We are very happy to have the opportunity to write a review about Sonor Village. We got in touch with Antonio Affrunti, director of Sonor Village, for a collaboration and, thanks to him, now No Dice Unrolled has its own soundtrack! Great, isn’t it? In this article we will tell you how the relationship with Sonor Village developed and how was born the musical piece that was composed especially for us.
The Protagonists of the Review: Sonor Village
Sonor Village is a team located in Rome that deals with soundtracks for cinema, TV, documentaries, commercials, jingles, books and games. In recent years they have been specializing in the field of sound for roleplaying games. For example they produced four audio packages on Astral, a platform for online paper roleplaying gaming. All the songs can be listened in preview and purchased to be used on the site. They are also present on Youtube and Apple Music. They boast several collaborations. Acchiappasogni (OST for Le notti di Nibiru, Augusta Universalis, Dungeon 6 and Dragon Fighters), Minos Game (OST for Rockopolis), Scuola di GdR, A.P.S., Dicegames Italia, and other names in Germany, United States and more. You can see a trailer with some excerpts from their works.
The First Contacts Between Sonor Village e No Dice Unrolled
First of all I would like to premise a consideration that may seem marginal but in my opinion is very important. Antonio has always been kind and very patient. It is sometimes difficult to translate into words concepts about music or to convey preferences or requests for changes. Among clarifications, details and changes we have stressed our counterpart several times. He has always been attentive, understanding and proactive.
The first step was to decide what we needed. In our case an introduction to be used with the logo. Starting from that we asked to enlarge a theme to create a longer composition. We thought of a central part that can be inserted in a loop. So we can have a music of completely controllable duration.
At this point after deciding on the format we had to get to the heart of the matter, the music. Sonor Village asked for references in order to better understand what our wishes were. And we started looking accordingly for something that ignite a spark in us. We mainly wanted something epic, with a touch of dark.
In a few days we found some songs with sounds similar to our goal. We specified which parts of these songs most conquered our taste, after which we waited for the authors to work.
The Heart Of The Sonor Village Review
After a few days, Sonor Village returned our wishes in a preliminary audition. It met our tastes, despite having some details that we wanted to discuss. That’s normal, it was only the first draft of the song, but that’s was already very promising. Then we texted to shape the draft following Sonor Village’s experience. Some elements have been modified, then, when we were satisfied, Sonor Village made the final version, mixed and mastered.
After a few more days, our theme song finally came to us. A full version plus all the cut parts to use as we please. Here you are the result.
How The Team Works
We asked Antonio directly to describe how his team works and he told us something about it:
Basically we work for the preproduction of the songs in the personal studios of each team member using music composition software. The work is then finalized (with mixing and mastering) in a highly professional recording studio, the Village Recording Studio, where real instruments and voices are also recorded based on the type of sound required. In this way we combine the highest digital quality with the highest analog quality to achieve the best possible result. Right from the start, our goal was to be able to add professional-level audio quality to an excellent musical composition.
Obviously the first thing is to develop empathy with the game and its dynamics and create an original “sound” to increase the player’s emotional interaction with the game itself. Music is a powerful medium that moves feelings much more than a thousand words!
Who Needs An Ost?
We are very satisfied with our personal soundtrack. By managing a review site active on social networks, having our own music can only be an advantage. This utility also affects other areas. For example, given the huge expansion of RPGs on Kickstarter it is also important, while presenting a project, to accompany it with appropriate music.
But can a roleplaying group need a soundtrack? Unless you won the lottery or bought the Bitcoins at the right time, I would say certainly not for a one-shot. But for a long campaign one might think about it. Personally, in the last period I delight in creating short amateur opening songs to be used to separate the moment of the “de-derping” and “set the mood” from the rest of the session. I had talked about it in a previous article about how to structure a session. In addition, an opening or recurring theme in moments of pathos has other advantages. On one hand it creates a sense of belonging, on the other hand it generates a strong correlation between the melody and an important memory, such as a big campaign lasting years can be.
Of course, you don’t always have to use a specially composed soundtrack, but for something really special it might be worth it.
Final Considerations of the Sonor Village Review
We are very satisfied with our piece of music and how the work was carried out. Communication, commitment and attention to our needs were never lacking and we were able to be understood even when they tried in words to share a purely musical concept.
It is good to have a point of reference for such a service. Certainly it is not a daily necessity, but it is a resource to be taken into consideration. It is not possible to give you a price range as each case deserves a quote on its own, but Antonio has expressly told everyone to ask because the costs could be very low! Any interested person can contact Sonor Village through the Facebook page, sending a mail to sonorvillage@gmail.com o calling 06 7696 8056.