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IAC Prime Member
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Magnetfisch
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5/10/2008 10:53:56 AM
Music in Computer Games
Since obviously, we're all in front of a computer right now (what a coincidence is it not?), and I happen to like PC games like the fabulous 3d space game Freelancer:
what do you think about music in computer game as a relatively new, futuristic media?
What role shall we musicians play there in your opition?
I personally think quite a big one:
In the old PC games Bad Mojo or Alone In The Dark 3, the atmosphere created by the synths gives lots of depth to the atmospheres (old, ghostly houses...).
Frank Klepacki's tracks in the real time strategy game Red Alert made it particularly thrilling.
And James Hannigan's tracks on Freelancer are wonderfully ethereal, while Jeremy Soule's classical songs remind of the Lord of The Rings movies or Wagner at times...
In the Car Race/Stunt'n crash Game FlatOut (which our guitarist likes a lot, btw), bands like Mötley Crüe rock da house
Lots of work ahead, don't you think so ;-)
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James Triggs
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5/10/2008 4:31:16 PM
As a video game composer, I think that mainstream musicians will play a big role in the future. There will always be demand for video game composers, as composing video game music is not as easy as you would think. It needs to sound good looped over and over,needs to be reflective of the environment and usually needs to fit in with pre-existing musical themes and motifs. Plus, the file size has to be the size demanded by employers. For example, my piece "DK Jungle Wasteland" is an example of video game music. Video game music is very much instrumental at the moment and is a style in itself. For instance, on my YouTube, my "Unofficial Kid Icarus Soundtrack" has a variety of different styles, but they all share some things in common.
That being said, there will be greater demand for mainstream musicians contributing their works. As time goes along, the need for vocals will become greater and greater. Not for all games, but there will be those that need it. Plus, recordings of live performances bring something new to the table that will appeal to more and more games.
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Paul groover
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5/12/2008 6:45:06 PM
I made some music for a tetris type game and i had to make the music 100kilobits or less for the whole score and it had to loop perfectly and not be boring. This was quite a few years back when dialup was king so size was very important it still is. I ended up writing it in pure midi code and barely scrapped it at 101kb as the game including the music was 700kb so it would fit on a floppy disk. Now you are looking at 500mb upwards even in mp3 or flac format because most games now have at least 5.1 surround some more than that. If you want to break into the game music scene go to scene.org this is where all the demo coders hangout there is a jobs board there that sometimes has games companies looking for different area,s of expertize coders grafix musicians etc. Also look out for game companies having compo,s for music for there games. My friend got his music on a racing game thru a compo on acid planet. The problem with writing for games they don,t usually pay you in cash more like a free copy of the game and a thank you. Unless they contract you to do the whole score and these usually go to classically trained muso,s that have been to one of the big music colleges for many years. One game,s budget can break a games company if it bombs so they are very hesitant to take a chance on anything new. Things are changing but very slowly as most game genre,s have been done to death so the companies are looking for something to make there games stand out from the crowd
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GV
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5/12/2008 7:29:50 PM
Cool Topic! Well new music in Playstation games is already huge and can be big$$ and or exposure for indie artists. Would love to have our music in a comp game!
-Greta
FUJI MINX
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Paul groover
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5/13/2008 1:12:04 PM
One game i can think of is Alice Nine inch nails did the score for that one there on IAC. The game i would like to be on Rock star lol
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James Triggs
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5/14/2008 4:45:27 AM
In response to one of Paul Groover's posts, I compose myself in numbers. For some other pieces, such as the one I have up here, its done by a midi keyboad and filesize isn't a priority concern. Still, the one I have up here is 1.39 megabytes, which is pretty good considering its a 2 minute piece. And the fact that it sounds like its been orchestrated.
I recommend as an exercise composing something, anything and trying to match, or get less than, the filesize of an actual piece from a game. Whether you might to be in a game or not, it makes you appreciate how hard it is- try looping a piece for hours just to make sure it works!
I actually might have a job come September of this year, thanks to the fact that Australia doesn't have an abundance of composers- as far as I know, I'm the only composer in Melbourne- so the fact that I live in Melbourne makes my skills attractive to a certain games studio. They don't care about how I'm only 15, have no qualifications and would need a lot of freedom, they would be getting a breath of fresh air and a person who could probably get in some of the bigger companies, possibly even in TV or film and they know it.
The fact that I'm in high school and am very willing to settle for low pay is a bonus too.That and my versatility. You don't need to be trained to sound classical.
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srm
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5/14/2008 5:39:37 AM
---- Updated 5/15/2008 12:42:59 AM
Congrats, James. I had no idea you were still in HS- the piece you have here sounds quite good. I'm a big believer that working within rigid 'limitations' can force one to become more creative. A year or so ago, I was asked to come up with a few pieces for a friend's low-budget zombie movie, and the strictures of trying to establish a mood in a short space of time, was a real learning experience.
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James Triggs
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5/14/2008 2:25:13 PM
Joseph Haydn said "I was forced to become original," as he was musically isolated from other composers and the trends of the time. I suppose thats similar to being under conditions.
I think, personally, that conditions really helps you develop your work as a composer as it gives you hands-on knowledge of musical theory and so, gives you so many more choices in how to do things. But there comes a pont where conditions restrict ones creativity.
Lastly, thanks for the congrats.
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Paul groover
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5/14/2008 3:26:21 PM
Nice one James could be a nice earner one day. I would get one of those packages where you can make your own 3d games easily. Or use the record gameplay option in some of your favourite games and write musical pieces to it. To give you practice at moving from one scene to another smooth transitions is the key to writing good game music. Then compare it to what the original game music composer did it will give you a better idea what,s expected. Also learn about midi and general midi 1 and 2 it,s a big subject and quite complex to get your head round. It has big advantages for writing complex pieces with small sizes as you are using the internal soundchip on the soundcard plus it,s a universal standard so it will sound the same whatever anyone is using. And it does in most instances not always though
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James Triggs
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5/14/2008 11:11:36 PM
Thanks for the advice. I'll have to do as much learning about midi as I can from the 'Net cause I can't do it at school. There isn't really an institution for it around Melbourne and anyway I have other career options that I wish to persue. For me, composing is a hobby and a passion that I do not expect to be my main source of income. But it looks like we're getting off topic, no?
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Magnetfisch
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5/17/2008 5:26:38 PM
Nine Inch Nails even did some (spooky!) sound samples for the game "Quake" - and btw, ammo for the "nail gun" even had the letters NIN on it 8-)
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Dave Freeman
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5/18/2008 10:25:55 AM
I absolutely believe games music will grow in significance.
Jeremy Soule and James Hannigan in particular are composers who are writing music that would be considered very good in any context. Some of the others I'm less sure about, and I think may fade away as the playing field gets levelled. Soule's work on the first few Harry Potter games and Hannigan's on the last one (Order of the Phoenix) are good examples of just how good game scores can be when properly resourced. Hannigan and Klepacki are also rumoured to be doing Red Alert 3 (thought I'd throw that in since you mention Frank's iconic RA music!!)
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Phlegm
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5/18/2008 11:00:46 AM
And don't forget what's NEW with the covers playin' crowd: GUITAR HERO and ROCK BAND.
BOTH of those have an OPEN door with ONLY a few tunes by MAJOR Artists and LOTS of room for INDIE artists to hop into the picture (because they'll license their high-quality music just for CREDIT or FREE)....
Seriously, Check out: http://customhero.net/
Certainly this opportunity for BOTH mainstream & INDIE artists should be worth a mention.
Just think of GUITAR HERO or ROCK BAND geeks all over playin' the RIFFs to YOUR original tune? SO WHAT -- if no money ever comes, eh? -Phlegm
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Dave Freeman
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5/18/2008 11:27:08 AM
I think the big 'story' games that need a kind of specialised interactive, film style score will continue to be dominated by the dedicated games composers. But the Rock band music type games are a sign the industry is fragmenting and there is a shared space between games and other industries/musicians. But I think there will always be people who will work only or mostly with the medium and are best at that. Just like in, say, film where you might have some licensed songs in there, but there's also an art to scoring the film itself. It's going to take more than being an Act with some cool songs to break this market. Otherwise it's like we're saying Elvis could have muscled in on Bernard Herrmann in the 50s film music scene. Great though Elvis was, I can't see him pioneering film music and scoring something like Pscyho. So I think there's a limit to how far 'bands' can infiltrate games, like anything else. The 'music games' and games where licensed music and songs are needed, sure they can. Games mean different things to different people. There's no one type of game now.
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