anybody ever had a recording contract, worked on game soundtracks?

dylan barry on 23/1/2007 at 02:18

After spending half my life building up a catalogue of songs that can compete with the very best, ive decided to quit(while im ahead :p )
I had to question my motives and found that as a person im not mentaly equipt to handle the industry all the touring and traveling, interviews ect..and i was probably always in that particular game for all the wrong reasons
Anybody here write songs theyd like to share ? or game soundtracks they worked on ......
Id be realy happy to contribute any music to a game project
Any advice in getting my music heard by game developers?

This is some of my stuff (www.mp3.com.au/dylanbarry) lets hear yours!!
thanks

PigLick on 23/1/2007 at 05:58

I wrote a text adventure on my amstrad once, in basic. I also added some title theme music, so I guess you could say I worked on a game soundtrack. However, I think Tonamel is the best person for this kind of thing.

(http://members.iinet.net.au/~darrylr/HoeDown.mp3) HoeDown

I wrote this once for a chase scene in a movie

Tonamel on 23/1/2007 at 06:56

Well, I never actually broke into the game industry, as it were. I do (http://www.studiocypher.com/) something slightly different now.

My recommendation is that you work on at least one mod or independent game, just so you can have a game credit under your belt before you start going after larger contracts. Also, look at industry groups like (http://audiogang.org/) G.A.N.G, (http://igda.org/) IGDA, or (http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/gameaudiopro/) gameaudiopro, to see if you like any of them.

Also, get to know the actual game designers. While knowing other audio guys is nice to ask for tips and whatnot, the design studios are the people who will actually hire you.

Finally, get (http://fmod.org/) fmod (it's free), and learn how to make adaptive scores. It's a requirement for modern games.

And hey, if we're sharing music, (http://eponym-audio.com/sounds/TheDarkestOneTonamel.mp3) here's a cover of the Tragically Hip's "The Darkest One" that I did about a year ago for a Secret Santa style cover song swap.

Cerpin on 24/1/2007 at 20:00

I write for a few bands myself, but nothing game related, I'm sorry. My two main bands are a prog-rock band and a dub/reggae band. I'd be happy to link you to some tracks if you want, the recordings are quite good if I may say so myself.

Para?noid on 24/1/2007 at 21:12

A lot of games these days like to use big orchestral scores but there's plenty of possibilities in "programming" music for more limited platforms such as handhelds and mobile phones I imagine. I'd kick ass at doing chip tunes I reckon

Schattentänzer on 24/1/2007 at 21:54

I'm doing stuff for the Dark Mod at the moment. Also remixed some C64 tunes once - no record contract, but one of those got on radio I think.

dylan barry on 25/1/2007 at 01:01

Thanks for the links, it does seem like the sort of scene where its almost all about the equipment you have as much as your ability, i lost my humble little fostex fd4 :( but id love to do some realy lo fi swans/sonic youth type stuff for a mod or something, i usualy use the old 100 sound kids keyboards going through a ton of filters(cant beat that strings sound on the yamahas) and anything guitars.

Anybody looking for some music for projects?
Cerpin link those tracks:cool:
I did a cool new tune the other day, it would be great to see actual songs with singing in games, thats what id like to do, actual songs ,but for games (similar to some of the more stirring japanese ones )
The tune should autoplay (www.myspace.com/dylanbarrymusic)

Cerpin on 25/1/2007 at 08:19

Alright.

Goat - (http://www.myspace.com/goatisking)

Architect - (http://www.myspace.com/architectonline) - The vocals on a few of the tracks are just tests and do not represent what will be on our record at all. They're just done by friends who can sing better than us, that is, not sounding like raped pigs.

Cerpin on 25/1/2007 at 08:24

Quote Posted by dylan barry

Listening to your stuff now. I like the D'n'B vibe going on in highterthanthesun. The production is also pretty decent. I also like the main chord progression, as well as the other parts. You have a pretty good voice, but the vocals feel a little out of place in the mix.

Maybe you should try routing your voice through a send with tons of reverb and delay and pan that a tad away from the main vocal track?

I'll give you some feedback on the other songs as well when I get back from work, but from I can hear, the only think holding you back is the production.

Good work :thumb:

Tonamel on 25/1/2007 at 09:33

Quote Posted by Cerpin

Maybe you should try routing your voice through a send with tons of reverb

(http://www.hometracked.com/2006/12/22/10-hallmarks-of-amateur-recordings/) That is not a good idea. Besides, his tracks are already drowning in reverb. Don't encourage him to use more.

Quote:

Overused reverb: When used to add ambience or depth, reverb is best applied sparingly. Beginners often miss this, opting for the “some is good, more is better” approach (which is understandable: Remember how lush and important your voice sounded the first time you heard it through a “Carnegie Hall” reverb preset?) But in modern commercial recordings, reverb, unless it's used as an obvious effect, is usually inaudible, adding texture to the sound without actually being perceptible. Best advice: Raise the reverb level until it's just present, then back off a notch. And resist the urge to soak your vocals in deep chamber and hall reverb effects.

Perhaps try some of the tips in (http://www.hometracked.com/2007/01/11/best-free-vocal-plugins/) this article.

And listening to your songs, my immediate reaction is that you need to do more takes of your vocal tracks. Since you're not really on a timetable, there's no reason not to record a bunch of times, and then stitch the best parts of each take together.

[edit] And against my better judgement, I'll link you to (http://www.gvst.co.uk/gsnap.htm) GSnap. Use it sparingly.