Cliches through the ages.
It’s the nature of humans to seek to create great things in art. And often, they do. Then another nature of humanity kicks in, and that nature is to copy that great thing until it is worn so thin that nobody wants that great thing anymore. It goes something like this:
Mr. Doonbugger figures out a cool new way to light a scene for his still camera. It brings out an aspect of people’s faces that nobody has really seen before. He shows his photos in his gallery, then his photos gain a wider audience through magazines, books, and even TV. Before you know it, people around the world are using his method. A shoe company starts using his method in their advertisements to sell their shoes. A movie director figures out a way to use the method in video. Within a year, you see Mr. Doonbugger’s lighting method appear in consumer electronics stores. Six months after that, everyone’s sick of that look. What once was unique and original and idiosyncratic of one person’s work is now a cliche. Nobody want to see it anymore.
Mr. Doonbugger is of course a fictional character and his lighting method story is just a piece of fiction. But it’s got to remind you of many, many things… The Matrix bullet time, live motion animation, Ken Burns photo panning just to name a few. It’s easy to see when a visual style gets ripped off time after time, but it’s important to recognize (and put a stop to) sonic clichés as well. This blog post will point out some of the big musical clichés through history. Let’s take it chronologically…
213,000 BC – Branch hit against tree: This brilliant invention of Kurpnar, a struggling composer of the era, was used at first only in the performance of Kurpnar’s unforgettable opera “Me Eat Bird I Hope”. It was received so well in that opera that he used it in the rest of his compositions until his death at the late age of 20. Other composers of the time of course saw the possibilities in using branch hit against tree and used it in their music as well. There were many years where you couldn’t walk by a forest without hearing improvisers banging away at their favorite trees. Needless to say, the trend didn’t last more than 15 years or so, after people got tired of listening to the same general sound again and again. All sorts of experimentation with branch and tree sizes yielded results that couldn’t save this particular cliché. (it should be noted that this particular cliché is unverifiable, and probably made up)
mid 20th-century – Soap opera organ fully diminished chord: This is a joke today, but it was a staple of television soap operas before they got electronic instruments. Here is an example (thanks to Soundsnap):
Soap opera, uh oh!
This is the first thing I think of when I think about audio clichés. It’s so worn out that it doesn’t have its intended effect anymore. It can’t possibly be taken seriously and is now used ironically whenever you hear it. Even ironically, it’s old however.
1989 onward – Batman theme: I already talked about this in an earlier “Thou Shalt Not” blog, but wanted to bring it up again in this blog because I recently noticed they use it as Sharon’s theme in the new Battlestar Galactica. Now as a cliché it only serves to take me out of the moment when I’m watching that show. I didn’t know Cylons were Batmen.
mid 1990′s – Waterphone: Spooky! (he first starts playing about 45 seconds in)
The first time you hear this instrument, you can’t help but be creeped out. The first time you hear it in a scary movie, you can’t help but feel the tension rise. Then, maybe the second and third time you hear it in a movie it still is pretty freaky. Then you hear it in a game, then another game… then an ad, then some idiotic reality TV show. Well, its power has now been exhausted. We’re at the point now where it’s not scary. It’s a cheap shortcut to try and achieve a mood of fear, but its overuse has made it ineffective. It can now be retired, along with all those scary little kids that are supposed to frighten us in every scary movie and game.
late 1990′s – Autotune: I’ve already chronicled this plug-in’s overuse in an earlier “Thou Shalt Not” blog. But, for fun, here’s the Cher song that made that effect famous:
This could be seen when it first emerged as a way of futurizing a piece of music. Ooh, we’re now in the future… cool! Well, with its overuse once again we see a once intriguing idea be run into the ground.
Well, there you have it… a brief history of some of the most obvious musical clichés. Next time you hear one in a movie, game, or on tv, be sure to throw your chair through the monitor and let them know you’re not going to take it anymore.
Soundtrack of the Month #4: World of Warcraft
With September coming to a close, it’s time I hurry up and pick the game soundtrack to review for the month. And chances are you’ve had this soundtrack drilled into your head after hour upon hour of gameplay. I only have a level 45 mage so I’m sure that most of you have much more experience in the game than I have, but even getting to level 45 has allowed me to memorize at least some of the pieces from the game. And, happily, they’re not half bad.
If I could pick one word to describe the WoW soundtrack, it would be “suitable”. There’s nothing groundbreaking by any means, but instead an appropriately crafted lot of music. The two biggest gripes I have with the soundtrack are:
1- The music comes from the Lord of the Rings school of music, meaning overall it’s pretty clumsy and obvious. There is nothing subtle or deep about the music. It just hits you over the head with its mood. But, while LoTR has a memorable melody or two , WoW does not, instead employing too often at least a portion of a minor scale as its melody. All of this may actually be just fine though, considering the player is going to hear each piece so many times. So that’s not really too big a problem. The music is “suitable” for its purposes. That said, whenever you enter Stormwind and hear that music, you can’t help but feel a little noble or courageous.
2- It too often sounds too much like samples. If I recall correctly, they hired a live choir for some of the pieces but at times the orchestra sounds tinny and thin, as samples often do. I’m sure if they had known when they were developing the game the insane amount of success they would have with the game, they would have gone live with everything. Indeed, the expansion Burning Crusade used the Northwest Sinfonia Orchestra. But WoW definitely suffers from some sample-itis.
Those two issues aside, the composers of the WoW soundtrack did a good job supporting the gorgeous world with proper music. They could have pushed the envelope a little more and increased the production values by hiring a live orchestra, but overall they helped further immerse the player in the game world. And that’s what game music is all about, right?
Verdict: Not Too Shabby
Compression – beware the power.
Compression is a useful tool. It lowers the loudest parts of an audio waveform so you can then raise the volume level of the entire waveform. It basically reduces the dynamic range of a sound. It can be used on individual tracks (commonly vocal tracks) or used on an entire piece of music. That is where it can be quite dangerous. Over the past couple of decades, audio engineers have been squashing the soup out of their music. Things that should be quiet are just as loud as things that should be loud. A solo acoustic guitar will sound just as loud as a full metal rock group.
Why have engineers been doing this? Partly because people perceive louder things to sound better. Also, because a vicious cycle has been developing… one engineer pushes their group’s levels up, so another engineer goes one level up, then another engineer goes even higher and so on. The result is that every new CD that comes out has its dynamic range further squashed. It’s gotten ridiculous. Check out this example of The Beatles’ song Something over the last 25 years:
Thanks to Wikipedia for this image. It’s a great illustration of this trend toward higher volume levels and lower dynamic ranges. Check out the “Loudness war” Wikipedia entry to find out more about the history of this issue.
I hope this blog can serve as a warning to audio content providers for games. With games, volume is even more of an issue. With sound effects, voice, and music all needing the player’s attention it’s tempting to just squash the music’s dynamic range so it’s more easily controllable. But with proper planning and attention to context, that shouldn’t be necessary. Orchestrate the music correctly. For mellow scenes or levels, go quiet. For action-packed scenes and levels, write loud. This is common sense of course. And we’re talking about averages. It’s ok if the music isn’t always completely audible. The player can deal with that. If they miss a particular section of the music during a loud explosion or gunfire, they’ll hear it again next time the music loops. It’s ok. A large portion of today music engineers may think that is heresy, but they have forgotten one simple idea:
When everything is loud, nothing is loud.
I’m not sure who originally said this, but it’s absolutely true. What makes music interesting is, at a very basic level, contrast. Loud vs. soft, high vs. low, quick vs. slow, simple vs. complicated. Abusing compression effectively kills the possibility for contrast between loud and soft. And, frankly, it starts to tire the ears. And things end up sounding not quite right, especially in orchestral music. A solo bassoon should not sound as loud as an entire orchestra. The listener should have to listen a little more attentively. They’re not going necessarily to hear the bassoon’s keyclicks or the player’s breaths. Unfortunately, with compression they might hear that sort of thing.
So, let’s not fall into the trap that the recording industry has fallen into. With them, they want it all to be super loud on the radio and over the internet. They have succumbed to the “louder is better” philosophy of music, using loudness as the main criterion for goodness. Louder is, in reality, just… louder. And probably worse… unnatural and tiring. Don’t be afraid to let your music breathe and flow as you compose it. And then don’t squash all the life out of it when you mix and master it. Trust that, if you have done your job correctly as a composer and a sound designer, the music will work just fine in your game.
Thou Shalt Not rely on loops. (#6)
rely on loops when creating your music.
The translation from the Ludus Sonitus Decretum was difficult to pin down for this rule. It was tough to say whether the rule meant “Thou Shalt Not rely on loops” or “Thou Shalt Not use loops”. But, in thinking about it, the more sensible translation is “rely”. Loops have their uses. When used sparingly, they can save some time. They can add some color to percussion tracks or add some interest to background ambient sounds.
The problem arises when someone fires up their copy of Acid or GarageBand and spews out piece after piece of loop-created music. Sure, the music sounds pretty professional. Loops are often created with terrific production values. Anyone can make something that sounds practically radio-worthy. But they really didn’t create anything that a monkey with a good dart board couldn’t have created, did they? And then they call themselves a composer? Picking a key and a tempo and then fitting things together that don’t sound like fingernails on a chalkboard are not the only qualifications for a composer. Composition is about creating an original piece of music out of a limitless palette that enables you to express whatever you want. Loops instantly lock you into an extremely limited toolset. Orchestration, melodic and harmonic progression, freedom of structure and expression… they all go out the window.
Not to mention, your music is going to sound an awful lot like someone else’s music at some point. And what are the chances you are going to have the loops that specifically fit the style and character of the game you are working on? You’re locked into expressing a very limited vocabulary if all you use is loops.
Your development as a musician can only progress as far as the loops will take you. You’ll have to wait until the next pack of loops come out before you get out of that inevitable creative rut. For your own good, and as decreed by the good book, keep your exposure to loops to a minimum! In an industry fueled by creativity and originality (or at least aspiring to that), loops have a very, very minor place.
Live orchestra… give it a thought.
There’s no getting around the fact that a live orchestral recording is going to sound much, much better than even the best sample-only orchestral recording. The subtleties that are lost in sampled music are hard to ignore. Live musicians bring their own feel to the music and make a whole that is much bigger than simply the sum of its parts. There is a warmth to live music that simply cannot be replicated by samples (at least not yet).
And, of course, that warmth and liveliness comes at a price. A pretty whopping huge price, comparatively. You can pay a typical composer $1000 per minute of music and get some pretty good sounding sampled music. That is, right now, good enough for most games and their players. Samples are always improving and, truth be told, 80%+ of the game players out there couldn’t tell the difference between live and well-sampled music. That’s somewhat disheartening to admit, but that’s where we are.
With that said, if you want the highest production values possible and you want your players to really be blown away, consider adding a few thousand bucks to your music budget. You can hire a session orchestra in Europe for around $2-3000 an hour. Each hour will yield 3-4 minutes of music. Even with 3-4 minutes, you have your main theme and maybe another significant piece in the game. The main theme is very important. It’s the first taste your player gets of your game and you want it to be of the highest quality. Though I said most players can’t tell the difference between live and sampled, I would bet that deep down, they will find a live orchestra to in fact be superior, however subconsciously that feeling is.
I do have mixed feelings about sending orchestra gigs overseas. As a semi-professional instrumentalist here in Seattle I do like to see gigs stay local. Local musicians work hours a day practicing their craft, constantly seeking new gigs. They deserve compensation for their hard work. But as a game composer, I simply want to see games have the highest quality sound possible. While the caliber of player in European orchestras is an unknown quality, overall they will achieve very good results. The nice thing about staying local, however, is that you can physically sit in on the session and be much more efficient. Though the cost per hour of orchestra time in a local orchestra may be 1.5x to 2x that of a European orchestra, the cost per minute of recording the local orchestra may only be 25% more:
European orchestra: 3 minutes @ $2400/hour = $800 per recorded minute
local (Seattle) orchestra: 4 minutes @ $4000/hour = $1000 per recorded minute
So either way, you’ll be in good shape. One thing, though. Be sure your composer is an excellent orchestrator. Many game composers aren’t trained in orchestrating for real instruments and don’t know how to use such an ensemble effectively. Composing for samples is completely different from composing for real instruments. The last thing you want during an expensive recording session is to have players constantly having to re-write parts because they just don’t work on their instruments. Professional musicians are good at covering up a composer’s mistakes (because they can play almost anything) but you still want the parts to fit well on their instruments, and within the orchestra.
Can’t cough up that much money? Well, you can do the next best thing and find a little extra cash to enable your composer to hire a live musician or three to come in and sweeten up the tracks. It may not be a complete live orchestra, but even having one live player will infuse the music with some much needed life. Especially for a piece that has a solo instrument highlighted, get that live player in there. $100 should be good to get at least a semi-pro in your composer’s studio for an hour to spruce up your game’s music. Again, make sure your composer has experience writing for real instruments. I should warn you, having a college degree in composition is no guarantee of having the ability to write for real instruments. Ask to hear some of that live-performed music. Time is money. Don’t take chances on this.
So, there you have it. A couple ways to help take your music to the next level. Maybe you don’t have the cash to do it now, but keep this in the back of your mind for a project down the road. You’ll be happy you did.
Fake plastic instruments all over the place…
With games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero selling millions of copies all around the world, I can’t help but wonder if there is going to be a boom of games coming that take advantage of their fake plastic instruments. Sure, people are getting many hours of use out of their instruments in the games they were created for but once all those songs have been played to death or the players need a little break from all the rockin’, will they have some other games to plug their instruments into?
I’ve seen an experimental platformer called “Fret Nice” that uses the Guitar Hero guitar. I haven’t played it but it seems like it might be interesting. But besides that, I haven’t heard of any other games using GH/RB controllers. Maybe a guitar isn’t the best type of controller. How do you get past the fact that you are holding a decent representation of a rock and roll guitar? But with the drums and microphones, I think there could be a lot of potential for new and fun games. It could be as simple as whack-a-mole with the drums, but I’m sure something more interesting could be dreamed up. With microphones, there is also a ton of innovative ideas to be explored. What could be simpler than controlling a game with your voice?
I would love to see some original new games come out using these controllers. I look at the three Donkey Konga bongo controllers sitting in our closet and wonder why they couldn’t have gotten more use. Well, the games never came out (besides Jungle Beat). But with today’s downloadable games markets on all the consoles, there is no reason not to have some unique new games that use the music controllers. As long as they’re fun, I’d love to see them. In the interest of conservation, please, developers, give us something else to play using our fancy new plastic guitars and drums!
This blog came into mind because I am really looking forward to Guitar Hero World Tour on the Wii next month. The game looks like the bomb. But that will also bring our fake instrument count up to 3 guitars, 1 drum set, 1 mic, and 3 sets of bongos. Add the Wii Fit board and nunchuks littering the living room and I start to get a little… uneasy.
This picture has nothing to do with the blog post. Just wanted to brag about my perfect 300 in Wii Sports bowling. 
Casino game sound
Late last month, we took a trip to Vegas for a wedding. I hadn’t been to Vegas for almost 7 years which was kind of strange, since my family had taken yearly trips to Vegas since I was about 10 years old. I saw the city grow from a major monstrosity into the crazy colossal monstrosity it is today. Yep, we saw the Mirage being built, one of the first of the new mega-resorts. We saw the last days of the Dunes and the Sands and numerous other old school casinos. We must have seen Siegfried and Roy at least 6 times. I even shook Roy’s hand after a show one year. I loved going to Vegas. Even though my brother and I were too young to gamble, our parents would give us rolls of quarters and we’d go to the various video game arcades and happily play all the newest games. As I discovered after turning 21, turns out the gambling games are even more fun than the arcade games.
My first royal flush! Notice only one quarter in at the time, doh!
So after returning last month after a long absence, I was happy to hear the same old casino hum that I had
grown accustomed to. The dings of winning slots, the clanks of coins (though now the coin clanking is recorded, since all the payouts have converted to paper), the occasional craps hollering… it was all there. But there was something else. There were all sorts of new sounds coming from new kinds of slot machines. They didn’t have the typical old 8-bit sound chips and bells. They had decent pre-recorded noises. They were, in essence, video games that were masquerading as slot machines. Many had reels still, but the reels told stories. I couldn’t figure out half of their pay-outs without studying the machine for a few minutes. There were also games based on TV game shows like Price is Right, Deal or No Deal, and Wheel of Fortune. It seems the people who are now making the games played games of their own growing up and wanted to incorporate that experience into the casino.
I couldn’t help but notice one sound in particular. I played lots of video poker at a particular bank of machines. Near those machines I kept hearing a cat shrieking. Every few minutes, it sounded like a cat got stepped on. Well, the sound had its desired effect. Eventually I went on a search for the machine that the poor cat’s yell was coming from. I found it. It was a machine based on black magic or some such thing. I didn’t play it, but I couldn’t help feeling that lots of people would. The cat sound was very distinctive and stood out among the many different sounds coming from all directions.
The new sounds coming from all the new machines had a surprising effect on me. It made the casino seem even more exciting. The soundscape of the casino is changing. And I would say it’s changing for the better. The sound designers for the new machines have to be careful, though. Distinctive sounds can be a double-edged sword. They can draw people in as easily as they can keep people away. But the new gaming machines’ sounds are an excellent tool for drawing people in, if used wisely. The cat machine did it right, only playing that cat sound every few minutes. If it had sounded more frequently, I certainly would have avoided not only that machine, but that wing of the casino.
I once thought about working at a slot machine company. I decided I didn’t want to live in Vegas. But the issues surrounding gaming machine audio are fascinating, and I envy the people who get to work on them.
Staying creative.
When working day after day on a contract, or multiple contracts, eventually the time will come when you just feel tapped out. It seems all the musical ideas that ever were in your head have finally been used up. You’re empty.
But you said the music would be done in three days. (Cue Keanu) What do you do?
When that happens to me, I don’t force it. I take a break. Nothing recharges the creativity bank like a little time off. Go walk the dog. Clip your toenails. Read a book, play a video game. Do anything that doesn’t require you pulling magical melodies and heart-wrenching harmonies out of thin air. Music is the most abstract of the arts. To create something good requires constant concentration and an eternal ear for details. It is extremely draining.
So, knowing this, plan ahead. To be creative all day long just isn’t realistic. Break your work day into 2-4 hour-long bits with plenty of rest time in between. Picture yourself with a little Sims-like bar above your head which measures creativity. That bar’s going to drain so get ready to fill it back up with those breaks. You’ll end up saving time in the long run because you won’t have to deal with writer’s block and an increasingly tense, stressed-out mindset. You’ll have a better attitude overall as you don’t get down on yourself for (seemingly) failing at your job. You’ll find new approaches to creating music as you avoid getting into a production rut.
Take those breaks!
Also, find some time at least a few days a week to get some exercise. Nothing clears the mind like a good run around the neighborhood or a friendly tennis game. Endorphins are real. Use them to keep a good attitude and to find a new kind of creative spark.
One final tip, as composers you probably already listen to a lot of other people’s music. Well, keep doing that. But listen to it more critically. Listen to how other people orchestrate, how they structure their pieces, how they construct their melodies. Nothing wrong with recharging your batteries with other people’s creativity. That’s not to say go steal other people’s music… just listen to their music with an ear on how you can apply their processes to your own.
All that being said, sometimes you just have to battle through those inspiration-less periods. You said you’d get that insane amount of music done in an insanely short amount of time. When you have no time to rest, you’ll just have to dig into your bag of tricks. You have one, right? The distillation of your creative method into easy-to-follow steps? Well, if you don’t have one… get one straightaway! Every composer should analyze their creative process and be able to whip something up whenever they’re needed to. That’s why we’re professionals.
But of course, this shouldn’t be standard operating procedure. To always work this way will result in formulaic music, ultimately uninspired. I think that’s a common problem in movies and games of today. Composers aren’t stretching themselves, but rather relying on the currently fashionable orchestrations or rhythms. Yawn.
All of these tips also apply to graphic artists, and even programmers and designers. Most of this is common sense, but it’s easy to get bogged down and ignore that common sense when deadlines and producers are breathing down your neck. Just take a step back every once in awhile. Everyone will benefit from it.
Guitar Hero creating real guitar heros?
I’m sitting here at 1:53am watching my wife dominate at Guitar Hero. I love just sitting back and watching her breeze through Cliffs of Dover on expert. This is her unwinding time, after we got back a little bit ago from our friends’ house where we played a few hours of Rock Band. Those friends had a baby a few months ago and (now to the point of this post) I couldn’t help but wonder if that baby is going to grow up and maybe someday play a Guitar Hero type of game and be inspired to pick up a real instrument because of it.
I’m not wondering about their baby in particular, actually. I’m sure he will be exposed to much more music than simply the music coming out of their Wii. But I’m sure there are thousands of other kids out there who are going to play hours upon hours of GH/RB and I wonder how many of them are going to try out a real guitar or drum set. I have no opinion one way or the other right now if they really need to after playing a video game simulation. I’m sure playing the games do help educate people at least a little bit about the inner workings of music, such as rhythm and pitch. And that’s great, but there’s nothing wrong with just having a little fun playing a video game. Rock Band especially is an awesome way for families to play cooperatively. Cooperative games in general are extremely rare, and one that’s based on music seems natural and timeless.
Will music games take on a greater cultural role than simply being video game pastimes? With school budgets always being cut and music programs continually being reduced or eliminated, music games will probably take on at least a little greater role in exposing kids to music and inspiring them to pursue music on their own. It won’t be limited to rock and roll either. With Wii Music, due out sometime this year, apparently there will be a conducting game. That will grab quite a few kids’ imaginations. And mine.
I foresee a game in the future where you hook up real instruments to your console via MIDI interface and play tunes using real instruments with people around the world. I do get a little uneasy seeing how much time people can put into practicing their Guitar Hero guitar when they could make progress learning the real versions of the instruments in the same amount of time. Hooking up real instruments will eliminate the fake-instrument time sink and encourage new and exciting ways to practice their instruments, via gaming.
There is the risk with the GH/RB games that kids beg for a real guitar, get one, and then very quickly get discouraged because, well, playing a real guitar is… hard! They want to play Weezer or Beastie Boys, and they want to play it NOW! The games make music creation instantaneous. When just starting out on an instrument, music making takes some time and lots of practice. With today’s shrinking attention spans, that can be a problem. Then again, maybe at least a few really talented kids out there will unleash their undiscovered real-instrument talent after being inspired by a music game. And that’s good enough for me.
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
-
Archives
- April 2011 (1)
- January 2011 (1)
- May 2010 (1)
- March 2010 (1)
- December 2009 (1)
- November 2009 (1)
- October 2009 (1)
- August 2009 (1)
- July 2009 (1)
- June 2009 (2)
- May 2009 (4)
- March 2009 (2)
-
Categories
-
RSS
Entries RSS
Comments RSS
