Unit 73 Sound For Computer Games

Comparing & Contrasting Game Music:

It goes without saying that to really set the mood within a game you need music, or at least sound effects. Many games developers research for weeks or months good sounds to add to their game. These sounds must fit with the game and the atmosphere you are trying to set. There is no point having a fighting game and playing sounds that you would find in a game such as Hello Kitty, it just doesn't work.

Some games require few sounds as the scene may set itself, however sounds always help to get the atmosphere and the motive of the game across to the player.

Analysis of 'The Last of Us' Main Theme:

This video analyses the main theme from 'The Last of Us'

Analysis of 'Little Big Planet 3' Soundtrack 'Dead Heat':

This video analyses 'Dead Heat' from 'Little Big Planet 3'

Audio Environment:
When producing each piece of music the composer would have had to be in close contact with the producer, communicating regularly and ensuring that the piece is on track. The composer must take the various audio set-ups into consideration. In this modern society most households have stereo sound, with some even having surround sound to try and gain to 3D audio experience. However some stereo sound owners also buy a sound bar to sit either in front of or on top of their TVs gaining a more surround sound style of hearing things. So taking the various TV set-ups into consideration would give the producer and the composer the best idea of what sound to aim for. PlayStations use Dolby Digital which is a high end sound company which would be more towards surround sound speakers than stereo. Another thing to consider is how to record the sounds, there will be various sounds to be recorded. Instruments being the main thing, however recording instruments is still analogue so ensuring the best equipment to pick up all of the individual sounds would also be vital.

Legal Considerations:
For both games companies and music producers there would of been various legal considerations they would of had to consider before releasing the final tracks. With both pieces being produced and preformed by well known artists, the main legal consideration would be to ensure the relevant insurance policies were in place just in case they didn't fulfil their requirements or were unable to complete the job. The other key legal issue is copyright and trademarking, ensuring all of the copyrighting and trademark laws, including The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, are abided by are key to ensuring that the project doesn't end in a law suit for either producer or games company. It would also be important that the producer signed a contract stating the work was made just for this game and they will not distribute it anywhere else. Another thing they need to consider is contracting the composer and financially supporting them.

Comparing & Contrasting The Two Tracks:
There are many similarities within the two tracks, however there are far more differences. The biggest similarity I could find is that both games are exclusive to PlayStation systems. Both the PlayStation 3 and 4 use a lossy compression format in the form of Dolby Digital. The only other similarity I could find was that both pieces seem to be trying to portray a story. 'The Last of Us' has more of a story to it than 'Little Big Planet 3'. However you can feel the latter also trying to put some form of story into the track. Some noticeable differences I found where the genres both games are. 'The Last of Us' is a survival horror game, however the music is very calm and mellow portraying how the characters must act in their situations. Compared to 'Little Big Planet 3' which is a puzzle platform game, the music is very upbeat and encouraging. Another difference I found was how well 'The Last of Us' brought out the emotion in the music, now I know 'Little Big Planet 3' isn't that type of game, however Santalolalla managed to show the emotions of the game through the music. As well as this I noticed that the 'Little Big Planet 3' piece was very upbeat and fast, compared to the slower 'The Last of Us' piece. The faster more upbeat track didn't seem to be for a specific game. What I'm trying to say is, if you added 'Dead Heat' into another game the chances are it would fit perfectly. On the other hand 'The Last of Us' main theme may fit into other games but it also has the potential to be iconic to the game.

Methods & Principles of Both Games:

During the recording process there would be multiple audio limitations to take into account and consider. There would need to be a digital sound processor to process the analogue sounds of the instruments and transfer them into digital sound. This is done by using a DSP, it takes millions of small samples of the music and manipulates them from an analogue signal into a digital sound allowing for a computer to playback what has been recorded.

Another audio limitation to consider is the RAM, which stands for Random Access Memory, often referred to as Random Access Storage. RAM is a form of computer storage, each computer comes with RAM, often in different sizes depending on the machine. It allows the computer to read and save things to it's memory as fast as it can. This could affect recording if it is broken in terms of making sure the recording is saved safely and securely. 

A sample rate is the number of samples of audio recognised in a second, often measured in hertz, Hz, or kHz. This could affect the audio limitations as to how much you can record at a time. Sony, who publish both games, choose a 44,100Hz sample rate because it can be recorded on their modified videoing equipment.

Initially the audio output doesn't seem to be too important, however due to the vast increase on household televisions being connected to surround sound systems rather than a stereo sound the audio output must be correspondent to one of these. With Sony using Dolby Digital in their machines it makes them compatible with both surround as well as stereo. However they tend to use surround more, some people with a stereo system do get a sound bar which can enhance the 3D sound of their TV.

Both games would of used Digital sounds to create their tracks, where both may have used analogue and digital processed them they may also have added some computerised sounds in there somewhere too. A Computer Workstation, more commonly referred to as DAW, Digital Audio Workstation is an electronic device that allows you to edit record and produce audio files. A DAW can be a single laptop with basic software on it, or it could be a professional set up with multiple machines, monitors, software plug-ins such as a piano keyboard, and top of the range speaker systems to test the best sounds. Sound editing would have been used in both games, after recording they would have tweaked certain areas ensuring they sounded crystal clear and as fresh as possible. This will either be done by the producer or a dedicated sound editor.

MIDI, or Multi-Instrument Digital Interface, uses multiple instruments in one system and allows them all to be played off of the one controller. I feel this would have been used more in The Last of Us track rather than Little Big Planet. However it is a machine that is often used when producing music with a large variety of instruments within it.                                                                                                                                     I have no doubts that both games would have used multi-track recording to forge all of the instruments into one. Multi-track recording allows the separate recordings of different instruments, for example, to be recording and put in the same place to create one file.

The bit-depth of a track is basically the quality of the audio, a high bit-depth could pick up minuscule sounds such as breathing. In terms of these games I believe they would of used a good-quality bit-depth but not so good you can hear the people playing the instruments breathing.                                                                                                   Resolution in terms of audio is again how clear the audio is. A poor resolution will sound muffled where as a high quality resolution will sound crisp and clear.

Methods & Principles of 'The Last of Us' Main Theme:
The Last of Us is an Action/Adventure Survival Horror game developed by Naughty Dog to be released exclusively for PlayStation 3, there has been a slightly updated version of the game called 'The Last of Us Remastered' which has recently been released for PlayStation 4. The main difference in the Remastered version is enhanced graphics and sound. In terms of recording the main theme to the game Naughty Dog brought in a well known producer, Gustavo Santaolalla who used his experience to produce and compose the piece. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ejdjcun2Jo4

The above video shows Gustavo Santaolalla explaining how he came about music and grew to work in the games industry. It shows clips of the recording process of him directing the orchestra and composing the track. You get to see how the track was made and how much hard work and detail went into the main theme, as well as the other tracks he composed for the game. The main method of recording the track was through an orchestra, due to the amount of instruments there are within the track. In the video you can also see the scale of the recording due to the amount of microphones being used to pick up every element of the track. 

The track is the main theme to the game, Gustavo Santaolalla wrote and produced the track specifically for The Last of Us. The piece is the main theme to the song, so it will play when you load the game and possibly during the game too.

This track is in an uncompressed format which would most likely be either a .wav or .aiff file. However I believe it maybe a .smp file due to the orchestral elements of the track. A .smp file is commonly used in orchestral pieces due to it's ability to have different levels to the file, helping with individual instruments.

Methods & Principles of 'Little Big Planet 3' Soundtrack 'Dead Heat':
Little Big Planet 3 is the sixth game in the series to be released, however it is the third main title. The other three are spin-offs for either PlayStation 3/4 or PSP/PS Vita. This version however is available only on the PlayStation systems, 3 and 4. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx1y5721XKw

The producer of the song 'Dead Heat' is Barry Adamson, a instrumental song of the same title and very similar track can be found on his 1993 album 'The Negro Inside Me'. The producers at 'Little Big Planet' may have come across this and approached Barry Adamson to allow a slightly remixed version to be added to the game. However this is not a proven fact, just an assumption. There is little connecting Barry Adamson to 'Little Big Planet 3' Despite it being his song Dead Heat within the game. 

As far as I know Barry Adamson, wrote and composed this piece of music 'Dead Heat'. It features on his album from 1993 as well as being the main soundtrack to Little Big Planet 3. So in terms of the game the song isn't an original piece but I'm sure all of the relative copyright laws have been adhered to.

Again the likleyhood is that 'Dead Heat' is a .wav or .aiff file format track. This is because it originally comes from a CD, where most commonly tracks are saved to these. I would say that it is probably more likely to be a .wav file format as this is a much better format for saving audio files.

The Best Game of All Time?

WARNING: POTENTIAL SPOILERS!

There are so many games within the world, if you asked ten different people what their favorite game of all time was the chances are you would get ten different answers. The point I'm trying to make is that everyone has different opinions on games, some people won't even play a game from viewing the trailer. Where as other people, like myself, buy games second hand, simply because if you don't like it you haven't gone out and spent £30-£40 on a game that you think is awful. The best thing about this is that you get about 5/6 games for the same price as one brand new one.

So in choosing what is the best game of all time, in my opinion, I took into consideration my most recent purchases.

Sleeping Dogs; Set in Hong Kong, China, Sleeping Dogs is a martial arts crime fighting game. You are the main character, Wei Shen, who was born in Hong Kong but moved to San Francisco when he was ten to help his older sister, Mimi, overcome her drug addiction. Whilst in America Shen joined the police academy and qualified top of his class. Mimi later died from her heroin addiction and Shen set out and killed the person who was dealing her the drugs. Shen was then sent on a undercover mission back in Hong Kong. To establish his cover his was to do a drug deal and spent the night in a cell where he met his childhood friend Jackie. Jackie then helped Wei get in with the notorious Water Street Gang, led by Winston Chu. This allowed Shen to infiltrate the Sun On Yee, often fighting with rival gangs. Mostly the Jade Gang, ran by Dogeyes Lin. Jackie is the main person for Wei to be seen with. They were best friends in childhood, until Wei moved to America that is.

The main aim within the game is to keep undercover and do the work the HKPD are asking you to do. There are many tasks to do both criminal and police work, there are very few police officers know that Wei is an undercover cop so getting arrested has to be kept to a minimum, however sometimes the story plans for Wei to get took into police custody.

Having only played the game for roughly 2-3 hours my opinion is only based on the beginning of the game and the general feel of it. I like the game and I'm getting into the story too. The story is so far gripping me in a way in which I want to keep playing. There are many emotional themes within the game for Wei and I'm interested in seeing how it all pans out. Another thing I like about the game is it's uniqueness, not many games are martial arts based and/or set in Hong Kong. Most crime games are American based. The game so far is starting to climb my top ten list.

 LA Noire; Set in 1940's America post war Cole Phelps is a War Hero, who has since joined the police force. The game follows Phelps through is different job roles and promotions with the LAPD. Formerly serving in the Second World War, Phelps believes firmly in justice and not sending the wrong man down. Unlike his homicide partner, Rusty Galloway, who tries to pin a woman's murder on the husband in the majority of cases.

Phelps starts off as a patrol officer with his partner, Ralph Dunn. Cole then gains promotion for going above and beyond what was expected of him, he is the partnered with Stefan Becowsky, in the Traffic department. After a few more cases Cole is again promoted to Homicide where he comes to work with Rusty Galloway, where they together solve 'The Black Dahlia' case which has left officers stumped as to what could of happened and who could have been behind it. This leaves Phelps with another Promotion, this time to Ad Vice working with Roy Earl.

As it is a relatively new game of mine this is how far I have got to, but overall my initial opinion of the game gives the potential for this to be right up there on my favorite games of all time. Although I have yet to fully crack into I can feel a gripping backstory coming along and I am intrigued as to how to rest of the game is going to come together.

Brink; I was quite disappointed with this game. The game case made it look like a fast-paced online shoot 'em up. Of which it is, however for me it lacked structure. There is a campaign mode but it was, again in my opinion, dreadful. I tried to play the game multiple times but each time I was disappointed. I rarely play this game and when I do it is mainly just to take my anger out and shoot people.

The online gameplay is of mediocre quality, for online it's fine but with the campaign lacking any motive to continue, for me, it brought the whole game down with it.

The main positive I have with Brink's gameplay is the quality of the graphics and sounds used within the game.

So with my three newest games taken into consideration I have decided what my favorite game of all time is. It was hard to choose from so many brilliant games that I have played but I have to stick with my top ten list and choose The Legend of Zelda, The Wind Waker. As I have previously mentioned I have never fully completed this game, however I have come close and the gameplay I have experienced is, in my opinion, world class.

The Legend of Zelda, The Windwaker

 

So the Wind Waker is the ninth game within The Legend of Zelda series. It was released in 2003 and has two separate games that initially follow the same story within this game, they are: The Phantom Hourglass (2007) and Spirit Tracks (2009).

Spirit Tracks follows The Phantom Hourglass in Chronological order and in story. Where as there is two additional games in between The Wind Waker and The Phantom Hourglass.

The Wind Waker was originally only released on Nintendo GameCube but has since been rereleased for the Nintendo Wii U with a slightly modified title, (The Winder Waker HD).

 

The game starts on the quiet Outset Island and you are the main character, Link. However the main characters name will be whatever the file is saved under, for example is Paul saved his game under his name then the main character will take the name of Paul. To make the character be called Link then that is what the save file must be named. It is Link's birthday and his sister, Aryll is on the search for her big brother. She calls his name a number of times. When she finds him asleep atop of 'Aryll's Lookout' she wakes him up and lends him her most prized possession, her telescope. It's just for one day, she tells him to look after it carefully. Whilst Aryll shows Link how to use the telescope Link notices a giant bird carrying a young blonde girl within its claws. Below in the sea is a Pirate Ship shooting boulders at the bird through the cannon.

 

 

The bird subsequently drops the girl, who you later find out is called Tetra, and Link decides he needs to try and rescue her. Link climbs down from the lookout tower and goes to visit the only man on the island who knows about swordplay, Orca. Once Orca teaches Link the way of the sword he heads up to the forest to rescue the falling girl. Link succeeds in this and on their way back to the village Aryll is snatched by the bird, who believed she was Tetra. The local Rito postman, Quill, convinces Link to take him on their ship and assist him in finding his sister, considering it was Tetra's fault in the first place.

Once aboard the ship Link plays a game below deck, this game must be completed to arrive at your destination. Once arriving at the Forsaken Fortress, where Quill has been told the snatched girls are being held, Tetra fires Link over the wall of the Fortress in a barrel. Link lands in the water and swims to the nearest ledge before climbing onto land.

Link then gets a fright from hearing Tetra's voice, before they flung him into the unknown she slipped a Pirate Charm into his pocket. The Pirate Charm allows Tetra to see what Link is doing and also allows Link to hear what she is saying. Link must explore the Forsaken Fortress to try and reach the room where Aryll is being held. Tetra often gives Link pointers or tips on how to continue. There are numerous monsters for Link to contend with as he tries to rescue his sister. Some of these enemies are those such as a Bokoblin, which is the mini-boss the first time Link travels to the Forsaken Fortress. There are other enemies such as the Moblin, pictured below.

 

Once Link reaces the top of the Fortress he has to defeat a Bokoblin before he can enter the room where his sister is being held. Link does so and he sees his sister just before the bird that snatched Aryll swoops down and grabs Link. The bird then takes Link to a mysterious hooded figure who tells the bird to throw him away. Link wakes up the next morning in a boat, not just a normal boat. The boat begins talking to Link, he explains that he is the King of Red Lions and he is the only boat in the land that possesses the power of speech. The King of Red Lions agrees to help Link as long as he can buy a ship to help him properly. Link and the boat then travel around the Great Sea seeking help and guidance in how to rescue his sister from the evil Ganon.

 

So there is a brief overdraft of how the game begins, now in my opinion this game is not only the best in The Legend of Zelda series but the best game I have ever played...

I have recently began playing The Phantom Hourglass again and I'm over halfway of completing that. It came as a close second I would say, the story behind the games are very similar both have Link in this cartoonish character rather than the more grown up version, as I have shown to the right. The difference in character appearance is quite obvious, the first Link is from The Ocarina of Time, compared to the Wind Waker Link. You can see both characters are representing the same person, but as well as this they show different personalities and attitudes. Now in terms of me thinking this is the best game ever I am merely stating that I prefer the Link from Wind Waker as his attitude and determination seems more apparent than that of Ocarina of Time Link. Wind Waker Link is often referred to by Nintendo as 'Toon Link' as opposed to the other version just being 'Link'.

 

Now onto what I like about the game, I suppose my favorite thing about the game is the quality of graphics that are shown for such an old game. It was first released in 2003 for Nintendo GameCube, and was immediately criticized for its name not 'rolling of the tongue' as easy as other games in the series such as 'Ocarina of Time' or 'A Link to The Past'. However, with the game now twelve years old the graphics are top quality to when I compare it to recent versions, like The Phantom Hourglass.

 

Another good aspect of the game in my opinion is all of the different islands you get to visit, each one has such interested characters within them. The background of each island and its inhabitants are thoroughly thought through and are all very detailed.

 

The King of Red Lions aspect of the game, without ruining big spoilers, is very well thought through and will leave the player in awe of how clever the story writer has been. This is also the case in Phantom Hourglass with one of the main characters, Oshus. The depth that the story goes to, not only in the Wind Waker, but in all games with The Legend of Zelda series, is phenomenal. The detail and creativity leaves me awestruck each time. The way all of the stories tie into each other as well is amazing. Overall if I was to rate to game I would give it a 9.8 out of 10, the only thing I would change being a very long game to fully complete.

 

 

Sound for Computer Games... Part 3

Sound File Formats

There are multiple different formats of which you can save sound files.

Uncompressed

WAV; Waveform Audio File Format, also known as WAVE... most commonly known as WAV. WAV is a file extension name for a sound file that is being saved onto a Windows Macintosh or Linux operating system. It is the main format used in windows. WAV is used to store uncompressed sound files, however in some cases compressed files could be stored in this format also.

AIFF; Audio Intercharge File Format, it is very similar to a WAV file. The only real difference is an AIFF is the file extension for Apple software.

AU; An AU File Format is a more simpler file format, also saved as .snd

SMP; An SMP file is used more for mixing music, it allows different levels of a track to be saved as well as saving sheet music.

VOC; VOC files store digitalized sounds, including sound effects and speech. This is often used for CD Audio Tracks.

Compressed

MP3; MP3 is probably the most well known file extension, it is most commonly used for storing music on various devices.

RA; RA stands for RealAudio and is most used to stream audio files although it isn't very common anymore.

VOX; VOX is a audio file that is used to store sound, often human voices or speech. Mostly used and edited using VoxWare MetaSound.

Resolution & Bit-Depth

How can resolution and bit-depth constrain file-size?

 - Resolution and bit-depth can both impact the size of an audio file, the smaller the bit depth the poorer the quality would be, a high bit-depth could pick up almost silent sounds like a pin dropping. Resolution would vastly depend on whether the file has a high or low bit-depth. The resolution of a picture is how clear or blurry it is... It's the same with sound, a good resolution would be clean cut sounds where as a low resolution would sound muffled and crackly.

Explain what the following words mean:

Sample Rate; is the amount of audio samples carried out within a second and measured in Hz or kHz. For example; 33 200 would measure as 33 200 Hz or 33.2 kHz.

Mono; often uses one speaker for a whole room, making the sound quality only available in a close proximity to the system or computer.

Stereo; is a speaker on either side of a computer or stereo, allowing sound to travel in two directions.

Surround; sound uses multiple speakers around the room allowing the sound to travel around the entire space.

Audio Limitations

How can the following information limit the recording of sound?

Digital Signal Processor, DSP: A DSP can take an analog file and manipulate the file digitally before converting it back to an analog file. This process is a mathematical procedure that tries to alter the time within a file, ultimately making the file size potentially smaller. The limits this could have on recording sound could be storage, to make the file smaller it must be a large file therefore potentially not allowing you to record so much without loosing a good level of quality.

Random Access Memory, RAM: RAM is a form of computer data storage that is built into a computer, or laptop. The limitations RAM can give when recording would vastly depend on how much RAM you have. The lower the RAM the smaller the file would have to be, this could also effect quality.

File Format: A file format is the way in which you save a file. There are various different ways to save sound. The most recognizable way to save an audio file would probably be mp3. In regards to recording limitations is would solely depend on the file format that the audio is being saved under. If you were to record audio and save it as an mp3 file then this would take up more space due to the file format being uncompressed. Where as if you were to save it as a WAV or AIFF then the file would be compressed allowing for more space to save the file.

Audio Output: Referring to different methods of distributing sounds. There is mono, which would produce the same sounds through one speaker. Stereo is usually two different speakers on either side of the computer or a TV, these can help your brain recognize where the sounds are coming from. Surround sound has multiple speakers within the room, this allows the sound to travel more freely and can portray various different sounds at the same time without sounding too jumbled. This could limit recording depending on the audio output you choose, surround sound gives better quality however mono may be more convenient.

Pulse Code Modulation, PCM: PCM using analog signals to transfer and process it into a digital signal. A good example of this is Skype, speaking into a microphone using an analog voice would have to be processed by taking miniature samples and converting them into a digital sound and allowing the other person to hear what you are saying. In regards to recording limitations it would be a more poorer method of recording sounds.

Audio Recording Systems

In what types of scenario would you use the following audio recording equipment?  

Multi-Track Recording: In terms of the whole media industry a multi-track recording would be used more in the music side of things. However, taking this back to gaming it could be used to make a CD of all of the soundtracks within a game, other wise it would just be used for singers/bands to make their albums.

Sound for Computer Games... Part 2

Music/FX Sources

 

Music and soundFX can be found from a number of different places. The biggest of these being the world wide web, also known as the internet.

 

YouTube;

YouTube, the home of every cat video ever to be made...

Also home to millions of videos on a million different subjects. On YouTube there are many different music videos as well as videos showing soundFX, and various noises.

YouTube also has a sister webpage called YouTube Converter which allows you to convert videos into audio files to save on to your computer, also allowing them to be use at your leisure.

 

Sound Library's;

There are various different sound library's on the internet.  A Sound Library is a website that has hundreds, maybe thousands of soundFX or music that can be downloaded, most of the time for free, however some sites may ask you to pay for the downloads you require.
A well known sound library is SoundBible.com, the sound bible allows you to download soundFX for free, no charges at all. There are various files within the sound bible, including a coin dropping, audience applause and even silly fart noises...

Instruments;
A more traditional way of gaining music or soundFX  is to use musical instruments to create your own sounds. This is in some ways cheaper, some sounds are costly, it is also original and from there you can copyright it so nobody else can claim it as theirs. This could also earn you some additional money and/or. Using instruments can help gain a cleaner sound, you can also influence the sounds to the way you want them with much more ease than tampering with a downloaded piece of music or soundFX. You could also record different sounds with different instruments and blend them together by using computer software.

Computer Software
Computer software such as Audacity and Sound Forge can be used to create your own music from a selection of sounds and instruments electronically stored to the system.
There are various different versions of music, sound and/or music software, some of these could be Audacity, Sound Forge or Logic Pro X. All of these allow you to play around with different sounds and musical instruments to create your own tracks or soundFX. Many gaming music producers will electronically compose music rather than with actual instruments and a recording studio.


The Purpose of Game Music
Using three of my favorite childhood games of all time I am going to explain the purpose of music within a game, as well as its effect.

1. Crash Bandicoot Warped; The game music I'm about to analyze is from a medieval level within the game. So this particular music is from a medieval level within the third crash bandicoot game. The music itself is well composed and fits with the era it is trying to portray. The purpose of this music is to set the scene, it succeeds with this as well as making the mood apparent to the player. The mood that this piece sets is a cheery intro, then the suspense kicks in giving a more eerie affect to the level. This is enhanced within the bonus part of the level, which is a lot easier to die on, it then goes to more cheery and historic. 



 

2. Croc: Legend of the Gobbos; The music I'm about to analyze is the music from the main menu of Croc, Legend of the Gobbos. So the title theme may not seem too important within the game itself, however its purpose gives the first impression of the game to the viewer. The music is completely cheerful, it reminds me of a jazz band. There is defiantly a trumpet in there somewhere. It sounds almost as if there is about 45 seconds worth of music which is continuously repeated.

 

 

3. Spyro The Dragon; The music I'm about to analyze is the theme song to Spyro the Dragon. The music within the theme song to Spyro is upbeat, not cheery, not tense, just upbeat. There are some sections of the track that seem more cheery than others, you could also argue some sound more tense... But overall the music is purely upbeat, which fits to the style of game. The purpose of this music is to get people to want to play the game. The upbeat music contrasting with the dark and mysterious game case makes the player want to play the game.

 

 

Legal Considerations

 

There are many different legal aspects within any kind of industry, however in the music and gaming industries specifically copyright would be the main factor. Ensuring that any website you can download music or soundFX from that you have the legal right to a copy of the file. As for making the music yourself, you could then copyright it so people have to ask your permission to use it rather than the other way around.