Tune Contest :: Sep. 4 - Sep. 11ish [WINNER!!!!]

Erenan · Mon 04/09/2006 07:40:48

Okay everyone... It's time again for another tune contest, and this time the rules are as follows:

Theme for a Mechanical Person
September 4th through September 11th

Imagine that you are creating an operatic masterpiece in AGS, and you must compose a musical theme to represent each character in the game. One of these characters is some kind of mechanical person. Whether that be a robot a la Issac Asimov or a wind up toy soldier is entirely up to you. What I want you to do is to compose the music that plays the very first time this mechanical person appears onscreen. With what sort of anthem is he or she (or it?) introduced? Try to depict musically some sense of machinery... Make it sound like clockwork, give me the impression of gears turning, let me hear exhaust and steam pouring out... Be creative! Any genre or style of music is acceptable, as long as it suggests machinery.

Go!

EDIT: For clarification...

Quote from: BunnyMilk on Mon 04/09/2006 16:03:15
(When you said an Operatic Masterpiece in AGS I wasn't sure if you were talking Cinematic Game or just a game based around the musical score so I pretty much went with how I felt.)

Yes, please go with the rules as you understand them. It could be either of those things, or even something else. Be creative!

BunnyMilk · Mon 04/09/2006 10:46:50

I'm on it.

BunnyMilk · Mon 04/09/2006 16:03:15

Yeah okay, this is a pretty bad entry from me. I'm sorry. It was quick and I don't really like it that much it hurts me ears and if you guys hate feedback then I wouldn't even bother listening to it (The feedback isn't that bad, you'll see, I did it on purpose ho ho ho)

Anyway let's give some backstory on this:

(When you said an Operatic Masterpiece in AGS I wasn't sure if you were talking Cinematic Game or just a game based around the musical score so I pretty much went with how I felt.)

This is the theme of the Machinist.

http://www.gamingw.net/pubaccess/30941/The%20Machinist.mp3

Picture an Industrial Horror Game, You're alone, you have no weapons, you're weak, you're lost in a derelict industrial town where a demented screeching fiend in a gas mask is hunting you at every turn. You've made your way to the bottom of the factory. You've come to a long hallway, two large industrial doors at the far side and live people chained to the wall with barbed wire, wimpering, pleading for release. You nervously make your way to the far end of the hall and push open the large doors.

Before you is the Machinist. Half man, Half Machine. The frail form of a child built into the mechanical workings of the factory controlling the horrific machinery and torture devices of the town and keeping all intruders at bay. You stand face to face with him...for the final confrontation.

(also i just realised there is a lot of silence at the end. Sorry, my bad)

Erenan · Thu 07/09/2006 15:15:24

Nice job BunnyMilk! I like it a lot!

Anyone else working on an entry, or did I come up with crappy rules that no one likes?

Oz · Thu 07/09/2006 22:41:22

These are great rules, I wish I had time to enter.

Damien · Thu 07/09/2006 23:48:03

Wind Up.mid

The idea: a wind up fortune teller robot. Wanted it to sound like a dying music box, hence the tempo decrease.

BunnyMilk · Fri 08/09/2006 14:08:35

Damien that is awesome btw

PsychicHeart · Sat 09/09/2006 09:23:37

Machinery
A robot has just awoken from a 12 year slumber, deemed a failure when built, hungry for revenge.
It's eyes glow a bright red.

Damien · Sat 09/09/2006 19:13:54

Thank you BunnyMilk. Yours reminds me of Doom2 which can't be a bad thing.

May I ask what software you use?

BunnyMilk · Sun 10/09/2006 00:45:25

Quote from: Damien on Sat 09/09/2006 19:13:54
Thank you BunnyMilk. Yours reminds me of Doom2 which can't be a bad thing.Ã,Â

May I ask what software you use?

Seeing as you're interested, sure but it's a long and tedious process. I just do it to get the quality I want although I admit my tune contest entries are pretty poor quality.

I start off with good old GP4, I do all my composition here because it's quick and easy. (I also handle volume shifts and panning in GP4 because it is the best I have found. I then export that as MIDI and import it into FL Studio 5 and replace it with soundfonts and I can layer in any effects I need there like reverb and phasers. FL is the best program I have found reverb, phasers and overdrive right now.

I then export that as an MP3 and for the tune contest I'll normally stop there.

If I'm doing something else I often use Adobe Audition and Audacity too. Adobe Audition for recording and I often record certain channels in Audacity. (Adobe Audition is excellent for adding effects to vocals or just position realsound that you have recorded and audacity has an excellent wah effect. For some reason the Wah effect on my guitar pedal is horrible so I just fake it with audacity.)

And there you have it. A really unnecessary process of creating music, more than you asked for but hey....

there you go.

Erenan · Mon 11/09/2006 20:21:44

Eight hours from now (see time of this post) I will comment on the entries and pick a winner. That is, unless someone pipes up and tells me that they've already got an entry cooking that should be finished in a day or two. Anyone?

Erenan · Tue 12/09/2006 04:30:12

CONTEST OVER!!!!

BunnyMilk - "The Machinist"

The feedback is not in the least bit annoying in my ears, and along with the guitars, drums, and those gunshot type sounds, it suits your description of the character very well. Going with the Industrial Horror environment, I would have liked it to be a bit more suggestive of an industrial area with steam and smoke and stuff, more mechanical than electronic, but the synth sounds forced me to picture the area and character as a bit more electronic than you described them. That's okay though. I loved it.

Damien - "Wind Up"

Very nice piece. I can really picture an old run-down fortune telling robot that the player finds in some remote location and tries to get working. The wind-up at the beginning is a nice touch. I can picture the robot coming to life, saying what needs to be said, and then dying again. The combination between vibes, low marimba (or xylophone?), and accordion was a very nice choice of instruments. I had no trouble imagining a fortune teller robot. My only real (small) gripe was with the swung passage toward the end, which I felt seemed a little out of place. Overall, however, I think this is a very nice piece, and quite suitable for what it was intended for.

Flukezy - "Machinery"

Okay, this is pretty interesting, actually. I like how you have used the kalimba and the bass register organ to suggest a robot, and this much works pretty well. I personally feel that the guitar should have been present a little more, and the bit where it did come in didn't do much for me. It did kind of make me think of the robot as being a little run-down, but in my personal opinion the harmonic effect was too weak for the guitar to play only these two pitches. The tonality of the synth voice bothered me. In spite of all the mechanical turmoil going on here, the synth voice sounds too happy to my ears for a robot bent on revenge. This piece isn't bad. It's certainly headed in the right direction, but I'd say it's just a bit underdeveloped.

I honestly had a tough time choosing a winner. Every entry had elements and aspects that I felt worked very, very well, and there were things in each that I'd want a little different. But I think that I'll have to go with BunnyMilk's "Machinist" on this one. Overall, I felt that it was a little more polished than the others. Congrats BunnyMilk, and I look forward to the next contest!

BunnyMilk · Tue 12/09/2006 13:16:23

Awesome! Nice one everyone, this was a great round. I'll hopefully come up with an idea today.