Video Games Live (Dayton) 2019: A Review

A week ago today I attended Video Games Live in Dayton, Ohio at the beautiful Schuster Center.  This is the fourth video game music concert I've attended, and I took notes in order to blog a review of the event, as I have already with the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra World Tour, The Symphony of the Goddesses, and A New World: Intimate Music from Final Fantasy.  There were many aspects that I was prepared for having seen a DVD of this, portions of which I typically show when teaching Video Game Music class: a costume contest and gaming out in the lobby before the show began.  Merchandise (recordings, posters, hats, and shirts) was being sold at tables before the show, during intermission, and after; beer, wine, and other drinks were allowed in the theater during the show.  The audience was pretty young, I'd guess mainly ranging from teens through 40s-50s, many seeming close to my age.  

I walked in to the theatre right at the end of the costume contest.

The lights were a much more pronounced part of this program than the other game music concerts I've been to.  While I was expecting multimedia, like game footage and perhaps interviews with composers, there were aspects, for instance, cute mid-concert videos of spoofs like Sonic vs Pac Man and Frogger vs Grand Theft Auto, a video showing the Top 10 worst Voice Acting moments in Video Games, and some humorous/risqué Worst Video Game Titles, that had not been part of a game music concert I'd attended before.  Between the lighting design and the fog machine, the concert has a stronger rock and roll feel than the other three concerts I'd attended.  Another example of this was when giant, blowup Pokeballs were tossed into the audience for people to hit around during the final number.  (And they let people who ended up with the balls keep them!).

I had just settled into my seat here right before the start of the show and snapped a picture before we had to turn off recording devices.

One of my favorite aspects of the show was the hosting by Tommy Tallarico.  What a personality!  He acted as MC and occasionally played along on his guitar during certain numbers, perhaps three or four in the night.  He had a good rapport with the audience, able to respond very well to comments and also educated us meanwhile, providing a history of the concerts and an explanation of why he created VGL.  His goal was to "usher in a new audience to enjoy music at the symphony."  The concerts started in 2005 in the Hollywood Bowl with the first ever concert having 11,000 in attendance.  Now VGL is the longest running video game symphonic show, with this concert being number 494.  I enjoyed his costume changes throughout the show and also noted his wearing an Amico shirt for some Intellivison promotion.  So many details were so well done; for instance, the screen before the encores was a continue screen from a video game with a countdown-- genius!  The orchestra and choir sounded great, although knowing that VGL uses pre-recorded music to augment the live sound, I did wonder how much of what was heard from the audience was live playing versus a pre-existing mix.  Honestly, this was one of my favorite of the game concerts I've been to.  What worked so well in some ways was that there could be Mario, Zelda, Kingdom Hearts, Chrono Trigger, Undertale, etc-- a huge variety of music and game styles that a one franchise concert can't encompass.  But it wouldn't be fair for me to not mention my critiques, too.

One of the main detractors for me about the show was that occasionally, the metronome track that the orchestra was playing to was audible in the audience.  Granted, I was not so many rows back from the front, and I doubt that many people were even aware of this, but it was obvious to me particularly in transitions that went from very loud to suddenly soft.  The only other thing I disliked was when TT mocked the classical concert atmosphere, of people shushing each other for making any sound, even opening a cough drop.  It's great that he presents an explanation of the expected decorum for this concert as one where audience reaction/interaction is desired, and while I think there's plenty that classical music needs to adjust about their concerts, there's simply nothing gained by putting down another genre.  Conductor Emmanuel Fratiani told personal anecdotes about Jason Hayes, to make the point of the composers being alive and relatable, which was great, but again this was held as "unlike classical composers who are all dead."  I agree totally with the sentiment and get it, but would prefer if it were presented as: "wouldn't it be great if we could call up Beethoven?-- but we can with video game composers."  A small, semantic criticism, but one that's important to me.  The only other slight criticism I have is regarding the Kingdom Hearts segment, during which original Disney footage of the characters is shown instead of footage from a Kingdom Hearts game.  For me, this just didn't make sense-- I wanted to see the video game footage!  And while Tommy explained that this was "his idea, something special that he proposed to Disney," I couldn't help but wonder how much of this brainstormed proposal was out of necessity because the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra probably has the rights to show KH gameplay footage in concert, and square won't give it to Video Games Live.  That said, I think the nostalgia factor of this kind of thing wins over the audience and most folks didn't even think about it.

As explained by Tommy Tallarico, VGL has created over 140 segments (in individual greetings after the show, he said 190 segements-- I'd be curious to know which number is more accurate) and because they use social media to allow the audience to choose some of the pieces that are played, "no two VGL concerts are the same."  He said there are about 18-19 segments per evening, and this was true for this night, which had 17 pieces including two encores.  When you consider that there's a choir and an orchestra, in this case TT said 140 musicians were onstage, that's an impressive night of music making!  This particular night is going to be featured in an upcoming Netflix documentary, so I was glad to have been at this event.  Maybe I'll have a cameo in the audience sitting there, taking notes for this review.  The program for this historic night:

Castlevania
Metroid
Mass Effect
Phoenix Wright
World of Warcraft
Overwatch
Metal Gear Solid
Earthworm Jim

Kingdom Hearts
Undertale
Super Mario Bros
Skyrim
Okami HD
Chrono Trigger
Pokemon

Encores:
Halo
Final Fantasy VII: One Winged Angel

I hung around late into the evening because my former student Andrew Lipian was working with "the Merch" and it took a while to close out the sales.  This gave me a good amount of time to meet and chat a bit with both Tommy and Emmanuel and grab a picture with them.  Awesome that they're willing to speak to so many who attend!

All in all, Video Games Live was my favorite of the video game concerts I've attended.  I think the broad nature of the concert and variety of artistic and musical styles that are possible just makes for a more diverse and interesting program.  If you can catch VGL on this year's tour, or in the future, I recommend it whole-heartedly!

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.” 

Video Game Music Class: Just won a grant for guest speakers!

I'm elated to say that I just got notice I won a grant for my game music class. It's a small award that UM's Center for Research on Learning and Teaching makes available for developing courses called the Instructional Development Fund. My proposal is to use the fund to moderate Q&A's between leading game music experts via Skype. A condition of the grant is that I have to record the conversations for reuse (if the class is offered again) and to enter them into the UM library collection. Through my work on this blog, I've made contact with Karen Collins and Brian Schmidt, both of whom I've asked to participate in these conversations. I also reached out to Tommy Tallarico and got him on board as a speaker as well. I'm still looking for a composer who works primarily in mobile audio as a final interview. This is superb news for the class, the library collection, and me!  This class is going to rock!

Surveying Literature: A few short articles

While insomniac last night (perfect evening before a road trip), I read through several short articles I've had saved on my iPad. Nothing groundbreaking in them, but I did want to catalogue that I read them.

"Game on!"  Dominic Milano.  Keyboard magazine makes two appearances on this list.  Maybe keyboardists are just naturals for game music; Tommy Tallarico would agree! This is definitely the most interesting of these short articles to me. It reinforced for me my desire to meet Tommy Tallarico. This short Q and A with him clearly has a target audience of professional musicians. He also lists important websites I want to check out: idea.org, audio gang.org, and gamasutra.com. While a short article with ideas I've encountered before by this point in my research, it's always good to hear one more person reinforce audio software, interactive audio principles, and ways to get in the game audio scene.

"Video Games Killed the Cinema Star. Karen Collins." A brief defense of the academic study of game audio. It's a pity this is necessary. Most interesting is where she points directions toward future research. Some are being fulfilled already since the publication of this article (2007). I should probably browse this journal, Music, Sound, and the Moving Image, to see what else I might find. I like the list of popular music pieces related to games. I want to check out these and others.  Don't think I've listened to Weird Al's Pac-Man before:

"Les Claypool on Making Music for the Mushroom Men Video Games."  Q and A with Les Claypool.  've been wondering what sort of instruments game composers play and/or were trained on. Here's a bass player who composes game music. He discusses some of his techniques. I want to check out these games and give the albums with the music a listen. Definitely a good example of pop music/ game music synergy. And, as a big South Park fan, Les Claypool created the theme song for the show-- it's cool to see musicians who work in many mediums.

"Bloop Bloop, Hey, Bleep Bleep: Emulating Video Game Sounds."  Mitchell Sigman. Here's a super short article about emulating game audio sounds. Interestingly enough, this is in a journal aimed at keyboardists!  One of the most important things I took away from it was that the audio quality can't be too good or the music sounds to modern. There's a reduction in quality necessary from what's possible today to get the true 8-bit effect.

"Game Play to Music Play-- Video Games in the Music Room." Andrew Mercer. Very short-- target audience of music educators.  Gives some basic info about games that feature music prominently in the gameplay. While I've played Wii Music and Rock Band, I don't know Sing It at all and haven't played Dance Dance Revolution. I'll have to give Andrew's Audacity tutorials a watch to learn a bit more about him and the program; I've got only a very basic understanding of it.

Live Performances: Video Games Live

Yesterday was a long travel day for me as Vince and I headed down to my parents house to visit them before we start our usual summer work in the Berkshires.  The drive gave me a chance to listen to another of The Game Audio Podcast's, which I'm really loving so far-- I'm up to episode 4 now.  

I've also been thinking about the Video Games Live!/ Distant Worlds, etc phenomenon a lot recently.  Whenever I mention to a classical musician that I'm studying this music, they ask if I know of these concerts.  Somehow, these concerts have permeated the game culture bubble to non-gamers.  Probably in part because classical musicians understand how film music concerts work and these aren't far from that.  

This music tries to distance itself from classical symphonic music, and I can certainly see why.  A regular classical symphony orchestra might not enjoy an event like this, so the distinction is important in selling the concert to the right audience.  Tommy Tallarico is right in describing the event as a part symphony, part rock concert.  The lights, effects, multimedia, incorporation of audience members, interviews with composers, and historic speakers...  there are lots of things this performance has going right.  In many cases, with widely consumed classical music, the creators are long dead and can't be interviewed and brought up on stage.  That will happen to video game music, of course, but right now they have a huge advantage in an aging generation that we can see and talk to.  There are before and after events with the concerts too, much the same as classical music's pre-show lectures and afterward meet-and-greets.  

I hadn't considered that there are celebrities in this style of music, for instance, the pianist who plays Super Mario music blindfolded, Martin Leung.  There's a whole culture to the live performance of this music that's somewhat different from those who play it in games.  I suppose that's one of the ways these concerts win: mom and dad (or at this point, grandma and grandpa!) may still feel like they're taking the kids to the symphony, while the younger generation is thrilled to hear music they've grown up loving.  

The marketing of these concerts is a fine line to walk, though... there's no need to disparage classical music or concerts.  I've been to plenty of classical concerts that made use of multimedia, special effects, etc, to great effect.  I've also been to plenty of classical concerts that were in that traditional "stuffy" atmosphere and were absolutely brilliant-- and, in fairness, some I've hated for having that atmosphere.  That's all in the eye of the beholder anyway.  In some ways, with VGL!'s various acts and discussions, it's even more true to what I know of historic classical performances.  I'm thinking here of Baroque opera houses, where pieces were broken up, excerpted, and there was a whole event to the performance; in the corners of the houses, there were people eating, having sex, selling things, etc.  

I do hope for a day when we can hear this music a bit more expressively live.  I understand the need for the click track with the visuals, but think that combined with the hiring of orchestra members who sometimes look (and sound) as if the music is beneath them can hurt the performance.  We need to invent a way to lock the visuals with the music instead of vice-versa.  And make sure that the performing orchestra members actually love the music they're playing.  

In any case, I need to see one of these concerts live some day soon to drink it all in in-person.  

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

Surveying literature: searching online databases for game music

I spent several hours today in the UM libraries searching for articles about game music.  I'm now realizing a broader distinction between "game music" and "game audio."  I'm interested in game audio: I want to better understand the broader discussion of game audio (dialogue, voice acting, recording techniques, implementation, etc), but I ultimately want to focus on game music (composers, composition process, musical aspects, musical-technological interaction).  So to go to the next level, I'm turning my attention to individual chapters in books and journal articles with a focus on "game music," and thus turning away conversations about recording dialogue and special effects.  These, of course, are interesting to me as part of the audio experience, but they aren't game music: my primary focus.  I'm also trying to make sure I finish physical materials ASAP so I can switch to electronic materials for the summer when I'm away from home.  I always bring too many books with me...  I'm going electronic this summer.

Tonight I did a very broad search for the top 100 items on ProQuest for "Game Music" and came up with a ton of hits.  Here are my favorites and most interesting quotes, weblinks, and reactions:

-"Game Music Central Presents 'Best of the Best: A Tribute to Game Music.'" Canada NewsWire
Notes: Gamemusiccentral.com no longer exists in this form.  Online media and game music... can they coexist?  How does video game music market itself and connect with others?  How does it react with the world around us?  How do artistic concerns drive it?  

- "Game Music Gaining Interest, Money, Respect." Melinda Bargreen.  Seattle Times
Notes: NBA Live 2003 became the first soundtrack to go Platinum.
Alistair Hirst: "having an orchestral soundtrack is seen as a 'big plus, bringing value to the game.'"

-"College orchestra plays thumb wiggling video-game music."  Stacey Hollenbeck.  Tribune News Service.
Notes: As of Oct 2007, "6 of the 11 marching bands from the Big Ten schools  had played video game music at some point in their half-time shows."  Is UM one of these?  I can't tell via the web, but would love to know if any readers have info on a UM half time show involving game music.  I did find two blog entries by the composition department at MSU about game music...

- "'Live': Game music 'the radio of 21st century.'"  David Stabler.  The Oregonian.
Notes (2009): 68% of American households play video games.  They spend more time playing them than watching TV, reading, or going to the movies.  The average game player is 35.  40% are women.
Tommy Tallarico: "When you watch a movie, you hear the music once and six months later, the DVD comes out and you might hear it again.  Within one year, you probably hear maybe three hours of John Williams' music.  Compare that with "World of Warcraft," where a player is hearing the music 40 to 60 hours a week."

-"Video-game music isn't just kid stuff, it's a concert." Melinda Bargreen.  Seattle Times
Notes: In 2003 EA reported: "40% of respondents said that after hearing a song they liked in a video game, they bought the music CD.  Several emerging pop-artists, after being featured in video-games, now have hit the Billboard charts, according to Billboard's Feb 15 issue."

-"Game Music in the Conservatory."  Dayton Daily News
Notes:  Michael Sweet: "We're seeing kids want to play the violin, french horn, or other instruments because they've heard it in a video game or seen it at a game music conert."

- "Concertos for Your Console:  video game music is now so good, fans want to see it performed live.  Robert Colvile.  The Daily Telegraph.
Notes: Jason Hayes: "People who aren't gamers still think video game music is all kind of like Pac-Man.  But for composers there's always a new challenge-- you're basically collaborating with the player."

-"'The Fat Man' rules in computer game music." Mary Hellman.  San Diego Union-Tribune.
Notes: Johnny Wilson: "George Sanger was the first to take a music composer's attitude toward the product and to integrate the music with the visuals. The score for Loom was revolutionary... What you had was true scoring, with themes for characters and scenes.  It reminded me of what John Williams had done with 'Star Wars.'"

-"In a Nod to Lush Film Scores, Game Music Gains Texture." Matthew Mirapaul.  New York Times.
Notes: "Computers and game consoles now support multiple audio streams-- up to 256 separate "voices" on the Xbox, for example.  Whether the music source is a MIDI synthesizer or a prerecorded sound file, the systems are powerful enough to combine and modify the streams in interesting ways-- provided that the composer has provided the options in advance."

-"Using Living, Breathing Musicians In Game Music."  Jack Wall.  Game Developer
Notes: "If your budget doesn't permit the recording of a live orchestra, then do your best to record enough living, breathing musicians to bring the game alive.  And please, if you are composing for a game trailer that will play next to John Williams' Episode III trailer, remember...  it will be playing next to John Williams' Episode III trailer."

-"Staying in Tune with the Times: Video Game Music Has Come a Long Way." Nick Lewis.  The Ottawa Citizen.
Notes: "Since many young people today play video games more than they listen to radio or watch TV, video games are breaking talent the way MTV did in the 80s.  A recent poll of core gamers aged 13-23 showed 55% of them learned about new artists from video games."

-"Hot for Game Audio."  Damian Kastbauer.   Game Developer.
Notes: Reviews much of the same literature I've read or have ready to read: Collins- Game Sound, Brandons- Audio for Games, Stevens/Raybould- The Game Audio Tutorial, OpenAL documentation-- (I need to learn more about this), Bridgett- From the Shadows of Film Sound, Sangers- The Fat Man on Game Audio.  This may be the gem of my search: my investigation of this may be best summed up by perhaps my favorite social media post: "This exists" (the Game Audio Podcast).

My beloved, NPR, garnered two links:

Lindsay Totty.  "From Mega Man to Final Fantasy, Live Video Game Music."  Ok, so maybe I can convince the U to let me travel to ONE music conference...  Where should it be?  MAGFest?  GameSoundCon?  Project Bar-B-Q?  Also...  I've just been reading/watching interviews with Koji Kondo where he emphasizes the importance of melody in game music composition.  Interesting that Nobuo Uematsu does the same here: "Lindsay: Uematsu echos the thought that it's melody that makes for great game music.  Uematsu: It's pretty easy for me to come up with melodies.  24 hours a day, it's in my head all the time, and I struggle to choose which ones to use."

David Greene.  "Video Game Music: Big Music, Big Money."  The classic Greek conversation between student and master.  How much does it cost to make game music?  Tommy Tallarico: Extremes: $50,000 to $1,000,000.  The average: $250,000 to $400,000.

SurveyIng Literature: The Evolution of Video Game Music (NPR, All Things Considered)

Today I'm listening to an NPR story from 2008, The Evolution of Video Game Music. If you've not heard it, I totally recommend it.  Not overly technical, but for a video game/ music lover, it's a good intro. One of the best parts is hearing the video game music in the background!

Some highlights for me are:

The mention as far back as Space Invaders of game designers testing to see the effect of the sound effects to have an effect on the player's emotional state. This has me thinking about the interplay between marketing and video game music-- wondering what sort of marketing video game music principles exist. 

The program compares video game music in comparison with film music-- but, says that unlike film music which has, according to Tommy Tallarico, "background" music, video game music has "foreground" music.

A question seems to be resounding as a theme in several of these sources: Is video game music serious music?  I wonder, why does it matter?

The audio story goes on to mention Video Games Live and how successful these concerts are selling versus a classical concert.  Video Games Live concerts are a multimedia experience where the audience is encouraged to be loud and energized compared with the "stiffness" of a classical concert.

Very interesting to learn that Berkley and USC are teaching video game music composition.  As a college teacher, I'd be interested to teach a video game music history course.

Just hearing the music excerpts in the background of the NPR story as the music becomes more contemporary in time is awesome!  Or follow links on the left side of the NPR page for live performances of a Final Fantasy piano medley and some of your favorite classic themes from Tetris, Super Mario Bros, and Myst.