If you have ever played video games, you must have been awed and amazed by the stunning visuals and equally impressive soundtracks that accentuate the smallest details. These soundtracks are not random, and video game composers work with video game developers to create such masterpieces.

What Are the Steps to Develop Background Music for Video Games?

Music composers work in pairs with game developers and create solid music for different scenarios, actions, and cut scenes. Here are some of the essential steps that music composers strictly adhere to while developing music for video games.
  • Understanding the Music Theory
  • Thinking of Game as an Interactive Movie
  • Playing The Game
  • Individual Music Cues
  • Adaptive Music Scores
  • Finalizing and Mixing

Understanding the Music Theory

Music composers have to come up with a lot of different music files within a short time. Therefore, they are well equipped with the modern music theory that helps them produce masterpieces within a few weeks. For this purpose, they understand how different music combinations work and how to offer different instrumental backgrounds for various scenes. Therefore, music composers utilize modern toolkits to come up with varying combinations of music for different scenarios quickly.

Thinking of Game as an Interactive Movie

The majority of music composers perceive the game as an interactive movie. If you have played any of the modern video games, you must know that modern game developers try to tell incredible stories and tales with all the video games. Therefore, music composers also have to treat these video games as interactive films and come up with fitting music to fit every scenario and scene in the game. This is precisely why video game developers conduct weekly or monthly sessions with music composers to talk about different scenes and features of the game. It helps them understand how the game works and how the story progresses with each level. Therefore, music composers do not fit the same music for every level and offer highly resonating soundtracks for different levels and features.

Playing the Game in Person

Most video game music composers also try to get their hands on the game as well. They sit down with video game developers and try to play the game by themselves. It helps them understand how the game goes from one level to another. Moreover, it also helps them understand the overall environment and atmosphere of the game. This way, they offer resonating soundtracks and music files for the respective game. In addition to this, modern games feature many different emotions for the various characters in the game. Therefore, it doesn’t make sense if a music composer comes up with a happy soundtrack for a sad scene. This is why music composers sit down and play the game level by level to understand the underlying emotion of different levels. It helps them come up with an equally fantastic soundtrack for different emotions and features. Similarly, another core element of developing a perfect soundtrack for a game is that it shouldn’t clash with other audio components of the game. This means that the soundtrack should not overpower the native audio elements of any game. When the characters interact with different objects or talk to one another, the music should be in the background and shouldn’t mask the native sounds in the game.

Individual Music Cues

Another critical element of developing a powerful soundtrack for video games is to write each piece of music as a cue. Instead of treating the entire soundtrack as a singular composition, modern music composers treat each piece as a cue. This helps them transition from one score to the next without implementing the same underlying emotions in each score. Therefore, they come up with different music files and soundtracks to go along with different scenes in the game. Each piece of music is part of a larger experience for the video game. Therefore, music composers do not create a singular soundtrack for the entire game. Instead, they create smaller pieces and cues for different scenes and features of the game. These smaller pieces are per the visual effects and the underlying emotions of different scenes. However, all the different pieces of music serve as part of a larger experience. These share similar traits but offer different experiences for the players.

Adaptive Music Scores

In addition to this, music composers also create adaptive music for different features and interactions. This means that even when they compose individual music pieces for a game, they create adaptive music for different interactions and in-game experiences. This means that the music changes when the player does something in the game. The music varies from interaction to interaction and resonates highly with players’ choices in the game. Therefore, if you play any of the modern open-world games, you will notice that the music changes when the player makes a decision inside the game. Therefore, adaptive music is a big part of creating amazing soundtracks for modern-era video games.

Finalizing and Mixing

Lastly, every music composer has a different style for referencing and finalizing the soundtracks before finalizing it for the game. Alan Meyerson, a popular video game music composer, finalizes and references his soundtracks on headphones. The reason behind this is that he believes the majority of video game players listen to these soundtracks with their headphones. Therefore, he takes into account the final instrument used for his soundtracks and references his music files according to the most commonly used medium. Some music composers also utilize modern-era referencing and mixing tools. These help them take out any background noise from the music and offer a unique experience. This makes sure that the final music files do not contain any grain or a piece of unedited raw music that may interfere with the user experience.

Who Creates Background Music for Casino Games?

Since a lot of casino games are interactive and enticing, the background music also offers an immersive experience. Therefore, professional music composers are hired to offer fitting soundtracks for different levels, features, multipliers, symbol combinations, and jackpots in online casino games and downloaded applications. These composers play casino games by themselves and offer amazing soundtracks for each level and feature. Even if you choose free slots to play for fun, you will find amazing soundtracks to take your gambling experience to the next level.

Final Word

Amazing soundtracks and music cues help accentuate the existing aura and atmosphere of a video game. Therefore, modern-era video games rely heavily on the use of amazing masterpieces and audio gems to take their game to the next level. These masterpieces and music files help convey the underlying emotions of the game. Therefore, these are extremely important to offer an immersive experience for players of a modern era. No game is complete without a powerful soundtrack, and these audible gems are very important for the success of any video game. The music composers hold weekly or monthly sessions with video game developers to understand the overall theme of the game and come up with fitting music soundtracks. You will always find adaptive and engaging music cues and soundtracks for modern video games and online casino games. Creating stunning soundtracks for video games is an art, and music composers are the geniuses behind this art.
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Written by Stop The Breaks
Stop The Breaks is an independent music marketing company focused on showcasing independent hip-hop artists. Our goal is to help motivate, inspire and educate independent artists grinding around the world. We provide branding, content marketing, social media, SEO and music promotion services.