notesdontmatter

Audio Arts – Week 11 - Game Audio Design (3) – Soundtracks

The dark and ominous soundtrack I have created this week is a combination of a haunting string melody, a sinister frequency modulated bass synthesiser bubbling out a demented pedal tone, a light and understated conga riff, and muddy but booming kick drum stabs. The string sound is courtesy of Reason Adapted, as is the conga loop (the melody is an original of my own creation), and the bass synth is a pad variation of the resonant bass preset in the A-1 synth.

With the cavernous, echoing, death-match chamber of Kaos from Open Arena in mind, I wanted a sonic backdrop that would give appropriate discomfort, complimenting the environment. The resulting 2-minute track achieves this via the use of sparse instrumentation, but with all four factors contributing a key element. The string melody provides the ‘Haunting quality’, adding an element of sophistication to a musical style, which often omits melody, or at least buries it deep within the mix. The congas provide a quiet, non-intrusive rhythmical backdrop that should suit the moods of running, walking and sneaking around dark corridors. This is enhanced by the bass synth line, which is pumping its manipulation values through an oscillator in 16th notes at randomly varying velocities, which in turn alter its timbre in the same time structure. The final waveform of doom is a fat electronic kick, which pulsates every two beats and should simulate the player’s own heartbeat to some extent.



The kick has been muddied by excessive reverb, which allows it to blend into the mix and reduce its dominance. Reverb was the order of the day, as I wanted to compliment the environmental qualities of the large stonewalled chamber. Overall, the track loops back to the start cleanly, and should sit well at a modest or relatively low volume in the mix, providing game-play enhancing music without detracting from realism.

Click here to link to online folder containing an MP3 of the complete masterwork.


Reference:

Haines, Christian. “Audio Arts – Week 11 - Game Audio Design (3) – Soundtracks.” Lecture presented at Tutorial Room 408, Level 4, Schultz Building, University of Adelaide, 16th of October, 2007.

posted by David J Dowling @ 7:41 PM