Let’s talk about music.

Jayme

Posted on Fri 14 Nov 2008 by Jayme under Audio , Design .
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Very few people can deny that the music selection in games is memorable. Be it Final Fantasy 7’s Aerith’s Theme or One Winged Angel to chords that carry on through the ages (Who doesn’t recognize the theme of games like Mario? — don’t answer that; if such people exist, I’d rather not know.), music from games is a big deal. How else would you know when something ominous is fixing to happen, or when you’re entering some kind of dark lair? Or a battle sequence? Music sets the mood and the atmosphere. Fast-paced battle sequence music, loud sounds to signify you’ve managed to crit, or the theme songs of the central character that plays whenever a key point in their development is occurring. It’s all essential to the gaming experience…

… Or is it?


I know, I know. You’re thinking, “What?” but I ask you this: How many people actually stop and listen to the music of the games they’re playing? I’m not talking about works that are famous just for their notoriety. When you sit down to play a game, do you actually listen to the sounds? Not just the main themes, or main titles - all the sounds, be it simple music playing in areas, or otherwise? I can say for certain that I don’t. When I’m busy playing a game, I’m focusing on the story, the graphics, the characters and the dialogue, or more usually, whether or not I’ve managed to survive the latest combat sequence .. or puzzle, depending on the game I’m playing. Rarely do I take the time to actually listen to the music playing, and often, I don’t even bother to turn on the sound. It’s not until the second or third time through that I come to appreciate the difficulty that comes in writing music for a game that actually suits each aspect of the story, be it combat, level or what have you.

Short of the few artists whose style is recognizable easily (primarily from frequently working with the same excessively popular projects, e.g. Nobou Uematsu), most composers for games don’t get much recognition. Their art is subtle, in the background, influencing our moods without us even realizing it, giving us clues to what’s coming next, or what we can expect. Low violins and piano notes in the background, sometimes touches or organ music - expect something negative to happen. Without the music, the game loses one of its dimensions. Some parts can be played in silent but for the full experience, you need that background sound, those few notes that otherwise go unnoticed.

So this one’s to the composers, who so rarely get complimented on their hard work. Hat’s off to the side of gaming only heard and never seen.

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2 Responses to “Let’s talk about music.

Costas Says:
November 17th, 2008 at 6:12 am

I agree that music in games is one of the most neglected elements of games in reviews and gamers’ discussions about games.

To be honest sound & music are important to me as i will play my console games either with the surround sound on or with my earphones when it comes to handhelds. It’s important to me for immersion purposes.

For example i just finished God of War: Chains of Olympues on the PSP. I found that the game’s score was fantastic even though i didn’t much appreciate the overall gaming experience.

The thing is even though i did appreciate the soundtrack i would never look into it further and check who actually created this. I have done it often for the voice acting but not for music.

Jonas Says:
September 30th, 2009 at 11:57 am

I don’t get it. Why does nobody really appreciate a game’s music? Without that awesome score, Morrowind and Oblivion would just have been random Fantasy games with a world that’s far too big. Composer Jeremy Soule’s genius makes the games what they are. Of course, this doesn’t go for all games, but music is not just some background sound adding one more dimension to a game; The music defines a game’s atmosphere to a great extent. Most people don’t seem to realize that.

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