The rising credibility of orchestral videogame music.

[Quintus 5,399]

Gone are the days when a simple blip-blop audio track played alongside your gaming pleasure. Nowadays big budget games are utilizing significant sized traditional orchestras to achieve the feeling of total gaming immersion. Some game 'scores' even have the likes of Danny Elfman composing the main themes - Fable for instance. And a great theme that was too, typical of Elfman.

Games like The Elder scrolls: Morrowind have pretty sumptous scores written for them, the main theme to this game alone is worthy of any major Hollywood adventure movie. Not heard it? Check it out via my link below. Another great piece is the main theme to a game that flopped: Headhunter Redemption. Its a pumping kick ass tune which is well worth seeking out.

All in all, I'd say that a lot of game music is well worth a session on the headphones these days. It shouldn't be looked down upon, in the same way that classical elitists turn their noses up at our beloved film music. Sure, there is still plenty of dross to be found (just like film music then), but you should give it a try, you might like it.

Note to Mods: I'm assuming I'm okay posting these two tracks since they are freely available as sample tracks found on the respective game developers websites.

I'm not gonna say what game the first track is from, I want you to just listen before you make judgement. Thats why I uploaded it - to hide the title of the actual game. Many of you may recognise it instantly. Its nothing spectacular, just a nice little choral piece:

http://rapidshare.de/files/20225361/04_Gho..._Reach.mp3.html

And the Morrowind main theme can be found here: http://www.elderscrolls.com/downloads/down...loads_music.htm

Its the second one down. Though the Oblivion main theme is well worth a listen too.

Enjoy! And please... No snobbery

[batmanand 0]

The music for the Myst games has now got to an excellent level. Myst III and IV both have some really good cues in them. I particualrly like the ending music to Myst III.

[Hitch 58]

And hasn't HOWARD (Where is he now?) SHORE done some Japanese video game as well???

[gkgyver 1,646]

Orchestral video game music seems to become very popular indeed, and I cherish this development, as long as some game companies still use their licences to include unreleased movie score stuff in their games and are nice enough to keep them "rippable"

I like this kind of video game music, and after Howard Shore's SUN, this genre certainly reached a new level.

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

Note to Mods: I'm assuming I'm okay posting these two tracks since they are freely available as sample tracks found on the respective game developers websites.

Could you PM me a link to the first one?

[Quintus 5,399]

as long as some game companies still use their licences to include unreleased movie score stuff in their games and are nice enough to keep them "rippable"

I'm afraid I haven't got the foggiest idea what you're talking about

Oh and will do Breathmask....

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

Well, a lot of Star Wars video games, and a recent LotR game included a lot of score material from the films they were tied to, which has allowed us to make expanded soundtracks of the films.

[Quintus 5,399]

Well, a lot of Star Wars video games, and a recent LotR game included a lot of score material from the films they were tied to, which has allowed us to make expanded soundtracks of the films.

Yeah, it was me who started off the whole LOTR thing actually. On this very board I provided the first completed track along with instructions on how to do it

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

Right. Saw your message.

I'll leave the link.

And I'll let people guess to find out which game it's from.

[gkgyver 1,646]

And I'll be forever grateful for that

By the way, did you make some more tracks? Shelob's Lair was a nightmare to edit together, but the result is a 7 minutes piece that's just awesome.

[John Crichton 4]

This isn't really a new trend. Nobou Uematu's Final Fantasty VI on the Super NES's 16-bit audio technology is as deep and rich as any film score. Not to mention his later Playstation work. There's a lot to be found in the early Zelda score, especially A Link to the Past.

Of the more recent ones, Jeremey Soule's Knights of the Old Republic is still my favorite. He merged the established Williams SW sound with his own considerable skill perfectly.

[Luke Skywalker 1,810]

I like some parts of King kong's videogame score.

And of Course.

Michael Giacchino rules.

[Incanus 5,734]

Games receive an incredible amount of great scores these days. Above mentioned scores are all good examples of high quality scoring. Michael Giacchino's Medal of Honour scores are amoung the most played in my collection at the moment. Medal of Honour Frontline is one of the most addictive scores I have heard in a while. I really can't praise it enough. I hope this trend continues because composers seem to rise up to the challenge to write scores for games and produce excellent material.

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

Just a question here, are you talking about orchestrated music (as in written for an orchestra, with parts that would appear in a symphony orchestra, but not necessarily performed by one) or music performed by an orchestra? If the former, John Crichton is right, it's not a new trend.

I read time after time in game reviews about the effectiveness or the need of an orchestrated score when they obviously meant a symphonic or acoustic score, as opposed to synthesised.

[Marian Schedenig 8,253]

This isn't really a new trend. Nobou Uematu's Final Fantasty VI on the Super NES's 16-bit audio technology is as deep and rich as any film score. Not to mention his later Playstation work. There's a lot to be found in the early Zelda score, especially A Link to the Past.

And of course, while the "blip-blop" scores were the majority in the 80s and early 90s, there were still some highly creative composers around. As always, I have to mention Chris Hülsbeck here.

Of the more recent ones, Jeremey Soule's Knights of the Old Republic is still my favorite. He merged the established Williams SW sound with his own considerable skill perfectly.

I haven't heard it, but it's good to see LucasArts going back to original scores. They used to have some of the best game composers, but when computers became advanced enough to play music directly from CD (or later streaming it from MP3s) during a game, they suddenly started using only copy & paste jobs of Williams scores for all their SW games.

I do wonder though what became of their old composers. Are Michael Land, Clint Bajakian, Peter McConnell & Co. still around?

Marian - who wants a complete release of Grim Fandango.

[Luke Skywalker 1,810]

Clint Bajakian

He composed the Orchestral score of Indiana Jones and the Emperor´s tomb.

[John Crichton 4]

I do wonder though what became of their old composers. Are Michael Land, Clint Bajakian, Peter McConnell & Co. still around?

I don't think any of them are with LA anymore. The Emperor's Tomb score Luke mentioned was the last time any of them worked with the company that I know of. The fact that LA has been doing pretty much exclusively Star Wars games the last few years has probably had a lot to do with that. I don't know where they've been working lately, but I'm sure a little research will dig up some answers.

John- who migh find time to do said research...sometime

[Luke Skywalker 1,810]

I think Clint is one of the Founders of this, but i cant find him there: http://www.basound.com/pages/home.html

So he is not a Lucasarts house worker, but they still hire him

[Quintus 5,399]

Just a question here, are you talking about orchestrated music (as in written for an orchestra, with parts that would appear in a symphony orchestra, but not necessarily performed by one) or music performed by an orchestra? If the former, John Crichton is right, it's not a new trend.  

I read time after time in game reviews about the effectiveness or the need of an orchestrated score when they obviously meant a symphonic or acoustic score, as opposed to synthesised.

We're talking about game music performed by an actual orchestra, sometimes with a significant choir presence too.

On the subject of symphonic style music which is ultimately synthesised, yes there has been some superb work done over the years. Zelda being the obvious mention. But does anyone remember the thoroughly 'orchestral' music of a fairly old SNES game called Actraiser? The composer of the score to that game was clearly shouting out for his compositions to be performed by the LSO! It really was an epic score which had to make do with the admittedly decent synth sounds of the SNES sound chip.

Going back further, The Last Ninja 2 on the trusty antique that was the C64 featured a tremendous amount of worthy orchestral style music. Its amazing that the simple blip-blops of that game could convey such a feeling of something yearning to be performed in a orchestra hall.

Also, does anyone remember the outstanding SNES renditions of the Star Wars trilogy music?

[BLUMENKOHL 1,070]

Kameo: Elements of Power

'nuff Said.

[Quintus 5,399]

Kameo, great example.

And this:

direct link removed Right click, Save Target As...

If you like David Arnold, then this is right up your street.

[QMM 4]

I do wonder though what became of their old composers. Are Michael Land, Clint Bajakian, Peter McConnell & Co. still around?

I don't think any of them are with LA anymore. The Emperor's Tomb score Luke mentioned was the last time any of them worked with the company that I know of. The fact that LA has been doing pretty much exclusively Star Wars games the last few years has probably had a lot to do with that. I don't know where they've been working lately, but I'm sure a little research will dig up some answers.

John- who migh find time to do said research...sometime

They probably went with the creator (of Grim Fandango, Full Throttle, etc) of the quirky games because he left LA not long ago. That last game he did was Psychonauts

[BurgaFlippinMan 7]

Uematsu's current project is Super Smash Bros: Brawl. There is an mp3 stream of the main theme somewhere on the net, and it also appears in the recent trailer (which is hilarious btw). As for the music, I think its fun.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

99.9% of all videogame music is crap.

Stefancos- who never plays video games.

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

Clearly that .1% that isn't crap is music composed by Koji Kondo, Michael Land and Michael Giacchino, respectively.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

No, it's just Howard Shore's work for S.U.N.: Soul Of The Ultimate Nation.

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

If you heard Medal of Honor: Frontline you'd think differently.

Especially after discovering Shore ripped off Giacchino's "Arnhem".

[Marian Schedenig 8,253]

Going back further, The Last Ninja 2 on the trusty antique that was the C64 featured a tremendous amount of worthy orchestral style music. Its amazing that the simple blip-blops of that game could convey such a feeling of something yearning to be performed in a orchestra hall.

Hey! Yes, that score had a lot of atmosphere. Though technically, it wasn't that impressive. More "blip-blop" than most of the great scores of that time. But yes, still really good.

Marian - who remembers being too freaked out by the game to continue playing after level 3 or so.

[QMM 4]

99.9% of all videogame music is crap.

Stefancos- who never plays video games.

From the DaVinci Code thread

No offense Roald.  

But have you recently smoked the crack that you confiscated from your students?  

The film isn't out yet, you haven't seen it.  

How the hell can you judge if this is a good soundtrack or not?  

This is dumber then the Williams is not gonna score (enter any Spielberg film) debacle

So how can you pass judgement on videogame scores when you don't even play them?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

So how can you pass judgement on videogame scores when you don't even play them?

Call me Snake!

[Quintus 5,399]

99.9% of all videogame music is crap.

Stefancos- who never plays video games.

I was waiting for your ugly mug to surface with a decisive and well informed remark.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I'm sorry, do I know you?

[Ollie 1,069]

Now if they could only remove those annoying rap songs from the NBA games I would be happy.

I'm glad to see more orchestral scores for video games because it makes playing them a little more enjoyable.

[John Crichton 4]

Now if they could only remove those annoying rap songs from the NBA games I would be happy.

The first thing I do when I get a new sports game is turn the music off. Even Tiger Woods golf games aren't immune.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Because he's black????

[John McClane 1]

Marian - who wants a complete release of Grim Fandango.

This site is well known.

I do wonder though what became of their old composers. Are Michael Land, Clint Bajakian, Peter McConnell & Co. still around?

I don't think any of them are with LA anymore. The Emperor's Tomb score Luke mentioned was the last time any of them worked with the company that I know of. The fact that LA has been doing pretty much exclusively Star Wars games the last few years has probably had a lot to do with that. I don't know where they've been working lately, but I'm sure a little research will dig up some answers.

True, althought I'm still hoping for Bajakian to score the upcoming new Indy game.

I don't know about McConnell, but I know for sure that Land left LucasArts in around 2001 or so, to starting his own music production label think.

[Ollie 1,069]

The first thing I do when I get a new sports game is turn the music off. Even Tiger Woods golf games aren't immune.

I will say Tiger Woods 06 has some better music on it than the previous ones.

It really doesn't matter though I usually turn down the volume and listen to film scores when playng Golf and Basketball. Although I do enjoy David Feherty's commentary while playing.

-Mark, who swears you can see Bigfoot lurking in the tree lines at the 17th hole at the Sahalee course on TW 2006.

[Marian Schedenig 8,253]

Marian - who wants a complete release of Grim Fandango.

This site is well known.

Let me rephrase that:

Marian - who wants a complete, official release of Grim Fandango with good sound quality

Marian - messing around with his own game's music routines.