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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.'"
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/
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.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
Gamespy recently had an interview with another composer, Jeremy Soule.
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.
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.
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?