UFO:Alien Invasion

Development => Sounds and Music => Topic started by: Psymong on September 15, 2006, 10:39:37 pm

Title: Sound\Music
Post by: Psymong on September 15, 2006, 10:39:37 pm
Hello UFO:AI team,

My name is Simon, I'm a Music Production gratuate from Leeds, UK.
Im currently looking for game projects to contribute sound effects and music to, if you would have use for some extra sounds or music, i'd be more than happy to help.

There are some examples of my work on my site at:
http://www.8hz.co.uk/games_main.html
(there's also lots of other random music ive made scattered around that site.

Cheers,
Simon
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: Bandobras on September 15, 2006, 11:02:53 pm
Great!

We need a really good frightening piece for base defences, right now.

We currently have many new sounds, thanks to Karen Rei, which we still do not have time to put into use. But if you find any sound that you would like to add or improve, you are very welcome. Eventually all good stuff will be used.

We really need free quality music for UFO:AI. Our current music is great, but it's not free, unfortunately, so while it's downloadable separately from sf, we cannot include it together with all the sources in SVN. It will also cause problems for packaging our game, including it on magazine's CDs, etc. :(

Anyway, ideally each map (and each random map ;) ) should have a custom designed music for it, so there is plenty of work, if only our maps, or any other game element can inspire you. :)
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: Psymong on September 15, 2006, 11:06:16 pm
Fantastic!  :D

I'd be more than happy to work on some music for the project.

I'll have a dig around the site to try and get some ideas, and i'll get to work as soon as possible.

Thank you.
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: Psymong on September 19, 2006, 09:02:26 pm
Hello again,

Quick update; I'm currently working on 3 pieces of music for the game, in a range of different styles to, hopefully, fit different types of maps, menus and situations in-game.

I'll post up some rough versions when they're listenable.

Cheers
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: v29a on September 20, 2006, 12:49:44 am
welcome to the project :)
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: Mattn on September 20, 2006, 05:03:41 pm
sounds great - new music is what we need
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: Elbenfreund on September 21, 2006, 11:02:03 am
just pased by to drop my warm: welcome to ufo:ai as well ;)
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: ubequitz on September 28, 2006, 05:37:13 pm
Psymong, it is great to have you working on music for the game. If you read through many postings on these forums you will notice music is frequently cited as a key element of the game.

Looking forward to hearing your compositions when they are ready :)
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: Psymong on September 28, 2006, 08:04:38 pm
Thanks for the warm welcome's and kind words guys.

I've fallen ill recently (a nasty bit of flu), so progress has been slow, but i assure you I'm excited about the project and will get back to work as soon as my sinuses clear and I can hear properly  :wink:

All the best,

 Simon
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: Psymong on October 04, 2006, 04:39:22 pm
Hello again!
I'm feeling a bit more healthy now, and have polished off some rough versions of the tracks I've been working on:


[Edit - Old Versions Removed.]

www.8hz.co.uk/games_projects.html (http://www.8hz.co.uk/games_projects.html)

To be completely honest, I'm not all that happy with the results so far; The tracks are eerie, but none of them have a particularly driving or cinematic feel to them, perhaps all ive got so far is music that'd suit the map or menu views, and no the in-mission themes.

Either way, any feedback, comments or suggestions would be much appreciated. I'm already looking forward to refining some of these and composing new pieces, more geared toward the action sequences.

Cheers,

  Simon
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: Moe on October 04, 2006, 04:47:29 pm
i listened to track 7 and i like it
would be a awsome sound for the mapfiles when running round there and try to eleminate the aliens
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: Mattn on October 04, 2006, 08:30:38 pm
Psymong - thank you very much for your work. But could you please provide the tracks as ogg vorbis files? under which licence you are planning to contribute these tracks? creative commons? you may get write access to svn repository if you want to upload or update your tracks - if you are interested. of course you would get your line in the credits if we include your music.

thanks again

best regards
martin
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: Winter on October 04, 2006, 09:21:47 pm
I'm no expert on music, but here's a bit of advice for Track 1 -- don't start off immediately with the vibratey sound, crank it up later, and crank it down again during any quiet moments. Also, try to make the vibration less monotonous. Right now it's just distracting.

Regards,
Winter
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: Psymong on October 05, 2006, 02:18:38 pm
Quote
thank you very much for your work. But could you please provide the tracks as ogg vorbis files


No problem, when these are finished (and in future updates) I'll remember to use OGG.

Quote
under which licence you are planning to contribute these tracks? creative commons


'Creative commons' sounds about right, my music is free to beg, borrow or steal, as long as it's put to good use and I'm credited, I'm happy :)

Quote
you may get write access to svn repository if you want to upload or update your tracks - if you are interested


At the moment I still have plenty of webspace free, thanks very much for the offer though.

Quote
here's a bit of advice for Track 1


Thanks for the feedback. I think this track in particular isn't particularly suitable for the project, I'll be going back to make some fairly big changes to all of these tracks, and some (probably including this one) I'll abandon.


Cheers for your comments guys, I'm looking forward to getting back to work and hopefully coming up with some better in-mission themes.

Thanks again,

  Simon
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: BTAxis on October 05, 2006, 02:30:33 pm
I don't have much concrete constructive feedback to give you, just wanted to add my encouragement to the others'. Good work so far, and keep it up.

For in-mission music, I think the score should not be very pronounced. You want to add to the atmosphere, not distract from it. So you should probably refrain from using pronounced percussion effects (like the ones in track 5). A hum-along melody is probably also not a good idea. I'm thinking more of music similar to the "ghost house" music in Super Mario World.
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: Psymong on October 05, 2006, 02:41:06 pm
Thanks BTAxis, I appreciate your input.

I've been doing my best to keep it melodically and harmonically minimal, but so far thats just resulted in a lot of drone-based music, which isn't bad in places, but really wouldn't work for the entire soundtrack.

I'll see if I can come up with some spooky, ambient themes.

Thanks again mate.
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: Psymong on October 11, 2006, 03:28:17 pm
Hello again guys,

Just dropping in for a quick update:
I'm currently working on 4 new tracks for the project, all of them are more ambient and minimal than some of the tracks from my earlier efforts, and hopefully should be more suited to in-mission scenes.

I'll post up some rough versions soon and updates of the old tracks i've decided to stick with.

Hope everything's going well with you guys,
Cheers,

  Simon
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: Reenen on October 11, 2006, 03:41:54 pm
Hi, you look like you're prolific!

:-)

I've written one track for another open source game.  But this game really wants the music to be in .mod (or later .xm or .it etc.) formats, and I am really bad at that (I can do some MIDI, but they suck because they sound different on each machine).  Are you apt in those formats?  That game is also much smaller, so that's why it's a concern.

The wiki is here: http://wiki.t-o-m-e.net and the specific call for muso's is here: http://wiki.t-o-m-e.net/GeneralDiscussion_2fPlea_20for_20music_20in_20ToME3_2c_20musicians_20needed

It's a fantasy lord of the rings themed rogue-like game, but the new version will be seeing a lot of bells and whistles (like sound, music, better graphics and so forth).

And a double thumbs up for all the efforts that you've done! Music is the stuff that creates such a special atmosphere in a game, and can sometimes be the difference between just a good game, and a absolutely enthrilling addictive game.
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: Reenen on October 11, 2006, 03:52:00 pm
I'm not allowed to download mp3's at work (obvious reasons)... but

Quote from: "BTAxis"

So you should probably refrain from using pronounced percussion effects (like the ones in track 5).


Those are good for the "You've won the mission/game" type of music.

Quote from: "BTAxis"

A hum-along melody is probably also not a good idea.


These can be good for short bursts like "research complete" or even interceptions. (but then not too cheerful, more "tense")
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: Psymong on October 11, 2006, 04:38:11 pm
Thanks for your kind comments Reenen,

At the moment, working on the music for UFO:AI is my priority, but once i've made a decent contribution to the project, i'd be happy to have a think about this other game.

To be honest, working with synth/sample engines like .mod or .xm isn't how i'd normally like to work, but we can have a talk about it sometime.

Thanks,
 
 Simon
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: Vector_Matt on October 23, 2006, 06:46:26 pm
Psymong, the music sounds great so far, gj.

[offtopic]Can you tell me what programs you used to make these? I've been experimenting with music/sound creation and have been unable to find a good synthisizer so far.[/offtopic]
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: Reenen on October 24, 2006, 11:20:04 am
I use,

(Free software)
Audacity (wave editing program, used to save .ogg files),
Frieve Music Studio (.mid editor, a bit buggy, but good),
ModPlug (.mod editor),
Timidity (software soundfont enabled soundcard... kinda)

Then I know a lot of "professionals" use CakeWalk, Band in a Box, and others, but I only have limited experience with these.
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: Psymong on October 24, 2006, 02:33:10 pm
Hello again guys,
I'm starting a new job, so things are pretty hectic at the moment, the music is coming on slowly, but surely though.

As for what software I use:

Ableton Live: For sequencing
Soundforge: for Audio Editing
Reaktor: very versatile sound environment (plus a great set of synthesisers, drum modules and noisemakers to mod and mess around with)
Battery: Fantastic Drum Sampler
Atmosphere: Great sample-based synthesiser
Crystal: Very nice-to-use freeware synth

Oh, and my best friend: PSPVintageWarmer : The nicest Tube-style compressor available, makes everything sound BIG :)

Hope you have fun trying some of these out.
I'll be back soon to post up my latest efforts for the project.

All the best everyone.
Simon.
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: ubequitz on October 24, 2006, 07:41:52 pm
Hi Psymong,

Thanks for the update and for sharing some of your trade secrets :D
I listened to your first set of tracks and I think that you are doing some awesome work... can't wait to hear your updated versions!

PS: Good luck with your new job!
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: Psymong on October 25, 2006, 02:21:20 am
Hello once more!  :D

I've just spent an evening putting together some rough versions of the new tracks and the latest versions of the old tracks from my last update (minus one that i've decided not to use).

(in ogg format this time):

http://www.8hz.co.uk/downloads/games/UFOAI/New1.ogg
http://www.8hz.co.uk/downloads/games/UFOAI/New2.ogg
http://www.8hz.co.uk/downloads/games/UFOAI/New3.ogg
http://www.8hz.co.uk/downloads/games/UFOAI/New4.ogg
http://www.8hz.co.uk/downloads/games/UFOAI/New5.ogg
http://www.8hz.co.uk/downloads/games/UFOAI/Old1.ogg
http://www.8hz.co.uk/downloads/games/UFOAI/Old2.ogg
http://www.8hz.co.uk/downloads/games/UFOAI/Old3.ogg
http://www.8hz.co.uk/downloads/games/UFOAI/Old4.ogg
http://www.8hz.co.uk/downloads/games/UFOAI/Old5.ogg
http://www.8hz.co.uk/downloads/games/UFOAI/Old6.ogg

Hope you like them.
As always, any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Simon
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: Reenen on October 25, 2006, 08:28:15 am
Thanks!  I downloaded no1.

Very impressed.  For me it works very well as an alien theme, and I can feel the tension even though I'm not even playing a game.

You are truely an accomplished composer, that had a clear idea of what you wanted, and executed it very well.
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: Winter on October 25, 2006, 02:33:26 pm
Nice work, Psymong. The tracks are well-constructed, very atmospheric, easy to listen to without drawing attention to themselves. You've significantly improved the old tracks since you last posted them. I fully support using these in the game, provided you're finished with them. :P

We just have to find proper places to put them. Old5 sounds like it would be an excellent track to play over the game intro; it's subtle, it's got exactly the right note of creepiness, and it's long enough to allow an average player more than enough time to read the whole text before the song is over.

Regards,
Winter
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: ubequitz on October 26, 2006, 07:05:00 am
The new tracks sound  superb, I love the atmospherics.

So far New1, New2 and Old1 are my favourites, although I want to listen to them all properly a few times each before I make up my mind  :D

I've uploaded the tracks to the the UFO:AI development SVN repository... see http://svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/ufoai/ufoai/trunk/base/music/ . They are not yet used in the game as such, but it is handy to have them there as a reference so we can start thinking about how to use them best. Any updated versions you might make down the road can be integrated into the repository as well.

In the license.txt file I've credited you as the author and have very tentatively marked the license on these tracks as "GPL" since this is the most hassle-free/compatible license that will work for this game and I couldn't find where you specified a license. Please let us know if you want to use another license and I or another dev will amend the license.txt file ASAP.

PS: since you are the major music contributer I'll make sure (with your permission) that your details are added to the full game credits (the animated credit sequence in-game).
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: Psymong on October 26, 2006, 09:34:22 pm
Hi guys,
I'm really glad you like the new tracks  :D

Most of them I consider pretty-much-finished, if I decided on making any changes/improvements, or if you have any suggestions or changes you'd like  to be made, ill post up revised versions in the near future.

This also leads me to the question: How much music do you want for the project? is there a particular minimum or maximum number of tracks or filesize that you are aiming for? I'm happy to continue composing until we're collectively satisfied. :wink:

Quote
In the license.txt file I've credited you as the author and have very tentatively marked the license on these tracks as "GPL"

Quote
I'll make sure (with your permission) that your details are added to the full game credits

Thanks very much ubequitz, GPL or Creative commons is fine with me, whatever is easiest for you guys.
Also the way I'm credited in liscence.txt (as "Simon Green (www.8hz.co.uk)") is perfect, if I could get that on the credits also I'd be very grateful  :)

Quote
Old5 sounds like it would be an excellent track to play over the game intro

Thanks for your kind comments Winter.
As for where to use the tracks in-game, I think that's something we should discuss with anyone on the team that's interested, then i could also produce compositions to 'fill the gaps'
Also, if you mean the main menu for Old5, I think we'd be better off if i composed a track specifically for the main menu, most of the tracks ive posted so far have been a little too minimal for use there, perhaps.

Thanks for the feedback guys, I'm looking forward to continuing work on the project.
Cheers,

Simon[/i]
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: Winter on October 27, 2006, 06:46:02 am
Quote from: "Psymong"
Quote
Old5 sounds like it would be an excellent track to play over the game intro

Thanks for your kind comments Winter.


No problem! I call 'em like I see 'em.


Quote
As for where to use the tracks in-game, I think that's something we should discuss with anyone on the team that's interested, then i could also produce compositions to 'fill the gaps'
Also, if you mean the main menu for Old5, I think we'd be better off if i composed a track specifically for the main menu, most of the tracks ive posted so far have been a little too minimal for use there, perhaps.


I did not mean the main menu for Old5. I meant the campaign intro, what is currently a long scrolling text that displays upon starting a new game. We're hopefully going to be changing this to a text+image slideshow in the future.

Regards,
Winter
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: Psymong on October 30, 2006, 07:30:41 pm
Quote
I did not mean the main menu for Old5. I meant the campaign intro


Sounds good, that's fine with me.
I'll start thinking about a main menu theme in the mean time.

So, any verdict on how much music you want for the project?
is there a limit?

All the best,

Simon
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: ubequitz on November 09, 2006, 12:45:46 am
Psymong,

We've starting playing with your new music in development versions of the game (in the leadup to getting RC6 ready). I noticed in New3.ogg some strange glitches from about 1:45 (min:sec) onward. Do you have any idea what might be causing these (I thought originally I might have had a corrupt download but I've redownloaded a few times from your website to make sure and I'm still getting the same result).

Thanks again for all musical contributions, they are sure to be a great addition to the game.
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: Psymong on November 09, 2006, 04:22:03 pm
Hi Ubequitz,

:D The noises in New3 are intentional, it's my attempt at a minimal rhythmic element, using Glitch and flutter samples. This was inspired by the work of Jan Jelinek and, i'll admit, does sound pretty odd. Though it does stick to a rhythm, and is the only rhythmic element in that particular track.

If you think it sounds too weird or is too distracting, i can tone it down a bit or change the sound all together, i don't mind. But i do like the long delay-tail at the end of it that filters up into nothingness :)

As for RC6, how much more music do you need? is there a set number of tracks we're planning, or shall i just go for it and we'll put in whatever's finished?

Cheers mate,

Simon
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: ubequitz on November 11, 2006, 06:14:14 pm
Sorry for the delay in response,  I was hoping others could post their experiences (and I thought I was going crazy hearing things :P).

The glitches I'm hearing are quite loud and they sound quite distinct from any rhythmic elements in the track. They begin only from around 1:45 seconds. Basically they sound like a pop followed by a short period of near-silence then the audio comes back but starts off a little distorted (sounds a bit like a record skip). The glitches correspond to the big jumps in the waveform shown in the image below (at 1:58.5, 2:00.5, 202.5 .. which I suppose is rhythmic):

(http://img2.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/th.c0090bd6b8.jpg) (http://img2.freeimagehosting.net/image.php?c0090bd6b8.jpg)

Potentially it is my sound card or audio subsystem not being able to cope with the initial rapid change in the waveform.

However, with some media players the glitches are not present. On my system (Linux) I hear the glitches with the UFO:AI game, XMMS, VLC, Audacity, MPlayer and "ogg123" but not with Xine. I also decoded the ogg file to a wav file using the official  "oggdec" vorbis utility and again the glitches are present but surprisingly again not in Xine (maybe Xine is applying some sort of filtering I don't know).

BTW: The game now makes use of all your audio files (except this New3 track... although I am a big fan of New3 if it wasnt for these glitches!). The new music really adds an aura of mystery to the game. New1 will now be the most heard track as it forms the background music for the Geoscape (and for general menu navigation).
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: Mattn on November 12, 2006, 09:12:17 am
Psymong: The more music we have the better it is. If you have more tracks available, please let us know - more tracks means more differ in each mission - which is quite good.
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: Psymong on November 12, 2006, 07:58:43 pm
Hi guys,

 :D I'm so glad you're liking the way the music is sounding in-game, I'm really excited about this, and can't wait to hear it myself.

Ubequitz: This glitch problem is very confusing, ive tried the file in a number of different players and cant seem to get them to appear, i'll try re-encoding the file and see if that solves the problem.

Mattn: I have lots and lots of old music i've made and, now you mention it, a few of them would probably be suitable for the project, ill have a little look through my collection and post up some tracks soon.

Cheers,

 Simon
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: Psymong on November 13, 2006, 03:18:33 pm
Hello again,

I've had a dig through my collection of music, and have found a few tracks that might be worth using:

http://www.8hz.co.uk/downloads/games/UFOAI/Recycled1.ogg
http://www.8hz.co.uk/downloads/games/UFOAI/Recycled2.ogg
http://www.8hz.co.uk/downloads/games/UFOAI/Recycled3.ogg
http://www.8hz.co.uk/downloads/games/UFOAI/Recycled4.ogg
http://www.8hz.co.uk/downloads/games/UFOAI/Recycled5.ogg

Have a listen, and let me know what you think.

Ubequitz: Those jumps in the waveform you've identified are the weird rhythmic elements I was talking about.
I've done another mix of the track with the glitch rhythm slightly lower in volume and with less heavy compression on the master track.

http://www.8hz.co.uk/downloads/games/UFOAI/New3.ogg

If this still sounds too weird, i can make some bigger changes to the sound.

Cheers,

Simon
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: Psymong on November 30, 2006, 02:26:23 pm
Hello once more UFO:AI team!

Just dropping in once more to say thanks; It's been great working with you guys, and I'm really happy with the way the project is shaping up.

As I've said, if i come up with any more music that I think would be suitable for the project, I'll come by again and post them up here.

Coders: Something I forgot to mention during this time; a while ago (when i started learning C++) I began working on a project for a dynamic music system for use in game code.
I never got good enough at programming to be able to make it what i wanted, but the basic system and information on how it's supposed to work can be found here: Black Box Project (http://www.8hz.co.uk/bbx_main.html)

If any of you guys find this idea interesting, and would be willing to help me work on it, let me know, i think (with a bit of work) this could turn out to be something good.

Thanks again guys, if any of you are working on\are friends with any other games projects that need sound or music, please send me a link, I'm always on the lookout ;)

Cheers,

Simon
Title: Sound\Music
Post by: ubequitz on December 01, 2006, 02:47:50 am
I think it is us who should be thanking you! The game is already sounding phenomenal thanks to your efforts.

Your Black Box Project looks intriguing. Some sort of dynamic music selection is something we could definitely use (perhaps for certain story-line related missions, air-to-air battles with UFOs etc). I will definitely check it out, although since the game is entirely coded in C, anything we end up implementing would ideally also be in C (unless it can be made into a separate library).