Module Ambience - Music vs. Environmental Sounds

[Deleted User]

I'm working on the atmosphere of the areas for my module and ambience is something I've always struggled with. Personally, I've never been a big fan of the ambient music that plays all through the various campaigns of NWN - indeed, I usually play with the music turned so low its barely audible. I much prefer to hear the ambient and placed sounds in an area.

I'm wondering what the thoughts of other players and builders are. Should I just ignore music tracks all together and rely on placed and ambient sounds, or does music really add something to the experience that I'm just missing?

Rifkin

Music tracks should be used sparingly, when you encounter an epic scene, or you're in an epic battle... Use appropriate themes when required, but I agree with your sentiment, the area music should be low-key if the area is commonly traversed and there is little atmospheric quality to add via music.

Most of the standard NWN music has been used to death, so if you intend to use music, I highly recommend using new assets.

MadHatter

I agree. Music should be used sparingly.

In the Sword Coast Legends audio assets I uploaded on the Vault there are some “music” files meant to be used as area music that are really just subtle air flow of varying strength to allow layered ambient placed sounds to not suddenly pop out of dead silence. It’s a good solution.

thirdmouse

I'll raise my hand as someone who really appreciates a well-curated soundtrack, though not necessarily in *every* area. We don't have infinite visual resources, so changing eg instruments can go a long way to making an area "feel" different despite being built out of the same blocks.

It's like another type of texture, to me, so there are a lot of areas I wouldn't expect a real "song" so much as an... idea, if that makes any sense. That said, I'm guessing it's a lot easier to find/edit a premade set of textures that are meant to complement one another than it is to take different pieces of music and loop them in different areas in a way that adds to the whole, heh. And the need to blend and not scream 2002 usually means new assets, yeah.

Plus, if someone is really lovingly tending to all the ambient sounds and omits music to better appreciate them, that's a much better effect than just setting a temple's music to Temple because it's in the name

I think what I was trying to say is that while I'm always happy to hear good music choices and think they can add a lot when used carefully, I would rather no/light music and attention to ambient than have Aribeth themes drowning out the noises :P

[Deleted User]

MadHatter said:

I agree. Music should be used sparingly.

In the Sword Coast Legends audio assets I uploaded on the Vault there are some “music” files meant to be used as area music that are really just subtle air flow of varying strength to allow layered ambient placed sounds to not suddenly pop out of dead silence. It’s a good solution.

I'll have to take a look at these.

voidofopinion

I work almost entirely in ambiance for my areas so that when I do use music for a big boss battle or safe area it has the maximum impact.

If music is just playing all the time it's easy to just tune it out.

shadguy

I try to make sure some sort of music is assigned in area given area design, but I pay more attention to placed sounds. As a player, I usually have the music very low, or off.

-Dave

scruffylad

When I build ambient always comes first. Water, wind, et cetera. But if you can find a nice bit of music that fits the mood you want in a certain area, go for it! Music is fantastic for setting mood--like thirdmouse said, it's another type of texture. (Conversely, when playing a mod that has the same song in every area, it's just mind-numbing. At that point, no music is better!)