Please Critique My Game Music - Peccata Mundi

[Elysius]

Hi, I'm seeking advice on how to improve my composition, which is called Peccata Mundi. This is supposed to be battle music for a Neverwinter Nights 2 game module that I'm developing. (I'm not making any money out of this, in case anyone's wondering.) The battle for which I composed this music is between the heroic players and a seductive female demon.

A zip file containing both my MP3 and IT files may be downloaded here.

For this battle music, I wanted to evoke the divine and profane aspect of the creature that the players will fight. I know that this piece can stand a lot of improvement, but I can't figure out how to do it. I'm a complete noob, having started composing only 3 days ago when I downloaded OpenMPT. (Before then, I had not done any composing whatsoever, and I don't play any musical instrument. That shows how much of a noob I am.) I'd like to add more instruments, but I don't want them to overpower the Chorus Ahs that I used. Constructive criticism will be greatly appreciated.

[bvanoudtshoorn]

This is good, Elysius! You must have some musical background to have written this...

A couple of technical points which might help you, though.

1. You use the "Note Cut" command - ^^. This will cut off the playing note sharply. Perhaps you should try using the "Note Off" command - ==. This will make the note end more smoothly (and in point 2, you'll see how you can control this very precisely).
2. You're using samples, not instruments. Now, as a newcomer, it's a good idea to stick with samples - they make more immediate sense. But with instruments, you can accomplish a lot more. An instrument can have lots of different samples associated with it, so that, for example, a C-4 plays a different sound to G#7. This can give you more realistic sounds. Now, instruments also have awesome things - envelopes. These are still some of the most flexible envelopes you'll find. Basically, each envelope determines how the sound changes over time. The four available in OpenMPT in the IT format are volume, panning, pitch, and filter cutoff. The main one you'll use is volume. If you head over to the wiki, there are some great docs on how to use envelopes - suffice to say that they'll let you control exactly how the notes start, stop, and sound in the middle.
3. Your choir sample also seems to distort somewhat when there are two notes playing simultaneously. :/
4. It might be worthwhile adding a subtle reverb to the track - this'll help to smooth things out somewhat, and will also give it more depth. You can do this with a plugin (see the wiki), or you can add it in using Audacity to the exported wave/mp3/whatever file afterwards if you prefer.


OK, enough technicalities. Musically, it's good. You have a good construction, and I like the addition of the Bb (A#) here and there, giving the feel of a slight modulation. The ending's a bit abrupt, in my opinion. It's also quite "happy" music - it's written in C major, after all.

You say you want to add more instruments. Well, that could work. I think that the easiest instrument to add, in terms of not overwhelming the aahs, would be a bass. Now, depending on how much musical experience you have, you should know which chord you're playing in each bar or so. You seem to stick with C, F, and G most of the time, with a couple of Bb (A#) and Gm thrown in here and there. Try just putting the bass playing a single note at the start of each bar that's the root (bottom note) of these chords. To start with, I'd stick to using the root note when (if) you add more notes over the chord's duration. Later on, you can put in some other notes - from those that make up the chord, or ones that help the transition to the next chord (for example, if you're moving from C -> F, you could have the bass going C C C E | F F F F | - this gives you a nice feeling of movement, and is in a *lot* of music.

I hope this helps.

[Sam_Zen]

Hm, I had to be really quick for the download to avoid some popup dating site, but nevertheless.
This is a nice exercise in getting used to the tracking concept.
As BvO states, first check out the options of the instruments department before further developments.

[Elysius]

Thanks for the advice, guys. More than half the time, I wasn't sure of what I was doing.  :lol: Bvanoudtshoorn's tips are going to set me right on track with the tracker.

You must have some musical background to have written this...

Yeah, I had two months of piano lessons more than thirty years ago. I've forgotten how to play the piano since then.  :lol:

Hm, I had to be really quick for the download to avoid some popup dating site, but nevertheless.

Oh, sorry about that. I'm going to have to find another file hosting site.

[Elysius]

I've uploaded a second version of my song, Peccata Mundi, which may be downloaded here. To download from this page, click "Request Ticket" at the upper left corner. After a second or two, the word "Download" will appear at the upper left corner. Just click that word to start downloading.

The RAR file contains an MP3 and IT file of the song. I used commercial VSTis for this music, so I don't know if the IT file will play properly on other people's machines.

Once again, I'd appreciate feedback on this new version of the song. I think it is much improved over the earlier version that I created.

* Edit * Changed the word "right" to "left." After all these years, I still have difficulty telling my left from my right.  :?

[Sam_Zen]

Please post this last one again in the Free Download section, where it belongs, to get reviewed.

[Elysius]

All right, I'm going to post my message over there.