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Up Topic Development / Art Workshop / [Music] The Skylands (formerly Skylands)
- - By K-Pone [de] Date 2014-03-23 15:14
I just got an idea for another song yesterday in the evening, and this is what I came up with until now. Like always, it's still Work In Progress, so feel free to give me some feedback about this.

I hereby license the file SkylandsWIP.ogg under the CC-BY license

I hereby license the file SkylandsWIPv3.ogg under the CC-BY license

I hereby license the file SkylandsWIPv4.ogg under the CC-BY license

I hereby license the file TheSkylands.ogg under the CC-BY license

I hereby license the file TheSkylands.mmpz under the CC-BY license
Attachment: SkylandsWIP.ogg - Skylands Song (Work in Progress) Version 1 (Old!) (1399k)
Attachment: SkylandsWIPv3.ogg - Skylands Song (Work in Progress) Version 3 (Old!) (2802k)
Attachment: SkylandsWIPv4.ogg - Skylands Song (Work in Progress) Version 4 (Old!) (4056k)
Attachment: TheSkylands.ogg - The Skylands (Release Version) (4122k)
Attachment: TheSkylands.mmpz - The Skylands (LMMS Project File) (25k)
Parent - - By Matthias [de] Date 2014-03-23 15:26
Are you sure you're not the author of the Jazz Jackrabbit soundtrack? I mean, that bass instrument! Those synths! The song has potential, I like it so far.
Reply
Parent - By K-Pone [de] Date 2014-03-23 16:30

>Are you sure you're not the author of the Jazz Jackrabbit soundtrack?


Yes, I'm quite sure I'm not Alexander Brandon ;)
Parent - By Zapper [de] Date 2014-03-23 16:32
I like
Parent - - By Caesar [de] Date 2014-03-23 23:34
The melody/main motive is really cool. I especially like that second that first appears at 00:08.
I don't really like the heavy drum set in the beginning though.
Parent - By K-Pone [de] Date 2014-03-24 00:27
Actually it's a standard drum kit, but I try if it sounds better with some kind of softer drumkit.
Parent - - By Nachtfalter Date 2014-03-26 19:29
Sounds almost like a trailer to me.
Reply
Parent - By K-Pone [de] Date 2014-03-26 19:32
Maybe we could use it for that. It's not commited to the Music.ocg yet
Parent - - By ala [de] Date 2014-03-29 10:49 Edited 2014-03-29 10:54
While listening I really was unsure about the third chord segment.

A, C, D, A <- good
A, C, D, A <- good
A, G, D, A <- the first A here again. I always think "oh.. again"
A, F, G, A <- good

Well, the problem is - the theme is so dominant, that it's probably hard to make a good alteration. At least I didn't manage, although I tried like 20 minutes :/. So it's probably rather difficult.

As for the arrangement, the groove is very good - very funky. The flute synth also works well. But I'm also not too hot about the keyboard: It fills in as a successor to the main-theme melody, but it only plays rhythmical notes - I think that's what the others probably think is "missing", a bit more melody.
If you use more notes, that are not chord tones, but scale tones (scale is I think A-mixolydian) - or more jumps (like in your main melody you start with a forth - this gives a strong character, and immediately sticks), the melody becomes more distinct.

If you want some creative input:
For sky stuff I always liked this effect (beginning 5 seconds), with the circulating strings. (also here in Kung-Fu-Panda). This is with strings, but it should also work with flutes and synths ;).

Hm, but maybe this will turn out too big as an effect. (but perhaps it's possible to make a "small flutter". Can maybe already be created with 3 voices - from a chord, every voice starting from another chord note). Well it's only an idea, if you want I can hack you the flutter-thing in midi, I got the full score somewhere.

Well, I'm not sure how much my feedback is helping here, for music I'm always told my thoughts are too complicated.
Parent - By K-Pone [de] Date 2014-03-29 22:50
Well, sometimes less is more, even when creating a melody. I first had some melody in there with some more notes, but it was definitely too much making it sounding awful and too overloaded. Too much jumps is also something that can be good, but if you use it too much it tends to sound like "conveyor music". I think I first try it out with another instrument and some little variation on the melody. I'll do that tomorrow.
Parent - - By Maikel Date 2014-05-26 21:27
Any progress on this one? it would be nice to have this in the next release as well, since it seems to be nearly finished.

As a little motivation I used your first two songs in a youtube video, so that fans can already enjoy the music a bit!
Parent - By K-Pone [de] Date 2014-05-26 23:25
Wow, that's cool. Well, I've been a bit busy recently due to a change of employment. Because of that I also have to move, so there's quite a bit more important things to do for me right now. But don't worry, I still work on the music.
Parent - - By Maikel Date 2014-09-28 20:46
Hi K-Pone,

What is the status of this song? It seems almost finished and would be nice to have in the upcoming release, so that we have three songs and a bit of variation.
Parent - - By K-Pone [de] Date 2014-09-29 20:36
I would say it's finished. The two release files attached to the start post can be included to the repository if you agree with that.
Parent - By Maikel Date 2014-09-29 20:38
I will listen one last time and add them. Thanks for the effort!
- - By K-Pone [de] Date 2014-03-24 16:50
Just need some advise which drumkit fits better to the song, the standard drumkit or the analog one.

I hereby license the file SkylandsWIPv2_AnalogDrums.ogg under the CC-BY license

I hereby license the file SkylandsWIPv2_StandardDrums.ogg under the CC-BY license
Attachment: SkylandsWIPv2_AnalogDrums.ogg - Skylands Song (Work in Progress) Version 2 with Analog Drums (1924k)
Attachment: SkylandsWIPv2_StandardDrums.ogg - Skylands Song (Work in Progress) Version 2 with Standard Drums (2058k)
Parent - - By Matthias [de] Date 2014-03-24 18:13
Absolutely the StandardDrums one. I think - and maybe Caesar will agree - it's maybe just a µ too loud against the calm panflute melody in volume when it sets in (Also maybe: caused by too powerful bass drum?). But the drum sounds per se are fine. Once the bass guitar-thingy sets in, filling the dynmaic gap between melody and drumkit, everything fits together quite nice. I'd try to lower the bass drum volume throughout the song and maybe some subtle extra volume reduction in that intro part as not to shock the listener ;)
Reply
Parent - - By Caesar [de] Date 2014-03-24 22:12
I just noticed that it depends on the playback device. With my headphones the standard drum set is okay, with my speakers, it's… a little bit shocking.
Parent - - By K-Pone [de] Date 2014-03-24 22:19
Yeah, that's something I also check before making the final release. I listen to it on my headphones and then on my speakers to make sure it sounds good on both devices.
Parent - By Caesar [de] Date 2014-03-26 20:49
Well, that doesn't necessarily mean it will sound good for me, I am aware that my sound setup is kind of nonstandard. (And that is only one of four completely different devices…)
Parent - By J. J. [py] Date 2014-03-25 14:03
Standard is way better, but again I was using ear-buds (headphones). So far this is the best one yet. Good work K-Pone.
- - By K-Pone [de] Date 2014-03-28 16:09
Just uploaded another new version of this song. I decided to go on with the standard drum kit. Also I decided to use an E-Piano for a melodic part of the song.
Parent - - By Nachtfalter Date 2014-03-28 23:27
I can't describe whats missing, but I have a slight feeling that this song doesn't use it's full potential yet. Keep up the good work!
Reply
Parent - By K-Pone [de] Date 2014-03-28 23:36
I see this potential as well. I've also tried how that melody sounds when you use another instrument for it. There are indeed some instruments that could fit in there, for example one of the Overdrive Guitar sounds I have sounds nice, as well as one of the Polysynth patches. So, one more instrument might make use of this potential, but I think there's even a bit more than that.
Parent - By Matthias [de] Date 2014-03-29 00:11
That second part instrument is a bit too christmas-y for my taste ("jingle bell" reverb?). since the title is "skylands", I'd imagine an Instrument with a rather clear sound to go better with that.
Reply
- By K-Pone [de] Date 2014-09-12 23:34
Finally, after a long time I uploaded another WIP version of the Song. I think if you all agree, I'll post the final version next. I just need to check if it sounds good on every kind of playback device, such as headphones and speakers. Since it is half past midnight right now I just cannot test it on speakers now and I have to do that later.
- By K-Pone [de] Date 2014-09-13 17:52
So, it's released now. It can be uploaded to the repository now if someone could do that for me.
Up Topic Development / Art Workshop / [Music] The Skylands (formerly Skylands)

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