Music and SFX

[nirokugraphic]

Not really my place to say, I suppose the only one who can make that call is Andrew . I realise he is trying to build a community but I believe it's more than simply that . I believe there has to come a time when people are given roles and control . Contributing to a project is fine but there must be someone who will take the creative direction of one thing or another . Everyone wants to do their own thing, have their own mark on something but there also needs to be someone to keep things in check, no ? I think that should be decided pretty soon, otherwise this game will be a disoriented mess .

As for the music, I have approached a few people, I have a few names who may wish to contribute at some stage:

Fhisch
RelativeQ
SheffieldBleep
Elekt

Most of these guys I've known for years and have been making music for longer than I've known them, and there is an IRC channel that I still haunt which has a dozen or so more people who would probably love to contribute to this . I mentioned in a previous post that SheffieldBleep apparently knows someone who worked on the original Hardwar music - if we could get something out of that, that would be amazing !

Infrahate, if I had the authority to say this I would be happy if you took creative direction on the music - I like your work, some of it definitely fits my perception of the music I remember from the original game . My concern is however eventually we would need (or rather I would prefer) we had a lot of music to draw from so that the world feels far more populated . This would be controlled by the 'radio station' or dynamically through missions as Andrew and I were discussing . I can't expect you to do all that on your own because it would need to be fairly diverse, and for that reason I would like to include as many artists as we can . As you remember originally it wasn't only Squarepusher or LFO .

I guess my point is if Andrew were to put you as the lead on that, fine with me - but I would at least ask to consider contributions from others and if you don't think they work, that's cool . Plus I would want to be art creative director, I think I've shown how committed I am ! :3

[nirokugraphic]

Here is a list, courtesy of youtube of the tracks from the original game for inspiration sake for those who don't have, or can't remember them .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CfS3yQlzNY - Black Dog, Chase the Manhattan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEXNquPdXvQ - Black Dog, Raxmus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYYd9g4h5Iw - LFO, Shut Down
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SKs-asgK2E - LFO, Tied Up
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JFuVB_JZDg - RAC, Nine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLK70Ipe-tI - Autechre, Clipper
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF7VwQNv9Kk - Autechre, Second Bad Vilbel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6E97myoAV8 - Autechre, Second Scepe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GxBo06HF2M - Squarepusher - Chin Hippy

http://www.capsu.org/hardwar/faq/music.html - listing of the tracks on the two cds that came with the game, some tracks I couldn't find or identify .

[Andrew]

I believe there has to come a time when people are given roles and control.

Feel free to take over control of the music or artwork direction. Although I should warn you that we're in for the long run. I'd expect you not to get bored and drop off the radar if you're taking lead on something.

[nirokugraphic]

I believe there has to come a time when people are given roles and control.

Feel free to take over control of the music or artwork direction. Although I should warn you that we're in for the long run. I'd expect you not to get bored and drop off the radar if you're taking lead on something.

I completely understand . At this time I would like to take art creative direction based on my experience .

Is there somewhere on this forum that this should be mentioned a sort of team list ? Hopefully this way as a community it would be easier to not step on peoples' toes ?

Infrahate: If you would take creative direction of music (presumably sound fx too although we haven't discussed that) that would be cool with me . If you're committed to do that ?

One thing I would like to point out listening to a lot of these tracks from the original; I had forgotten completely about the softer, less aggressive tracks and a a definite theme that comes to mind is 'driving' . Driving (or flying in this case) around the moon dealing with the day to day . I think this is an important vibe to maintain and so we don't have quite as much 'in your face' music, which would probably more suited for dynamic mission related stuff ?

Something else I liked too was that the music sounded like it was from the future, especially from my own experience of listening to it for the first time having never really been that introduced to Warp and electronic music . Trying to maintain that never before heard music from the future feel could be tough to achieve but I think would really benefit . This is only my feelings on the matter, it's down to you

[Andrew]

I have added the titles to your user accounts to make you stand out a bit more.

[infrahate]

@Niro I think you misread my thoughts.
When i said full creative freedom i meant that if someone wants to work with me on the more specific SFX and music aspects. As in sound design for cutscenes (If we will have those) and the more story driven moments of the game. I would prefer if people are ready to make sacrifices to their work and are willing to take criticism in order to fit in the overall mood, lets say of the moments.

As far as contributions go it would be stupid to not except them diversity and community wise this is where you misread me i suppose.
As far as being able to handle it as i said as far as electronic music goes i have made almost every kind there is (Don't read to much into that sentence that's just my EGO talking )

If you have some friends that are into classical music, music theory and all that, and are willing to work on a larger time scale with me that would really help.

@Andrew

Getting bored is really not an issue with me as i love making music, it's not a job to me, it's a hobby.... no it's my life actually. And I've wanted to get into a serious/big game project for a looong time so yeah . Really not an issue.

And hardwar is really a part of my childhood (Yes i was like 3-4 grade when i played it i think) so all the more awesome

And as far as steeping one someones toes... Are we getting paid or something? I thought we were in this for reviving a great game

So yeah with all that said i would like to take lead Music engineer or whatever the tittle role as it were if it's ok with everybody. And seeing as the last contributor just up and left the position is open anyway.

[nirokugraphic]

Infrahate, I think I understood you correctly simply that perhaps my reply didn't come across that way . Language barrier probably .

My point was that I'm happy for you to take lead on the music and sound - someone needs to .

I would imagine that the guys that I've asked to contribute music would like to maintain some degree of creative control because at the end of the day, who doesn't ? So if you want to liaise with them and control the sound of their work to the nth degree that's up to you, or you could simply trust their ability to see what they can go without any direct input . I like to make suggestions because I care that much about it, but ultimately this is your call now .

Remember that the music for Hardwar originally is a bunch of tracks from Warp not a specifically composed score for the game, whether these were deliberately picked or Warp said "here have a bunch of songs" I have no idea . We are this time probably looking at more scoring the game than sticking random songs that work on it .

As for stepping on each-others toes, sure we're not being paid for this but it's still an investment and so it's important that although as you say we're contributing to rebuilding this game, that people know their place . Decisions need to be made and respected otherwise we're simply going to get nowhere and the whole project while spiral out of control - it would be a typical 'too many cooks spoil the broth' situation. Design by committee almost never works because while everyone has great ideas and suggestions, they don't always work together and often contradict . There has to be someone who will take all the suggestions and go with what works best .

I wanted to clarify with you though that we're looking at having a 'radio station' with hosts etc for day to day stuff, and switching to dynamic music for missions . You're cool with this ?

[Andrew]

I've said this before but it's pretty important. If you guys get contributions from anyone you have to be strict and force the requirement of putting it under a creative commons license. Either cc-by-sa or c0. If they don't then we can't use it, even if the work is really good otherwise we have problems putting the game in some places that have requirements that the artwork be shareable as well.

[fhisch]

I would gladly contribute to the music or sound design of this game, and do whatever i need to for my contributions to be under whatever license. I can certainly take criticism, and it won't hurt my feelings if everything i do is deemed unfit for this game, though i do hope i can contribute something useful.

My involvement in this project may be a bit sporadic due to being busy at times, though i am most definitely interested. I'd also like to get involved in some of the code, though i have a lot to learn on that end. Anyway, i usually do my best work when i'm given a specific task, like "make beepy, clicky sounds for an interface" or "write some creepy, ambient music". By all means, be as specific as you want/can be when asking for me to write/create something.

[infrahate]

I wanted to clarify with you though that we're looking at having a 'radio station' with hosts etc for day to day stuff, and switching to dynamic music for missions . You're cool with this ?

Yep It would be better.

I would gladly contribute to the music or sound design of this game

Hi man, and welcome to the team.
Glad to have you. Do you upload you're songs somewhere? Myspace? If not can i have some previews?