Warcraft: Orcs and Humans

[dannthr]

Hey guys,

Looks like I'll be working on a mod for Warcraft III which will be a revisioning of the original Warcraft game, Warcraft: Orcs and Humans. At least through this year (not sure how long I'll have time to work on it).

Nonetheless, it requires that I too revision and remake (even remix or rearrange) the original OST to the game.

There are some gems in that sound track, but there's also some total crap. Hopefully my reversioning will do the good stuff justice while trying to bring it up to a higher quality standard (ala WC3).

At the moment, I've only just begun, but hopefully there'll be several additions to this thread.

Dawn of Chaos: Title WORK IN PROGRESS

(The mod's title is "Dawn of Chaos")

Comments, as always, are welcome!

[John Revoredo]

sounds good so far. Awesome samples you got, man!

although there isn't much to say since this is just the beginning.. but it's got a real good flava, I'm specially diggin the first seconds.

Can't wait to hear more

[dannthr]

Thanks man!

Minor update:

Dawn of Chaos: Title Screen (WIP)

Now I have to go make sure I pass my classes

[Harmony]

Yeah man, this sounds nice so far. From the other music I've heard from you, I don't doubt that you'll do the Warcraft OST great justice!

[dannthr]

Thanks for the nice words, guys!

[HoboKa]

Definitely has the Warcraft feel to it...too bad the Blizzard crew lost sight of it nowadays. Keep up the good work

[John Revoredo]

Well, here comes the badass criticism.

I still don't like too much that unison, maybe you should try to put more filling to it (chords and such). Or you can try putting sound effects over it... some sword sounds, screams, some bells, a burning city.. whatever

AS for the chords in the beginning. This is only a thing of personal tastes, of course, but I don't think that the Ab Maj 7 chord (or something like that) sounds allright in the first seconds. It feels like you mistook the chord, or like you wanted to break the harmony because of a funny moment. I would've put instead an A Major chord (it's the most typical choice, but typical doesn't mean it has to be bad).

Anyways, keep on it,.. despite the criticism, I'm really digggin this!

[dannthr]

Yeah, I have a hard time changing the chordal arrangement--though I am taking some liberties--since those harmonic stabs are in the original work, and to stray too far from them would be to give up quite a bit of the source material since there isn't much to begin with.

I've tried to straighten them slightly, but I also believe that I'm allowed to set the harmonic standards and rules in the first two seconds of a piece. I believe, so far, that I've remained consistent with those terms set, even if it feels odd in the start.

Additionally, using sound effects to cover up any compositional choices made is not an option and really shouldn't be one. I won't be adding sfx to "fill in" my unison.

My goal in doubling the contrabassoon and flute was to create a very specific hollow, cold, growling sound. If that's what you're hearing, then it's a successful arrangement, regardless of your preferences. I wanted more of a brooding sound than a heroic theme.

Hopefully when I add more content and draw from the remaining material, you'll be able to hear stronger consistency.

Beyond that, I'll look into emphasizing the harmonies provided by the tuba, celli, and contrabasses because they're fairly subtle right now and I sometimes underestimate my headphones as they do have the slightest tendency to boost the low lows.

Anyway, thanks a lot for the crits, man!