The Protectors Original Soundtrack (TPC OST)

Here is a proposal for an Original Soundtrack (first of 3 series - next one: December 2014).

Please, vote! Any suggestions will be helpful, such as: New ambient, new modular songs (I'll send next time the "hero dies", "Titan is released", "Victory/defeat", etc. ), new type/kind of songs.

Thank you all (and especially to Patrick, of course),
 
Songs available for listening here:

https://soundcloud.com/andr-naya/sets/the-protectors-original-soundtrack-september-2014

My favorites:

zeto wrote:

Perhaps those electric basses and electric guitars are too present?

That and I think they are too long (or repetitive, or maybe both?), especially the first arabic one (AmbientArab).

All right then, I’m embracing that issue! But I still believe that the best way to listen to these tracks is this:
1-Open full soundtrack and regulate with the volume fader https://soundcloud.com/andr-naya/sets/the-protectors-original-soundtrack-september-2014
2- Play TPC for 50min
3-Return to TPC Forum, comment and vote.

awesome, i really liked the medieval one
looking forward 4 more of your work

Hei wrote:

awesome, i really liked the medieval one
looking forward 4 more of your work

Thanks a lot for your kind words! December... You'll need to wait until then.


(Legal esse post irmão. Obrigado à Comunidade Brasileira e Portuguesa do TPC)

Woah! Those are great songs sir! Keep up the good work!

(Abraços da comunidade Brasileira de TPC!)

I'm expecting that you'll keep voting in next releases!

These sound very professional!

Now, I haven't listened to all of them yet (so far only the ones that Patrick posted) but when it comes to music for WBC, I prefer anything that sound similar to the original music tracks, which were actually composed by Steve Fawkner himself! I really couldn't get into the music tracks from WBC2 at all, but while I did like the ones in WBC3, I still preferred the originals.

So perhaps Medieval gets my vote then?

Thanks (but I’ve got a lot of soup to eat… in terms of professionalism). I do not intend to substitute WBC1 (and forward) compositions. I really didn´t discuss this with Patrick at all, but in my opinion, I think the original Soundtrack of WBC series (WBC, Warlords, Puzzle…) should remain until Final TPC (1.0 and so forth).


To answer your doubt (this is just the way I see it): WBC1--> Magic (The Protectors Pack+Medieval); WBC2-->Arabic; WBC3-->Jungle+Epic.


You have the option of multivotes… If that helps...

(SELFCRITICISM)  Hmm, I just realized that the multi vote thing can bring a silly issue: voting “none”+”all”…. Next time it must be reworked…

zeto wrote:

(SELFCRITICISM)  Hmm, I just realized that the multi vote thing can bring a silly issue: voting “none”+”all”…. Next time it must be reworked…

I was going to point that out - seeing that you can vote for all the tracks it is useless to vote "all" and if one does not wish to vote, he/she simply won't, so the "none" option is useless as well - but I just said that you deserve a break of criticism and left the whole thing aside ^^.

Oh, come on zeto, you're so modest! Your songs are wonderful!

The Brazilian and Japanese community wishes you all the best in your compositions! (≧◡≦)

Thanks Alice... You always have the right words!
However, progress can be done everyday...

very nice！

のわ亡霊 wrote:

very nice！

Thanks!

━━━━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━━━━━ ！！！ 素晴らしい！

永遠 真紀子 wrote:

━━━━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━━━━━ ！！！ 素晴らしい！

Welcome to The Protector's Forum, Makiko-chan! Your surname is Eien? Sorry, i'm not good with kanjis... (⌒_⌒;) anyway, try to speak in english here, ok? This way everybody will understand what you say ^^

btw, ty for the feedback!

Alice Mizuki wrote:

永遠 真紀子 wrote:

━━━━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━━━━━ ！！！ 素晴らしい！

Welcome to The Protector's Forum, Makiko-chan! Your surname is Eien? Sorry, i'm not good with kanjis... (⌒_⌒ anyway, try to speak in english here, ok? This way everybody will understand what you say ^^

btw, ty for the feedback!

Hello Alice, you are right, my name is Eien Makiko!
Sorry, i am just saying that i have found this ost awesome!

Sorry for the bad english, i am using Google Translate. @;@

If I may offer what I intend as constructive criticism:

Don't repeat the same exact melody over and over throughout the pieces. I listened to some of these (Arab6, Celtic2, Medievel2/4, Ballad7, Protectors7), and there's just too much repetition in all of them. It was enough to prevent me from even making it all the way through some of them. If you are reusing a melody throughout a piece, try making modifications and additions to it every time it repeats -- these should be significant enough that the fact that there's a real difference is quite noticeable even on first listening. (The listener should never feel like they are just listening to the same thing repeatedly.) Just changing instruments doesn't cut it. The pieces could also use slightly more musically interesting base melodic content, though for background music I don't think this is as big of a problem as the repetition.

Just to make sure I wasn't being unreasonably critical of "game background music", I listened to Ambient1.mp3 from WBC3. It does as I suggest: Even though it has one primary (slow moving) theme repeated a number of times, it varies it quite a bit. It also takes a break from the primary theme in the middle with a new melody in the bassoon, then adds flute (with new material, interleaving with the bassoon at first), then brings back the main theme but keeps the flute and bassoon around, layering a (faster moving) counter melody on top of the main theme. The only mostly unaltered/non-augmented (besides instrumentation) repetition of the main theme is a short restatement at the very end just to wrap it up. The difference between monotonous repetition and Ambient1.mp3 is night and day.

BTW, among other things I'm doing the same thing - creating music for a game. My music has its own issues that I'm still in the process of trying to learn how to fix (with something better than trial and error!). I've got my eye on a 1/2 dozen books I'm going to order and cross my fingers and hope they help. I've listed them below just in case you'd like to check them out (the reviews on Amazon provide a good amount of info about what's in them):
"The Craft of Musical Composition: Theoretical Part - Book 1" by Paul Hindemith
"The Craft of Musical Composition: Book 2" by Paul Hindemith
"Guide to the Practical Study of Harmony" by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky
"Composing Music: A New Approach" by William Russo
"Study of Counterpoint: From Johann Joseph Fux's Gradus Ad Parnassum" by Johann Joseph Fux
"Fundamentals of Musical Composition" by Arnold Schoenberg

Hello Turtle,
And thank you very much for this critic. Now, here it goes:
 
1 – I understand what you’re saying: As head of some Progressive Rock Projects, the first thing I suggested was a Progressive Rock OST… Then, a few discussions further and I went on experimenting on ambient. So, this long way to get closer and closer to people’s opinions… In-game ambient demands some kind of circular composition, there is no other way around it: that is why those songs, listen by itself (alone), sound very boring, repetitive etc. – But I am already working on to improve the current songs – more instruments with different phrases - and for December I already have another 50min with more songs, shorter and with definitely not monotonous material).


2 – I am a Drum/Bass/Guitar player (+ composition with VSTs). So, all you listen here is pure MIDI handwriting (except basses and guitars in Arab1-6), and as I’m sure you’re aware, writing MIDI is not the best option to get full dynamics. As it takes a lot of time to write, if I was using/playing a Keyboard, like a guitar, all songs should be more dynamic = less boring = less repetitive. But that can be corrected: just need to compose more phrases to different instruments (working with dominants, contraponto, and Modal swifts should be enough – What do you say?). The problem is that we want to get closer to acoustic and Medieval (Dark Ages) instruments (Schofar, flutes, harps). For me is really hard to work with few instruments (that is why this OST is using some XVIII century orchestra).


3 – This space is dedicated to these particular thoughts, and all tracks are experimental and may not see the dawn of the day. That is why I am concerning with ranging ambient + Mixing, rather to get deep into composition (that will be the second step, and as I said before, It is on the road). It seems that December will be dedicated to Darkness, Celtic, Medieval and The Protectors packs.


4 – “I listened to Ambient1.mp3 from WBC3.” Yes, you get it: It is circular composition indeed, with more arrangements here and there to make it sound less repetitive. After a lot of experimenting I did what I didn’t want to: getting closer to WBC3 OST… I thought that Epic5 would be closer to what you are hoping to see: but even there are problems… This is still in Beta anyway, so go ahead: I need those critics.


5 – All those books may help, but I need to say two things: a) I am more like a Vivaldi or Guthrie Govan type of guy: First hear the nature, reproduce the sounds of nature, and only then you give names to it (G9, Bm7…). I am no friend of musical theory at all, instead, I try to get closer to Greek Modes ambient (You know, I want some natural compositions, and folk also, and that may be the reason of the boringness of it all). All you are hearing now in TPC OST is the backbone of the songs (you know, thinking of layers just like a Bass player): there is plenty of space to create melodic/harmony writing. That is, in my opinion, what is lacking now. b)We do not want to get into classical composition because I am working with MIDI (dynamics!), and because “classical stays ahead of WBC universe” (If you understand what I say: I see WBC/TPC as a Post-Modern ambient, but never mind, I am a democrat after all). Even here there is an observation: Already started a Fauré’s Pavane Op. 50 type of thing mixed with other kind of melodic transformation (a Progressive Rock thing, as you understand: Starting Ionian, travelling to minor chords - passing through Portuguese/Argentinian popular ambient- to get into Phrygian Mode, and then pentatonic, to close with Locrian). Let us see what people say of that.


Finally (sorry for this long text), if you (or anyone) want to discuss some technical issues in detail (concerning your or my work), then send me a Private Message. Thank you again, you’re my best critic… so far!

Topic closed. There's a new poll at: https://the-protectors.forumotion.com/t152-the-protectors-original-soundtrack-2