One of the aims with the major practical project was to present an interactive, immersive listening/viewing experience surrounding video game soundtracks, with the aid of visuals. Interactive is defined as “allowing a two-way flow of information between a computer and a computer-user; responding to a user’s input.”. The debate on the interactivity of video games is ongoing. According to Karen Collins (2008), interactivity in the context of video games is a ‘much critiqued term’. Juha Arrasvuori (2006, p. 132), suggests that “a video game cannot be interactive because it cannot anticipate the actions of its players. In this sense, video games are active, not interactive.” Compared against the definition of interactive, Arrasvuori’s suggestion is based on the lack of two-way flow of information. However, video games have the capacity of responding to a user’s input, and Lev Manovich (2001, p. 56) argues that “all classical, and even more so modern, art is ‘interactive’” due to the requirement of the user to “fill in missing information” such as “missing details of objects in visual art”. The use of visuals in the performance was supported by the audio and its relevance to what the listeners were viewing, which in a sense is helping the listeners fill in this ‘missing information’, hence adding a sense of interactivity to the performance. However, the performance did not pertain to the definition of interactivity, as there was no input from the listener. The performance, therefore created a sense of pseudo-interactivity, where the visuals are reminiscent of the user input found in video games, and the audio is supplementary. According to Shinkle (2005), playing a video game involves both “diegetic and extradiegetic activity”. There is a conscious interaction with the interface by the user, alongside a “corporeal response to the gaming environment and experience”. The immersion of the user within the narrative space is what sets video games aside from other types of media. One of the aims of the project was to attempt to create a narrative space where the listener was immersed similarly to the sense of immersion created by playing the video games.
The performance of video game music in a contemporary style was a big inspiration during the conception of the performance for this project. The performances of the OutRun soundtrack by the S.S.T. (Sega Sound Team) Band, an in-house live band at SEGA which included members of SEGA’s sound department between 1988 and 1993, was an inspiration for the personal take on the OutRun soundtrack. Mick Gordon’s performance of his composed soundtrack for the reboot of DOOM at the Game Awards in 2016, alongside Matt Halpern of Periphery, was an interesting insight into the live performance of a video game score, especially one that is so contemporary. This performance was the inspiration for the inclusion of the DOOM soundtrack as part of this major practical project. The performance of DOOM in the project includes the original DOOM OST’s ‘E1M1 – At Doom’s Gate’, which is the piece of music most associated with the franchise. The performance also included a part heavily inspired by Mick Gordon’s 2016 version of the soundtrack – A piece that would more likely be found at a technical metal festival than within a video game. The energy conveyed in this piece contrasted the remainder of the performance. The significance of the piece lied in the contrast in energy, but also in the technicalities of the genres explored within the track. The original DOOM OST was heavily influence by thrash metal, and the Mick Gordon version of the OST was heavily influence by progressive technical metal of the 21st century. These genres are not typically used as inspiration for video game music, with composer usually favouring a more electronic approach for this unique form of virtual entertainment. The inclusion of this piece in the performance allowed for a different type of video game composition to be explored and researched.
Stardew Valley is a farming simulation game. The game has a retro pixel art style. ATMOSPHERE Lava Dwellers is a piece of music that plays when the player reaches a certain level while exploring the mine within the game. The music in Stardew Valley is atmospheric and descriptive. The music in the mine conveys a sense of mystery and discovery. Atmosphere research.
An aim with this piece was to use looping to create a sense of atmosphere by utilising the layering ability of the looper.
Similarly to Lava Dwellers, the second track in the performance from Stardew Valley is an atmospheric piece. Talk about bass. The use of spacious effects such as delays and reverbs aid the creation of an atmospheric piece – In the original track, these effects are utilised with this intention. Reverb is to do with atmosphere due to how reverb is found in the natural world. According to Rouse (2011), reverb is ‘the acoustic environment that surrounds a sound’. It is an auditory descriptor of the setting or environment. The ability to describe an environment using audio alone is an important tool in helping the listener or viewer achieve a sense of immersion within the video game or performance. The inclusion of the tracks from Stardew Valley allowed the performance to show the effectiveness of conveying atmosphere through music within video games. The visuals used in the performance provided context and aimed to aid the creation of a sense of immersion.
Cruise Low was a piece written specifically for the major practical project to showcase the inspiration that video game music can have on songwriting. The piece takes inspiration from the genres of Synthwave and Outrun. The genre of Outrun takes its name from the 1986 arcade classic OutRun. The soundtrack for OutRun was also explored as part of the performance. The inspiration for the piece came from artists such as Hugh Myrone, D/A/D, and Thomas Barrandon. This group of artists are heavily influenced by the sounds and music found in video games. The inclusion of Cruise Low in the performance is a demonstration of how video game music has shaped an entire new genre of music based entirely on nostalgia and reminiscence of early video games.
An exploration of the entire Original Soundtrack (OST) of the 1986 Arcade classic OutRun was a substantial part of the performance. The entire piece totalled sixteen minutes, as it included three individual tracks: Magical Sound Shower, Splash Wave, and Passing Breeze. The inspiration for including the entire OST as part of the performance came from a quote by Zach Whalen (2004): “Certain reasonably predictable associations with different types of music allow the game designers to use the music to enhance our belief in the consistency of a particular emulated world: The ‘emulated world’ in question, in the context of the performance, is the setting of OutRun- A Venice Beach, California inspired made-up world. The consistencies in the music support the setting in the sense that, between the 3 songs, there is little deviation in style. Magical Sound Shower and Passing Breeze are incredibly similar in terms of similar stylistic elements found within the pieces, as well as very similar bass lines, and both tracks are at the same tempo. The similar bass lines offer a sense of consistency for the player or listener, having deviated slightly from the original style of Magical Sound Shower in Splash Wave.