Video Game music

[zawmbee]

Is this a genre that has specific theory? I'd love to learn how to make some of these, but don't really know where to start. I currently make Glitch-Hop and Dubstep, so this will be a slight change of pace. But the synthesizer work should be the same.

Any clue of tutorials I should look up?

Cheers.

[EagleGuard]

Well, it can pretty much be anything. Depends on the kind of game, I guess...

[Rampant]

At 6/3/11 02:50 PM, zawmbee wrote: Is this a genre that has specific theory? I'd love to learn how to make some of these, but don't really know where to start. I currently make Glitch-Hop and Dubstep, so this will be a slight change of pace. But the synthesizer work should be the same.

Any clue of tutorials I should look up?

Cheers.

If by "specific theory" you mean "music theory," then yes. Depending on the type of game, of course.

Some games, like some Flash games that use pixellated graphics or the Flixel engine, use 8-bit music (a.k.a. chiptune). Good examples of chiptune to study would be the music from GameBoy and NES games: Pokemon Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, and Silver; A Link to the Past; Super Mario Bros. Deluxe; etc.

Other games use electronic music. Valve games would be good source material to study: Portal 2, especially.

Other game soundtracks will require you to learn theory: most Triple-A video games have sweeping, orchestral soundtracks more akin to Hollywood films -- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2; Crysis 2; The Force Unleashed; Medal of Honor; Battlefield: Bad Company; Dead Space 2; Alan Wake; The Elder Scrolls games; the Fable series; the Halo franchise; etc.

And still other games have a mix. Dead Rising & Dead Rising 2 have music that spans all different styles and genres. Halo 3: ODST has a mix of orchestral and jazz: so basic jazz theory would be good knowledge. GoldenEye 007 (for the N64) has a 16-bit electro-rock sound. Gun and Red Dead Redemption have a soundtrack that imitates the styles of Ennio Morricone, Bruno Nicolai, and Luis Bacalov (composers for old Spaghetti Western films).

My advice to you is, if you want to write videogame music, you really need to start by learning theory. It's not required to make good music (the Beatles couldn't even read sheet music when they started), but it helps: it gives you a basic understanding of how chord progressions work and, when you get to more advanced theory, arranging techniques, so that different instruments complement each other by playing the same or different melodies.

[Xenophaje]

At 6/3/11 02:50 PM, zawmbee wrote: Is this a genre that has specific theory? I'd love to learn how to make some of these, but don't really know where to start. I currently make Glitch-Hop and Dubstep, so this will be a slight change of pace. But the synthesizer work should be the same.

To make video game music really depends on what type of game you perceive. I find many people make battle songs and background themes. If you intend to do that as well than knowing dubstep is a good start. Although I'd recommend you look into working with rock (this doesn't necessarily mean you need a guitar, in fact it would probably be easier without one) if thats the kinda thing you want.

[Raymoclaus]

What RampantMusik said is proably the best answer you'll get, also Video Game music will 95% of the time attempt to get a message, theme or emotion across to the listener. Maybe ceck out some of my video game songs to get an idea, my video game songs are heavily influenced by Final Fantasy.

[Gario]

Here, I actually had a little series going for a while where I talk specifically about music theory in VG music, but I lost interest in it some time ago. Maybe someday I'll keep going on it, but for now it's just an interesting series of articles - maybe you'll see something that helps you?

Overall though, VG music is pretty unique in that there really is no set style that it needs to conform to. The only thing you should think about is how loopable your VG track is, since they should by design loop indefinitely (you never know how long someone will stay in the same area).

[sugarsimon]

video game music is the real making good one of the soundtracks, what kind of making sounds is that?