Fate of Io: Music

Awakening to the Nightmare

(nixxin) — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 05:48:50 GMT

I wrote this for the scene when Syne wakes up in Part III, Chapter 16.

Thoughts on Music

(Aetrus) — Tue, 26 Jul 2005 19:10:28 GMT

I've been listening to several versions of the above file, Sam Barber's Adagio for Strings, and I've been thinking of just how utterly emotional that peice is, and also how simple it is compositionally. I thought that could apply to composing game music here. For me the heart of a peice is the melody, and I know from personal experience how hard it can be to find that one true melody that just opens up your ideas and all that. Well sometimes its the simplicity of sound that makes it so compelling.

I've heard most if not all of the music submitted here over the years, and I liked most of it. Mad props to Dev, Stix, Xeno, Nix, and everyone else. Still, I always felt like the tracks were too rigid tempo wise. It sounded like it came out of sequencer. (big surprise...it did.) Well this peice demonstrates how a slightly meandering tempo can really open up the emotion within a work. It's all in how you aproach the next note, and where its going from there. It sounds more human, and gives a greater sense of urgency, or emotion to linger over a note a bit. This one does that alot, and that is why it is used in mourning and what not. (been used in several presidential funerals)

Strangely enough it took a while to find a midi I was satisfied with. This one is ok, but if I were the 'conductor' I would have drawn out a few passages and did more to capture the dynamics. That's the other thing an emotional track needs. Most of the tracks I've heard were at a set volume level. Nothing wrong with that we're not finalizing a mix here, but varying the volume level in conjuction with an emotional build works wonders. That's one reason I love orchestral music is because of the huge dynamic range. You don't hear that in pop music because its all compressed to death on the radio, and in the assanine attempt to make everything louder.

Also don't be afraid to bend key signatures and such if it sounds good. It's not uncommon to see a lot of scores written with sharps and flats all over the place that don't follow with the natural key signature. (hey I've seen double sharps, and double flats written. It looks really funky)

But of course having fun is key. (haha! Get it Key!??!?!) Anyway....

PS The Trance mix of Adagio for Strings KICKS ASS! My favourite William Orbit mix, and my favorite mix of this song in general.

NOTE: The midi came from a free download site.

Drawn-out Victory Dramatic Song

(mystik3eb) — Mon, 20 Jun 2005 02:53:09 GMT

I was thinking maybe when Syne goes down with Epsilon, or maybe in the caves that Brooke goes to for her "test" or whatever *shrug* Something like that.

Resubmission of Titan City

(mystik3eb) — Mon, 20 Jun 2005 02:49:32 GMT

And here's what I would've submitted originally for my Titan City song if it had been MIDI. I like it this way =)

Submission for Ko

(mystik3eb) — Mon, 20 Jun 2005 02:48:37 GMT

Yay! Dev's the man! I can finally work Jazz and make midis! And once he taught me how, I started pumping out music (probably not healthy, but I think I'm doin alright). Here's my idea for Ko since we seem to have a few ideas; here's my take.

Ko's Theme

(Dev) — Sun, 19 Jun 2005 00:27:54 GMT

So he's the canonical Ko's theme that I wrote ... a long freaking time ago. It really hasn't been altered in any way, other than using newer samples than it had prior. I also have a "happy" upbeat version of his theme, which I'm sure Temp will pressure me into uploading very soon as well. You can also hear snippets of this theme in the previously submitted "Part II prelude".

Possibly a Ko Theme.

(Stix) — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 23:02:57 GMT

Also, concerning my "Funny Delloran", I just read a funny part when Ko was turned into a skunk. Perhaps that whole sequence (or part, since I've learned that listening to it over and over might get annoying)... could have that music playing. Maybe that could be the "humorous situation" music... since writing a funny piece for each moment seems almost like we're overdoing it.

Now, for this one: I'm thinking that somewhere along the lines someone might consider this as Ko's theme. There's a longer version which I will henceforth and upload..and so forth. There's some emotion in this... where Ko has things going through his young mind, who had to make some tough choices before leaving the only life he's ever known with Brooke... he had to watch his brother die, and he's considered suicide. It's a sad life for him. But he finds new friends, and a new reason to live!

I hope this fits. By the way, if it goes on a little longer it's because I had a *bleep* of a time trying to cut off all the excessive stuff at the end..I may have missed some... *Sigh*

Funny Delloran Stuff (Part 2)

(Stix) — Sat, 18 Jun 2005 00:39:03 GMT

Longer....I agree that it sounds better broken up with that big piece in there...it's longer by what, 15 seconds or sections or measures? I like it... I'm tired now. *Head to desk again*

Industrial Monsters (re: "Submission with a Titan City Focus")

(Dev) — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 21:48:09 GMT

So here's a little something to add to all the music that Stix has been submitting. This department has been rockin' lately. :P

This is basically a remix of Mystik's original submission, less of an arrangment. Mystik, unfortunately, had used a program that doesn't allow him to save his work, so I thought it might be useful to recreate an editable copy of the piece. Of course, I've expanded on it a bit and created a loop, but the idea was really just to bring the song up to FoI submission standards. Hope you like what I did with it, Mystik.

Dell's Cave/Theme is IN.

(Stix) — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 21:35:50 GMT

An Antarean that lives by himself for all but his entire young life is sure to be a little...weird.... so someone suggested I take the beginning part of one of my other songs and make that his 'cave' theme or something...and I'm surprised it came out this way. (Which is to say, almost exactly how I imagined it to sound...)

I think this song sounds obnoxious... the Tuba makes Dell seem like some big galumphing idiot..when he's really not. He's just different. But it seems empty without it.

Any changes you want to make to it, go right ahead.

Alright..for some reason it's not working for me right now. I dunno how to fix it. *Slams head to desk*