Description



Summoner of Sounds is designed to be a series of interactive community events where video game music will be celebrated by the means of craftsmanship and community interaction.

Community members with experience in music production will be dared to participate in challenges testing their ability to perform well as a versatile video game composer, while the game developers with other areas of expertise are encouraged to to analyze the challenges, and provide the composers with commentary, feedback and constructive criticism.


Table of contents:

  • 1. Event Outline

  • 2. Event Schedule

  • 3. Licensing Rights & Submission Guidelines

  • 4. RMN as a Platform. What do I have to gain?

  • 5. Post-Processing Submitted Material

  • 6. Role of the Composer - Becoming the Summoner of Sounds

  • 7. Role of Other Developers and the Audience - You are not NPCs!

  • 8. Picking Favorites!?

  • 9. RMN Music Pack 2 and Guardians of the Groove







Summoner of Sounds consists of a periodically recurring series of challenges presented to the composers to participate in and for the developers and audience to engage in throughout the year.

Participants aren't obligated to participate in every challenge, but the more challenges you participate in, the greater the reward.

Presented challenges will test the composers' abilities to perform well as versatile video game music producers in a changing environment. Each challenge will introduce a different set of rules and restrictions, and a new concept where the composers will have to find a way to express themselves in.

The challenges may restrict and determine the video game genre that will need to be composed for, the game world setting to be composed for, a specific game instance to be composed for, or a specific manner to be composed in.

While the challenges will present a number of restricted aspects, each challenge will offer choice of freedom and room to stretch around in some of them.

Summoner of Sounds will be running for several months in total and challenges will be issued roughly once every month, or on a similar pacing.

Each challenge of the series will run approximately over the course of one month and the deadline of each challenge will be stated as the challenge and its ruleset are announced.
























Any work submitted to this event will be disseminated under a creative commons license as publicly usable in any way the end-user wishes as long as they attribute the work to the artist in their credits and that they also do the same themselves with any derivative work based on the artist's.

End-users of this material, and any derivative material, will not, however, be able to legally make any money from anything containing these tracks without the artists' express permission.


All works submitted to the event have to be 100% original work of the participants and must contain no copyrighted material, either compositionally or in terms of sampled sounds. Submitted works must contain no arrangements of any material of a different author, and they can not lift motifs from anywhere else, except possibly from the participant's own works.

Submissions should contain as little audio quality loss as possible, WAV file format being heavily preferred.





The RPG Maker Network offers an extensive network of gamers and game developers, both hobbyists and professionals.

This event series is designed to help the composers of the game development community come together, challenge their know-how and showcase their creative efforts, and the rest of the community to come in contact with the composers.

This event series won't have a panel of judges, and there won't be hand-picked winners. Participants are encouraged to challenge themselves and work together towards solving the presented challenges.

During the course of the event series, the composers will be creating video game music in various forms and manners, and build themselves a diverse portfolio while doing so.

The rest of the community is encouraged to provide feedback and impressions on this material and to be in touch with the composers, possibly giving them ideas, or request something specific from within the given ruleset.

RMN will bring the participants visibility, and the yields of each challenge will be shared on RMN's social media during the course of the events.



Each composer has a completely optional step to sign up for post-processing their submitted material.

In the post-process, the composer will be in touch with the event organizer who will help them personally by offering them feedback on composition and mixing details and assist them by creating alternate, OGG file format versions of their tracks with a coded-in looping point, which will enable seamless looping of their songs in the RPG Maker VX and RPG Maker VX Ace engines.

Enabling looping for the songs requires them to be composed in looped structure, with recurring sections.






Summoner of Sounds as an event series will present a series of challenges that will test your abilities as a composer to express yourself in a wide variety of restricted environments. This will help in readying you to have the tools and confidence to perform well as a composer in a wide range of video game projects.

Each challenge will introduce a different scenario where you may need to compose music for different game genre, imply a different game setting through instrumentation, cultural, and musical genre references, or approach the the task by expressing yourself with a very specific perspective in mind.

Some of these scenarios may, and most likely will, require you to research and learn new ways of designing video game music, but they will also encourage you to test yourself, and express yourself in ways that you haven't before, and you will experience the joy of discovering new sides of your creative self.

Summoner of Sounds is an event series that will be running for several consecutive months. It may sound intimidating at first, but you can decide which challenges you want to participate in. However, the more challenges you undertake, the greater the rewards.

If you want to achieve the very best yields, then the series will also test your ability to perform under pressure as you'll need to be undertaking all the challenges.

It will test your ability to practice your trade under discipline, not only when you are motivated, and it will test your adaptability at the times when you'll have to find your creative freedom and inspiration while you still have to make your visions meet with a set of pre-existing rules.

Remember, you are not alone! This is a collaboration event. You may work alone if you wish, but you are allowed, and encouraged to collaborate with other members. Do you have the same Digital Audio Workstation as the other participant? You can work together! And if you feel like discussing how to approach any of the issued challenges with the other participants, then nothing stops you.

Building an extensive network of colleagues and other practitioners of your trade will also work greatly in your favor!

Will you be able to take on the challenge? Can you become the Summoner of Sounds, or even something more?

Introduce yourself at the Composer Introductions!





Video game composers wouldn't be composing music for video games if there were no video games, and video games with no music, or audio, would offer us only an experience with half of the things to sense, than what they do with audio, so let's agree that sound design is an integral part of game design.

Video game audio does not only offer us audio clues on game mechanics, but music activates large parts of our brain on fast rate and communicates us a great variety of information, which married with the visual material will bring the gaming experience to a whole new potency.

That being said, video game directors should not underestimate the importance of solid audio design, and advanced communication with the audio designers plays a major factor at what the end product will communicate to the consumer.

Music helps to communicate ideas which aren't visually present, it may also underline and empower the visual ideas present, or it may change the way we perceive the visual clues completely when the marriage of the visuals and the sound refers to a completely new impression than what either part of the combination would carry across alone.

Video game directors need to be able to communicate their vision to the sound designers and together with them, find a way to communicate this idea to the consumers.

While the Summoner of Sounds challenges will introduce composers to predetermined rulesets, the rest of the community may still engage in the process by discussing each challenge and the methods fit to completing the challenge.

Everyone can take the role of a critic. You don't need to be educated in music theory or terminology to be able to tell whether you find a musical piece fitting for a specific game genre, instance or setting. Communication matters, even if you don’t have the most optimal tools for it.

Express yourself with your own words and impressions. A composer will be glad to hear any of it. Tell the composer what their music communicates to you: feelings, impressions, visual images or atmosphere, for example. Does their track fit the description of the given ruleset?

Everyone may also post ideas of any themes they would like to hear. If the ruleset permits, a composer may very well decide to compose your idea.


While there isn't a panel of judges, or winners for the event, everyone is still encouraged to show appreciation for entries submitted to the event.

Simple feedback and commentary alone is welcome enough, but if you really like some track, give it a star to mark it as your favorite! You can give stars for multiple tracks if you wish. Stars play a part in event visibility and achievement mechanics.

To reward composers with stars post a reply to the event explaining which track, or tracks you want to give favorites for. Attaching a star image to the post helps the process.

Image code for the star:
[img][url]http://rpgmaker.net/media/images/events/sos/sosstar.png[/url][/img]







As of today, one of the biggest, if not the single biggest achievement of the composer community of rpgmaker.net still is the release of our RMN Music Pack!

It's a great quality pack of music that we can be proud of, and an achievement that we were able to put together with collaborative effort and all thanks to the network and community that RMN is.

Reception of the RMN Music Pack was overwhelmingly positive and it has been a good while since its release, so it is time we set our sights on the future, and to the release of its successor, the RMN Music Pack 2!

The journey for RMN Music Pack 2 begins with Summoner of Sounds.

Summoner of Sounds is designed to work as a count down and prepare us to bring RMN Music Pack 2 to a whole new level.

While Summoner of Sounds works also as the countdown for the RMN Music Pack 2, Summoner of Sounds will still be the greatest undertaking of the RMN composer community as of today and it will challenge everyone's creative abilities.

Summoner of Sounds will be creating composers a portfolio, but it will also be creating the community a whole lot of great video game music!

If you like what the composers of the community do and you want to show your support to them, you can be directly in contact with them, but if you want to show your support to the community as a whole and help us arrange events such as the RMN Music Pack, Summoner of Sounds and the RMN Music Pack 2, you can now become Guardian of The Groove and donate to the cause!

Every penny counts and the money will be used first and foremost to have artwork to go with the music and then to offer rewards for participating members. Any extra funds to the cause will be spent on future RMN Music events.

To get the Guardian of the Groove achievement you have to PM Happy after the transaction goes through, so that he knows to apply the benefits to your RMN account.

Thank you everyone! Let's do our best!

Illustrations: カラカモ @ twitter / 烏鴨 @ pixiv
Event concept design, visual design, direction and supervision: Happy @ RMN / Matias Heimlander @ tumblr

Details

  • 05/01/2015 06:57 PM
  • 07/01/2016 11:59 PM
  • 3
  • Happy

Achievements

Registration

You must be logged in to sign up for Summoner of Sounds.

Teams Members Entry
Team Happy!
My Composing Stick is Ready
Team Meat
Sum On Her Off Sow And
Team Failed Harmony
Team Where Am I?
Team The Team
Out of practice, so let's get back in practice!
"Insert Team Name Here"
I'll Do My Best...
Chaos Harmony
Symphony Of Enthrea
Super Merengue Bros.
The Spoony Bard
Music for humanity
Bring back the dinosaurs
How do I Music?
Team Drass
Ark of the Arts
Team Koi
To the Beat of a Different Drummer
Team Toni!
Dysergy
Jingle Jangle Jingle
Ylmir
Azhthar
Team Amazing Hotdog
Firah
Team Last Minute Production
Ogarth Munchies
The One-Ghost Gaggle
Team Giznads
Fungus Happy
Maat Wants His Cap Back
Misoundthropy
Rastapopoulos
Sweaty Angle~~~ <3
OneByOne
Toms Introduction Team!
Team Midi
Legion of One
FoxAudio Creations (AKA Team Oh God Who Let the Furry In Here)
Happy Rainbow Panda Bears
Team Curry
Acidbath
Jar Studios
Aersia Sound Team
Plastic, Meat, Smoke, Metal, and Sugar
Team Megollyen
Niyane's Team
Team Unhappy!
The Sword Of The Crest Heart And The Bird That Learnt That Hope Would End One Day
Team Neutral!
Team Probably Not Appearing In This Event
Scion Genesis
Without Creativity
Team Random
Team Cheese
JStewartMusic
No Excuses!
Team currently busy but what the hell
Team Yup
Uncanny Warriors
Team Jawns AKA Boring Team Name
A Team of One
The Singularity
The Duke's Jukebox
Sound Master
Entry Status Key
  • - Pending
  • - Validating
  • - Accepted
  • - Rejected

Posts

If you have time to listen my latest submission, I'd be more than delighted:
http://rpgmaker.net/content/events/sos/files/Fight_on_the_Orbit_V2.mp3



author=clubfungus
......
@Chaos Harmony - Shade_Hunter - Curiosity - Warm dreamy sound and a dreamy laid back energy! The keys are kool and the balance of the mix is good with a chilled light feeling!

.........

Hi Clubfungus and thank you for your feedback! :)

@fulminis-ictus
Nice techno patterns, and the melody at the end of the song is really good! Only critisism I can find from it is the beginning, maybe the starting drum beats should be shorter, then the beginning would be more effective. Nice job!

author=Shade_Hunter
If you have time to listen my latest submission, I'd be more than delighted:http://rpgmaker.net/content/events/sos/files/Fight_on_the_Orbit_V2.mp3
I really prefer this version. There are still some things that I would change, like this string section at 0:46, which is a bit too loud.
With less reverb, the drums already sound less distant, but I think putting them slightly louder or slightly boosting their higher frequencies with an EQ could help too.
author=TungerManU
thank you for your advice, Fulminis.

You're welcome!

I also want to thank everyone who provided some feedback on my piece! I'm looking forward to seeing what the next challenge is. I hope it's something I'm more familiar with.
author=TheRexion
author=SignInColor
Threw this together. :)

http://rpgmaker.net/content/events/sos/files/RMN_Summoner_of_Sound__Challenge_2_Looped.ogg

I tried to go as low-bit as possible, but I just couldn't bring myself to get rid of the piano. Hope y'all enjoy!
This is awesome! So catchy and fast paced, I loved every second. The outro was perfect. <3


author=bulmabriefs144
That should be like a DDR beat.


author=Ylmir
SignInColor - RMN_Summoner_of_Sound__Challenge_2_Looped.ogg

Good work, with interesting melodies, although I'm not fond of the mixing. For example, I don't like the reverb you have on your kick/low percussion – the low frequencies can become really messy easily if you have too much reverb in there.

Also, when you have repeated notes of an acoustic instrument (here, the piano), I highly recommend to vary the velocity of the notes to avoid this machine-gun effect. With some sound libraries, it will only change the volume, but with some others, it will trigger another sample, with a softer or harder note. This avoids the to be repeat too much the same sound. Also, it brings some more realism, since a real piano will never make the exact same sound two times, and even a good pianist will never be able to hit the same key twice with exactly the same velocity.



Thank you all so much for your feedback! I'm looking forward to July's challenge!
Happy
Devil's in the details
5367
Hey, I've been a bit busy! The challenge will end today, and I will give feedback for all submissions tomorrow. I personally didn't have time to work on a submission for this challenge myself, even though I did start an idea for it in the beginning of the month. I have been very busy with other project.

Next challenge will be announced in day or two as well. Great job everyone who participated!
It's great to notice that every team has made it's submission! :D Good job everyone!

And thank you Happy, for all your work for this contest! I can't wait to see what happens in the next chapter.
Cap_H
DIGITAL IDENTITY CRISIS
6625
author=Shade_Hunter
It's great to notice that every team has made it's submission! :D Good job everyone!
And thank you Happy, for all your work for this contest! I can't wait to see what happens in the next chapter.

Exactly,
I haven't managed to finish anything this month due to exams and my laziness. However I'm buying myself a new sound card (interface -What's the difference) and will be able to record some chipmatic awesomeness for the third round.
I will try to post feedback on some more songs too.
The next chapter: Atonal Surreal Music. In which case, I rock out. ^_^
Come on man, don't get my hopes up like that.
Happy
Devil's in the details
5367
The assault is over and you have made it out alive! The Sound has been restored in the future, but after all this action-stuff happening don't you feel like you could loosen up a bit and relax, perhaps, in the nature?

Well, you have to be careful for what you wish for! You will be sent back in time to a day without all the modern conveniences!

Artwork by thomaswievegg @ Deviantart.com

Chapter III: The Dark Ages

You are a journeyman, a Disciple of Sound and you have been tasked to solve a series of mysterious disappearances of Sound in the Realms of Melodies by the Regal Musicians Network.

Your journey has brought you to another new Realm where the Sound has disappeared. You look around and find yourself surrounded by vast green forests and fields accompanied by occassional glimmering riverbeds. Further in the distance you spot some small villages and castles, and large mountains in the horizon.

The beautiful scenery leaves you with a bittersweet feeling of melancholy for a moment until you're suddenly struck with a cold breeze that quiets the nature. Now an oppressive feeling weaves its way to you as you recall various old folklores about mysterious beasts and otherworldly creatures.

You wouldn't mind being in a cozy tavern or at a town fair right now.

Composer: You grab your instrument and begin to summon the Sounds...

Developer: You set out to search for situations that have the most immediate need for Sound. You see your ally beginning summon the Sounds, but wait, are those the Sounds of this Realm? That will need to be determined!



Challenge:

  • Composers: Find a way to convey the setting described in the flavor. Compose a piece of video game music that fits a medieval setting. Dark fantasy and folklore elements may be present in the setting as well.

    You may compose for any game instance or location in medieval setting.

  • Developers: Solve what sort of music can be used for a medieval setting, and what it is specifically in the music that makes you connect it to a medieval scenery. Be sure to let your composer allies know if they are any good at their job, or if they could use help at something. You may have some ideas for them as well.


Track restrictions:

  • Impression: No definitive restrictions. Medieval, melancholic, opressive, beautiful, mysterious, old, folky.

  • Instrumentation: Classical orchestral instruments and old renaissance instruments like lute, fiddle, hurdygurdy, harp, dulcimer and the like.

  • Game World Setting: Medieval setting with folklore fantasy elements.

  • Video Game Genre: No restrictions

  • Game Instances: You may compose for any game instance or location in medieval setting.



Submission rules:


  • Render a track with as little audio quality loss as possible

  • You may submit as many pieces as you wish, but rememeber that quality is what matters.

  • You may update your submissions with further versions.

  • You may contact event organizer and sign up for post processing of your track.

  • You may collaborate and interact with all the rest of the community to any end you wish. You are encouraged to share tips, viewpoints, references and material for inspiration.

  • The challenge will run for one month and end 1st of August 2015

Good luck everyone!
To be honest I'm not a big fan of medieval music but I'll still try to come up with something decent. But it's too bad that the theme is medieval and not renaissance because I actually studied up on renaissance music not too long ago. ;_;
But at least I have the VST Ra so getting the instrument samples won't be a big problem.
Happy
Devil's in the details
5367
I'd like to underline the fact that this time the rules pretty much only restrict you to a specific setting ( the middle ages ) and you're free to choose which location and game instance to compose for.

So here's a great chance for us to make a great diversity of some medieval music, and other users to request music for specific situations, if they so wish.

I urge everyone to let others know which instance they are intending to compose for, so that if others wish, they may choose to compose for entirely other game instance within the setting.

And if you want medieval music for a specific location or situation, let yourself be heard!
Trihan
"It's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly...timey wimey...stuff."
3359
Going by the tune that's in my head at the moment I think I'm probably going to end up going for a quaint little town/quiet tavern sort of theme for this one.
Happy
Devil's in the details
5367
Here's the beginning of the piece I started: http://rpgmaker.net/users/Happy/locker/In_Thy_Name.wav

I suppose it could work with some sort of coronation, or epic revelation scene. I'll probably make a couple of pieces for this chapter, anyway.

ps. I should get to reviewing all of the chapter 2 entries. I promise to do it within the next 24 hours!
nhubi
Liberté, égalité, fraternité
11099
author=TungerManU
Shame Matt's Lakeside Town was submitted so early, it's such a brilliant piece and would be perfect for this challenge. Kind of reminds me of Sunless Sea.



Well Lakeside Town was actually rejected for the last challenge, so I imagine Matt could resubmit it for this one, where you are right it would fit wonderfully.
Happy
Devil's in the details
5367
I sent Matt a message asking about his entries.

Well, let's take a look into the chapter 2 entries, shall we:

@TungerManU:
Interesting mood! Reminds me of a puzzle situation of sorts where both opposing sides have as much at stake. I like especially the section which starts at 0:38. The bass is really catchy here and the wobbling pad effect sounds good.

The mix could be improved. The low tones feel a bit too dominant over the high tones, like the splash cymbal sounds slightly too quiet in comparison to the main bass lead. But yeah, other than that it's an interesting entry! The intro might not be a catchy as the second section in my opinion, but good work, anyway!


@Trihan:
0:34 onward this reminds me of an invasion to some location, so the song definitely fits the situation described in the challenge. The main synth makes it sound like a theme for some indoors place, and generally, the mix sounds to be in very confined space, so it might contribute to the effect even more. I feel like there could be more ambiance in the mix personally. Some instruments could really use a bit delay or reverb. Right now it sounds more like 8 bit theme or something. Though of course if that is your intention, then I guess it changes things! Good work anyway! I'd just personally prefer a mix with more space in it!

@mjshi:
March Loop: Doesn't remind me much of a scifi setting. There's a cool bit at 0:15, though, and it reminds me of tactics rpgs for some reason. The song sounds like it could even benefit of starting from that point. The main melody section feels a bit bare, and the song sounds like it could use some more harmony layers and other sections to support the main melodic idea. It sounds more like a draft as it is right now!

Just Mandolin: The snare creates the military connotation for sure, but the other instruments confuse me a bit. The broken up segments also make me anticipate a section where the melody develops onward from the currently playing short motifs. Right now it sounds more like a build up to a proper resolution of the material introduced so far.


@Cashmerecat:
This sounds pretty laid back and not bad in itself, but I wouldn't connect this to a scene about survival. The section starting around 1:10 starts hinting to something like that, though. The song makes me think of some sort of constructed action trial arranged to the character the player controls.

@Fulminis-ictus:
Mechas. My first impression on this, that is. The song would benefit a lot from slightly more balanced mix. The main percussion beat with the hihats sounds too separate and dominating apart from the other sounds that sound like they are dominating the background. I think this song would work a lot better if the soundscape was more intact and some of the synth elements had more presence. Good effort, though. I like the orchestra hits and also the instrument starting around 1:11. The subtle basses at parts like 0:11 - 0:21 and 0:32 and 0:38 sound good too.


@Shade_Hunter:
Reminds me of a side scroller shooter, mostly because of the synth that start the song. I like some details you have here, like the transition at 0:17 and the woodwind leading around 0:24 and return to the starting pattern around at 0:28. The piano parts at 0:51 and 1:21 sounds cool too. Other than that, I feel the mix could use a lot of improvement. Firstly, the snare drum sounds like its high tones are cut too much which makes it sound a bit too sustained in a way. Same goes for the piano at some parts. The tremolo strings and brass section parts also sound like they could blend in better.

This sounds somewhat retro to me, anyway.


@chenbaiwan:
This starts off really promising, but at 0:03 already I wish you had sticked to the same chords for a longer time to build up the tension. This sounds a bit chaotic because of the chords you have going on here, which don't always sound very tonal, but I like the general idea you have going on here, like, the section introduced at 0:41 has a lot of potential. Very interesting combination of instruments. The bells 0:56 onward are very interesting addition too! The high frequency sounds starting around 0:13 make me connect this theme to some sort of jungle setting.

I could easily see this theme in some sort of assault situation in a scifi setting, so it definitely fits the theme of the challenge. I like the instrumentation and the idea of the song, though i feel some chords are a bit too chaotic for my personal liking, and the mix could use improvement. Mostly the lower frequency bassy instrument that has gradually increasing volume, starting straight from the beginning, sounds too loud in comparison to some of the other elements.

... After numerous listens, this theme really grows on me. It definitely has a lot of potential! Nice work!


@TheRexion:
Interesting. Not a big fan of so slow fade-in. 0:22 Oh yeah, nice progression. 0:43 distortive pads / effects could have more presence over the percussion, or the bass range of the percussions.

Man, this has a lot of potential. I really like what you have here so far, but I'd love to see it worked further. The instruments and sections all sound really nice, idea-wise, but I'd love to see how the song would sound with more work put in balancing the volumes. Mostly the kick drum sound too low in bass tones in comparison to the higher frequency elements. I'd try playing around the 50 hz range in the EQ. But yeah, I could definitely see this in a military assault scenario in a scifi game! Good job!


@BurningTyger:
My, those high tones are dangerously loud from the beginning. Interesting combination of sounds, though. You could really make a really cool theme with these instruments, though right now I feel the song doesn't establish a clear pattern well enough. At 0:06 the bass pattern that established the song theme in the beginning disappears and the job is handed to the bells which already forget it at 0:08 as they progress to something else. There's cool ideas here, but I feel that the different elements you introduce in different sections change too soon without enough repetition in them. In a sense I was able to follow your song up until 0:22, but at that point there still isn't any repetition, or sensible chord progression, so it sounds like it's just an endlessly changing soundscape, instead of being a song, like, repetition of specific melody, or theme. The instruments made me think of FF7 for some reason, though, and there were some good picks there!


@Ylmir:
Instantly made me think of Glitch Mob. I love the underlying synth in the beginning of the song. Nice build up at the beginning and I'm reaaaally liking what your snares are playing. The wubbly bubbly synth after the build up doesn't really work for my adrenaline, though. The guitars sound really crisp and good, though, and I think the song would work in a scifi setting of sorts, though it doesn't really make me think of a battle of life and death. Though, I guess it could work in some jrpg assault scenario, where it's like the hero and his buddies invading some place and they're all hyped and like "yeah, hey let's do this!"

Nice work anyway. Mix-wise I feel there could be some more clarity in there and that some lower mid tones of the synths and guitars are clogging up and covering a bit too much. Same with the "punch / snare" type drum of the actual drum kit itself: I'd personally take a look in its qualities. But yeah, great effort!


@larrylpope:
0:22 Yeah, bring it on! 0:40 yeah hey this build up works! Especially the choirs and synth pad coming right after here. 1:05 Crap, yes! Hello! 1:20 some loudness! 1:30 loudness, too, mostly the synth at right. Oh man. This was a trip. Really gave me some scifi visions. Have a star, mister. Mix-wise I feel that the synth in the very beginning could use a bit more reverb, or something that would make it tie with the more ambient sounds coming after it, though at later point this bass synth does fall to the background, so it doesn't need it anymore, though at the start it sounds like it does. 1:14 onwards the synth notes on right sound a bit loud. I really really like some of the pads you have near mid and left, though.

This is definitely one of my favorite entries for this challenge! I would say it sounded more futuristic scifi than modern scifi, too. But all the same, great work!

@Anorax:
Call of Chromed Commandos 2nd Mix: Oh man, this mix quality is superb. Does your reverb come from the instrument plugins themselves, or do you have a separate reverb plugin as a mixer track? The reverb qualities are really top notch. This theme fits the challenge right on. I can easily imagine some badass troops fighting to this tune. I love the alert sound starting the song off and the guitar melody riffs are really nice. Very much metal chords so. There's many nice details, but most of all I envy the mix quality. This definitely gets a favorite from me.


@Giznads:
Assault Action: This is a really cool theme with a lot of ambiance and it's definitely one of my top favorites in the events so far. This would fit some climax event of a scifi action game, for example. I just wish so much the mix would be more polished. Right now it sounds too distant with lots of the high frequencies being very absent, while some bass range echoes sound a bit overbearing. Like, at 0:03 and 0:07 you can clearly hear some of low frequency percussion tones getting too noisy. There's some really sweet effects and details in this song, like the distort voice at 01:00 and the the pads at 01:20, man, nice! It must have been a hell a lot of fun making this. 01:38, also, what the hell? I'd pay you for this stuff! Really nice. If you'd work on the mix, this would get tons of favorites from me.

Your Mon's a Scifi Warrior: Now this is funny with that title name. Very catchy beat and groove. Again I feel the mix suffers of some canniness. It feels like the highest frequencies are absent and hence the soundscape sounds somewhat confined, in a sense. Do you apply some sort of high or mid cuts to your EQ? Anyway, great compositions! I wish the mixes would do them more justice!


@clubfungus:
Now this is an ambiance trip. Woop, I didn't expect the volume to kick in so loud around 1:26. The melody is really nice as it starts and the piano around 2:00 sounds really nice as well. The section 02:50 on wards works really well for me, too, yup! I could imagine this for a strategy game map. Could easily command some scifi troops to this. I feel the mix could use a bit better volume balance between different sections. At times some parts sound like they're either too loud or too quiet in comparison to each other, and some of the occasionally occurring layers sound a bit too loud at times too. Apart from some volume issues, this is a really cool theme! Great job with it. I'd give you a favorite if the mix was a bit more balanced!


@SignInColor:
Now I could say this is something I didn't expect! The piano is an interesting take to say at least. The strange combination of instruments makes it hard for me to connect this to something specific, though accompanied with appropriate image material this would probably work with great many things. First things on my mind are some j-rpg scenarios, though. I really like the section from 1:05 to 1:43. 1:19 sounds definitely like the highlight to me.

While the composition is really nice, I feel the mix could be improved. The piano sections are really quiet in comparison to the lead synth. Some instrument also has a really loud re-occurring noise attached to it, starting from 0:10. I'd bring this effect down a bit, so that the mix would gain some clarity and the song could be listened to in louder over-all volume. The bell and percussion at 0:45 onward sound a bit loud too. The piano in the latter section could also have a bit more presence. Right now some of the percussion effects take a lot of the potential space from the other instruments. Anyway, great composition!


@bulmabriefs144:
Midi file, huh? Well, it sounds pretty random. I suggest on focusing creating a short melodic segment with an instrument or selection of instruments first and then proceeding into varying the said segment in different manners. A great way to learn crafting melodies is just by listening to professional work and analyzing them. And of course there is tons of information available for reading in the web, but I still personally think that listening and analyzing is an effective way of learning to compose along with a lot of practice and other forms of studying.


@fxsnowy:
Oh, I must say I like your instrument choices! 0:41 Oh yeah, a nice entrance! The pads around 0:55 are really nice, and I like the way you vary the hihats. 1:25 bass works really well, too, and everything after this point! You have a lot of great and catchy melodic ideas here, I only feel the mix doesn't do them a great amount of justice. The volume balance between instruments and sections varies a lot throughout the song, so it's hard to pinpoint specific points for fixing. I feel a lot more work can be put to balancing the volumes, though. Do you do the final mixing with monitors or headphones? Anyway, I'd love to hear a further polished version of this song, because melodically it's my favorite entry so far! Really catchy ideas there. Great job!


@pLasterbrain:
Haha, instant love. These tunes: it's like Disgaea combined with Guilty Gears, or something like that. Nice strings section and those horns are cool too, and oh hey the build up from 1:07 onward is very well composed. Where did you get all these melodic ideas? This theme sounds super inspired. Awesome job.

But again, like for most of submissions, I'm going to complain about the mix quality here! Some instruments sound like they could echo a bit, especially the higher frequency stuff sound like they could open up more space with more reverb added to them. The composition quality is great, but often some instrument sections and melody segments sound too loud or quiet compared to each other. For example the opening segment is too quiet in comparison to the guitar starting at 0:17 and the synths, and the other sections afterwards those. Though, mostly it feels like the rest of the sections are too loud - everything sounds like it's very loud and very close. It could help to build in some ambiance!

Anyway, looking forward to hear more stuff from you! This music is fun.


@Oshimura:
Dem instruments didn't let the poor guy finish. Lot of interesting ideas here. Some of the backgrounds percussion sound too quiet in comparison to the foreground elements and the voice samples. Also, I can't say I'm a big fan of the voices. Also hey, this is really progressive track. It might work for standalone listening with all the progression, but as video game music track this would sound too distracting and would draw the player's attention from the visual and game mechanic material to the song itself which in turn would be really distracting for the player. Cool musical trip though, even if it doesn't exactly work as video game music.



Oh god, that was a lot of entries. Good job everyone! Really looking forward to the entries of the third chapter!
author=Happy
I think the song would work in a scifi setting of sorts, though it doesn't really make me think of a battle of life and death. Though, I guess it could work in some jrpg assault scenario, where it's like the hero and his buddies invading some place and they're all hyped and like "yeah, hey let's do this!"
It was actually what I had in mind for this one. I didn't thought the "survival" feel was a mandatory part of the challenge, and went for the approach you described.

author=Happy
The wubbly bubbly synth after the build up doesn't really work for my adrenaline, though.
author=Happy
Mix-wise I feel there could be some more clarity in there and that some lower mid tones of the synths and guitars are clogging up and covering a bit too much.
Actually, when I do this kind of music, I usually use orchestral and electronic instruments altogether, and I decided, just to spice up a bit the challenge, to not use any orchestral section (apart from the drums). And yes, I'm less used to this kind of mostly-electro stuff, this is why I had trouble mixing this track.

Still, for something made in about two days, I'm quite happy with it, though I was considering correcting some issues before releasing it somewhere else. For example, the synth you are talking about was more used as something to fill a small hole in the mix than as a real lead sound, and I really hesitated to cut the small part just after the buildup - because it lacked this action feel. Same with the mixing, I spent a good amount of time trying to make the different guitar sounds clearer, yet I was still uncertain of how it sounded sometimes.

Thanks for your feedback ! :)

By the way, I think I'll be more into my comfort zone too on this challenge. And since I have more time (exams are over), I hope I'll be able to contribute some more. ^^