*NO* Knights and Merchants "The Princess"

[Liontamer]

Would need a new title, if approved -LT

Artist Name: Jaimy "See4urSelf" Kortenhoff

Welcome to the soundscape of 1998!

"The Princess" has such a melancholic sound to it. I dramatized this song a little bit further by actually incorporating 'her' voice. I always envision her lonely in her tower with nothing more then a small toy music box.

"Knights and Merchants Revisited" is playlist/album where I recreate the soundtrack of this beloved game.

Listening to the old sound files it quickly became apparent that the quality of those songs sound quite oldskool and degraded. Rescoring them with modern instruments/technology greatly increases listening quality. It was a blast to figure out how the songs were built up back then. Taking some liberties in creating my own versions of those songs was the ultimate goal.

 

But for now, I would like to apply for this track only, "The Princess". 

 

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Games & Sources

Back in 1998, Joymania released their RTS "Knights and Merchants". A RTS relying heavily on city building, resource management and strategic battles. The game however, really unlocked something in me back when I was younger. The sound design of this game was stellar. SFX's were crisp and engaging. The soundtrack was memorable. Easy to remember tunes gave a late medieval / early renaissance vibe. The soundtracks are usually build up with catchy tunes modulated throughout the tracks. 

Source material:

The original game's composer is hard to find.  After some digging it seems to have been Joachim Schäfer, a German composer (probably) affiliated with the developer Joymania. We do know however that some of the game's original score has been inspired by Mozart's sonata's like "Rondo alla Turca", "Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major" and "Suite No 3 in A major: Allemande - Tripla". It's therefor safe to say that Joachim took massive inspiration from classical music, simplified it and implemented it for ease of listening. The tracks are implemented in a way where they play serenely in the back, unintrusive and adjust to the slower gameplay that Knight and Merchants inhabits.

 

 

Edited 12 hours ago by XPRTNovice

[prophetik music]

opening is pretty similar to the original. the lead flute never takes a break - their poor lungs! - and there's none of the fun articulations the original has, so that's a bummer. right ear's a bit heavy initially due to where the instruments inhabit the soundstage. there's some more instruments coming in at 0:28 - typical scoring rhythmic elements in the violins and brass. it gets a bit muddy in here with all of the sustains, and this trucks through the melody again a few times before reaching a break at 1:24.

the break is a big shift and it's a neat idea - there's a lot more patience and interpretation with the melody here, and the execution is suitably styled so that it fits. we also finally get a section without the melody line at 2:07 or so when the harpsichord analog comes in alongside the bass instrument doing the same pizz from most of the rest of the track. the same violin rhythmic motion and the same brass swells from before come back in (really sounds the same when A/Bing it), and then the same melodic material in the same instrument comes in at 2:59 again. so there's a lot of repetition coming out of the first minute or so. the voice line gets layered in as well for a bit. the ending is just a ritard and then it's done, there's no sustain or wrapping action.

i think there's some really fun ideas here. obvious the general concept works well - you've got some scoring elements alongside the very singable melody, you've got a neat bridge section that's very earthy and period appropriate, and the track has a good shape to it. i think however that having almost half if not more of the track being repeated from the earlier section, when that earlier section was highly repetitive as well, is not a great choice. there's not a ton of personalization on the melodic representation in that first or last third either. i think for this to pass, you need the second half not to be a direct copy of the first section. you may wish also to change the melodic representation so that it's not just solid sustains forever, which isn't particularly realistic. you also may wish to do some more work so that each instrument doesn't play exactly the same thing throughout (the bass pizz for example).

 

 

NO

[Hemophiliac]

Sound upgrade done right. This is a mostly conservative approach where the melodic elements aren't expanded upon. The layering of instruments in the background is done very well. The approach to the samples is handled well too. I love your use of dynamics and they have a solid range, including a nice contrasting section in the middle where everything pulls back.

Closing out the track with a ritardando was a nice way to wrap things up without creating a big, over-the-top ending. That was such a pleasant touch, and felt very fitting for the track.

The solo voice falls into the uncanny valley for me, but not so bad that it hurt the track for me.

After the middle section, we get a nice layered approach to bring everything back in for a final recapitulation. A long crescendo was a nice way to get us back to the beginning. However, this is where things took a turn. There's no melodic embellishment, expansion, or development of the original idea on this second time. The solo voice returns almost at the very end to add one small new element, but that was not enough for me. There should be something new for this recapitulation to make it stand out and not be a direct copy and paste of the first A section. A few suggestions could be: melodic embellishment, passing the melody lines to other instruments, or adding countermelody (or all of the above). Anything you could add to make this final section more of your own and less of just the source/a copy of the first A section would put this over the top for me.

It probably sounds like I didn't like this, but the opposite is true. It's quite a lovely piece, and I really enjoyed it. I'd like to see some more work done on it, and please send it back when you're ready.

NO (resubmit)

Edited January 24 by Hemophiliac

[XPRTNovice]

I actually had trouble figuring out which was the source and which was the remix for the first minute or so, which can be effective in some cases, but in this case we have the same key, tempo, instrument - it's essentially a copy of the original for the first 30 seconds. Sometimes that can feel like an homage, but only if it's brief and only if the rest of the track is a departure. In this case the arrangement basically takes the source as written and ads a few new elements to it, mostly in the form of background marcato strings, and this is a pattern for most of the arrangement. Not that it's not well done, though sometimes there are elements of those marcato/staccato strings that are too far out in front, but there's not a lot of innovation going on here, and when it does, it's mostly established and then set on repeat.

The vocal performance section in the middle is very fun. The sample pack could probably use a little more care and feeding when it comes to make it sound more human, which is not something I'd normally harp (no pun intended) on if not for the fact that it's so exposed. Because it's out in the open like that, you need to really sculpt that sample to the maximum of its capacity to get it sounding as human as humanly (pun intended) possible. 

I hear more fun developments from singer to the end, but it does come off repetitive, and more like a sound upgrade as Hemo posted above than an arrangement. 

 

NO