NPR reads (and steals from) my blog!
… or they might, anyway. I was folding some laundry this afternoon listening to the local NPR station, KUOW, and I heard something awfully familar on their “The World” show.
(Oct. 15, 2008) “The second a caveman heard another caveman hitting a log with a stick in a compelling way, he copied it and added his own style. And so it has gone throughout history.” (from their “Pistolera” story)
Hey! (speaking of copying…) That’s really close to something I wrote a couple weeks ago on a blog post entitled “Cliches through the ages”:
(Sep. 30, 2008) “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.”
Now, I’m not saying NPR is definitely made up of a bunch of dishonorable plagiarizing thieves but I’m struck by the similarities. And flattered that they’d steal from my blog. If they did.
Ok, it’s probably just a coincidence.
The new new Nintendo DS.
I guess it’s a little late to be calling the DS Lite the “new” DS. But that’s how I still think of it. I better get over that habit as Nintendo has announced their newest model of the DS, the DSi. The main difference I’m interested in is its ability to read SD cards and play MP3′s. Does that mean you can play your own music within a game? I hope so!
You’d think as a game composer I’d be against that sort of thing, but as a gamer I’m all for it. I’m under no illusion that even the best game music is not going to get old after hour upon hour of play. It will, and the game player should have options. The pundits are saying Nintendo is releasing this new model to compete with the extra features of Sony’s PSP, a nice multimedia machine. Well, whatever the case I hope Nintendo keeps on the forefront of innovation and adds the camera and MP3 player to its long list of new ways to interact with games.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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?
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!
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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