Not so pleased with the musical direction

I have to agreee with chrishaldor and paulzeke. I think the majority, like me, is very pleased with the music Howard creates. But you don't see those people writing on the forums, mostly those who are criticizing around. I'm very confident that the guys from Uber know how to make this game not realistic but AWESOME. Keep it up!

And what the fck, "Not so pleased with the musical direction"-guys, it's pre-alpha. Give me a break! :roll:

P.S.: Can't wait to hear the Kickstarter-Trailer-Theme played by the orchestra...

Well, I'm VERY happy with the music direction.. it will be epic without any doubt.
Thank you Howard for sharing what you've got so far! I came back to TA sound track and I didn't find ANY music there that is better than the earth-like track (IMO).
(posts saying TA soundtrack is supreme in 3... 2.... 1.....)

I also like the music direction! Props to Howard for having the courage to put forth these samples this early on (in a live-stream, nonetheless!), and I hope to hear more in the future, especially once it gets the live orchestral treatment.

Of course, noone's going to be truly satisfied with the game soundtrack until they're hearing it in-game .

Criticism: good, bad, constructive, and not so helpful; is to be expected no matter how much you stress something is a work in progress.

Please keep sharing with us. But do it fully prepared for responses like ACM's.

If reading negative feedback causes too much self-doubt or angst in any members of the team I'd suggest they ignore the forums in the same way many other people in creative fields won't read reviews.

i really liked howard's demo stuff
had feel to it

I'm just stating how I felt about them, and articulating why. I think works in progress can give good insight into a general direction.

Know that I would just as much like to be proven wrong.
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sylvesterink, if you're convinced I'm being nostalgic over what was done in Total Annihilation, how about another soundtrack to a game I thought was done really well. Another of Jeremy's works, and much closer in time frame to Supreme Commander's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECMpaEQ0MFU
Right away the music starts out intense. No slow build up to get to the interesting part. Very exciting to listen to. I remember being in awe from hearing this track for the first time as I begun the first mission.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhI-7gHonN8
Another great piece of battle music. Effective and coherent to follow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-HddbuymFo
One of the slow pieces to contrast the above. It's much like how I described Total Annihilation's peacetime music earlier.

Although, I will slightly redact by statement on Supreme Commander's soundtrack. A couple tracks did evoke some reminiscence. But for the most part it felt like a single motif being played in different tempos, which cheapened its effect. Forged Alliance's however was serviceable and nothing else.

I dunno, this seems to me to be exactly the kind of thing you'd WANT to hear. Actual feedback with a bit of meat to the comments, along with a good dose of criticism without major arm flapping about how the game is going to be completely ruined because a particular pet peeve isn't exactly the way the poster wants it.

Ayceeem, I apologize if it sounded like I was singling you out, but I was pointing out the general reception to the Supcom music wasn't as enthusiastic as it should have been. It really was a good soundtrack. I don't claim it was Soule's best work, and I freely admit that the overuse of the main motif weakened it.
Now as to the FA soundtrack, I feel it augments the Supcom soundtrack in a big way, providing the variety that Supcom needed in the first place. The motif is used a lot less, and songs like Art of War and Rhiza's Offense really shine.
Really, the official soundtrack should be a combination of the two, as they are best heard in that way. (In fact, I usually play with the mod that enables the Supcom music in FA, for the best of both worlds.)

I think people should remember we where only shown things that could be its entirely possible that this will change entirely also a point it the orchestral score hasn't started working on it. So I think right now what has been shown is top notch and even better will come upon release.

Chin up guys they know what they are doing

So based on the current criticism what changes would you make if you were in charge of the music? After all it's actions that we take based on the feedback that counts.

I'd like to have this music play out when the %&!£ really hits the fan.

Stick to your guns.
Address the practical concerns.
Use the full range of your orchestra's talents! Synth is for lone producers. Get to know the people and see what they can do. Stalking is free. :lol:

Needs more wubs.
And MC Hammer on the vocals.

Most people were quite positive about it and most people don't have a problem with the Hollywood sound the poster griped about.

Given you're making an RTS game, in which music plays an important but ultimately supporting role, I don't see the problem with the current direction.

That is unless I missed something and PA is in fact a concept album trying to push the boundaries of musical expression?

As long as we can change the volume of music separately from UI and other sound effects, I don't see any problem what so ever.

I second this! :lol: If not, then the music must be mod capable to add this in ourselves.

I really liked the intro of his "airless" track with the tone building up slowly. Really reminded me of the intro to that 80's Dune movie

Earlier someone mentioned slowing down the tempo a bit, which I can agree with. I'd like to hear long sweeping movements, rather than the current trend (popularized by the Star Wars prequels) of random honking from the brass section while two random dudes just sort of do their own thing on a xylophone and a timpani in the background.

I also liked the idea of having a few tense tracks in the building phase to keep base building exciting. The Jaws-like theme worked well. But you might also want to look into how slower pieces create tension. Lately I have been listening to the Moon soundtrack. They really got it right with their use of violins in the back.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne176Lt9E4U

Also the one big thing I can think of, is that a play session of an RTS can go on for a while. So I'd just try to make a lot of music with plenty of variation between the tracks. If you have 45 minutes worth of soundtrack and someone plays a 3 hour game, they are going to hear every song about four times. That's a lot of repetition in one sitting. So if you have a track that you don't necessarily think is the best track, don't throw it out, we need every minute we can get.

Also my favorite long sweeping soundtrack to a sci fi epic...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm5VP3of-dA

Strong melodies are everything. What's there so far is serviceable and sets the mood, but tracks that the players are going to hear hundreds of times over pretty much need to be earworms. Doesn't have to be a carbon copy of TA's style or anything, but that was an orchestral soundtrack you can whistle if you really want to, and everyone loves it.

Be careful with the choir. It's basically the composer's shorthand for "THIS IS EPIC" and it's really easy to overuse. Also not sure how well it suits robots blowing each other up, but that's hard to judge out of context.

Similarly uncertain about all the slow build to a big boom stuff, but again, out of context, low sample size, etc.

Most memorable game soundtracks have, as mentioned above, one single and small piece of music that is repeated a lot. You have to be able to hum or whistle a game's soundtrack. If you can do that, you're on the right track.

The PA trailer actually did this really well, I think.

I don't know about you guys but I think the "Earth theme" sounded kinda... cliché or something. I just couldn't take it seriously. :|