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A little project of mine: 'A Call to Arms' Fan Score

While with the cancellation of MotS, it is a sad (and yet hopeful) time for every B5, I hope that one or the other might be interested in this project.

But I don't want to be rude, and just say "Hi!" to all the people here at the FirstOnes forum. I look forward to spend my time here. I am a B5 fan since a long time, and with the recent DVD release, I rediscovered my love for this great series! Better late than never, I guess :)

I am also a big fan of movie soundtracks and, of course, the B5 soundtracks, too. And I have a problem with the score to 'A Call to Arms'. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to bash Chen (actually, I'm a big fan of his Crusade main title), but I think that for the vital event depicted in 'ACtA' (the first appearance of the Excalibur, the re-appearance of the Technomage Galen and the release of the Drakh plague on Earth), it would have deserved a more epic score.

So, I started this little project, a fan score to 'ACtA'. If you know the "Shadows of the Empire" score Joel McNeely composed for the Star Wars novel with the same name, you'll have a pretty clear idea of what's this gonna be: A score, not necessarily bound to the pictures on-screen, but capturing the emotional essence of the several events and characters. My intention is not to emulate Franke's music (although I make use of his themes). I'm just an enthusiast who wants to make a musical tribute to the universe he loves.

[URL]http://www.gamingforce.com/xchange/chocoview.php?xid=2867[/URL]

This first piece is a suite covering scenes with Dureena Nafeel from the beginning of the movie. It's divided in three parts:

01. Arrival at B5

This covers Dureena's arrival at Babylon 5 and her search for the thieves guild in Downbelow. You'll recognize the Season 5 theme in the opening fanfare :D This section also features a new theme I wrote at 00:24.

02. Dureena's Vision

This section is basically about Galen's incantation with Dureena, but goes beyond the scenes shown in the movie. From 02:00, the music gets a death-march feeling, underscoring a planet's destruction by the Death Cloud, and shifts to a silent requiem played by a Oboe, featuring the european version of the Requiem of the Line.

03. Awakening

As Dureena awakes at the thieves guild's hideout, the music moves between her aftershock from the incantation and the relief that the vision is over. It explodes into a percussion solo as Dureena says her famous "What chains" line and delivers an impressing fight to the thugs of the guild.

Enjoy, and tell me what you think of it:

Comments

  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    Nice try, it reminded me a bit of the WWII movie "Das Boot," which is quite fitting for the Excalibur. :)

    If I had to nitpick, I'd say it sounds a little flat, meaning, the music of B5 by Chris Franke is a lot richer and you can hear that there are multiple layers of sounds, effects and music.

    I suppose I'd have to watch the scenes while listening to fully appreciate it.
  • JackNJackN <font color=#99FF99>Lightwave Alien</font>
    If I only had Hiband to dl it...

    *Sigh*
  • A2597A2597 Fanboy
    whow...dunno how I missed this one.
    <!-- green -->
    I rather like it! How did you make it?
  • @A2597: Glad you like it! I used FruityLoops, a tracker program, and several soundfonts to create it. It's all done on PC, no live-instruments or keyboard was involved. The actual suite consists of three track separately composed and then edited together using Adobe Audition (former CoolEdit).

    @Stingray: Thanks for your feedback, too! Regarding the "flat" thing, yeah, that's still a thing I have to work on, to write complex music without drowning parts of it.
    Apart from that, I have to say that it also was not my direct intention to emulate Franke's music; I just love to play around with his themes. I tried to make it unique-sounding, but still true to the epic B5 universe. I hope that there's some kind of uniqueness in this music :)
  • DarkbladeDarkblade Earthforce Officer
    Nice to see a familiar face from GFF community.

    I have to unite with Stingrays sounding 'flat' opinion. If disregarded, your track combines some elements from Frankes music and adds some Evan H. Chen flavor to it. Sounds quite fitting for A Call To Arms score. :)

    I would like to hear more of this. And welcome to FirstOnes community Top Dollar.

    PS. [SIZE=1]Your Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver Complete score rip is still nro. 1[/SIZE]
  • Web site down

    Everytime I try to connect to the website, it's down.

    Anyone have any info on it or where else the music might be?
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