Hello there,

Considering how annoying it was when clients tell me "I need a site like whatever.com" or worse "I want exactly whatever.com", just wondered how should I ask for game music?

Is it offensive to say "I want music like whatever album/game/composer" ? Or does it usually lead to good results if I ask in "I want music for medieval fantasy game with bla bla" fashion?

Thanks in advance

It's really encouraging to have a developer asking the audio community how to better communicate with us! You ask a very good question. For me here's what seems to work best:

- A list of 3-5 adjectives of what you want the player to feel while playing the game and hearing my music.

- A list of 3-5 references that you feel would match the game's needs.

This way I have a broader spectrum of what you're after instead of just one piece and that can help avoid the "it must sound like X" problem you mention.

Edit: It's never offensive to me to hear "I love composer X and want the music to be like that." as long as my client understands I'm not that composer and will bring some of my own indentity to the music while aiming to hit the goal(s) as closely as possible.

Great question!

Thanks,

Nate

I feel its a double-edged sword. I feel happy that they KNOW what they want (some people don't), but at the same time, I feel like what they'll be happy with may end up being very similar to something that's already been done. But like Nathan said, you kind of have to bring your own thing to it too.

You can also ask the musician that you're hiring what sort of briefing information he prefers.

Sharing reference music may help when you lack the words to describe what you're after.

Even if you do have the words, reference music may also give the musician hints of pacing, instrumentation and general mood. This is related to Music Semiology.

I agree with Nate on this and in addition I ask them about the story of the game (which many games don't have until the end though). Or ask them if they have a background for specific characters if they need their own themes or an overall main theme.