Use the Hivemind, Luke

January 12, 2008 6:09 PM

Help me create a new score for Star Wars.

In the very near future, I'm going to be running the Star Wars: Saga Edition roleplaying game for a group of my friends (I'm willing to endure a moderate amount of snark about this, so long as the snark-producer also makes a legitimate attempt to assist me with my question). To prepare myself, I sat down and made a list of the elements that stand out as distinctly Star Wars, in order to bring my players more fully into the gaming experience. One of the things that was near the top of the list was that, love it or hate it, the Star Wars score is iconic and creates immediate recognition.

Alas, it might be a little bit too iconic; players here a particular track and immediately associate it with a specific scene or character. I still plan on using the score, but to avoid this problem I want to create a set of tracks that sound like they belong in the score to Star Wars, but aren't. I've already grabbed Mars, the Bringer of War, but I'm not really sure where to go from here.

Help me, Metafilter! You're my only hope!

posted by Parasite Unseen to media & arts (17 answers total)

Other John Williams works
posted by rokusan at 6:17 PM on January 12, 2008

I can't recommend specific tracks sorry, but I've noticed all of John Williams music has a specific style to it and a lot of his post-Star Wars stuff sounds similar to the Star Wars score.

I would recommend listening to his other pieces and seeing which one's sound "star warsy". Good luck and have fun with your game :) (I don't see anything at all wrong with roleplaying games, but then I used to play Shadowrun so I can't talk hehe).
posted by katala at 6:37 PM on January 12, 2008

I always thought some John Rutter pieces sounded like Star Wars. I can't remember the exact pieces though. Also the opening the Swan Lake always make me want to watch Star Wars for some bizarre reason. Hovhaness' Mysterious Mountain too.

You might also look up Williams influences for the Star Wars score. I know Wagner is an influence, but his opera scores might put people off.
posted by melissam at 6:44 PM on January 12, 2008

I can't offer a specific suggestion, but I think that several of the 1st-person Star Wars computer games will have extensive original music that is in addition to the canon stuff, but specifically composed to be starwarsy.

Getting that music could be a challenge though, as modern games mix elements on the fly based on hooks in the gameplay, so that the emotional impact of the music matches your current activities (crescendos during combat, quiet foreboding in areas of poorly lit exploration, etc etc), so there won't simply be mp3s on the game disc. Score CDs for games are still pretty uncommon, but probably worth an online search. Worst case, you might have to manually record different areas of play, or look for a score, etc.

In most games I've worked on that had original music, we (other people in the production team) were able to get personal copies of the music recorded as tracks (rather than as the musical elements to be recombined in-game), so I'm pretty sure the music will exist as tracks somewhere, but I don't know how you'd obtain it. It may be worthwhile to search file-sharing software for mp3 files with various SW-computer game names in their name (and game acronyms, like KOTOR, etc). Hopefully someone has some insider stuff shared :-)

I don't have suggestions as to which Star Wars game has the most/best new music though.
posted by -harlequin- at 6:50 PM on January 12, 2008

Lots of 19th century orchestral music can sound Star Wars-y. Check out some symphonies by Bruckner, Strauss, Brahms, and Mahler.
posted by ludwig_van at 7:03 PM on January 12, 2008

Shadows of the Empire was a book/game/comic/soundtrack tie-in to Star Wars. The soundtrack IS Star Wars music, technically, but not Williams.

It was composed by Joel McNeely who has written other original scores, including music for The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.

A major inspiration/crib for JW's scores is Richard Strauss. Get past the DAAA-DAAAAAA-DAAAAAAAAAAA 2001 theme and listen to his other works. You'll hear a lot of familiar figures and textures.
posted by ScarletPumpernickel at 7:10 PM on January 12, 2008

Would it be absolute heresy to suggest using the score from various Star Trek movies?

Good idea on Mars. I have the entire "The Planets" suite, and many of them, if not all, would work. I'm a big fan of the Jupiter in particular.
posted by Doctor Suarez at 7:13 PM on January 12, 2008

There are some games that have very Williams-inspired music that I think would be perfect, namely Stan LePard's soundtrack to Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge and some of Michael Giacchino's Medal of Honor and Call of Duty music. If you want to check out some samples of Giacchino's music before you spring for a CD, you can listen to sample tracks on his website.
posted by Inkslinger at 7:21 PM on January 12, 2008

N'thing The Planets, every single part. I swear some of the motifs in the Star Wars score were borrowed directly from there. Maybe something by Edward Elgar might be good, too.

If your friends aren't too familiar with classical music, Mahler might work, as suggested above. If they know their classics, though, it might be a bit jarring to picture animals celebrating a hunter's funeral while they're piloting starships around.

I think, generally speaking, you're looking for classical music in the style of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Late Romantic, I believe it's called. I heard once that this is the style Hollywood adopted for its signature sound (but I'm no expert on movie history) - it's that full, lush orchestral sound that just seems right at the movies.
posted by Quietgal at 7:34 PM on January 12, 2008

Late Romantic, indeed.
posted by ludwig_van at 7:37 PM on January 12, 2008

Lucas actually wrote Star Wars to a score of classical music. Williams took a fair bit of inspiration from these works. Mars, Bringer of War, for instance, is the inspiration for the Imperial March. Here's a site where a guy guesses at a few others.

I've read an interview somewhere where Lucas or Williams identifies a few of the pieces used, but my Google-Fu is failing me.
posted by thinman at 7:43 PM on January 12, 2008

Thinman, that site reminds me: Carmina Burana has some wonderfully theatrical sounds, although it might evoke Arthurian legend more than space opera, thanks to stuff like Excalibur. (It's totally boffo - I sang it once in a chorus where the alto section stood right behind the percussion, and being one of the shortest altos I was right behind the percussionist. After one rehearsal I had to take a shower and an aspirin.)

Parasite Unseen, check out thinman's link for some great suggestions!
posted by Quietgal at 8:18 PM on January 12, 2008

Basically just listen to Holst. So much of that was just shamelessly ripped off by Williams. I remember the first time I heard it, I was like, what kind of ass rips off the Star Wars soundtrack? Then I looked it up on the internet and found out it was written in 1913. My opinion of John Williams plummeted.
posted by Ironmouth at 9:15 PM on January 12, 2008

If you haven't already, you might check out this Wikipedia section for more classical influences.

Also, your mom told me to tell you that she made Wheat Thins and apple slices for you and your little Star Track friends. But if you don't take out the garbage like she told you to, she's going to start charging you rent. She's perfectly happy to turn that basement into a sewing room, mister!
posted by thinman at 11:11 PM on January 12, 2008

Check out Erich Korngold's movie scores. He did the scores for a lot of 1930's and 40's movies that sound a lot like John Williams
posted by pombe at 12:12 AM on January 13, 2008

I was listening to Stravinsky's Rite of Spring the other day, and certain elements of the score reminded me of Star Wars.
posted by chill at 1:43 AM on January 13, 2008

Sorry to be way late here, but this just came to me, and I hope it's still useful to you. I'd recommend you check out Vangelis's Mythodea: Music for the NASA Mission: 2001 Mars Odyssey.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 7:11 AM on January 21, 2008