Expert Tuesday (Game Music) by Jon Bouldin
So it's time to announce my dorkdom from the rooftops. I guess some
of you may know that I'm a musical person. I especially like music
that's good and sort of interesting and to find this special genre of
good and interesting music, I've found it's best to look in places
that may be out of the ordinary to most. I suppose it could totally be
by coincidence that I've found many good and interesting things to
listen to within video game soundtracks* - not really old ones with
their little MIDI blips and bleeps of course. Game music has, in fact,
come a very long way since then and I've come to respect the
composers/arrangers/producers of this music as much as I do my
favorite bands.
I'm sure we can all remember that Mario Bros. song. That main theme,
you know? That's the way the music stayed for years until the mid 90s
when the music started getting a little higher in quality. Eventually
a point was reached where most of the music was still generated
electronically, but you really couldn't tell any difference between
that and real instruments. It was also around this time that tracks
recorded by actual people (a nice touch, really) made their first few
appearances. Nowadays it's basically impossible to tell the difference
between these games' electronic music and the music recorded by
people, but red book** soundtracks are more or less the norm now
notwithstanding and thus more and more game music is sounding more
like This song from a Game Called Chrono Cross.
In America, the game music soundtrack business is quite overlooked.
Occasionally you'll find one that sort of seeps out and gets heard,***
but by and large Americans couldn't really care less about them.
However, game music soundtracks are a big industry in their own right
in Japan. They've got entire record labels devoted to them out. If you
want them in America you've usually got to import them. This can be
quite expensive, but you can usually find any soundtrack you may want
if you're willing to pay. Ebay has stuff of course, and there's also
the respectable gamestop.
------------------
* It all started for me way back in the day when my friends and I were
obsessed with the three-player RPG, Secret of Mana. We eventually went
as far as taping the music directly off the TV so we could listen to
it later.
** The term "red book" refers to a song that was recorded by a band as
opposed to played out on a keyboard.
*** New games have some popular bands on them and are actually sold in
record stores which I - as I guess an old school soundtrack guy – find
totally baffling.
Comments
thats still not as bad as Modding your NERF gun! Check it out
Posted by: case | November 23, 2004 09:22 AM
casey.. i'm gonna have to put you on my blacklist... your post is just like a spam post from all these drug companies/hair companies... etc
Posted by: itzjerm | November 23, 2004 11:01 AM
Actually, Jon that doesn't make you a dork. That makes you a man who appreciates an interactive media experience. You don't like to be spoonfed a story, you won't to go out and make that story your own, and for all the video gamers out there, I say, we own you lazy TV and movie watchers! HA! TV! HA! Movies! HA HA! We are infinitely better than you. And to all you "outdoorsy" types, I say, at least I have air conditioning. And good hand/eye coordination.
Posted by: What, You're Expecting My Name Here? | November 23, 2004 11:51 AM
If you really want to listen to a top-notch video game soundtrack you need to slip in Madden 2005. Any of the newer Madden's - from around 98 on - have solid soundtrcks, but this years crop is outstanding.
Good post, Jon. I've been looking forward to this. You did, however, forget to mention the tablature you did for a certain game, did you not?
Posted by: keats | November 23, 2004 12:36 PM
.. and to you video gamers... forget hand eye cordination... I have hand foot cordination and don't fall down in the middle of trails..
although that usually is entertaining to watch.
Posted by: itzjerm | November 23, 2004 12:36 PM
I dunno Seth. I've done more game tabs over the years than I can even remember... which one are you thinking of?
Games are cooler than movies, aren't they? It's so true...
Posted by: Captian Jonathan!!! | November 23, 2004 02:18 PM
I have to say Jon, I know nothing about video games. I have never owned a video game in my intire life, and those who have made the mistake of handing me the controller (whether regular, gun, or joystick) have found that I cannot play video games. And as far as video game music, I never thought of that as being an industry. Very informative Jon.
Posted by: Autumn | November 23, 2004 04:24 PM
I miss you, Jon.
Posted by: Jon Houser | November 23, 2004 09:00 PM
Oh man, I miss Misconstrued (there's aliteration) for a few days and a topic I love passes me by. OK, to add to this a bit, game composer Hip Tanaka who is responsible for the soundtrack of the original 8 bit masterpiece Metroid (my fave series next to Mario) said in an interview that back in the days of the NES, there was no fancy shmancy music/editing tool software like game devs have today. He said he had to make a rich soundtrack for the game that would give the player the ambient feel of encountering an alien lifeform for the first time. He said this was especially difficult as each note of music had to be manually prgrammed and put together. Needless to say he did an amazing job, the game's music is very moody and involving for an 8 bit game from the 80s. Now XBox owners, I beseech you, take a break from those giant behemoth VCR sized systems and borrow a friend's Gamecube and Metroid Prime...or the NES and the original Metroid.
Posted by: Dylan | November 27, 2004 12:13 AM
I love Metroid and I love the OSV for the very first one, too. There's one song that I've heard called Am I Evil or something along those lines. It's in 3/4 time and is awesome... dunno if that'll help you place it or not. I've heard some awesome arrangments of it.
I thought Metroid Prime's music was good but some of it was incongruous with the environments they were being played over. You know, like I'm exploring these ruins and hearing some rockin techno beats. Doesn't quite fit, but it's all good. They did an awesome job with the Metroid quarantine area though. That part of the game was pretty scary, especially with the creepy music.
Posted by: Captian Jonathan!!! | November 27, 2004 09:11 AM
One of the tracks from the original Metroid is called "Am I evil?" Interesting. All I know is I place the tunes for the game by area "Brinstar theme," "Norfair theme," ect. Also, the best game in the series IMHO is Super Metroid. Tanaka didn't compose the music for that one but its the finest music you will ever hear in a 16-bit game and is practically sci fi movie soundtrack quality (well, the first is the only one he did actually, dunno what other games he has worked on since but I know he has)
Prime's music was doen by the same Nintendo programmers who worked on Super Metroid (I havetheir names in a magazine at home, I gotta dig it up). I would kinda have to agree with you that some of the tunes had a little bit too much techno. I actually haven't beat Prime yet (that's what happens when you are a pioneer and have too many games :p ), started it over last year and am almost done. FWIW I thought the music on the overworld areas screamed old school Metroid music and beautifully matched the falling rain until later when it lightning appears in the sky, then the overworld theme turns techno'ish too. Bah. But the Phendrana Drifts theme (captures the moody feel of fallign snow perfectly) and Magmoor (the music reminds me of Journey to the Center of the Earth, especially the opening theme when you first go down the rising platforms) were old school Metroid all the way.
Posted by: Dylan | November 27, 2004 07:42 PM