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Everybody loves Mussorgsky. Especially Walpurgis Nacht. What could be more appropriate an introduction to CMBB than a piece of music that essentially evokes scenes from Hell? Even if it is only alcohol-induced ruminations in the mist on a hill outside of Kiev.

But there comes a time when you want to start CMBB to the sounds of something with a little more political punch. Especially now when that political punch has gone so far out of fashion.

There's no shortage of German music around, including the forbidden stuff, some of which I've contributed to myself.

But the eastern front requires something a little different from just another rendering of Die Fahne Hoch.

So after much sturm and drang (and even some public humiliation) I dug out my sound editors and finally remembered how to use them. I am now the proud owner of edited and converted versions of the Soviet Anthem and a russian rendition of the Internationale that go especially well with the poster art that I'm using to replace the two intitial screens in the CDV version (and that I will post eventually).

And these two wav files are of such high quality that they don't sound like Alvin and the Chipmunks when you play them inside the game.

But that's the problem.

Chorus after chorus of the Internationale takes up space, even after you convert it back into an MP3.

And what many don't realize is that it takes even longer to upload than to download. And I have a dial-up.

So my question is, is there interest in downloading my editions of these pieces, and if so, how big an MP3 file are you willing to suffer through ?

To put that in perspective, St. John's Night on Bare Mountain (the current game introductory music) is about 10 Mb, so in MP3 format that would look something like 2.5 Mb. The full wav versions of the two pieces (all of the choruses) come in close to 40 Mb each after editing, or 8 or 9 Mb in MP3 format. I can reduce that significantly by cutting out a few choruses, but I'm reluctant to do so since CMBB doesn't seem to cut off the introductory music the way CMBO did.

So if you think you'd like to indulge either your patriotic of Bolshy fantasies, please respond with a vote on the largest size download you'll tolerate. Please don't vote if you have no interest in having these two pieces. And if no one expresses interest it will save me a hideously long upload.

So let the masses speak. Or yawn, as the case may be.

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We could have watched 'Black Like Me'

Instead we watched the big guns

And everybody knows the words

To "seasons in the sun"

Could have had give

Could have had take

We could've made anything we wanted to make

So we made 'Wheel Of Fortune'

And all the popular songs

We made a land where crap is king

And the good don't last too long

smile.gif

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What could be more appropriate an introduction to CMBB than a piece of music that essentially evokes scenes from Hell?
Yeah, Rammstein makes for a great intro music for CMBB! :D

It's perhaps unnecessary to include the whole song. Cut or fade out at some point after a minute or so. But have you checked that what you have in mind isn't already in CMMODS?

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I love Mussorgsky, in fact I'd like to have a longer version of it to put in the CMBB intro. My kids love it too, my son spends all day singing it: Da-da-da DAH! Da-da-da-DAH! DAH! DAH!

Alternative songs might be the Wolgalied as sung by the German Sixth Army in Stalingrad, or the Volga Boat Song as sung by the Red Army. BTW, where is the music file?

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One of the pieces that had made my shortlist was the Red Army version of Cliff on the Volga, a traditional song about national resistance to foreign oppression. [Truth in advertising: you probably have to be a Cossack to see it that way -- I think the foreigners in that song are actually Russians].

I had originally been under the impression that the two pieces that I mentioned were already posted somewhere. Maybe they were casualties of the Great Crash. The Anthem can indeed be found on another site, but if you download it and play it ingame you'll find that it is really part of a slavic uber-hamster mod.

It's not enough to just find an MP3 that you like and expect it to work ingame after conversion to an MP3 file. You've got to change the properties first, and you also have to edit it. Ten seconds of empty hiss followed by a useless ten second introductory chord when the piece isn't going to play for more than a minute is not exactly my idea of a strategically targetted song bite. So in that context, my Soviet Anthem (not the 1943 version) and my russian Internationale (that almost sounds like russian music -- it's not, by the way) only exist on my computer. The question is, is there enough demand for me to justify the bother of uploading it.

I listened to them again ingame and in fact they're a little bit too long. The anthem ends in the middle of the last word of the last chorus. Fading in and out is good multimedia but not so good for musicology. I can cut and splice imperceptiby, and both are several choruses too long even by the standards of someone who enjoys the relaxed pace of Russian masses and Indian movies.

I'd be curious to compare this version of Bald Mountain to the Stokowski version. I heard his version of Pictures once and it was a real eye-opener. Rimsky-Korsakoff was a brilliant surgeon but not the absolute last word: there's room for alternatives.

[ November 06, 2004, 02:08 PM: Message edited by: Philippe ]

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Some stuff from Wagner's "Götterdämmerung" (~"Dusk of the Gods") might be appropriate-the gods, at the height of their strength, challenge the Thursen/Giants, and the apocalyptic battle that will flatten Midgard and Asgard into a giant parking lot begins... His "Walkürenritt" (~"Ride of the Valkyries") is, of course, already in use (Robert Duvall's greatest words: "I love the smell of napalm in the morning!")

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That Soviet music site is inspiring indeed and the site is simply wonderful. I think it even has a baby Lenin poster in the art section. I'll stop before I'm overcome with revolutionary fervor.

Wagner is an interesting alternative to German military music, though I'm of the school that thinks it unfair to associate him with the Nazi Germany. I have yet to find any good source files on the web, though I probably haven't looked hard enough. I'd be curious to take a look at any links.

I've posted the two alternate introductory screens that I use at CMMODS in the CMBB section. I don't know how they'll look with some of the excellent interface mods that are out there, but they're certainly an improvement over corporate advertising.

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Philippe wrote

"Wagner is an interesting alternative to German military music, though I'm of the school that thinks it unfair to associate him with the Nazi Germany."

That is true, Wagner himself wasn't really responsible for his offspring holding close ties to Hitler. However, his as well as Hitler's fascination in germanic myths led to the consequent instrumentalization of his music by the N.S.

What about Richard Strauß? "Thus spoke Zarathustra" of course is already in use as well... But Nietzsche and his Übermensch idea, along with some of Heidegger's stuff, and of course Rosenberg's, contributed heavily to Nazi "philosophy".

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I've posted three sound files at CMMODS in MP3 format. Please let me know if they don't convert back correctly into wav files.

At the last minute I decided that Stepan Razin and the Cliff on the Volga didn't quite sound right as introductory music. Instead I substituted Katyusha, a love song about a girl whose lover has gone off to guard the borders. It may not work either, but it's a wonderful piece of music. And if the group that sings it has a CD, I'd really like to buy it.

One should keep an open mind about what does and doesn't work. Flying Il-2 combat missions with langorous unmartial-sounding folk songs playing in the background is a fascinating experience and a bit like watching a movie.

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I just remembered that some people think this song is about a rocket launcher. It's not. Here's a translation of the lyrics:

Apple and pear trees were blooming,

Fog crept along the river...

Katiusha came out onto the bank,

Onto the high, steep bank.

She came out and started a song

About a grey-blue eagle of the steppe,

About the one that she loved,

About the one, whose letters she cherished.

Oh, you, song, young maiden's song,

Fly out, follow after the clear sun

And tell the warrior at the distant border-post

That Katiusha sends him her greetings.

Let him remember a simple maiden,

Let him hear how she sings,

Let him protect the Motherland

And Katiusha will cherish love.

Apple and pear trees were blooming,

Fog crept along the river...

Katiusha came out onto the bank,

Onto the high, steep bank.

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I've listened to your music pieces on cmmods, Philippe, and I have to compliment you once more on your taste, the Katyusha piece is truly moving in the way of so many Stalinist-era ballads. I never would believe such a soft piece could be a tribute to a rocket launcher. But I stick with Mussorgsky as my intro music - my children love it so much.

By the way, I've downloaded your Russian mine-markers and I have to say: Good Work! Even though it's illogical for me to see the markers in Russian (I always play as Russian, so the markers should be in German, assuming that the enemy were so courteous as to put out warning signs), it is nice to see them scrawled in chalk. I suppose I can say to myself that these signs were placed by my engineer units before they crawled up to deactivate them.

Once more, great work. You are a great modder already.

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