Scoring music for videogames

[nettrucker 144]

Hello my dear friends. It's been a very long time since I posted. RL issues have kept me busy.
I hope you all are doing alright.
I've opened a new YouTube channel which is dedicated to scoring music in video games, videos in general.

 

Titanfall 2 Mystery Babylon

 

I felt compelled to write my own in-game soundtrack. I used a combat scene from a Titanfall 2 mission and placed my own composition on the video. I uploaded the first video to my new channel just a week ago. I've mixed the soundtrack with the in-game sounds so you can hear how it would sound when playing the game.

Luckily I can import videos into my Digital Audio work station which allows me to synchronize sound with the images which helps a lot with scoring

The first version of the soundtrack was a bit more complex but then I decided to dial back the arrangement and remove instruments. The reason for this was . . . it sounded too much for my taste when mixing the in-game sounds with the soundtrack. It was chaotic and overloaded with sounds which had let me to the decision to thin out the soundtrack remove instruments and parts of the arrangement. I will upload in the next days a version of the video without in-game sounds only with the soundtrack which gives the video a different vibe.

At the beginning of the video you see an escape pod precipitating on a planet. Here I applied a riser sound which simulates the falling of the rescue capsule. The second part of the track is the only part where I used some melody played with beautiful strings. The strings part was the one who suffered the biggest changes. It was a lot more complex but as I already stated I decided to remove parts leaving only a basic melody.

I used some epic percussion which sounds quite Industrial. I used only a kick and a snare which have been altered it sounds somehow metallic.
I used some eerie sounds in the track which I personally love. Especially the third part with the drums the sounds are strange and filled with tension.

I used only Soundpaint Libraries to create this track. Soundpaint libraries are great virtual instrument plugins and there are special sound libraries which are dedicated to cinematic scoring. The horn sounds are really epic. I love them  . . . the sound is really majestic and moreover really potent it's like a punch to the gut. LOL. 😊

There are a couple of more videos ready which I still have to upload most probably after New Year.

I want to grow my new YouTube channel and if you like what I did please subscribe. It would mean a lot to me.

Let me know what you think. Every comment is very much appreciated
Thank you.

[Janez 536]

Hey @nettrucker , haven't seen you in a while. That damned real life getting in the way of nerding. 🙂

 

First, I would like to commend the effort, that you even went about doing this. It is very unique around here what you're trying to do, so I can appreciate that.

Though, I'm not sure I should say anything but since you asked for feedback, I'll be brief.

 

I... well, I suppose it's in line with channel's name and it's title, not entirely sure what all that is about, I can assume but the whole thing to say plainly, crept me out. I went into it without any expectation whatsoever but I couldn't find any beauty in it.

I mean, I get what you're trying to do, it's as you describe it, first section and then next one but it's all just dark, constantly, you dig? Compare it to vanilla Titanfall 2 main theme for example. There's continuous playfulness between dramatical (not dark) and hopefulness. Key word here being hope. That is beauty or at least potential for it that will come thought struggle.

 

But you know, don't let me trample all over your party, however, I would suggest, hmm... a muse of sorts perhaps? Something to inspire a brighter state of being.

 

Thank you for sharing and Godspeed!

[nettrucker 144]

Hi Janez

 

First of all I wish you a happy and peaceful new year. 

 

I apologize for my late reply but I went to stay with my family during Christmas and new year just came back yesterday evening. We have some kind of a tradition. No computers, no smartphones no internet during the festivities. 

 

Yeah it’s been a while since I posted last time on BI forums. Moreover thank you for leaving your comment which I do appreciate very much. 

 

I try to explain what’s this all about. My first passion was and is always music. I stopped playing live music and took back my computer on which I have installed my Digital audio workstation, which was in our rehearsal room for years.. I have now a small home studio where I can score music on videos or video games. 

 

Don’t get me wrong I love the original soundtrack of Titanfall 2 because it is awesome. The purpose behind this is more of an experiment I made, to understand how my composition fits into video games or videos in general. It’s very fascinating to me. So I composed this brief musical piece and mixed the in game sounds with my composition. 

 

 

Quote

“ I... well, I suppose it's in line with channel's name and it's title, not entirely sure what all that is about, I can assume but the whole thing to say plainly, crept me out. I went into it without any expectation whatsoever but I couldn't find any beauty in it.”

 

My intention was to score something different. I wanted it to sound dangerous and creepy that was intentional from my part. I’m fully aware comparing the OST and what I've written is a big difference. Since I took a combat scene to place the composition I decided to make it sound very dark and creepy on purpose. I love dark and creepy sounding scores. Maybe it would fit better on a horror game than Titanfall 2. It was a first experiment I did. There is some other stuff I’m working on which has a bit more of melodies and harmonies but it’s still work in progress.

 

Quote

 

"I mean, I get what you're trying to do, it's as you describe it, first section and then next one but it's all just dark, constantly, you dig? Compare it to vanilla Titanfall 2 main theme for example. There's continuous playfulness between dramatical (not dark) and hopefulness. Key word here being hope. That is beauty or at least potential for it that will come thought struggle."

 

War is a dark thing and I sincerely hope I will never have to witness a real war in my life time. It’s death, suffering, misery and it’s everything else then glorious IMHO. Therefore my intention was to write some creepy stuff which sounds dangerous and I believe that I succeeded somehow . . . it crept you out. I could have done something more peaceful and dramatic but I chose not to in this case.

 

Thanks also for giving your honest opinion and that you couldn’t find any beauty in it.

 

I’ll update this thread once I’ve finished some more stuff to showcase.

 

Thanks once again for your feedback.

My best wishes to you.

 

p.s. In case some modders are in need of music or sounds I might be able to help them out.

[Janez 536]

Hey man,

 

no problem whatsoever, the fact that you were spending time with your loved ones without any brain rotting tools that we tend to attach ourselves so much to, makes me more happy then any reply could. That is what I'm all about. 🙂

 

But on top of that, you worm my heart with your reply as well. Thanks for being cool about it. At the risk of being rude, I would just like to a add slight clarification. When I said it crept me out, I was being a bit polite of sorts. To be frank, I got a bit of a headache due to how monotone it is. It's just too much of the same thing. This is also amplified by the fact that YouTube inherently restrict the quality due to sheer volume of content and traffic, this is understandable.

 

I agree tho, war is a complete and utter horror, to be avoided at all costs. We should remember that more often, especially these days so from that perspective, I suppose it's merited but in games you tend to be inserted into boots of the pawn. As the saying goes "there are no atheists in foxholes", and so we always tend to hold on to something to remember, to have an anchor and to motivate us to keep going through hell and it can be something as little as hint of perfume on a scarf. That's all I'm saying, a hint... and also instrumentals. 😄

 

In general tho it's is truly endearing what you wrote. Here also, across the Balkans you have in pretty much every household at least someone if not most of family playing an instrument, of course piano or some string instrument dominating and boy oh boy do they sing. It's totally not out of the ordinary for some minimum wage construction worker to have a voice of an angel on the yard! Doing at least four to eight years of music school is likewise a common occurrence.

 

Back in the day when English wasn't so widely spoken well, when we went to Italy, we could always count on music and football to bridge the gap. 🙂

 

Anyway, happy New Year to you and yours as well. Take care!