The Art of Kicking Flank (Fighting is Magic soundtrack)

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The Art of Kicking Flank (Fighting is Magic soundtrack)

Postby Whitetail » 30 Jun 2011 21:36

Currently working on the Fighting is Magic soundtrack, seeing as Rainbow is Handling the Applejack theme (first pony that's being made) I'm handling Rarity (second up in the cue), so here's an early work in progress of the theme for Rarity's level.

All in all Rarity seemed to be a fairly difficult subject to pinpoint for her sound, especially being a fighting game. The most obvious thing that'd come to mind would be a sort of regal orchestral piece, fancy and show-offy (probably somewhere around Baroque, but with less restrictions on the composition (personal choice here, never did like all the restrictions on non-chord tones in Baroque music)) - thing is, well 2 things:
-It's not particularly interesting to fight to, sure something more menacing like a fugue would definitely work in a fighting game, but not in her case - it can't give an impression of menacing.
-Well good strings are expensive haha, I'd have to mooch off my friends plugins and things often turn out more expressive/better sounding when I do it since I know the sound I'm going for (been in a few positions where a midi just didn't express the "sound" so to speak of different instruments and me and the other person I was working with had different visions of the final).

After a few sort of hybrid orchestral concepts that went nowhere, I heard this piece in some video that had ponies synched to it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AOXEqf2mfE
And at that point the ideas just seemed to click, and thus this came about:

http://www.box.net/shared/otb9f1llfq9fetvb5b3u

It's still wip, I have some things to add:
-Percussion is missing a lot of layers (hi hat, crash, tom, etc.)
-"Un-muddy" the piano lead, it just doesn't seem very clean/crisp sounding
-General mixing work

But aside from that, what do you think so far?
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Re: The Art of Kicking Flank (Fighting is Magic soundtrack)

Postby Stars In Autumn » 30 Jun 2011 23:27

Haha, wow, that sounds really good!

I'm not much one to critique, but on that synth that you pan from the left channel to right, maybe alternate where it starts from?

Other than that, it really sounds amazing!
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Re: The Art of Kicking Flank (Fighting is Magic soundtrack)

Postby Whitetail » 01 Jul 2011 08:10

Hmmmm I believe with that delay I'm working with I actually can have it alternate sides, thanks for the suggestion!
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Re: The Art of Kicking Flank (Fighting is Magic soundtrack)

Postby PinkiePieSwear » 01 Jul 2011 15:07

Honestly, I think the theme of this song could totally fit in a fighting game just fine. I actually think this fits Rarity quite well! There's only one thing I think might be kind of odd hearing so much while you are fighting, and that's how many times the bass and kick stop. Don't get me wrong, it sounds great and has a very relaxed feeling to it when they stop, but I kinda figured that's a bad thing in a fighting game.

Obviously it's easier on the ears if they stop at least once or twice for a brief time though.

That's my opinion anyway :)
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Re: The Art of Kicking Flank (Fighting is Magic soundtrack)

Postby Interrobang Pie » 01 Jul 2011 15:24

It's not bad, I guess, but it's not good either. However, I can appreciate that Rarity is a very dodgy target.

Instrumentation-wise though, it's alright. The synthy strings are nice, although the 12.5% square starting at 0:19 sounds odd with all those portamentos.

(Is this a remix like Applejack's theme is, or is it original? If the latter, you need a few melodical improvements here and there. Don't let me discourage, you're off to a great start).

EDIT: I possibly need to play more fighting games though to get a feel for it's music.
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Re: The Art of Kicking Flank (Fighting is Magic soundtrack)

Postby PinkiePieSwear » 01 Jul 2011 15:37

Interrobang Pie wrote:It's not bad, I guess, but it's not good either.


Aww, what?! I think it's really good! I really love the melody in this one. As I said before, I just wish that awesome, adrenaline rushing bass and kick didn't stop as much.
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Re: The Art of Kicking Flank (Fighting is Magic soundtrack)

Postby Interrobang Pie » 01 Jul 2011 15:45

PinkiePieSwear wrote:Aww, what?! I think it's really good!

(You will eventually learn that I am the single pickiest human being you will ever see in your life.)
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Re: The Art of Kicking Flank (Fighting is Magic soundtrack)

Postby Whitetail » 01 Jul 2011 15:53

(Is this a remix like Applejack's theme is, or is it original? If the latter, you need a few melodical improvements here and there. Don't let me discourage, you're off to a great start).


Well technically it's a remix of Art of the Dress, but the references are for the most part very light, basically it's an original with a few references to another piece.
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Re: The Art of Kicking Flank (Fighting is Magic soundtrack)

Postby Senator Myth » 01 Jul 2011 18:05

I really, really like it, but I'm not entirely certain it would be suitable for a fighting game. It's not UN-suitable. While I was listening to it, I was like, "No, this is like a soundtrack for something really dramatic happening. I can't really imagine this in a fighting game setting." But then toward the end I was like "Well, if the other tracks are major and relatively upbeat, then maybe this would be an interesting change of pace."

So basically, I would make the beat a bit more consistent (like PinkiePieSwear suggested) and maybe make it a bit less dramatic. Well, that's not quite what I mean. I mean make it less sad-dramatic and more desperate-dramatic. I realize that this is quite possibly extremely vague and unhelpful.

But, qualms aside, there's nothing about it that's bad. Just a few things that could be improved. I enjoyed it.
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