Reddit Reddit reviews A Composer's Guide to Game Music (MIT Press)

We found 9 Reddit comments about A Composer's Guide to Game Music (MIT Press). Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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A Composer's Guide to Game Music (MIT Press)
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9 Reddit comments about A Composer's Guide to Game Music (MIT Press):

u/fantasticmrbond · 5 pointsr/WeAreTheMusicMakers

I download short films on archive.org and mute the sound, and practice scoring to them.

I also wasn't finding much work in film, so I started writing music for indie video game developers. Winifred Phillip's book has been very useful to me (it's a big picture kind of understanding with plenty of practical advice) and I just started reading Aaron Marks' book which has some good stuff in it.

Someone also recently told me about scorbit (started by Berklee I think), which I personally haven't used much but have heard good things. You can set up a free account with them which is nice.

YouTube is filled with great (and shitty) advice. Honestly, I have more sources than I have time to explore anymore, so I'm just picking a few, and doing the hell out of them.

Also, the TigSource forums are great!

u/ForNeverRachel · 3 pointsr/audioengineering

There are very good books on Amazon which might get you started on game audio. Some links :

Game Sound: An Introduction to the History, Theory, and Practice of Video Game Music and Sound Design
A Composer's Guide to Game Music
The Complete Guide to Game Audio: For Composers, Musicians, Sound Designers, Game Developers

About the audio engines (audio middleware), the two big ones are FMOD and Wise (when the studio is not using its own middleware). There are some tutorials on Youtube which might get you started on that. It's essential to know the basics of sound integration (I mean how to use FMOD/Wise with game engines) if you want to work in video games.

Also, come join us over at /r/gameaudio

u/GermanSeabass · 3 pointsr/WeAreTheMusicMakers
u/VictorMih · 3 pointsr/WeAreTheMusicMakers

I'd say build yourself a portfolio with various styles and post it to your website or Soundcloud. You must include it in e-mails. Do contact local studios first, you'll have better luck connecting if you're somewhat close for meetings. I got lots of gigs by e-mailing studios or people I simply stumbled upon on social media. If you're into programmer circles you're surely gonna connect eventually. Also try going to indie meetings to network.

One thing to keep in mind is don't get discouraged by lack of replies. Bigger or rapidly expanding studios generally react very slow (if at all) and generally require prior experience - even if it only consists of indie work.

Also here's a book that really got me going into the mindset of a game music composer: http://www.amazon.com/Composers-Guide-Game-Music-Press/dp/0262026643?ie=UTF8&keywords=composing%20for%20games&qid=1465410856&ref_=sr_1_3&sr=8-3

Good luck!

u/auditorycheesecake · 3 pointsr/edmproduction

Theres a great book called A Composer's Guide to game Music that I really enjoyed. It'll help you get more into the mindset of producing for video games and what that normally entails.

I think the biggest thing is to think about what type of game music you want to write and look for resources specific to that. I.e. do you want to write for indie games, AAA, fighters, phone games, etc...

u/shibbypwn · 2 pointsr/musictheory

Lots of good answers here - for a thorough read, I would recommend "A Composer's Guide to Game Music" by Winifred Philips.

https://www.amazon.com/Composers-Guide-Game-Music-Press/dp/0262026643

One of the biggest distinguishing factors (same for film music) is that it is not the center of attention. It is there to augment the gaming experience. With games (and this is distinct from film) you also have to take player interaction into consideration. Will this be looping? Will it get annoying if it loops? How does it fit in with the (dynamic and player induced) sound effects? Is the audio adaptable/dynamic to player action or game mechanics?

u/mrsquare · 1 pointr/WeAreTheMusicMakers

Download FMOD or Wwise (more studios use Wwise if I recall) and learn the software. Trailers and cutscenes are not good representations of the job of composing for games; they're a tiny fraction of the bigger picture of adaptive and looping music which you should get yourself familiar with.

I'd also strongly suggest picking up A Composers Guide to Game Music by Winifred Philips (worked on some Total War games, AC games, Spore, Dragon Age and God of War, so she knows what she's talking about) as a primer for what you need to know, and how the skills you need differ quite a bit from a film composer.

u/MR2Rick · 1 pointr/learnprogramming

Don't know anything about this, but the idea that occurs to me would be to use MIDI for music play back and dynamically add channels based on what is happening in the game.

For example, you could have a theme for a particular monster. When that monster is approaching/on the scene, you would add a channel with that monsters theme.

You could also compose the music so that it can be dynamically shifted to a different section based on what is happening in the game. For instance, if the here is losing a battle, you could shift to a section of the music that has a faster, more frantic feel with a discordant harmony.

In addition, you could dynamically change tempos, volume or mix balance based on game events.

Never read it, but I have seen this book.