I’m working on a game and composed some boss battle music for it. I’m not really sure whether or not I’ll use it in the end, but it’s good to practice different styles imo
Here’s the song (please do not use this for your own work - it uses common themes from my game and I take full credit):
The only samples I didn’t make with midi were the drums & the vocal chant in the middle.
Any feedback would be highly appreciated! I’m still a learning composer.
I don’t exactly know the theme of the game but one piece of feedback I’d give for boss battle music is trying to portray the feeling of impending doom through soundtrack alone.
A good example of this is Terraria’s boss music specifically the Empress of Light boss battle music which is capable of providing that high octane, intense feel while also giving that vibe of doom and danger which is a common style amongst most soundtracks when it comes to bosses. It’s a really good way of engaging the player through sound alone. A good theme can make the boss fight experience far more enjoyable and interesting.
The first thing that caught my ears was the pluck-like synth at the start. I personally think it doesn’t have a place in the piece, maybe change it to a bass synth of some sort but further in the mix; it’s too forward in the mix and I think you may want to have it in the background.
The chords overall seem well except I am not sure if you are going for a happy boss fight or if it’s supposed to be very suspenseful/dramatic. A good way of creating more tension is using more deceptive cadences, suspensions, “darker” instruments and a sense of confusion or a lack of familiarity.
Sorry if a lot of the above terms are really advanced with music theory but I’d always strongly recommend learning/exploring the theory as it’ll be the most beneficial when it comes to exploring many new genres of music.
I wish you luck with your composing endeavors!
Thanks so much for the reply! It definitely is missing that ‘feeling of impending doom’.
I think it’s too late to change that without remaking the whole song, but I’ll take this into account next time!
I didn’t realize how out of place that synth felt - what do you think of this?
I replaced it with a synth bass as you recommended. I much prefer it.
Also, the chords are supposed to feel somewhat suspenseful but also fulfilling - I was trying to create a boss fight theme that sounds like it could be at the end of a journey.
I’m not great with chords and I kind of rushed these - next time I’ll spend more time on getting the right feel!
I’m actually doing so now, I have an intermediate understanding but am bettering my knowledge.
Thank you so much for the feedback! It was really helpful.
Always good to keep practicing that theory! I broke out my music theory book after writing my comment just to freshen up my own memory on it, could never know too much
I think other than mixing issues, it sounds great aside from a few dissonant notes. At around 0:36-0:38, it sounds a little off, you might wanna check out the different instruments’ nnotes to make sure they match.