And wath about IWD:EE? I absolutely love the soundtracks composed by Jeremy Soule, the IWD and Guild Wars ones in particular. Jeremy Soule is really skilled in composing. On the wings of his melodies you are able to fly to ancient forests, windy, icy plains and long forgotten realms. They give you a deep, atmospheric feeling.
And wath about IWD:EE? I absolutely love the soundtracks composed by Jeremy Soule, the IWD and Guild Wars ones in particular. Jeremy Soule is really skilled in composing. On the wings of his melodies you are able to fly to ancient forests, windy, icy plains and long forgotten realms. They give you a deep, atmospheric feeling.
I still listen to the IWD soundtrack, it is a wonderful piece of art.
That beiung said, I still also listen to the Mass effect album and I'm super excited for this; Sam will no doubt do a fantastic job.
I worked with Jeremy Soule on NWN. While the end result was good, the process to get there was not optimal. -Trent
@TrentOster If you ever work on Icewind Dale (EE, 3, whatever) again, though, I have to very strongly vouch for Jeremy Soule. This guy knows how to illustrate the frozen north like no other. If his work on IWD1 isn't sufficient indication, just listen to his work on Skyrim: it's out of this world.
Jeremy Soule is the better composer in my opinion. Sam Hulick's work seems disingenuous to me, a template form of expression, whereas Soule's work often seems to allude to the unseen, adding to a sub-narrative that deepens one's experience of an environment...
In Sam's defence, I've never played Mass Effect, I'm just going on youtube clips. Some of it sounds like it's trying to do a Hans Zimmer, but that isn't a good thing seeing as Hans isn't a person anymore, he's an establishment. I'm not so hot on the 'epic' drum effect...what IS that obsession with making drums sound like large explosions? And the synths sound a bit easy. The sound world isn't new or captivating, nor does it retain any intimacy, To me anyway...it doesn't reach me... I'm interested in knowing how video game music works though...perhaps you have to deliver sensationalist visions of others...You have to be someone else's dream. I'd love to know. The music I've heard for Mass Effect doesn't seem to hold any secrets. It takes place in Space right? I love love love this:
To each his own, I suppose. "Disingenuous" seemed a bit harsh a judgment, is all, and a very different statement than "I don't like it." I won't defend anything since there's no particular reason to do so. It all boils down to opinion in the end, and I'm certainly not trying to discount yours. You're right to some extent, composers do as the directors and producers ask (though we're allowed some push-back to an extent). If someone hires us to bang on drums all day and scream children's lullabies, then by golly, that's what happens. Luckily I've had the pleasure of working with some pretty creative and inspiring producers—such as our very own Trent Oster—and I've been fortunate that he and I are very much on the same page musically, which is a huge bonus, but certainly not to be expected in this line of work.
@MDesigner: I will save my comments until hearing your sound bites you promised us, Sam. That you seem very enthusiastic about the project should allow one to give you the benefit of the doubt, in my opinon. When will those sound bites come, by the way?
I have long been fan of Soule's work, but I am really excited to hear Sam's take on the BG mood... I have faith Especially since I found much of the IWD score to be weak compared with BG and BG2 (apart from the obviously enchanting Kuldahar, Easthaven and main themes). But fact that I can't seem to find new music by Michael Hoenig has been driving me insane for years... I have always wondered what happened to his involvement in the games. Can anyone enlighten me?
@MDesigner Are you creating any new battle music or just exploration themes? If you're creating any new battle music, just how painful is it to work with BG's system of short pieces that must all interleave into each other? When I first discovered how it was done in the game files I thought it must have been absolute hell for the composer.
Game soundtracks can make and break a game, Jeremy Soule, Steve jablonsky, Harry gregson williams are my favourite, I really do appreciate the work Sam Hulick has produced for mass effect, wether this is his piece my favourite part of mass effect 3's music was the cutscene with the child
@Zeckul: Yes, definitely creating some new combat tracks. For each combat track I create, I have to create several "outros" (opposite of intro) that musically wrap up each possible segment of combat. So the track needs to be chopped up into little pieces, and typically I have about 3 to 6 different outros per combat track. I wouldn't go so far as to call it absolute hell, but it does require some patience.
Yeah, it was pretty daunting at first glance! I've got the hang of it now though. It's a somewhat complex process that involves Cubase's arranger track, and setting up a heck of a lot of markers in Adobe Audition, then creating a playlist from that to test each outro. Not difficult, just time-consuming.
And to answer your question, @Zeckul, I'm writing both exploration and combat music for two planned adventures/modules, as well as main themes for both. I'm only writing music for new content. All original BG areas/content will keep the existing music, which we didn't feel needed to be messed with.
@MDesigner Can you describe the process of creating the music for BGEE? Trent says,” I want the music to match a pixie tickling a dandelion.” You agree to do it then…compose it in your head, write something on paper? What type of instrument do you use to try a theme out? Piano, acoustic guitar, spoon…
And to answer your question, @Zeckul, I'm writing both exploration and combat music for two planned adventures/modules, as well as main themes for both. I'm only writing music for new content. All original BG areas/content will keep the existing music, which we didn't feel needed to be messed with.
This sound pretty promising. I really liked the Mass Effect Soundtrack and I'm looking forward to seeing your work in BG. I'm really courious what your music sounds like if you give it a Baldur's Gate feeling. Here is hoping fr lots of choir again
@MDesigner Can you describe the process of creating the music for BGEE? Trent says,” I want the music to match a pixie tickling a dandelion.” You agree to do it then…compose it in your head, write something on paper? What type of instrument do you use to try a theme out? Piano, acoustic guitar, spoon…
Sometimes I hear ideas in my head, or I use piano to sketch out concepts (or a combination of both). This mostly applies to main themes as they need to be thematically strong, so using piano only allows me to focus on melody and chord progressions. With ambient/exploration tracks, sometimes I just dive right in with a mood in mind.
I am 1000% sure that the tracks added by you will be awesomesauceandchipswithsomemoreawesomesauce!
I think it's wide-scale fanaticism like that that leads to mediocrity in art generally.
A lot of things can lead to mediocrity in art. If you meant that famous artists sometimes rest upon the laurels of their success and become lazy, then I'd agree. In the end, it's up to the individual artist's self-motivation and drive to constantly improve.
Okay, after listening to some of the samples you linked, I am really quite genuinely excited for hearing what you have in store for BGEE. Your work really seems to bring a certain level of majesty of whatever it is you are working on, which is exactly what I think you'd need for Baldur's Gate! I have a bit of experience with music composing myself, so I can see that you really do know what you're doing with this project.
@MDesigner thx for dropping by and saying a few words on your own. Feels like a private interview hahaha. I don't think I can put a "insightful" on each of your post and be at peace with my soul, but the feeling is there Like most of us, I can't wait to hear samples and final results !!!
@Zeckul: Yes, definitely creating some new combat tracks. For each combat track I create, I have to create several "outros" (opposite of intro) that musically wrap up each possible segment of combat. So the track needs to be chopped up into little pieces, and typically I have about 3 to 6 different outros per combat track. I wouldn't go so far as to call it absolute hell, but it does require some patience.
Im sorry if its not on topic. Is this your music? If so, I just love "An end, Once and for all" I prob. played it 20 hours or so on the piano, an great theme to improvise over! And Lion hart is beautifull, 2.20 made me covered in goosebumps.
It was an awsome news to read that The Sam Hulick was going to make music to BGEE! One of the best thing about mass effect was the music imo, but then im alittle more interested in music than most,hehe
I'm really looking forward to hearing this new music. I always thought that the music in Baldur's Gate was an important part of the overall experience and because of that I am quite curious what the new score will sound like. The music in Mass Effect was great, and I am optimistically waiting for your take on Baldur's Gate, MDesigner. By the way, I also appreciate that you are spending time on the forums here to stay in contact with the community!
I really like Michael Hoenig and Hans Zimmer music\soundtracks: i am not fun of the ME series but they music in ME in my opinion is more traggic\Dramatic when in BG its more.. EPIC
Damn i dont know how you go with you schedules- you only had several months and now its about one and half month left. I dont know what i want more: on-time release of the game or complete polishing and impovement and only then releasing the cake.
Comments
I absolutely love the soundtracks composed by Jeremy Soule, the IWD and Guild Wars ones in particular. Jeremy Soule is really skilled in composing. On the wings of his melodies you are able to fly to ancient forests, windy, icy plains and long forgotten realms. They give you a deep, atmospheric feeling.
That beiung said, I still also listen to the Mass effect album and I'm super excited for this; Sam will no doubt do a fantastic job.
Aaand, HI, Nice to be here...first post.
x
@Zeckul: Yes, definitely creating some new combat tracks. For each combat track I create, I have to create several "outros" (opposite of intro) that musically wrap up each possible segment of combat. So the track needs to be chopped up into little pieces, and typically I have about 3 to 6 different outros per combat track. I wouldn't go so far as to call it absolute hell, but it does require some patience.
One of the reasons I was asking about the difficulty of creating these was because of Trent Oster's posts on twitter:
"Working through the combat music system with composer X. His first words after fully understanding the system: "I am afraid. Very afraid""
"Composer X has completely regained his composure after the initial recoiling in horror. He now has settled down to producing awesome!"
Glad to know you've mastered the beast :P
And to answer your question, @Zeckul, I'm writing both exploration and combat music for two planned adventures/modules, as well as main themes for both. I'm only writing music for new content. All original BG areas/content will keep the existing music, which we didn't feel needed to be messed with.
@MDesigner : So thank you! Much respect to you. I am 1000% sure that the tracks added by you will be awesomesauceandchipswithsomemoreawesomesauce!
your work in BG. I'm really courious what your music sounds like if you give it a Baldur's Gate feeling.
Here is hoping fr lots of choir again
Okay, after listening to some of the samples you linked, I am really quite genuinely excited for hearing what you have in store for BGEE. Your work really seems to bring a certain level of majesty of whatever it is you are working on, which is exactly what I think you'd need for Baldur's Gate! I have a bit of experience with music composing myself, so I can see that you really do know what you're doing with this project.
Is this your music? If so, I just love "An end, Once and for all" I prob. played it 20 hours or so on the piano, an great theme to improvise over! And Lion hart is beautifull, 2.20 made me covered in goosebumps.
It was an awsome news to read that The Sam Hulick was going to make music to BGEE! One of the best thing about mass effect was the music imo, but then im alittle more interested in music than most,hehe
Damn i dont know how you go with you schedules- you only had several months and now its about one and half month left. I dont know what i want more: on-time release of the game or complete polishing and impovement and only then releasing the cake.