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[AdamButcher]

UPDATE: 25/11/09

Well I've cut everything out and placed it all here (to save my bandwidth):

http://drop.io/AdamButcher545

All the Musics and Sound Effects are mixed up, but generally the title and the .mp3 tag should make it clear.


New additions to watch out for:

FastPart.mp3 - an upbeat little ditty in the same key

All the parts of FullPiece now separated into longer parts, with nice sustained endings.

A few random little sounds like Flutter, RandomTumble and DangerTheme (.wavs)

Multiple versions (ie. octaves) of most of the sounds.

Try the NearDeath ones repeating at regular intervals!

An ImprovActionMess.mp3 Emphasis on Mess me thinks.

A HissLoop.wav that could work as a background bed for a whole game, and disguise the presence of hiss in the rest of the sounds.

OK, let me know what you think!


-------------
ORIGINAL POST
Hi all! By chance I happened to start composing a new piano piece just as this competition started. I thought I’d record it and donate it to the compo.

But first!

SOUND EFFECTS

I thought it’d be really cool to try using a real piano to make game sound effects. Here’s quite a few examples. For different character weights or levels of severity, I’ve played the same thing at different octaves.

MUSIC

I also thought it would be extra cool if people could use elements of music at different points in a game, and have it come in or even develop dynamically.

I’ll warn you, none of these are very “gamey”, but might suit a more indie/arty/explory type thing. But I’d be interested to see how any of it can be used. Maybe 200% speed?

Again, I haven’t put everything up here. Let me know if you want to hear more.

And finally here’s the whole piece that I composed- stringing all the parts together. For this one I tried using a denoiser. What do people think?

[UPDATED- 14/11/09]
MIDI...

Nothtecommondose requested that I make a Midi version of the full piece. I did...kinda. I thought that Noteworthy Composer 2 would have the same features and restrictions as Noteworthy 1- did my entire piece but found it won't let me export Midi!

And after spending about an hour, I'm not doing it again on Noteworthy 1. So here's the Noteworthy File if anyone can do anything with that:

And here's the sheet music as pdf (sorry about the first page)

LICENCE

Anyone can use or edit or alter any of these samples and pieces, without permission, free of charge, for this competition or anything else. BUT if you do use anything I would like a credit pointing to my website: www.adam-butcher.co.uk .

If you do use anything, I would of course be interested to hear from you, just to see what you do with it.

LOVE? HATE? SUGGESTIONS?

You tell me.

[s0]

I listened to some of the sound effects as well as the "full piece". The SFX are interesting and I could definitely see them working for something like menu selections, but for jumping or walking I'm not sure. Of course someone could make a game where all the audio cues consist of music, but I'm not sure they work as "conventional" sound effects. May you could try preparing your piano to create some "noisier" sounds?

As for the piece I liked it, it's got a kind of Satie vibe, but unfortunately, it's not very well recorded. The sound is a bit muffled (possibly due to the mic you're using) and it all sounds a bit "distant" which is usually the result of placing the mic too far away from the instrument. I mean I don't know a lot about how to record a piano but you might wanna fix that.

[BrixxieBee]

I'd like to hear more. I might use these for my game. Are they all in the same key? If I were to use the piano piece, or write one of my own would all the sound effects sound like they're in the same key?

I'll let you know if I use them.

James

[JorgeBoscan]

I mean I don't know a lot about how to record a piano but you might wanna fix that.

It's really hard to record a piano, it takes a lot of high quality mics. The best solution is to record directly from a keyboard, or use a controller/keyboard and a high quality piano VST library for best results, but those are not a viable option for everyone.

It's a nice concept you try to show here. Good job.

[Lon]

Ah, I love the Piano.

I also thought it would be extra cool if people could use elements of music at different points in a game, and have it come in or even develop dynamically.

That would be fantastic.  It can be difficult to choreograph on screen action to the music, so why not fit the music to the action?  So often the user controls the action.
I think Left 4 Dead has attempted something like this.  I'd definitely like to see more of this in games and the concept further expanded upon.

When placing mic's for shows/performances I tend to see the mic placed quite close to the backside of the sound board.  For example, on a grand piano that would be the under side, opposite side of the strings, about 2-18 inches away from the sound board.  Ive seen mic's placed right up near the strings as well, but I've heard you might catch more noise from the hammer strikes, levers and echo.  Perhaps you would get some uneven volume as well, I am not sure.

"indie/arty/explory type thing" Kinda sounds appropriate.  The pieces you entered sound perhaps a little slower and softer than many sfx or game music that I can recall.

I really do enjoy the piano, and am glad to hear it in this competition.  I especially like Death2.

License is nice and friendly. 

[György Straub]

Love, definitely(, actually).

And "Everyday Shooter For Teh Piano"? Count me the flip in!


(Seriously, this is really good and fresh stuff. And I'm not even halfway through it.)

[AdamButcher]

Hi guys,

Thanks for all the positive feedback! Glad you think some of it can be used.

Yeah, I'm not too crazy about my recording ability either. Unfortunately I'm only a hobbying musician (I'm actually pursuing a career as a filmmaker) and have no time or funds to invest in proper recording equipment.

But still, I guess I kinda knew that there would always be a "field-recording" sound to the assets. I like the sound of keys being hit, a creaking piano stool and emotive-but-not-perfect playing. Just a shame that the light hiss and faraway-ness distances you from the music a bit.

-Denoising-
Any opinions on this? Remove the hiss using a program or keep it as it is? Place a quick fadeout on the SFx to disguise the presence of hiss?

-Key-
It's all in C/A minor, so nice and easy for any other composers to work with. Just don't play those black notes!
The "theme" chord progression is C Am C Am F G.

[JorgeBoscan]

Cool Edit / Adobe Audition have Hiss/Noise reduction, but I believe there are vst that can do a better job.

[nunix]

MUSIC

I also thought it would be extra cool if people could use elements of music at different points in a game, and have it come in or even develop dynamically.

This is actually at least as old as Wing Commander (so, 1989-90). It's pretty great, but has very rarely been used, for reasons I can't fathom.

Listening to your Part* pieces really got my brain going. These could be great for some kind of platformer with a more cinematic feel. Parts could get queued up as you progress through the level (thus the pace dictating the evolution of the song), especially useful for something with very branching exploration; it'd be a great cue to the player that they were not totally lost, but were making some kind of progress. Or maybe different parts come in as you get different items. OR you could have different instruments come in at different items/checkpoints, all playing the same song.. lots of possibilities!

I'd been debating doing something like this with my harp for the competition, but wasn't very confident about it.. might actually take a crack at it now.

[BrixxieBee]

Do you have a midi/controller and if so could you pass along a midi score for these pieces?

[AdamButcher]

I'd been debating doing something like this with my harp for the competition, but wasn't very confident about it.. might actually take a crack at it now.

Oooh harp. I'd love to hear some. Please do record it.
For some reason I'd also love to hear Clarinet with this. Anyone play?

Do you have a midi/controller and if so could you pass along a midi score for these pieces?

No midi controller I'm afraid, but if you ask nicely I should be able to write it up in sheet music for you. It's very easy. And using Noteworthy Composer, I could make a very unemotive MIDI file of it.

[BrixxieBee]

That would be very nice of you. I would be able to run the midi scores through my vsts and come up with some really nice, clean samples. If it's a bother I don't want to bother you to muck around with sheet music and midis and such. I really like where you're going with this though, so its up to you.

James

[s0]

I personally am not a big fan of digital noise reduction. It makes the music sound all plasticky.

[BrixxieBee]

Yeah, once the noise is in there you can't really take it out unless you want to sacrifice some quality.

[AdamButcher]

Hi there, just letting you know that I half done the Midi. See details above. At least there's sheet music.

NotWorthy Composer more like!

I've cut together all the other musical samples as well. Will post them up soon.

[nunix]

Awesome! I've tried to use different notation software in the past and have never had any kind of luck. -.- Really wish I could work out how to use a bog-standard simple one, so I wasn't just doing it out by hand and then scanning it in for record-keeping. ;p

[AdamButcher]

A hoi hoi. I've put up everything I recorded now. Hope someone finds it useful.

http://drop.io/AdamButcher545

I'm now using drop.io to save my bandwidth. Bing!

A

[Melly]

Checked out some of the samples. Some good stuff there, but often you left long silences at the end of the files. Especially for some of the stuff that loops it'd be nice to have properly looping sound files.

[hyperduck]

Just curious, did you record those piano pieces from an acoustic piano? Like with a microphone as opposed to Midi.

Couldn't tell for a bit in the full piece, but the fast ones it seemed clear. Sounds good quality too! Nice work.