space music tropes

How to make that sound...
Post Reply New Topic
RELATED
PRODUCTS

Post

i can't believe i'm posting a thread like this. it's a pretty bad idea, not just because my reputation will be ruined, but you know, you stop doing your own thinging, and whatever gets in there. that's wrong. no one wants to be wrong, especially you.

so what do you think about that. ?? :shrug:
you come and go, you come and go. amitabha neither a follower nor a leader be tagore "where roads are made i lose my way" where there is certainty, consideration is absent.

Post

oh yeah wait -

so i'm writing a 100% generative music engine for a "space fighter game" - it's been a fair while since i paid attention to the world around me, because i'm such a famous developer of course. back in day i did actually play one of these though, c. 1996, british co., music was quite well recognised but i can't recall the name of either. gated pads, midtempo beats.

so i thought i'd solicit the public for any amusing tropes you'd care to pin on the genre. trick question, afaik there's like two.

pads, with a gate for some or all of the track.

and of course 1m staccato ostinato sequences like klf or 808's cubik. this was pre trance iirc. maybe simple polyrhythmic layering, arps, stuff.


add some atonal drones and modular noodles, sweeps and stuff i associate more with the "70's idea of space music"


care to kick any other ideas my way? like tell me most space games (i didn't play) have sampled horsey noises playing daisy daisy, et c.
you come and go, you come and go. amitabha neither a follower nor a leader be tagore "where roads are made i lose my way" where there is certainty, consideration is absent.

Post

Some/many feature orchestral music for those CINEMATIC vibes. Maybe for non-orchestral check out some classic mod music?

Anyway, just some random sources of inspiration:

https://soundcloud.com/ccpgames/tracks (music from EVE Online and their other games)
Isao Tomita - Planets, Snowflakes are Dancing
https://aleksieeben.bandcamp.com/

Post

the similarity of these pieces to OT is quite strong.. mid tempo, not breaks or dance, a lot of sequences on the beat here rather than the upbeat for a building feeling more than a coasting feeling. i recall it as being post early 90's trends before any cognisance of trance or "step" music or jungle. no clue how they got there but thank you for the overtly trope bearing material :)
you come and go, you come and go. amitabha neither a follower nor a leader be tagore "where roads are made i lose my way" where there is certainty, consideration is absent.

Post

The space music "counter-trope" to endless pads and squiggly bloops is guitar-driven, country-western stuff because space is the final frontier...See Brian Eno/Danny Lanois' "Apollo" and Firefly/Serenity.

Post

I'll see your Firefly and raise with Benson Arizona from all-time classic sci-fi Dark Star:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTa2vXL7FI8

Post

If you check out the excellent Space Engine, there is plenty of spacey music in there. I associate it with slowly modulated pads, long filter sweeps, weird sound effects, heeeeps of reverb.

Post

a couple of tropes i (now) associate with space music is the use of middle eastern sounds and female vocals over "cinematic" drums:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VlgYgN8qos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3YVq0Hvd8k
ImageImageImage

Post

Of course, complete silence is the most accurate "space music" of all...

Post

My noggin is firmly planted in the 70's when I hear "space music".. but mid-90's space game? Howzabout this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el5yD2Ayokw
Music can no longer soothe the worried thoughts of monarchs; it can only tell you when it's time to buy margarine or copulate. -xoxos
Discontinue use if rash or irritation develops.

Post Reply

Return to “Sound Design”