The greedy pink ball Kirby can call himself the second game character with a Grammy, thanks to a jazzy music cover by the 65-piece 8-Bit Big Band. Game music often remains an outsider at the big prizes. What does a modern game actually sound like?
Jazz band 8-Bit Big Band wants to ‘cover the best music tracks from games’, the band writes on its Youtube Channel† With their jazz version of Meta Knight’s Revenge from Kirby Superstar (1996) they won a Grammy this weekend for best arrangement.
It original comes from the era of what are affectionately called the ‘bleeps and bleeps’. “At the time, technology greatly determined what kind of music could be made,” says game maker and composer Joost van Dongen. “For Mario, the number of notes still had to be counted so that the music didn’t take up too much space on the cartridge.”
This ‘chiptune music’ is still made today, but mainly by musicians who like it: games prefer to use rock and classical music. ,,In 1999 came Outcast out, a game that used a real classical orchestra. Everyone thought that was very special at the time. That is now quite normal.”
Game music is very diverse
Because game music, says Van Dongen, can now encompass any genre and any instrument. Juries have not seen it that way in recent years: game music has only been nominated three times for a Grammy, of which two nominations were cashed in. ,,The big award juries don’t care about games at all,’ says Van Dongen. “You also see that film composers become famous, while you hardly see game composers in the media.”
Yet the two music forms are closely related. “Just like with film, game music is an amplifier of emotion, it has to fit with what you are doing,” says Van Dongen. “Nowadays, the only major difference is that the music has to respond to the player’s actions. If you’re in an action scene and you suddenly run away, the music shouldn’t pretend you’re still fighting.”
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Nowadays, the only major difference is that the music has to respond to the player’s actions
Van Dongen makes both ‘free music’ and game soundtracks. ,,I don’t have a goal with normal music, with game music I have extra limitations. The music you come up with for a game doesn’t always fit the way you expected. For example, I am now working on a game with trains. It seemed logical to let the music play to the tempo of the trains, but that was far too restless.”
What does he think is the best game music? “The soundtrack van Machinarium is a personal favorite, it creates such a strong, unique atmosphere,” says Van Dongen. This music is full of percussion and notes on clarinet to accompany the heart of the game, special robots. ,,And for Awesomenauts, which I did work on but didn’t make the music for, we were inspired by the music of StarControl 2 from 1992. Each race of aliens got its own song, which immediately showed what kind of alien that was. Aggressive, cautious, or just stupid?”
How does today’s game music sound?
Game music nowadays can be just about anything, in any genre. We list some of these varied game soundtracks.
Skyrim (2012)
The bombastic soundtrack of Skyrim, a role-playing game set in a fantasy land, is familiar to almost every gamer. Played by a classical orchestra with a male choir, it resembles a military march.
Doom (2016)
With his growling guitars and dark synthesizers, composer Mick Gordon tried to doom rival the best metal and industrial bands.
The Last of Us (2013)
Film composer Gustavo Santaolalla, known for Brokeback mountainchose this soundtrack for a violinless orchestra and the South American stringed instrument ronroco. You hear both early hopes and the desolation of the post-apocalypse world.
Persona 5 (2016)
You can now place any genre of music in a game, but swinging jazz-pop? You don’t hear that very often. Choosing this genre immediately makes it clear what Persona 5 is: dynamic, unorthodox and stylish.
Hotline Miami (2012)
The lightning fast and violent Hotline Miami needed music to match its brightly colored style. It delivered a very strong synthwave album op, a genre in electronic music that is now on the rise again.
Celeste (2019)
The old 16-bit music of yesteryear has not been forgotten by games. Many smaller games have enthusiastically experimented with chiptune beeps in recent years. the cheerful one soundtrack by Celeste, created by Lena Raine, is a highlight.
Journey (2012)
The only game soundtrack ever to be nominated for a Grammy in its entirety. Journey’s beautiful, classic soundtrack is filled with cellos, harps and flutes to accompany a journey across a sun-drenched desert. Composer Austin Wintory instantly became one of the most celebrated names in game music.
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