I guess it’s a little late to be calling the DS Lite the “new” DS. But that’s how I still think of it. I better get over that habit as Nintendo has announced their newest model of the DS, the DSi. The main difference I’m interested in is its ability to read SD cards and play MP3’s. Does that mean you can play your own music within a game? I hope so! You’d think as a game composer I’d be against that sort of thing, but as a gamer I’m all for it. I’m under no illusion that even the best game... Read Full Story

Today I thought I’d recommend a few books for people looking to get into the game music biz or looking to improve their craft. These are all books that have proven to be quite helpful in educating me about music and the business of game music. And a disclaimer, I will put links to Amazon for all these books but I don’t see a dime from these recommendations, so there are no ulterior motives here. These are just some books that you might find useful. The Study of Orchestration by Samuel Adler... Read Full Story

It’s the nature of humans to seek to create great things in art. And often, they do. Then another nature of humanity kicks in, and that nature is to copy that great thing until it is worn so thin that nobody wants that great thing anymore. It goes something like this: Mr. Doonbugger figures out a cool new way to light a scene for his still camera. It brings out an aspect of people’s faces that nobody has really seen before. He shows his photos in his gallery, then his photos gain a wider... Read Full Story

With September coming to a close, it’s time I hurry up and pick the game soundtrack to review for the month. And chances are you’ve had this soundtrack drilled into your head after hour upon hour of gameplay. I only have a level 45 mage so I’m sure that most of you have much more experience in the game than I have, but even getting to level 45 has allowed me to memorize at least some of the pieces from the game. And, happily, they’re not half bad. If I could pick one word to describe the WoW... Read Full Story

Compression is a useful tool. It lowers the loudest parts of a sound wave so you can then raise the volume level of the entire wave. It basically reduces the dynamic range of a sound. It can be used on individual tracks, very commonly vocal, or used on an entire piece of music. That is where it can be quite dangerous. Over the past couple of decades, audio engineers have been squashing the soup out of their music. Things that should be quiet are just as loud as things that should be loud. A... Read Full Story

rely on loops when creating your music. The translation from the Ludus Sonitus Decretum was difficult to pin down for this rule. It was tough to say whether the rule meant “Thou Shalt Not rely on loops” or “Thou Shalt Not use loops”. But, in thinking about it, the more sensible translation is “rely”. Loops have their uses. When used sparingly, they can save some time. They can add some color to percussion tracks or add some interest to background ambient sounds. The problem arises when... Read Full Story

There’s no getting around the fact that a live orchestral recording is going to sound much, much better than even the best sample-only orchestral recording. The subtleties that are lost in sampled music are hard to ignore. Live musicians bring their own feel to the music and make a whole that is much bigger than simply the sum of its parts. There is a warmth to live music that simply cannot be replicated by samples (at least not yet). And, of course, that warmth and liveliness comes at a... Read Full Story

Does this sound familiar, developers? You’ve received all the sound effects from your sound designer and you’ve gotten them all incorporated in your game. Most are decent and unoffensive, but a few of them are rubbing you the wrong way. Your sound designer seemed to have followed your instructions, but you know some changes are going to have to be made. But what changes? Here’s a little guide to help you identify some problems with sounds that you may not have had to think about before. So... Read Full Story

With games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero selling millions of copies all around the world, I can’t help but wonder if there is going to be a boom of games coming that take advantage of their fake plastic instruments. Sure, people are getting many hours of use out of their instruments in the games they were created for but once all those songs have been played to death or the players need a little break from all the rockin’, will they have some other games to plug their instruments into? I’ve... Read Full Story

Late last month, we took a trip to Vegas for a wedding. I hadn’t been to Vegas for almost 7 years which was kind of strange, since my family had taken yearly trips to Vegas since I was about 10 years old. I saw the city grow from a major monstrosity into the crazy colossal monstrosity it is today. Yep, we saw the Mirage being built, one of the first of the new mega-resorts. We saw the last days of the Dunes and the Sands and numerous other old school casinos. We must have seen Siegfried and... Read Full Story