Memoirs of a Videogame Music Composer

kukyfrope writes "GameDaily has conducted an in-depth interview with videogame composer Jesper Kyd (Hitman, Freedom Fighters). They discuss what it takes to be a composer, what inspires him, how he comes up with new ideas for his projects, and about the current 'generic' state of music in most games. 'I am not interested in writing music that is disposable or that doesn't touch people in some way. I try to write music I would want in the game as a gamer, so if I am happy with my music I know I am doing something right.'"

Comments

Brilliant

[Flizesh]

I knew as soon as I read the title of the article that it would be about Jesper Kyd. His music is amazing and fits the mood perfectly for games like Hitman. There's some tracks of his on his website http://jesperkyd.com/

Re:Brilliant

[Anonymous Coward]

Liar

Re:Brilliant

[AKAImBatman]

You're telling me that "The Fatman" George Sanger didn't cross you're mind?! Sacrilege! From his first work on Duncan's Thin Ice (an old Intellivision game) to his crowning achievement on Wing Commander, The Fatman singlehandedly made video game music important! I purchased a Sound Blaster just so I could hear the Wing Commander music that everyone was raving about. (I wasn't disappointed.) I know I'm not the only one. :)

Re:Brilliant

[dieman]

The fatman track for 7th Guest really made it worth having a sound card that could do roland emulation. It was nothing less of omfg.

For consoles, FF* with music from the now-independent Nobuo Uematsu (with his company Smile Please) is the definintive composer of game music in my mind.

Re:Brilliant

[assassinator42]

You have to mention Koji Kondo when it comes to video game music. By the way, is Koji Kondo working on the music for Super Smash Bros. Brawl? Is Nobuo Uematsu doing more music for the game, or just the title track? I'm hoping the game's music is awesome. Fully orchestrated, and with a Latin chorus.

Music makes a lot of difference

[CastrTroy]

The music in a game can make a huge difference in how fun the game is. The good games (metroid prime comes to mind), draw you in with the right music, playing the right music at the right time. Other games just take music from top 40 rock bands and call that a sound track. In some games this works well, but in others, it works terribly. Music doesn't usually make or break a game, but it can be the difference between a good game, and a great game. And it's not quality that matters, but music that fits the mood of the game. I'd much rather have crappy midi music than high quality CD music if the Midi music created better atmosphere.

Re:Music makes a lot of difference

[Pope]

I can't remember the last time I actually listened to the in-game music, I generally turn it off and play my own CDs to match the type of game I'm playing. Now everytime I listen to Sneaker Pimps I keep flashing back to the water levels of Super Mario 64! Of course for SM64, the game music was still playing, just very low volume (I don't recall if it could be turned off altogether)

Re:Music makes a lot of difference

[Golias]

Same here. 99% of video game music is genuinely awful, and the other 1% gets tiresome with the amount of repeated listenings typical game-play requires.

Shutting off music is right up there with tweaking your video preferences and keyboard shortcuts on the list of things to do shortly after trying out a new game.

Re:Music makes a lot of difference

[Ucklak]

My favorite game music titles:

Ultima III for Commodore 64
Ultima IV for Commodore 64
Unreal - the first one for Windows
American McGees Alice for Windows

And for some reason, Bubble Bobble and Dr. Mario are highly infectious and addictive.

Re:Music makes a lot of difference

[4D6963]

I'd much rather have crappy midi music than high quality CD music if the Midi music created better atmosphere

Definitly. Two words : Doom II (Pitfall! II and SimCity 2000 are good examples as well)

Re:Music makes a lot of difference

[Das Modell]

How about Final Fantasy VII? It sounded so great on my SB32 AWE that it took me a long time to actually realize that I was listening to MIDI. I knew that it was MIDI, but it just didn't seem to register. Must be the best MIDI music I've ever heard.

One thing that was left out

[tepples]

How do video game music composers make sure that when they write music, they aren't inadvertently reusing some melody from some song that they heard on the radio 10 years ago?

Re:One thing that was left out

[El_Muerte_TDS]

How do 'normal' music artist make sure that when they 'write' music, they aren't inadvertently reusing some melody from some song that they heard on the radio 5 minutes ago?

Re:One thing that was left out

[AEther141]

Hit and hope. You write it, copyright it, play it to a few music-geek friends, if it turns out to be absolutely identical to something written by someone with money then you change it about a bit, otherwise you publish and be damned. Pay too much attention to prior art and you're at legal risk - it's only copyright infringement proper if they can show you knew of the original, which is why producers never read unsolicited scripts.

Realise that most pop songs are based around age old patterns - verse/chorus/verse/chorus/middle 8/chorus, twelve bar blues, I/IV/V progressions. There are only twelve notes in the chromatic scale, there's only so many ways you can arrange them into familiar-but-interesting sounding patterns. Deconstruct metal songs and you find pop ballads, deconstruct punk and you find country and folk songs. Try and do something really, truly new and you get free jazz, which certainly has a fanbase, but not one that's going to pay the bills. The real miracle of pop music is that it has repackaged and represented the same songs for well over a century without many people really noticing.

Re:One thing that was left out

[Metasquares]

That's a risk when you write any music. VG music is fairly different from most radio music, however, so inadvertently copying songs from the radio isn't as much a problem as inadvertently copying songs from another video game.

What is more likely, however, is that you'll use some aspect of the music you liked in the original and fit it into the rest of the new piece. Then your piece is influenced by another, but it is not a copy - which, IMO, is fine.

Re:One thing that was left out

[tepples]

That's a risk when you write any music.

So how do composers and publishers manage this risk?

What is more likely, however, is that you'll use some aspect of the music you liked in the original and fit it into the rest of the new piece. Then your piece is influenced by another, but it is not a copy - which, IMO, is fine.

Unless their company is bigger than your company and can afford more experienced legal representation.

Re:One thing that was left out

[Illbay]

"My sweet orc..."

Re:One thing that was left out

[tepples]

You write it, copyright it, play it to a few music-geek friends

How do I find a "music-geek friend" who doesn't charge an exorbitant sum?

otherwise you publish and be damned.

So what if I am damned? How can a startup video game developer afford to hire legal representation in case a music publisher sends a letter alleging copyright infringement and demanding $30,000?

Re:One thing that was left out

[Metasquares]

Unless their company is bigger than your company and can afford more experienced legal representation.

What I mean is using something like a particular arpeggiation or even a single chord that you may have heard before in a strategic section of a piece. For example, I liked the progression from a diminished seventh chord to a dominant major triad used in Beethoven's Sonata Pathetique and later found myself using a similar resolution in one of my own pieces. Trying to argue against using such a small element of music in an otherwise-original piece is like trying to argue that moving from V to I or resolving from a tritone is plagiarism. To avoid being influenced by these things is to ignore the last thousand or so years of progress in music.

I'm not talking about using entire measures from other pieces. That isn't inspiration. That's plagiarism. I suppose you can clarify the difference between the two by saying the former is a concept that can be expressed as a part of music theory, whereas the latter is an application of that theory.

Danny Elfman is sooooo much better.

[RingDev]

Danny Elfman http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000384/ the former front man for Oingo-Boingo, singing voice of Jack and soundtrack from Nightmare Before Christmas, has done ton's of movies and game sound tracks including parts of: Kingdom Hearts, Fable, and the Simpsons games. He's been on many more game sound tracks that aren't apparently listed on IMDB. The man is a musical genius.

-Rick

Re:Danny Elfman is sooooo much better.

[Al Oser]

Danny Elfman is amazing, but his mainstay is, and always has been, movie scores. Most of the soundtracks from the Simpsons games simply ripped the music from the show. Yes, it's his music, but it isn't exactly composed with the gamer in mind. While Jesper Kyd's credits consist almost entirely of video games. I think that qualifies him as a video game music composer over Elfman.

Re:Danny Elfman is sooooo much better.

[balthan]

Wow, I didn't know Adam Savage was in Oingo-Boingo.

Re:Danny Elfman is sooooo much better.

[Seraph]

Wow, I didn't know Adam Savage was in Oingo-Boingo.

That's just a myth.

Re:Danny Elfman is sooooo much better.

[Anonymous Coward]

Sing along with me!

  Dan-ny! Elf-man! Dan-ny! Elf-man! This-song! sounds-like! Dan-ny! Elf-man!

Re:Danny Elfman is sooooo much better.

[Thing 1]

Nice synchronicity. I'm currently listening to the song in my sig (it's on Good For Your Soul, and no it's not on repeat ;-), and I see your comment.

After watching The Nightmare Before Christmas, and learning Danny Elfman was involved, I ran out and bought all the Oingo Boingo albums (like 12 years ago, I think). I wasn't disappointed.

ACDC...

[G3ckoG33k]

I used to half like ACDC's TNT. But now the Tony Hawk series has ruined it.

Re:ACDC...

[mobby_6kl]

That makes me double plus glad I never touched any of the Tony Hawk games. Did they use a crappy cover version, or what?

Re:ACDC...

[G3ckoG33k]

No, no cover. The real thing. Yet, TNT incessantly can be a bit too much.

First game that comes to my mind:

[semifamous]

Evil Genius had a very fun soundtrack. Most of the tracks were really good. I remember looking for the music for the game to listen to outside of the game because of how good it was. It's very "spy movie" (specifically James Bond-ish) and a lot of fun.

Re:First game that comes to my mind:

[siberian]

I have the Civilization IV soundtrack in my car. Its quite nice, glad I bought the deluxe edition.

Music makes no difference

[AuMatar]

I don't play games for their music- in fact, I always turn it off if there's an option for it. I'd rather have my mp3 collection cranked in the background.

Re:Music makes no difference

[Ryz0r]

I think it depends on what sort of game you're playing. For example, Project Zero(or Fatal Frame, for those outside the UK) was one of the scariest game experiences I've ever had. Something tells me playing it with Britney Spears on in the background instead of the game's own atmospheric scores would have greatly reduced the fear factor of the game. It's the same with FPSs, I always play better with the in-game music because my own music tends to just distract me from the atmosphere of the game.

With sports and racing games, on the other hand, I agree that the music makes no difference since it's mostly just soundtracks full of bad Indy tunes that just get on my nerves, and dont really add to the gaming experience.

Another interview

[deltagreen]

Gamespy recently had an interview with another composer, Jeremy Soule.

Re:Another interview

[Fishbulb]

The music for Total Annihilation was fantastic. Interestingly enough (if you were playing multiplayer and had quorum cds) if you dropped in the soundtrack to Conan the Barbarian, it synchronized really well with the gameplay of TA. :)

Thoughts

[Rob T Firefly]

TFA goes into what divides game music from film music, but I've always felt the best game music has usually had pretty much the same qualities going for it as the best film music. It compliments what's going on in the story at that point, it has a recognizable personality that ties it to the game, and manages to touch you in the right emotional ways during the right bits of the action. The best of the best is also listenable on its own, but doesn't try to be the star of the show and overshadow the game when you're playing.

I haven't heard anything by Jesper Kyd, but many of my favorite videogame composers get the balance just right - Nobuo Uematsu's "Fianl Fantasy" work, Kurt Harland's "Soul Reaver" tunes, Hans Zimmer's "Metal Gear Solid" scores, and of course the classic Super Mario music. (Stop laughing, dammit! Who among the 8-bit generation doesn't remember how awesome it was to grab a starman and hear the invincibility theme for the first time, or didn't get even slightly spooked by the underworld music?)

Re:Thoughts

[regular_gonzalez]

Stop laughing, dammit! Who among the 8-bit generation doesn't remember how awesome it was to grab a starman and hear the invincibility theme for the first time, or didn't get even slightly spooked by the underworld music?)

No laughing here. The overworld theme to Legend of Zelda is a brilliant piece of music that manages to sum up the entire feel of the game. I actually get shivers down my spine when I hear it, and I'm not ashamed to admit that the acapella version of it from that omnipresent video of a couple years ago brought a tear to my eye.

Re:Thoughts

[Rob T Firefly]

Definitely! Zelda's one I left out, but it's another classic which did things with the NES' audio that people fressh off Atari 2600, Colecovision, and the like wouldn't have thought possible.

And I do love that video.

Splinter Cell

[Anonymous Coward]

I would have to say my favorite soundtrack for a video game would have to be Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory which was composed by Amon Tobin. Almost every song was original and had various levels of intensity that added to the superspy atmosphere of the game. If you were seen by a guard the pace of the music would instantly speed up and get more insense based on what was going on. It added alot to the game. I actually looked into amon tobins music and listened to his other stuff and now hes one of my favorite djs.

Sierra & Lucasarts

[Jarlsberg]

Sierra & Lucasarts always put a lot of attention to their sound tracks, and relied on music as a mood setter in their games. They really were pioneers in that area.

Of course, music has always been important to the succcess of games. Hubbard sold a lot of games for the C64 simply because he was credited as the games musician (anyone remember the theme to M.U.L.E.? :).

Re:Sierra & Lucasarts

[vhold]

Sierra's claim to fame in my opinion was they were first to support sound cards with King's Quest IV. This alone started to create the notion of a custom "gaming PC" market that existed seperately from how computers were normally sold and marketted.

Along these lines Sierra was really pushing the limits of disk based distribution, and as such probably were a major factor in creating demand for CD-ROM.

Also don't forget Origin.. The Wing Commander was another rather cinema-meets-games breakthrough and WC2 brought full voice acting for the first time.

Re:Sierra & Lucasarts

[Jarlsberg]

Yeah, Sierra was so frustrated about the lack of soundcards in the mainstream PCs at the time that they started offering "inexpensive" sound cards to go with their games (in as much as Roland sound cards ever were inexpensive).

Origin was also huge - there's no denying that. Ultima, Wing Commander, the Tex Murphy series, Ultima Underworld -- how could you go wrong? Great stuff indeed.

Old school needs more credit.

[vhold]

I think music is even more important in video games the further you go back.

Of all the tools available to early game developers, music I really think was the most developed because the essence of a good tune comes through with virtually any technology that can at least play a tone.

Just start remembering your old favorite games, at least with me what I always remember first is the music.

Re:Old school needs more credit.

[gozar]

Just start remembering your old favorite games, at least with me what I always remember first is the music.

I agree! What seems to be the most re-mixed, re-played, instantly recognizable game tune?

Super Mario Bros!

Re:Old school needs more credit.

[tjr]

Ever since I first heard it something like 15 years ago, I have really enjoyed the music from the "Sonic the Hedgehog" series. Many of those melodies are very memorable, and hearing them today brings to my recollection late nights playing the games... trying to beat Dr. Robotnik... munching on mixed nuts and Chinese food...

I even occasionally find myself playing on the piano fragments from the music for Hydrocity Zone (Act 2) in Sonic 3. :-)

To whoever wrote that fabulous music, many thanks indeed!

Re:Old school needs more credit.

[Thing 1]

I remember Buckner and Garcia, myself. ;-)

Re: theme to M.U.L.E.

[Anonymous Coward]

That was Roy Glover who wrote the original theme and George "The Fat Man" Sanger wrote the theme for the unreleased Genesis sequel, Son of M.U.L.E.

What inspires me

[biff_larken]

I'm going through an audio technician graduate course right now which also deals with elements of composition. I really want to get into game soundtrack composition and production. I would have to say my two earliest influences were Kemco's "Shadowgate" and "Uninvited", specifically the versions for the NES. Hearing that music pulled me into the game far more than I ever thought possible. Other favorites (soundtrack wise, at least) were Zelda 2, Ninja Gaiden 2, Double Dragon 2 (wow...enough sequels?), and of course, Deja Vu.

Game music?

[holiggan]

When you talk about game music, you have to mention Akira Yamaoka, the genius behind the awesome soundtracks of the four Silent Hill games.

If you don't know him, go on, google it, hear it, and form an opinion. Changes are that you'll love it to bits.

Jeremy Soule

[ToasterofDOOM]

Jeremy Soule is the first to come to mind, and while I like Jesper Kyd's work, I think Soule is better. The music for Oblivion was so-so, but I think that the music in Morrowind is some of the best I've ever heard. It's amazing. Compare the Oblivion title and the Morrowind title and tell me that Morrowind's is not better.

M.U.L.E.

[thdougherty]

I downloaded a NES emulator just so I could play M.U.L.E... love that game and soundtrack!

Silents

[Anonymous Coward]

Liked his music better back in the Silents days.

Re:Silents

[Anonymous Coward]

His music in Hardwired is absolutely awesome.

Combinatorics

[tepples]

I'm not talking about using entire measures from other pieces.

It can happen inadvertently. Every piece is going to have at least a few entire measures identical to some measure in some existing copyrighted piece; the combinatorics can't be avoided within the Western musical system. So how do I know whether I'm inadvertently using a measure from a well-known copyrighted piece? And even if I'm clearly in the right, how do I economically convince a judge of this?

Re:Combinatorics

[7Prime]

Case in point, the entire Torian music from the original Metroid (and Zero Mission), is found, note for note, in the middle section of "Gnomus", the second movement of Muzzorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition", a Russian piece written in the 1860s. 12 notes, in exactly the same configuration, in exactly the same rhythm (haven't checked the key, but I'd argue that that is much less important). Do I think it's plaigarism? No, not really, I'm guessing it was probably entirely an accident. If you're ANY student of composition, you are going to know Pictures at an Exhibition... probably even better than you are going to know Beethoven's 5th, but there are millions of motifs out there, and when you hear one in your head to compose it, you PROBABLY most likely heard it before.

An inexperienced composer mopes about, doing everything to avoid the possibility of copying other work. His output is stifled and sacrificed. A good composer comes to term with the realities of composition (that 95% of the material isn't unique), and moves on. What's really important is what the WHOLE of a piece is, not whether one individual motif, or even a short melody is borrowed, it's how it influences the context of the whole.

I've even come to the point where I KNOW that I'm directly "borrowing" a few notes here, or a progression there, or a "feel" from there, but that doesn't bother me, because in the context of the 10min+ pieces that I tend to write, it serves a very different purpose than it did in the original. I take concepts and ideas from other work all the time, it's called "learning from other's experiences", and it's how music grows and gets more refined over time. Whether the casual listener, who has happened to have heard the original source, can recognize it, is of no concern to me.

A piece can be completely made up of pre-existing ideas (actually, most are, they just don't realize it), and still be original, if the ideas are arranged in a new way that changes their context.

Re:Combinatorics

[tepples]

So if I am accused of infringement through subconscious plagiarism, what are the appropriate steps to take?

Fucking loved Evil Genius.

[Rachel Lucid]

That music was perfect for it. Short, and a rather limited scope (I would've gotten a kick out of them doing extra tracks for the Super Agents and Villains), but perfect.