I don't think, however, that 'regular' medieval fantasy / melodic metal / Enya bulls**t fits as the musical background in DS.
Anybody has an interesting idea on what can I use to make my players 'feel' the setting as it is?
Bal-Sagoth - Enthroned in The Temple of the Serpent Kings. There are a few other songs that fit thematically, but they get in the way playing.
Blue Oyster Cult - Flaming Telepaths
The Conan the Barbarian Original Soundtrack - Only two things would need less explanation: if Basil Poledouris did a John Carter of Mars soundtrack, or if Basil Poledouris did a Dark Sun soundtrack.
Melechesh - Most of the album Djinn, and Emissaries (Oh, if only "Return of the Nemesis" didn't so clearly use the words "dynasty of the salt water people.")
The soundtrack to Quake 2 - Despite the metal-instead-of-goth Borg feel of the Strogg, some of the tracks really have hot and suffocating feel to them.
Sepultura - Ratamahatta (official theme-song for the halfling, anyone?)
I'd probably use something out of place for the sorcerer-kings, perhaps Vivaldi's Gloria (if I could find a more piercing performance of Gloria In Excelsis) or Wendy/Walter Carlos's Switched-on Bach. Maybe Aphrodite's Child's The Marching Beast from 666, instead, or stuff from Gary Numan's Exile. I'd probably have "The Lamb" from 666 play whenever an Avangion is present, if I wasn't going to be saying things like "How can this be? For he is the Kwisatz Haderach!"
The middle section of "Left Out" by Oxygenstar has that same effect on me. I feel like there should be something unnatural sounding when the characters crest the first dune and see the wastes, and the Dark Sun logo comes on the screen.
I have some ideas of my own, but I'm kinda running late for college now, and will post them here after I get back, tonight.
PS: Blue Oyster Cult - Flaming Telepaths. Yeah, that seems appropriate ^^
Soundtrack of Myth PC game
Soundtrack of the last two batman movies
Blackhawk down soundtrack (featuring our fetish DS song to start the game and put the peoples INgame Ya rayah song by Rachid Taha).
Equilibrium Soundtrack
bio22 song (unknown composer)
primitive22 song (unknown composer)
the_waste song (unknown composer)
Konvoi song from Das Boot Soundtrack
Desert Crossing, David Arkenstone from Citizen of the World
Bazaar of Tal-Mashad from Essence
And a few others
PS: Blue Oyster Cult - Flaming Telepaths. Yeah, that seems appropriate ^^
OMG! The title is neat, but I just had a listening of this song and it suck bad! Geeeez!
First, I never, ever, get a song that you can hear the lyrics (except for foreign language songs). It's too much distraction.
I went looking for some good music for the theme my favorite so far is
-all the music from Medieval Total War 2 dealing with Arabia some awesome stuff
-the Prince of Persia games have some good stuff scattered
-I agree with the Conan music, some of it is just awesome and fits Dark Sun
Balic being more Greek-like I stick with lyre music.
Draj is Aztec so I go with some flute and drum.
Nibenay reminds me of Cambodia/South-East Asia. The roneat (wooden xylophones) work well.
Raam being more in the african flavor I like a lot of drum work.
You guys get the idea.
I usually can't game to anything that sounds non-fantasy, generally lyrics ruin it for me. I like Radiohead, but I once participated in a game with it playing in the background and it really pulled me out of the game.
PS: Blue Oyster Cult - Flaming Telepaths. Yeah, that seems appropriate ^^
OMG! The title is neat, but I just had a listening of this song and it suck bad! Geeeez!
First, I never, ever, get a song that you can hear the lyrics (except for foreign language songs). It's too much distraction.
1) I commented on the title, not the song itself, for I've never heard it.
2) I couldn't agree more - specially bad for my group (all Brazillians at least moderately fluent in English, so there's two languages spoiling things for us).
(joke suggestion, but the song DOES have a DS feel to me, even in lyrics)
Sepultura - Ratamahatta (official theme-song for the halfling, anyone?)
Ha! I just listened to this. Altough the song does fit well with the halflings, I can't use it - since the lyrics are in Portuguese! I imagine it will suspend the disbelief if my players listen to verses lik 'slum, garage, popcorn' mid-scene.
Plus, one of the players is a Sepultura fan.
Dead Can Dance: 'Indus', 'Radharc', 'Chant of the Paladin', among others.
Loreena McKennitt: some of her more Eastern-sounding pieces, like 'Marco Polo' and 'Incantation'.
Opium Jukebox: Bhangra Bloody Bhangra - covers of well-known Black Sabbath songs done in an Indian instrumental style (it works much, much better than you'd probably expect).
Movie scores: 300, Kingdom of Heaven, Alexander, both Conan movies, Vantage Point, Gladiator, The 13th Warrior.
The soundtrack to the HBO Rome series.
Music from various computer games, in particular Rome: Total War and one of the Unreal Tournament games (2004 I think - lots of faux Egyptian stuff).
Some Persian classical music and Armenian duduk music.
I also recommend 300, Kingdom of Heaven and Gladiator, as those were tracks I was going to recommend.
Also, Passion of the Christ; this is great for when a Defiler casts a spell.
Also, the Fountain.
And Graeme Revell; Dune remake soundtrack and Riddick.
Also, Stronghold: Crusader Game music.
Opium Jukebox: Bhangra Bloody Bhangra - covers of well-known Black Sabbath songs done in an Indian instrumental style (it works much, much better than you'd probably expect).
Man, this is precisely what I wanted! Thanks to both you and to RalofTyr for the help! Well, and everybody else too!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcInBA4FlU8
Some Godmsack stuff (perhaps because their involvement in "Scorpoion King" movie and "Prince of Perisa" videogames).
Game soundtracks: Diablo (I/II), Warcraft III, Wheel of Time (just a few tracks), Myst III, original Unreal (about 60% of it, the stuff without the heavy techno beat).
Also, the Afro-Celt Sound System.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn5nUVhIgQk
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozG62dXyTzo&feat...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOQCdorV3tc&feat...
I'd go with anything where someone plays a duduk.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn5nUVhIgQk
That's the second thing I was going to suggest - any kind of traditional Armenian or Turkish music. For an example of Turkish stuff, check this out: www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_TxXZtJJqI . It has lyrics in Turkish, but I think it really sets the mood (especially if used for a market scene/fight).
I've had good luck with Pandora. I made a chanel called Traditional Arabic-Andalusian Songs and it sounds solid without taking any effort.
VERY unfortunately, Pandora doesn't work outside of USA anymore (at least it was like that last time I checked).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCye7v79Tz0 - The Bazaar
www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8-Q2CVEjNE - Fire in the Head (song for psions?)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRbojFncifs - Angels (might be good for pointing out the lack of divine presence)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDYIlaaw_yI - Sister Awake
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCwrQSe9m4c - Walking Wounded
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTnq0goeR04 - Save Me (has a very epic sound. Good for going to war)
Plenty of others on the albums, but a lot of them reference divinity so they might not be useful.
Skag Gully High Action from borderlands has a tribal fell to it.
YOR'S WORLD HE'S THE MAN!!
As stated befor, the Conan soundtracks would work pretty good....maybe 300, Troy or Kingdom of Heaven scores...
If it doesnt work out ill go with the eastern theme as well. Lawrence of Arabia: nice and pompous, also Prince of Egypt's instrumental tracks are awesome. Im tempted to Use Alladin's "arabian nights" for a few laughs...
Skag Gully High Action from borderlands has a tribal fell to it.
Mmm, that's a good one.
How about "The Power Plate" from Prince of Persia (2009)
Try some "Dune" music. They have a desert theme and everything including battle music.
Dune: Original Motion Picture Score by Toto.
Frank Herbert's DUNE by Graeme Revell.
Frank Herbert's Children of Dune by Brian Tyler.
Frank Herbert's DUNE by Graeme Revell.
I also recommend that along with Graeme Revell's Chronicles of Riddick.
The Vault Archives by Mark Morgan is IMO a great choice for DS, and the best part is that it's free: auralnetwork.com/releases
This will help put soundtrack together.
Oh, and any music sung by Azam Ali is great too. (She sang the Inama Nushif montage)
Jeremy Soule is about the biggest video game soundtrack man in the business
Among the games hes done soundtracks for..
Guild Wars
Icewind Dale
Total Annihilation
Neverwinter Nights
Elder Scrolls Obivilion
SW: Knights of the Old Republic 2
www.imdb.com/name/nm0815819/
Santiago, Caravanserai, The Mystic's Dream and others by Loreena Mckennit.
For those who think metal and RPG are two sides of the same nerdy coin, I propose "Sahara" by Nightwish
Corsican Corridor and Ode to power by Yuki Kajiura (Noir HOST)
-Rome series OST
-Both Gladiator OST albums
-300 OST
-God of War 1, 2 and 3
-Planet of the Apes
-The Mummy
-Guild Wars Nightfall
-Queen of the Damned (score)
-Kingdom of Heaven
-Avatar
-The Passion of Christ
-Troy
Non-OST:
-Thievery Corporation
-Dead can Dance
Though I'm more of a fan of some of their members/label mates more electro work (Qntal, Helium Vola).
Nile, is a death metal band, so a lot of their stuff really works well.
...for example off the album "Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka" the track "Ramses, Bringer of War" is pretty apropos, but "Die Rache Krieg Lied Der Assyriche" takes the cake by being musically appropriate (probably you will like it even if you hate death metal, it is really really good) while at the same time being a track about everyone's favorite Lord of the First Layer, Pazuzu! There are some other situationally useful tracks as well, for example their album "The Black Seeds of Vengeance" ends with this long chant "Khetti Satha Shemsu" that could be used for a time when the pcs walk in on a whole bunch of Yaun-Ti cultists in the middle of doing something "dirty" (it's a chant to/about snake demons) or perhaps at the Gulg arena.My own self, I will probably end up just using a bunch of EBM stuff like VnV Nation (Saviour off Burning Empires), Stromkern (Strange Day Dawning/Perfect Sunrise), Seabound (Scorch the Ground), Azoic (Progression), Assemblage23 (Smoke on the Horizon/Madman's Dream/Let Me Be Your Armor/King of Insects/I am the Rain (you know for if they ever run into Rajatt)), Beborn Beton (Earth (it's a song about nuclear winter ^.^)), Covenant (Spindrift/Greater Than the Sun), Noxious Emotion (Uranium, the Elements album in general), etc... but thats the kind of thing my players and I are into, so the more obviously electronic elements won't be "distracting" for us, ymmv.
Edit: I totally agree with Litania84it re: DCD/Lisa Gerrard and can't believe I didn't mention them myself.
Seeing as we get one of these threads every couple of weeks, could someone sticky this thread? This is the one everyone points to, and it seems to be the oldest (haven't dug up farther to check).
His music is inspired by traditional and modern egyptian, middle-eastern and indian music.
A few examples:
Curse the Sun
A most effective exorcism against Azagthoth and his emissaries
Shiza Palu
Bertman
Samples
or practically any song from Borderlands will do.
I definately have to look into the Dune soundtrack. I really like the work of Graeme Revell and have used some of his work prior to movie soundtracks in my Call of Cthulhu games.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pklf2gJUX7Y&NR=1
youtu.be/hd-te93n_Go
Heck, the background in Hunuman even looks vaugely Athasian.
Tyr - Musique De La Grece Antique (by Gregorio Paniagua: Atrium Musica De Madrid); Melpomen, Ancient Greek Music; Greek Medieval Songs (by Christodoulos Halaris); The Greek Folk Instruments: Lyra; Music of Armenia: Kanon (by Karineh Hovhannessian); Turkish Belly Dance: Desert Night Dance; Omar Faruk Tekbilek (pretty much any album); Gypsy Music of Constantinople: Turkish Gypsies and Sanja Illic & Balkanika
Balic - Music From Ancient Rome (vol. 1 & 2) (by Synaulia)
Draj - Aztec Dances (by Xavier Quijas Yxayotl); Spiritual Songs, Traditional Chants & Flute Music Of The American Indian; American Indian Ceremonial & War Dances; and various tradtional Incan songs (most of the albums I own have some Spanish influence, but most have 1 or two fairly "pure" Incan songs
Gulg - Djembe and African Drums; Tama - Voyages & Percussions Mandingues (by Adama Dramé); Afo (by Mamady Keita); Mbuti Pygmies Of The Ituri Rainforest and Wassolon Percussions Malinke (by Mamady Keïta & Sewa Kan
Nibenay - Indonesian Soundscapes (by Loren Nerell); Phleng Hae Sop (by Udom Silapin na Chiang Mai); CAMBODIA The Music of Cambodia, Vol. 1: 9-Gong Gamelan; Cambodia, Traditional Music (Smithsonian Folkways) and World Network 35 - A Suite of Tropical Music and Sounds
Raam - North India Inde Du Nord - Musique Instrumentale De L'Inde Médiévale (by Ustad Asad Ali Khan and Pandit Gopal Das); Flute & Sitar Music of India (by Vijay Raghav Rao); Magical Moments Of Rhythm & Music of the Deserts (by Zakir Hussain); Putumayo - India and Chants Of India (by Ravi Shankar)
Urik - Persian Classical Music (by Sima Bina & Hossein 'Omoumi) & Iran: Persian Classical Music (by Faramarz Payvar Ensemble)
Forest Ridge - Voices Of The Rainforest (produced by Mickey Hart); Hawaiian Drum Dance Chants and Dream Songs and Healing Sounds in the Rainforests of Malaysia
Ringing Mountains - 700 Years Of Music In Tibet (by The Buddhist Monks of Maitri Vihar Monestry); Trance 1 (by Lamas and Monks of Shartse Dratsang Garden Monastery) and Sacred Music, Sacred Dance for Planetary Healing
General music for the desert and battles - Ankh: The Sound of Ancient Egypt (by Michael Atherton); Bellydance From Egypt (by Bashir Al Abdel); Desert Blues (by Baly Othmani & Steve Shehan); Thousand & Two Nights (by Elie Attieh); Charcoal Gypsies (by Musicians Of The Nile); Conan The Barbarian Soundtrack; Conan The Destroyer Soundtrack; Stargate Soundtrack; and various tracks by Beats Antique & Kaya Project
What I'm doing is looping various sound effects from Neverwinter Nights through Fruity Loops studio and layering various songs over the sound effects in 1 to 2 hour long tracks and playing those through my MP3 player. That way, I can pretty much cover the length of any given encounter with appropriate ambience.
I know this is a bit late, but I've only recently joined the community. I hope some of you find this useful.
"You know, if you die first, I am definitely going to eat you. The question is, if I die first, what are you going to do? Bon Appetit!"