Does anyone know if there are any articles or books on different styles for intermediate game musicians? By styles I mean, say, if someone wants do do scary game music, or a musical piece that gives the sense of adventure, or suspense... where would one start to explore some of these? I would write some articles on this and some other topics that are hard to understand at first, but I am still only exploring myself, and I don''t have anywhere to post them to. If you have any input on this, please reply!

You might want to start with some games of exceptional soundtrack quality, and spend a while analyzing their various approaches. Also, take a good look at the soundtracks for movies that aim for the same mood or style that you want. Just note the techniques or nuances about the soundtrack that make you feel this way or that, and then explore those ideas on your own to see if you can produce the same results. It might also help to explore what techniques are commonly used to envoke a mood opposite to the one you want, and think about the things that you could avoid.

I suggest movies because, while soundtracks have become increasingly important in movies, it seems that they have become less and less important in video games. Think of how many modern game soundtracks you can hum to yourself as easily as the old NES Super Mario theme.

For a scary game, I would definitely recommend researching "Silent Hill." If you''ve never played it, go buy it immediately. It exhibits alot of really good ideas to help make the player nervous and creeped-out. One of those techniques is to have two looped sounds playing out of sync, where one loops at a tempo completely different than another. Alot of people are so accustomed to even-count beats that that this really throws them off. Also, the use of non-instrument sounds helps. There''s alot of music in the game that really can''t be categorized as being percussive or tonal. They''re just really strange noises. This unfamiliarity helps make the player squirm, because nobody is going to be scared playing a game if the soundtrack whips into a Steve Vai guitar solo. If you want the player to feel in the dark, both literally and figuratively, don''t give them something familiar to listen to.

I''ve probably got more to say on this topic but I''m on the lazy side of typing right now.

Thief had some nice background music... it was barely really music in places, more just tones that worked together. It added a bit of ambience without intruding on the game.

There aren''t really any ''rules'' for what moods music evokes... this has tended to come about through social conditioning. So if you want to see what kind of music makes people scared, watch scary movies or scary games. Generally I would say that tempo is the main thing... slow tempo for mystery and suspense, fast tempo for action and combat. The use of different scales and tonalities is probably second... natural or harmonic minor for most stuff, phrygian mode for combat, major for ''safe'' scenes, and so on. Try things and see how it makes you feel.

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For that kinda ''Psycho''-like atmosphere, stick loads of diminshed chords in there; it always sounds really kinda desparate, yet evil. Also, huge differences in reverb can sometimes have a good effect.

Oh, and large, short, sharp changes in dynamics are always good for throwing the listener off balance and making them spin around mid ganme to see if someone is behind them

Yeah, research existing game music that works well.

Even stuff like the MIDI from DN3D is good enough to outline the basics of it all. I suggest the Unreal Tournament soundtrack as good listening as well - there''s some very well-don sh!t in there....

Yes, I have been downloading midi''s from classic games and analyzing them. I''ve learned a lot about Detective/Secret Agent type music. And, I have learned that broken augmented chords can give a cool sound too. Thanks, all this help is great! However, what I was looking for specifically was info on traditional styles themselves... like instead of just "scary music" I need info on classic, haunted house, church organ type stuff... Sorta the stereotypical examples of various types... because in some cases it can be used humorously. I guess the best thing to do is to find something that sounds like a "stereotypical" example and just study it... like all you are saying, and like I have been doing.

Are there any other tips anyone can give?

To made "scary" like music you should just use alot of minor chords and scales. I find it easiest to write everything in A minor when writing this type of music because there are no flats or sharps. If you play an A Minor chord (A-C-E) you get a spooky sound. Hope this helps!!

Scout

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--Remember, be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.

Yes, I've done a lot of playing around with minor chords and keys lately. I know that they can sound spooky, among other things. Maybe I should try and be more specific...
Kylotan said that you use Harmonic and Natural minor modes for most stuff, Phrygian mode for combat, and Major for "safe" places. I guess this is because these keys have been known to produce harmonies and melodies that give off certain qualities. But what about Lydian, Mixolydian, Dorian, and Locrian modes? What are these commonly used for? Or maybe, what do YOU guys use them for?

oops... shouldn't have mentioned the Locrian mode... I have a book that says it's not really good to use for any type of tune.

Edited by - Daldar on March 1, 2002 7:01:26 AM

Locrian''s difficult because it doesn''t have a perfect 5th. Would be interesting to see if you could make something passable with it though.

As for Dorian, Lydian, Mixolydian, I find they all fall somewhere between major and minor (or Ionian and Aeolian, if you prefer) and therefore aren''t so useful. If my memory serves me correctly, Dorian is just natural minor with a major 6th, Lydian is major with a sharpened 4th (largely ruling out plagal cadences, so no good for church-like or spiritual music) and Mixolydian is, what, major with a minor 6th? I don''t think they differ enough from the major and minor scales to give a decent feel. (Of course, Phrygian only deviates by 1 semitone from the natural minor, but the flattened 2nd really makes a difference.)

If you have Cakewalk or something like that, you can use the diatonic transposition function to quickly test a tune in various modes to see if it gets better or worse.

I hope I''m not losing anybody here

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You''re not losing me yet, Kylotan... but you are helping out a lot! I haven''t messed around with a lot of different modes, mostly only major and minor. I do have 2 good books that I have yet to read though... Navy books that were originally written for the Army called "Basic Music" and "Harmony". You can get them at http://courses.cnet.navy.mil Just find the links and you can download them as PDF files.
I have DirectMusic Producer which is a little complicated to use, but you can, and then export midi''s. I also have something called Magix Music Studio or something like that... it''s a very nice program for sequencing and other things.

Thanks again, Kylotan!

quote: I haven't messed around with a lot of different modes, mostly only major and minor. I do have 2 good books that I have yet to read though... Navy books that were originally written for the Army called "Basic Music" and "Harmony". You can get them at http://courses.cnet.navy.mil Just find the links and you can download them as PDF files.

I couldn't find a link to such files??

Scout

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--Remember, be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.

Edited by - scout958 on March 1, 2002 3:10:41 PM