After receiving the sound FX list I am now beginning to compile how I will go about creating the effects and reviewing all the effects that the team are needing, at the moment they all seem possible.
April 9th
Mixing of the tracks is going better than expected, so far they sound impressive in my headphones but I need to somehow run them through a tv set because this is the way it will be coming out for the game.
April 7th
Mark seemed to approve of my brainstorm about me running an internet based library and so the planning will now begin for the business.
April 4th
Email reply from Carl has really helped clear my head, he made it clear that everything he got was off webct and this annoyed me because I have spent an awful lot of time trying to organise my folders and tutors by viewing webct and didn’t find out anywhere a comprehensive list of tutors and corresponding briefs. It’s just dotted about everywhere and hard for me anyway. But at least now I know that carl is both my PPA and IMST tutor and Duncan Folley is my PPB.
April 2nd
Notes from watching Collateral-Drving force drum beat, dirty bass sound with a violin that sounds similar to a lead guitar, flicker drum beats/strings, heavy rock with sharp reverb/guitar sounds.
March 29th
Email to Carl Flattery – After speaking with Carl in the timtabled lesson thi Thursday Ive became very confused about certain aspects of th whole semester such as exactly what work Ive been doing needs to be handed in at certain dates etc. Today I wrote n email compiled with all my concerns, with the main concern being who my tutors are for each subject, such as PPB tutor, ppa and imst. It seems my preconception that mark
March 25th
- In review of studying these websites I think it will be best to think about a business which just focuses on one genre of score music because this way less staff will needed to be took on board and it could be something I could actually put into practice whilst I work other jobs. If I focus on the dark industrial score which I enjoy making I may be able to come up with good sounding music quite quickly and maybe even make some contacts who enjoy using my stuff. The business plan will of course be on a large scale that I couldent incorporate just by myself but there will still be a chance for me to set up a site with my details and clips of score.
March 23rd
- In review of studying these websites I think it will be best to think about a business which just focuses on one genre of score music because this way less staff will needed to be took on board and it could be something I could actually put into practice whilst I work other jobs. If I focus on the dark industrial score which I enjoy making I may be able to come up with good sounding music quite quickly and maybe even make some contacts who enjoy using my stuff. The business plan will of course be on a large scale that I couldent incorporate just by myself but there will still be a chance for me to set up a site with my details and clips of score.
March 22nd
Viewing other british/European music library websites I am competing with it is quite a positive experience seeing how they are running their businesses. A major flaw I see in most of these sites is that the quality of music is particularly low and their music is very branched out in genre meaning there isn’t a big focus on just one particular genre. Prices vary from site to site with some offering one off fees for you to use any song on their site or some companies provide different fees for each song depending on how you use it i.e. for a student film 2. for television/radio.
March 19th
now that our brief has been completed fully I can begin to work on my business plan for Innovation and Enterprise- the idea I have had for a few weeks is to use my aspect of the project in doing a plan for a production company which produces music for media (like the computer game). At the moment I am torn between producing a plan for company which specialises in all types of music or rather just concentrating on one but this would incorporate a lot more staff coming on board
March 15th
Slightly frustrating that Adam still seems to be lacking in developing a list of sounds for me to produce although I’m not too concerned because theres a long time yet and I can completely focus on the score for now.
March 11th
Feedback from both Gary and Adam was very encouraging and again we spoke of how me splitting my score into parts will be appropriate for the track. At the moment the demo is quite fast but this and the team picked up on this. In an Email from
March 5th
Progression of the music is getting better and after guidance from the other team members I think I should concentrate more closely on making three short tracks of around 40 seconds.
March 1st
Been working on the beginnings of the music sequence aspect of the project. The DR-008 Drum Machine has so far proved to be useful and the bongo percussion drum set proves to sound quite good although my main concern is it sounding too “midi” like and computer generated. At the moment I feel the loops I have compiled are quite acceptable and do the job at establishing a tribal feel to the piece. With the samples originating from real instruments what I mean by “midi like” is the way they have been arranged by me. I think some time needs to go into creating one long drum track-say for like 3 ½ minutes (so far I have 3 separate loops that could be approx 30 secs each so I need a few more). Once a basic track is completed other sounds can be added in order to make it fit in with the genre and sound like the Silent Hill or Resident Evil soundtrack.
February 25th
Reflection of the Ray Russell lecture- This workshop was fascinating and mae me realise how by looking deeper into video can really be the winning factor in good score. In listening to and watching the video clip without music it was very dull and even laughable in scenes (where the man is about to commit suicide) As soon as a character was introduced Russell would describe him through the music- such as the scenes where the girl is picked up by her uncle on a corner, the music is a bit seedy and this makes the listener question his motives and whether she is a prostitute. When the guy jumps off the building there is just one long industrial drone and the music stops as he is rescued by the huge mat. There is also a build up to the officer falling off the fire stairs and this stops leaving you to question (because of the direction choosing not to show) and it cuts to a break.
Library- Can use, such as in a car radio etc.
February 17th
In review of listening to both Silent Hill soundtrack and Resident Evil I have more of an idea of what kind of score I need to produce. It’s a hard situation because the team members say the game will have elements of voodoo and tribal features, which in my head means bongos and very acoustic instruments (Native American. On a VST Instrument (can’t remember which) DS-800 Drum Kit I obtained a LIVE BONGO PERCUSSION KIT with real samples. I think this can be the building block for the whole score although I don’t want the whole score to be acoustic sounding. Using the VST instruments it will need the sequences found in most modern games- but it is a combination of two which I need to achieve.
February 9th
Adam says the kind of sound/score the game will need is similar to Resident Evil or Silent Hill and he will bring these for me to listen to at the next meeting. Early designs of the character make me realise he is quite tribaland the game wil have a voodoo element in it which I need to re-iterate in the score for the game. Off the top of my head I think around 5 minutes worth of music should be enough for this level and it could even be looped if the game was still on after this time.
February 2nd
We discuss previous games we have enjoyed and we agree on admiring platform like Shadow Man, Soul Reaver, Silent Hill and Resident Evil. Gary and Adam say it will be possible to produce one demo level in this style where the main character interacts with objects and may fight with other characters, pick up objects,. I am familiar with this style of game and already ideas come to me for sounds needed. There of course will be basic sounds like footsteps and jumping and more complex sounds like swords and explosions although I already have a palette of explosion sounds.
January 27th
Members say another student from this course is on the team. He will be in charge of promotion. The idea has arisen that we might change the product to a game instead of a building walkthrough. The main reason for this is because it may be too complicated to design the product in Virtools which is what would have been needed for the walkthrough. Team members have more experience in another program and so this means the idea may now be a short game- whih is something the members have done before. This feels logical because it will be a challenge but will also be fun and something which we would love to do in the future. The building paln can still be used-apparently it is a big long centre and the building is around this.
January 20th
In this meeting Adam established that he had acquired plans of a building which he believed he and Gary could design. I never tried to seize any control over these proceedings because as far as Im concerned my job is for sound and music, I am relying on them to think of a theme for the walkthrough, whatever the theme I will have the tools to process whatever sounds will be needed. This is my main task for now to start thinking of ideas for the walkthrough. For the walkthrough idea sounds are the most important, although some music may be required – other members are not sure of this yet. Adam also said the final product may have potential to be used with a client who the building is owned by.