Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Game Music

I've been writing a lot of music these days.
My motivation at the moment is my girlfriend who really likes my compositions, probably mainly because I made them.
But my musical style is heavily influenced by video games, and it would  be the highest honor to use my music in professional games, even if it were my own game.
I tend to write in a kind of ambient style, often with a slow progression and build up.
My influences are usually jazz, metal, and classical, so my music tends to be rather thematic and energized.
Music in games is in a downfall I think.
Many games used to have great epic scores that echoed the game and could be easily remembered even after the game was set down.  Nobuo Uematsu is one of the best at that kind of music.  But music these days is generally forgettable at best.
The melodies are usually pretty weak and the rhythm generic.
I want some music like that of Final Fantasy VII or Kingdom Hearts or Tetris or Sonic...
Even music in film is declining a bit.
I don't want some copy/paste notes or anything, but something with a bit more heart in it would be nice.
A friend of mine is writing a fantasy novel, over 400 pages I believe.  He wants his story to be published as a game one day; he's written music and even drawn out his character designs.
While the quality of his works might not be epically awesome and perfect, there is heart and beauty.
Films don't need to stick to bad music, Requiem for a Dream had a great theme!
I guess this is a call for good music in general.
The future needs a John Williams and a Nobuo Uematsu and even someone completely unprecedented.
So I will try my hardest to make the best music I can, and I hope that my readers will do the same.

15 comments:

  1. I always listen to Stickerbush Symphony by David Wise from Donkey Kong Country 2.

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  2. http://soundcloud.com/bauth/ambient-love-lights
    There's one song I've written.
    I'm still not TOO good, but it's listenable.
    I'll post more in the future.
    Right now I'm working out some of the kinks in some songs, but I've got like 4 on deck now.

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  3. It's always nice to have someone that enjoys your art. I've been trying to get my girlfriend come watch me train but she's afraid I'll get hurt if she goes haha one of these days.

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  4. nice blog and I wait for my blog

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  5. Awesome. I haven't heard of many people doing that kind of music, most are techno or rock or something. Very unique.

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  6. Haha good music!

    I like it, it's nice, do you have any friends that like to tinker with games and programming?

    You could ask them to include your music in their game, and it will give you experience with actually fitting music to the action involved.

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  7. I love music inspired my old school video games. My band have taken ideas from sonic the hedgehog and used them to inspire retro sounding and even quite serious songs.. it couldn't be more fun.

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  8. I've got music from the soundtrack of requiem for a dream, I love that music too. Have to be in the right mood for it.

    But when I listen to the awesome music from old console RPGs like the final fantasy series, it brings me into a fit of nostalgia and 'pining for the old days'. Still a great feeling.

    And Nobuo Uematsu rocks. =)

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  9. I just remembered, if you like the RFAD soundtrack, check out the Gattaca Soundtrack. The opening theme is awesome, and there are other good pieces too.

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  10. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPgX1kdk4zU

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  11. Thanks for the suggestion, it's awesome!

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  12. sweet, epic as hell

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