Use of Bonus Challenges

URL to Streaming Service
https://soundcloud.com/haq1/sets/ost-album-jam

Submission Description
Mechs Don't Fight

The music created for this jam was produced using a hybrid setup, combining a computer with external hardware. Ableton served as the main DAW, while the external hardware included the Elektron Digitakt, Elektron Digitone, Elektron Analog Four, Behringer Deepmind 12, Novation Bass Station 2, and Korg Minilogue. Oh, and I almost forgot the little Behringer Edge. I also used the Analog Heat FX to some extent. The idea was to merge the mechanical side with the digital side, creating an equivalence with the jam's theme, which brings together mechs, cyborgs, and artificial intelligences. I created a series of tracks that aim to unify these different realms.

My references include soundtracks from films and videogames such as Terminator 2, Ghost in the shell, Tron: Legacy and Tron: Ares, Armored core VI:Fires of Rubicon, Forever winter, Replaced, Cyberpunk 2077, etc. This is my approximation to the theme.

In the story I imagined, humans ally with mechs to defend a dying humanity threatened by a vicious army of cyborgs that have abandoned all traces of humanity and crave the elimination of all organic life.

To accompany this imagined world, I created compositions that sometimes seek to blend organic and orchestral elements with more electronic ones, always with the idea that there is a continuous threat. There are moments that invite rest and more relaxed phases. There's a lot of recorded synth an grooveboxes in real time, to accomplish the objective to give to the electronics sounds and rythm an organic feel and a human touch.

The rhythm aims to imitate the continuous advance of machines, sometimes gigantic, as if they were steps of giant robots, to which I add moments of epicness, hehe, or at least I tried.

"Mechs Don't Fight" is not a game where characters attack enemies; it's a game where you seek protection and defense against threats from an immortal army. The music, in a way, aims to represent this. That urgency of situations that sometimes get complicated, that exploration to avoid being seen, that puzzle the player must solve to decipher a key enigma to stop the advance of the cyber hordes...

When composing the tracks, I was clear that the rhythm was a key piece in approaching the different songs, like a gear or a robotic, repetitive movement; the music had to reflect this. Still, I let melodies appear that were not quantized in the DAW. Maybe they don't quite fit the perfect rhythm of the electronic beats, but it was my way of saying, "Attention! In this so cybernetic world, there are human lives, organic life. Sometimes it's not perfect, but the strength of its emotions is stronger than any steel or energy beam." In such a perfect system, something that sounds a bit out of time can take on more relevance and become more present.

Here is the soundcloud playlist of this jam:

https://soundcloud.com/haq1/sets/ost-album-jam



Tracks include:

El Piloto: The melody sounds over a very marked rhythm. I tried to convey a feeling that what is coming next won't be a victory. The pilot gets into their mech not to win, not to triumph, but to buy time so the survivors they defend can survive the cyborg army's attack. It's a noble will, but the ending could be tragic... or not.

Calculando: This represents the advance of the cyborg army and the preparation of humans and their mechs for the imminent battle. The rhythm and violin sounds, accompanied by a synthesizer imitating a horn, create epicness, but at the same time...

Defensed: I imagined this as a collection situation or something similar, while there is a threat.

External Domain: I made this track thinking about an incursion into enemy territory.

Entry of the Sentinel: In this one, I express that something is approaching; it's dangerous, and if it discovered us, it would mean an extremely extreme war situation. But it doesn't discover us and passes by, leaving behind a tense calm.

Xploit: With this track, I wanted to express something computer-related, perhaps a mini-game to hack some surveillance machine.

Loaded: This song leans towards the environmental terrain. There's a rhythm generated by the bass while pads traverse the song. It's like the sound of an investigation, an incursion; we delve into something unknown, but where the murmur of a constant threat is heard.

Loading: This is the first part of "Loaded." It conveys a journey towards something uncertain. There is hope, but also something unknown upon arriving at the destination. What will it be?

Plug Out: In this one, I imagined the typical shop scene where provisions and weapons must be negotiated. It's a relaxed moment where even joking is allowed; it's the least tense moment in the game!

Neo Humans: In the humans of this world, there is something in them that is no longer the same. They maintain their roots, but metal and circuits are now part of their daily lives, which, despite everything, remains human.

Clear: The sound of the mechanical pulse is now more electric, more environmental. We find ourselves in a situation that has brought us closer to enemy territory. Suspense floods the experience: why did all this happen? Why do they want to destroy us? The answer hides a terrible truth involving humanity.

Cyber Maze: To reach the ultimate server room, we first have to venture into a mysterious cave. At the end, the final cyborg awaits us, and an explosion gives way to... (Maybe it could be the challenge 1)

La sala de los servidores: This track seeks to represent a tense atmosphere where there is calm but also awe. It's a huge room with gigantic machines calculating, scheming, but behind all that surprise, there is something terrifying...

Magnetic Drone: The true enemy is finally revealed. Is this the final confrontation? The track starts at 106 bpm; the rhythm gets harder and harder until the halfway point, where it explodes into a 140 bpm psytrance section.

I had a great time participating in this jam. The OST isn't perfect and has its flaws, and I'd be happy to receive feedback from the community and learn from your observations and criticisms. Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to participate in this event; thank you truly!

See you soon!