Geoff the Medio wrote:I felt like the Trith music could have waited a bit before bringing in the strings.... give it some time to establish each bit before adding the next.
That was originally my intention, actually, but the trouble is that with music that's meant to be looped, it sounds odd if it builds up too much, the goes back to the simple beginning section. For that to sound good, the piece would have to be a bit longer and more complicated than basic racial theme music warrants, IMO.
Geoff the Medio wrote:Also consider a different instrument for the string part... It's currently a bit dominating.
Would it be adequate if the strings were just made a bit softer?
Geoff the Medio wrote:Also, I'd have like a few "huh?" moments where a different chord happened than I was expecting...
I'm not sure if the level of complexity that would entail would be appropriate for basic theme music, but I'll see if I can manage that without reducing the simplicity/purity of the basic theme.
Geoff the Medio wrote:Also, an additional walking (eighth notes) part with something like a music box instrument could be added.
By "eighth notes", you mean half the length of the piano notes right? Actually, the piano notes are eighth notes, since the piece is in 6/8 time rather than 3/4, but that's not readily apparent.
Geoff the Medio wrote:The Egassem theme sounds like it could be a great brassy fanfare with a few more parts added. I've got some MP3s lying around called "Empire Brass Quintet - Cumulous Sanctus" and "Empire Brass Quintet - Amarilli mia bella" that might give you an idea what I'm thinking of if you can find it... Also, look up the Moorside suite by Holst. The basic style you've started with seems appropriate for the description, though.
I could try adding some more parts, but again, I'm a bit worried about overcomplicating what should be a fairly straightforward theme. Far more complexity should be observed in each race's battle music, for example, than in their basic theme.
Kobuntura... uh... ok. Not really getting a particle magnetic web race vibe from that. More like theme for the dopey character in children's cartoon show...? Interesting, though...
I can see how the Marimba would give that impression; it sounds a lot like a Xylophone. The trombone part might also be contributing to that. I think perhaps a tweaking of the instruments/effects might lessen that impression.
pd wrote:Not necessarily more aggressive, but definitely darker. The Trith are IMO nearly driven to insanity(not the just children!).
Oh. You might not like the second Trith theme then. It's definitely more aggressive, but I wouldn't say it's at all darker. To be honest, I thought the original Trith theme was fairly "dark"; I really couldn't imagine anyone dancing to it - it's more likely to make the player feel guilty about killing the Trith's children than anything else....
Anyway, we'll see how that goes.