Music for Classic Trav Space Journeys

[Willie Dewitt]

I've always loved music in the background for my games, the more appropriate the better. For Traveller, planetary adventures could call for many different kinds of music. Maybe you'd play generic pop or rock in a bar (anything recognizable, like The Stones or Katie Perry might take players out of the moment...so Asian pop or rock could be the ticket), or lesser known classical numbers for a rich persons house or party.

But for outer space travel I want to make my own special mix, and much of it could be recognizable orchestrated tunes from big movies. A couple of numbers I thought really capture the loneliness, if not the outright subtle dangers of deep space, were the main theme from Alien, and also the main theme from Prometheus. They really inspire me. I'd like to make a special mix CD with those two themes, plus others, to pop into the player when on a ship. Not battle music, just sort of "downtime" exploration and travel music.

Do you have any pieces from other Sci Fi films, or from anything for that matter, that might inspire deep thoughts and fears of the vasty nothingness?:CoW:

 

[Supplement Four]

Try the soundtrack to Children of Dune by Brian Tyler. It's phenomenal.

 

[Willie Dewitt]

Try the soundtrack to Children of Dune by Brian Tyler. It's phenomenal.

Yes! Great call! I loved the series and the music. That main theme was incredible. And that Freman lyric Inama (montage) tune was so inspiring. Weird note; one of the commercials I saw on TV for Master and Commander years ago had that tune playing for the duration. Guess they thought it was Gaelic or something (or maybe it was Gaelic and they passed it off as Freman).

Thanks for the reminder. I may just download the whole thing off Itunes right away!

edit: I deed! I deed! I did download it!

 

[77topaz]

Do you have any pieces from other Sci Fi films, or from anything for that matter, that might inspire deep thoughts and fears of the vasty nothingness?:CoW:

The 2001: A Space Odyssey soundtrack, perhaps?

 

[ShapeShifter]

The Rolling Stones, "2000 Light Years from Home".

Pink Floyd, "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun".

I'm probably the only-living person who remembers and still loves Vangelis. o: Any number of his albums are excellent background tonalities for SciFi gaming. If you want really strange, really experimental, go with his Beaubourg, which is now finally on CD. One of the spacier albums was Albedo .39 (I believe that a few tunes on that album were featured in the Carl Sagan programme Cosmos, BitD).

Steve Roach's The Magnificent Void, or Darkest before Dawn.

If you want something dark, creepy, otherworldly, you cannot go wrong with Lustmord's Place Where the Black Stars Hang, or Heresy.

Though somewhat dated, Michael Stearns' Encounter is very scifi-oriented, though leaning more toward the Close Encounters vibe than anything Travelleresque.

If you like really groovy stuff, the OST for Barbarella by Bob Crewe and the Glitterhouse.

 

[77topaz]

Outside of film soundtracks, a lot of Tangerine Dream's early material has a very sci-fi feel to it (e.g. Phaedra, Stratosfear). So do a number of Jean Michel Jarre's albums, especially Oxygène. Furthermore, you have some Kraftwerk pieces like "Kometenmelodie" and "Spacelab". Also, "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" is far from Pink Floyd's only sci-fi work - there's also "Astronomy Domine", "Interstellar Overdrive", and others.

Sci-fi music is awesome.

 

[coliver988]

There are also on-line (and stand alone) background noise generators.

This site is interesting as it lets you mix and match sounds (I saved off the location for space station - but go to the home page for all sorts of themes): http://industry-machine.ambient-mixer.com/space-station

 

[kilemall]

Eve Online had a set of ambient background music that was downloadable that is specifically designed for generic spacy trouble. Let me see if I can reacquire it.

Ahh, not the original links I got years ago, but here is the full free online music content from the game company-

https://soundcloud.com/ccpgames/sets/eve-online-in-game-tracks

Here is a 6.5 hour one of several combined youtube versions of the above-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXKZdw76JDg

 

[Willie Dewitt]

Great suggestions guys. I'm going to research all those weird spacey items. Just taking a quick look there's some nice "fear outer space" stuff I'm going to be wanting. What a great time we live in to check out and obtain music, eh?

Since I was practically a kid I was a fan of Tangerine Dream, Mike Oldfeld, Jean Michael Jarre, etc. Oxygene and a couple others are long time regulars in the rotation for my dungeon crawls or Call of Cthulhu sessions. Also, Zoolook by Jarre is a wacky nightmare good for many situations (weirdo alien bar, hellish settings, dream sequences, etc).

Oh yeah, Vangelis. Also in that genre I've owned in the past some Andreas Vollenweider. I didn't think them up though, so thanks for reminding me about them. Good general overall music that can fit any place in a hard Sci Fi setting.

 

[Limburger59]

Do you have any pieces from other Sci Fi films, or from anything for that matter, that might inspire deep thoughts and fears of the vasty nothingness?:CoW:

The theme to Das Boot.

 

[Blue Ghost]

Pink Floyd, "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun".

Why do I find this part of the post utterly hilarious? Is it the nap I just took, the fact that I have a hankerin' for sushi, or because I suddenly have Gary Larson's old cartoon in my head now?

 

[Ulsyus]

Try Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here"

A track that I have as a regular one for my games is "Solaris" by Juno Reactor (though their bizarre electronica is good for a lot of SF scenario scenes...)

 

[coliver988]

I also found that Amazon Prime Music has a lot of game soundtracks available. This is of course assuming internet access is available where gaming (not usually an issue, but one of the reasons I prefer apps over web sites. But I'm old-fashioned that way!)

Been listening all day to those and see how they could fit in well in gaming sessions.

 

[Blue Ghost]

I've always loved music in the background for my games, the more appropriate the better. For Traveller, planetary adventures could call for many different kinds of music. Maybe you'd play generic pop or rock in a bar (anything recognizable, like The Stones or Katie Perry might take players out of the moment...so Asian pop or rock could be the ticket), or lesser known classical numbers for a rich persons house or party.

But for outer space travel I want to make my own special mix, and much of it could be recognizable orchestrated tunes from big movies. A couple of numbers I thought really capture the loneliness, if not the outright subtle dangers of deep space, were the main theme from Alien, and also the main theme from Prometheus. They really inspire me. I'd like to make a special mix CD with those two themes, plus others, to pop into the player when on a ship. Not battle music, just sort of "downtime" exploration and travel music.

Do you have any pieces from other Sci Fi films, or from anything for that matter, that might inspire deep thoughts and fears of the vasty nothingness?:CoW:

I highly recommend the soundtrack to Homeworld. It used to come with the boxed version of the game. The game itself has been uprated with new graphics, and looks even better than before, and the music is still hauntingly beautiful.

 

[Lycanorukke]

The emperors theme from RotJ

 

[77topaz]

I highly recommend the soundtrack to Homeworld. It used to come with the boxed version of the game. The game itself has been uprated with new graphics, and looks even better than before, and the music is still hauntingly beautiful.

Talking about video game soundtracks, there exists a fairly obscure sci-fi game called Otto Matic with a cool, very sci-fi-ey soundtrack. Though perhaps that soundtrack is more reminiscent of cheesy 1950's-era sci-fi than Traveller.

 

[Blue Ghost]

Talking about video game soundtracks, there exists a fairly obscure sci-fi game called Otto Matic with a cool, very sci-fi-ey soundtrack. Though perhaps that soundtrack is more reminiscent of cheesy 1950's-era sci-fi than Traveller.

Got a link?

The score to Disney's "The Black Hole" is pretty cool space adventure music, though more in line with 77topaz's 1950s riffs

 

[77topaz]

Got a link?

The score to Disney's "The Black Hole" is pretty cool space adventure music, though more in line with 77topaz's 1950s riffs

Here's a YouTube playlist of the soundtrack. It's not entirely complete (the main menu and inter-level-screens songs are missing, and I can't find those separately on YouTube either), but there should be enough there to give you a taste.

 

[whulorigan]

The soundtracks to the new Battlestar Galactica series.
5 CDs in total.

 

[Blue Ghost]

Here's a YouTube playlist of the soundtrack. It's not entirely complete (the main menu and inter-level-screens songs are missing, and I can't find those separately on YouTube either), but there should be enough there to give you a taste.

That has "Mars Needs Women!" written all over it. I smiled as I listed to it. Very very 1950s sci-fi

I had images of Vargr with big bulbous space helmets holding ray gun rifles with big plaster circles along the barrel, and them saying "Take me to your leader...woof."

whulorigan; looking at all your titles in your sig, you remind me of this guy; http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/r8...webfeeds/5ca57626e07a4903280f6a7067000615.jpg