Video Game Music and It’s Outside Effect
It seems that music associated with video games is currently experiencing a surge in popularity. Not only is music becoming more integral to the experience of playing video games, but the sound of video game music is now impacting artists and bands in many different genres of music.
There has almost always been sound in video games, but not necessarily music. Simple sound effects such as those used in Pong would help make the gaming experience more enjoyable, but as technology advanced more interesting patterns and loops were available to games programmers. The earliest pieces of music in games were often popular folk tunes, as using these songs required less effort and skill than composing original pieces.
These days, music no longer needs to be read but can be stored, leading to more complex, high quality audio in games. In fact, modern video game music is often similar to an orchestral film score. Due to this many feel that video game music has lost the original sound and feel which made it so great, and to a degree this is true. But obviously, the sound of 80s and early 90s video game music would no longer be at all suitable for the majority of modern games.
Now, the first generation who played video games as children is growing up. These people are making music which is influenced by or focused on the sound of video game music. This choice may be because of fond memories and a love of video games or because video game music is an interesting, legitimate and often overlooked form of music. For the same reasons people wish to listen to music which has an association with video games. In fact, this type of person often forms the majority of a fan base for musicians who style their music around the sound of video games.
Whatever methods are used, it is evident that video games are becoming an important part of culture for many societies, and so it should not be surprising that games are finally impacting music. We are currently experiencing the first real wave of video game music outside of actual video games, and it is likely that this trend will continue, both maintaining the traditional sound of video games as well as changing to adapt the new forms of music which develop in modern video games.
-Joe Allen of Gamewave Podcast
Joe Allen
August 8th, 2006
Up until the fourth generation (16-bit era) of video gaming, sound was generally produced using a sound chip. These chips were present in consoles and arcade machines and made the characteristic bleeps and bloops that many associate with video games. These chips would produce sound by reading a set of instructions, much like a player piano. There were many different sound chips, including the 2A03 from the NES, the SID chip from the Commodore 64 and the YM2612 from the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. Different chips had different sounds, but the sound produced with sound chips is often instantly recognizable. The chips have a distinct sound that cannot be found elsewhere in the world of music.
(left) SID chip of the Commodore 64. (below) SPC700 chip of the SNES.
Some artists and bands will cover songs from video games, taking melodies such as the Super Mario Bros. theme and reproducing them. Other artists and bands will take the traditional sound chip sound of video games or the instrumental aspect and mix this with original composition to create music. The music can be made electronically (sometimes with actual gaming hardware) or with instruments such as guitar and drums. Some video game artists will even incorporate vocals.
(top left) Video game rap group 8 Bit from Los Angeles. (top right) New York based chiptune group Anamanaguchi. (bottom right) Michigan video game music cover band Year 200X.