Talk With The Developers Final : The Musician

I have my final interview in my Talk With The Developers feature with a musician DVGmusic.

Thanks for taking time out to talk to me DVGmusic!, First I'd like to ask you how you came about making music for games and how you record, mix it, edit it etc. !

Different projects evolve different ways, but basically I start with a concept that I take from playing the game.  I try to get a good feel by both my own perceptions and talking with the developers and we find out what kind of mood we want the player to be in.  From there I'll start composing the music.  Almost all of my music is written in the program FL Studio with an arsenal of virtual instruments.  When I need to record an instrument or a sound, I head over to my friends at Make Believe Studio (http://www.facebook.com/MakeBelieveCo) and do it over there.  The big trick about working with flash games is just about everything is loop based, so the main work goes into the composition.  You need everything to layer and flow so that it stays interesting over a long period of time.

Say if I wanted to start making music, What should I do? Perhaps start playing a musical instrument? Buy a music editing program? What do you suggest? 

 

The best thing to do is to start making music in whatever way that interests you.  If you like rock music, grab a guitar and learn some of your favorite songs.  If you like electronic music, grab a synth.  The best way for me to learn was to find a diverse range of things I like and break the songs down and study them.  Once you can start replicating these songs you can branch out and start being original!

Music is an immersive thing, But sometimes it can detract from the atmosphere. When do you think it's appropriate to have music and when do you think it isn't?

 

That's probably the first time I've heard that question!  I think that well executed music will never unintentionally distract the player, but it's really an issue of dynamics.  You need to know what the flow of the game is and to use negative space in audio just as much as in visual forms.  If a part is really low-intensity the music shouldn't be blasting a battle theme, just as a boss battle shouldn't sound like a stroll through the park.

 

And the final question, What's your favourite flash game with great music?

 

Haha, honestly the first game that came to mind was Robot Unicorn Attack but I'm not positive how much of that was original. I just loved the audio direction of that game.  Meatboy was a game that grabbed me really quickly with that fast, intense soundtrack.  DannyB is king of the funk.

Thanks for the talk, DVGmusic, I wish you the best with your music!

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And that's the last interview, Thanks for reading. Tomorrow  I'll be back to the usual sketches.

 

Sean Parnell