Game Music Production Tips

[spectral9]

Well i'm working on a game soundtrack, and since i don't have much experience in the particular 'soundtrack' field, here are the questions:

How do i get my soundtrack playing in the background, without drawing too much attention to it;
how do i balance the music so it doesn't 'kill' the sound effects;
basically, i'd like to know about the final mix/master, should i make it wide in stereo, or narrow; should i compress the sound or make it more dynamic, and what frequencies (eq) i should pronounce.
The style i'm currently working in is kinda industrial, so far i've made one track, here it is: http://emusic.lt/?mod=song&id=7557

[la-yinn]

At 8/27/09 05:28 AM, spectral9 wrote: Well i'm working on a game soundtrack, and since i don't have much experience in the particular 'soundtrack' field, here are the questions:

How do i get my soundtrack playing in the background, without drawing too much attention to it;

I believe you make your track as loud as any other would be, so the game developer can decide how loud they want the music in the overall game mix.

how do i balance the music so it doesn't 'kill' the sound effects;

If properly mixed (No clipping etc, the usual mixing and mastering process), it will not affect the SFX used in the game, as that's also up to the game developer to decide.

basically, i'd like to know about the final mix/master, should i make it wide in stereo, or narrow; should i compress the sound or make it more dynamic, and what frequencies (eq) i should pronounce.

I'm not experienced enough in soundtracks to be able to correctly awnser this. :3

The style i'm currently working in is kinda industrial, so far i've made one track, here it is: http://emusic.lt/?mod=song&id=7557

Blasphamy! Advertisement!

What music style you choose doesn't really matter as long as it fits to the ideology of the game developer. They are supposed to tell you what they want and perhaps why. :-)

[iceblueglow]

believe me its a good thing if you dont make the lead too high pitched because that can be very annoying whet there talking in a game. also if you know what kinda game youre making a track for, then yoiu can get your inspiration out of that.

[Setu-Firestorm]

The good thing is that Game Music is easier to compose than Film Music. The object of doing a good Game Score is to make sure you understand what the vision of the Game Developer is for that game, and create the right atmospheric mood (as well as any other parameters they may define for you). As long as you understand what the client wants and deliver the right mood and capture the right emotion in the game's cue, you'll do fine.

Film scoring is different in that oftentimes you'll have to make the music interact with what's going on onscreen, and that can get quite challenging.

Personally, I don't know what the genre of game you're scoring is, but if it's orchestral, I wouldn't be too concerned with EQs and whatnot (but that's my opinion). If you're doing more rock/techno kind of sound, that's when you want to be concerned with those things, because EQs and the right compression will vastly determine the outcome.

[spectral9]

No problem with the inspiration, i'm interested particulary in mixing/eq-ing/mastering parameters

[Phyrnna]

At 8/27/09 01:13 PM, Setu-Firestorm wrote: Personally, I don't know what the genre of game you're scoring is, but if it's orchestral, I wouldn't be too concerned with EQs and whatnot (but that's my opinion).

The OP did state:

The style i'm currently working in is kinda industrial

In which EQ and Compression do matter quite a lot. However, I would like to address the part that I quoted just in case anyone else reading that is interested.

Firstly, EQ and Compression is equally important in Orchestral/Acoustic music as it is in any other genre. When it comes to orchestral music, certainly the majority of the sound comes from compositional technique. And when you're at a live concert, there is no EQ or Compression at play. What you hear is what you get. However when it comes to producing music, EQ and compression are highly important. It makes the difference between mushy bland orchestral music and crystal clear punctuated "EPIC" sounding orchestral masterpieces.

When working with a DAW (digital audio workstation), it becomes even more important that you properly utilize the EQ in orchestral music. The reason being that sample libraries have trouble conveying the life of the instruments, and most of that can be brought out with EQ. Even the lowest quality of samples can be made to sound really lovely with proper EQ and compression. Of course, a totally unmixed and unmastered track made using a high end sample library such as East West Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra will sound really good, but will sound much better with proper EQ and Compression techniques.