Does this sound... Thiefy to you at all?

TheGrimSmile on 15/6/2010 at 06:21

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeX8CWEt_-w)

Just a quick something I whipped up after listening to waxytune for about the 15th time. I constructed it from what I know about tonal music. Very simple analysis and written in a minor (I haven't figured out how to write key signatures on Finale quite yet)

Does this sound Thiefy at all? Am I on the right track? The main tune sounds rather Asian to me... but I got my inspiration from waxytune.

If someone could help me... is there a harp with a little more pluck available for Finale? Also, I need help with making it sound like those viktrolas. Turns out putting vinyl record sounds in the background doesn't quite cut it :rolleyes:

zil on 15/6/2010 at 07:37

Good effort! The sound is quite like it in my opinion. Would definitely work in an FM. I would like to point out, though, that you should bear in mind the way they play the harp in real life - for example, if you have chords then (I think, but I'm not sure) the harpist cannot make all the notes in the chord sound at the same time, but they will play it with arpeggio technique. I'm supposing that when you use Finale you already know what that is? (if not, go to (http://tafn.info/staff/ziili/arpeggio_harp.mp3) and (http://tafn.info/staff/ziili/arpeggio_piano.mp3) to get an idea, I did those both in Finale). You can do this quite easily in Finale - by going to articulations and then whilst holding down the r key (the hotkey for arpeggio) click above a chord in your staff to add it (there should be an arrow or sth indicating you can add it). But this is just nitpicking really, your short composition was wonderful and would still work well.

I haven't heard a viktrola for a long time, though, guess I should play T2 :P So can't give you any hints on how to make it similar..

Beleg Cúthalion on 15/6/2010 at 13:02

I think some MIDI editors have a strumming function to move the notes a bit in order to make it sound like strumming. Still, that's far away from the original, though. There are some medieval reconstructions of harps and songs on YouTube. The problem is, though, that there is a difference between "ingame" music (I mean in the context of Thief) like waxytune, and the score, some sort of meta-level music which most of all makes us feel like we're there, although people in the Thief world would find it most unpleasant. :p

TheGrimSmile on 15/6/2010 at 15:31

Thanks, zil! That helps a lot, but I'm not sure how often I need to include an arpeggio. I suppose I should listen to some real harp music to figure that out...

BC, I think I see what you mean...

Well, I'm going after the sound that waxytune is made with, because I imagine it being used in an FM (if I ever get around to making one... and a decent one, at that)

Now that you mention it, the "record" sound is very, very exaggerated on the viktrolas, but that's the sound I'm going for.

That explains why the vinyl record sounds didn't work at all.

cast on 15/6/2010 at 16:45

There are hardly any chords in the piece, or are there? You don't need arpeggios for 2 notes at once, after all, a haprist has two hands :)
IMO it would kinda fit into some filigrant mansion ballroom (or maybe sitting room is a better choice), but it doesn't really sound like harp music to me... although played on a harp. No idea what instrument would be better, though.
The rhytm at the end feels a bit jazz-like. Just a thought xd

TheGrimSmile on 15/6/2010 at 18:15

Well, I would say that nothing in Finale really sounds like the real thing :joke: But it's kind of fitting, because it sounds sort of close to the harp music in Thief. As I said, though, I wish it had a little more pluck to it...

There aren't any chords, just two lines... I could change that, but there aren't many long notes to mess around with.

Yeah, I have some syncopated stuff at the end. It was an accident, but I thought it sounded cool.

TafferLing on 15/6/2010 at 18:52

Sounds more like Ultima.

TheGrimSmile on 10/10/2010 at 23:55

After getting back into Thief a little bit (first time since early summer) I was revisiting a few old saves of mine and came across the waxytune wax cylinder in Thief 2 (unpatched version)

It reminded me of this old thread, so I downloaded Audacity and played around with it a bit.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJrmYw9DUQ4)

My sister is working on getting some nice vinyl record artifact recordings for me (so I don't have to pay $3 for two seconds of sound), but do you think I have at all achieved the hollow sound that the wax cylinders have?

negativeliberty on 11/10/2010 at 00:31

It doesn't sound Thiefy, but it does sound like something that could exist in the "Thief Universe", defnitely. It sounds like something which could be played to an attentive Thiefieval audience ;)

For it to sound Thiefy (and I'm thinking of the soundtrack here) it would need some ambient, at least (see for example, (http://www.amazon.com/Selected-Ambient-Works-Aphex-Twin/dp/B000002MNZ) Selected Ambient Works Vol. 2).

Vernon on 11/10/2010 at 00:33

Your filtering is good, it captures the victrola speaker's tinniess, but that midband noise needs to go, it doesn't sound anything like victrola noise. Even some quiet, carefully filtered white noise would work better. What you have now sounds like it is resonating from some effect you applied.

You can make this work with just passband filters and EQs. When you are trying to emulate a speaker or a source, it helps to think of the sound in terms of the frequency domain. What does the speaker do to the sound? Does it take something away or emphasise something else? Does the source detune the signal or is this a hi-fi source?

Anyway keep it up, the best way to learn about sound design is by playing around and breaking stuff

Nice tune btw