 |
|
Music for Games "Good music in a game can augment every sense the game developer wants the game player to feel. Good music can make the game player feel threatened and afraid, powerful and invincible, like a total loser and like a world champion. Good music will also ‘play’ in the mind of game players even when they’re not playing the game." Or so says Four Bars Intertainment’s Bob Rice, an agent and manager for composers. "Good music can’t make a bad game good," Rice continues, "but it can make good games better." Certainly, music for games is garnering attention outside the industry more than ever. Game soundtracks are now eligible for Grammies, and Rolling Stone is reportedly introducing its first gaming awards with categories said to include Best Game Soundtrack/Music for both PC and console divisions. Video-game music remixes have also entered the lofty ranks of Net subculture as recently explored in the Salon article, Hot salsa Tetris by Katharine Mieszkowski. Remixers take game music and reorganize it for their own purposes and upload to sites like www.Vgmix.com. As reported in the article, remixers tend to be young guys, in their teens or early 20s, lifelong gamers who "grew up with this stuff" and credit much of their exposure to music from these video games. The article also discusses the popularity of game soundtracks in Japan where they hit the pop charts, just like blockbuster movie soundtracks, and where game composers like Final Fantasy's Uematsu and the Legend of Zelda’s Koji Kondo have devoted fan followings. With all the buzz about music and games, you would think information on how to get into this area of the industry would be common knowledge, but if the emails GIGnews receives on a regular basis are any indication, breaking your music into games remains something of a mystery. Easily the most common question we receive is "how do I get my music in games?" The questions come from students, composers in other disciplines, and frustrated band managers. With the South by Southwest (SXSW) music conference and the Game Developers Conference (GDC) conveniently back to back this year, we set out to learn about music and games. Networking
and working for free When it became clear to Lendino that he wanted to write music and make sound effects for games as a living, he began attending conferences such as GDC and the International Music Conference just to start meeting people. He attended electronic music concerts and "lots" of classes at these conferences. David Lipes of the Montreal-based Wave Generation echoes the importance of getting out there and meeting people. "The key is increased visibility through networking," says Lipes. "We have sponsored and participated in many IGDA events here in Montreal. The Montreal chapter is thriving and has helped us meet many people in the industry." Lipes also credits Wave Generation’s involvement with Alliance NumeriQC, a coalition of multimedia companies that meet at a variety of networking events, as a great source of contacts. "As I said before," Lipes emphasizes, "visibility through networking is the key. When Sean Kolton, President of Clockwork Productions, decided to become involved in the industry, he researched the subject and compiled a database of companies. From there he began contacting and sending out demo CDs. Marc Mencher, frequent contributor of career articles and author of the upcoming book, Career Management for Game Programmers and Artists, has long advocated the use of a database for compiling company names and contacts. "Searching and networking are really about getting yourself noticed," says Mencher. "You must do this in an organized and formal process so that you maintain control. Purchase a simple database program like GoldMine or Act!. These products allow you to pull together both contact information and the use of that information." Using the information in his database, Kolton then approaches both publishers and developer via email to find out who in the company is responsible for soliciting music. "Once I make the contact," he says, "the sales pitch begins, as I convince them why they should hire me." "It is much more difficult for an independent composer or band to break into the gaming industry," says Mike Verrette, composer and sound designer for Wicked Noise. "Just like the music business, a lot of it is based on who you know. The first question you will get asked is ‘What games have you worked on.’ My advice for those looking to break into the industry is to make contacts and get involved. Find groups that are doing MODs for a game – usually volunteer projects – and offer to write some music for the game. Build up a reel in that genre." Kolton agrees, "Hard work and perseverance are key. It’s good to do some free jobs to gain contacts and get hands on experience." Who
is the decision-maker? The Developer? The Publisher? Time? Ultimately, your ability to get on a project may come down to timing. "There are plenty of developers and publishers out there," says Verrette, "but once they get active on a project and have established their audio team, they are not going to be looking for additional audio services until their next project. This could be anywhere from eight months to a year. Timing is really a key factor. You need to stay in tune with which publishers and developers are ramping up to produce a new title, and then try and get your foot in the door." Staying in tune means keeping current on game development news. Information on what publishers and developers are up to can be found on a variety of sites including GIGnews.com, Gamedev.net, Gamasutra.com, and many others. Read the press releases and drop in on newsgroups such as comp.games.development.industry and comp.games.development.audio. A site devoted specifically to music for games, and named conveniently enough, Music4Games.net, also features a directory "developed to become a who’s who of the game music sector." Working
with agents "What
I do is I play ‘cupid’ between game developers and composers,"
Rice explains. "Developers will tell me the style of
music they want, their budget, and time frame. I then match
their needs to qualified composers and have those composers
submit audition CDs for the developer to scrutinize. The
composers I submit will have credits for film, TV, and game
projects they did that had the same style of music that
the developer is looking for." For those composers wanting to work with an agent, Rice emphasizes the following, "it's understood that composers should never call an agent first and they should never hand deliver their package. Composers should first mail their CD demo, a credits sheet and a bio with a cover letter to agents, and a week or two later call the agent." Crossing
genres Danny Pelfrey is a prime example of a composer crossing genres. And successfully so. The Emmy-nominated TV Composer (WB's Felicity) recently signed a multi-game contract with Activision to score a number of their upcoming games. He has already scored a Game of the Year Nominee, Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force, as well as the best-selling Star Trek game, Star Trek Armada. He’s also currently the weekly composer for both ABC's Spin City and the CBS show That's Life. Pelfrey describes his "accidental" entry into the games business when "a fellow who was producing games for Strategic Simulations Incorporated (SSI) became aware of my work in other areas and asked me if I was interested in doing music for games. While I had never done it before, I thought I should give it a try. Basically, I stumbled into the gaming business." While he may have "stumbled" in, Pelfrey has not counted on luck to stay in the business. "Getting your music in games is, fundamentally, about relationships. You need to align yourself with the creative team behind the games. Attending E3 and GDC are good ways to meet the right people." In terms of how scoring for games differs from scoring for other mediums, Pelfrey finds games very similar to film. "A cinematic will play at the beginning of a game, introducing the characters and story. The music at this point sets the emotional mood. Depending on the scene, the music will also create elation or tension – this is identical to film. The difference between the mediums, Pelfrey explains, is during gameplay when the player can take a certain action that takes a player in different directions. "With this in mind, the music for that must be created in a modular fashion which is then reassembled in real time depending on what the player is doing." For Project Manager Amanda Wyatt of Soundelux DMG, crossing genres is a creative bonus. "We work on film, television, commercials, and games. It keeps us fresh. With the variety, we simply don’t get stale or in a creative rut." DMG’s film and game credits range from American Beauty to Quake II & III. When asked what they saw as the future, virtually every composer cited increased use of live orchestras and increased production values. "Having spent my life in the music business, I am so happy to see that game developers, game publishers and the entire industry has recognized the enormous contribution that good music makes to making games better," says Rice. "The savvy management people in the game industry are hiring great composers and providing larger budgets to produce feature film score quality music. These increased budgets have enabled game music composers to use 60, 80, even 100 piece live orchestras that sound as great as any music found in blockbuster feature films." As
a possible harbinger of things to come, the people behind
the Amuze/Sega developed title Headhunter recently
announced what has been described as one of the most ambitious
game soundtracks produced to date, utilizing an orchestra
and a recording studio often used for feature film soundtracks.
The forthcoming PS2 title features music composed, arranged,
orchestrated and produced by composer Richard Jacques and
recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London, England. Breaking
a band on game soundtracks In June 2001, Midway Games announced that Island Gold Recording act Saliva would re-record the popular song "Theme From Peter Gunn," for the remake of SpyHunter. Saliva, along with bands such as Seven Channels, is also featured on the recently released soundtrack for the Jonny Moseley Mad Trix game. With bands reportedly making $10,000 to $20,000 when a song is included in a videogame, the indie band labels have taken notice, if a somewhat practical one. "A couple of years ago we had a former artist’s track on the Tony Hawk Pro Skater game," says Mike Naylor, Vice President for independent label, Pinch Hit Records. "The game itself was a huge success and our track fit the game content perfectly." While Naylor, whose label had three bands showcased at SXSW, says the fans of the band were excited and the artist/label got a decent check for licensing the track, he believes the ability for the game to generate retail album sales for the artist is still questionable. "The games don’t advertise the music that’s playing in the background," he says. "They’d rather have the gamers spend their money on another game instead, which, of course, is understandable." Andrew Lasky of Lasky Management, manager of the band The Pasties, sees gaming as a nice chance to promote a band’s material, "but no one has really figured out how to ‘break’ a band through gaming." Naylor agrees that games are "a great opportunity for artists and labels in the sense that it becomes a great imaging tool. It’s nice press fodder. And the fans seem to get extremely excited, if it’s a good game. And, importantly, there’s a bit of money involved. Indie labels usually don’t see a lot of that." For developers wanting to license music for their games, Jay Powell of Octagon Entertainment advises leaving the music licensing to the publisher unless you have an excellent contact source in the music industry. "If you are planning to compose music, there are several game musicians in the industry and an in-house person will work as well," says Powell. "If you want to license certain songs, I would approach the publisher with ideas or examples of music you would like to license. The bigger publishers will have a better chance of getting these songs for your game." G.A.N.G. One
of the main focuses and goals of G.A.N.G. is to encourage
and promote excellence in interactive audio, which in turn
will advance the interactive industries by helping produce
more competitive and entertaining products. G.A.N.G. also
supports career development and education for aspiring game
audio professionals, publishers, developers and students.
Promoting recognition and contribution to audio quality in the interactive industry, G.A.N.G. is also establishing a variety of programs including annual G.A.N.G. Awards, the G.A.N.G. Seal of Approval, and various membership levels. "By banding together and providing one voice, members will be able to better articulate, discuss and confront issues inside the interactive entertainment community," says Clint Bajakian, President of the Sound Department and Vice-President of G.A.N.G. Tools Citing the ever increasing demand for movie-like game audio environments, Robert Cole of Musicandsfx.com says his studio has ramped up their game audio production services to include surround sound mixing and encoding. " Stereo just isn’t cutting it anymore" says Cole. "Most DVD movies have 5.1 audio, and most hardcore gamers expect nothing less from the games that they buy... so why not give it to them?" For those composers looking to break into the industry, Mikael Sandgren, composer for Soundelux DMG suggests making sure you can work with a computer-based MIDI and audio recording software which can also create professional score layouts. The top three in this category are Emagic's Logic, Steinberg's Cubase, and MOTU's Digital Performer. Mike Verrette of Wicked Noise notes that while virtually any composer might have the ability to write some music for a video game, to be a contender in the market place you have to have a means of getting that music recorded and implemented into a variety of file formats that might be required by the developer. "If the developer or publisher is not local, then you need to be able to move that digital information from your studio to theirs," says Verrette. "That might require a high bandwidth internet connection, etc. These are all things that are certainly achievable for someone working out of a home studio, but they really need to be in place to seriously compete in this market." Wrap-up In short, for those wanting to break into the game industry, Jamie Lendino advises immersing yourself in your work, not just the audio but in networking, promotion, and marketing. "None of it is magic," he says. "Just be yourself, talk to a lot of people, check out their websites, and let them know how interested you are in their work. Heck, it's all about games, how cool is that? If you find yourself having to fake it, you're in the wrong industry." Additional Resources Retailers Associations Game
Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.) International
Computer Music Association Events GDC International
Computer Music Conference
Project
Bar-B-Q (The Fatman's annual interactive
music conference) SXSW Agents
|
|