Aspiring Shmup Music?

R_Typist · Post by **R_Typist** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 5:59 am

Greetings,

Lend me your ears... I was messing around with an aggressive music project with distorted synths and whatnot. I'm trying to get back into digital music production, and I'd like to dabble more in video game music.

Could it be some budding boss music?? Is there a drive to destroy some mega-some, hulking monstrosity? I'm an aspiring Shmup fabricator, and music is one thing I look forward to taking the reigns of.

LINK TO MP3

I'll probably remix this rough draft in the future if atmosphere permits...

zinger · Post by **zinger** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 8:10 am

Not bad. But I think boss music should be even more hectic, this sounds more like a 'ship select' track.

I make shmup inspired music too, using an X68000 synth, so it sounds pretty damn different.

Grindie · Post by **Grindie** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 9:19 am

Holy beans! I love this! I think it suits boss music perfectly, it's very dramatic and catchy.

I demand to hear more of your tunes. I DEMAND IT!

Daigohji · Post by **Daigohji** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 10:37 am

Nice work. A confident composition and a punchy mix. I think the bass instrument (brass?) that comes in at 0:28 could do with being brought up in the mix, but aside from that it's fine.

PooshhMao · Post by **PooshhMao** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 1:43 pm

Hi,

Always a pleasure to listen to other people's stuff

Pretty nicely produced indeed, but I feel it doesn't sound shmuppy enough, too clean and trancey for me, it lacks drive..

But that's just me and my humble opinion

don't let me discourage you...

I'm into music making myself and enjoy remaking shmup tunes every now and then

here's a snippet of the first stage of Bio Metal (Jap version mind, not the 2 Unlimited eurodance crap)

http://www.webfilehost.com/?mode=viewupload&id=7307484

R_Typist · Post by **R_Typist** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 3:37 pm

@ zinger

What kind of shmups are you playing?? I'd like to hear some of these floor-shattering ship-select screens.

Could I hear some of your music, zinger?

@ Grindie

Thanks for the encouragement. I'm having to balance my music between 3D modelling, work, and college apps, so keep your fingers crossed. Anything worth doing is worth doing well -- and as you can see, there's so much room for improvement (as I did this in a matter of a couple hours).

@ Daigohji

Thank you! I was trying to make it sound punchy. EQing the bass and kick is imperfect due to my listening device, but it got the message across (if you say it's punchy!

).

@ PooshhMao

THe file won't download...

It only comes as a 0kb mp3!

Thanks for your constructive words. You're right -- I should interject more shmuppiness and less epic trance. Trance is cool in small doses, and I don't think it fits video game music all the time (unless someone can prove me wrong by pointing to some soundtrack). Fun to mix though, but I do enjoy messing around with other modes and speeds of "electronica".

ROBOTRON · Post by **ROBOTRON** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 5:46 pm

Sounds great...however not boss music...maybe regular stage music perhaps inside a cave.

RippleScythe · Post by **RippleScythe** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 8:20 pm

Sounds like regular stage gameplay music to me. It sounds tight all in in all.

FatCobra · Post by **FatCobra** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 12:34 am

Sounds like ship select music or level 1 music to me.

PooshhMao · Post by **PooshhMao** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 9:49 am

You're right.. weird, uploaded the track again, file size is shown right, but it's a 0kb file when downloaded

Nate · Post by **Nate** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 4:16 am

R_Typist - I like it a lot! If this is your first stab at something for a shmup, then you've got a leg up already I think. I can really hear it being a boss theme. Those harsh tapping keys really suggest that. It could also work for a level theme, too...I would suggest it as a 2nd stage theme or 2nd to last stage...

I've composed a few boss themes w/ the team...one obvious one if you haven't heard is "Doom of Mechanism". You can click the link below and listen to the sample. If you plan to approach developers with music, you'll find that they'll sometimes favor songs for a different application...like BT at Mindrec liked "Desperation Cruise Option" as a boss theme, when I could have sworn it was a level theme. I finally realized that it had a great "intro" for a level 1...but, the repetetive guitar melody kind of pidgeonholed it. And it truly served as a killer boss theme for Meteor Blaster DX...
We also re-made "Boss Entrance" from R-Type...it got mixed reviews when I linked it from here a couple years back...it might be time to link it again (gimme a day or so).

Pooshhmao - I'm anxious to hear that BioMetal track! Do you do a lot of re-makes? Those are awesome fun to do! I wanna do more personally! Someone needs to do an MP3 based site STRICTLY dedicated to shmup music remakes...just free downloads to avoid any legal jabs...

zinger - any links to your music...and would you consider contributing to such a remake comp. site?

zinger · Post by **zinger** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 9:33 am

Nate wrote:zinger - any links to your music...and would you consider contributing to such a remake comp. site?

Sorry, all the shmuppy stuff that I'm actually satisfied with is pretty sketchy at the moment and I don't want to spread them until they're finished for release. I'd love to contribute to the remake competition, just say what, when, how and where!

Nate · Post by **Nate** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 12:02 am

^ Right-O!!!

Nate · Post by **Nate** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 6:18 am

^^ Whoa! Hey, zinger upon reading your post again...Sorry, by "comp."I meant "compilation" not "competition"...I'm not thinking contest at all...just an exibition of shmup music love.
Here's my vision: a few entries at first - Oz is making a page. For the Vodkatron site I've got the "economy" ver. of GoDaddy.com....about 5 gigs of space. Right now I'm only using half a gig from what he tells me. Artists could send over some renditions via email...or if they want to snail mail a track to ensure better quality that's fine, too... and we could create a constantly growing playlist for free public consumption!
Only thing I'd encourage is ANYTHING you want to do! Electronic, live band, studio band, electro-band, programmed, vocal (accapela)...whatever! Get it to me and I'll put it up! That goes for all musicians and all "musicians" reading this as well...
And here's a point: should we even include names? If anything, "aliases".

I'm personally going to do some obscure stuff...when I can get around to it...my only entry now is "Boss Entrance"...

Oh, and another point: I'm not planning on snagging a bunch of various tracks from artists and try to market them...I only market original Vodkatron stuff...