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Non-vocal music to game by?


LadyCrimson

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I know there's the general music thread, but I'm interested in suggestions of what people think are some great non-vocal music pieces for background-listening to while gaming.

Non-vocal = electronic, orchaestra, Celtic/reels, single instrument, etc. I tend towards the lightly toe-tapping to bomastic build-up, but mellow/somber is good at times too. Nothing overly dubstep (some of that flavor is fine, just nothing extreme/total, please).

Well known examples of what I tend to like: (cont. in 2nd post)




 
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“Things are as they are. Looking out into the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations.” – Alan Watts
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Two embed per post limit... (cont).

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMP3PwCUH9k



Anything else, that's not an overly popular, constant meme-used tune I've probably heard already? Your personal favorites? Anything out of the box I might like/should try?
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“Things are as they are. Looking out into the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations.” – Alan Watts
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Two Steps From Hell

 

 

 

I could link them almost all day.

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Debussy and Ravel always conjure a nice atmosphere in my opinion. Isao Tomita also produced a quite haunting synthesised version of some of Debussy's works back in the late 70s/early 80s:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPTGnnFatWo

 

Or perhaps a little Fantasia by Tallis, re-invigorated by Ralph Vaughan Williams:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAtx578yaZ8

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Tea for the teapot!

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Or perhaps Mussorgsky, influenced by the Russian folk tale of Baba Yaga:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tO5p-gNyVlo

 

Or Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcogD-hHEYs

Quite an experience to live in misery isn't it? That's what it is to be married with children.

I've seen things you people can't even imagine. Pearly Kings glittering on the Elephant and Castle, Morris Men dancing 'til the last light of midsummer. I watched Druid fires burning in the ruins of Stonehenge, and Yorkshiremen gurning for prizes. All these things will be lost in time, like alopecia on a skinhead. Time for tiffin.

 

Tea for the teapot!

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I like the New Retro Wave channel on Youtube as well as that of Monstercat (Drum and Bass, Glitch Hop, and Electro). 

 

Also one of my favourite Black Metal instrumental pieces:

 

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Go with some trailer music, Two Steps From Hell is ok but some of their stuff is pretty generic epic-y. Really does depend on what you are playing. For anything with heavy action, and a bit unexciting to play game OSTs while playing :

 

 

and the like. Unreal really has amazing music.

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If you don't mind vocals that can background because they don't draw you in focus on what's being said, try these below. I listen to this when I write code at times to, which I definitely could not do if the lyrics weren't quiet or rhythmic. I don't know if it's the same issue for you, but for me vocals pull me away when they make me want to listen and reflect on their meaning. Also, I can't speak for their popularity... I don't really listen to the radio anymore.

 

 

 

Then also, for no vocals, not even chants, there's just about everything from the X3 sound track, or even X series as a whole...

 

http://youtu.be/BhXXWhOFJzU

Edited by Luridis
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:facepalm: #define TRUE (!FALSE)

I ran across an article where the above statement was found in a release tarball. LOL! Who does something like this? Predictably, this oddity was found when the article's author tried to build said tarball and the compiler promptly went into cardiac arrest. If you're not a developer, imagine telling someone the literal meaning of up is "not down". Such nonsense makes computers, and developers... angry.

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Oh, one more... Since you mentioned Celtic and monotonic, I've always loved the sound of the Native American end-blown flutes...

 

http://youtu.be/47eEevgvGYE

Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt. - Julius Caesar

 

:facepalm: #define TRUE (!FALSE)

I ran across an article where the above statement was found in a release tarball. LOL! Who does something like this? Predictably, this oddity was found when the article's author tried to build said tarball and the compiler promptly went into cardiac arrest. If you're not a developer, imagine telling someone the literal meaning of up is "not down". Such nonsense makes computers, and developers... angry.

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Two Steps From Hell

 

I could link them almost all day.

 

They're awesome, I'd add in audiomachine aswell, they've got some great tracks.

 

If you don't mind remixes of game music I would recommend ocremix.org they've got some great tracks there.

 

 

Edited by Azdeus

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Lots of good stuff here. And yeah, some game soundtracks are awesome for listening to with ... other games. original.gif

 

If you don't mind vocals that can background because they don't draw you in focus on what's being said, try these below.

I mostly mean vocals as in the way most popular radio/itunes singles use them. They don't provoke the right state of mind for me I guess. I save those for when I'm not sitting at a desk.

 

Choir vocals or chants or rhythmic vocalizations that aren't in English, heh, or aren't actual words, can be great. I bought/still like that Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo album Chant from years ago. happy0203.gif

 

One I often use as an example of what I mean for that+modernish Celtic is Capercaillie's song Bonaparte (it's on YT). I do love Karen's tonal range, whatever she's singing.

“Things are as they are. Looking out into the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations.” – Alan Watts
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Listening to your examples, a few things come to mind:

 

Most of the action and racing tracks from the soundtrack to Beyond Good & Evil.

 

The soundtracks from StarCraft 2, especially the Terran and Zerg themes.

 

Shpongle. This is not a random word, it's a psychadelic electronic music type thing band.

 

I also really like the soundtrack to Pacific Rim, especially the tracks (such as the main theme) where Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine guest stars with his driving riffs. Say what you will about the man wanking his guitar off in strange ways, but he knows his way around a steady riff.

 

If you can get your hands on it, try getting an Audiomachine collection. This is a company that does a lot of trailer music and they tend to have multiple versions of the same tracks (such as a completely orchestral version contrasted with one with a lot of synths and electronic beats, versions for every game essentially). Looks like someone mentioned this before and I missed it, so hats off to them but I'll keep this here as an extra recommendation.

 

Maaaaybe David Newman's score to Serenity, specifically the tracks "Going For A Ride" and "Space Battle", but that may be a bit too regular movie soundtrack.

 

And here's a recommendation for everyone. Try playing a fast paced game with this track playing:

Edited by TrueNeutral
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Or you could grow a pair and buy this album.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V57fj584Oe8

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