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jdagenet

I have a small Dark Ambient piece for you guys

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I was playing some Playstation Doom not too long ago -- I absolutely love the tracks that Aubrey composed for the console Doom's, so I decided to take a shot at it.
I cooked this up in about an hour so let's see how you Dark Ambient fanatics (like myself) enjoy this:

http://www.mediafire.com/download/g4eu3liktkv4bsp/MUS_TRACK_DARK_AMBIENT_001.flac

It's not too awfully long, clocks in right around 2:30.

As always, feedback is welcome and preferred.

Enjoy!

- Jason

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I have always been one to mute the game music (sorry, doom purists) and play my own tunes. I find that any music with a "hook" becomes annoying when heard over and over while I figure out a game. Cute, bright music is fine with a short level, but anything that's going to take up my time needs something that won't make me want to drive stakes into my ears.

Which is to say: I like this track. It sets a mood, a pretty serious hellish mood, but doesn't interfere with my focus. I'm a not a wad designer but I hope that those who are make use of this kind of track, rather than bright and annoyingly invasive music.

I could provide examples but I'm a noob and don't want to offend anyone. ;)

Kind of curious how you came up with the sounds.

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I agree.
I will say that if the music is catchy and pleasant to listen too, I'll keep the volume up!
But if it's some repetitive tune that isn't even pleasant nor worth listening too then that's when I'll turn the volume down, or even off.

The level I was playing when I got the idea to make this was Deimos Anomaly in Playstation Doom. Deimos Anomaly is known for the low, demonic chanting so I made sure to use sounds that weren't demons but sounded like demons.

Glad you enjoyed it though, it was a spur-of-the-moment creation.

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OK, I may offend, but here I go...

I LOVE the visual design of the following level, and I appreciate the irony of the cheery music set against the DOOM-HELL design. Really, it's funny. But if I was a serious gamer trying to record this level I would go to great lengths to never ever have this horrible music reach my ears while I figured out my run:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19K9750nJFw

I may be a noob, but my lord, who choose such music? I would love to see a play of this beautiful map with this talented player set to non-annoying music. Completely different thing. Sorry, I may have highjacked your thread. I hope no one holds my opinions against you. But I would love to see this awesome map played with your music rather then the "Price is Right" stuff it got stuck with.

ETA: watching that CC level with your music, I think that's not the right thing either. Too far to the other extreme for all those neon colors. There must be something in between. I find the music to Sunder's Furnace has the right balance of ambient and... whatever non-ambient is. But that's just me.

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I'm always a fool for some dark ambient music. I really liked it. Good quality mixing and I really liked the 'plane drone' effect that came in about two thirds through the track. For some reason I felt like a couple of 'water droplet' sounds here and there would really compliment the track. That's probably just me being a bit weird though!

Do you plan on doing more like this? I'd be interested in hearing it. :)

PS: What do you use for making this stuff? I'm an old fart muso who, up until now, has only really used string instruments and studio time but I fancy trying my hand at this stuff... :)

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Average said:

I'm always a fool for some dark ambient music. I really liked it. Good quality mixing and I really liked the 'plane drone' effect that came in about two thirds through the track. For some reason I felt like a couple of 'water droplet' sounds here and there would really compliment the track. That's probably just me being a bit weird though!

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it.
I'm not sure about the water droplets, but if you'd like some water droplets mixed in then I could probably do that for you.

Average said:

Do you plan on doing more like this? I'd be interested in hearing it. :)

I could make some more. I could also sit down and really put some time into it as well.

Average said:

PS: What do you use for making this stuff? I'm an old fart muso who, up until now, has only really used string instruments and studio time but I fancy trying my hand at this stuff... :)

I use Omnisphere for everything I do, it's extremely versitile.
If you plan on upgrading your gear, I highly recommend Omnisphere. It costs a few bucks but it's worth it.

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Great track, Jdagnet. It really sets the mood for something horrific.
The latter, more quiet part of the track contrasts well with the beginning. I'd say it fits in rather well with Aubrey's work.

...And I must agree with Cosmicsquish about music in DooM WADs. It happens all too often, unfortunately.
DooM is about an invasion by nightmarish and incredibly hostile entities, and not about a happy day at an amusement park!
I don't think that "upbeat" tracks fit the theme at all.

For instance, take the Back to Saturn E1 WAD. The levels are competently designed, with new textures that are equally well-made. The music is also of a high quality, but I don't think it fits. At all. Where is the feeling of dread and hopelessness? The feeling of DooM?

There are many great WADs out there. But many could become so much better if only some thoughts were spent on the overall atmosphere.

Besides music, this includes lightning (or lack thereof, coupled with some dramatically lit areas), which in many cases tend to be bland and very bright, but that's for another discussion, I think.

In short, more maps need to use good tracks such as this one!

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Glad you liked it, Olroda.
Most of the time, it's the craziest sounds that'll send chills down your spine, and that's what I love about Dark Ambient. You can record every-day sounds and, with a little magic, transform them into a hellish soundscape.

Lighting and audio play a huge role in a game's perceived atmosphere and I'm not bashing Bobby's music, Jimmy's music, or even Paul's music -- the music itself is great to listen too, but if Doom was meant to be a dark, atmospheric game, id went in the complete opposite direction.
Now, there is one level in Doom, E2M4, that is actually more dark feeling and feels the way Doom should feel. The level itself is relatively dark and the music fits quite well.

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I agree.
I'm certainly not thinking that their music is bad (quite the contrary, in fact), just that something "darker" fits better most of the time.
However, action-packed maps such as Dead Simple are exceptions to this, in my opinion.

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Thanks Demonologist, I appreciate it.
I too love love dark, scary music so more than likely I'll make more in the future.

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