A Bit on the ABYDOS: Incursion OST (Including the Instruments Used)

Composing was pretty much the last step of the movie in my workflow, although that was more of a guideline than a rule. While I can see a couple things that I could have done differently, I'm actually pretty happy with how it turned out--and, perhaps more vitally of all, if I waited for the soundtrack to be perfect I wouldn't actually ever get the movie released.  Anyway, given my blog's early emphasis on project-making resources, I decided to showcase what I used to make the soundtrack for ABYDOS: Incursion! Below is everything I used to compose it; all of them are free in some form (although some carry a couple caveats), because my approach to whether I should grab software really hasn't changed in the last eight or nine years of this blog.

Composing software/DAW used: LMMS (free and open source)

Instruments used (NOTE: The below license descriptions only apply to making music with the downloads, not modifying/redistributing the files themselves. Also, while I've looked around, I may have missed a couple details, so feel free to double check the "no known strings" part--pun welcome but not intended--if you want):

  • BBC Symphonic Orchestra, by Spitfire Audio ("Discover" version, $50 or free if you fill in a form and wait a couple weeks, VST; no known strings attached) - The last pack on the list that I downloaded, I mainly used this for strings (bass or otherwise) and brass, in tandem with Virtual Playing Orchestra.
  • DSK Music, by Victor (freeware, VST; no strings attached) - to be specific, DSK The Grand, DSK Strings and DSK ChoirZ; mostly used on the first few tracks due to technical issues that were resolved later. I've found ChoirZ is particularly useful for a more synth-y choir feel.
  • Equinox Grand Pianos, by Shan (free, soundfont; "personal use"--which apparently translates to CC-BY-NC/non-commercial, so I've exported the tracks with SGM 2.01 for any future use) - The original Equinox site is dead, but the download's available elsewhere.
  • NST Choir a.k.a. NST Vocal, by bigcat instruments (freeware, VST; no known strings) - While this took a bit of tinkering, I was able to get a pretty realistic-sounding choir out of it with the instruments in the image below this list.
  • SGM 2.01, by Shan (free, soundfont; CC-BY/attribution-required) - As with Equinox, the SGM site is dead; most of this was used for an ethereal choir, a couple strings, a piano and a number of synth sounds, but it took up other roles in a track or two.  Kind of a swiss army knife as far as soundfonts go.
  • Virtual Playing Orchestra, (freeware, SFZ; no strings attached) - Used with the Sforzando plugin; as with the BBC Symphonic Orchestra, this was used for strings and brass. 

 

Finally, I'm glad to announce that the OST will be getting an official social media release in a future post! Composing for a full project definitely stretched me, but I can really see the joy in it--and the flexibility of moving past stock music. I'm glad to have tried it out! 


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