Japanese Composers Say Western Game Music is "Dry"

[PaulaG]

And yet, MGS had an awesome soundtrack done by a Western composer, no?

He's two standard deviations away from the mean.

He's also massively more expensive to hire than most other composers that do videogames. Well beyond the budget of most games. Also, not all the music in MGS is done by Harry Gregson Williams.

More importantly, this isn't a criticism of American composers. it's a criticism of big-budget American developers who have all their music done on the cheap. That Konami went and got Harry Gregson-Williams is beside the point; the point is that a lot of Western companies wouldn't have bothered.

This is an excellent point. But then, do you want memorable melodies in a game? In theory, the music is there to set the mood. In a lot of ways, a score that gets noticed, is actually not doing its job. You should be able to recognise it, should you hear it out of context, and it should remind you of certain points in the game (such as as certain village or dungeon or key plot point) but really, in the world of Movies, Games and TV shows, music is a tool used to drive emotion....not really to be listened to!

 

[ChromeAlchemist]

And yet, MGS had an awesome soundtrack done by a Western composer, no?

Not to mention the aural beast that is Jesper Kyd. The Freedom Fighters soundtrack remains one of my favourite of all time.

To me though eastern soundtracks seem to be heavily orchestrated, while western ones seem to be a mix of orchestrated and more low-key instruments and synthesisers. It's almost like comparing fine and modern art.

 

[Arkfeller]

And yet, MGS had an awesome soundtrack done by a Western composer, no?

He's two standard deviations away from the mean.

He's also massively more expensive to hire than most other composers that do videogames. Well beyond the budget of most games. Also, not all the music in MGS is done by Harry Gregson Williams.

More importantly, this isn't a criticism of American composers. it's a criticism of big-budget American developers who have all their music done on the cheap. That Konami went and got Harry Gregson-Williams is beside the point; the point is that a lot of Western companies wouldn't have bothered.

This is an excellent point. But then, do you want memorable melodies in a game? In theory, the music is there to set the mood. In a lot of ways, a score that gets noticed, is actually not doing its job. You should be able to recognise it, should you hear it out of context, and it should remind you of certain points in the game (such as as certain village or dungeon or key plot point) but really, in the world of Movies, Games and TV shows, music is a tool used to drive emotion....not really to be listened to!

Some people (myself included, I suppose) keep playing the game (even if it's absolutely horrible) just to listen to the music without having to hunt down a soundtrack CD.

Might be a long shot but it's worth mentioning.

 

[The_Echo]

And yet, MGS had an awesome soundtrack done by a Western composer, no?

That's one out of how many..?

 

[cobra_ky]

And yet, MGS had an awesome soundtrack done by a Western composer, no?

He's two standard deviations away from the mean.

He's also massively more expensive to hire than most other composers that do videogames. Well beyond the budget of most games. Also, not all the music in MGS is done by Harry Gregson Williams.

More importantly, this isn't a criticism of American composers. it's a criticism of big-budget American developers who have all their music done on the cheap. That Konami went and got Harry Gregson-Williams is beside the point; the point is that a lot of Western companies wouldn't have bothered.

This is an excellent point. But then, do you want memorable melodies in a game? In theory, the music is there to set the mood. In a lot of ways, a score that gets noticed, is actually not doing its job. You should be able to recognise it, should you hear it out of context, and it should remind you of certain points in the game (such as as certain village or dungeon or key plot point) but really, in the world of Movies, Games and TV shows, music is a tool used to drive emotion....not really to be listened to!

well, i can't recognize most video game music, but that's really beside the point. regardless of the purpose of game music, Japanese developers seem much more concerned about it than western developers, where it's something of an afterthought.

 

[Nukey]

so what if the music is dry, the western games are still better. Oh snap!

 

[fearofthemind]

I think the music in Ratchet and Clank is better than the soundtrack in The Legend of Zelda.

 

[Jake the Snake]

I think to say an portion of the game market's music is dry just because of its region is a little unfair. While its true im sure ill never forget of the nostalgic melody of a Pokemon center from the old Yellow Version days, its important to remember that if the game is one you particularly like, then most of that game's aspects stay with you including the soundtrack. All the tunes for the forests and battles in Oblivion are still fresh in my mind, its just a different kind of memory than the "classic" games the Japanese guys were referring to. (also ive never played monster hunter so i think that right there kind of just blew their argument out the window)

 

[Dogstile]

the halo soundtrack is something most people who play games can recall if shown

not sure about others, but theres one

 

[la-le-lu-li-lo]

And yet, MGS had an awesome soundtrack done by a Western composer, no?

Cheers to that sir.

But I suppose exemptions are unavoidable.

 

[DAMG]

I hate that term, "dry." Should we hold a wet t-shirt contest while the music plays? What the hell does dry mean anyway? Lacking content!? What!? The Japanese are a bunch of xenophobes that need to be given a triple dose of American wet willies.

Well, at least, the man stated "in my mind;" I take my back xenophobe comment for this gentleman, just this gentleman.

 

[Gregorius]

I hate that term, "dry." Should we hold a wet t-shirt contest while the music plays? What the hell does dry mean anyway? Lacking content!? What!? The Japanese are a bunch of xenophobes that need to be given a triple dose of American wet willies.

Well, at least, the man stated "in my mind;" I take my back xenophobe comment for this gentleman, just this gentleman.

They probably meant "dry" to mean something similar to "bland and repetitive"... in which case, I'd have to push in my earplugs to drown out the cries of the Halo fanboys and such, and stupidly bob my head up and down in total agreement. Really, I don't see any reason why I should NOT agree with them. American music is stale, it's repetitive, it's... for lack of a better word, it's crap.

Sure, Jack Wall was pretty good with things like the Myst franchise, but I don't think anyone would disagree with me if I said Yasunori Mitsuda perfectly composed his works for Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Xenosaga, Shadow Hearts and Luminous Arc.

Here come the three most dreaded words in the English language - in my opinion... I think American composers need to take some time to study and appreciate the works of their Japanese counterparts. The wonderful world of music would be so much better off for it.

 

[squid5580]

Huh I had never really associated the 2 before but they do make a point (for me anyways). Western game music (with a few exceptions) is pretty much forgettable where I have been haunted for days by the music after playing through a JRPG.

 

[PurpleRain]

The composers on Bioshock and Alone in the Dark weren't Japanese were they? Those two games have amazing soundtracks.

 

[Capo Taco]

What about the orange box. Portal in patiqular... tell me Still Alive isnt lodged in your brain

I showcased Still Alive to a female non-gamer friend of mine and she really loved it. Then later she tells me she told one of her non-gamer friends about it, but she already knew the song and they sang it together.

ps. Yet, portal isn't really 'game music' in the same sense as most other songs: it does not accompany gameplay. For me system shock 2 ambient music still sits on top of that list.

 

[MagicShroom]

Someone hasn't played a Madden game

lol I think this is what it comes down to their songs aren't on madden

And yet, MGS had an awesome soundtrack done by a Western composer, no?

He's two standard deviations away from the mean.

He's also massively more expensive to hire than most other composers that do videogames. Well beyond the budget of most games. Also, not all the music in MGS is done by Harry Gregson Williams.

More importantly, this isn't a criticism of American composers. it's a criticism of big-budget American developers who have all their music done on the cheap. That Konami went and got Harry Gregson-Williams is beside the point; the point is that a lot of Western companies wouldn't have bothered.

There's some truth in this...

Seconded

 

[Disembodied_Dave]

As composer that hopes to get into making video game sound tracks and who lives in the US, I have to completely agree with this. Western Game music is often boring and forgettable, like a film score when it should be more like a musical.

 

[Cowabungaa]

You're shouting from the rooftops about the music for a game that has no actual music during gameplay. That's silly as hell man.

O I don't see why, the game still has music, intro music. That's important too, it sets the mood, warms you up a bit. Yes it's not ingame, but it's still very very good.

As for HL2, it's not about disliking it, they never said western music was BAD. They said it wasn't MEMORABLE, which given that I can't remember very much from hl2's music (and NONE from portal) I would have to agree with them.

I did find it memorable, very memorable, because the music managed to capture and enhance the feeling of whatever area you were in. Whereither you had the cops on your tail and were basically unarmed (that's where Apprehension and Evasion first kicks is), or you just left one of the most desolate and horrible places (the song that kicks in right after you leave that mine after Ravenholm), the music always suited so perfectly. Same with Portal, a lot of those songs really enhanced the feeling of being all alone with a crazed AI hellbend on killing you. It's that quality, making the game feel even more immersive, that makes videogame music very memorable for me.

Well that's be biggest reason, ofcourse there are songs that are memorable for different reasons. TF2's music, for example, isn't ingame, but I find it memorable because it captures the 60's/70's evil genius theme so well. And Portal's Still Alive song is...well, don't know really, it's just awesome I suppose. Again a matter of taste I guess.

Hmmm...I'll have to do a bitta research methinks, but I seem to remember the actual full budget bein much higher than simply what he himself put in. Dont quote me on that till I have actual data though.

I can't find a lot about it on google, a different article (this one [http://deadfries.com/tag/braid]) speaks about 180.000 bucks, but it's not exactly official so I can't tell if that number is trustworthy enough. But even if other investers are involved, I doubt that the budget would go over a million. Ofcourse that's still a lot of money for us mere mortals, but it's peanuts compared to GTA4's 100 million.

 

[y8c616]

And yet, MGS had an awesome soundtrack done by a Western composer, no?

An exception to the rule i think. Harry Gregson-Williams' scores for mgs 2 3 and 4 are awesome it must be said, but the stand-out piece of the whole series for me, the MGS theme, as heard in mgs 1 2 and 3 was written by Konami's in-house composer for mgs1; Gregson-Williams only rescored and rearranged it for the subsequent titles, though he did a pretty awesome job.