Music for Games, Films, and other Visuals

One of the great things about video games today is that we are starting to see the history and evolution of certain threads. Threads related to game play, game design, visual art, animation… the list can go on and on. For me, I like seeing the evolution of the music and sound. Which brings me to the title of this blog. Why Grim Fandango? Why am I writing about a ten year old PC game? Aren’t there better games to write about?

Well, in a word, no. Ok, sure sure, there have been better games (quick help me out I can’t think of one!) however, Grim Fandango still stands as the best (and almost last, I’m sorry we have to think about The Dig again…) point and click graphic adventure game developed by LucasArts. The story was hailed as spectacular when it came out and the time and care that went into all of the creative elements was apparent. Tim Schafer as the writer and Peter McConnell as the composer were a great combination!

For composers, though, there is more to it than just another great game. Grim Fandango is one of the great game scores of all time. The soundtrack is very difficult to track down, but is now hosted by the fan site Grim Fandango Network. It was crafted perfectly for the game, elements of the folkloric side of the story as well as big band to match both the writing style and artistic realizations. This is one of the ultimate examples of weaving music tightly with the other elements of the game. A marvel of creative collaboration between visual, story, audio and, believe it or not, programming.

Why did I mention programming? Well, Grim Fandango also relied heavily on a technology developed by LucasArts called iMUSE, Interactive Music Streaming Engine. This technology was started with games like Monkey Island II and led to some of the most of the music toolsets video game composers have access to today.

Take a look at this trailer and tell me you don’t want to play this game!

Interestingly enough, I was preparing a presentation about Grim Fandango last week on campus, when a friend forwarded me this article, that talks about the game and why it was more of a cult favorite as opposed to a commercial success. I’ll write more about that presentation in the coming days, and why I think Grim Fandango is important in the timeline of video game music!

On Friday, May 30th, the annual conference hosted by Filmmakers Collaborative in New England will feature a panel discussing the future of film music. I’ll be hosting the panel of industry veterans to talk about how things have changed in the last 5 - 10 years. If you are a filmmaker wondering how to approach music for your film or if you are a composer wondering how music and scores are being completed for films these days be sure to stop by.

The Making Media Now conference has always been a great event for Boston and I’m sure this year will be even better.

Music for Film 2.0

1:30pm-3:00pm

Music for a film can present a daunting task to film directors and producers. Licenses, copyrights and contracts must be considered, as well as the individuals responsible for creating and/or editing the music. As we move forward into more collaborative creative environments, how has the relationship between the director and the music for their films changed? A panel comprised of industry veterans that have embraced new technologies and capabilities will investigate the move away from traditional music work flows and into a more flexible model. A look at the pros and cons of current practices will be considered as well as a look back at what worked in a fixed framework. Long-distance collaboration, non-locked pictures, international recording sessions, new licensing schemes and contracts will be among the topics discussed.

Panelists: Bill Elliott , Berklee College of Music; Tom Phillips, OBT Music; Alison Plante, Center for Digital Imaging Arts; Roland Tec, Pinkplot Productions. Moderated by Jeanine Cowen, Assistant Vice President, Berklee College of Music.

One of the most tedious tasks in the game audio world is re-naming a large number of files to conform to a set format. Something like “fs_male_gravel_01.wav” and “fs_male_gravel_02.wav”, etc. There have been many batch processors over the years but there are times when you might be away from your main audio workstation and you want to rename the files from within ProTools.

This is a fairly easy task, but some of my students have been surprised at the results they get. Understanding the way in which Pro Tools will apply the new names can clear up the confusion. Here we see a simple session with four edited footstep regions.

One might assume that a renaming command would name these files from top to bottom in the tracks view. However, Pro Tools doesn’t look at the track order when renaming, it looks at the order of the regions in the Region Bin/List! If we were to rename these 4 regions the naming order from top to bottom would be 3, 1, 4, 2 based on their order to the left in the region list. If you sort your region list by a known parameter you can force the renaming to operate in the way you want. Watch what happens when we sort our list by name, like this :

After we run the Auto Rename function we get this :

Notice the order on the regions. If you look at the track view only you see the rename function ordered the regions 1, 3, 2, 4. Take a look again at the original and then how the regions were ordered in the region list. I hope it makes sense now!

Using the PT ordering function you can effectively order almost any region list to obtain the sort of functionality you need on your project. In this example you can see that I’m sorting by Timestamp :

Which in turn, makes the rename function order the regions in the track view as 3, 1, 4, 2!

I used to always export my regions/files for renaming functions in other applications, but given ProTools fairly robust functionality, the need for that is less. Just keep an eye on your region list and it should all start making more sense!

Last week the Berklee Learning Center hosted it’s annual networking event for the Boston/New England film community. This is an evening session that is held to bring together filmmakers and those people that do audio and music for film. It continues to grow each year! (and I see a few friends in the crowd here!)

Built as both a networking event and an expo, the participants meet each other and also learn what they each do. Filmmakers speak about making films and composers and engineers discuss creating sound for those films.

If you’d like to find out more and see additional pictures go to the official website!

I’ve taught the PT101 class for many semesters now and there seems to be a question that comes up frequently. How to use Reason as a sound source for a PT session. While I am risking sounding ancient, this is an age-old question. I remember back in the day…. before Pro Tools could talk MIDI and before Performer (yes there was an application before Digital Performer!) could talk audio (or Vision before Studio Vision for that matter) we used to have to set up communication between many applications on our systems to get our work done. One application would handle the audio files and another would handle the MIDI sequencing. This is the history that leads us to being able to use sound sources, i.e. Reason, with another audio application (in this case PT).

Enter ReWire!

Setting up that communication used to be very arduous, but today it is streamlined through the ReWire plugin. If you think about sequencing and DAW operation there are three main protocols which must be dealt with.

First, we want to have our MIDI sequencer be able to trigger external sound sources. We want to be able to sequence a MIDI track in PT in order to make a device in Reason make a sound. So we need MIDI communication.

Second, we want to pass audio from the sound source into the DAW application. So we need audio communication.

Third, in a perfect world we would also have a relationship between the linear timeline of our main application and that of any ancillary applications so that any play/pause, meter, tempo, etc would be mirrored regardless of which application we were looking at. So we need tempo and transport communication.

ReWire provides all of this functionality which makes the possibility of using Reason instruments inside of a PT session a very real possibility. On campus, our MIDI systems course deals with just this topic for several weeks. To get a glimpse of how we use this functionality take a look at the following handout which steps through all of the configuration and operation uses when utilizing Reason within a PT session.

Using Reason with Pro Tools

Once you’ve mastered this protocol you will open up a whole new world of sounds to use in your productions!

Today was the first day of the full conference at GDC. I was thrilled to run into some colleagues, chat about the industry and to see some wonderful panel discussions. If you’ve never been to a large conference, I have to tell you, the possibilities are very daunting. You can schedule yourself solid from 9 am to 9 pm thrice over! Needless to say, I had to make some choices if I was going to be able to both see the panels I found interesting PLUS catch up with people I only have the opportunity to see at this one time of the year.

The morning started off with a keynote address by John Schappert, from Microsoft. He spoke about the burgeoning online game world. With the introduction of the next-gen series of game consoles, Wii, Xbox 360, and PS3, delivering content online has never been easier. Mr. Schappert’s goal is to democratize the process of making games, much like iTunes and other online services has done for the music world. Games made by individuals or small independent teams will now be available in the Xbox Live Marketplace. He also highighted the XNA developer’s toolkit as a great resource for anyone with a game idea that wants to do guerilla production.

After the keynote I ran into Berklee alum Dan Lehrich from Seven Studios. We met up at one of the best panels I’ve seen, on the topic of creating procedural music for the game Spore. Kent Jolly and Aaron McLean gave a rundown on how they are using Pure Data, an opensource audio and music programming environment, to create the generative music components used in parts of the game. Working with Brian Eno, they were able to develop some fascinating musical ideas. Kent started with a quick rundown of how they molded the PD environment to not only create generative music pieces but also to have the ability to select ideas that had a musical relevance. I’m hoping the GDC makes the audio transcript available. Here is a snapshot of the demonstration in PD. This isn’t a script from the game but rather what they used to demonstrate making generative music musical.

If you look closely at the generators you can see how they were able to get the generated music to fall into a given musical idea. Notice the weighting they can do to force a major, wholetone or minor scale. It was a very interesting way to algorithmically cause a musical scale! Aaron McLean went on to talk about programming the rules of counterpoint as stated by the master text by Fux which allows counter-melodies to be generated by the music engine. Very fascinating indeed!

This was interesting primarily because it was a lot of very technically minded creative people sitting around talking about music. Again and again on this trip I was reminded of the importance and relevance to being skilled not only in the technical areas of making games but also as a musician. The future is looking great, from my vantage point, for music and musicians!

learn network inspire

Those are the three words on the GDC pamphlets. Very simple words, but with so much meaning…

It is a lovely day in San Francisco today! Not because it is warm and sunny (it isn’t) but rather…. it is the first day of the Game Developers Conference! I had the chance to sit in on some great conversations about education and games offered as part of the 2 day summit on game education by the IGDA.

The morning sessions started with an impassioned plea to do it right. Our job as educators is not to train our students for a specific job when they leave our school, but rather to build a student’s knowledge base and their critical/independent thinking. In the music world you might think of it as teaching a musician how to approach sight reading as opposed to trying to teach the musician every single piece of music they might ever be called upon to play.

I love the GDC slogan. Learn, Network, Inspire. It is perfect in this day and age. We all can bear to learn more, of course, that means we have to look at exactly where we spend our time. None of us has the ability to learn everything about everything we are interested in. Susan Rogers, from McGill University, compares it to science. Back when Leonardo DaVinci was learning about science there was a small set of known truths. He really was able to master most of what was known at that time. Now things are different. Not only in science where researchers can spend a lifetime on the smallest of details, but also in music. I can’t, as someone who studies drums for instance, be a master of all styles. I can not master the playing styles of Vic Firth on timpani, Evelyn Glennie on percussion AND John Bonham on set. I must choose where to spend my time and energy.

Network. Some might think this is a hard sell for students, but in reality it might be the one thing that separates a great student from a great job. In every industry, networking is a part of the process. You can be the most talented “fill in your own blank here” but if no one knows about you it doesn’t matter. Networking is a part of the modern life. There are so many opportunities that come up through a network of professionals. Being a part of that network will help to put you in the right place at the right time.

Inspire. Great art has to come from somewhere. Great artists are inspired. The videogame industry is one of the few remaining places where great artists are rewarded when they are inspired. It is also a place where creative people inspire other creative people. Teamwork and collaboration are the foundation of great games. That very same teamwork and collaboration helps one artist inspire another.

A wonderful set of three words, meant for the modern world.

learn network inspire

We’re very fortunate at Berklee to have many successful industry professionals visit the campus. Today was one of those days when I was able to attend a wonderful presentation, this time by Grammy award winning producer Michael Powell and his current engineer Quentin Dennard.

Mr. Powell has had an incredibly diverse career, he started producing music in 1979, he has worked with (and continues to work with) great artists such as Aretha Franklin, Anita Baker, R. Kelly and more. The thing that was amazing about today’s presentation was that the conversation kept coming back to the music. Sitting in the studio, with a gaggle of music technology students asking questions, it could have very easily turned into a Pro Tools master class, but that didn’t happen! The conversation began and ended with the music. There was a lot of talk about production techniques, musical structure, and working with performers in the studio. These concepts haven’t changed that much from the days of analog consoles and today.

There are times that we get caught up in the next best piece of gear, or an anticipated upgrade to our favorite application, but in the end, none of it matters but the music. Something Mr. Powell said, early on, set up the rest of the conversation this morning. He talked about the fact that the music we are all creating today, if it is good, will still be listened to in 100 years. In 100 years our toolsets will be very different but the goal will still be the same, to create, capture and distribute great music!

As someone who teaches music technology and audio engineering I was heartened by Mr. Powell’s frankness and experience and also by Mr. Dennard’s many statements about using the tools you have to make a great record. When asked about a favorite mic for vocals he said he would use the best mic available and that it is his job to make it sound great. Now, that isn’t to say either of them were technophobes, quite contrary! Rather, they use the tools they have to fulfill their unique musical vision.

That is exactly what I try to convey to my students both on campus and online. Your goal should be to train yourself, be the best musician you can be, start listening, really listening, and learn your tools so well that they fall away. You don’t want to struggle inserting plugins and routing to busses, you want to intelligently and musically assess what your music needs and know how to get the sound you are looking for. You’ll be amazed what a freeing experience it is to be in a studio and just know how to accomplish a creative vision. It’s kind of like the first time you realize you actually can play that scale or sight-read a chart, because afterall, it IS all about the music!

I ran across a couple of great articles earlier in the month, related to working in the video game industry. You know, things have changed drastically in the last few years. In case you haven’t been keeping track, the video game industry now far outpaces the film industry when looking at profits. We all know that usually equates to more work! According to the most recent Mix Magazine Game Audio edition where they quote a study from the Entertainment Software Association, more than 80,000 people were employed by the US entertainment software industry in 2006. Now, that isn’t just music and audio, it also includes legal staff, marketing and all of the other positions needed in a software development company, but oh my goodness, that seems like a lot of jobs!

All of this is to say, if you’ve ever wanted to work in games, this is the perfect time! Ok, ok, calm down… it is not as if game developers are hanging out on street corners begging people to come work for them. Now, more than ever, they are looking for qualified people that are also very creative. They are also really only interested in people that really want to work in the games industry. Being genuinely interested in the industry shows and they can tell if you love games or not. So, perhaps I should change that sentence above slightly…. how about this….

All of this is to say, if you’ve ever wanted to work in games, this is the perfect time to work your darndest to make it happen! I wish I could say I have the ultimate list of ways to prepare for work in the industry, but honestly, there is no one way to get your start. Just like the music or film industry, everyone takes their own path, it can’t be scripted. There is no Harvard Business School education that gets you into the equivalent of the Fortune 500 in the video game industry.

Over the holiday break, a couple of stalwart staples of reporting and discussion on the videogame industry came up with some resolutions for getting a job. Take a look at the CMP article on Game Career Guide and the rebuttal on Gamasutra for an interesting look at what you should do if you want to work on games.

I’ve decided, after reading the two articles, basically the same thing I decide every few months… really, I need to buy “a couple” of new games so that I can research them and really listen and assess how I think the music and sound work in them. It’s all about the research…