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.