'll most likely wait until after I've got versions of all the levels done. I hope to post a new one for comments within a week.