OmriLahav

Eduh, To be honest - I have so little free time to work on the game, that I can barely manage to record all of my own pieces in time for release, so I can't really see myself taking on someone else's melodies and putting the time and effort into producing them. As far as programs, that depends highly on what you want to do, and also on your platform of choice. Personally I use a PC, with Cubase 7 for all sequencing, recording, mixing and mastering applications, and Finale for notation. - Omri

For my part I want to add to the Mauryan playlist (obviously), and finalize the two generic track contributions from Mike. I'll also try to finish a few extra tracks of my own, right now I'm working on a new Romans track and a new Iberian track as well as two generic tracks. Last, I'll look into giving "The Calm before the Storm" a smoother ending.

Never be scared to play I'll be happy to hear the recordings when you find time to make them, send them directly to me at Omri (@) OmriLahav (.) com to make sure I see them. Thanks,

Basically, at the moment all the violin solo parts have already been recorded by Shir-Ran Yinon (1st chair at Haifa philharmonic) so we're pretty set on that front - but I'd love to hear samples of your playing anyway, wouldn't hurt to have another contributor if a need rises Alex, I am familiar with fretless bass (it is one of my main instruments as well), but with the 0 A.D. score I strive to be as authentic as possible, and I don't think I can pass a bass guitar sound as a double bass I'd love to hear some of your compositions, please send me a demo of music that matches the existing score only. (Most importantly nothing electronic or too modern, we're keeping it simple... please refer to the bandcamp) Thanks,

Alex, Thank you for your interest in 0 A.D. Due to the massive size of the game - we are always open to music contributions, are you a composer? As far as instrumentalists, we are mostly looking for orchestral musicians, strings, brass and woodwinds. Please have a listen to the existing score over here and let me know how / if you feel you can contribute. Thanks,

Indeed, the style of music we're looking for is much more natural and organic, we use no electronics or digital FX, and try to record as much of the orchestral material as possible with live musicians. If you think you have any tracks that fit these terms please attach them here. Thanks,

That's true, the percussion was played by Jeff Willet, credit is due

First of all thanks for the kind words I'll try to make an instrumental version of this melody for use as a generic peace, and maybe the lyric version can be used on an epic trailer video!

Was wondering that too, I'm not really looking for existing music - my time for working on 0 A.D. is rather scarce and I'd rather not spend it on adaptations while there's still need of originals. I decided to compose this even though it isn't in any ancient language, maybe it'll come in handy as a neutral track, or even for the credits screen... I'm uploading a quick guitar-vocal version for you (and the team) to review, if it is approved I will arrange and record it properly. Here's the file: http://wildfiregames.com/users/omri/Tale_of_Warriors.mp3 Oh, by the way - I changed "put your mark on history" to "leave your mark on history", just seemed like better grammar, as a "mark on history" isn't a physical thing you can just "put" somewhere... hope I explained that correctly, lol The idea is to write for each civ. in it's appropriate tongue

Great! Anything you feel like writing - feel free to PM me or send it to my email, Omri (@) OmriLahav (.) com. Thanks Looks like a great resource, but I'm afraid the whole website is in Greek! Anyone care to translate / extract relevant texts? (Are they free to use?) Good suggestion, any idea how to contact her? If your dad feels like jotting down some Sanskrit lyrics, it'd be awesome! As for the Mauryan Indian soundtrack, I haven't written it yet so I don't even know what to expect, lol Thanks for all the input, team!

Hey team- I'm looking for two things for upcoming 0 A.D. music! 1) People who can write some lyrics (a few nice phrases will do) in (or as-close-as-possible to) the ancient tongues used in 0 A.D., this will be used in upcoming tracks as choir text! 2) A french horn performer who either lives in proximity to my studio (Israel), or has the means to record high-quality audio. Spread the word Thanks!

m0nstre, First of all thanks for your interest in 0 A.D.! To be honest, all the current Viola parts have already been recorded by a live pro musician, but (!) there is always room for future collaboration! Please comment with a link to your work so I can get a sense of your recording environment and skill. Thanks again, looking forward to working with you!

Marty, Thanks for your interest in 0.A.D.! I've listened to your portfolio, and you have some very nice electronic music, but that's a far cry from what this project needs. Do you have any works I can listen to in the areas of orchestral music, world music, or anything else that might be relevant for 0.A.D.? If you are not sure what kind of music I'm referring to, please listen to the existing score right here. Thanks, Fixed, thanks

Just in case you're wondering what 0.A.D.'s music team leader is doing with his spare time My band, The Assembly, just released it's first, 100% independent, 7 track E.P. You're welcome to hear and download the first track (for free!) right here: http://www.reverbnation.com/TheAssemblyBand Hope you like funk

Hey Martin, haven't heard back from you since we discussed the Romans' music... any tracks to listen to?

Wow, looking amazing! Lots to look forward to in Alpha 7

Hi Mphunky, your skills sound very promissing and will certainly be put to good use in this score Feel free to email me the samples to OmriMusic (@) Hotmail.com. Let me know which instruments you'd like to record live for this score, and I'll email you the relevant tracks! Omri

Archive - Bullets

I just love this album art

I suppose this is the best forum to post this, so here goes: I used to play AoE2 a lot, and I remember always thinking... It makes no sense at all that the siege engines just snap apart from swords and arrows. (though obviously if it's siege engine against siege engine - it should break upon death). What I always wanted to see... is that when the engine's life bar empties - the soldiers "driving" it are all dead, and then it's first come first serve - the first army to put a soldier in it takes control of it... That would've been awesome, and would def. keep my cousin from spamming siege engines and tearing up my town lol Just a thought.

Read my post and you'll notice I didn't offer to change any of your input - just to record it in a way it matches the sound of the score. The only things I had an actual problem with are the effects - that don't belong in this score, and the African percussion, on which you agreed. My requests weren't really that far fetched... If you don't like the score anyway, I don't see why you'd want to get in it, but if you do - I listed my suggestions above. If they are disagreeable with you - then for the present time we say a friendly goodbye.

Don't take it personally, this isn't about wanting to do everything myself - I have enough work with my own pieces for this score As sound lead, my main (and most challenging) job is making sure the soundtrack sounds like a coherent whole - all the pieces need to match to a certain degree. Like I said - I'm waiting for your third draft, and we'll talk on from there. If you like we can continute this discussion privately, feel free to email me - OmriMusic (@) Hotmail.com

This discussion isn't about my Iberian track, constantly referring to it won't change how I feel about the track that is discussed. We obviously have very different tastes in recording, but seeing as this score needs to be a coherent whole, and pieces need to change smoothly during gameplay, I really don't think there can be any debate at all - any pieces accepted will have to match the sound of my score. I can bend here and there, and help when possible, but the bare basics would, at least, have to be matched by the contributor. I'll wait for the third draft, and if I'm confident it matches the score, what I can do for you, is: - Record live Bodhran, spoons and other Celtic percussion I have in my studio - can't be sure when I'll have the time, but will try to squeeze it in if you can send me a mix with no percussion and the BPM of it. - Sample Bagpipe drones (just send me a MIDI of the drone and I'll send it back as .wav). - Record the whistle on the same instrument I used for the other Celtic tracks - will need a mix with no whistle and maybe sheet music to speed things up - though it's not a must. I will send dry files to you for mixing, but I believe these simple methods ought to assure similar sounding results.

I'm going to try to cover everyone's points in one reply, sorry if I leave anything out. I disagree with the statement that the score is "period based" on the wrong dates. My intention was never to make a period score for this game - due to the fact I have no knowledge on 0.A.D. period music. What I did intend, however, is first and foremost - to make a game score. If that means that in order to work in the epic context of this game, the score needed to be orchestrated - then that is what is "appropriate". I read someone mentioning Uillean Pipe drones, as you can hear in my Celtic peace track - I have used them extensively. If you can change the stringy drone to a pipe drone, that's a step in the right direction. I also used penny whistles (D and low D), but I recorded them much more loosely then you did - with a lot of air and transparent compression, and that difference in sound is too radical IMHO. I never said samples are not a viable option - I use them all the time, in fact the Uillean pipes I used as a solo instrument on Celtic Peace #1 are sampled. But I do want to use live recordings beside the samples - if nothing else, then simply because few independent scores have them. However I wouldn't insist upon it as much if I didn't truly know it'll make a big difference in the overall product quality! I listened to the second draft and it is sounding better, but I still have a bit of a problem with the percussion intro... The instrumentation of it just doesn't sound right to me, I'd prefer to hear Celtic percussion, such as Bodhran and some Spoons, the current sounds instinctively make me think "Africa". Bottom line(s): I don't want to make period music - just music that suits the nature of the game, that is a priority I will not settle on to accommodate anyone, and weather or not the sounds are correct with the dates is immaterial - as long as the music works in game and is believable in that context. I do not "poo-poo" samples, but I think that 100% sampled tracks will stick out in a mostly live recorded album, and lower the overall production quality. And while it's true that good sampled beats average performed - I'm not looking to record "average" musicians, so no worries there As it stands right now, I'm having a hard time seeing this piece fit in with the rest of the score, but maybe I just need to get used to it, I'll listen to it a few more times.

Well, they really did sound like sampled guitar and flute - and I'm listening through KRK 8" studio monitors... With harpsichord I can understand how that impression is given (though a harpsichord hardly falls into the early Celtic folk chamber group), but the tin whistle (to my ears) had no air or dynamics, which is why I mistook it for a flute sample. I don't know how you recorded it, but if you didn't - I'd advise using a good condenser microphone. Don't get me wrong - the lowered 2nd is beautiful, musically - but it isn't very likely to be in what is supposed to sound like Celtic music. As for the delay, to me - it was completely out of context, the score isn't as period based as the rest of the game, but at the very least it shouldn't sound too modern. That's not to say we can't make it interesting - but it must be believable and set the right tone.