Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
A
mix engineer
takes the completed recordings from the studio and
balances the instruments and parts to make sure the recorded elements
sound great together in the game.
The
mastering engineer
produces and delivers the i nal tracks in the
desired format for the game. Because this is the i nal stage of the process,
a good mastering engineer has great ears and keen understanding of the
platform the music will be integrated into.
Not all games have a large music team to produce the soundtrack. In
many cases, one person takes on several roles. For smaller titles, you may
still i nd people who do it all themselves: writing the music, recording
it, and mixing the i nal product for delivery in the game. The number of
people involved depends on budget and scope. As you can probably
guess, the larger the budget and more expansive the scope of the game,
the more specii c the roles become.
Conclusion
As you have seen in this level, writing music for games can be both a
simple and complex task. Depending on the type of game, and
the hardware and software involved, you might be asked to create
music in a very familiar way, or you might be asked to develop more
complex interactive musical scenarios. The main thing to keep in mind
is to remain l exible and work with the producer and implementer/
programmer to make sure that your music i ts the requirements and
l ow of the game. This mix of compositional skills and technological
know-how and understanding is what sets a game composer apart
from a i lm and TV composer. How far down the rabbit hole you wish
to go with audio middleware and implementation is a personal choice
and there's really no right or wrong answer. There is room in the i eld
for technical and non-technical composers alike. But in either case, a
thorough understanding of the technical challenges involved is essential
for composing music for games.
The Interactive
Quiz for this Level is
available in the App.
In the main Classroom,
click on the Quiz
book to test your
knowledge!
