Music for Games, Films, and other Visuals

Another wonderful day in San Francisco, despite the rain! I had the chance to sit down with some Berklee alums and also to listen to some very informed views on game curriculum, both from educators and practitioners in the field.

This is an interesting time to be coming into the game development field. Most people working in the industry did not receive any formal education in game development, but that is changing now. There have been programs popping up that deal with all manner of game development and there has been a huge leap in the past 5 years for game development education opportunities. The IGDA held their first summit on game education in 2000, that is hard to believe! 8 years ago! The Education Special Interest Group or SIG has been thinking about game education for a long time. However, the question came up again and again, about the style of education. On the one hand you have the classic higher education model which is about molding the person, making them more well-rounded, teaching critical thinking and global citizenship. On the other hand you have a more vocational approach which is about teaching a specific skill and a specific toolset.

On a quick glance these two may seem at odds with each other, one is more theoretical the other is more hands-on, but I kept seeing links between the two during the day. Interestingly enough, when I went to visit with an established game audio director and talk about game audio he saw the connections as well.

At LucasArts in San Francisco I imagine life is pretty good! Here is the view from the walk through the Presidio that ends up in the middle of their complex. This is a statue of the Father of Cinema - Eadweard James Muybridge.

Muybridge had an interesting career, balancing creative vision with technical limitations, which by the way is a great definition of a game audio composer and sound designer!

I was at LucasArts spending a bit of time with alumnus David Collins. He graduated from Berklee in ‘99 and at that time we had no specific course geared toward game audio. However, through his education, he learned specifics on audio fundamentals, music production techniques, teamwork, collaboration and problem-solving skills. To hear David talk about his work is to have a rose blossoming in the room. As hard as the work may be at times, it is evident that it is ultimately very satisfying. He is hard at work on the next big Star Wars game Star Wars:The Force Unleashed as the Audio Lead.

I know a lot has been said about the physics and graphics of this game, but wait until you hear it! David has had some of the finest audio talent working on this project and it shows! As you watch the trailers that talk mostly about the visuals and effects think hard about what it would take to create audio to match the images. One documentary shows how they’ve created solid objects that react the same as they do in the real world. Wood cracking, metal bending that sort of thing. David’s job is to figure out just how that would sound. He couldn’t rely on simple samples since every instance is different depending on the situation. This is an interactive audio gold mine!

Then there is the question of music. David has an audio team that on one day may be cutting sound effects, recording dialogue or even editing music. Video game enthusiasts expect a classic John Williams score in all of the Star Wars games, but unfortunately Mr. Williams isn’t always available! David’s job is to make sure the music meets expectations AND works in the game. An interactive score must not only sound good but also has to work in the context of the game. Everyone who works for David on this project has to have a strong sense of musicality to make their edits believable, and that is what brings us back to the beginning question, creative or technical?

In this little snapshot of the industry at LucasArts, I witnessed that every member of the audio team has a strong theoretical understanding of audio and music and those same people having a very high proficiency in technical skills. Working in game audio is a combination of both the technical skills of today balanced with the need for a balanced critical-thinking approach and knowledge of music and sound. So if you you are thinking about entering the field, I have two recommendations. If you are an accomplished musician and/or sound designer, start delving into the world of interactivity and the technical implementations of that. Download Fmod or XNA and start diving in and creating sounds that change based on outside factors. If you have been more technically-minded and understand about scripting or using MAX/MSP start thinking about the music and the aesthetics of sound design. Expose yourself to different musical genres and start listening critically to the music and sound in games and even film. A career in game audio is worth the time studying, and you can never be too prepared!