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Frank Klepacki's 'Transform' and Mental Omega

frank klepacki transform mental omega music

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#1 Mithriddle

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Posted 25 January 2019 - 08:44 AM

To preface, I actually got into Frank Klepacki's solo work because of Mental Omega. I don't know what the deal is between the Mental Omega devs and Frank when it comes to his music, but I bought a few of his albums to support him because his music works so well with Mental Omega and I want to see it stay.

 

To be specific I'm proposing some of the tracks from Frank Klepacki's recent album 'Transform' could make it into the game. There's quite a few tracks in there which I think could work well for specific sides. I know Epsilon has Black Ice and Foehn has World Beyond, so maybe ignore the suggestions for those if they're exclusive. If all the songs were utilized, my list would be:

 

Allies - Square Jaw Punch, Underwater Probe, Direct Navigation

Soviets - Beyond The Assembly Line, Mech Driver, Fireball Shots

Epsilon - Transform, Demon Clutch (I'm a bit iffy on these because in tone they work better with the Soviets, but the instrumentation is more in line with Epsilon)

Foehn - Shadow Spy (could actually work as a GDI track in Twisted Insurrection), Future Hope (well... the title says it all)

 

What do you guys think?


Edited by Mithriddle, 25 January 2019 - 08:50 AM.


#2 The Jovian

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Posted 12 February 2019 - 07:24 PM

After finally listening to the album on Spotify, I'm sorry to say but I disagree. Don't get me wrong most of Transform's tracks were pretty good but they don't fit with the tone of the existing soundtracks with the possible exception of "Square Jaw Punch" and "Direct Navigation", in my humble opinion.

 

One recurring problem is that even though the tracks sound like RTS soundtrack, they sound like a late-00s RTS soundtrack like C&C3 or Universe At War, after the devs figured out how to make it so the music reacts to the events in-game and the composer now had to write music for the quiet moments and the action moments. As such some of the tracks are too slow and quiet and would feel out of place during moments of full on army clashes (which is why Westwood-era RTS soundtracks had to fit accommodate the slow and fast moments of gameplay and why they chose to diffuse the soundtrack to "slow" tracks and "fast" tracks when they finally had the means to swap between the two in-game as a reaction to the switch between the two types of moments). Examples include the Foehn suggestions "Shadow Spy" and "Future Hope", both of which would've made perfect sense for the slow moments of Foehn play if Mental Omega was a mod for C&C3 or Universe At War.

 

In addition the Epsilon tracks you've suggested would stick out like a sore thumb if placed in the middle of Black Ice 9's music, Both "Transform" and "Demon Clutch" are this rock/dubstep hybrid sound that feels more like demo tracks for the Goo faction soundtrack from Grey Goo before Frank switched to an orchestra/dubstep hybrid sound for the faction, than anything that would tonally fit with Black Ice 9's more "ethnic techno" sound. Epsilon is supposed to sound mysterious, conniving and subtle just like the faction, which is why their soundtrack so far is predominantly slow and/or quiet that builds up to this overwhelming crescendo, see "Chaotic Impulse" as an example, these two tracks are the complete opposite of what Epsilon should sound.

 

Same goes for the Soviet suggestions which feel a little too electronic and too upbeat to fit with the gritty, "lighter shade of black"-type villainy that the Soviets are supposed to represent, "Beyond the Assembly Line" is a perfect example of it as it just feels too high-tech and optimistic at points, like a more upbeat counterpart to "Magnafried". "Mech Driver" would actually fit better in the Allied soundtrack, and I can imagine "Fireball Shots" fitting with the Soviet soundtrack if the high-pitched synth melody on it was played on an electric guitar instead. In essence the ratio of synth/electronic sound and instrumental rock sound is all wrong for these tracks to fit with the Soviet soundtrack, either go all electronic but grimdark like "Fantasy" and "Banished" to establish a dark and villainous tone or mostly instrumental with grim electronic flourishes to establish an aggressive, badass, industrial-sounding tone to thematically fit with the Soviet war machine as the aggressor in the conflict, like "Rocktronic" or full instrumental rock like "Brain Dead".

 

Overall I am of the opinion that this album would be a better fit for the Novus or Hierarchy factions of a Universe At War mod than the current soundtracks for Mental Omega.



#3 zanos

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Posted 06 March 2019 - 01:49 AM

I like the idea of shadow spy being for the allies because they don't really have a slow track






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