For my very first blog post I will examine and talk about my process regarding this question.
Probably everyone playing a video game has encountered following event happening at some point: There is a big theme in the music, which is cool when hearing it the first time. It’s also still ok on the second go - maybe even the third. But after some time it will feel a bit stale. After all you can hear exactly where and when it loops - most likely right there where you put your big theme.
To circumvent that , I noticed, music in video games often shies away from showing themes and melodies and would rather stay on a rhythmical and/or harmonic layer exclusively (which in absolutely valid and I would argue in certain instances even warranted). But this leads to the music becoming bland very quickly and forgetful, as it is often the melodies that resonate with us.
So, what's the solution? Is it too repetitive or too bland?
One approach is to craft longer music pieces with evolving structures, taking players on an auditory journey that mirrors their in-game experiences.
The music would have to set up in a larger scope - often aiming at the 5 minute mark and/or going beyond that.
But sometimes that is not an option - sometimes the music has to be tight, constant: like for a boss fight!
(I'd also like to mention that music in the style of John Williams works well for this - his compositions for action scenes feature ever-changing music that provides a complex listening experience worth revisiting.)
I was faced with this during my writing of the music for the game “Pentaquin: Deeds of Twillight”
Pentaquin: Deeds Of Twilight bei Steam (steampowered.com)
I want to share with you my process and my thoughts, which is by no means a comprehensive analysis and guide.
Initially, I tailored the piece to match the atmosphere in the usual fashion - though in hindsight, this approach may require adjustment based on lessons learned.
I chose to begin the piece straight into the action: no big introduction, no swells, cymbals or anything similar.
To make it loop better I decided to begin a melody at the very last bars, which is supposed to carry over into the beginning of the new loop - so essentially it was longer than the piece. Bear with me here as this is later solved in FMod without any cutting of overhanging tails is required.
I should also note that the accompaniment and general structure remained consistently the same very end, as it is in the beginning. The highlighted Melody is played by the horns in big marcato gestures.
Ending
Beginning
This made the loop very smooth, but what about melodies within the piece?
I wanted to approach it in a “modular” fashion so I thought about how could I achieve it and also fit it into a workflow without having to essentially write the same piece several times with variations but also keep it small on the footprint for later implementation via FMod.
I used Cubase’s Lanes function to create a second track within the instrument track to write a alternating melody in there. And - as mentioned - in hindsight, I should have begun working like this:
Writing parts where you know that it won’t be affected by change in a lane and leave it empty for parts where you know it will have a modular part. Those you can then write in the other lanes.
So I had to remove melodies from the main track and copy it into the lane (but perhaps this approach still works for you)
First I would export the “skeleton” with lane 1 (don’t forget to solo the lane) and second I would export every other lane as a solo track setting markers just about before the melody starts and where the reverb tail ends.
This eliminated concerns about reverb tails and avoided the need to cut or copy anything into short clips.
Now I had a big “main” audio file and a few small melody modules. Time to implement!
I began by closing the loop with a transition phase at the end of the music clip, allowing the beginning to start immediately and the ending to fade out smoothly - with overlapping melodies.
Loop begins before the reverb tail (and overlapping melody)
Next, I added the melody modules to their corresponding places in the piece, exporting them synced to the bars in my DAW for easy integration into FMOD (after setting the tempo and meter there).
This is how the project window looked like after I imported all the files. There are only a few variations, as it is not going to repeat too often, but it is a technique that is way more expandable.
Look at the beginning. Here I put 3 different Multi Instruments. When composing this part I gave 3 Instruments (piccolo, flutes and trumpet) each their own variation but by them separately being chosen it creates up to 6 possible variations.
Here is a short clip of the beginning:
That is basically it.
This way I established a workflow for myself that lends me a lot of flexibility in writing variable music, which can be applied to pretty much any point in the piece:
the overlapping elements at the looping point
melodies within the piece
it can stretch even a bit further and change larger parts of the ensemble including instrumentation, rhythm and harmony
or be even more modular and be divided into a lot of small “chunk” that each get chosen by the game engine either randomly or by player input