Just thought I''d put these online to see if anyone had any comments on the quality, or lack of it... Track 1 (1.4MB) Track 2 (0.6MB) They''re both in MP3 format, and have a pseudo-orchestral sound suitable for RPGs or the like. Don''t pay too much heed to the filenames, as they''re just placeholders. [ MSVC Fixes | STL | SDL | Game AI | Sockets | C++ Faq Lite | Boost | Asking Questions | Organising code files ]

First impressions:

Long piece:
Some nice minor progressions, and some thought has gone into the instrumentation. The early theme is OK, but I feel like the most catchy/recognizable theme doesn''t come until about 2:15, which is quite a way into the piece. This music would be suitable for overland music where you spend quite a bit of time hearing it.
Most of the instruments don''t sound that pseudo-orchestral, except the drums. They really stick out and don''t seem integrated into the piece properly. It''s also because of heavy delay and reverb on everything else. I really felt that the percussion became quite annoying. Too many cymbal crashes. I''m not sure how you could fix it, but some parts of the song, like the start, would sound fine without any drums, I think.

Shorter piece:
This is really quite emotive, a sort of desperate sadness. It''s a little typical sounding (sort of "I''ve heard this before someplace"), especially the flute instrument.

Thanks for your comments.

I think you''re right in that the percussion on the first track can be a little annoying - mainly because it''s not very inspired or varied. But I found it was better with it than without it. (It was the last part to be added.) Ideally, I would redo the percussion. It is difficult to write parts for instruments I''ve never played.

The second piece might sound ''typical'', but that''s probably just because it has a very simple and obvious chord progression. There must be loads of people who''ve written something in descending natural minor like that, so it''s not gonna sound unique. As with the first piece, it''s not designed to stand out all that much, but to set the mood in the background.


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OK, first one.

Agreed, the drums are ok but the cymbols are quite annoying.
Normaly, you would mix down the drums first of all, and work things over the top of that. Perhaps this may be the way to go here?
The sound seems ok, but perhaps you might change the string instrumnets to something else, or get better samples, as the ones you have sound realy flat and expressionless. It sounds more like a buzzer than a real instrument.
The vocal bit at the end seems quite good, but perhaps making the notes shorter and taking out the strings, which drown and even cancel them out on some notes.
Otherwise it seems good.


Second one.

Love it. Again, same problem with the strings, only it dosn''t appear as bad in this one. The flute seems to cut between notes very quiclky, it is not as smooth as it could be (peh, I forget the technical terms). This could be lengthened, as well, and would proabaly be more useful in the game (I assume they are for a game).

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What software package(s) did you use to create these?

Aside from the cymbals, I like them. Good work.

Have to agree with what has been said, I think; like the songs, hate the cymbals.

Perhaps a quiet, military-like snare in the background would be better than the cymbals.

Beyond that, I would say the overall sound quality just needs some improvement to justify the MP3 tag. I mean, would not the shorter piece sound just as good as a midi file on a decent soundcard, without the half-megabyte baggage?

Otherwise, I think the compositions themselves sound pretty good.

Actualy, now that I listen to the second one again, I think that the flute is actualy quite good the way it is. At least the change I mentioned is not going to fix it.

Again, for such a good peice it is too short.

And again with the MP3/MIDI and the bad samples.

Do not meddle in the affairs of moderators, for they are subtle and quick to anger. ANDREW RUSSELL STUDIOS
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Andrew - I think doing the drums first would be very counter-intuitive for this style of music. The music follows the chord structure, and the percussion is just another layer around the edge. And I have often thought about making the 2nd one longer, but have not done so yet as I don''t have any good ideas.

Punchey - I used ModPlug Tracker for these.

Hoffs - I''m not sure what you mean about ''justifying'' the MP3 tag. Basically, the songs weren''t written as midi files, and so I can''t distribute them as such. Sure, they could be converted, but I''d rather get better samples (although finding samples better than what I have already is pretty damn hard) than have something which only sounds good on good soundcards.

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You may want to send them as zipped S3Ms (or another MOD format) instead of MIDIs.

GOOD JOB! I only had time for Track 1 so I listened to it about 3 times before writing this. Good use of variety and coming back to the main theme every so often. This is a nice example of how RPG music should be layed out I think, especially for the purpose of looping. I thought the cymbal crashes weren''t too bad because at least they are not too loud. Also, good use of vocal chorus. Nice theme overall.




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