Guest post: Student Andrew Lipian attends GDC on a GANG scholarship

I'm delighted to have my first guest post on my blog!  The below is written by my first ever one-on-one game audio student, Andrew Lipian.  Andrew won a student scholarship from the Game Audio Network Guild to attend GDC in March and I ask him to document his experience.  I thought it'd be cool to hear about the conference from the viewpoint an attendee who is both very interested in the field, a young up-comer in the area, and who went to GDC on scholarship.  Also, a great chance for him to synthesize all the notes he took there and his overall experience.  Andrew will have a second post upcoming soon as well where he describes his recent experience at NYU Steinhardt's Video Game Scoring Workshop.  

Four months have passed since the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Fransisco, where droves of video game industry elites gather annually to discuss the mechanics and business of gaming. I recall a large, imposing map of the world in one of the conference halls with the words “where are you from,” scribed above it. The map was bathed in little red dots indicating where attendees hailed from; not even Siberia was without a few. As I squinted between the chicken pox markers to find my home in Ohio, I began to reflect on the awesome conditions that brought me to this remarkable conference; how, exactly, did I get here?

Why, studying video game music with Matthew Thompson, of course! His guidance helped make my secret passion for game audio a not-so-secret passion by having me apply for a longshot scholarship to the Game Audio Network Guild. This award included an All Access pass to GDC with a personal industry mentor in game audio. I submitted a 1-minute RPG-style battle track I wrote under Thompson's supervision, a narrative with some letters of recommendation, and I was elated to see I was selected for the award! The University of Michigan School of Music Theater and Dance (SMTD) even paid for my flight! 

What would follow? A whirlwind of corporate convention constructs the size of circus tents, endless panels and seminars on all aspects of game development; industry titans roaming about like average Joes, and a bevy of indie video game stations ready for play. 

The Moscone Center, host of GDC, was a veritable sea of people. The complex is broken into three massive buildings (North, East, and West), the former two with sprawling convention expos in each basement (if you can call something the size of a NASA Space Silo a basement). Throngs of video game journalists, voice actors, narrative writers, graphics artists, directors, CEOs, programmers, and game designers painted the halls and courtyards. While I enjoyed these diverse people and their ideas, what I was really there for was the Game Audio. 

I would soon be greeted by my assigned mentor, Adam Gubman. CEO and founder of Moonwalk Audio, who has written music for hundreds of clients such as Disney, Zynga, Storm8, Sony, PlayFirst, GSN, GameHouse, NBC Today, and Warner-Chappell – to name a few. We met at one of the many meet-and-greet tables on the third floor of Moscone West, where I would get acquainted with one of the most motivated people I have ever met. With a forward, engaged posture and a surveying glance, Gubman was a dodecahedra-tattooed, spikey haired mensch; intense and cool, with a quick wit and boundless passion for music. He also had a no-nonsense approach to success: if you want this, work hard every day, don't burn bridges, absorb all you can, and persist. I've seen men of his intensity in successful musicians like Tommy Tallarico and Tom Salta and have come to identify it as the flagship trait that makes these men so successful. Their time is precious, they waste precious little of it, and tackle every task with speed and abandon. 

Adam would prove an impactful mentor, spending a great deal of time with me despite a very busy schedule of his own. Explaining a personal story of how a demo song of his won a Golden Globe, Gubman said you never know what each opportunity could bring. Demonstrating loyalty and compassion, he tells me, creates a “halo effect,” building rapport and camaraderie with potential clients. Trust and Loyalty, Adam believes, set you apart from other composers and earn you respect. He advised I take on GDC as a sponge, absorbing all I could, and give my time to every opportunity, even if the upshot for involvement wasn’t clear yet; I decided to run with his advice.

There was no shortage of sessions to enjoy in game audio. From a seminar in VR audio, featuring Winnifred Phillips as lecturer, we analyzed how special positioning for music can be more immersive than stereo in this medium, using 3D elements to implement a 2D score into the VR world. Music could even transition from 2D to 3D for dramatic effect, citing how she used 3D sound effects in the game “fail factory,” to accent the 2D musical score, creating several sounds in the “VR space.” One example was the loud “clang,” of a factory mallet dropping as the downbeat to a soundtrack for a stage. Analyzing “Shadows of Mordor,” with Nathan Grigg and Garry Schyman, they discussed how the tribal identity of various tribes in the game informed the musical themes. Using a tribe’s unique armor types, appearance and function of forts, enabled them to use the music to accent these properties. For example, the “Machine Tribe Fort Theme,” is comprised of billowing smokestacks, so he created a “non-melodic, plodding rhythmic theme with odd sets of industrial sounds to blend together and bring the orchestra in, underneath. Also, in a post-mortem on the “Call of Duty WWII,” sound track, Will Roget –who took home almost every award at the 2018 G.A.N.G. awards – described his embrace of a “modern,” sound through expanding on tradition and not limiting oneself to “genre expectation.” For example, to create the “WW II vibe,” he decided upon string quartet and solo cello over big drums and high winds or overt brass. This enabled him to focus on a modern presentation, with an early focus on the “in-game mix,” such as using trumpets only for doubling horns (instrumental EQ), and expanded low winds and brass into a “synth tuba.” He peppered his music with signature sounds, like the “echo horns,” in the piece “Memory of War,” or air raid sounds in the piece, “Haze of War.” Roget even used extended playing techniques, such as aleatoric orchestral techniques and “overpressure” in the strings. 

There was so much to absorb, I haven’t space in this post to include it all! 

When not at the many seminars, I met developers seeking music for their games, attended a G.A.N.G town hall where I pitched an idea to head up a student committee, volunteered at an IASIG meetup to run their slack channel, and got to present an award at the 2018 G.A.N.G Audio Awards ceremony as one of the 4 scholars at GDC. To top it off, I even got to meet “The Fat Man.”

GDC was an unforgettable experience, where endless paths crisscross into an intricate network to produce the pixelated art and sonic beauty keeping our hands glued to a controller. Whether I was examining the music of “Middle Earth: Shadow of War,” having my music played and critiqued before a panel of game composers at the “Demo Derby,” (where it was well received), or making new friends and colleagues, GDC provided an invaluable foot in the door for what I love to do. 

As I left my friends, boarded my flight, and scribbled notes on contacts from the handfulls of cards I obtained, the words of Adam Gubman pushed me forward faster than the jet I sat on. “You gotta be fast, you gotta work hard to deliver for your client; you have to push and persist every day.” 

Current News: Day 1 at GameSoundCon

I'm just getting back to my hotel from the first day at GameSoundCon.  Great day!  Totally lifted my spirits from the fact that my flight in yesterday was delayed, the hotel oversold, and I was moved into a craphole where I feel like the sheets are going to give me Ebola.  As I walked into GameSoundCon this morning, George Sanger was lugging his suitcase up the steps in front of me and we started chatting.  When I got to the registration table, Alexander Brandon was passing out the registration information for the N-Z folks, which of course included me!  These are two great composers whose music I admire and whose books I love and have written about (George and Alex).  A great start to the day to help wash away the rough arrival yesterday.

After a mass meeting, I spent the morning in FMOD sessions with Stephan Schutze.  I felt a bit awkward initially when Stephan asked everyone how they identified as a sound designer or as a composer.  Then he asked who didn't raise a hand-- just me-- and I said I identified as a teacher of game music.  He went on a bit of a tirade about how there were a lot of "Bobs" who were teaching game audio and had no business or knowledge to be doing so and it was fraud.  Then quickly followed this with the caveat that he was glad I was seeking out the training that many didn't know they needed or care to get.  After that bump and a technical problem with the projector, the sessions progressed quickly as he showed many of the features of FMOD.  While the class wasn't the sort of FMOD 101 I was hoping for, it was interesting to watch what was possible in the software.  One of the main points he stressed was that folks used to linear media need to get out of the mindset of "get your sounds in ProTools, mix them, and export them off to the game."  Instead, technology today allows for the game engine to mix the sound interactively in the game.  Principles I understand already from readings, but cool to see how he applied them with the software.

After lunch at a gastro-pub, I headed to Alexander Brandon's session discussing his work on the Wasteland 2 and Pillars of Eternity.  Most cool about this session was hearing how he worked in Unity 4 on this game and used various techniques and softwares to conquer audio problems.  Alex seemed to be a fan of Wwise, which was not used in these games, but he is hoping to use in future games.  He also discussed the differences in updates to Unity 5 that are improvements to how the audio works.  While I haven't used Unity much at all except for exploring just a bit of Steve Horowitz' book, it was cool to see that the interface wasn't so much different from the Unreal demos I've seen in The Game Audio Tutorial.  At the end of this session, I was sitting close enough to Winifred Phillips to get her to autograph my copy of her superb book, which I've been reading on this trip.

I was planning to head back to the FMOD session for some talk about generative audio, but instead I headed down to chat with some of the sponsors.  There were numerous tables set up by different groups and products: IAsig, Wwise, RealSpace VR Audio, and ProSoundEffects.  I'm planning to join IAsig next year as this year is my year of GANG.  Wwise and ProSoundEffects are both things that I think could enhance my teaching at UM, so I chatted with them about possibilities for students and educational packages.  The hardest of these for me to describe is RealSpace VR audio.  They had headphones where the audio changed in relation to the placement of a second device around you, changing the mixing as you were stationary in the headphones and the device was moved around you.  Next, they had me put on enormous goggles and a second set of headphones that looked into a beautiful 3D environment and it was possible to move through the environment by looking at various objects in it and hear the sound change in relation to your position in the virtual environment.  I'd never seen or heard anything like that.  Definitely something to keep an eye on in the future!

Marty O'Donnell gave the keynote address.  I forget that he wrote that memorable Flintstone Kids jingle from my childhood.  Never knew it was his daughter who sang the final "and growing!"  I never played Halo, but of course know the music anyway.  I played a bit of Riven, but was way more into Myst-- didn't realize he got into the later sequels in this series.  Anyway, fascinating to hear about his journey and some of his advice.  I may use some of his points and examples in my own teaching.  His three main points were: 1-practice, 2-take risks, and 3-have friends.  Good advice in any field, certainly any musical one!  The end of the talk was a bit of a downer as he talked about abuse in the game audio field and how to protect yourself and your creations.  Again, good advice, but too bad that folks get burned enough to make that a front and center issue in the field.

All in all, a wonderful, tiring, busy day.  Looking forward to tomorrow with some Wwise training and audio roundtables.

My Gaming Audio History: Maniac Mansion (1990)

Next up in My Gaming Audio History is the NES game, Maniac Mansion.  I rented this game and played with friends.  It was definitely a tough one for me because I found the interface with the mouse arrow/ NES controller to be confusing as a kid.  I almost always got caught by the nurse in the kitchen immediately!  As I blogged earlier, I love the fact that two of the characters could play the piano-- a big connection I felt with Syd and Razor as a child.  Also cool is the fact that the music is connected to the characters you're playing or encountering rather than a certain level, area, or room.

The audio for the NES version was created by a number of folks: Dave Hayes, George Sanger, David Govett, and David Warhol.  According to the game credits, Dave Hayes composed: The Boys Are Still Back, Psychadelic Brie, Flashbulb Funk, Heeeeeeeere's Talk-Show Host.  George Sanger composed: Surf Face, Better Ed Than Dead, No Never Well Maybe Sure Ok.  David-Govett composed: Go See Mark, Comp-U-Nerd, Sonata in G Opus 47 BVW 801.  David Warhol composed: Eddie Van Tentacle and Doo Dop Deep.  Crazy names, right?  I don't know a lot about popular music, but I found this post that compares these names with the names of popular songs they are spoofing.

One of my favorite themes from this game is the Edison family/ Tentacle theme.  When I hear this theme with the raised fourth and neighbor motion, it always reminds me of the Jetson's Theme.  I wondered if this was by design and, since I know him from being a guest speaker in my game music class, I wrote to George Sanger to ask.  Here's his response:

"I bet it was at least a subconscious salute.  Maybe conscious.  I do LOVE that theme-- it's just the kind of thing I would dip into when looking to get my blood up for composing.  There's a similar suspension thingie in the Rocky and Bullwinkle theme, another one on my mental top 15.  Oh, and come to think of it, West Side Story is on that list, and there's a similar feel in 'Maria.'  So.... if you're like me, when you think 'Maniac Mansion,' you picture a futuristic gang-fighting moose and squirrel, and you can see that no other melody will do."  

Another favorite tiny musical moment of mine is the Tchaikovsky reference to Swan Lake on the record that skips.  Just a two second snippet of the Dance of the Petite Swans plays from Act II.  Clever attention to detail!

This game has a little more than 18 minutes of music, which is really astonishing for a NES game.


Here are my usual detailed notes below for those interested.  To compile these notes on the audio, I used this playlist.

-Title screen: 65 sec.  G major.  Intro (6) A B Intro with bass (6)?  I'm not able to find a version that plays longer than 65 seconds, so I don't know if this music loops or is one time through.  
-Dave's Theme (The Boys Are Still Back): 80 sec.  A major.  A A' A'' B B' B'' A''' A''''.  This music is theme and variations, essentially, a beat and chords where a melody is "improvised" over top.  The A sections are A-Bm-G and the B sections are over an E chord.  Kind of like a jam session with friends.  Very cool, a style of music I've not heard in my game studies so far.
-Razor's Theme (No No Never Never Well Maybe Sure Okay): 48 sec.  A major.  A A' B A'' B' (4).  Again, variations over a chord progression and beat.  Very dissonant in A' between the melody and the vamping accompaniment.
-Bernard's Theme (Comp-U-Nerd): 48 sec.  F major.  A A' B.  This track stays in F major for its entire length.  Again, a vamping beat with melodic variations.
-Syd's Theme (Psychadelic Brie): 81 sec.  A major.  A (20) A (20) B (16).  A crazy track where I debated how to describe the form.  I hear this as two run-on sentences.  The first is repeated, and then a second.  There are moments when this track gets rhythmically out of sync with itself, particularly toward the end of the B section, measures 13-15.  Is that why the drum drops out during the second half of the B?
-Wendy's Theme (Sonata in G Opus 47 BVW 801):  90 sec.  C major.  A B (6) A C (13) A'' Rondo form!  Definitely a more "classical" sounding track.  This track has some rhythmic variability; if you listen to the steady drum pulse, you're hear that it speeds up slightly and slows down at times.  Very unusual-- I've not heard this kind tempo fluctuation before.
-Jeff's Theme (Surf Face):  98 sec.  A minor?  C major?  A major? I feel this piece never has a solid tonal center.  The A major cadence a the end of the C section is so satisfactory, but then the C major A'' and B'' is equally strong.  Not sure what key to settle on here.  A B A' B' C (10) A'' B''
-Michael's Theme (Flashbulb Funk): 100 sec.  E minor.  A B C (break) D E F-- through-composed.  Another example of a solo over a beat and chord.  Almost all of the track is E minor, though there are a couple of moments of F# minor.
-Edison Family/ Tentacle Theme (Better Ed Than Dead): 67 sec.  A major-minor.  Intro (2) A (16) B C C.  The use of raised 4 (fi) in the A section of this tune and the lower neighbor motion of the  melody share similarities with the Jetson's Theme.  I also really like the canonic counterpoint in the C section of this theme.  Easily one of my favorites, though it usually meant I was about to die!
-Piano Demo: 37.5 sec.  C major.  Intro (4) A B C (6) A (4).  Love that the two of the characters could play the piano!
-Three Guys Who Publish Anything (Go See Mark): 27 sec.  C major.  Intro (1) A B.
-Tentacle's Demo (Eddie Van Tentacle):  44 sec.  G major.  Wild solo-- 18 measures metered-- wild solo.  Such a contrast to the piano demo!  I suppose if you were a tentacle making a demo tape it wouldn't necessarily sound like a human....
-Wink Smiley Talk Show (Heeeeeeere's Talk Show Host): 56 sec.  C major.  A A B(4) A C C' B(4).  Another example of variations over a bass and beat.
-Skipping Record: 2 sec.  F# minor.  The record plays a snippet of Tchaikovsky's ballet, Swan Lake.  From Act II, Dance of the petite swans.  
- Credits: 61 sec.  G major.  Intro (2) A A' B (11)  This music shares similarities with the Title music, but is new variations. This makes for a nice bookend with the beginning and end of the music to the game.
-Unused:  59 sec.  A major?  E major?  A A' B C D D' (9).  I find this track to be tonally ambiguous as well.  It spends a lot of time in E, but midway through when there's a small section in A, that feels like we've finally arrived home.  Cool that this goes between completely normal sounding pop music and wildly crazy solo moments and clashing harmonies.  It's like Bebop, Spanish dance, and popular song all came together at once.  Wonder why it was cut?

Musings: Women in Video Game Music.

Anyone who knows me is aware of my interet in women in music. Here I am in the summer teaching at an all girls performing arts camp.  I'm fascinated by the idea that almost all major players in music composition are men. I could easily name 10 men to 1 woman as composers, and I researched women composers for my DMA!

The same is true in many other areas of music. Women conductors are a rarity, as are women performers (I'm thinking major, touring personalities).  I don't know why. One of my favorite thing about opera is that both men an women have big roles, fame, personalities, etc.

And what of game music? So far, my studies would point to the same. Most game composers seem to be men. I'll know better in a few more years about this ratio, but from what I've absorbed so far, I'd say it's true.  What's interesting to me is that in the realm of game music studies, I'd say women are ahead of the curve. Alexander Brandon, George Sanger, Aaron Marks, sure, they're composers who've written books-- great books!-- about the industry and business. Every composer Aaron Marks highlights in his book is a man!  But in terms of scholars publishing, I'd say Kiri Miller, Karen Collins, and maybe even Kristin Jorgenson are some of the biggest players. Not that there aren't other folks, and definitely men too... But as I'm getting a feel for the field now the major establishment academically seems to be by women. Awesome. Of course they're ahead of the curve!

Just reflecting on that divide tonight for the holiday. Why is it?  Looking forward to getting to know about more of the players in the field, both men and women, soon.

Surveying Literature: Audio for Games (Alexander Brandon)

Over my recent trip up north I finished reading Alexander Brandon's Audio for Games: Planning, Process, and Production.  I have to say that out of all the things I've read, this book was one of my favorites.  For one, it's written by an industry professional who can give insight that only someone who's lived and worked in the field can.  For another, the writing is in a clear, easy to read style, and the book has a great flow overall.

I was struck by how much space/attention the book gives to organization and workflow.  Of course, this process development is useful knowledge, but not what I'd think would be such a large focus of a book on audio.  From that I deduce that the game audio process needs better organization.  Really, no matter what your industry, if you're in management at all, this book would be a worthwhile read for how to work as an efficient and organized team.  I read this book at exactly the right time considering that I've been playing around with The Game Audio Tutorial and integrating audio, which is a process this book explains methodology for, but gives no practical exercises.  This book and GAT would pair well together in an audio integration class.

Any portion of this book is worth a read if you're interested in game audio, but I easily had three favorite chapters in the book:  The fourth chapter, "Design" presents a really interesting historic discussion of the use of audio in games.  I'm sure I've read most of that information elsewhere, but at this point, the repetition is making everything click and Alexander's writing style is really easy to follow.  Since I'm interested mainly in the creation of game audio and those who create it, chapter seven, "Ideal Production," resonated with me.  Although certainly dated now that it's eight years old, this chapter is an important historical documentation of what has happened, methods, prices, licensing practices, etc.  (Actually, early in the book, Alexander says that if you're reading the book in 2015, don't discount all the info, just up the technological requirements!)  Finally, I loved the last chapter "Looking Ahead" where interviews with Guy Whitmore, Tommy Tallarico, and George Sanger present some contrasting views toward the future of game audio.

While I'm also hoping to better understand how game audio functions in smaller productions as well, this book gives insight into how game audio is produced in the larger game companies.

Other short reactions through the reading:

As someone who's played a lot of RPGs, I love that the book states that RPG audio is pretty much as complex as it gets and if you can do that, you can do any of the other styles/genres of games.

I love the emphasis again on creating prototypes and sharing them with the development team.  Almost all game audio creators write or talk about the importance of that task.  Certainly, it's the absolute clearest way to communicate about game audio to non-audio folks.

In the Workflow section of the book, Alexander describes the follow Operational tasks:
-Lead time (scheduling, budgeting, staff meetings, documentation, programming/design meetings)
-Purchasing: software/hardware
-R&D: reference soundtracks, field recordings, Foley work, experimenting with sound and instrumentation, and most importantly: playing games that relate to yours!
-Prototyping:  Everyone says this is important and much better than text descriptions of audio!

I hadn't considered that games have Quality Assurance staff to play-test games (here focusing on game audio), but the book lists tips for the best ways to get the most out of game testers for game audio.  Bug databases, for instance.  

Who knew that game audio designers used metric tools to gather information about how many times music/sound occurs in a given area?  What are these tools?- the book doesn't go into detail.  Wonder if these can be applied to retrospective gaming studies as well as games in development?  It'd save me a lot of post-its and ink pens....

Ever wonder why turning on your console/starting a game is so loud?  "A lot of developers use their highest volume in the game as the same volume played when the turn on the console and the console logo is played... From there, you need to figure out how voice, sound effects, and music will all interact."

Hierarchy of game sounds: Voice (loudest), sound effects (next loudest), music (softest)-- exception might be a musical stinger.

"What makes an audio asset final?  When it's produced?  When it's integrated?  When it's integrated and mixed?  When the leads sign off on it?  Yes to all."

As usual, here's a list of games that are mentioned in the book:

Pong
NBA Live
Mortal Kombat
Madden
Doom 3
Halo
Tiger Woods 2004
Links
Wipeout XL-- prime example of music licensing
Warren Spctor: Ultima 6, Ultima 7: Serpent Isle, System Shock, Ultima Underworld, Deux Ex
No One Lives Forever and No One Lives Forever 2
Deus Ex: Invisible War-- one of the first games to fully feature a physics sound system
Parappa the Rapper and Rez-- music influenced the game design
Knights of the Old Republic-- LucasArts/iMUSE
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge-- first title to use iMUSE
The Dig-- iMUSE with streamed stereo audio files-- incredible audio/soundtrack
Castle Wolfenstein
Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss-- first FP perspective to use an interactive soundtrack
Fade to Black-- adaptive soundtrack (not great integration)
Thief-- ambient sounds make an overwhelming impact
Dungeon Master-- occasional ambient sounds from an early title (1989)
Total Annihilation-- 1997, live orchestra work (Jeremy Soule)
Secret of Evermore-- Jeremy Soule's first sountrack
Russian Squares-- subtle changes to music in a puzzle game
Thief: Deadly Shadows-- audio engine was Ion Storm
Halo: Combat Evolved-- Marty O'Donnell
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City--  players listen to the radio, Madonna/Michael Jackson, etc
Frequency, Amplitude: use licensed pop songs where your goal is to mix and remix the songs
Star Wars and MLB Slugfest: Loaded-- use non-top 40 licensed music
The Legend of Kage-- upbeat pop soundtracks with too loud sound effects for the Ninja Stars
Earthworm Jim and Cool Spot: examples of Tommy Tallarico's composing work
7th Guest and Wing Commander-- examples of George Sanger's cinematic sounding work

As a teacher of technology, I understand that technologies change through time.  Many various ones exist that do similar work and the ones we come to use are the ones we like the most.  Any list is thus incomplete and dated.  However, one thing I was wondering when I started this project is what game technologies audio folks working in the industry use.  Finally, here's a book that really lists many technologies and what they're good for in game audio.  Thus, complied from the book, here's a list of all the software that's mentioned, in some cases with notes about what one might use it for:

mSoft-- sound effects
Hollywood edge (FileMaker)-- sound effects
Pro Tools, Cubase SX, Nuendo-- multitrack SFX (or music) production
Renderware Studio-- audio engine for real time mixing, simple GUI, map editor
Unreal Engine-- map editor for integrating sound
PerlScript-- running batch script
DirectMusic
Sound Forge
Microsoft Project/ Visio-- for making a Gantt chart
Absynth/Reaktor-- among top synthesizer programs on the market
Bugzillla, BugCollector, TestTrack Pro-- bug databases
DirectSound, DirectMusic-- first freely available software to create adaptive soundtracks
Miles Sound System-- middleware
Direct X
GameCODA-- an engine sufficient for simple titles and most more complex projects
Creative EAX-- creates decent reverb for free
SoundMax-- middleware to synthesize sounds in real time
Galaxy Sound System (part of Unreal)-- an example of a custom made tool
Xact-- Xbox Audio Content Tool
Scream-- Scriptable Engine for Audio Manipulation (Sony)
Alienbrain-- file management system
iMUSE-- Interactive Music Streaming Engine
Gigastudio
Visual SourceSafe-- file management for Deus Ex: Invisible War
Logic
Xbox ADPCM (adaptive differential pulse code modulation)-- file type used by Xbox
PlayStation 2 VAG-- file type used by PlayStation

Musings: Are Casinos the Modern Arcades? (Part 2)

I've been thinking more about my trips to the casinos on my recent vacation.  Vince and I went to two up north in Michigan, Turtle Creek and Odawa.  Anyone who's been to a casino can call to mind the sound of being inside one immediately.  The ringing and incessant sound of the slot machines going is unmistakable.  I hadn't thought much about the connection between slot machines and video games until I saw this video of George Sanger working on music for a slot machine.  This made me wonder more about the connection between (what I think of as) video games and slot machines.

While I was in the two casinos I took some notes on the companies who made the different games.  (You should have seen some of the looks I got from security as I walked around taking notes on my phone about the games!)  Granted, I wasn't in Vegas, so there are probably many more possibilities, but for where I was here are the ones I found:

Konami (think Castlevania, Contra, etc)
Aruze (Shadow Hearts)
WMS Gaming
Bally (both WMS and Bally have connections with Midway: Ms. Pac-Man, Mortal Kombat, etc)
IGT
Aristocrat (these last two are the largest slot producers that make slot games for Playstation, mobile, etc)

Obviously, there are connections between video game companies and casino gaming companies.  This makes sense though, as many of the technologies are the same.  In fact, slot machines are, in a sense, arcade games.  They hold the software/hardware inside and are able to show video, play audio, and have gameplay by the simple press of a few buttons from the player.

One of the most interesting things as you walk around a casino is to hear the pitch of the machines.  Have you ever thought about it?  Casinos have a key: C major.  I wonder if this is worldwide or just in the US...  Most of the machines arpeggiate around the C major chord and go up the octave when you score or win.  This way the sounds are organized in a harmonious way.  It's been years since I was a kid in a busy arcade, but visiting one as an adult, they are a completely different experience.  Each machine is making its own set of sounds in its own key and makes for a very noisy, conflicting sound environment.  In contrast, the casinos are set up (aurally at least) so that the sound of a win feels more collective among the players and is easy to hear sound above the sound of the other machines around.  Clearly, the casinos have made a deal with these producers to keep a common tonality among the machines.

There are classical and popular music references thrown in some games.  Jackpot manor plays a bit of Bach's Fugue in D minor (fugue starts at 2:50).  Another game by Aruze that I wasn't able to catch the name of played Tchaikovsky's Trepak (Russian Dance) from The Nutcracker.  These were both subtle in comparison with the Queen game I played by Konami.  This game has music notes, instruments, and pictures of the members of Queen that are the onscreen symbols you want to match.  In the bonus rounds, you literally pick the Queen song you want to hear during bonus rounds.  I chose We Are the Champions.  Here you can watch some footage of someone playing the game in another casino during a bonus round.

I'll be interesting to see what happens with slot gaming music in the future.  The old style of machines that simply arpeggiate a C major chord probably won't go away-- they'll become more classic, though.  The casinos I was in definitely had a disproportionate number of older people playing them, so the bias could've been for more of the old style of machines/music.  However, my memories of Vegas (though a few years old) are much the same.  Music is getting more complex and newer machines can be heard that play music more like George is showing in his video above-- snippets of music as you play that make up a longer song.  In fact, when I hear music like that-- where a couple of notes of the phrase play each time I spin the reels, I'm even more inclined to play the next game more quickly so I can hear the musical phrase complete itself.  I know I'm a video game music nerd and not everyone is having that reaction, but at some level, folks probably are inclined to play the next game to hear more of the musical phrase.  Otherwise, it's like hearing only a few words of a spoken sentence and needing to continue to play to hear the whole sentence spoken and thus meaning imparted.

The arcade may have come and gone, or they might resurge in some way if the gaming experience can become special in some way that it can't at home.  Either way, my experience this weekend and work on this blog left me wondering: are casinos the new arcades?  The environment seems very much the same to me, but even more musically harmonious.  The next time you step into one, give a listen to all those machines singing in harmony...  Seems like that win might not be so far away....

Surveying Literature: The Fat Man on Game Audio: Tasty Morsels of Sonic Goodness

This weekend I finished The Fat Man on Game Audio: Tasty Morsels of Sonic Goodness.  The Fat Man is George Alistair Sanger.  Sanger has a team of friends, Team Fat: Dave Govett, Joe McDermott, and "The Professor" K Weston Phelan, who have made their game music central in their lives.  This book reads at time like a self-help book, a philosophy work, sometimes with rambling stories and a crude illustration or two.  However, it's a powerful glimpse into the mind and philosophy of a person who specializes in game audio and there's incredibly important information here, especially in the Hitting the Rubber with the Road section, where Sanger includes detailed descriptions and photos of the best ways to work in the field.  Sanger believes the same issues that have been present in game audio will play out as historical themes throughout time, and hopes that his book will begin such a documentation.  As weird as it is, Sanger knows that his book contains important historical evidence and that game composer methods need to be written down and documented.  He acknowledges that he's possibly writing for someone who pulls the book off the shelf years in the future, yet at the same time, the information contained within is critical.

Sanger is often quoted as saying that video game music is such a young field no one is dead yet.  However, with the death of Steve Jobs just a couple years ago, it's clear that the pioneers of technology: those who created, oversaw, and steered the early days of technological development aren't immortal and won't be here forever.  One day-- perhaps soon, we'll want to know things about the first generation of composers-- many of these questions I'm already wondering now: who knew who-- and how, what connections there were between people in games music, what their working methods were, etc.  Along these lines, I loved seeing the pictures in the book showing what sort of setup these working composers used.  Of course, as new technologies develop, office/work spaces and methods change constantly, so it's great to have documentation starting already.  I love Sanger's emphasis on playing real instruments and capturing live sounds rather than just relying on the computer.  I wonder if this is a pervasive feeling in the field?  It seems as the technological ability to include samples has improved, many games and composers have taken advantage of it, although now it's easier than every to simply compose with virtual instruments.

Despite a classical music training, Sanger makes most of his references in the work to popular musicians.  At numerous points he mentions game designers wanting something to sound "John Williams esque."  The Beetles were obviously a huge influence on him given the number of times he references them.  As a post-Beetles aged person, I wonder who game composers closer to my age would site as major influences?  I suppose it's possible that video games are old enough now that game music could be inspiring new composers to go into the field.  It's cool to see pictures and tales of Sanger and his friends in bands; I knew about Uematsu and the Black Mages, but glad to hear jam sessions are  more prevalent than I thought.  It's easy to forget that game composers aren't just digital guys, they play instruments too!

One of my favorite of Sanger's points is that you have to make compositions your own.  If someone asks you to create something "like" something else-- steal certain aspects, and then make it your own.  I couldn't agree more-- one of my mentors Shirley Verrett used to say to her students:  "It's when you sing with your own voice that people sit up and take notice." Making something similar to but different enough is the credo of popular arts-- enough similar to be accepted, but enough unique to stand out and have people take notice.  Finding that perfect balance is life.  Along these lines, some of my favorite moments came from the philosophical parts in the book, for instance, the quote: "Often the only sense of growth in your career will appear to be in the seeming importance of the party doing the rejecting."

One idea I hadn't thought about before is that Sanger describes game music as it relates to a family setting.  My family moved our tv with nintendo up into a bonus room when I was about 10, so we cleared the problem of only having one tv before the SNES came out, but it's definitely a consideration.  His point is this: while the kids play the game and are immersed in it, interactively, visually, and with audio, others around may not be able to see the screen and certainly aren't playing along.  In other words, the kids are immersed, but the parents might only hear the game.  When games were in arcades, they were dedicated environment for game play and video gamers.  Once the gaming scene shifted inside the house, suddenly a room for gaming and gamers was the family room in the house.  I actually never grew up not knowing a home console-- my parents had an Atari that we watched them play occasionally.  When the Nintendo came out, we got that too.  Sanger makes the point that music for kid's games shouldn't be annoying, simplistic, or too repetitive-- not only does it irritate the parent, the child gets tired of it too and turns it off.  Composers take note: don't just stay in tonic!

I hadn't thought of the difference between music that is used many times versus music that is just for a one time game event and how those things compete for audio memory space.  For each time you make a piece that only plays once, there's less space possible for the themes that play for the bulk of the game.

A final point that really resonated for me was Sanger's comparison between the recording industry and game music.  As mediums change: LPs-->Tapes-->CDs-->Digital, the previous incarnations become not only forgotten, but unplayable.  Even though I still have CDs in my storage closet (and great ones!) the only working CD player I own is on my computer.  I don't use one with my home stereo stereo.  VHS-- I own a few still, but I've got no way to play them.  The same happens in games: as the consoles change through time, some games will become unplayable.  Game systems have a lifespan where games are developed and released for them and then technology moves on.  Yes, some of the past games will be ported and become available-- legally or illegally, but other games for whatever reason won't.  Eventually, the old game consoles will become difficult to work and break.

Most of all, reading this book got me thinking about the history of game music.  Will people care to look back to the first chiptunes once they're old and long forgotten?  What will happen as game composers grow old?  Some are moving into consulting, others publishing about game music, some are beginning to teach.  In classical music we learn the idea that rarely does a musician just do one of the following: perform, teach, write about music, composer, arrange, repair, or sell music or instruments... most often, musicians careers embrace multiple of these.  Perhaps this is true of game music composers as well.

For even more Fat Man, I found this video interview with Sanger shortly after the book came out.

For more current readings:  The Fat Man Blog on O'Reilly.  As of writing, last updated Jan 2009.