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MillimeterInside a Game Soundtrack
Nov 16, 2009 12:00 PM, By Mike Levine
How the music for Demigod was composed, arranged, and recorded.
This year's mod
Demigod's audio engine comprises third-party software—referred to as "middleware"—called Fmod from Firelight Technologies. "Middleware is software that interacts with the game," Mostrom says. "So instead of writing a sound system in code from scratch, you buy this piece of software and you use that in the game. And it's very, very flexible." With Fmod, Mostrom says, he has the ability to control every aspect of the audio of the game.
Among the many sound-related tasks that Fmod takes care of in Demigod are converting the audio to the correct format for output and triggering sound effects. "It can have multiple alternates, so we could have 20 different sounds that trigger and each time it's different," Mostrom adds. It also helped him set up the game for surround sound.
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Keeping track
Mostrom has a Pro Tools HD setup with a Digidesign D-Command mixer at his studio at Gas Powered Games. He used it for some of the live instrument tracking, but there is no live room so he could only do basic overdubs there that didn't require a dedicated recording space. As a result, some of the audio tracks were recorded elsewhere.
"I went to London Bridge Studio in Seattle and recorded percussion and drumset," he says. "We did some really crazy stuff with the percussionists, like recording bowed broken cymbals and things like that. The room sounds really great. I was able to get really huge sounds there."
Mix and match
After months of composing and tracking, it was time for the mixing phase, which Mostrom handled entirely separately. Mixing for a game has some additional considerations as compared to a traditional song mix.
For one thing, he had to do separate mixes for the Demigod soundtrack CD and for the music going into the game itself. For the latter, Mostrom had to be careful about the music competing, from a frequency standpoint, with the many and varied sound effects. "There are potentially thousands of sound effects playing at the same time," he points out. In the game mixes, "Some of the EQ is a little brighter on the top end because I wanted certain elements to pop out more and really cut through."
He also had to take into account the numerous loudspeaker types that gamers might be using, a difficult factor to consider as there is no hard data available on users' loudspeaker choices. "There seems to be a lot of people with really low-end PC speakers," Mostrom says, "but there are a lot of people who have 5.1 systems, as well."
To handle this wide variation, Mostrom has eight pairs of loudspeakers in his studio that he switches between while mixing, ranging from a Genelec 5.1 system featuring 8030A monitors and a 7060A subwoofer to a "horrible-sounding" pair of 2in. computer speakers. Of the latter, he says, "If you make it sound good on those, it will sound good anywhere."
Finish lines
Mostrom says that composing and mixing the Demigod score took about six months to complete. "It's hard to say, precisely, because I was also busy with other audio responsibilities at the same time," he says. All told, he did about 100 minutes' worth of music as well as a lot of sound design and voiceover work.
Mostrom says he was surprised by how much response he received from his Demigod music. "When we put out the first trailer [the game composer frequently scores the trailer, whereas in a film it's usually handled by someone other than the main composer], I was actually shocked by how much email I got in my personal inbox. I don't even know how they tracked me down."
As for whether he had any additional advice for readers about game composing, Mostrom says one of the most important traits to have is adaptability. "Be flexible for whatever the scene is, and make sure that the music fits the game." Imbuing the score with a distinctive sound is also important. Speaking of the Demigod music, he says, "I really wanted you to hear it and recognize, 'That's from this game.'"
Mike Levine is executive editor and senior media producer of EM, in which this article originally appeared
Continue the discussion on “Crosstalk” the Millimeter Forum.