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WATMM

this is a soundcloud group for a group of rather talented electronic producers, who are all members of the forum WATMM.

A child in the jungle by tellmesomethingnice

A game is a really complex thing emotionally. Every event in the storyline also creates drama and empathy with the players. I’ve begun thinking about how the music should be structured in order to reinforce the emotions that grow out of the story. It’s a pretty widely accepted idea that certain musical keys carry with them a very clear emotional message or tone. The masters of the classical age used this idea to a mathematical degree, and created some of the most incredible music ever heard by human ears. Mastery of these concepts is key to having control over the music that you create.

This is my problem. When I was in school I used to be in the band and I took a few basic music theory classes. Back then it all seemed incredibly boring. Plus the teacher was a choad. I was more interested in trippy trance beats and effects processors. But god that teacher sucked. Now I wish i would have paid more attention.

I’ve begun digging around a bit and I found this. via : biteyourownelbow

From the English translation of Helmholtz’s Tonempfindungen:

C major: Pure, certain, decisive; expressive of innocence, powerful resolve, manly earnestness and deep religious feeling

Db major: Fullness of tone, sonority and euphony

E major: Joy, magnificence, splendor; brightest and most powerful key

E minor: Grief, mournfulness, restlessness

F major: Peace, joy, light, passing regret, religious sentiment

F minor: Harrowing, melancholy

F# major: Brilliant, very clear

Gb major: Softness, richness

Of course this is a tiny excerpt of the giant page. Most of the indexes are from books published in the 1600’s which is pretty rad. The only problem with it now is that it brings me back to the very first issue. Authenticity. I do not intend to use string, brass, or complex percussive instruments, as these things are very European in origin and the people of pre-colonial New Zealand would not have know of them. The music from this period was also non-harmonic. Voices mostly were used in unison or in chanting, and there was nothing known of chords. I’m still not sure how I’ll solve this.

It’s nearly impossible to write music without using chords or keys, yet that is exactly what the music of the age was like. Here are some examples of music from SoPac island indiginous cultures. Most were recorded in the 50s or 60s so by this time the western influence had pretty deeply seeped in.


Bora Song ‘Wirru Wirru’
This is a field recording from Papua New Guinea, but it bears resemblance to the native music of New Zealand it it’s structure and instrumentation. Note the ‘cough’ sound being used as a musical element. That’s awsome.


a ko`olau au `ike i ka ua
This is an older recording (which explains the recording quality). Note the strange sense of rhythm and simplicity of the chanting. The drums are almost linguistic in their rhythms.


Song Of The Spirit Te’e (1969)
This song is from Samoa. It’s is way different than the style of many other SoPac island cultures in that it incorporates harmony. This is not as clear a distinction as you might think, as this recording was made in 1969 after a couple hundred years of mingling with western culture. It’s unclear if this existed before the whiteys arrived or if was a result of the culture assimilating the musical ideas of christian hymns into their own music.


Those damn Christians always fucked stuff up. Boooourns.

This new ambient track is relatively simple, but would serve as a great underlying base for more complex music to be built from. I’d love to build a base drone type sound for each area of the game, and use generative techniques to add more melodic elements during game play. Hopefully the simple (but interesting) sounds won’t drive players crazy if they get stuck on a difficult level for a while.
animals v1 by tellmesomethingnice

I’ve begun to rethink the idea of really writing ’songs’ for this. For one it becomes difficult when trying to make a song work for a game level which a player could beat in 20 seconds or 1 hour. Would it loop? Would it just stop? I’m thinking about writing short little cues that could be called up when some task it completed, or some new element is introduced to gameplay.

I can image Ko running through the forest to this track.

Rain ambience v1 by tellmesomethingnice

Sleepy, but danger could be lurking anywhere.

This is a little taste of a track.

Bouncy v1 by tellmesomethingnice

I like the direction of this a lot. It’s fun, a bit wonky, and more original sounding. I’ll post the progress on this track. I think with some arranging it could be a winner.

Another test track for Kotiro.

Ko2 v1 by tellmesomethingnice

I keep coming back to very ambient soundscapes with a lot of reverb, but I’m still not sure if it’s the best direction. Surely it will create the atmosphere needed for a story in a mystical environment, but I can’t help but feel that it’s a bit too expected.

I’ll be focusing on creating some percussive sound kits over the holidays. I have recorded a bunch of sounds of me crunching sea shells and knocking on a dry cow horn. I even made a poi and swung it around by the mic. Makes a cool “whump” type sound I want to use for a kick.

I’m playing a lot with layering samples and synthetic sounds with pretty good results. I want the sounds to be just on the border of real and unreal, but not too obviously synthy. I guess that’s another reason I’m not over happy with this last test track.

Another step along the way. :)

Here is a test mix I did with some reference music for Kōtiro. The general idea is to establish a working base from which to build from. I’m still fighting with the balance or organic and synthetic sounds, but I am thinking to make a blend of things so that the result is physically realistic, but not easily recognizable.

Since the story takes place in a time heavily influenced by nature, magic and mysticism, I have been drawn to psychedelic music. Driving beats and atmospheric spaces set the tone for the events in the game, and lend an air of intrigue.

Kōtiro Mix     

Here is the tracklist.

1. The Subjective Array of Normality – Normal Music / Mele Kalhea – Hau`oli Lewis
2. Valley – The Orb / Ke ala ke aloha me ka hikina – Anthony La`akapu Lenchanko
3. Divine Moments of Truth (Original Russian Bootleg) – Shpongle
4. Eutow -Autechre
5. Niger Pakapaka (extract) – Music of Earth
6. Terraforming – Chymera
7. Aloha e ke kai o Kalalau – Noenoe Lewis & Hau`oli Lewis
8. Plateau – The Orb
9. Sehnsud – Mouse on Mars
10. 10 – Boards of Canada / The forest of Lyonesse – The Orb
11. The Tower – Robyn Miller
12. Rain Ambient Test – Ryan Cole

Total play time  48:07

I am currently working on music and sound design for the indie game Kōtiro by Pete Michaud. I’ll be posting regular progress here. The game centered around the premise of pre-colonial Maori culture and mythology.

I am tasked with creating the sound design and music to fill this environment.

Development of the game has, to this point, been very research heavy, and as true to facts as possible and the music will be no exception. Among sound sketches, I’ll also be posting mixes of style and tone references for download.