A slowdown…
Today’s post is going to be very short. I’ll be getting married next week so you can expect a slowdown in the posting over the next couple of weeks. But once I’m back from the honeymoon in mid-August, it’ll be full steam ahead! I’ve been aiming at 5 postings a week and doing pretty well at that, but other happy duties call.
I’ll leave today’s blog with a piece that I arranged for our wedding’s 11-piece brass ensemble, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (for the recessional, presented here using EWQL Platinum brass):
And a couple pieces from South Park: The Movie:
Can’t wait…
Pirated samples.
It’s about time I do the obligatory complaint on this blog about how much it sucks that people pirate instrument samples. Actually, the pirating itself doesn’t bother me so much. It’s not like the people pirating have the drive or talent to do anything worthwhile with their pirated samples. Their talent level is in fact inversely proportional to their laziness. But it does bother me that their pirating does affect me and other legitimate composers.
With each pirated sample, the sample developers feel even more need to a)raise prices and b)inflict even more copy protection on legit users. I’m not sure piracy really does take away from anyone’s profits. The people pirating would probably not have bought the software if the pirated versions were not available. That’s certainly debatable and not really the point of this post. The point is, whether or not there is such a monetary loss, the developers feel the need to raise prices and add copy protection.
Raising prices is an obvious annoyance, though it’s fine in some cases where the samples are so good you would pay almost any price. But some samples do end up going into price points that are far above what the samples are actually worth. Unfortunately, with rampant piracy it’s harder and harder to tell how good particular samples are because you don’t very often have good demos of the samples from which to judge their worth. Developers are so scared of piracy that they are very hesitant to release any free demos. So we’re left with word-of-mouth reviews. That’s ok, but I still want more hands-on experience with a product before I plunk down a few thousand bucks.
The biggest bother to me is the copy protection. I have so many dongles sticking out of my computer it’s ridiculous. And I even had to pay for one of them. What?? I have to pay in order to let the sample developers know that I’m not a bad guy? Didn’t I do that by buying the samples in the first place? So why did I do all that serial number entering online? Oh, that’s just so that the company can legitimize my legitimate copy of my software and let the dongle know that we’re all good. And then I think if I take out the dongle, the computer is instructed to melt so I’m very careful with that. Don’t even get me started about when it’s time to upgrade my computer and I have to remember all these serial numbers and passwords so that I can legitimately uninstall then reinstall. But I can only do the 3 times or something? What happens the 4th time? Oh yeah, more melting… or maybe that’s when it tells my computer to kick me in the groin.
And meanwhile the pirates are laughing at me while they use their samples on any computer they want, installing and uninstalling just for the fun of it. Why am I the one being treated like a criminal? A most vexing state of affairs. So really, it’s not the pirates I’m complaining about. It’s the knee-jerk reaction to them by the developers. But it’s hard to blame them. A lot of work goes in to making samples. I know, since I’ve made some. The sample developers need to make their money so they can continue to bring us better and better representations of real instruments. I hope we can come to a better balance soon though between copy protection and legitimate user annoyance.
One more point… game developers, be very careful dealing with some composers whose rates seem too good to be true. If sample developers find out that the music in your game is using pirated samples (which it probably would be), you could be in for some hurt. Having dev team members use pirated software is never a good idea. Samples especially are easily identified and traced.
I’m sure I’ll have more to say about this in the future (maybe when I make my next big purchase), but it’s nice to get that off my chest for now. Carry on!
TSN… #4: TSN overuse Auto-Tune.
… overuse Auto-Tune.
For those of you who don’t know, Auto-Tune is a tool people can use to correct pitch problems in recordings. It’s used very often with voices, especially in pop songs. It’s a very powerful plug-in and useful when a singer has done a terrific take but has a note here or there that just isn’t in tune enough.
The problem stems from that little song Cher sang called “Believe” in 1998 that used Auto-Tune in a new way to create an interesting (back then) new type of vocal effect. Suddenly, everyone had to have the “Cher effect”. And apparently everyone got the Cher effect plugged into their own studios, because you can hear it all over the place now. I’ve even been asked randomly several times from people how to go about getting that effect. My first question is always, “Why?”
Again, I love pitch correction software. It can be really useful. And, actually, I’m not complaining about the “Cher effect” in this blog post. People aren’t using it that much anymore and when they do it’s usually in an uninteresting song by an unimaginative group (so who cares what tools they misuse anyway). I’m complaining about the overuse of Auto-tune’s intended use: pitch correction.
Auto-Tune should not be used on every single note. Used aggressively like this, it will suck the life out of a performance. It’s a human singing and humans aren’t perfect. What makes the difference between a good singer or a merely tolerable one is often the subtleties, and Auto-Tune can strip away far too many subtleties leaving a bland, computerized experience. It even sounds computerized. When engineers just throw on the Auto-Tune switch, it seems sometimes they neglect to listen to the results. It can sound very artificial.
It’s amazing how prevalent Auto-Tune has become. I laugh every time I hear it, especially in a country song. Country isn’t about perfectly in-tune singing. It’s about heart and strife and livin’ and sporks. Oh, maybe not sporks. But Auto-Tune overuse just obliterates all that emotion and leaves a sterile homogeneous borefest of a song. Combine it with aggressive compression and Marvin the Paranoid Android might as well be singing.
Anyway, this isn’t purely a game music specific topic, but it is a decree that I hope all game composers will heed in their music when the time comes to use that certain plug-in.
*note:
It’s debated whether Cher’s engineers used Auto-Tune or some combination of a vocoder and other effects. It sure sounds like Auto-Tune to me. Also, there are many other pitch correction software plug-ins out there and I used Auto-Tune in this post because it’s probably the most well known, but this post of course applies to all of them.
Why so loud?
This post isn’t directly related to game music, but it is an issue that affects everyone making game music and everyone playing games… and everyone else really. It was sparked by my recent post on surround sound and is an observation and a warning.
Our society is getting louder. From the cars on the street booming their music to the theaters putting in ever increasingly high-powered sound systems to the concerts we go to to the surround sound systems we’re putting in our homes, things are just getting louder. And why? I have no idea. It’s not like music gets better the louder it’s played, is it? Sure, it’s kind of fun to feel the bass when the volume is turned up at a rock concert, but why aren’t people bringing earplugs? You can still feel the bass and protect your hearing. But then, if people do start bringing earplugs, then why turn it up so loud in the first place? Just for the bass? If that’s all you want, go get one of those vibrating chairs or something and let me enjoy some music.
I started playing drums in 7th grade. My parents got me a drum set and I was the happiest kid on the planet. I played those drums every day in my room, often jamming with my brother on guitar. We would play for a long time, and very loudly. I thought it was kind of fun getting that fuzzy headed feeling afterward. Well, that turned out to be damaging my hearing irreversibly. I now have tinnitus, a constant ringing in the ears. I usually don’t notice it, but any time I want to I can check and it’s still there. I can probably look forward to increasingly poor hearing the older I get. But maybe it won’t get worse. That’s why I take very good care of my hearing now and encourage others to do the same.
As a composer and music producer, I need to be able to hear accurately. Since I take such good care of my hearing now, I notice noise problems much more frequently. I don’t ever go to a bar without earplugs. Karaoke bars especially… why must the bad singing be so loud?? Again, it’s a puzzle. Restaurants are another place that get very loud. Even without music in the background, you can’t hear people unless you start shouting and then it just gets in a horrible loop where shouting breeds more shouting. I wish restaurants would realize this. I want to socialize at a restaurant, not shout caveman sentences to my friends. Add some carpet and some couches or other sound traps and suddenly it’s a much warmer, inviting environment.
This page has a good overview of the dangers of loud noise. Permanent damage can happen when exposed to 85 decibels. That’s about the noise level of a busy city street. The average Walkman or iPod headphone at level 5 puts out 100 decibels. That can permanently damage your hearing after 15 minutes. According to Wikipedia, 140 million iPods have been sold. That’s a lot of potential for a lot of hearing loss. And again, Britney Spears doesn’t sound any better at higher volumes. But music you listen to in 20 years might sound worse as you can’t hear the high frequencies any more. Not worth it!
But game composers don’t necessarily deal with the “louder” forms of music such as rock or hip hop, right? Nothing to worry about if you’re doing purely orchestral music? Not so at all. A bass drum or timpani can easily surpass 105 decibels. I fear to imagine what sitting in front of a trumpet or trombone can do to your hearing, or even standing on the conductor podium. Cymbals, xylophones, tuba… all these instruments can really add up to hurt your hearing. A piece such as Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelungen can reach 110 decibels, which could permanently damage your hearing in less than 2 minutes. I’ve played tuba in a cramped pit for a ballet where I’m sure I would have come away with hearing damage if I hadn’t been wearing earplugs. With the xylophone behind me and timpani to the side, it was ridiculously loud.
So, just be careful! I don’t think loud music is worth the potential damage. I want everyone to be able to enjoy the best game soundtracks… and enjoy a good conversation.
Why aren’t we taken seriously?
I can’t keep track of the number I’ve times I’ve seen articles like this one:
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jul2008/gb2008078_807637.htm
I love the subtitle: “Some well-known movie and TV composers are now penning scores for video games, further evidence of the gaming industry’s continued growth”
Apparently, game music isn’t legit until the almighty film (and TV??!!) composers put their inspired pens to their score paper and bestow their genius on a game or two. There couldn’t possibly be talented people who would want to actually make a career specifically doing music for games. Video games are for kids, right? It’s well established that film (and TV??!!) is art, right? Video games? Well, Roger Ebert himself said video games aren’t art. So that’s that. Anyone foolish enough to go specifically into video game music is just wasting their time. They must not be good enough to make it in the big leagues… you know, film (and TV??!!).
This is ridiculous. Game music has challenges that require some serious dedication. Just because someone is good at creating a soundtrack for a film doesn’t mean he or she will be a good game composer. It’s an entirely different beast. You don’t know what the player is going to be seeing at any given moment. They are in control of the experience and you have to create music that fits well and enhances the experience wherever the player decides to go. The linearity of film and television is a piece of cake when compared to the chaos of a game. Actually, chaos isn’t the right word. There is structure. But you must approach it very differently. You must be in complete command of your music and be able to shape and mold it modularly. Film composers don’t develop this while working on films. Only by working on games do you learn this stuff.
So why would people think that bringing a film composer onto a game project is a good thing?
- For developers who think this, it seems to just be an inferiority complex. The game industry is still very young and hasn’t yet been legitimized as an art form. They get excited when someone from an established “art” world takes an interest. This isn’t just for the music, either. They also sometimes feel that way about writing and voice acting and maybe art to an extent.
-For the mainstream media, they still definitely see video games as kid’s stuff. Only when bigger names from old media start dabbling in games do they see games as possibly being more than a childish pastime.
But, in all honesty, I think the most important people, the gamers, are getting it. Some game specific composers have decent fan bases. Their fans eagerly await the next game to use their music. Also, more game soundtracks are starting to get released (at least here in the US… overseas, game soundtracks are already big business). The demand for game soundtracks is starting to be met, a very cool development.
So, why aren’t we taken seriously yet? It’s a problem that plagues the game industry as a whole right now. We’re still, in the eyes of old media and much of the older generation at least, a silly kid’s hobby. I know this will change as the industry continues to grow and evolve, but I still get a little queasy when I read an article like the one above. But, hey, what do they know really?
Competition… no big deal.
I have a confession. When I first started doing music for games I was annoyed whenever I heard about other composers working on games. But now that I’ve been in the industry for awhile and have had some success, the “competition” doesn’t bother me quite as much. And here’s why:
I couldn’t possibly work on every game out there. It’s true. Even though I like to work on as many projects as possible, I’ve come to realize that with the sheer quantity of games out there, it is preposterous to think there shouldn’t be other composers out there. That’s part of the reason why I started this blog. I want to help other composers in any way I can by sharing things I’ve learned in the industry. As the level of quality rises in game soundtracks, that’s good for all of us (assuming we can achieve at least that level of quality).
That’s part of the reason I felt at annoyed at other composers, however. The level of quality in game music was pretty low back when I first started. I was actually justified in feeling annoyed at many of the other composers because they had no business doing game music. They were buddies or brothers of programmers and designers who had a copy of Acid. Ugh. But sure enough, as soundtracks have gotten better, the “hacks” have started to be weeded out of the scene. There’s still much weeding left to be done, but we’re on our way.
All this is sounding a bit elitist. But I’d prefer to just call it “quality control”. It’s time to get rid of the unacceptable. Developers have a low tolerance for bugs in their games. They should have an equally low tolerance for bad audio. Let’s show them what we can do… not as “competition” but as “comrades”. The better we do, the more they’ll expect from us.
Star Wars Galaxies flashback.
It’s been too long since I’ve been in World of Warcraft. I’m getting billed each month, but my level 44 mage is just sitting there waiting for me. She probably thinks I’ve gotten her as far as I ever will. I hope not. Unfortunately, that fate did befall my Star Wars Galaxies character. I can’t even remember his name, though I do remember it being a really cool one. I even wrote him a cool backstory about his mysterious parents and unknown origins. I know SWG had its problems. I played in the summer of 2003, before land vehicles existed. Shooting through hills was fun and the grind for many skills was infuriating. Talk about stupid, but for some reason I put a lot of time into that game.
Some of my favorite memories have to do with the socializing. I was actually getting quite good at being a musician in the game, and they had a pretty neat music performance system in there. You could play with other people. I think there were eight loops you could choose to play on each instrument and everyone would just jam to the same tune. As people listened, they could heal the wounds that they got while out battling random creatures for their important Fed Ex missions. But as a musician, you would just hang out in bars and chit chat, listening to other brave souls’ stories and receiving monetary tips from time to time in thanks for the healing you provided.
That was the most fun part about the game. The combat was ho hum and didn’t really bring you into the Star Wars world as much as the socializing did (especially when your friends were good role players). It was neat how you could level up playing music and could develop new loops or be able to play new instruments. This is something I wish more MMO’s could incorporate. World of Warcraft has an amazingly huge, beautifully detailed world and there is a lot to see… but not really so many different ways to actually play the game. What if you don’t want to fight, but heal instead (not heal while fighting)? Yeah, that’s not everyone’s cup of tea but it would be nice if that possibility existed. You can do some fishing and level up some inconsequential skills, but the heart of the game is the beating up of the baddies.
Maybe it’s just me. But it was sort of nice being “needed” in SWG… and especially nice being needed as a musician. Granted, I’m no expert on MMO’s. Maybe there’s another game out there that does that. I’m just impressed that for such a crummy game, SWG managed to be memorable because of a seemingly minor detail, and an audio detail at that!
Silence.
No, this isn’t about the book by John Cage (and if you get that reference, nice job!). It’s about the importance of silence in your game. When people think about game music, they usually think back to something along the lines of the Super Mario Bros loop. It’s a great tune, instantly recognizable, and almost never gets old thanks to enough variation.
Music implementation, especially in boxed games, has gotten a lot more sophisticated since then. With CD-ROM and DVD games, you can have a lot more music in your game. So music gets stale at a much slower pace. However, the colossal casual games market is plagued by generally less sophisticated music implementation. It hasn’t really progressed much past the old Super Mario Bros style of loop, loop, loop, win music.
Of course download size is the limiting factor here. As broadband internet spreads and gets faster, this will be less of a hindrance to providing good music in your game, but what to do until then? Well, beef up your music system! Don’t just do loops. With the limited megabytes you have to play with, loops will still be integral. But consider going a little further and adding things like layers and starts/endings.
For an example, here is something we did in Solitaire Pop. Have a basic loop consisting of just drums and harmony. Then have a layer that can fit right on top of that that spices things up. It could add a melody or extra rhythms to make things more interesting. Also, have a short piece ready that can plug right into the end of the loop that can end the music. Then have a similar short piece that can start the loop up again. Then you have many more sonic possibilities without that much more compositional work, though it does create a little more work for the programmers in order to implement such a system. Make the layers and starts and stops all happen randomly. For a casual game, that’s usually good enough. But you can go deeper and incorporate another idea from Solitaire Pop. We also had a “danger” layer that could play over the loop when things started looking bad for the player. The possibilities are endless! You just have to make them happen.
But back to the topic of silence, it’s amazing what a little silence will do for a game. Suddenly you can hear things you may not have noticed before. Maybe you’ll notice your heartbeat. Whenever there is a change, sonically or visually, it’s human nature to take notice. And there’s no bigger change than music becoming silence. The player will take notice. And that’s what we want, the player to be sucked into your game even more.
No matter how brilliant a one or two minute loop is, it will eventually get old. We need to keep things as fresh as possible for as long as possible. Consider different ways to build a music system for your game. It really does bring some more life to the experience. And sometimes the best addition is done by subtraction.
Your game’s music ensemble.
(this post applies to those games that wouldn’t obviously be more suited to a more adrenaline-based soundtrack based on rock or hip hop or accordion, etc.)
I’m all for epic orchestral soundtracks. There’s nothing like hearing a huge orchestra playing grand themes and sweeping us up in the excitement of victory and moving us to tears in times of strife.
But only in the right games.
Not every game calls for a full orchestra with a choir, just like not every game calls for a hip hop or a rock soundtrack. But so many games could benefit from pulling back a little and experimenting. Especially in the world of indie games where the gameplay is often new and innovative, why not come up with a new and innovative music ensemble to complete the picture?
The first couple of Katamari games did this beautifully. Their ensembles ran a huge stylistic spectrum. There were lovely lush orchestral pieces, but there were also some pieces with almost unidentifiable instruments playing the Katamari themes in new and interesting ways. And it was all executed masterfully. The mish mash of ensembles fit the gameplay, just like the way the ball grows bigger by collecting a mish mash of random objects.
It would be refreshing to hear a soundtrack that had only piano. Or maybe a soundtrack that had classical instruments, but only two at a time. Not every game art style uses the same palette of colors. Why should the game audio style? It really comes down to the game. I’ve just seen too many games with a forced orchestral soundtrack.
Granted, this isn’t a huge problem. But it does seem that far too often the first template game composers go for is the orchestral one. Why is this? Well, probably because writing for an orchestra is actually easier than writing for smaller ensembles. You have an incredible amount of colors to choose from. There is a wide variety of cliches to throw in, ever so effortlessly. A bigger ensemble being easier to write for seems a bit counterintuitive. And certainly, making a fresh and interesting orchestral piece is very difficult. But to throw together something acceptable is a cinch with an orchestra.
Part of the reason for this blog is to help improve the quality of game soundtracks and “acceptable” doesn’t cut it. We want “awesome” or “yowza, I’m speechless!”, right? Originality within the music and within the music’s colors heads us in the right direction. This isn’t all on the composer’s shoulders, of course. All you game devs out there should think carefully about your music direction. Sure, consider an orchestra. But maybe step back a second and think if there is any other sound you might like. Solo guitar? Some Jethro Tull flute and cello? Give it a shot.
Rock games – recording industry finally evolving?
… or their last gasp?
Guitar Hero and Rock Band are two of the biggest games to come out in the last few years. Letting players pretend to be rock stars has really struck a chord (yes, a chord… ha!). And with that success, it seems the recording industry has finally accepted the fact that there’s more than one way to make money off their precious artists. How the RIAA hated the internet when it first gave us Napster. People want a quick and easy way to find and obtain any song they want? No! They will get their music the way we give it to them! That seems like so long ago. Now downloading songs is commonplace and the rock games, with their downloadable content, are a big part of that.
I hope the RIAA will learn the lesson someday. It seems like they are still being dragged, along with the motion picture studios, kicking and screaming into the 21st century. The internet is all about convenience. Piracy is still a big problem, even with iTunes and the like. The problem as I see it now is simply in pricing. Ninety cents to a dollar is still too expensive for single songs. Someone did a study once where they found the biggest profits could be made if each song was a nickel. I firmly believe that. I’ve bought exactly $20 of MP3 music online in my life. DRM was a big turn-off (man, they really didn’t get it) but it was mostly about the price. At a nickel per tune, I would imagine I’d spend a couple bucks a month easy.
And so would the pirates. Instead of dealing with torrents and the like, I think most of them would turn to the legit nickel-a-song online stores in a heartbeat. If they’re all spending a couple bucks a month, suddenly artists and the big corporations are raking in the dough. And maybe they could stop suing 12 year old file sharers. I still want a legit Napster… somewhere I can find every obscure tune I’d ever want. That was something special when Napster was at its height. The pirates today often are just going to the only place where they can find the tunes they want.
But I digress. With the rock games, the record companies have been given a golden opportunity to reinvent themselves and at least start to turn a very important corner. They can make money with the licensing fees for the tunes, which are probably nothing to sneeze at. And I’m sure at least a few CDs have been sold after a band has been discovered on Guitar Hero. BUT they could do so much more. Let indie bands put material in the game. If they provide the music and the note charts, why not? Have a 30 second demo of each song for players to check out. Have a ranking system. Then give the band at least half of the money from the downloads. Yeah, there may be some unlistenable junk submitted, so have a crew of 200 Rock Band or Guitar Hero devotees pass or not pass submissions. Or make the note chart creator cost $100. Then only the more serious artists will submit and have their chance at glory. Just a thought. That could all be a disaster. But that’s been the problem with the record companies… no thoughts outside what they already know.
Of course, my dream is to do away with the record companies. Even their name (record companies) is out of date. With the internet, there is no longer a need for some corporation to filter out the “bad” musical artists and tell us what the “good” ones are. Now, listeners can rate. And true quality will rise to the top and be discovered. Bands can record and produce themselves and go directly to the listeners, no middlemen. Unfortunately, with the insane copyright laws we now have, it looks like we’ll be stuck with record companies through the late 21st century at least. So we may be at the mercy of the RIAA on where and how we’ll get those Boston or Jimi Hendrix tunes.
Rock games and the internet are helping to force record companies into the 21st century. Unfortunately, they’re not coming willingly because they know what the 21st century holds for them… their demise. And it will be a good day when it finally comes.
About This Blog
This blog is dedicated to topics concerning the creation of music and sound for games. It will deal with issues that come up in the day to day work of The Game Composer as well as thoughts on the industry as a whole. I hope it will be useful for developers and other game audio professionals. Feel free to contact me: thegamecomposer@gmail.com
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