I''ve just started a sound design project with a friend, I''ve been doing music for about eight years now. I''ve been doing a short film score and I feel that I have a knack for atmospheric music. I''d love to do music for games and film. I''d appreciate some opinions on a little piece of music I''ve done... war theme... http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~storsh/mili2.mp3 Thanks (: www.kapads.com

The snare sample (or the effect you put on it) takes away from the piece, a more traditional snare would help a bunch. Otherwise, sets the mood well.
If you''ve been composing for 8 years I''m sure you''ve got something a bit more "engaging"- atmospheric stuff has it''s uses, but I personally think music that you can listen to by itself that also evokes emotion is more effective than atmospheric ''sound''. You know, more ''music'' and less ''sound'' is what I''m trying to say.
But good job, I don''t mean to take away from your piece, it serves its purpose well.

Yeah, that snare... it''s also too prominent (could you mute it a little and see how that goes?)

One thing that I find missing (given the martial nature of the piece) is a "propellant" - a sound that moves the song along. With respect to games I feel such a piece would be used in either a Metal Gear-style game (the muted horns were a nice touch) or an FPS that emphasizes strategy over flat-out violence. The ideal propellant in such cases is a bass instrument; you used the bass tones too sparingly. Since bass often subtends into the inaudibly low frequencies, it conveys "sensations" (we still feel the vibes we don''t hear).

Good job overall.

Thanks for the responses people.

I was thinking of perhaps adding some compression to the snare and turning it down. There''s a track called Ubique Media Daemon by Einsturzende Neubauten which has a similar feeling military rythm and I was basing the prominence of the snare on this. I''ll take your comments into account and play around with it more.

Also, I do have a few other pieces I''ve composed but I didn''t think they were as ''background'' as this. This is the first thing I''ve put together with game music in mind, all my other stuff is just what I like to make.

Do either of you often make music or sound for games?

Again, thanks for the responses



www.kapads.com

I think if you took away everything before the thirtieth second it would be cool. I like that ( I am not good with insrtuments ) sound it gives... I don''t know what it is but it makes the thing sound good. The snares not all that bad, maybe if you made it alittle lower and slowed it down a few seconds, I think it would work well.

If your looking to work on a game, I can see if my friend would want your help. Right now, I am designing the game while he programs, I am pretty sure hes looking for an artist and musician.. do you do sound FXs?

If your interested, email me at bg_darkelf@hotmail.com.

It isn''t a paying position, but if its published I am guessing the money would be split evenly?

I can''t promise you the position because I don''t know if he already has plans for sound, but once again, if your interested, email me.

Good luck for the future.

"He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster... when you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you..."~Friedrich Nietzsche