Category Archives: Music For Games

Blizzard Audio Director Russell Brower Shares His Insights

Check out this fine interview with Blizzard’s audio director Russell Brower:
 


Posted by Asbjoern on March 3, 2014 - Contact



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Behind The Scenes On The Sound For Battlefield 4

There’s an interesting post over at Develop’s Heard About column, on the sound for EA’s Battlefield 4. Here, Ben Minto outlines how the team approached the sound for the game, and the sonic possibilities offered by the new game engine.
 

For Battlefield 4, we wanted to recapture the rawness of BC2, but not at the expense of clarity and readability.

And whilst your firearm is the key way you interact with the environment, you have a big part to play too, so we’ve taken player foley out of the High Dynamic Range mixing system.

Now explosions will not cull your footsteps; there’s a constant sonic connection between character and world.

 
Read the full post on the sound for Battlefield 4 here.


Posted by Asbjoern on January 22, 2014 - Contact



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Great game music for real life

Over at IGN, Chris Reed has taken a look at what he finds to be the best game music for real life:
 

Below we’ve selected some of the best game soundtracks available and paired them with real-world situations that make great listening environments. If you’re interested in game music, these are good places to start.

 
Check out the full selection of great game music here.


Posted by Asbjoern on December 10, 2013 - Contact



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The Evolution Of Game Music – The Remix

Come along on a trip down memory lane with this brilliant track and video, combining a number of classic game tracks and sound snippets:
 


Posted by Asbjoern on August 5, 2013 - Contact



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The Game Music Of ‘The Last Of Us’

Gamespot has a great feature up on the game music for ‘The Last Of Us’ – check it out below:
 


 


Posted by Asbjoern on June 12, 2013 - Contact



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New Game Music For Kids

Fun Music For Kids

 
If you need game music for kids, be sure to check out my latest tracks – They’re available for instant previewing and download right here:

 
Fantastic Fun Toon
A festive, up-beat cartoony theme for children, featuring marimba, tuba, piano, flutes and pizzicato – great for kids’ TV, games and animations!
 
Backyard Building 
A playful track for kids featuring an ukulele melody, piano, percussion and pizzicato. Great for all kinds of projects for children – especially ones with a science or inventive theme.
 
Sleepy Time
A sweet melodic track for kids, played with acoustic guitar and piano. Works really well to create a warm, comfy atmosphere – perhaps for bedtime stories or cozying up with the family.
 
And if you need more music for children, there are many more tracks available for you right here.
 
Hope you like them and put them to good use in your project :)
 


Posted by Asbjoern on March 4, 2013 - Contact



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Royalty-free game music composers: Avoid going exclusive!

 

 

Getting into royalty-free music can be a good approach if you’re a game composer looking to earn more, and potentially land new clients as well.

 

But there’s one thing you should carefully consider before embarking on your royalty-free music adventure: Do you want to sell your royalty-free music exclusively or non-exclusively?

 

When signing up as a new author, many stock music sites ask you if you want to be an exclusive or non-exclusive author on the site. For any royalty-free music site, having unique content is a valuable asset, and that’s why they really want you to go exclusive.

 

Being a non-exclusive author means that you put your music up for sale on the royalty-free music site, but you can freely sell the music elsewhere as well. Being exclusive means that only the given royalty-free music site can sell the tracks you submit to the site (note: You can still do whatever you want with tracks you haven’t submitted for exclusive sale on a site).

 

The commission is of course higher if you’re an exclusive author rather than a non-exclusive one (50%+ commission vs 33% commission per sale), so it could be tempting.

 

But don’t go exclusive, unless you know exactly what you’re doing and have a clear plan in mind!

If you do, you could be severely limiting your options for making money off the music in other contexts.

 

Here are three reasons why you shouldn’t go exclusive:

 

 

1. You can’t try out different sites

There are hundreds of royalty-free music sites around, and picking the right one for you is almost a science in itself.

 

Some sites offer great commissions on tracks, but may not have a huge number of potential buyers, others sell tracks at a higher price and have bigger-budget buyers who purchase fewer tracks but are willing to pay more, while others still may attract a certain crowd of buyers who are going for very specific genres.

 

It can be hard to tell from the get-go what works best for your music, so you want to test the waters before uploading all your music and locking yourself in with just one site.

 

Upload a good selection of tracks to each site and see where your music sells. When you find a site that generates good sales numbers, focus on building your catalogue on that site.

 

If you go exclusive from the beginning, you lose this important way of determining what site is right for you.

 

2. You can’t sell direct to your clients

As a game composer, there’s a clear advantage in maintaining a catalogue of tracks you can sell on a non-exclusive basis. Perhaps you’ve been brought in as a custom composer on a game project and the client wants more music than initially planned. Only problem is that the client has almost used up their entire music budget. Being able to offer a few tracks on a non-exclusive basis ensures that they get the music they need, and you make a sale in a situation where you wouldn’t have otherwise if you had to compose all-new music for them.

 

Just make sure your client is aware that they’re getting those tracks on a non-exclusive basis to avoid misunderstandings down the line.

 

And the best part is that you can sell that music again and again, so while the initial price may be low, you can still turn a healthy profit on it from repeat sales – and keep your clients happy at the same time.

 

 

3. You can’t sell your music on your own site

Royalty-free music sites take a large chunk out of your profits in commission (40%-70%, depending on the site). And what do you get from the money you’re essentially paying them for selling your tracks? They do the legwork of bringing in buyers for your tracks, allow you to have a nice-looking profile on their site and sometimes even feature your work to allow you sell more.

 

But what if you’re pretty good at marketing yourself?

 

If you’ve got the skills and the right eyeballs on your website – ie. game developers -, maybe you’d be better off selling your music on your own site.

 

That way, you can set your own price, cut out the middleman eating half or more of your profits – and get more direct contact with your clients too.

 

Build a catalogue of your tracks, sort them and label with fitting descriptions, tags and other relevant info, define your licensing terms and allow your visitors to buy the tracks via Paypal or similar services. You can even do this while still having music up on stock music sites.

 

If you’re an exclusive author on a stock music site, you just can’t do this with material you’re selling exclusively on that site. So you’d be missing out on yet another way of reaching potential buyers.

 

 

If you find that a royalty-free music site is really good at selling your stuff, you can always change your mind down the road and go exclusive. You just have to stop selling your selected tracks via all other channels. Alternatively, you can set up a separate account on your favorite music site where you upload tracks that are only sold through that site.

 

 

I hope this has given you an idea on why going non-exclusive is probably the best approach for you. How are you going about selling your music as a games composer? Share your tips and ideas in the comments below.

 

Good luck with your music!

 

- Asbjoern


Posted by Asbjoern on October 8, 2012 - Contact



Category Game composers,Music For Games Tags , , , , ,

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Game music for kids

Here are a few of my royalty-free tracks aimed at games for kids.
 
Click the black BUY button on the player to get the currently-playing track for your game project.
 

 
In this collection you’ll find:
 
1. Merry Rascals
Playful track for children that continuously builds for a fun, mischievous mood. Features pizzicato, marimba, oboe and accordion and loops seamlessly.
 

2. Cheerful Piano Cowboy
Lively and playful piano piece in a fast-paced ragtime style.
 

3. Best Friends
A piece about being ready to play and to have fun with friends.
 

4. The Tree Hut
An upbeat, fun piece for children about friendship and playing together. Features a bubbly shuffle rhythm, guitar elements and a piano melody.
 
Hope you enjoy them!


Posted by Asbjoern on August 13, 2012 - Contact



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Royalty-free game music: How to make the most of it as a game developer


 

I’ve been a game composer for many years, and it’s always been a platform I’ve really enjoyed working on.
 
However, a few months back I came across something unexpected:
 
I was listening to a track on Soundcloud with an embedded audio watermark from a stock music site – and it didn’t suck.
 
This is in no way meant to be disrespectful of stock music composers, I just hadn’t been paying attention to how much the quality of royalty-free music had gone up. I was expecting stock music to still be the cheesy, plasticky stuff I’d heard many years ago. This was not the case here, so I was puzzled.
 
If such great-sounding music is available to game developers at rock-bottom prices ($14-$70 per track, depending on the license), what does it mean to me as a game composer, and to game developers and the way they are finding and using music? And ultimately, is it a threat to my business as a composer?
 
In my view, the answer is a resounding NO, and in this two-part guide I’ll show you how royalty-free music can benefit both game developers and composers alike.
 
First off is a bunch of tips for game developers:
 
 
MAKING THE MOST OF ROYALTY-FREE MUSIC AS A GAME DEVELOPER
 
Let me start out by stressing that if you have the budget, I think you should go for having music custom-composed for your project. You’ll get high-quality, unique material that can be shaped and fitted to exactly match your project requirements. But if your budget is limited, or you’re in a real hurry, royalty-free music can be a great option.
 
A quick primer on what royalty-free music is:
 
Royalty-free music is music you buy on a non-exclusive basis, meaning that it can be used in your project – and since it’s non-exclusive, everyone else is free to license the music for their projects as well. So you won’t be getting unique, exclusive content for your game, but you’re getting music that’s extremely affordable and flexible.
 
You pay a one-time fee (often extremely low compared to having custom music composed for your game), and that’s it! There are no royalty-fees to be paid to the composer down the line, and no bonuses to be paid if your game is selling like hotcakes.
 
So it’s simple way to find, use and buy music for your game – and here’s how you can make the most of it:
 
* Quick, easy access to great game music
Royalty-free music sites offer you a way to get great, hugely affordable music for your game, fully-licensed and ready-to use. Some sites offer more than 50,000 tracks that are available in pretty much every style imaginable, so there’s loads to choose from.
There’s no waiting around for a composer to finish the music for your game – you can simply download the tracks instantly and start using them straight away.
It’s not all stellar material, of course – far from it, actually – but most sites employ reviewers to maintain a fair level of quality.
 
* What you hear is what you get
Having a composer do the music for your project has its pros and cons: You’re getting unique music content, and – if you’ve picked the right composer – high quality material as well. But you can’t be absolutely certain what you’re going to end up with.
 
With royalty-free music, you can preview the tracks in advance, so you know exactly what you’re getting. Don’t like a track? Don’t buy it.
 
* Finding the best game tracks
One of the biggest challenges when it comes to royalty-free music is finding the good stuff. As mentioned some sites have thousands and thousands of tracks of varying quality, and game music is not a top priority – at least not on the sites I’ve seen.
 
For instance, on Audiojungle, which is my current favorite for royalty-music, the biggest-selling category is motivational and uplifting corporate music – so that’s what a lot of composers are going for. Hardly the best music for a game.
 
But there’s lots of relevant music for game projects as well, and that’s why I’ve launched Great Game Music, where I feature tracks that specifically work well in a gaming context.
 
At the very top of this page, you’ll find an audio player where you can preview my selected tracks. Click the yellow buttons to change categories, and click the black BUY button on the player to go the purchasing page for the currently-playing track.
 
Navigate to the top of this page and have a look. You can use this page to find useful tracks for your game project, or as a starting point for further exploration.
 

 
A WORD OF ADVICE:
 
* Always check the license terms
Many sites offer tracks at incredible prices. Again using Audiojungle as an example, you can license a 3-minute track for $14 dollars. And believe me, that’s CHEAP for a three-minute track.
 
But beware: A Regular License only allows you use the music in a FREE game – so if you planning on selling your game (as I’m guessing most devs are), you’ll effectively be in violation of the license if you include that 14$ track in your paid game. An Extended License will cost you around $70 depending on the track length, and this allows you to freely use the track in the game you’re planning on selling. Other sites have similar terms, so be sure to check that you’re getting a license that fits with how you plan on distributing/selling your game. Otherwise it could end you in hot water down the road.
 
* Make royalty-free music a shortcut for unique music for your game
One of the tricky things with royalty-free music is getting a consistent sound for your game, as you’ll likely end up with tracks from many different composers in your final music package. And since each composer has his or her own sound, this might be noticeable in your soundtrack.
 
If that’s the case, I’d suggest a different approach.
 
Go exploring on stock music sites, and when you come across a composer who’s doing music with a style and sound that would be a great match for your game project, stop searching and get in touch with the composer. License the royalty-free tracks you want to use from the composer on the site, and ask him or her to compose some custom tracks to sort out your remaining music needs.
 
It’ll cost you more than just using royalty-free music, but a) you’re getting custom music for much of your game, b) you ensure that your game gets a consistent sound, and c) you’re still saving money compared to having everything custom-composed.
You also reap the benefits that custom music have to offer, such as tweaking if needed, unique content, and music that fits with the durations, timing and moods you want. And if it’s not important for you to have the music exclusively (which you won’t get with royalty-free music anyway), you may be able to negotiate a deal with the composer, where he or she creates custom tracks for you, but is allowed to sell the tracks as royalty-free music afterwards as well.
 
That way, you’ve effectively turned royalty-free music sites into massive music showcases that allow you to find the very best composer for your game – and save money doing it.
 
* Don’t use royalty-free music as an excuse to postpone your game audio
In general, I think one of the biggest mistakes when finding music for your game is doing it too late in the process. If you’re a week away from your deadline and you still haven’t found the right music, it’s going to be hectic. And that’s whether you work with a composer or use royalty-free music.
 
Getting a composer to create the right music for your game takes time and planning, and it ALSO takes time on stock music sites. Why? There’s simply so much content to choose from that finding stuff that fits with your project is not a one-day process. You’ll want to listen to a lot of tracks to find your direction, you’ll want to find a collection of tracks that go well together – and you want to try the music in your game to see if it really works in the context of your game.
 
So don’t make music for your game a last-minute decision, just because you’ve chosen to use royalty-free music. Bring it in early to make your game sound its very best.
 

 

I hope this has given you some ideas on how you can integrate royalty-free music in your game development process – and helped you decide whether it’s a direction you want to go in at all. I think that, if done right, it can be a valuable tool for finding the right music for your game.
 
In part two, I’ll show how royalty-free music can be a way for game composers to land new projects and keep their game developer clients happy at the same time. Read the guide for game composers right here.
 
Meanwhile, I’d love to hear how you’re using royalty-free music in your projects. Do share your comments and thoughts below.
 

- Asbjoern


Posted by Asbjoern on July 2, 2012 - Contact



Category Music For Games,Royalty-free game music Tags , , , , , , , , ,

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Is royalty-free game music a threat to game composers?

Just a heads up that I’ll be posting a two-part, in-depth guide next week for both game developers and game composers, showing how royalty-free music can be made a brilliant resource for getting and making awesome game music.

 

I’m a game composer myself, and at first, I was a bit concerned that royalty-free music would be a threat to my custom game music projects. After all, royalty-free music is incredibly affordable, and if you look in the right places, you can find some really great stuff. But that has far from been the case.

 

I’ll tell you all about it in the guide I’ll be publishing next week, so stay tuned and will be looking forward to your feedback on it!

 

All the best,
- Asbjoern


Posted by Aurie on July 1, 2012 - Contact



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