Techniques and Styles of Video Game Music 68
MarkN writes "Video game music has come to represent much more than just the beeps and boops of early video games that often got muted out of annoyance. It's a genre that stands on its own, stylistically and musically. It necessarily differs from typical soundtrack fare in a few important ways — it's written to accompany an activity rather than meant to be listened to passively, it is often required to loop and extend indefinitely, and it has the potential to be adaptive and respond to player feedback. In this article, I talk about some of the techniques used to make game music effective within its constraints and with all of its potential, and discuss how different styles and musical techniques can relate to the gameplay."
Re:Overrated: same as all other music (Score:1, Informative)
LCD Soundsystem produces house music, not techno.
It funny how people that claim to be knowledgeable about music refer to anything electronic with a beat as techno. I'm not saying you did this, but a couple other people did in their posts.
Personally I despise techno, but I love most trance and house genres.
Re:Rez? (Score:3, Informative)
I've been a big fan of adaptive game music ever since I realised it existed. The big leap, for me, was Monkey Island 2, where the background music in the starting town would gradually change mood and instrumentation depending on which house you walked into. In 1991, the effect was stunning. The tune was simple and unchallenging -- there's an mp3 arrangement here [scummbar.com]: the track is "04 Woodtick" -- but it was the adaptation that was the amazing thing. It was particularly important then because the music was pretty much the only audio component in the game: very little in the way of sound effects. (And, quite gratuitously, here's my favourite musical sequence [youtube.com] from the game.)
However, a little thought reminds me that adaptive music goes back at least as far as Ballblazer [youtube.com] in 1984-85 (game footage begins ca. 1:10; the first minute is what was displayed on screen while loading from floppy; note that the video and music appear to be captured from an Atari emulator that's going about 10% too fast). Not strictly music, I suppose: more like a semi-improvised percussion riff, that varied depending on whether the ball was loose or in one or the other player's possession -- but still.
Coincidence, that both games were Lucasfilm games? I wonder.
Re:Overrated: same as all other music (Score:3, Informative)
In Rock music, a band might have a fast song and a slow song and a song with funny timing all on the same album. In the electronic music world, these would all be considered different genres. The differences between these "genres" are so minute only the most dedicated fan can hear them. Mere mortals like us can't possibly be expected to. Just look at the self superiority the AC above seems to feel about correcting the genre of LCD Soundsystem.
Re:Video Games Live brings it to a whole new level (Score:2, Informative)
I went to one a few years ago at GenCon and found the host to be a prick, personifying all the bad stereotypes of a "hardcore gamer." I left feeling a little embarrassed about the whole thing. It didn't really compare to Dear Friends with regards to tone, which unfortuantely had a short run.
The music, though, was great. If they've adressed the host problems, I'd love to go again some time and take a few friends.
Re:Video Games Live brings it to a whole new level (Score:3, Informative)
I went to one a few years ago at GenCon and found the host to be a prick, personifying all the bad stereotypes of a "hardcore gamer."
Funny, I find him to personify all the bad stereotypes of a "self-congratulatory putz".
The only credential Tommy Tallarico can claim that qualifies him for his role as a curator video game music is that he was the first to have the idea. (His sound design work on classic game titles like "Cool Spot" and "Color A Dinosaur" certainly doesn't suffice.)
His inclusion of his own works on the Video Games Live program alongside the likes of Uematsu and Kondo is, quite frankly, abuse of power.