Oddworld Music

[totor]

I was wondering yesterday if the music contribuate to the atmosphere of a level. Tell me what is your favorite level's music!. Thanks.

[MeechShrykull1029]

Yes, the music contributes to the atmosphere of the level.

[used:)]

Definately. Only in the first two though. Well, SW did have its moments. But still,

Ellen Meijers > Michael Bross

I really can't name one favorite piece, I love all the music Meijers did, but I guess the ones I enjoy most are the Scrabanian Temple, Necrum, and the Soulstorm Brewery.

[Fuzzle Guy]

I loved the Stranger's Wrath music. It really added to the feel of an epic Western movie.

However, the Meijers music really helped add to the odd and mysterious atmosphere that they seemed to be after in the first two games.

[MeechShrykull1029]

There's animal sounds in the music of some wildlife levels.

[skillya_glowi]

Of course the music contributes to the atmosphere. Have you ever tried playing the game with the speakers off (in the dark) and then turning them back on? It sounds completely different, it feels more like you're there.
Michael Bross is a good composer, but Ellen Meijers just composed music that was somehow part of the scene, although in my opinion she did a better job in Abe's Oddysee than Abe's Exoddus. I really have no idea. It's just one of those things that you feel but can't explain.

For my favourite soundtracks, I guess all the ones from Abe's Oddysee are in first place, except for the RuptureFarms soundtrack which would be a little bit far behind. Not saying it wasn't brilliant. Abe's Exoddus...I dunno, I don't really get the AE music. It's good as far as compositional value goes (if there is such a thing), but it didn't really go with the atmosphere.

[Nate]

I think a better description of the difference between Michael Bross and Ellen Meijers is that Bross composes music whereas Meijers creates rhythmic, environmental sounds. The soundtrack to AO isn't melodic in the way that MO and SW's are.

And my favourite environment music is that of Monsaic Lines. I think it fits the atmosphere perfectly. Second in line is Paramonia, for the same reason.

[Bullet Magnet]

Scrabania was pretty good. The music there was much more obvious, rather than environmental, but it did get the message across of being a hopeless wasteland death-trap stretching on for miles and miles. But it also carried a sense of awe that counterbalanced the hopelessness that would have otherwise made the level daunting and depressing. It feels like you're just stuck in this place with no hope of return, yet there is a history the place that might just save your skin, if only you can uncover it. And the tribal beat conjures up the idea of journeying, travelling through the place, on and on.

And also that music when Abe is being resurrected, and later when being sent back to the Sanctum by Bigface at the end in wonderful.

You can't beat Fighting Outlaws. It's completely different from Ellen's stuff. This is no ancient native, escape and spiritual discovery quest and je nai se quoi. This is a hard, harsh, slog-eat-slog world, everyone's on the same level, but either side of a hastily-erected fence. Just surviving is tough here, but on top of that, you have to fight with each other just to persist. Everyone is conspiring against you, and so they should: you're conspiring against all of them. That is the world of Fighting Outlaws. A perpetual struggle for existence. With guns.

Race Against Time and In the Dam are simply Hollywood. Definite crescendo pieces.

[Killy]

I don't think one should try and compare Bross' music to Meijers'. Both composers have succeeded in capturing the atmosphere of the respective game they've worked with. One must also take into account that Oddworld changed a little between the first two games and Stranger's Wrath. It was Oddworld, but it was also a different part of Oddworld. Would Meijers have been able to deliver the same kind of soundtrack as Bross did for Stranger's Wrath? I'd like to think so, but it would've sounded completely different, no doubt.

An interesting comparison would be AO and AE - I personally feel that although AE had more material music-wise, it had a very straightforward approach through the entire soundtrack, whereas AO had the benefit of differing landscapes and a soundtrack that followed these transitions really well. AE isn't necessarily bad, it's just less different from beginning to end. AO is shorter, but indeed offers more variation. Both soundtracks can be appreciated for what they are, which is still to say that Meijers accomplished her task as a composer.

My favorite music? Monsaic Lines is absolutely amazing and makes me want to be there, smell the air and just rest.

The Credits music for the first two games is hypnotical and excellent for chilling out.

Scrabania has already been mentioned. I think Bullet Magnet summed it up pretty good there. The Scrab possession music is even more a favorite, and it was fun mixing that track too.

AE offers several noteworthy songs - Slig Barracks, The Boiler, War Room etc. They are enjoyable, because I really like the heavy industrial beats but they offer minimal variation.

As far as Stranger's Wrath is concerned, Bross delivers perfection - plenty of Ennio Morricone references, mixed with heavy guitar riffs and drums. Genius, brilliant.

[Vanilla ✜]

In AE i love the music in the scrab place i cant remember the name of the place.

[Nate]

I pretty much agree with everything Killy said, especially about the credits music. I had forgotten that in my last post.

[used:)]

Me too. I hadn't really thought about it like that before. I suppose it might be just the way one looks at Oddworld. For me, I'll always be stuck in the lucid subtleties of AO and AE. Perhaps that has fashioned my overall viewpoint of Oddworld. Now taken from the perspective Killy has presented, I think Bross did do a nice job on SW, supplying everything that was appropriate from the simple guitar plucks of the Clakker towns to the epic and pressing music of the dam.

[OddYouko]

Pretty much all the music from Abe's Oddysee. I love listening to it and it makes me feel like I'm really in Oddworld. And plus when I've had a bad day it makes me feel better when I listen to the music.

Abe's Exoddus is good too but yeah I don't have that same feeling like with AO.
I forgot about the main menu music in AE. Unlike the other music in the game it makes me feel like I'm really there.

[Alf Shall Rise]

In my opinion, the music is the third best thing about Oddworld, with voice acting in second and character design in first. I love almost of all the excellent music.

[Kyle]

Of course it does... when I'm not playing the game I'm listening to the music. It's calming. My favorites are from Abe's Oddysee.

[Mac Sirloin]

Slig Barracks, War Room, and most Slig possession themes are pretty high up there in my books, but my favorite tracks has to be the BGM to the 'This is Rupture farms' FMV. If anyone can rip that song in and of itself I will change my sig to "_____ is awesome" for a month.

[Wings of Fire]

Slig Barracks, War Room, and most Slig possession themes are pretty high up there in my books, but my favorite tracks has to be the BGM to the 'This is Rupture farms' FMV. If anyone can rip that song in and of itself I will change my sig to "_____ is awesome" for a month.

I guarantee you Fuzzle Guy has it, he managed to get the Abe's Moon BGM for me .

[Nate]

Slig Barracks, War Room, and most Slig possession themes are pretty high up there in my books, but my favorite tracks has to be the BGM to the 'This is Rupture farms' FMV. If anyone can rip that song in and of itself I will change my sig to "_____ is awesome" for a month.

Take a look at this.

It comes from the oddworld.com music downloads page; the full rip of the Abe-A-Gogo soundtrack.

Someone else previously ripped the music with Abe's voiceover included. I can provide that too if you want.

[Xavier]

music downloads page; the full rip of the Abe-A-Gogo soundtrack.

It is not the full rip, there is way more then that.
I thought de mp3 I made from my cd were still on TOL, but apparently they are not...

max?

[Nate]

Oh, my mistake. Sorry.

I don't remember Abe-A-Gogo ever being on TOL. I would have downloaded it if I'd known it was there.

[Xavier]

I'll talk to Max about it and put them up as FLAC files just to annoy everybody, except the audio purists like me.

[Wil]

No idea what a FLAC file is, but I will look at returning these music files to OddTunes.

[Killy]

FLAC is a lossless compression encoder. It's very good for archiving in order to maintain audio-fidelity. Whereas .mp3 is lossy no matter what you do, FLAC and APE (another lossless encoder) are very much appreciated by the quality purists.

I personally think you guys should consider encoding all the Oddworld-related audio material you have in FLAC, or APE in order to safeguard everything. I'll be doing the upgraded releases in both MP3 and APE, so pick and choose.

Xav, move zig, for great justice.

[Nate]

You could also use Ogg.

I like it only because the name reminds me of Pratchett's wonderful witch.

[Xavier]

Too late, they are already in FLAC format, I'm working on the mp3 versions now

[Xavier]

Abe a Gogo - Abe's Oddysee OST by Ellen Meijers & Josh Gabriel:
MP3 (74Mb), FLAC(171Mb)


And a little bonus, the single of the song used in the Abe a Gogo advert:

Hello Hello ~Abe by B/V:
MP3 (38Mb), MP3 (140Mb)

The MP3 are in 320 kbps, hope you will enjoy it.

[Killy]

Way to go Xav, many thanks! Don't forget to store these copies somewhere safe.

[Wil]

Great! Super work, Xav. I’ve meaning to ask you for B/V’s stuff for a while. It’s infuriatingly memorable! D=

Not happy by your use of spaces in filepaths and filenames, though. *glare*

[Xavier]

only due to some distraction, it will be fixed

[totor]

Of course the music contributes to the atmosphere. Have you ever tried playing the game with the speakers off (in the dark) and then turning them back on? It sounds completely different, it feels more like you're there.
Michael Bross is a good composer, but Ellen Meijers just composed music that was somehow part of the scene, although in my opinion she did a better job in Abe's Oddysee than Abe's Exoddus. I really have no idea. It's just one of those things that you feel but can't explain.

For my favourite soundtracks, I guess all the ones from Abe's Oddysee are in first place, except for the RuptureFarms soundtrack which would be a little bit far behind. Not saying it wasn't brilliant. Abe's Exoddus...I dunno, I don't really get the AE music. It's good as far as compositional value goes (if there is such a thing), but it didn't really go with the atmosphere.

I agree 100% with you.
For me, Meijers' music represent the oddworld atmosphere at beast. My favourite are Scrabania, Monsaic Lines and Credits. They inspire me a lot when I am drawing.