video game music?

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Hold 'Em Czar
Member Since: Dec 30, 2004

does anyone have any experience makin' music or sounds for video games? i think i could get into this, but i have no clue where to start.....where's the 'hotbeds' for video game creators? who do i need to know? how does the process go?

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Cone Poker
Member
Since: Apr 07, 2002


Jun 12, 2006 07:35 pm

Get a good cheesy synth. Make tons of use of the TB 303 for really basic drumloops.

That's for your classic arcade type games...

for the better ones, like silent hill and such pads are going to be your friend.

That said I have never made music for a game, but I hav played mana a videogame.

Conjurer of Emotion
Member
Since: Jan 14, 2006


Jun 12, 2006 08:36 pm

I am looking into scoring film and games for a living :)

But I'm still in the stages of building up a portfolio and looking for a school for an extra push as well so I can't help you with hotbeds :(

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002


Jun 12, 2006 10:15 pm

Goldenmean, didnt we have this conversation a few months ago?

WYD, Goldenmean is on the right track. A portfolio of music of that type is your biggest friend. That was how it worked for me. A chance encounter and a little helpfull push and I was in. Then in my case it was all word of mouth.

Conjurer of Emotion
Member
Since: Jan 14, 2006


Jun 12, 2006 10:33 pm

Yeah i was gonna mention that Noize lol. I knew you did some film but I wasnt sure about games...

On another note, I am putting together my new project PC starting tommorow. I am excited about it. Its gonna have P4 3.0Ghz processor and two gig of DDR2 ram to start with. Got my sound card already and I'm droppin in a nice 256mb PCIe video card with dual monitor and widescreen resolution for my big widescreen flat panel. My case is really nice too. Its got 4 120mm fans for quieter operation and a seperate 80mm fan with its own duct to cool the PCI cards. Excuse my ranting, but I just cant wait to get this up and running :)

...The relevance to this thread? Well I need all of this power to run the PC thrashing sample software like Gigastudio and such which film and game scorers use. Bill Brown uses Gigastudio and he scores the Rainbow 6 series for Xbox.

I have been working on some stuff with Motu Symphonic Instrument which is a really great value. In a few weeks I hope to post something. I havent posted any of my stuff here yet :(

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002


Jun 12, 2006 10:38 pm

CAnt wait to hear something goldenmean, it should be good.

And the new PC sounds like it will do the trick. Indeed all the new samplers and software synths scarf uphuge amounts of CPU. Thank you for the freeze function Cakewalk!

Conjurer of Emotion
Member
Since: Jan 14, 2006


Jun 12, 2006 10:45 pm

Yeah, my current PC handles it pretty well aside from long load times. But throw on a cathedral reverb and the CPU usage meter spikes to 90% lol.

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002


Jun 13, 2006 07:17 pm

Which reverb are you using? I know a couple of the bigger Waves ones were giant CPU hogs, and the Lexicon reverb with Sonar can also chomp up a big bite depending on the reverb you choose.

Dimmension Pro manages CPU usage much better then the original Dimmension, but I usually run it in High Rez so it negates the savings I would have gotten. But I have figgured out how to trim some of the fat off some of my patches for it and they dont do too bad. But I still find myself using freeze very often.

Conjurer of Emotion
Member
Since: Jan 14, 2006


Jun 13, 2006 11:33 pm

Well the reverb I was reffering to was the convolution reverb within the Motu Symphonic Instrument. I'm not familiar with the freeze funtion. Is that almost like a circuit breaker where the program freezes functions before it causes system overload and allows you to restore?

By the way...is there any way in Sonar to make it so that you can preview an entire track or at least the entire highlighted area with your effects? I find it very annoying that I can only get a 3 second snippit before I lay down an effect. It really doesnt tell me anything. Cool edit pro will just load everything up immediatly and give you an entire preview. Huge reverbs will just take a little bit longer loading but better than laying it down and undoing a million times until you get it right.

Hold 'Em Czar
Member
Since: Dec 30, 2004


Jun 14, 2006 12:48 pm

hmmm the only way i'd see is to go ahead and apply then undo if ya don't like it....but most of my 'effecting' is done in real time anyawy as an insert on a channel, i don't spend much time freezing tracks or applying effects.

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002


Jun 14, 2006 05:16 pm

Goldenmean, if you go into Options, Global Options. You will find the General tab and at the bottom is a setting for Audition Commands. You can set it for as long as you like.

Otherwise I know some of the third party effects I use can be set right in the effect itself for audition time.

I use PerfectSpace and if I want to just go through the entire tunje and try a few differant reverbs I right click on the audio track I want it on and select Insert Effect and it will allow you to play the entire mix while trying differant settings.

Hope that helps. If you need a beter explanation let me know and I'll wak ya through it.

Conjurer of Emotion
Member
Since: Jan 14, 2006


Jun 14, 2006 05:37 pm

Ohhh awsome! I will give that a try when I can. It sounds simple enough, thanks Noize.

Conjurer of Emotion
Member
Since: Jan 14, 2006


Jun 14, 2006 05:39 pm

btw WYD, sorry about the thread straying way off. I don't think many people here have much experience with making music for games. I'm around the same stage you are myself.

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002


Jun 14, 2006 07:01 pm

I think I'm about the only one who has gotten involved with that.

WYD, when I get a few minutes I'll kinda walk you through how it happened for me.

Hold 'Em Czar
Member
Since: Dec 30, 2004


Jun 14, 2006 10:36 pm

yeah thanks, i just wanna know if i need some other 'video' software... matchin' sync points and what not is WAY beyond my skills at the moment. but yeah, background paddy RPG music is very easy for me....**** just comes outta me pretty easy.

Conjurer of Emotion
Member
Since: Jan 14, 2006


Jun 14, 2006 11:02 pm

I would be interested to hear the walkthrough as well. WYD, you should listen to the Final Fantasy X soundtrack if you can find it or locate a few songs from it. That is the RPG style I would like to capture. There is a very focused theme for every type of environment and situation and the music is much more enthralling than the simple traditional pads.

Conjurer of Emotion
Member
Since: Jan 14, 2006


Jun 14, 2006 11:27 pm

Also Noize, if you would care to share, I am also curious as to what some of the software is needed for synchronization with video like WYD was asking. I know Sonar works with video and I have Sony Vegas 5.0, but I'm not sure if those are up to par with what professionals might use for the job.

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002


Jun 15, 2006 07:32 pm

Just a quick note. I use Sonar 5 PE. And have only used Sonar for doing commercials and most of the things I have done. I have however used other means when working in other studio's. But I will generally request Sonar for the ease of the workflow and the fact I am familier with it. Although when working with another enginer tape is generally locked and synced to video machines. But honestly these days, it is mostly digital for the speed and quickness of it all.

Conjurer of Emotion
Member
Since: Jan 14, 2006


Jun 15, 2006 09:51 pm

Coolness. Its always good to hear that you dont need to buy something else.

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002


Jun 15, 2006 10:03 pm

Yep, all you need is a source file in AVI or compatable with Sonar's video playback. I cant remember right off, but it will playback several differant formats.

It will generally load the audio as a seperate track if they send a file with audio allready on it. I usually prefer that method. As I can manipulate things a little beter that way. I will usally ask for a seperate audio track though, or multiple track's if they are available.


Conjurer of Emotion
Member
Since: Jan 14, 2006


Jun 15, 2006 10:54 pm

Yeah, I know Sony Vegas just splits the audio track from any .AVI file from my experience. Well it seems like Sonar will do just fine for the task. I hated doing video work on this machine because it takes so long to convert and transfer everything between the camera and different programs. Plus playback was very sluggish in some apps. I hope it will work out fine on the new machine.

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