A Composer's Guide to Game Music by Winifred Phillips

That includes not just composing, but also sequencing, orchestrating, and mixing. Or it may conflict with sound effects more than you thought because they added a lot of enemies to a certain section. Your music may be playing in the wrong place. Game music isn’t like film music – the music has to be properly integrated into the game, and things can and do go wrong. A game composer needs to be a good game ‘spotter.’ That is, someone who can play a game in development or look at a game spec and figure out what music should be where.

Going through the game spec and determining what music should be where. On any given day I might be doing some of these activities: It really depends on what stage I’m at in the project. What exactly do you do every day as a Video Game Music Composer? We’re speaking with Brian today to find out how he got into games, what he does at his job, and which skills and talents it takes to succeed as a video game music composer. He’s worked on top franchises like The Walking Dead, Madden NFL, BattleTech and more.Īs if that didn’t keep him busy enough, he also runs a premier annual game music and sound design conference, GameSoundCon, and has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Game Audio Network Guild. Brian has been making game audio for nearly 30 years, and his credits include music, audio, and sound effects for well over a hundred shipped titles. You’d be hard pressed to find a more accomplished composer in the history of the video game industry, than Brian Schmidt. What could you learn about game audio from a guy who’s shipped over 130 games? Meet Brian Schmidt, Video Game Music Composer

For more, visit Which game job is right for you?. This is one of more than 30 interviews with professional game developers.

A Composer's Guide to Game Music by Winifred Phillips