Tune Vengeance- 8-11 to 8-18 - WINNER

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Sat 12/08/2006 06:07:07

Situation:

You have just witnessed murder most foul. Your best friend/wife/husband/who you care most about has been brutally killed and in a fit of unrestrained fury you hunt the bastard that did it down.

Mission:

Create a tense action pursuit theme that will satisfy the above situation.

Requirements:

1. Must be no shorter than 2:30

2. Needs an appropriate sounding beginning (discovery of murder), middle (pursuit of killer) and end (confrontation). If I cannot locate these three points in your tune then you are not doing your job!

Good luck.

EldKatt · Sat 12/08/2006 21:53:57

These are excellent rules. I urge everyone who might host a future contest to keep them in mind and remember that EldKatt the Lurker wants more contests like this to spur his muse.

And, uh, I might participate as well if I have time, but school starts very soon. We'll see.

DoorKnobHandle · Sat 12/08/2006 22:03:53

Oh yeah, don't worry, I'm working on something...

BunnyMilk · Sun 13/08/2006 18:33:23

Alright I did this track hell of quickly. It took me all of ten minutes so I'm sorry it's not very good but I wanted to enter this anyway because it's such an awesome tune contest. Hopefully I wont be the only person to enter either.

I wont describe the exact scenario I was thinking of when I made it (I'll leave it to your imagination or whatever) but hopefully you can pick out the 3 main points you mentioned.

Maybe not as intense as you were looking for but I'm a bit of a psychadelic minimalist so whagtever chups guys here it is:

http://www.avalanchestudios.net/bunnymilk/contest.mp3

nihilyst · Mon 14/08/2006 13:06:14

What a mess: Murder, Chase, Kill

cheers
nihilyst

DoorKnobHandle · Thu 17/08/2006 15:53:04

I am done with my entry.

I call the song Vengeance. I have spent three days writing the material, two days recording it and one day mastering it. I performed the song on guitar and bass and programmed the drums. Please note, that seven days is really very little time to record a real song and master it while not using only sequencers, plug-ins or generators - you'll need to understand that the mixing is far from perfect and that there are minor glitches in some of the recorded lines, there just wasn't enough time to perfectionize this.

The song is based on three parts, every part has its own tempo, time- and key-signature. It's written in a "progressive" way, rather than a "verse-chorus-verse" way (meaning that there is no chorus-part that is repeated, all riffs only occure once in the song). Still, it barely made the length-rule of 2:30.

Here are the times and some comments on the different parts:

Part I: The Discovery (0:00 - 0:11)

Here, I use some plug-ins to create an ambient sounding intro. I pictured a person discovering the body of a loved person dead. There's a beep in the foreground, that could be one of those heart-beat-sensors they use in hospitals.

Part II: The Chase (0:12 - 1:16)

This part is the most fun to play with bass and guitar. It kicks in heavily and is supposed to be the most intense sounding. The steady double-bass drum rhythm, the pedal tone chucking guitar riff and the way the guitar/bass riff shifts are all clearly representing pure speed - a chase. I picture the person noticing that the murderer is still around in the beginning and then running after him, jumping down the balcony and running through the streets. When the drums stop for one measure, I would personally imagine how they both reach a street crossing and the chasing guy doesn't know for a second which way the murderer took. A second of silence, the guy breathes hard and the camera spins around him, then he hears a noise from one of the streets and sees the murderer running from shadow to shadow and starts chasing him again. That's when the drums kick back in.

Part III: The Confrontation (1:17 - 2:33)

I didn't want so much tempo for the last part. I wrote it in a "duel of the fates"-kind-of-way (from Star Wars), it's supposed to sound dramatic and interesting rather than ripping away with more heavy riffs and action. The first section of this part is written in 3/4 and changes to 4/4 every fourth measure (like this: 3/4, 3/4, 3/4, 4/4 and repeat) by the way - the last section is in 12/8 then. This part continues to tell the story of how the murderer is finally reached by his chaser and the confrontation runs. This could be a fist fight or something, but I personally think that there should be a more honest fight (something like the saber fights in Star Wars for example - of course without light sabers, just something like this - maybe they both equipped themselves with some japanese swords that were in the house of the victim, I don't know) or there could be a dialog. I also don't want to decide on who wins, that's up to the listener or the gamer.

That's it, HERE is the link (click on the lower-right button captioned "free" to download). I hope you like guitars...

[Cameron] · Fri 18/08/2006 08:04:47

Here we go, revenge music. Anguish, vengeance, release.
ReVenge

Erenan · Fri 18/08/2006 08:35:19

My inspiration doesn't always lead me exactly within the confines of the rules, so I apologize if this only marginally fits what you're looking for. Anyway...

OGG: Vengeance

MIDI: Vengeance (In case anyone wants the original MIDI file for some reason.)

Buckethead · Fri 18/08/2006 13:55:42

Download

here's my entry, not that good but hey great for practice!

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Fri 18/08/2006 21:36:35

I'll go over the entries in order (listening to them again as I go):

Bunnymilk: Nice lead up, almost has an 80's cop synth vibe to it, which is a very good thing. I think the confrontation section could've used a bit more variation, though. Overall, it fits the rules so well done!

nihilyst: The orch hits made it difficult for me to take this seriously, to be honest, and I kept wondering if it was a serious chase or some guy after a clown--particularly when the piccolo type instrument kicked in about midway through. It just didn't strike me as a serious piece for a serious situation, but someone else may have a completely opposite opinion so don't take this to heart.

dkh: Your lead up seemed rather short compared to a very powerful and moving chase sequence, convincing me that there was some sort of pursuit going on. The confrontation sequence, however, pales in comparison to the powerful message of the chase portion of your tune, a transition from belted out guitar riffs to subtle tones jarring-- I just felt a bit let down at around 1:18 and wasn't convinced that some kind of confrontation with the killer was happening here, despite your descriptions of a dramatic scene. Very nicely put together overall, though!

[Cameron]: It's marvelously disturbing throughout, and that's the main issue I have with it; there's not much variation and I found it difficult to tell where you were going. However, I find high distortion in music distracting, so it could just be my perceptions.

Erenan: In another competition this tune could easily win; it has a pleasant, almost inviting sound at the beginning and then transitions into a mystery and then into a clear confrontation. If anything, this reminded me of some of the better Final Fantasy music to come out of Square in the early days, but ultimately it didn't convince me that a murder had occured at all, or that the villain was being pursued.

Buckethead: XM! Because I happen to do all my tracking in this format does not mean I will go easy on you; on the contrary! The lead up you established here was interesting and I kept listening to see how the track would change. At around 1:32 is where I perceived the chase to begin, because that is when things seemed to heat up a bit; unfortunately, rather than build up into a confrontation the beats drift back down to the way they were at the start, destroying the tension for me.

So, who to choose for the winner?

It finally came down to a tough choice between dkh and Bunnymilk, and I listened to both songs 4-5 times to see which one impressed upon me overall the situation described. The answer:

Congratulations Bunnymilk!

If my criticisms seem harsh, please don't take them that way as that was not their intent. There were so many entries and everyone pretty much followed the rules I set, making me really listen and think about each tune in order to narrow the playfield down. I hope you had fun!

Erenan · Fri 18/08/2006 22:41:59

Congrats BunnyMilk! Now create a competition about pleasance leading to mystery leading to confrontation so I can enter again without doing any work!

Buckethead · Sat 19/08/2006 09:16:07

Quote from: ProgZmax on Fri 18/08/2006 21:36:35

Buckethead:Ã,Â XM!Ã,Â Because I happen to do all my tracking in this format does not mean I will go easy on you; on the contrary!Ã,Â The lead up you established here was interesting and I kept listening to see how the track would change.Ã,Â At around 1:32 is where I perceived the chase to begin, because that is when things seemed to heat up a bit; unfortunately, rather than build up into a confrontation the beats drift back down to the way they were at the start, destroying the tension for me.

Oh lol sorry for that. It was an old music file I created for background music in a level of Unreal Tournament. Just told I could enter with it

Anyway, enough talking congrats Bunnymilk!

Gregjazz · Tue 22/08/2006 16:22:50

Congratulations.

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Wed 23/08/2006 09:04:50

Bunnymilk hasn't appeared in a few days so I deem dkh the substitute winner. From now on I will label someone as a runner up that can automatically start a new contest if the winner fails to appear for more than a few days.