Medieval Fantasty Ambient Music

Now Live On The Asset Store!

• Current playlist of a few demos

I've been working on a collection of ambient medieval music. When all is said and done, there will be two versions of each song, (probably 16+ pieces of music) - loop-friendly and one-shot versions; I may eventually incorporate an FMOD extension as well.

Here's demo #1:

Will have ambient background music, tavern music, battle music, all the stuff ya need for this type of endeavor. If any devs have specific interests or feedback for something like this, I'm all ears

 

Very pretty. Would love to hear more of your music.

 

Hey thanks Teila! I just added the necessary links to my signature if you're still interested in hearing more : )

Here's demo #2, this one is a bit more somber.

 

Just wanted to pipe in and say that I've listened to a LOT of the music in the asset store, and I don't remember anything sounding like this. This sounds more orchestral than the usual tinkly-plinky medieval game music, and very much like a modern movie soundtrack.

You've done a great job!

 

I love your music. Looking forward to release of the music.

 

Thank you both kindly - really appreciate it : )

 

Agreed, it's really good stuff even beyond asset-store standards. However:

Which is why I was hoping for some high-quality historically inspired music. I'd love music that incorporates historical and unusual instruments without that "tinkly-plinky"-ness. The soundtrack for Total War: Attila, for example, does a decent job there.
That's not to say your music isn't high quality (it is, very much so) - it just doesn't have much of a historical or medieval sound to me.

 

I think it's largely an "eye of the beholder" sort of thing. IMO, some of the best, genre defining music used in a medieval movie was the use of O Fortuna from the Carmina Burana and Wagner's Siegfried's Funeral March in Excalibur. Both are relatively modern pieces, but they fit the heroic dark ages action very well.

Also, the music composed for the first Diablo game was outstanding, but was it really medieval?

 

Absolutely. I was simply voicing my opinion that I hope to see some high-quality historically inspired music on the asset store. And you're right, if I had to pinpoint a defining piece of music for games or movies in a medieval setting, it would be the carmina burana. However, especially o fortuna (and fortune plango vulnera) has been iterated upon so often (and at times shamelessly copied), that using it as your main source of inspiration seems like a bit of a cliche at this point. There's so much more to draw inspiration from and so many other instruments (other than a full blown orchestra with choir) to explore. Especially in fantasy settings, these could really help giving games a more unique character and more interesting sound design.
In short: Now that even games like FarmVille have trailers with "epic orchestral music", I'd love game music to explore other genres. And because there is just so much more, it'd be a shame not to.

P.S.: I agree that historical games don't need to have historical music, of course.

 

Could not agree more christoph! I'm pretty burned out on the EPIC trailery music stuff, it's everywhere, even in romantic comedy trailers. And O Fortuna really is a genre-defining beautiful piece of music, I genuinely mean that. So much of what keeps coming out anymore has made that sound a bit cliché I think, comically so:

I love accurate historical music. For budgeting reasons, it's not easy to pull this off for an Asset Store album, I'm mostly playing with the toys I have and know really well; I don't have a dev budget or anything like that and usually, to get the good stuff, you need real players, budgets, contracts, etc. I'm trying to substitute that with time, blood and sweat. Witcher III had some really great timbres and colors in the soundtrack. Stroinski and co did an excellent job. They also had a professional budget, at least I assume.

Anyway christoph, I came to a similar conclusion perusing the asset store, some more authentic sounds would be a nice thing. This was one of the first pieces (it's a jingle really) I wrote when I started this project a few months back. In terms of instrumentation, it's less romantic and definitely more 'authentically' medieval.

I've got other pieces with dulcimers, harps, lutes and other instruments associated with the genre, will post when they're ready : )

 

Alright, here's a piece for your northern needs. Should sit well in a setting with wolves, snow, some mountains, hopefully a fireplace or two : ) Also created a playlist to make it easier to hear as an entire project. I'll be on vacation for the next 9ish days. Then, more music!

Cheers.

 

very high quality work
is it on the asset store ?

 

Really beautiful music, like people already mentioned it's of movie quality. Can't wait to hear more.

 

Thank you both - I've spent so much time working on these pieces that I'm starting to lose objectivity. So it's really nice to read your kind words : )

Not yet GCat, another month-ish of work and I'll put it up.

 

Definitely would use the Tavern one and the North is hauntingly beautiful. Great music!

 

Great stuff! I like the tavern piece. Even though it's stylistically similar to some music you can find on the asset store, it's the polish that makes it stand out. This definitely makes the difference between "tinkly-plinky" (sorry for shamelessly stealing that expression, @hopeful ) and immersive music.
And I can completely understand that the choice of instruments is a budget question. Good VSTs are pretty damn expensive and real musicians even more so. Great to hear you're working on pieces with a few less conventional instruments, I'm definitely curious about those.

In the North is top-level stuff, too. It reminds me of Skyrim's soundtrack, both stylistically and on a quality-level. I really dig how you're shaping the piece's harmony from basically a Fm11 chord. Has a very majestic and calm sound to it.

 

I like the first track in this thread best. I'm not doing a medieval game, but I heard this as a fresh and mature voice beginning the narration of a medieval adventure story. The second piece is good too, it's the sort of thing you'd hear in the aftermath of the original complication in the story, which then leads to a new beginning for the character.

EDIT: I guess I could add that to me the "northern" piece sounds to me like it could be used as the theme for the beginning of act 2 in the story, and the "jingle" could be used as travel music.

 

Thanks all for the kind words, they are genuinely appreciated . I'm sure there probably is a sub-conscious Skyrim influence in these pieces @christoph_r. Jeremy Soule is one of the best there is at this (in my not so humble opinion). I love like, everything he and his brother have made.

Finally had some time this morning to mix a battle theme I started awhile ago. Combat themes are fun.....really hard to pull off convincingly (and this one is still not quite there), but they're fun to do. There are a lot more gritty pieces where this came from, but those need more mixing (day job has pretty disgusting hours right now).

Anywho, here is Draw Your Sword:

 

Put your feet up by the fire, sip your ale, and rest. Let the band hammer away on dulcimers while you shut your tired eyes.

Returning to the main theme here, the one I started in Roaming the Fields.

 

Love Roaming the Fields and so does my family who heard it emanating from my computer. lol

 

Very calming. I like it. With that wet sound and the singing it reminds me more of a sacred/religious atmosphere than an inn, to be honest. A little like the entry to Columbia in Bioshock: Infinite, with that choral version of "will the circle be unbroken."

 

Yeah, I can hear that vibe now that you mention it @christoph_r. It's definitely more meditative than traditional bar/inn music. Gonna go listen to the Bioshock; Infinite soundtrack now, it's been quite awhile

 

Alright first off, apologies for taking so long to update this thread with new music. I intended to have this collection finished and available by December – boy that was dumb. Long story short, I had a few pop-up projects and some film work (that payed too well to turn down); this all caused delays in getting this collection out. I could have pushed a mediocre album in December but that isn't okay. My OCD would never allow it.

I'm betting most devs would rather have a better product than a half-assed thing that's 'finished'.

Anywho, I'm mixing and mastering the final two tracks, will submit it for review on Wednesday a week from today. Here's what will be available in the store:

4 Main Themes | 4 Tavern Themes | 4 Battle Themes | 5 Ambiences​

I'm planning on selling this as one complete package rather than individual collections. Would love to hear any devs thoughts on this as I created this for you : )

Cheers!

 

It's good to have the explanation, but most of us understand how reality can impede the progress of plans.

 

Still waiting for approval from Unity (It's been almost 3 weeks, they must be backed up). In the mean time, to celebrate the release of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (and satisfy my nostalgia for the old Zelda music) , here's a re-composition I did for giggles

 

It's your first submission, right? Probably there is some little thing that you omitted, and that's slowing up the review. You might check on it.

 

Indeed it is my first submission. I'll double-check, thought I was pretty thorough though. I assume they'd send an email if they were missing something important?

 

Maybe.

 

I'll be cracking the champagne tonight It's now live in the Asset Store!!



Genuinely want to thank you all for your interest, support and encouragement. It is not unnoticed or unappreciated. I intend to release more medievalish music (depending on how well this does) in the future. Maybe with an expansion on this collection or something entirely new?

I appreciate your patience and wholeheartedly welcome ANY responses, feedback, update requests, etc...

 

Just thought I'd mention for those tracking it that this is on sale this week.

 

Hey thanks for pointing this out @hopeful! Wasn't sure if Unity was going to include it or not. Glad they did