This week marks the third week of working on the Carbarian's game project, and I don't have much to report (a small relief). Due to how hard myself and the games team had been working in the first two weeks, the audio assets of the game are really coming together and the other members seem to be pleased with the music I am creating.
This week I wrote a second background track to be played during the levels. This track was inspired from the swing music that was popular during the 1930-40s (which was also during the golden age of animation). I tried to use a swing element in the rhythms section, by writing a drum line that had emphasis on the 'off-beat' of the music.
On top of this I also added an Oboe, Clarinet, and Trombone melody.
I am finally becoming a bit more confident with my composing, and I found that with this track I was able to add more notes and harmonic elements compared to my previous compositions, without compromising and making the piece feel 'too busy' (which was my issue with my first piece). I feel happy with the distance that I have travelled, and that I'm able to see small improvements in just a few tracks.
The game itself is also coming along very well. I am really enjoying working with the team and we all seem to be effective in our organisation and communication.
This week also saw the creation of a 'victory noise', which would be played whenever a player completed a level successfully.
At first, I created a 4 piece track that only lasted for a few seconds, with each instrument a general section of the orchestra (horns, cornets, trombones, and bass) hitting notes that went up the scale and finally finishing in a long-held note that aims to sound grand and impressive.
But, I found that even these small amounts of notes went on for too long - I needed something sharp and snappy. So I got rid of the notes in the middle where I felt boredom might creep in, and I also increased the tempo to make it more concise. This ended up being my final 'victory' composition, and I was quite pleased with the outcome.
There is just one more track that the games team wants for their project. The workload for this has lightened considerably this week, since a second audio student has put their hand up to jump onto this project with me, so I have left it up to them to create the bulk of this third track.
Other than that, the only things left to do are housekeeping things - tidying up of audio assets, especially in the case of some vocal sound effects that one of the game members created.
It is very exciting to be able to see the finish line! Just a few more weeks left!
I am currently writing this while watching a livestream of Beyoncé's 2018 Coachella performance - a subtle reminder of what live performance can BE!
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