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Thread: EB Music Preview Strikes Back!

  1. #1

    Default EB Music Preview Strikes Back!

    Greetings Europa Barbarorum fans. Today we have our second music preview, showcasing more of the work of our two composers:


    As shown in our first music preview, EB v0.8 will feature new music for our different culture groups. We have replaced *all* the music from the vanilla version of the mod at this point with new music from our composers. We are now releasing two more culture sets to give a better idea of where the music for EB is going (or maybe "has gone") and to free up more songs that our composers can include on their own personal websites (Morgan Casey and Nick Wylie).

    As a reminder of how the process worked, here is a quote from the last preview on this:
    Morgan and Nick worked with our historical advisors each step of the way - trying to come up with a soundtrack for each culture group (as well as a few general pieces that would have to serve for all culture groups) that would reflect different aspects of that culture while still remaining enjoyable for modern ears and audiences. If anyone has heard reconstructions of ancient Greek music, they probably understand that a 100% authentic reproduction (even *if* it was able to be achieved, and it probably wouldn't) would simply not work in the context that we needed: that of an accompanying set of themes for a computer game in today's world. As Morgan and Nick primarily work with soundtracks (take a look at their lists of influences on their myspace.com pages and you will notice many modern movie score composers), they used our advisors' suggestions of everything from instruments, to rhythms, to vocal accompaniement to create compositions that work well within the parameters of the game, but still reflect as much as we can different aspects of that culture in the music.
    We would like to thank Morgan and Nick yet again for their work and we can't wait to release all of the pieces with the 0.8 build. We are also very happy to suggest that folks out there take a closer look at their other work on their websites and their myspace.com pages too.

    And now for the part you've been waiting on, here are the previewed songs (click on each "button" individually to hear them - if you are going to listen to them multiple times, we would advise saving bandwith by just right clicking and choosing "Save as..." to save the songs to your desktop):


    Hellene Music Set (Morgan Casey):





    Eastern Music Set (Nick Wylie):







    Teleklos: Hi Morgan, first of all thanks for taking some time to answer a few questions pertaining to your work on the soundtrack of EB. I would like to start off by asking how you started working with EB, but since I was the one who contacted you initially, that might be a little odd. So instead, I'll ask you why you decided to help EB with its soundtrack.

    Morgan: It's a pleasure to talk about some of the music for the upcoming EB soundtrack. What initially interested me about EB was how well thought out and intricate it is. Also, I hadn't worked with a mod that deals with this time period before, so I was thrilled to try something new, and see how it would work out.

    Teleklos: You've worked a lot scoring other modifications (e.g., Napoleonic Total War, The Rhovanion Alliance for the Battle for Middle Earth, the upcoming PC game Outerspace!, etc.). Is this something you always wanted to do in and of itself or is it more a good way to break into the proverbial "big leagues"?

    Morgan: Writing music for the upcoming modifications I've been fortunate enough to work with has been a wonderful learning experience as well as a lot of fun! Seeing how everything comes together at the end is really cool. Down the road, I definitely won't rule out writing music for another mod.

    Teleklos: Do you play any computer games?

    Morgan: I love playing video games. When I'm not writing music, I enjoy games like "Gran Turismo" and "Need for Speed". I'm a big fan of racing games, but my all time favorite is "Final Fantasy VI."

    Teleklos: Moving on to the EB soundtrack itself, you created the Roman and Greek themes, in addition to working with Nick on the Nomadic theme. Was it chance or do you feel your work better matches those cultures?

    Morgan: Originally, Nick and I discussed which themes we felt our strong suits were in (writing wise), but outside of that that I had a huge interest in working on the theme for the Roman Faction, because it was something I hadn't really ventured into yet, stylistically.

    Teleklos: There's a big difference in the Nomadic theme though. What was the collaboration like there?

    Morgan: The collaboration on the Nomadic theme was great. The piece started out with me working on the guitar track and after Nick listened to it, he had a lot of cool percussion ideas that he wanted to add. From there on, we went through the process step by step together.

    Teleklos: I envision these themes as falling somewhere in a triangular scheme - with slavishly replicating ancient music (something that can be very jarring to modern listeners) on one corner, evoking the ideas of the ancient culture on another, and creating something that sounds pleasant and appropriate for the players on the other point, and the different themes then falling in different places within the scheme. My question is this: when you are creating the theme, is there a battle between these different ideas or is it more of a natural process? Where do you start and how do you get the final product?

    Morgan: For me, the most important aspect is knowing which direction the team wants to take things as well as my own limitations of what I'm able to do. For this soundtrack, I lightly worked with certain scales (Western Greek theme), while making sure the overall sound was modern.

    Teleklos: I've heard some of your other work (even vocals!) that doesn't fit into the same genre. How did you go from one to the other? Do you prefer the score work or the dance/pop work?

    Morgan: I first started out as an unsigned dance/pop artist a few years ago, but after awhile was no longer interested in continuing in that direction. Writing music is what I love doing the most and thus decided to switch and solely focus on writing songs, and vocal work for other producers. In 2003, I had the wonderful opportunity to write some pieces for a CG animated demo and ever since then I've had a huge interest in composing. For me, scoring is truly enjoyable work; every time I sit down and write, I learn something new.

    Teleklos: What about your next projects? What have you moved on to now?

    Morgan: Right now I'm currently working on the score for an upcoming Independent feature film (live action). I'm having a lot of fun working on it and hopefully things will turn out great.

    Teleklos: Thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions here Morgan! We appreciate your work and I hope that we can get Nick (who is currently on vacation) by here to talk with us at some point in the future.

    Morgan: No problem! I had a wonderful time working with the EB team, and I hope that when the new version is released, people will enjoy the music.


    Additionally, we will be including loading screens to provide more information on the different cultures' music (possibly as an extra packet, in order to speed download times of the mod itself). These are very much a work in progress, but here is a sample of one of the two culture groups we are showing here:




    We hope you have enjoyed this preview.

    As always, if you have questions or comments, the best place to post them is here, where the EB team is most active:

    Europa Barbarorum ORG forum

    Europa Barbarorum TWC forum

    We give special thanks to Imageshack that provides us with a simple, foolproof, and free way to show you all these pictures each week.

    Have a great day!


    Sincerely,

    The Europa Barbarorum team. (P.S. - Hope to get you back here presenting these previews soon Krusader! )
    Last edited by Teleklos Archelaou; 08-19-2006 at 03:06.

  2. #2

    Default Re: EB Music Preview Strikes Back!

    I would like to also note that the EB membership is very happy (to say the least) with the music Morgan and Nick have composed for the mod. We are happy to hear your opinions of the music, but complaints with regard to your personal tastes are better left to yourself. The music is finished, and as I said we are thrilled with it. It will not be changed. We have 26 pieces (I believe) and all of the music was composed gratis for us under our direction and with our suggestions. These are not units where individual weapons or unit names can be argued over. There is no right or wrong music here as we in no way expected authentic reproductions of the ancient music.

    Anyone who thinks they could have done better probably should have contacted us at some point between the mod's initial stages before the release of the game itself and the start of the summer.

  3. #3

    Default Re: EB Music Preview Strikes Back!

    nice music!

    i have a bad feeling however that the download of EB0.8 is gonna be big............

  4. #4
    The Great Lurker Member Joeokar's Avatar
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    Default Re: EB Music Preview Strikes Back!

    Great job
    Joeokar the great lurker

  5. #5

    Default Re: EB Music Preview Strikes Back!

    I totally approve, personally. 's'cool.

  6. #6
    Krusader's Nemesis Member abou's Avatar
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    Default Re: EB Music Preview Strikes Back!

    I'm really growing to like the music - especially the Roman music. We need more!

    Quick note, TK: you forgot to add the '3' at the end of the link for the Hellene mobilization music.

  7. #7

    Default Re: EB Music Preview Strikes Back!

    Very nice abou! Thanks - I'm sure it got chopped off somehow in the editing process.

  8. #8
    EBII Council Senior Member Kull's Avatar
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    Default Re: EB Music Preview Strikes Back!

    The Eastern theme is one of my personal favorites. I'll loop the damn thing for.....well, a looong time!
    "Numidia Delenda Est!"

  9. #9

    Default Re: EB Music Preview Strikes Back!

    Very good stuff! Hellene battle theme is great.

  10. #10
    Tangy, yet Zesty Member Zastrow's Avatar
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    Default Re: EB Music Preview Strikes Back!

    Great work as always!

  11. #11

    Default Re: EB Music Preview Strikes Back!

    Quote Originally Posted by Kull
    The Eastern theme is one of my personal favorites. I'll loop the damn thing for.....well, a looong time!
    same here.

  12. #12

    Default Re: EB Music Preview Strikes Back!

    EB should replace the loading screens with pictures of Morgan Casey.

  13. #13
    EBII Mapper and Animator Member -Praetor-'s Avatar
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    Default Re: EB Music Preview Strikes Back!

    Liking the music so far, It`s actually an excellent and very proffessional work. Love, I think it wil be a change for good, not for bad.

    Perhaps, people was so critic in the past because of the customization to the vainilla music.... not because people don`t like this one.

    It`s different, and as people know, what`s different creates an intinsecal resistance on humans.

    Quote Originally Posted by Wardo
    EB should replace the loading screens with pictures of Morgan Casey.
    Can`t agree more.

    PS: Not in form of a critic, but only because of beign curious. Why wasn`t the lyre used in those 3 greek themes? (If if is used, my apologies, I didn`t noticed it...) Will be used in the rest of the greek music?

  14. #14

    Default Re: EB Music Preview Strikes Back!

    The thing is, there was not much customization with vanilla. There were only three types of music - roman, eastern, and barb. Further, those were mixed up a lot too. The final result was one where you really didn't get a tremendous amount of variation no matter what faction you played as, since they all reused certain elements. It was very good, I'm not questioning that at all. But EB's music has seven different culture sets, and within them there are three different pieces each. All cultures will share some music with other ones, but only one or two others that are similar or that we think the music really could be used with. This way we get some variation, but it's still heavy on the one theme for that culture. With the large number of pieces though, I doubt people will get tired of it. Unless they got tired of vanilla too. If they tire of any music, then they can always turn the volume down.

    As for the lyre, I don't know how difficult it would be to represent it in the type of theme she used for the Hellenic culture. She did get a harp in there, which is another large plucked-string instrument though. There are not other unrevealed greek pieces though. The main hellenic culture and the eastern greek culture sets have now been revealed.

  15. #15
    Come to daddy Member Geoffrey S's Avatar
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    Default Re: EB Music Preview Strikes Back!

    Real nice. I particularly like the sombre start of the Hellenes theme, perfect for the feel of past glories fading away, followed by the more active parts of the song.

    I keep forgetting. I presume the main theme is what is played in the campaign map, the mobilization when troops are moving about, the battle theme when units start fighting?

    Edit: just finished the main eastern theme, it gets cut off right at the end. Really liked what I heard, though.
    Last edited by Geoffrey S; 08-20-2006 at 00:21.
    "The facts of history cannot be purely objective, since they become facts of history only in virtue of the significance attached to them by the historian." E.H. Carr

  16. #16

    Default Re: EB Music Preview Strikes Back!

    Quote Originally Posted by Geoffrey S
    Real nice. I particularly like the sombre start of the Hellenes theme, perfect for the feel of past glories fading away, followed by the more active parts of the song.
    so neatly noticed.

    I keep forgetting. I presume the main theme is what is played in the campaign map, the mobilization when troops are moving about, the battle theme when units start fighting?
    correct

    Edit: just finished the main eastern theme, it gets cut off right at the end. Really liked what I heard, though
    my favorite theme

  17. #17
    Member Member Birka Viking's Avatar
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    Default Re: EB Music Preview Strikes Back!

    Great work as always EB. Cant wait for the 0.8 beta..

  18. #18
    Poll Smoker Senior Member CountArach's Avatar
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    Default Re: EB Music Preview Strikes Back!

    I love the Hellenic Main Theme. As said the lamenting past glories lost bit at the start, and then rising to a crescendo is really effective.

    Keep up teh good work guys/gals.
    Rest in Peace TosaInu, the Org will be your legacy
    Quote Originally Posted by Leon Blum - For All Mankind
    Nothing established by violence and maintained by force, nothing that degrades humanity and is based on contempt for human personality, can endure.

  19. #19
    Wandering Historian Member eadingas's Avatar
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    Default Re: EB Music Preview Strikes Back!

    Quote Originally Posted by The Spartan
    nice music!

    i have a bad feeling however that the download of EB0.8 is gonna be big............
    The packed music doesn't take up that much space, actually, so it shouldn't be a problem.
    I'm still not here

  20. #20
    Member Member paullus's Avatar
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    Default Re: EB Music Preview Strikes Back!

    Thanks for the preview! I'm loving the music, and while the RTW music really wasnt that bad (to me, but I have a high threshold for annoyance), I'm really excited about playing with new music, especially stuff that sounds this good and actually CHANGES based on the faction I'm playing. Woohoo!
    "The mere statement of fact, though it may excite our interest, is of no benefit to us, but when the knowledge of the cause is added, then the study of history becomes fruitful." -Polybios


  21. #21
    Senior Member Senior Member Reenk Roink's Avatar
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    Default Re: EB Music Preview Strikes Back!

    I really don't know why I am continually amazed. I mean, in every preview, one after the other, there is always the same level of excellent work and breakthrough stuff.

    But damn, you actually got historically accurate music... Good sounding historically accurate music...

    Last edited by Reenk Roink; 08-21-2006 at 02:57.

  22. #22

    Default Re: EB Music Preview Strikes Back!

    Oh wow this eastern music is great (so is the western greek), the orginal music turns me off from playing eastern civilisations but when the final version of EB is released ill be sure to play them alot!

  23. #23
    Guest Dayve's Avatar
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    Default Re: EB Music Preview Strikes Back!

    I don't think i could use the Greek main music in my game. It's not the right kind of music for the campaign map. Sometimes i can spend 30 minutes on the campaign map reading traits, planning, roleplaying, whatever, and that main Greek music just isn't the right kind of music for the strategy map. The strategy needs something soft, quiet and relaxing, whereas as that is neither soft, quiet or relaxing.

    Same with the eastern campaign map music, it's not right. After listening to that for 5 minutes i'd go mad.

    The Greek battle music sounds more like mobilization music to me, but the Greek mobilization music fits right.

    Also i can't imagine two armies clashing to the eastern battle music either... No disrespect to the two people that made the music here but if i am to be honest, which i'm sure everybody would want me to be, i'm utterly disappointed with both the Greek and the eastern music released in this thread here today.

    Having said that, maybe i'll get used to it after a while.

    Personally i think we should use the theme music from HBO's 'Rome' series for the main menu in EB... Sounds great.

    Lastly the other music previews don't show up in my web browser... The ones in the other thread. Could some PM me some links to them please?

    Danke.
    Last edited by Dayve; 08-21-2006 at 22:15.

  24. #24

    Default Re: EB Music Preview Strikes Back!

    Well, I play EB a lot. And I pay close attention to the music, and I indeed spend most of my time on the campaign map (80% probably). I think it works well in the system. The only way you'll know for sure is to try it when the mod comes out. It's very easy once the mod comes out for us to make a vanilla dsm.txt file that has vanilla music though. Just like vanilla GUI's if people have to have them. Or vanilla loading screens if they don't like those. Or maybe someone can submod it where we could have vanilla names for characters too, and maybe vanilla units even.

    I think you seem to think you are speaking for everyone though Dayve. If I was making those statements, I would say "It's not the right kind of music for the campaign map for me." "The strategy needs something soft, quiet and relaxing, whereas as that is neither soft, quiet or relaxing as far as I'm concerned." "Same with the eastern campaign map music, as far as my tastes go it's not right."

    I can say a sword type "is not right" and with some evidence that would apply to everyone, but I cannot say "that music is not right" in the same way. It's not like dynasty warriors where you've got electric guitars and some modern rocktype stuff in a game about ancient china after all. Holy cow that bothered me to no end...

  25. #25
    Guest Dayve's Avatar
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    Default Re: EB Music Preview Strikes Back!

    Well i've been here a while and i thought you knew me better than that. Obviously everything i said in my post was in my opinion...

    Anyway, i will certainly try it with the mod when it is finally released. The music is the only thing so far i don't seem to like though. Everything else like GUI, animations, loading screens and ESPECIALLY skins i love, you know this Teleklos as i have posted many times saying i love everything in EB... I even made a thread a while back dedicated just to saying thanks to everyone who has made EB when i was a little drunk... Just the music.

    Maybe i'll change my mind once i hear it in the game.

  26. #26

    Default Re: EB Music Preview Strikes Back!

    Oh, I know you weren't railing against it or anything. I do think when people get into the game and try it they will see that some things they might think look or sound weird work. The roman gui comes to mind. It looks like a wacky color scheme, but once you get in game, and play a few turns, it's no big deal. Our name system turns some folks off initially, but I don't know many people who have played it much worry with them. Most complaints about the names seem to come from folks who either have never tried EB or who have loaded it, taken one look, and bolted. EB is all about trying these new things out!

  27. #27
    Guest Dayve's Avatar
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    Default Re: EB Music Preview Strikes Back!

    The German unit names are baffling at first... It's one of the reasons i wouldn't try the Sweboz, that and their incompleteness, but once they are more complete i'll definately try them and i'll get used to the names fairly quickly.

    I need to see some pictures of the Roman GUI and some links to the Roman music because i can't seem to get them to show up in this browser on the links you have given.

  28. #28

    Default Re: EB Music Preview Strikes Back!

    i honestly dont understant how someone can not like the main themes?
    both of them (and espacially the Eastern one) are close to perfection.
    well, hope you'll change your mind when actually start playing the game.

  29. #29
    Mystic Bard Member Soulforged's Avatar
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    Default Re: EB Music Preview Strikes Back!

    Ok, I'm not playing RTW at all and I haven't tested the betas either. But I'm sure of one thing, the music is amazing and I'm going to download the mod, when it's finished, just because of the music. Really, I didn't expected this to be a professional work, I always imagined modders as people living between their job, kids and other responsabilities without time to get things like this done. But this surprises me a lot, it actually seems that all of you are deep into it. Thank you very much.

    On a side note, however, I agree with Dayve on the Greek Main Theme, I like it, but it isn't exactly calm. Anyways...
    Born On The Flames

  30. #30
    Member Member CalIrish's Avatar
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    Default Re: EB Music Preview Strikes Back!

    Will there be another preview with the Celtic music? Or will some of us just have another reason to wait in agony until .8 comes out? ;)

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