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[Kyle Preston]

TigSource Musical Challenge XXXVII - Battle Of The Ages

Battle themes - we’ve all heard em. Something they seem to have in common: tension. They put us on the edge of our seat and force us to realize that everything is on the line. When done properly, they make our buttholes go from O --> .

Think of whatever genre really gets you going, sci-fi, fantasy, action/adventure etc... any genre that features physical confrontation.  I want to emphasize the physical part here; yes, we all have psychological and existential battles, but try and write for a physical conflict.


The Challenge:

Make us feel tense (but not terrified) with your music. Envision that crucial moment in a game, when everything you’ve been fighting for comes down to one pivotal event. This is the Luke Skywalker/Darth Vader duel, the final Link/Ganon battle, the Harry Potter/Voldemort fight.


8-64 bit Examples:





Hiroyuki Masuno - Danger

Naoki Kodaka - Boss Battle


Modern Orchestral Examples:





Hans Zimmer - The Way of the Sword

Thomas Newman - Silhouette

Winfred Phillips - Agate's Power


Rules:

• Track must be written for this contest, no recycling please.
• Aim for 2 min; over is better than under.
• Stylistic choice is entirely up to you; use whatever instruments you have access to, just be consistent and original.

Judging Criteria:

• I’m looking for originality mostly and I’ll be honest, I tend to hear timbres and sound design first, music theory second. So it may behoove you to ensure that your piece is sonically pleasing.
• Tension. Want to feel tension, not terror
• How original is your piece? Don't be afraid to think outside the box a little.
• It's a safe bet that your percussion arrangement will be very important here. Not requiring percussion, just emphasizing that its presence, or lack of presence will probably be an important decision for you to make early on.

Deadline:
Friday 01/16/2015

With this being the holiday season and all, most of our schedules are all over the place. So I figure 29 days should give everyone enough time. I'll pick the top 3 entries, and then we'll vote. In the case of a tie, there will be an actual physical battle to the death; or maybe I'll just choose the victor, haven't decided yet. Best of luck everyone, and please ask questions.

[ZackParrish]

I'll be out of town until the 4th but I'll try to do something for this whenever I get back.

[Ninety]

It's a great idea and I may well participate but I have one question: why is over 2 minutes better than under? Surely quality trumps quantity.

[rmrzero4]

I might try.

[Kyle Preston]

It's a great idea and I may well participate but I have one question: why is over 2 minutes better than under? Surely quality trumps quantity.

Quality trumps quantity is a given; doubtful that anyone would disagree with that. Generally speaking, writing 2:15 of quality music probably requires more effort than 1:45 of quality music. Of course this isn't always true, I realize that everyone has a different workflow (sometimes I spend more time cutting performances than crafting them). But generally, writing more music takes more effort, and that effort should be taken into consideration. I'm not suggesting you should reduce the tempo of your song just to add seconds to the end either; you should do what the piece requires. Besides, it's usually pretty obvious when someone slaps on some extra time just to meet a quota, so I wouldn't worry about it too much.

[Ninety]

Ah okay, thanks, I see what you mean now. That makes sense, and I definitely agree that more effort put in is a good thing. I guess I was just worried you were one of those "length trumps composition" people.

[Kyle Preston]

Just a reminder, only 10 days left to submit your piece (no submissions yet  ).  Do people want more time to finish? I know that the holidays can be a huge damper on productivity.

[Pete301]

Don't worry, I'm working on my submission. There'll be at least one to judge .

[The Translocator]

https://soundcloud.com/the-translocator/clash-of-arms

I made a thing. 

[Alessandro M.]

Just found out this contest, gonna find some time to create something.

[SmaugPenDraig]

Although it does say no recycling, with the lack of submissions, I thought I'd throw a "boss battle" track I never used for anything.

I made it a year ago, and I wanted to play with the new wobble-bass stuff I had.  Balancing in it's a real issue, but it wasn't what I made it for, percussion can get a bit intensely loud at points, apologies!

https://soundcloud.com/pendraigmusic/something-is-coming-loop

[qwercus]

Here's my entry! https://soundcloud.com/qwercus/sketch-boss-battle

Thanks for organizing these competitions. It's great to have some extra motivation to push yourself as well as see how others approach the same idea differently. I'm definitely looking forward to the next one!

[Kyle Preston]

Keep them entries comin! Still have the rest of the day to submit yours. 

[Homicide_Monkey]

Wish I had spent more time on this, but I'd rather submit what I have instead of letting it go in the bin.

https://soundcloud.com/homicide-monkey/tigsource-battle-theme

[Díoltas]

It's about time I stopped hiding in the shadows on this site and did something

I put this together today, sadly a little late in seeing this competition but I hope you enjoy this track 

https://soundcloud.com/d-oltas/kristopher-davis-battle-of-unknown-origins

[Kyle Preston]

Awesome work guys. Since there were only a few entries, I think I'll leave it entirely up to a vote from other users.  I'm going to make time after work tonight/tomorrow to listen to all the tracks and provide constructive feedback, which I'll post in the voting thread. 

[Pete301]

Oh bother, I thought the deadline was today, doesn't matter either way though I have been too busy to finish my track. I will listen to them all and vote when the time comes though :D.