This is a rather long entry, but contains a lot of information. If you're new to the blog or a regular reader, I highly suggest taking your time and reading. There's a lot of insight and information below as I analyze the NES games in My Gaming Audio History, a journey I've come to the end of after over a year. Next up, SNES games... but for today, the last of my musings and analysis of the NES era audio.
I've been taking some time to think about what I learned by studying the music (and audio) to these NES games that I played growing up. Not only have I been wondering about results of my study and what I've learned so far, but I've been asking myself fundamental questions like: why is the NES era so fascinating to me, and why am I studying game music? It's this final question that I'm going to start with now...
For one, I've always played games. I've also played the piano as well as several other musical instruments. I've already written about the connections I see between playing games and playing musical instruments, particularly my life and career as a pianist. Yet, recently I've thought of another reason that games study is so appealing to me. My partner is a very successful opera singer and is traveling the world roughly half of the year. I'm at home... my connection with his work is in preparing him for those roles and performances. After that initial step, then he leaves and is gone for months working on the projects in fabulous places around the country (the last year took him to France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain, and Holland, for instance). I've begun to realize that games are not just nostalgic, but also a way for me to go to exotic locations and hear amazing sounds right from my living room. I think this "away from where I am" aspect is a big part of the draw in studying game audio for me. It's a way to travel anywhere and hear new sounds from my life at home.
Continuing in reverse order, why is the NES era so fascinating to me? And, it's not just me! Many other folks love the 8-bit era above all other game audio times. One thing is that the NES was nearly universal-- it had such a huge market share in the 80s that nearly everyone who played games played the NES and could relate to it. Thus, it gives a universal language among people around my age.
Another reason I think the NES era is so fascinating is that with the development of the NES, the era of home gaming was born. One can definitely hear the influence of the arcades (the "ringing" up of your score at the end of Super Mario Bros, for instance, imitates pinball). However, music needed to fill out the audio experience of gaming because it was at home and not in a crowded arcade. Also, your NES was plugged into a TV, which didn't have great speakers, but probably better ones than your computer sound in the 80s! So, there's an influence of what came before (main the arcade/ pinball sound effects) but also better audio quality.
For me, undoubtedly one of the most amazing aspects of game music in the NES era was the lack of precedent. By the time of 16-bit consoles, there were years of game audio history to build on. But the developers of NES games and game audio were in uncharted territory. What should a game sound like? What should a power-up sound like? What should death sound like? What should running out of time sound like? What did music tell the player about the scene and moment in the game? These questions were decided in this era of home gaming in a way that still carries influence today-- and not just because some sounds are exactly the same (finding a treasure in Zelda, for instance), but even more basic parameters. Generally, power-ups rise, death music descends, running out of time speeds up....
By the time of the SNES, my parents had bought another TV and my brother and I were moved into a new room where we could game without using the "family TV." Thus, game audio no longer filled the house in the same way. Thus, games had lost their universality as my parents no longer watched and listened as we played along for hours.
Finally, what have I learned so far? I've already created a chart where I show how the amount of music in NES games increases over time. But what else? Well...
When I started this project, I expected to find a grand key scheme and design in these games. By this I mean: like a great Beethoven symphony, I hoped to find that a game was in a certain key with various tracks in related keys, which were connected by musical (mathematic) significance. I really didn't find much of this. Koji Kondo definitely has key relationships in the Mario Bros games (these games are overwhelmingly in C major), and David Wise has moments of it-- like the E centered RC Pro-Am. However, composers don't do this as much as one might expect.
I also expected to find lots of thematic relationships. By this I mean musical symbolism that occurs by the use of motives that describe feelings, people, places, things, etc... If you need more info, check out my video on Leitmotifs in Final Fantasy 7. I've only just started my SNES research, and am looking forward to writing about it soon, but I can already say that this is more common in SNES games than NES games. Koji Kondo is definitely a leader in this way.
Finally, I'd like to share one unexpected thing I've learned in my NES game study. Admittedly, I feel a little foolish to write that this is unexpected, because I should have realized it, but... Game composers have "sounds" that define them in the same way that Brahms, Beethoven, Mozart, etc, have "sounds" that an experienced listener can identify. I definitely can recognize David Wise music, at least on the NES. He has compositional forms as well as sounds that he uses more regularly than another composer might, say Koji Kondo, for instance. And likewise with other composers. This isn't to say that all games by a composer sound exactly the same, but there are similarities that one can come to hear and understand as this music is studied so that even hearing a piece for the first time allows for educated guesses if you're familiar with more of the composer's work. Like I said, I don't know why I didn't expect to find this, but I hadn't thought of it until now and definitely hear it.
So there are my reflections on the last year and a half of game audio study I've been doing. Now, I'm off to the next era; I've already been studying Super Mario World with great delight. Looking forward to the next journey.
Showing posts with label Analysis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Analysis. Show all posts
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Saturday, June 14, 2014
Analysis: Amount of music in NES games via My Gaming Audio History.
My next few posts will be analyzing the data I gathered by examining all these NES games that I played growing up in My Gaming Audio History. I've spent a bit of time creating a chart that describes the amount of music in these 33 NES games (including Wizards and Warriors, whose blog entry has gone missing...).
My thought process when I first started examining these games was that I wanted to find tonal commonalities. In other words, Super Mario Bros would be in the key of C, like some grand musically crafted symphony by Mozart, and all the various music in the game would have tonal significance and relevance. While I do think that Super Mario Bros is in the key of C overall (and in fact, I would argue so are SMB 2 and SMB 3), I didn't find as much tonal planning in that way as I was hoping. As I continued this work, I learned that game composers are often paid by minute of music, and thus also began to note how much music was in a game. Recently, I returned to some of my first entries and added duration calculations as well. Now, I doubt that this early period of game music creation had as strict of a pay scale and calculation as there is now, but still, it's a way to organize the amount of music in a game.
So check out my chart and I'll have a few more reflections after the jump.
As you can see, the amount of music in NES games increased overall through the general "life" of the NES. By this I mean the period from when the NES came out through the release of the SNES, when the NES and game development for the NES was Nintendo's main focus. I had definitely expected to find an increase in amount of music as the importance of music for home systems became more clear and programmers and composers became more crafty with system resources, and am pleased to have the data support it.
A few outliers jump out at me, most notably The Simpsons: Bart vs the Space Mutants, the next to last game I examined. This game has shockingly little music compared with contemporary titles. I believe this is because the game was rushed to release before the SNES came out, much the same as Atari's infamous ET game. Mega Man II also stands out as having quite a bit more music than its contemporaries. This is because of limitations in the way I considered "amount of music" as I describe in detail below. However, to be brief about it here, MM II uses variations and looping transpositions that undoubtedly saved memory, but made for much longer musical loops. These reasons are why it seems to have much more music than contemporary games.
I'm curious as to any trends you notice here. Leave me a comment, if you like. It's really cool for me to see the data expressed in this visual way. Looking forward to blogging some reflections on my NES game study.
*For those particularly interested in details and data... A word about how I calculated the amount of music, which is far from an exact science. I considered the music in the game to be from the start of a loop to the repeat of that loop. In the case of the SMB overworld music, that's a 90 second loop. Now, all of that music isn't brand new, the form of the SMB overworld music is A-B-B-C-A-D-D-C-D. As you can see, there are repeating internal sections of music. However, the whole loop doesn't repeat until after the final D section, so I consider this to be 90 seconds of music. Another easy to visualize case is the SMB star music. It's a much shorter ~2 second loop-- even though that same 2 second loop repeats for the duration of invincibility ~ 10 sec. In that case, because the loop of music contains nothing new after the first two seconds, I only count that as a two second loop. That may seem arbitrary, but I considered the repeat of an entire musical loop to be "amount of music" rather than judging small inner repetitions. I did not include the same musical loop if it was sped up or slowed down, for instance, when you're running out of time in SMB, the same music loop plays faster. Or in Dungeons and Dragons, as you descend in a cave, the music loop slows down and is lowered in pitch. Because these were the same musical loops, transposed up or down or sped up, and then played in completion, I didn't include them in the musical total. However, I did include musical loops that transposed within a loop... If you're thinking that sounds crazy and potentially subjective, I agree. And what of sound effects-- are they music or not??? I'm happy to discuss particular decisions I made and why if you're interested. Having examined these early games in detail, I now see it's very difficult to precisely calculate "how much music" there is. I often wondered if amount of memory might be a more accurate gauge than duration, but I suspect that it too would leave complex questions.
My thought process when I first started examining these games was that I wanted to find tonal commonalities. In other words, Super Mario Bros would be in the key of C, like some grand musically crafted symphony by Mozart, and all the various music in the game would have tonal significance and relevance. While I do think that Super Mario Bros is in the key of C overall (and in fact, I would argue so are SMB 2 and SMB 3), I didn't find as much tonal planning in that way as I was hoping. As I continued this work, I learned that game composers are often paid by minute of music, and thus also began to note how much music was in a game. Recently, I returned to some of my first entries and added duration calculations as well. Now, I doubt that this early period of game music creation had as strict of a pay scale and calculation as there is now, but still, it's a way to organize the amount of music in a game.
So check out my chart and I'll have a few more reflections after the jump.
As you can see, the amount of music in NES games increased overall through the general "life" of the NES. By this I mean the period from when the NES came out through the release of the SNES, when the NES and game development for the NES was Nintendo's main focus. I had definitely expected to find an increase in amount of music as the importance of music for home systems became more clear and programmers and composers became more crafty with system resources, and am pleased to have the data support it.
A few outliers jump out at me, most notably The Simpsons: Bart vs the Space Mutants, the next to last game I examined. This game has shockingly little music compared with contemporary titles. I believe this is because the game was rushed to release before the SNES came out, much the same as Atari's infamous ET game. Mega Man II also stands out as having quite a bit more music than its contemporaries. This is because of limitations in the way I considered "amount of music" as I describe in detail below. However, to be brief about it here, MM II uses variations and looping transpositions that undoubtedly saved memory, but made for much longer musical loops. These reasons are why it seems to have much more music than contemporary games.
I'm curious as to any trends you notice here. Leave me a comment, if you like. It's really cool for me to see the data expressed in this visual way. Looking forward to blogging some reflections on my NES game study.
*For those particularly interested in details and data... A word about how I calculated the amount of music, which is far from an exact science. I considered the music in the game to be from the start of a loop to the repeat of that loop. In the case of the SMB overworld music, that's a 90 second loop. Now, all of that music isn't brand new, the form of the SMB overworld music is A-B-B-C-A-D-D-C-D. As you can see, there are repeating internal sections of music. However, the whole loop doesn't repeat until after the final D section, so I consider this to be 90 seconds of music. Another easy to visualize case is the SMB star music. It's a much shorter ~2 second loop-- even though that same 2 second loop repeats for the duration of invincibility ~ 10 sec. In that case, because the loop of music contains nothing new after the first two seconds, I only count that as a two second loop. That may seem arbitrary, but I considered the repeat of an entire musical loop to be "amount of music" rather than judging small inner repetitions. I did not include the same musical loop if it was sped up or slowed down, for instance, when you're running out of time in SMB, the same music loop plays faster. Or in Dungeons and Dragons, as you descend in a cave, the music loop slows down and is lowered in pitch. Because these were the same musical loops, transposed up or down or sped up, and then played in completion, I didn't include them in the musical total. However, I did include musical loops that transposed within a loop... If you're thinking that sounds crazy and potentially subjective, I agree. And what of sound effects-- are they music or not??? I'm happy to discuss particular decisions I made and why if you're interested. Having examined these early games in detail, I now see it's very difficult to precisely calculate "how much music" there is. I often wondered if amount of memory might be a more accurate gauge than duration, but I suspect that it too would leave complex questions.
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Analysis: Comparing Final Fantasy NES and Final Fantasy for iOS
Here are two games I've played a lot, the original Final Fantasy, and the iOS version as well, which is in essence the PSP version. I want to compare their music. What's the same between the two, what's different? Obviously, arrangements of the music have changed and the audio is no longer limited to the square, triangle, and noise channels of the NES. But beyond these changes, what about the key, tempo, and form of the pieces? Have these musical features stayed the same or have they been adjusted (updated?) as well? Generally, I'm wondering: how does music change between an original release and a modern remake? This study will shed light on these questions.
Note: I know Uematsu created the original music. Can anyone help me to learn who rearranged the audio for the update and composed the new tracks? Thanks!
1- The keys of pieces will change. The iOS speaker is very different from the sound system of the NES. Keys will have been optimized for the portable playing systems. This is very common in older games when moving across platforms (Contra from arcade to NES or Up 'N Down from the arcade to the Atari). I'd like to think that the music of FF is so class, such perfection, and with established key relationships that transcend the game. As a whole, it all flows together and creates a unity; key centers are important to the overall aural pacing of the game and these will be maintained. However, I'm not optimistic for this result.
2- The tempos of the tracks will stay the change. The pacing of the game is different on the iOS version-- easier, faster. Music will be altered to better suit the onscreen action. Similar to my argument for keys, the tempos will change. I'd like to think that these were planned, but they're probably planned to math with onscreen action, which is quite a bit faster in this new game.
3- There's added music in the iOS version of the game. I believe this to be true from having played both versions, but I'm not actually sure. If memory serves, some tracks have extended sections. Also, there are new dungeons available and it would make sense to have new music composed for these new places.
Here we go. This chart is the breakdown of the comparison of key, tempo, musical form, and lengths of the tracks. The original soundtrack I examined is here. The remake soundtrack is here.
*All of this added battle music is unusual in some way. The first boss music additions make use of irregular meter; it also uses meters of 5 and 7. As you can see from the table, the second boss battle music has very irregular phrase shapes. The Final battle makes use of both irregular meter, with groups of 7, 5, 3, and varying between compound and duple meter, as well as using irregular phrase shapes for groups of 7, 5, and 12 measure phrases.
2- The speed of tracks definitely changed across this remake. I count three that sped up significantly on the iOS, six that are significantly faster on the NES, and ten of the tracks that are within about 5 BPM of their original version, which I consider not a large change. Amazingly, then, in general, the music on the new game has slowed down! Wonder why that is? To hear the added voices and harmonies? Or did it save memory to program faster music on the NES? I was right, but that leaves me with more questions....
3- There is more music in the iOS version. As you can see, the iOS version has eight added musical themes compared with the NES version. Much of this music is for boss battles, which in the original NES game simply use the regular battle music. This is keeping in line with other FF titles (certainly 4 onward, I need to check on 2 and 3) that have boss music to distinguish those battles from regular battles. I remember playing the original version of this game several years ago and was surprised that the music for the boss battles was the same; especially considering that the bosses are significantly harder than regular enemies!
Considering the tracks common to both versions: A note about the form. In the second and third tracks, for instance, I marked repeated sections of music with new letters because the instrumentation changed or countermelodies were added. These minor changes weren't possible when the NES came out, but they're simple to do now. Musically, though, the theme stays the same. The loop is lengthened by extra repeated A sections, though. Instrumentation changes or added countermelodies also lengthened the Sky Palace, End Game, Matoya's Cave, Castle, and the Overworld themes when compared with the original versions.
Another common change here is to add an introduction to the music, for instance in both the Overworld and Town music. The Overworld music is very interesting in that it has an 8 bar "intro" between the A B form. The first time you hear the theme in gameplay, it only plays the last 4 bars of this intro. If you're lucky enough to make it all the way through the music without encountering a battle, you'll hear the full 8 bar intro before the Overworld theme plays the second time. Hope that makes sense. Give it a listen and you'll get it. Introductions were also added to Chaos Temple, Sky Palace, Volcano, and Garland's Castle when compared with the original.
One of the biggest changes is in the way sound effects are handled. In the new iOS version, when you cast a spell, for instance, the battle music ducks to a lower volume for the sound of the spell. In old NES games, a voice of the music typically had to drop out to create the sound effect. This is a microscopic version of the problem facing sound designers these days: now that there's not much of a limit to how many sounds can be happening at once, the skill is in deciding which ones are the most important to be heard at a given moment.
All that said, hearing all of the music of the iOS version takes just over 20 minutes compared with almost 9 and a half minutes with the original NES version. When just considering common tracks, that difference drops to just over 15 minutes for the iOS and stays the same at 9 and a half minutes of music for the NES version.
As I worked on this, I did the iOS version research because I knew there would be more music (at least boss music), and I wanted to get the largest portion of the work done first. When I heard all the end game music with irregular meters, I thought that the original game wouldn't have any irregular meters. However, the Dungeon theme does use irregular groups of 3 in the A sections! Yay for another game using irregular meter!
Note: I know Uematsu created the original music. Can anyone help me to learn who rearranged the audio for the update and composed the new tracks? Thanks!
Hypotheses:
2- The tempos of the tracks will stay the change. The pacing of the game is different on the iOS version-- easier, faster. Music will be altered to better suit the onscreen action. Similar to my argument for keys, the tempos will change. I'd like to think that these were planned, but they're probably planned to math with onscreen action, which is quite a bit faster in this new game.
3- There's added music in the iOS version of the game. I believe this to be true from having played both versions, but I'm not actually sure. If memory serves, some tracks have extended sections. Also, there are new dungeons available and it would make sense to have new music composed for these new places.
Here we go. This chart is the breakdown of the comparison of key, tempo, musical form, and lengths of the tracks. The original soundtrack I examined is here. The remake soundtrack is here.
| Theme | iOS Key | NES Key | iOS BPM | NES BPM | iOS Form | NES Form | iOS Length | NES Length |
| Intro | Bb major | Bb major | 88 | 100 | A A B C | A A B C | 43 sec | 38 sec |
| FF Theme | F major | F major | 89 | 75 | A A B A A | A A B | 46 sec | 38 sec |
| Castle | D major | D major | 96 | 100 | A A A | A | 60 sec | 20 sec |
| Overworld | G major | G major | 136 | 151 | Intro'(4) A B A B Intro(4) | A B | 77 sec | 26 sec |
| Town | C major | C major | 85 | 90 | Intro(4) A B A B | A B | 51 sec | 21 sec |
| Shop | C major | C major | 66 | 67 | A B(6) | A B(6) | 26 sec | 26 sec |
| Sleep | A major | A major | 6 sec | 5 sec | ||||
| Key item | G major | G major | 5 sec | 3 sec | ||||
| Battle | G minor | G minor | 160 | 150 | Gliss- Intro(2) A B(4) C D(6) | Gliss- Intro(2) A B(4) C D(6) | 3 sec intro, 39 sec loop sec | 3 sec intro, 41 sec loop |
| Victory | Eb major | Eb major | 151 | 150 | Fanfare(4) A A' | Fanfare(4) A A' | 3 sec intro, 13 sec loop sec | 3 sec intro, 13 sec loop |
| Game Over | D minor | D minor | 80 | 91 | A A' | A A' | 26 sec | 21 sec |
| Menu | Bb major | Bb major | 60 | 60 | A | A | 16 sec | 16 sec |
| Garland's Castle | E minor | E minor | 127 | 151 | Intro A B | A B | 44 sec | 26 sec |
| Matoya's Cave | B minor/ D major | B minor/ D major | 147 | 150 | A(4) B C A(4) B C | A(4) B C | 66 sec | 32 sec |
| Ship | F major | F major | 146 | 150 | A A' B | A A B | 40 sec | 38 sec |
| Dungeon | C minor | C minor | 148 | 150 | A B C | A B | 35 sec | 24 sec |
| Earth Cave/ Volcano | D minor | D minor | 120 | 150 | Intro(2) A B(4) C(12) D | A(4) B C | 68 sec | 32 sec |
| Airship | F major | F major | 160 | 180 | A B | A B | 24 sec | 21 sec |
| Sky Palace | Eb minor | Eb minor | 103 | 100 | Intro(4) A A B(10) A A B(10) | A A B | 65 sec | 31 sec |
| Chaos Temple/Water Shrine | Ab minor | Ab minor | 150 | 136 | Intro A B | A B | 42 sec | 26 sec |
| End Game | G major | G major | 85 | 90 | Intro A A' B B' A A' B B' | Intro(10) A A' B B' | 1:53 | 12 sec intro, 45 sec loop |
| Church | Eb major | 86 | A B C D(12) | 50 | ||||
| Ruined Castle | D major | 101 | Intro A A' | 57 sec | ||||
| Lute | Bb major | 86 | 11 sec | |||||
| Bridge Cutscene | D major | 142 | 13 sec | |||||
| Barrel Cutscene | G minor (Picardy 3rd) | 52 | 14 sec | |||||
| Boss Battle 1 | Bb minor | 161 | A B C D E* | 38 sec | ||||
| Boss Battle 2 | C minor | 142 | A B(12) C(4) D(10)* | 2 sec intro, 55 sec loop | ||||
| Final Battle | Bb minor | 181 | Intro A B C(7) C'(5) D(12)* | 8 sec intro, 49 sec loop |
*All of this added battle music is unusual in some way. The first boss music additions make use of irregular meter; it also uses meters of 5 and 7. As you can see from the table, the second boss battle music has very irregular phrase shapes. The Final battle makes use of both irregular meter, with groups of 7, 5, 3, and varying between compound and duple meter, as well as using irregular phrase shapes for groups of 7, 5, and 12 measure phrases.
So, how did my hypotheses do?
1- The keys of reused music stayed the same!!! I'm floored! Perhaps the modern trend is to preserve key relationships! Could that be a result of better technologies? Some of the most commonly heard themes: Overworld, Battle Music, and Key Item music are in G/g, as is the End Game music. Perhaps the overall key of the game is G centered? Almost all the shared music is in closely related keys for G/g (especially considering different minor scales) except for the sleeping music or the Chaos Temple music in the original game. Perhaps Uematsu did have an overall key relationship planned for the themes. Music that would certainly be heard in conjunction (Town and Shop themes, for instance) are in the same key. Both the airship and the boat's musical themes are in F major. All of the "dungeon" themes are in minor: Temple of Fiends, Marsh Cave/Earth Shrine, Volcano, Water Shrine, Sky Palace. There definitely seems to be some tonal planning.2- The speed of tracks definitely changed across this remake. I count three that sped up significantly on the iOS, six that are significantly faster on the NES, and ten of the tracks that are within about 5 BPM of their original version, which I consider not a large change. Amazingly, then, in general, the music on the new game has slowed down! Wonder why that is? To hear the added voices and harmonies? Or did it save memory to program faster music on the NES? I was right, but that leaves me with more questions....
3- There is more music in the iOS version. As you can see, the iOS version has eight added musical themes compared with the NES version. Much of this music is for boss battles, which in the original NES game simply use the regular battle music. This is keeping in line with other FF titles (certainly 4 onward, I need to check on 2 and 3) that have boss music to distinguish those battles from regular battles. I remember playing the original version of this game several years ago and was surprised that the music for the boss battles was the same; especially considering that the bosses are significantly harder than regular enemies!
Considering the tracks common to both versions: A note about the form. In the second and third tracks, for instance, I marked repeated sections of music with new letters because the instrumentation changed or countermelodies were added. These minor changes weren't possible when the NES came out, but they're simple to do now. Musically, though, the theme stays the same. The loop is lengthened by extra repeated A sections, though. Instrumentation changes or added countermelodies also lengthened the Sky Palace, End Game, Matoya's Cave, Castle, and the Overworld themes when compared with the original versions.
Another common change here is to add an introduction to the music, for instance in both the Overworld and Town music. The Overworld music is very interesting in that it has an 8 bar "intro" between the A B form. The first time you hear the theme in gameplay, it only plays the last 4 bars of this intro. If you're lucky enough to make it all the way through the music without encountering a battle, you'll hear the full 8 bar intro before the Overworld theme plays the second time. Hope that makes sense. Give it a listen and you'll get it. Introductions were also added to Chaos Temple, Sky Palace, Volcano, and Garland's Castle when compared with the original.
One of the biggest changes is in the way sound effects are handled. In the new iOS version, when you cast a spell, for instance, the battle music ducks to a lower volume for the sound of the spell. In old NES games, a voice of the music typically had to drop out to create the sound effect. This is a microscopic version of the problem facing sound designers these days: now that there's not much of a limit to how many sounds can be happening at once, the skill is in deciding which ones are the most important to be heard at a given moment.
All that said, hearing all of the music of the iOS version takes just over 20 minutes compared with almost 9 and a half minutes with the original NES version. When just considering common tracks, that difference drops to just over 15 minutes for the iOS and stays the same at 9 and a half minutes of music for the NES version.
Other interesting notes:
I noticed that a number of the NES tracks have a BPM of right around 150. Could this be a common pulse for the game? These tracks are the Earth Cave, Matoya's Cave, Garland's Castle, Dungeon, Ship, Battle, Victory, and Overworld Themes. Definitely some of the most common music you hear in the game. The average NES pulse is 120 BPM. The average iOS pulse is 116, whether or not the added tracks are averaged in. So, the NES game has a slightly faster aural pacing. Interesting considering that the gameplay is faster on the iOS version.
One difference I recall from playing the games is the use of rubato in the new version. Consider the shop theme, for instance. The slowing down at the end of the loop isn't just in this theme, there's also subtle rubato in very beginning of the harp arpeggiation in the opening theme; it's as if the harpist is really strumming up the instrument and getting the pattern going! The church music in the iOS version has slight pauses at the end of the phrases as if to give a congregation time to breathe before the next phrase. Very clever and subtle musical touches to be appreciated by only the most discerning.
One other difference I've noticed from watching longplays and playing a bit myself tonight is that the new version of the game restarts the theme from where you left off before you were interrupted by battle. The old game always starts the track at the beginning of the loop. This is one way of reducing repetition slightly in the new version compared with the old.
One difference I recall from playing the games is the use of rubato in the new version. Consider the shop theme, for instance. The slowing down at the end of the loop isn't just in this theme, there's also subtle rubato in very beginning of the harp arpeggiation in the opening theme; it's as if the harpist is really strumming up the instrument and getting the pattern going! The church music in the iOS version has slight pauses at the end of the phrases as if to give a congregation time to breathe before the next phrase. Very clever and subtle musical touches to be appreciated by only the most discerning.
One other difference I've noticed from watching longplays and playing a bit myself tonight is that the new version of the game restarts the theme from where you left off before you were interrupted by battle. The old game always starts the track at the beginning of the loop. This is one way of reducing repetition slightly in the new version compared with the old.
As I worked on this, I did the iOS version research because I knew there would be more music (at least boss music), and I wanted to get the largest portion of the work done first. When I heard all the end game music with irregular meters, I thought that the original game wouldn't have any irregular meters. However, the Dungeon theme does use irregular groups of 3 in the A sections! Yay for another game using irregular meter!
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Analysis: Music and Nostalgia in The New Super Mario Bros Wii
My partner and I have been playing The New Super Mario Bros Wii again recently because we like to play games together and, of course, because of my blog, I've been thinking about the music.
In general, the music has a calypso feel that reminds me of the original Super Mario Bros game. And many of the NSMB Wii themes, like the Underwater Theme or the Beach Theme, while not a direct remake of the original, call to mind classic themes like the Super Mario Bros Underwater Theme or Super Mario Kart's Koopa Beach Theme. Likewise, for a thirty year old gamer who can remember playing the original game, some of my favorite moments in the game music are those tracks that bring back classic themes from previous games. Many of the sound effects, the death sound and the "Help me!" cries of your character-- which actually play from the Wii remote speaker (Wiimote as I call it). These bring a cool added dimension of 3D spacial sound for the player that highlights the audio advantage the Wii has by giving you a speaker in your hand. There are other touches too: the layering effect of adding percussion (first used in Super Mario World) when you get on Yoshi in NSMB Wii is still a part of the classic audio experience.
Several of the short, classic themes make a reappearance, for instance, The P-Switch, Star Theme, Course Clear (with fireworks), and Princess Peach Rescue Theme come to mind immediately. However, some longer themes make an appearance as well as remade, updated versions. These are some of my favorite sound tracks in the game because they bring up nostalgia from my childhood, particularly from Super Mario Bros 3, which many gamers of my generation would consider to be the "best" of the Super Mario Bros classic games. For instance, the Koopa battle theme is a remake of the theme from Super Mario Bros 3. Compare:
The Hammer Bros Theme from SMB 3 is redone as well for this game for the battles that occur from encounters on the world map.
The Underground Theme from the Original Super Mario Bros also gets a remake in this game. I never thought about the original not being in common time, but as I re-listen I realize that it got moved to 4/4 at some point. These first examples have all been lengthened in some way from their original versions.
My favorite classic remake, though, is the airship level theme. Not only was I super pumped to see an airship level because they are so much fun, when the music starts up, it's an absolute flashback to my childhood. This is the first remade theme I've listed here that's not in the same key as the original.
Other miscellaneous audio thoughts:
While not a direct remake, the Volcano Level theme reminds me of Ganon's Dungeon Theme from the original Legend of Zelda. The World Map 3 theme, being an icy world, uses sleigh bells in the instrumentation to convey that sense of holiday/winter that is prevalent, at least in America. Similarly, the Snow Level theme is the same as the new Overworld theme of the game, but has sleigh bells playing in the background. It's a cool way to make the music sound wintery (Christmas-y?). Compare Leroy Anderson's Sleigh Ride. The Giant Bowser theme incorporates organ and chimes, classic sounds that invoke the ideas of death and godlike imagery common to many games, but of course, I think of Final Fantasy IV Golbez theme and Final Fantasy VII, Sephiroth's theme.
In general, the music has a calypso feel that reminds me of the original Super Mario Bros game. And many of the NSMB Wii themes, like the Underwater Theme or the Beach Theme, while not a direct remake of the original, call to mind classic themes like the Super Mario Bros Underwater Theme or Super Mario Kart's Koopa Beach Theme. Likewise, for a thirty year old gamer who can remember playing the original game, some of my favorite moments in the game music are those tracks that bring back classic themes from previous games. Many of the sound effects, the death sound and the "Help me!" cries of your character-- which actually play from the Wii remote speaker (Wiimote as I call it). These bring a cool added dimension of 3D spacial sound for the player that highlights the audio advantage the Wii has by giving you a speaker in your hand. There are other touches too: the layering effect of adding percussion (first used in Super Mario World) when you get on Yoshi in NSMB Wii is still a part of the classic audio experience.
Several of the short, classic themes make a reappearance, for instance, The P-Switch, Star Theme, Course Clear (with fireworks), and Princess Peach Rescue Theme come to mind immediately. However, some longer themes make an appearance as well as remade, updated versions. These are some of my favorite sound tracks in the game because they bring up nostalgia from my childhood, particularly from Super Mario Bros 3, which many gamers of my generation would consider to be the "best" of the Super Mario Bros classic games. For instance, the Koopa battle theme is a remake of the theme from Super Mario Bros 3. Compare:
The Hammer Bros Theme from SMB 3 is redone as well for this game for the battles that occur from encounters on the world map.
The Underground Theme from the Original Super Mario Bros also gets a remake in this game. I never thought about the original not being in common time, but as I re-listen I realize that it got moved to 4/4 at some point. These first examples have all been lengthened in some way from their original versions.
My favorite classic remake, though, is the airship level theme. Not only was I super pumped to see an airship level because they are so much fun, when the music starts up, it's an absolute flashback to my childhood. This is the first remade theme I've listed here that's not in the same key as the original.
Other miscellaneous audio thoughts:
While not a direct remake, the Volcano Level theme reminds me of Ganon's Dungeon Theme from the original Legend of Zelda. The World Map 3 theme, being an icy world, uses sleigh bells in the instrumentation to convey that sense of holiday/winter that is prevalent, at least in America. Similarly, the Snow Level theme is the same as the new Overworld theme of the game, but has sleigh bells playing in the background. It's a cool way to make the music sound wintery (Christmas-y?). Compare Leroy Anderson's Sleigh Ride. The Giant Bowser theme incorporates organ and chimes, classic sounds that invoke the ideas of death and godlike imagery common to many games, but of course, I think of Final Fantasy IV Golbez theme and Final Fantasy VII, Sephiroth's theme.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Analysis: Viennese Waltz in Final Fantasy V: Waltz Clavier
I've been playing a little more of Final Fantasy 5 recently and I was really pleased to hear a waltz in the Viennese style. What does that mean? It's a tradition of playing the 2nd beat of the 1, 2, 3 feel in waltz just a little early. First, here's one of the most famous waltzes of all time here for you to hear a little of what I mean. Herbert Von Karajan conducts the Vienna Philharmonic, Strauss Blue Danube. You can hear the effect clearly between 1:45-2:23, although it's probably easier to hear around the 2 minute mark, once the orchestra has reached more of a steady tempo.
You can hear the same effect in Uematsu's Waltz Clavier (Tycoon Waltz) in the video below. It's most notable between :46-1:03. I love this classical, highly stylized reference! Note: Tycoon is the place in the game where the waltz happens and clavier is an older word synonymous with keyboard.
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Analysis: The evolution of Final Fantasy battle music
Youtube is really a great resource for video game music. I regularly listen to game soundtracks that I can't find elsewhere on it. Often, they're organized into playlists-- so if you're wanting to hear a bit of game music, YouTube is a good bet. I stumbled upon a video that easily allowed me to do a great musicological comparison of game music.
I've been wanting to do a vertical tasting sort of comparison: same composer, same series, same game function. In this case, that corresponds with Nobuo Uematsu, Final Fantasy, and battle music. Based on this incredible video, comparing these themes was easily possible. I noted some basic musical features of these battle tracks: speed, key, length, and form.
I had three hypotheses:
1- that the music would get longer over time as technology improved
2- that the music would change most significantly between game systems
3- the the music would share similar compositional traits not only because it's composed by the same composer, but also because "Battle music" shares a common function in these games.
The table below shows each theme's composer, length (time), tempo (Beats per minute) key, and notable features.
One note, the above video doesn't allow the entirety of the FF6 battle theme to play-- instead hear all of it here. Also, as is obvious, though Final Fantasy Legend I and II were for the Gameboy and arguably for a different series, I included them here to study variations in Gameboy audio and to flesh out my understanding of Uematsu's compositional style.
How did my hypotheses do?
1- The battle music length does increase generally over time. FF 6, 7, and 8 are each a notable jump in length over their predecessors. The longest battle music is for 13-2, which is as long as three repetitions of the original music.
2-The music makes a jump in length with each new platform. The NES and Gameboy share similar track lengths, but the SNES, Playstation, and Playstation 2 make large gains. To date, 13-2 for the Playstation 3 has the longest battle theme track.
3- The battle theme tempos follow an overall arch through time. From 150 beats per minute in FF 1 accelerating to 177 BPM at FF7 and peak at 190 BPM in FF 10 before relaxing to 125 BPM in FF 14. Of course, the battle themes are one of the most energized portions of gameplay, so one would expect them to have a rapid pulse. I'm wondering more about the acceleration and then slow down we've seen of the battle music over time. Could technological limitations have impacted this somehow? Pacing of other music in the games? Deliberate decisions to match with onscreen visuals?
What I hadn't predicted:
Each battle theme is in minor mode! Although 4 and 14 seem to verge on major I hear each squarely in the minor. A minor is the overwhelming key of choice for Final Fantasy battle music. The 16 themes I list use 8 keys. Repetitions:
A minor (8) FF 2, FF 3, FF 4, FF 5, FF 6, FF 8, FF 9, and FF 10-2
C minor (3) Final Fantasy Legend, FF 13, and FF 14
F# minor (2) Final Fantasy Legend 2 and FF 13
Considering composers, Eguchi and Hamauzu give significantly shorter battle themes than the contemporary battle themes. Eguchi continues the classic tonality of A minor while Hamauzu uses the more rare F# minor.
What do you notice when you compare these battle themes? What other composers and tracks should I considered as they develop over time? How is this sort of observation enlightening?
I've been wanting to do a vertical tasting sort of comparison: same composer, same series, same game function. In this case, that corresponds with Nobuo Uematsu, Final Fantasy, and battle music. Based on this incredible video, comparing these themes was easily possible. I noted some basic musical features of these battle tracks: speed, key, length, and form.
I had three hypotheses:
1- that the music would get longer over time as technology improved
2- that the music would change most significantly between game systems
3- the the music would share similar compositional traits not only because it's composed by the same composer, but also because "Battle music" shares a common function in these games.
The table below shows each theme's composer, length (time), tempo (Beats per minute) key, and notable features.
| Game | Composer | System | Length | BPM | Key | Notable features |
| FF 1 | Uematsu | NES | 45 sec | 150 | G minor | The beginning of awesomeness |
| FF 2 | Uematsu | NES | 42 sec | 150 | A minor | Also a simple form similar to the original |
| FF Legend | Uematsu | Gameboy | 36 sec | 162 | C minor | Repetitive phrases that vary pitch stepwise |
| FF 3 | Uematsu | NES | 43 sec | 159 | A minor | Prominent percussion |
| FF Legend 2 | Uematsu | Gameboy | 41 sec | 171 | F# minor | Awkward connection at loop point |
| FF 4 | Uematsu | SNES | 49 sec | 167 | A minor | Teeters between F major and A minor |
| FF 5 | Uematsu | (SNES) | 34 sec | 162 | A minor | Very simple in form |
| FF 6 | Uematsu | SNES | 56 sec | 169 | A minor | A8-B8-A8-C10 form |
| FF 7 | Uematsu | Playstation | 1:10 | 177 | F minor | First game where instruments (midi, brass) sustain over the return loop |
| FF 8 | Uematsu | Playstation | 1:27 | 165 | A minor | First use of irregular meter in battle music |
| FF 9 | Uematsu | Playstation | 1:12 | 160 | A minor | Also uses irregular meter |
| FF 10 | Uematsu | Playstation 2 | 1:40 | 190 | C# minor | Irregular meter again |
| FF 10-2 | Eguchi | Playstation 2 | 44 sec | 179 | A minor | Very short battle theme for its time |
| FF 11 | Mizuta | Playstation 2 | 1:45 | 165 | B minor | Two big sections, very strong A-B feel |
| FF 13 | Hamauzu | Playstation 3 | 1:15 | 163 | F# minor | Prominent use of looping and multi-tracks |
| FF 13-2 | Mizuta | Playstation 3 | 2:29 | 143 | C minor | The longest battle theme to date |
| FF 14 | Uematsu | Windows PC | 1:47 | 125 | C minor | Teeters between major and minor like FF4 |
One note, the above video doesn't allow the entirety of the FF6 battle theme to play-- instead hear all of it here. Also, as is obvious, though Final Fantasy Legend I and II were for the Gameboy and arguably for a different series, I included them here to study variations in Gameboy audio and to flesh out my understanding of Uematsu's compositional style.
How did my hypotheses do?
1- The battle music length does increase generally over time. FF 6, 7, and 8 are each a notable jump in length over their predecessors. The longest battle music is for 13-2, which is as long as three repetitions of the original music.
2-The music makes a jump in length with each new platform. The NES and Gameboy share similar track lengths, but the SNES, Playstation, and Playstation 2 make large gains. To date, 13-2 for the Playstation 3 has the longest battle theme track.
3- The battle theme tempos follow an overall arch through time. From 150 beats per minute in FF 1 accelerating to 177 BPM at FF7 and peak at 190 BPM in FF 10 before relaxing to 125 BPM in FF 14. Of course, the battle themes are one of the most energized portions of gameplay, so one would expect them to have a rapid pulse. I'm wondering more about the acceleration and then slow down we've seen of the battle music over time. Could technological limitations have impacted this somehow? Pacing of other music in the games? Deliberate decisions to match with onscreen visuals?
What I hadn't predicted:
Each battle theme is in minor mode! Although 4 and 14 seem to verge on major I hear each squarely in the minor. A minor is the overwhelming key of choice for Final Fantasy battle music. The 16 themes I list use 8 keys. Repetitions:
A minor (8) FF 2, FF 3, FF 4, FF 5, FF 6, FF 8, FF 9, and FF 10-2
C minor (3) Final Fantasy Legend, FF 13, and FF 14
F# minor (2) Final Fantasy Legend 2 and FF 13
Considering composers, Eguchi and Hamauzu give significantly shorter battle themes than the contemporary battle themes. Eguchi continues the classic tonality of A minor while Hamauzu uses the more rare F# minor.
What do you notice when you compare these battle themes? What other composers and tracks should I considered as they develop over time? How is this sort of observation enlightening?
Monday, February 4, 2013
Analysis: Reaction to G4 top 100 Games of All Time whose audio was highlighted in the special
Of course, watching the G4 Top 100 Video Games got me thinking about game audio differently-- so what did I learn? First of all, questions: How does one decide what game audio should be known? What parameters make game music "worthy" or "important?" Historical studies often point to the first occurrence of something as being very important, but weight also must be give to those whose widespread popularity has great effect.
I had trouble deciding what audio had been "highlighted" in the course of the G4 series. For this project, I defined it as an extended spoken sequence about game audio. However, sound effects and game music were on display in other ways. For instance, the intro of the Ms. Pac-Man video. To me, this is still highlighting the audio, but in an unspoken way. If I included examples like this, there would have been many more games listed because audio effects and music often played both in the background and as the main focus. Also I skipped a couple of games with a passing mention of "great soundtrack." My requirement was spoken time in the series being devoted to a discussion of the audio.
I began to wonder about the methodology of game music study. Watching game play videos is not exactly the same as playing the game because there's no interactivity... and yet there are games that are too difficult for me to complete (Punch Out, for instance). Is a fair compromise playing some of the game and then watching the rest?
I need to survey the internet for game music information-- most game audio everything is online. This is a massive project. Interviews, some analysis, and lots of game audio information exists on the internet, but it's not corralled into a centralized hub. Wikipedia, YouTube, and some gaming sites have information on various game music, composers, and links to more information. How do gamers who get interested in game music search for more information about it? Hypothesis: most people get interested in the music of a certain game and then seek out more information on that game's music, rather than a systematic study of music across games and genres.
Consider the source! The G4 special had a few game designers and musicians who comment about the audio, but most of the time the audio quotes were from celebrities. These sort of statements are great for just making you think about your gut reaction to hearing the game music, not necessarily a studied, thoughtful reaction. Remember: Game music is popular music-- main stream folks love it, listen to it, encounter it, sing it. It's part of American culture and heritage. Almost anyone can sing some memorable bit of it.
I found myself often pulled back to my childhood. How does nostalgia play into this music and its listeners?
I had trouble deciding what audio had been "highlighted" in the course of the G4 series. For this project, I defined it as an extended spoken sequence about game audio. However, sound effects and game music were on display in other ways. For instance, the intro of the Ms. Pac-Man video. To me, this is still highlighting the audio, but in an unspoken way. If I included examples like this, there would have been many more games listed because audio effects and music often played both in the background and as the main focus. Also I skipped a couple of games with a passing mention of "great soundtrack." My requirement was spoken time in the series being devoted to a discussion of the audio.
I began to wonder about the methodology of game music study. Watching game play videos is not exactly the same as playing the game because there's no interactivity... and yet there are games that are too difficult for me to complete (Punch Out, for instance). Is a fair compromise playing some of the game and then watching the rest?
I need to survey the internet for game music information-- most game audio everything is online. This is a massive project. Interviews, some analysis, and lots of game audio information exists on the internet, but it's not corralled into a centralized hub. Wikipedia, YouTube, and some gaming sites have information on various game music, composers, and links to more information. How do gamers who get interested in game music search for more information about it? Hypothesis: most people get interested in the music of a certain game and then seek out more information on that game's music, rather than a systematic study of music across games and genres.
Consider the source! The G4 special had a few game designers and musicians who comment about the audio, but most of the time the audio quotes were from celebrities. These sort of statements are great for just making you think about your gut reaction to hearing the game music, not necessarily a studied, thoughtful reaction. Remember: Game music is popular music-- main stream folks love it, listen to it, encounter it, sing it. It's part of American culture and heritage. Almost anyone can sing some memorable bit of it.
I found myself often pulled back to my childhood. How does nostalgia play into this music and its listeners?
This project gave me a way to encounter popular game music that I didn't know. I've been wondering how to expand my knowledge base of game music and also make sure I wasn't just going to obscure games for an audio detail. That's something I hope to do, but first I've been wanting to check the pulse of mainstream "greatest hits" video game music. Where are games tonally, rhythmically, stylistically?
Are there any similarities between classical music and game music? Do their developments share similarities in any way? Immediately coming to mind is a comparison of early music's polyphony and the use of the distinct sound channels in early game music. And what of popular music and game music?
Are there any similarities between classical music and game music? Do their developments share similarities in any way? Immediately coming to mind is a comparison of early music's polyphony and the use of the distinct sound channels in early game music. And what of popular music and game music?
This project also helped me validate the game music experience of my childhood as a worthwhile one. I knew several of these games and plenty of others. As a child, I owned Super Mario piano sheet music (simplified and inaccurate). I grew up just at the demise of the arcade and the rise of the home entertainment system and loved video games, playing them for hours at a time. After this project, I'm considering recreating a similar journey (links to gameplay/soundtracks) through game music as I experienced it growing up. Maybe these wouldn't be considered the "most important games ever," but they fostered enough interest in me for this....
Oh, and if you're curious about a relation between marketing and video game music? As soon as I watched the series, I bought Red Dead Redemption and have already played it for over 30 hours...
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Analysis: Listening to game music while playing
I've been playing around with Final Fantasy 4, 5, 6, 7, and 13 recently to see the audio progression from some of the earlier games to the current ones. When I study the music, often I just listen to the game soundtracks-- I'm not always playing the game again (for the 300th time). However, in picking up the controller and playing these games, I've had some interesting revelations:
Final Fantasy 13: There's a LOT of background noise in this game, gunfire/military fighting related sounds in many portions of the game. Even in some of the more secluded areas, there's just a background audio white noise that comes on-- for instance in the Vile Peaks. Furthermore, the spoken audio is really loud in relation to the music. When I listen to game audio from the soundtracks, I listen to it way louder than I could ever turn the game audio up on my home stereo system: the vocals and effects just make the audio experience way too loud before the music is overpowering.
Final Fantasy 7: This got me thinking back to my playthrough of FF7, and I thought about how I hear the music when I'm playing the game versus how I hear the music when studying it. Do these tracks play in entirety and repeat, or do I just hear the same beginning section of them over and over? Of course, this will differ from game to game, but I still have a couple old post-its from my Final Fantasy 7 playthrough, and one of them, an audio journal of my quest to get a Gold Chocobo, will help answer my query.
Late in my FF7 playthrough, I took notes on all the audio I heard as I got a Gold Chocobo. This process took 7 hours and I heard the following music. If I consistently heard way less than the whole track, I noted the length of time I heard the music:
The Great Northern Cave (now Overworld Theme)
Farm Boy
Fighting (Battle Theme)
Electric de Chocobo (Choco Battle ~:60)
Cinco de Choco
Highwind Takes to the Skies
Costa del Sole (I bought the Villa and rested here as needed ~:10)
Good Night Until Tomorrow
North Corel (Mining Town ~:15 secs)
Gold Saucer (~:30)
Choco Races- Place Your Bets!
Fiddle de Chocobo
A Great Success (~:15 also could have heard Tango of Tears, but not this playthrough!)
Some of this music I heard many times by the nature of the quest (Choco Races, Fiddle de Chocobo, A Great Success, etc) and other tracks I heard many times because I left the TV running while I stopped to look something up, for instance, what battle combination gave a Great Chocobo (Overworld Theme, Farm Boy, Highwind Takes to the Skies). Only the Good Night Until Tomorrow I'm certain that I heard all the way through. And, I was shocked to realize that I could have never heard an audio track at all if this had been my only playthrough-- Tango of Tears-- which only plays if you lose a Chocobo Race. After years of practice, that finally didn't happen!
When you think about it, I didn't really hear a lot of music in the seven hours, just 14 tracks, probably around 20 minutes of music total that I could have heard, and much of it I never heard in entirety. The longest themes are the Battle music and the Northern Cave, each around 3 minutes. Even though several of these are longer than I noted, I certainly didn't hear them because of the short time I was on the screen where they play. For instance, in the battles to capture the Chocobos, if you're too slow, the birds run away, so it's nearly impossible to hear more than a minute of music in the battle and be successful.
What I realized from this experience is how differently I hear the music when I'm playing the games versus when I'm studying them. Sound effects, vocal levels, mixing, and interactivity of game play all effect how the player hears the audio and even the duration of and possible audio tracks that can be heard. Every game player has experienced this, though. Imagine the original Super Mario Bros-- do you really recognize that theme very well past the opening minute or so? I don't, because I was always dead by then or had gone down a pipe and reset the music!
Final Fantasy 13: There's a LOT of background noise in this game, gunfire/military fighting related sounds in many portions of the game. Even in some of the more secluded areas, there's just a background audio white noise that comes on-- for instance in the Vile Peaks. Furthermore, the spoken audio is really loud in relation to the music. When I listen to game audio from the soundtracks, I listen to it way louder than I could ever turn the game audio up on my home stereo system: the vocals and effects just make the audio experience way too loud before the music is overpowering.
Final Fantasy 7: This got me thinking back to my playthrough of FF7, and I thought about how I hear the music when I'm playing the game versus how I hear the music when studying it. Do these tracks play in entirety and repeat, or do I just hear the same beginning section of them over and over? Of course, this will differ from game to game, but I still have a couple old post-its from my Final Fantasy 7 playthrough, and one of them, an audio journal of my quest to get a Gold Chocobo, will help answer my query.
Late in my FF7 playthrough, I took notes on all the audio I heard as I got a Gold Chocobo. This process took 7 hours and I heard the following music. If I consistently heard way less than the whole track, I noted the length of time I heard the music:
The Great Northern Cave (now Overworld Theme)
Farm Boy
Fighting (Battle Theme)
Electric de Chocobo (Choco Battle ~:60)
Cinco de Choco
Highwind Takes to the Skies
Costa del Sole (I bought the Villa and rested here as needed ~:10)
Good Night Until Tomorrow
North Corel (Mining Town ~:15 secs)
Gold Saucer (~:30)
Choco Races- Place Your Bets!
Fiddle de Chocobo
A Great Success (~:15 also could have heard Tango of Tears, but not this playthrough!)
Some of this music I heard many times by the nature of the quest (Choco Races, Fiddle de Chocobo, A Great Success, etc) and other tracks I heard many times because I left the TV running while I stopped to look something up, for instance, what battle combination gave a Great Chocobo (Overworld Theme, Farm Boy, Highwind Takes to the Skies). Only the Good Night Until Tomorrow I'm certain that I heard all the way through. And, I was shocked to realize that I could have never heard an audio track at all if this had been my only playthrough-- Tango of Tears-- which only plays if you lose a Chocobo Race. After years of practice, that finally didn't happen!
When you think about it, I didn't really hear a lot of music in the seven hours, just 14 tracks, probably around 20 minutes of music total that I could have heard, and much of it I never heard in entirety. The longest themes are the Battle music and the Northern Cave, each around 3 minutes. Even though several of these are longer than I noted, I certainly didn't hear them because of the short time I was on the screen where they play. For instance, in the battles to capture the Chocobos, if you're too slow, the birds run away, so it's nearly impossible to hear more than a minute of music in the battle and be successful.
What I realized from this experience is how differently I hear the music when I'm playing the games versus when I'm studying them. Sound effects, vocal levels, mixing, and interactivity of game play all effect how the player hears the audio and even the duration of and possible audio tracks that can be heard. Every game player has experienced this, though. Imagine the original Super Mario Bros-- do you really recognize that theme very well past the opening minute or so? I don't, because I was always dead by then or had gone down a pipe and reset the music!
Friday, November 30, 2012
Analysis: Final Fantasy VII Leitmotifs
I've been experimenting with how to make a multimedia experience that is both entertaining and educational. I've tried to create the perfect blend in this video that I'm debuting today. Likely, I won't be able to make a ton of these, as the entire video creation process probably took me around 20 hours, not to mention playing the game to analyze the music. (That was fun, of course, but still... have you seen In Time?)
Now, I'm beginning the long process of surveying the internet for game music analysis. There's practically nothing "scholarly" with specific game music analysis at all. There's a little bit of information I've found on Leitmotifs in Final Fantasy 7, for instance SWE3Tmadness has a blog with a few entries on game music. Notably, he compares Kefka, Golbez, and Sephiroth's themes. Otherwise, there might be a printed mention here and there, but I wanted to create a multimedia experience that incorporates gameplay video, music, and my own analysis into a complete package.
Enjoy!
Now, I'm beginning the long process of surveying the internet for game music analysis. There's practically nothing "scholarly" with specific game music analysis at all. There's a little bit of information I've found on Leitmotifs in Final Fantasy 7, for instance SWE3Tmadness has a blog with a few entries on game music. Notably, he compares Kefka, Golbez, and Sephiroth's themes. Otherwise, there might be a printed mention here and there, but I wanted to create a multimedia experience that incorporates gameplay video, music, and my own analysis into a complete package.
Enjoy!
Friday, November 23, 2012
Analysis: Final Fantasy VII: Evolution of the main theme.
Thinking about where this theme appears in the soundtrack. How are our ears introduced to the theme? How is it used through the game? Where does it appear? This is a chronological journey of the main theme through the game.
First hearing of any part of the theme is in Underneath the Rotting Pizza. You'll hear a minor version of the first few notes of the main them from :30-:55. It starts the way the theme will start and then has a different melodic ending. This might as well be considered the "overworld theme" of the slums-- it's the music you hear when you're exploring on your own and transitioning between Wall Street and Aeris house.
The next appearance, a bit more subtle, is in Lurking in the Darkness. This has the sustained chord articulation of the final part of the main theme :09-:15 (compare with main theme below, 3:47-4:15)
Holding My Thoughts in My Heart uses the motive of the main theme over harp like arpeggiation. (:21-:45). Remember, you're just leaving Midgar when this first plays. Hearing this is literally preparing your ear to hear the main theme as significant in a moment when you step onto the overworld screen.
Then we hear the main theme for the first time once we step outside of Midgar.
On That Day Five Years Ago... This is heard for the first time when Cloud has a flashback in Nibelheim. It opens with the main theme motive, but here, as in its first appearance in Underneath the Rotting Pizza, the theme is in minor here instead of major.
Steal the Tiny Bronco uses the main theme to underscore the gun fire moments. :22-:35
When your party climbs up the crater for the first time, you hear "The Great Northern Cave." This will become both the airship theme when you're flying around and the overworld theme when you walk on the map. I don't hear any similarities between this theme and the main theme.
Who am I? Begins with the main theme over X-files-like arpeggiation. This plays when Cloud is confront Sephiroth's lies.
The Highwind Takes to the Skies also plays the main theme. Interesting to use the main theme in the airship theme-- considering that the airship theme is probably much more common to be heard in late gameplay than the theme walking around the world. Very easy to hear this theme from :14-:50.
Also, the original main theme plays for a second in the final movie. It plays as couterpoint with Tifa's theme. 1:54-2:24. The second iteration here returns to E major with a timpani roll and very much feels like a musical homecoming after playing the game and hearing the music so many times.
Did I miss any occurrences/evolutions of this theme?
First hearing of any part of the theme is in Underneath the Rotting Pizza. You'll hear a minor version of the first few notes of the main them from :30-:55. It starts the way the theme will start and then has a different melodic ending. This might as well be considered the "overworld theme" of the slums-- it's the music you hear when you're exploring on your own and transitioning between Wall Street and Aeris house.
The next appearance, a bit more subtle, is in Lurking in the Darkness. This has the sustained chord articulation of the final part of the main theme :09-:15 (compare with main theme below, 3:47-4:15)
Holding My Thoughts in My Heart uses the motive of the main theme over harp like arpeggiation. (:21-:45). Remember, you're just leaving Midgar when this first plays. Hearing this is literally preparing your ear to hear the main theme as significant in a moment when you step onto the overworld screen.
Then we hear the main theme for the first time once we step outside of Midgar.
On That Day Five Years Ago... This is heard for the first time when Cloud has a flashback in Nibelheim. It opens with the main theme motive, but here, as in its first appearance in Underneath the Rotting Pizza, the theme is in minor here instead of major.
Steal the Tiny Bronco uses the main theme to underscore the gun fire moments. :22-:35
When your party climbs up the crater for the first time, you hear "The Great Northern Cave." This will become both the airship theme when you're flying around and the overworld theme when you walk on the map. I don't hear any similarities between this theme and the main theme.
Who am I? Begins with the main theme over X-files-like arpeggiation. This plays when Cloud is confront Sephiroth's lies.
The Highwind Takes to the Skies also plays the main theme. Interesting to use the main theme in the airship theme-- considering that the airship theme is probably much more common to be heard in late gameplay than the theme walking around the world. Very easy to hear this theme from :14-:50.
Also, the original main theme plays for a second in the final movie. It plays as couterpoint with Tifa's theme. 1:54-2:24. The second iteration here returns to E major with a timpani roll and very much feels like a musical homecoming after playing the game and hearing the music so many times.
Did I miss any occurrences/evolutions of this theme?
Analysis: Haydn's Creation in Final Fantasy 7
Recently, I beat FFVII and was pleasantly surprised to see Haydn's Creation in the credits. As I played the game, I made a note about the scene with the destruction of the Sector VII Slums. There's a history in film music of using classical music to help paint a villain as evil, intellectual, and aloof. It's supposed to make them seem more removed from the common man. Think Hannibal Lector listening to Bach's Goldberg Variations. (Warning: Video clip is gory.)
This is precisely the effect of this scene, where the Shinra President watches the destruction of the Sector 7 slums. Here, he's listening to the end of a movement from the 3rd part of Haydn's Creation, "Of Stars the Fairest." You can see it in this performance from about 7:08-7:23. The singers from the game soundtrack are singing in German and the lyric is: "Ertönen sollt ihr früh und spät von unserm Lobgesang." We might say, "Singing our eternal praises to you." This is the longest movement in the Creation, a three part structure, and this is a moment from the end of the second part. In this tiny snippet, Adam and Eve describe the angel chorus singing their praises to God.
This is precisely the effect of this scene, where the Shinra President watches the destruction of the Sector 7 slums. Here, he's listening to the end of a movement from the 3rd part of Haydn's Creation, "Of Stars the Fairest." You can see it in this performance from about 7:08-7:23. The singers from the game soundtrack are singing in German and the lyric is: "Ertönen sollt ihr früh und spät von unserm Lobgesang." We might say, "Singing our eternal praises to you." This is the longest movement in the Creation, a three part structure, and this is a moment from the end of the second part. In this tiny snippet, Adam and Eve describe the angel chorus singing their praises to God.
I especially like how the audio adjusts as the camera shifts
from inside the room with him to the outside shot. Great audio detail and fantastic use of classical music in a video game. What's your
favorite use of classical music in a game?
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Analysis: Repetitive Game Music via Super Mario Bros
In a recent conversation with another classical musician, I brought up
the topic of video game music. He replied that video game music was
extremely repetitive. This is definitely one way that academics dismiss the music as being "repetitive." (Plenty of good music is repetitive!) I'd like to find some specifics about the
electronic limitations, but I'm thinking that for our classic
Nintendo/ SNES games, music was not given a huge allocation of data
space, and music was probably difficult to code into the games. Therefore, musical themes had to be short, but not overtly looping and
annoying.
Recalling this conversation and my recent foray into Super Mario Bros music has me thinking about how many times you might hear any particular theme in a given playthrough. Consider the musical experience of the shortest runthrough I know of Super Mario Bros. Let's analyze what music is heard.
1-1: Main theme, underground theme, main theme, flag victory.
1-2: Main theme (intro), underground theme (repeats once).
4-1: Main theme. Flag victory.
4-2: Main theme (intro), underground theme, main theme.
8-1: Main theme (as far as theme). Flag theme.
8-2: Main theme. Flag theme.
8-3: Main theme. Flag theme.
8-4: Castle theme 3x. Underwater theme. Boss theme 1x
End game theme!
So the question for me here was: excluding the mute button, what is the minimum amount of music that's heard in a playthrough of Super Mario Bros? As you can see, even though you don't hear the main theme all the way through, you hear it or its intro/fanfare 8 times. The victory theme is heard 5 times. As far as playing completely and repeating, the underground theme plays 3 times, repeating once, and the castle theme plays 4 times. Finally, the underwater and end game theme make just one appearance, the underwater not playing completely and the end game repeating once in this video.
So if this is the shortest possible audio experience of Super Mario Bros, what might a more typical one be? I was never great at Mario, so if I got stuck somewhere, it's possible I heard the music of that level (and the ones leading to it) MANY times. This is the same path that my friends and I followed to try to beat the game, which, if we were lucky, we could do in about 15 minutes-- but it we could also spend hours trying it, probably dying somewhere near the end. Granted, these projections won't be completely accurate because expanding the timing/music this way supposes an equal increase in time spent everywhere, but this will give an idea of the repetitive nature of the music.
Recalling this conversation and my recent foray into Super Mario Bros music has me thinking about how many times you might hear any particular theme in a given playthrough. Consider the musical experience of the shortest runthrough I know of Super Mario Bros. Let's analyze what music is heard.
1-1: Main theme, underground theme, main theme, flag victory.
1-2: Main theme (intro), underground theme (repeats once).
4-1: Main theme. Flag victory.
4-2: Main theme (intro), underground theme, main theme.
8-1: Main theme (as far as theme). Flag theme.
8-2: Main theme. Flag theme.
8-3: Main theme. Flag theme.
8-4: Castle theme 3x. Underwater theme. Boss theme 1x
End game theme!
So the question for me here was: excluding the mute button, what is the minimum amount of music that's heard in a playthrough of Super Mario Bros? As you can see, even though you don't hear the main theme all the way through, you hear it or its intro/fanfare 8 times. The victory theme is heard 5 times. As far as playing completely and repeating, the underground theme plays 3 times, repeating once, and the castle theme plays 4 times. Finally, the underwater and end game theme make just one appearance, the underwater not playing completely and the end game repeating once in this video.
So if this is the shortest possible audio experience of Super Mario Bros, what might a more typical one be? I was never great at Mario, so if I got stuck somewhere, it's possible I heard the music of that level (and the ones leading to it) MANY times. This is the same path that my friends and I followed to try to beat the game, which, if we were lucky, we could do in about 15 minutes-- but it we could also spend hours trying it, probably dying somewhere near the end. Granted, these projections won't be completely accurate because expanding the timing/music this way supposes an equal increase in time spent everywhere, but this will give an idea of the repetitive nature of the music.
| Musical Theme | 5 min playthrough | 15 min playthrough | 60 min playthrough |
| Main | 8 times | 24 times | 96 times |
| Victory | 5 times | 15 times | 60 times |
| Underground | 3 times | 9 times | 36 times |
| Castle | 4 times | 12 times | 48 times |
| Underwater | 1 times | 3 times | 12 times |
| End game | 1 times | 3 times | 12 times |
96 times to hear the main theme (or at least the intro to it) in an hour-- no wonder the Michigan Daily said every student on UM's campus knew it!
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Analysis: Music in Super Mario Bros.
Today begins a new blog label, Analysis. Blogs under this heading reflect my own study, notes, reactions, and analysis of video game music. Where to start? At the beginning, of course, with one of the most popular game audio references of all time, Super Mario Bros.
Inspired by reading Wahlen's article, let's consider the classic NES game. What aural elements does the game have? In other words, during a playthrough, what does the player hear? How many themes are there? How long are they? What sounds are there in the game? Using a combo of myself playing and this game play video, here's what I discovered:
Considering sounds, I count 18 sound effects: jumping, coin collection, jumping on enemy, pressing start, breaking a brick, powerup emerging, powering up, fireball, 1up, fireball contacts monster/shell contacts monster, fireball hits wall/unsuccessful hit, going down a pipe, bullet bill shot, swimming action, sliding down flagpole, Bowser bridge collapse, and Boswer falling, and the casino slot sound of time adding into the score at the completion of each level.
There are also six entities I'm calling fanfares: the death fanfare (:03), hurry up fanfare (:03), victory fanfare 1 (overworld flag) and 2 (boss castle) both lasting (:06), game over fanfare (:03), and the Mario theme intro (:02), which is also the intro to the ground theme and serves as a fanfare as Mario walks to transition between the upper and lower worlds.
Considering musical themes and lengths, I count six themes: the main theme (:90), the underworld theme (:13), the swimming theme (:26), the boss/castle theme (:09), victory/end game theme (:07), and the invincible star music lasts only (:03) but loops for the duration of the invincibility (:10), giving it time to loop just over three complete times. All of these themes double in speed after the hurry up warning sounds, when one minute of play remains. Each has a character appropriate to setting the mood for its location.
As far as I can tell, this video plays most of the musical themes in Super Mario Bros. Here's a video so you can hear most of them (castle theme and victory theme are missing). Bravo to the editor for syncing up the death music right at the end-- super cool.
Now, let's consider the longest, most iconic of these themes in detail, the "Ground Theme."
What's the scoring? Three voices of synthesizer along with a synthesized drum track. Considering the melodic channels, one is melody, one harmony (these two are homorhythmic-- meaning they have the same rhythm), a third channel is bass, and fourth is the drums. When you perform an action onscreen that makes a sound, the harmony voice drops out and only the melody, bass, and drums persist along with the sound effect.
My traditional, classical background has me wondering about the form of the ground theme-- in other words, its overall structure. So what is it? Intro-A-B-B-C-A-D-D-C-D-- repeating with no intro. Got it? If you're in doubt listen to it following the timings below.
Intro/fanfare (:00). A (:02)-B (:12)-B (:21)-C (:31)-A (:41)-D (:50)-D (1:00)-C (1:10)-D (1:20).
Wikipedia's got an article on the theme with excellent sections on both the creation and the legacy of the Super Mario Bros "Ground Theme", as well as a list of its appearances.
Inspired by reading Wahlen's article, let's consider the classic NES game. What aural elements does the game have? In other words, during a playthrough, what does the player hear? How many themes are there? How long are they? What sounds are there in the game? Using a combo of myself playing and this game play video, here's what I discovered:
Considering sounds, I count 18 sound effects: jumping, coin collection, jumping on enemy, pressing start, breaking a brick, powerup emerging, powering up, fireball, 1up, fireball contacts monster/shell contacts monster, fireball hits wall/unsuccessful hit, going down a pipe, bullet bill shot, swimming action, sliding down flagpole, Bowser bridge collapse, and Boswer falling, and the casino slot sound of time adding into the score at the completion of each level.
There are also six entities I'm calling fanfares: the death fanfare (:03), hurry up fanfare (:03), victory fanfare 1 (overworld flag) and 2 (boss castle) both lasting (:06), game over fanfare (:03), and the Mario theme intro (:02), which is also the intro to the ground theme and serves as a fanfare as Mario walks to transition between the upper and lower worlds.
Considering musical themes and lengths, I count six themes: the main theme (:90), the underworld theme (:13), the swimming theme (:26), the boss/castle theme (:09), victory/end game theme (:07), and the invincible star music lasts only (:03) but loops for the duration of the invincibility (:10), giving it time to loop just over three complete times. All of these themes double in speed after the hurry up warning sounds, when one minute of play remains. Each has a character appropriate to setting the mood for its location.
As far as I can tell, this video plays most of the musical themes in Super Mario Bros. Here's a video so you can hear most of them (castle theme and victory theme are missing). Bravo to the editor for syncing up the death music right at the end-- super cool.
Now, let's consider the longest, most iconic of these themes in detail, the "Ground Theme."
What's the scoring? Three voices of synthesizer along with a synthesized drum track. Considering the melodic channels, one is melody, one harmony (these two are homorhythmic-- meaning they have the same rhythm), a third channel is bass, and fourth is the drums. When you perform an action onscreen that makes a sound, the harmony voice drops out and only the melody, bass, and drums persist along with the sound effect.
My traditional, classical background has me wondering about the form of the ground theme-- in other words, its overall structure. So what is it? Intro-A-B-B-C-A-D-D-C-D-- repeating with no intro. Got it? If you're in doubt listen to it following the timings below.
Intro/fanfare (:00). A (:02)-B (:12)-B (:21)-C (:31)-A (:41)-D (:50)-D (1:00)-C (1:10)-D (1:20).
Wikipedia's got an article on the theme with excellent sections on both the creation and the legacy of the Super Mario Bros "Ground Theme", as well as a list of its appearances.
Friday, August 17, 2012
Beginnings (Analysis): Rosalina in the Observatory
For my first blog entry, I want to pay tribute to one of my favorite game soundtracks. In this YouTube video, you can
hear The Comet Observatory Theme from Super Mario Galaxy. This theme, also called "Rosalina in the Observatory" is one of the few tracks in the game composed by Koji Kondo, the original composer of many beloved Mario and Zelda themes. Most other SMG tracks were composed by Mahito Yokota.
One if the coolest things about this game that immediately jumped out at me when I first played SMG is this theme's development throughout the game. That is to say, as you progress farther through the game, the instrumentation of the theme changes, building up when you're at your homebase. To best explain this, give it a listen while you think about the form of the music: Intro-A-A-B-A. All that repeats every 1:15.
The theme begins with solo flute and harp over a simple cello bass. In the second version of the theme, strings play the theme in unison while the orchestra replies with offbeats, the melody is heard in octaves in the second "A," and a moving bass line fills in and the final dominant bass note drops at the end of the "B." Basically everything expands outward-- lower and higher for the build. In the third version, brass plays the intro and adds throughout, oboe takes the tune, and countermelodies and suspensions come into play. Boy, that brass builds excitement! I love this progression of variations-- it's such an incredible touch and at the same time such a subtle boost as the game progresses. This video is just over 3:45, since it plays each version of the theme in succession. Anyone know what game events unlock the different tracks?
One if the coolest things about this game that immediately jumped out at me when I first played SMG is this theme's development throughout the game. That is to say, as you progress farther through the game, the instrumentation of the theme changes, building up when you're at your homebase. To best explain this, give it a listen while you think about the form of the music: Intro-A-A-B-A. All that repeats every 1:15.
The theme begins with solo flute and harp over a simple cello bass. In the second version of the theme, strings play the theme in unison while the orchestra replies with offbeats, the melody is heard in octaves in the second "A," and a moving bass line fills in and the final dominant bass note drops at the end of the "B." Basically everything expands outward-- lower and higher for the build. In the third version, brass plays the intro and adds throughout, oboe takes the tune, and countermelodies and suspensions come into play. Boy, that brass builds excitement! I love this progression of variations-- it's such an incredible touch and at the same time such a subtle boost as the game progresses. This video is just over 3:45, since it plays each version of the theme in succession. Anyone know what game events unlock the different tracks?
Here also is a link to an interview describing some of Kondo's inner workings for the game music composition process. Particularly interesting is the discussion of characterization in the music.
What games have some of your favorite music? Leave me a note in the
comment section and I'll try to feature them as I continue the blog.
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