Neon Space
I actually completed two tracks for this game, but the first one was not exactly what the developer was looking for. It would make a great track for another project, though!
Starting out, I was asked for something spacey that would build in intensity along with the player's progression. My initial attempts were decidedly a bit too cinematic. You can listen to that track in the video to the side. Just make sure you're prepared for the G's!!!!
If anyone is interested, I can cover the process for the first track in another post. Just let me know there's a demand for that.
So how did I end up with the track "Neon Space?" Well, I'll tell you right now that I'm not a wealthy man, so I don't have any phenomenal VSTs that make life breezy. Fortunately, I've never let my wallet cripple my good ol' fashioned ingenuity, and you shouldn't either, dammit!
Starting out, I was shown examples of music that the developer liked from the game Neir: Automata... So all I had to do was come up with something on par with one of the most creative and brilliant VG soundtracks of all time (One of my favorite games of all time, too!). Nooooo pressure. Luckily, there isn't a whole lot aesthetically in common with this game, so I only borrowed minor elements from the Neir Soundtrack. This is what led to the determination to open the track with some call and answer arpeggios and an initial lack of drums:
I'm a sucker for synth music. Especially of the relentlessly pounding blade runner feel-it-in-your-gut-I-need-to-go-do-something-epic-like-NOW variety. There are a lot of free VSTs that you can use to get a nice meaty synth sound. One of my favorites is Synth1 by Ichiro Toda.For all of the synth sounds in this track, I started with an initialized patch on Synth1 and made them to order with specific sounds in mind that went something like this: barkie, chirpie, BAAAAAA, and smoooooooth doot dadoots.
I'm not going to lie. The rhythm track was something I went back and forth on for a solid day. I tossed a lot of ideas around including a four on the floor that a monkey with sticks could have made. Dishonour on me. Dishonour on my cow.
I finally decided on something loosely Drum N' Bass or DNB as the cool kids say. And because I'm cultured and not some kind of doddering philistine, I added some freaking bongos, because space! (cue the 70's space sitcom intro)
The rest essentially boils down to build-ups and big drops. I kept my eyes on the time to make sure that the intensity was a steady climb and included what I like to call "the eye of the storm, oooooo" right in the middle because "Strong winds do not last all morning, hard rains do not last all day" -LaoZi.
I mean let's face it. If I just kept building the thing there would be so many heads popping left and right I would drown in lawsuits.
To keep things from being too monotonous, I employed some tried and true tactics like manipulating melodic paths and jumping octaves.
I also threw in some giant sweeping arpeggios that interact between the two lead parts. Thank you Nobuo Uematsu for forever embedding the major and minor 9th multiple-octave arpeggio in my brain and soul.
As far as harmonic analysis goes, it's basic af. However, basic is not always bad. Especially when working with electronic soundtracks or genres such as Metal/Ambient/etc... there are many cases where simple is best. I keep the loop going in a two chord circle to give enough continuity to keep momentum going, but enough change to encourage urgency and action, with the exception being the rising chords to build tension for the big drop-release. I'll let you folks pick it apart further, if you like. Here is the finished track:
The game is in beta, here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tt22.neonChase
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