Re: [HoE] Good HOE Music WAS: Toxic Tunes?

[Rich <toadpooka@usa.net>]

Besides the fact that Rob Zombie's whole image has HoE written all over it, I'd go with a mix of
fairly heavy classic rock stuff...Credence would be my first choice, but that could just be from
reading all the Convoy stuff in Road Warriors (truckers save the world...COOL!).  The stuff works
well for the "country" areas, but closer to the cities, I'd use some heavier industrial stuff. 
Ministry has already been mentioned (the album was PSALM 69, people! Jeez...), and they work very
well.

A side note on soundtracks in general now:
What makes a good soundtrack is that the instrumentals convey the feelings that are going on in the
game.  While vocals in music are possible, I try to avoid them.  No matter how soft it is, hearing a
human voice will distract players from the Marshal and vice versa.  Industrial music, therefore,
makes great soundtrack.  It's largely instrumental.  In "pure" industrial, there's almost no vocals,
outside of sampling.  Even when vocals are there, the human voice is treated like any other musical
instrument, instead of being the center of the piece.  What I'd recommend is not to get an album of
remixes from a good industrial or techno band.  The tracks will be longer than the main release
album, and you'll get maybe 5 or 6 mixes of the same piece.  Each mix comes across as being
different in mood and theme (if they don't, start looking for a new band to listen to), but they're
similar enough to each other that they draw a thread through every scene they're played in.
Once you do pick up some good soundtrack music, try listening to one piece on repeat while you're
writing the adventure.  That way, you know that track will be perfect for the part you're writing.

-- 
And so ends the case I call "The Case Of The Guy Who Was So Stressed-Out About His Lost Keys That He
Eventually Had A Heart Attack, And It Turned Out They Were In The Sofa The Whole Time.

Richard A. Ranallo,
The Man They Couldn't Hang