PA + orchestral music = honey + herring = crap

I wonder if I can convince Howard to write me some guitar pieces to play on the soundtrack.

OH just the He are teh disappointment.

sorry..
It's very trendy to type in poor grammar on the internet these days.

huh...

What about music that resembles World of Warcraft's Burning Crusade (Outlands) soundtrack? It's orchestral, and it had some really nice pieces. It felt like you were out on some other world, in the nether, unknown. It's perfect if you're building some extraterrestrial bases/army.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7XA-JvK6kg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTuEl-4tM8E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vGSSApjI98
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH2IeI1BxIs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHGMZYkbIl0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Sj1B_efUk8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta1oV8Uh4Y4

I agree with some here that there is too much classical music in games these days. I generally prefer Space type games to have some type of electronic style music so thats the direction im hoping for.

But if uber wants Planetary Annihilation to have a soundtrack that both stands out of the bunch and is remembered, then they should not go the same classical way.

I say do what for example Westwood Studios did with Emperor: Battle for Dune in 2001, a rts game set on the planet Dune. Make it unique, dare to stand out and surprise people!

Their game has 3 playable sides, all with different style music.
Here is the evil Harkonnen!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGcX-bV310s


Another game that had a unique music style is the space fps System Shock 2 from 1999 by one of the greatest gaming developers on earth Looking Glass Studios! They did a very unique Soundtrack for the game, real spooky electronic music, some verging on the limit of techno and electronic rock.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDUZlZMh ... page#t=65s

I'm sorry but didn't someone already post a link to "Brutal Battle" from Total Annihilation, and then another person post Gustav Holst's "Mars the Bringer of War"? That's two /threads right there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mOG3Q8CSoY
/thread

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0bcRCCg01I
/thread

See?

EDIT: An exception could be made for this though: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qORYO0atB6g

Oh boy, people have started to drag two steps from hell into the discussion.
It's the most clichéd orchestra since the dawn of time.
VIOLENS, LOUD, NOW.

Using classical instruments certainly doesn't make something classical music and certainly nothing like Beethoven.

TA's music was very classical because it followed classical footsteps, Supcom didn't really do that.

When a lot of people say classical, they just mean "a lot of bombastic brass, wild percussion and a loud choir" because they've probably heard a remix of "O fortuna" and seen a movie with similar music. That's as superficial and cliché as you can get and has been truly overused. Think of the many tracks in TA that were much more subtle and elegant.

Old and modern classical music are one way of creating an atmosphere where a lot of people can relate to. Think of Star Wars, Gattaca and so many other movies. Electronic music could do that just as well and there are certainly equally good examples. On a sidenote, Dark Reign 2 and Homeworld did a pretty good job of uniting the two.

Unfortunately most modern music lacks a range of registers required to express different depths.

Funny thing about using f.e. Kraftwerk is that it feels retro because it is something from the past, unlike classical music in some form - we don't use gregorian chants or renaissance music as soundtracks.

It's something inherent in representing the future. Because when trying to illustrate the future, we're always limited to the materials which seem new to us, be it the synthesizer for Kraftwerk or wood, steel and steam engines for a 19th century painter, ...

Yeah, about Electric Guitar. Since I absolutely love the sound it makes no matter the frequency, how about making that dynamic music system from a thread I started a few days ago use a fast guitar mash when you're very close to the action?

Another vote for something like this, with a new twist, it would be most appropriate.

Gustav Holst - The Planets
Mars: Bringer of WAR!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0bcRCCg01I

Most people would be familiar with the 4th movement: Jupiter.
But he brings 'Jollity', and nature documentaries, which is nowhere near as exciting.

Don't even mention that peace loving hippy Venus!

The Bach reference on the Kickstarter page was a joke.

Trust me, you'll love it. Everyone will.

And if you don't, you need to stop listening to dubstep.

Gustav Holst + The Planets = ScathisAwesome.jpg

The Planets + PA Change = AllMyBabiesEvenThoughIAmAMale.png

I read the first 5 pages and keep on thinking of this song.

and I'm pro-inbuilt MP3 player after all this.

Yeah, people's inability to decide what music goes with this game seems to scream "custom music" to me. I'll be fine with their style as presented, but I can see how others might not think it fits. In that case, allow them to easily change it somehow.

Though, people are confusing classical and orchestral. Classical is an actual type vs orchestral just means an orchestra is playing it. The big video game music concerts are usually played by an orchestra, as are big movie scores, but I sure as hell don't consider those classical music.

Some guitar riffs would add a nice dimension to the music I think. Somebody a few pages back mentioned goa trance, which made me think of Infected Mushroom.

Infected Mushroom's album Classical Mushroom is considered by purists to be their best (personally I like Vicious Delicious best though), and it really shows what you can do with classical music themes whilst still making relatively fast, driving electronic music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hLnMDJ-gV4

Ohgaimod it's dubstep with a violin! http://youtu.be/aHjpOzsQ9YI

That said, before I started reading this thread, I queued up the following from the TA soundtrack: http://youtu.be/9gajD7rrp3s

About the only people I can wholeheartedly agree with are the ones saying there should be options for custom music. This doesn't need to be any more complicated than what TA already had where there were a finite number of locations to get the music, and it could either play straight through or you could use the context-sensitive stuff, and adjust what the category the song fell into.

Dark/Demon's Souls are among my favorite games, and they have almost no music whatsoever...so there are some games where the environment and the context are enough to build the mood desired.

I have to chip in here, mainly because I'm a huge fan of orchestral tracks for improving media.

Firstly "electronic" can be very good, C&C soundtrack was really god damn good, I also saw someone mention Hell March for RA. Yeah, Awesome.

But I really think there is this idea that orchestral means Vivaldi or Bach. But really it means the same music but performed by an orchestra. For me a perfect example of this is nobuo uematsu, someone whose work I love and when you hear the game tracks compared to the live orchestral performances of his its just thrilling. Obviously technology today does mean that not all synth sounds like midi but I honestly believe it still does not compare. See the intro to metal gear solid 2 as well, excellent use of orchestra even if it is rather similar to Hans Zimmer.

Also I think there is some misunderstanding of the term "timeless" being thrown around. What that means is not so old its cool or that its a "classic". Whereas I have always (And I assumed everyone else) that it means the "sound" doesn't end up sounding "last year". Like Skrillex will for example. Not dub-step in general, just skrillex.

Its really made me almost upset that the clear saturation of its effect in games like CoD has seemingly had a reverse effect and people want to back away from it.

Also RIP Basil Poledouris, loved that guys work too.

I'll probably think it's only okay, and pop in my own music. Examples:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMx0arxN0xc#t=60s (for some reason this youtube version is way longer than the original but run that to about 4:49)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHpmnU7_wfc
Anything from Liquicity -- like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jdlf3CUeJz8 or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94T_u_d8HBM
Shemusic - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKMaaIvaHB0

People seem to conflate synth with dubstep (or at least not know the existence of anything other than it), and synth music as a whole is far more diverse than Skrillex or whatever people are complaining is a Justin Beiber level artist. And even if those examples were bad, I have so many more synth tracks starred in my Spotify I could pull from it's not even funny.

I'm not saying I don't like Dubstep, Electro and Synth, but I also like Classical and Symphonic.

I think I would have a nergasm if they had a soundtrack that combined the two.

It would sound like your taste in music: generic, cliche ****.