Tag Archives: game music

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

Game composers,Music For Games  game music, great game music, music for games —

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How to get game audio right: Make an audio design doc

 
Getting the audio done for your game can seem a daunting task, but Microsoft Audio Director Zack Quarles(X-men: Legends, FEAR 360, Quake 4, Wolfenstein & more) has written a great guide that can make this a lot easier for you.
 

I often get asked how I “start” a project.  This is a big question.  Multiple things happen all at the same time, but one of the “filters” that I generally use to collect all of these items into a centralized place is the Audio Design Document (also called an audio style guide, sonic bible, etc…).  This becomes a road-map for myself, the audio team, and the project team as a whole on how I guide the audio component of any project that I’m on.

 
Read Zack’s full guide to creating an audio design document for your project here!
 

Posted by Asbjoern on January 16, 2013 - Contact

Game music tips  audio design guide, audio style guide, game audio, game audio planning, game music, game sound planning, how to plan game audio, planning —

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Game sound editing: Five great tools

 
If you need to edit the sound for your game – be it the music, sound effects or voices – Lifehacker has highlighted five great audio editors that can help you do just that.
 
I can personally recommend Soundforge and Sony Vegas (multitrack editor) as well – they’re really great for serious editing, tweaking and polishing your game sound.
 

Earlier in the week, we asked you which audio editing tools you thought were the best. We tallied up your responses, and now we’re back to feature the five applications you said were the best of breed. It’s worth noting the list will be a bit of a mix of Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) as well as audio editors—they’re definitely different classes of tools. If you’re not sure of the difference, audio editors let you manage and splice existing audio files, while DAWs are more for creating new music from scratch. Now, on to the top five:

 
See the full list of audio editors here!

 

Posted by Asbjoern on September 3, 2012 - Contact

Game music tips  editing game audio, game music, game sound editing, game sound editors, game voices, sound design for games —

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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

Music For Games  composing for games, game composer, game music, game music guide, music for games, royalty-free game music —

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How to find music for your game

 
So.. you’ve been developing your game for a while, and now the time has come to add some music to it. But how exactly do you go about finding the right music for your game? Well, there are essentially two ways of going about it:

 

1. Hire a composer:

 

If your budget allows it, having a composer on board for your project is in my view the best way of getting consistent, high-quality music in your production. When you find someone who has a style that matches your vision for your game, you’ll be able to work with the composer to sculpt the music exactly the way you want it. If you find an experienced composer, be sure to use whatever input the composer has, as he or she is a specialist in music, and may have ideas you wouldn’t have thought of yourself.

 

In my experience, the best way of getting the right sound for your game is by using music references. Music is such an abstract concept, and your definition of a “fun, cheerful menu track, with lots of cowbell – but not too much! Oh, and with a jazzy edge as well” may mean something entirely different to you that it does to your composer.

 

So don’t waste time (and money) having him or her compose loads of drafts without properly setting the direction first.

 

You can do this by picking existing tracks from other games, film or commercial artists – the source doesn’t matter, as long as the references fit with how you want the music to sound – and present them to the composer. That way, you’ll know he or she understands the direction you want to go in.

 

Game composing is a time-consuming task, so be sure to bring in the composer as early as possible, and make sure you set delivery deadlines that allow for additional tweaking of the music.

 

When it comes to the music budget, write a detailed description of your requirements (this guide might help) and ask your chosen composer for a quote. You’ll probably find that he or she charges a per-track production fee, or – as is more common – a production fee per minute of completed music.

He or she will probably also ask for a usage fee, depending on where/how the music will be used and where your game will be released. Some composers offer full buy-out on their music. This means that you pay a one-time fee, and you are then free to use the music where and how you want to.

 

Another model is to negotiate a profit-sharing model, where the composer is only paid a small inital fee for the music, and then gets a percentage of the profits from each copy sold. The advantage of this is that it allows you to make a smaller initial investment in the music, and that the composer will have a vested interest in the game doing as well as possible.

 

PROS:

* Custom work: Allows you to get a custom score for your game that is tailor-made to your vision for the game.

* Expert advice: You get an expert on board who can take the game music to a level you wouldn’t have thought of yourself.

* Music that fits: Get tracks that fit exactly with your menus, ingame and cutscenes when it comes to lengths and style.

 

CONS:

* Expensive:  Unsurprisingly, composing game music takes time + composers need to get paid for their work and be able to run a studio and pay the bills = it all adds up.

* Time-consuming: Turn-around varies from composer to composer, but most composers can do 1-3 minutes of completed music per day, depending on the complexity. Then factor in revisions, the composer’s schedule and additional tweaking and you’re looking at weeks, if not months to get the music done – especially if your game needs a lot of music. This may not be a problem, as long as you remember to bring in the composer early on in the development process.

 

 

2. Use royalty-free music:

 

If your budget doesn’t allow having a composer on your team, or if you simply need something FAST that works, royalty-free music is a great option. There’s 100s of thousands of tracks available, and chances are you’ll be able to find something that fits in your game if you spend the time looking.

 

Well, actually you don’t have to spend that much time looking – have a look at the music collections on this site and see if anything fits. I’ve spent many (many) hours plowing through a myriad to tracks to find what I find to be some of the best royalty-free music tracks that work well in game projects.

 

Maybe you won’t find exactly what you need here, but if you spot a composer who does quality stuff from the collections above, you can use that as a starting point for further exploration. Or you could simply get in touch and I can lend you a hand finding what you need.

 

PROS:

* Affordable: Royalty-free music is a cheap way of finding music for your game. Prices usually range from around $10 to $70 dollars per track, depending on what sort of license you need.

 

* What you hear is what you get: When you have a composer on board, you’re never completely sure what the end result is going to be. Perhaps that track you love from him/her was simply a lucky punch, and he’ll fail miserably trying to get you the sound you’re after. If you’ve done your research, this is quite unlikely to happen, of course. But the thing about royalty-free music is you know EXACTLY what you’re getting. What you hear in the preview, is what you’ll get – no nasty surprises there.

 

CONS:

* Lack of consistency: Putting together a consistent soundscape from royalty-free music can be tricky. If you need several tracks, you’ll likely source them from many different composers – and each has his or her own sound, meaning that your soundtrack as a whole may not sound as coherent as you’d like. Actually, there’s a way to overcome this, and I’ll tell you how in a future blog post.

 

* Finding the good stuff takes time: With so many tracks around, be prepared to spend a lot of time putting together the perfect soundtrack for your game from royalty-free music. However, I really hope this site can be of help in doing so – at least that was kind of the whole idea why I started it in the first place

 

I hope this has helped you get a feel for your options when it comes to finding music for your game – and if you have any questions or feedback, do comment below or contact me directly.

 

Best of luck with your game project!

 

- Asbjoern

Posted by Aurie on June 22, 2012 - Contact

Music For Games  finding game music, game audio, game audio resources, game music, game music composers, how to find game music, music for game projects, royalty-free game music, royalty-free music benefits, the best game music, why royalty-free music —

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Get a free game music track!

Welcome to Great Game Music – I hope you enjoy your stay. And for a limited time I’m giving away the game track below, completely free! Hear the track below, and hop on over to this page to get your free game music.

 

Posted by Aurie on June 15, 2012 - Contact

Free game music,Music For Games  free game music, game music, game music collections, royalty free music —

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