Ponyville Theme - My Little Pony: Roar of Thunderdoom (Fictional RPG Video Game)

[PonyFunk 155]

This is part of a video game music project I've thought about doing for a while. It's part of an idea for a My Little Pony fan-made rpg video game called My Little Pony: Roar of Thunderdoom, in which a villain named Thunderdoom with incredible magic powers attempts to take over Equestria a second time (the first time was eons ago when Equestria was new). It's undoubtedly the Mane 6's greatest challenge yet, and will take all the strength and power of friendship they need.

 

This is the theme that would play while in Ponyville. While in other towns across Equestria, I thought they could have the same melody but with a unique music style to each.

 

I am by no means a professional musician. In fact, this project is just a way for me to work on writing video game music. Any help, advice, and critiques are greatly appreciated.

 

[Pinkiest Pie 405]

It sounds great! I would be happy to beta test it for you. The theme aounds amazing too, defiently something I would play.

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

It sounds a little to similar to many other songs that follow this progression. 

 

I-V-V-I-I-I⁷-IV-I^o7-I(2nd inversion)-V⁷-I

 

For information about these symbols and making unique progressions, read this thread here: https://mlpforums.com/topic/136619-chords-progressions-modulations-a-guide-to-composing-music/

 

This progression is found in many simple children's songs such as "If You're Happy and You Know It)

 

In terms of your percussion line, it could be varied slighty. I see you're in 3/4 so that time sig has some potential for some good fill-ins and change-ups. For the percussion, you don't always have to keep that cabasa moving. It gets repetative and stale. Here are some beat suggestions for it:

 

1-2&3 | 1-2-3 | *-2-3

 

The "|" represent measures of music.

 

You can also leave out the cabasa entirely so that way you can have a more mellow and sweet waltz tone to the song. Right now, with the cabasa, wood blocks and claves, it's got that latin-waltz type of feel to it. 

 

I would also suggest swapping out that guitar with a harp. A harp has a little more sustain than a guitar. Plus, that guitar sounds a bit MIDIish, that digital sound that sort of puts a damper on the feeling you want to convey. With the harp, you can make your arpeggios go higher, meaning hit higher notes and have bigger intervals in between notes. 

 

Your strings also have that digital sound to them, which really doesn't sound too good. Also, your strings should be drawn out instead of being almost synced with the flute. Draw out the strings and lower their volume to give it that sweet background effect. Also, I didn't hear any low strings! Add them to give the piece a bit more depth. This way, you'll have just about every frequency on the spectrum. 

 

All in all, this piece could use a ton of work. I'm here if you need anything and I'll answer any questions you have about my critique. 

 

Also, I'd like to know what software you used for this piece. 

[PonyFunk 155]

C. Thunder Dash,

 

Thanks for your critique on my latest composition, "Ponyville Theme." I always look forward to your critiques, because they are well thought out and you speak without any harsh comments. 

 

The software I use is Garageband, so I'm very limited to the particular "real" instruments I can play with. To create a harp sound, I can try to play the guitar an octave or two higher. However, I'm not sure that would make the sound any better. As for the strings, you can probably see now why they sound too digital. However, I do want some sounds to have a bit of a snes/16-bit tone that reminds me a bit of Final Fantasy 4, 6 and Chrono Trigger. I'll try drawing out the strings to see how that sounds, and I'll definitely add some low strings. For percussion, I'll admit I just rushed through that part (go figure.) I'll see if adding and getting rid of certain percussion instruments will get rid of the latin waltz feel and create something closer to what you were describing.

 

As for the progression of the song, I'm already pretty married to how it is. Though, I can definitely agree how similar it sounds to other kid's songs. The feel I want to go for is something mellow and sweet, something you would hear in a Mario, Kirby, or Final Fantasy game (town theme). It's something that makes you want to stay in Ponyville a little while longer before going out on a big quest. However, I'll definitely look over your progression page for ideas.

 

BTW, I remember you giving me a scale of 1-10 on the last song I wrote. If you could keep doing that, that would help a lot. In fact, rank each parts of the song: Overall: 1-10, Feel: 1-10, Strings: 1-10, Percussion: 1-10, etc.

 

I'll be hearing from you.

 

PonyFunk

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

C. Thunder Dash,

 

Thanks for your critique on my latest composition, "Ponyville Theme." I always look forward to your critiques, because they are well thought out and you speak without any harsh comments. 

 

The software I use is Garageband, so I'm very limited to the particular "real" instruments I can play with. To create a harp sound, I can try to play the guitar an octave or two higher. However, I'm not sure that would make the sound any better. As for the strings, you can probably see now why they sound too digital. However, I do want some sounds to have a bit of a snes/16-bit tone that reminds me a bit of Final Fantasy 4, 6 and Chrono Trigger. I'll try drawing out the strings to see how that sounds, and I'll definitely add some low strings. For percussion, I'll admit I just rushed through that part (go figure.) I'll see if adding and getting rid of certain percussion instruments will get rid of the latin waltz feel and create something closer to what you were describing.

 

As for the progression of the song, I'm already pretty married to how it is. Though, I can definitely agree how similar it sounds to other kid's songs. The feel I want to go for is something mellow and sweet, something you would hear in a Mario, Kirby, or Final Fantasy game (town theme). It's something that makes you want to stay in Ponyville a little while longer before going out on a big quest. However, I'll definitely look over your progression page for ideas.

 

BTW, I remember you giving me a scale of 1-10 on the last song I wrote. If you could keep doing that, that would help a lot. In fact, rank each parts of the song: Overall: 1-10, Feel: 1-10, Strings: 1-10, Percussion: 1-10, etc.

 

I'll be hearing from you.

 

PonyFunk

 

Okay

 

Progression: 2/10 because as I said before, it's to common...

 

Feel: 4/10 because I'm getting the nice and mellow sounds, but the instruments just sound to digital and put a damper on that sweet nature feel you want. I suggest looking into getting Garritan instrument libraries. They feature high quality sampled instruments. 

 

Percussion: 1/10 unfortunately, because as I said in my critique, the continuous cabasa and rhythmic claves and wood blocks give the song a sort of latin vibe that steers away from the classical nature vibe you wanted. 

 

Overall: 3.5/10, like I said this piece could use a lot of work. Tell you what, we could work together on a revamp of this piece if you'd like.