Landon, I quite like this track in it's own right. Nicely mixed, well composed and in all honesty you probably have more electronic techniques than I do. It loops
very well!
It's a nice track and your sound selection is very good, in that they all work together well, but as far as using it in game goes, all it needs is a
stylistic overhaul...
First off save this version as it's really quite nice, these TMW developers are quite fussy
...take a copy of your new track and think about the following
- Identify the elements which lend the track a more techno feel such as the four-to-the-floor bass drum
- mute this for now... at the moment, the bass drum, while holding the track together and makes it strong, is also a very driving element of the track and would make the player want to push through hard 'n' fast rather than explore - if you've played Halo and remember the level at night (I think the 3rd or fourth one where you begin with a sniper rifle), the music has a similar feel to this and while, calm, serves to drive the player through the level, clearing up convenant soldiers...
- Once the drums are muted, see if you can introduce some more organic sounding elements into the track - they can still be synthesised or pads. Reverb will be your friend in making a cave track
, you can afford to use more reverb on small intermittent, low volume sounds or percussive effects.
- At the moment the track is tight and structured - the end feel could be a little less quantised, looser-feeling, a little softer.
...to occupy the bass end of the spectrum, and replace the bass drum you could try a low ambient pad that pops it's head up in a few places where you want to introduce a little tension... or something else entirely?
At the end of the day, you'll know when you have a track fitting for a cave - you'll listen back and just know
I hope you're not offended by this, but this track (at this stage, I know it's not end article) sounds a little like menu music for a professional game (the kind that would have a hi-tech-looking GUI or a racing game...?) Maybe I'm wrong, just my opinion. Do you mind me asking what software you use?
Check out this guy,
http://www.sgxmusic.com/music.htm
He's brilliant!!
Check out Save Me (ICO Remix) and soulsight - soulsight is a good example of that softer sound