

Why Audio Matters: Hacking Gamers' Memories - chgriffin
http://blog.betable.com/stand-out-brand-your-game-with-audio

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saturdaysaint
Scott Pilgrim had some of the most affecting moments in recent cinematic
memory when sampling Nintendo classics - the combination of young adult
infatuation and the Zelda wishing-well fairy music was fantastic.

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alanfalcon
To get permission to use the music from Zelda, Edgar Wright wrote to Shigeru
Miyamoto saying “This music is like nursery rhymes to a generation.”

Absolutely true, and it's very effective for that reason. I also believe it's
the reason why Scott Pilgrim resonates so much with a certain generation and
then holds little to no appeal outside of it.

This article (in which Michael Cera interviews Edgar Wright) has a bit more
detail. <http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/06/ff_cerawright/all/1>

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asianexpress
Is it just me, or is the music from SNES RPGs more memorable than any current
day RPG music? I'm talking Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy (Kefka's laugh??) --
you don't hear music like this anymore.

Music, that when heard, makes you want to play the game or relive the
memories.

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baddox
Do you mean the timbre of the instruments (obviously limited by the SNES
chips), or the compositions themselves? I think the technical limitations of
those consoles meant that catchy melodies were extremely important.

With modern audio, stock music can be thrown in easily, and it will sound
decent and give the "epic" or cinematic feel the game designers want. But you
often don't get memorable themes and relentless catchy melodies.

That said, there is some great composition in modern games. The Halo series is
an obvious mention, with several memorable orchestral and piano pieces. Indie
games often get closer to the composition style of the older video games you
mentioned.

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asianexpress
I would say the compositions -- but perhaps it is due to the technical
limitations as you mentioned. I can definitely say the compositions because I
think they sound even more amazing in the hands of an orchestra, or in piano
collections. Maybe I'm just a Nobuo Uematsu fan

I do agree that the Halo music is pretty good and memorable (especially the
whole chanting monk deal).

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guan_yu
The fact that he refers to music as "branding" makes me want to put my fist
through his face. The soundtracks we all love, the ones from games such as
Zelda, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy... they're all monumental works of
considerable effort and artistic merit. People remember these games, they're
such classics because they were ... art. It's not _branding_ in the same way
the Mona Lisa isn't branding for Leonardo da Vinci.

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dpcan
Music in games is most certainly part of the branding. Think of the opening
chip tune to super Mario bros. Or the song that plays while the contra logo
scrolled in.

Those songs are as much a part of the brand as the characters, titles,
enemies, sounds, etc.

They are almost like jingles on commercials. They belong to the brand.

The fact that they are works of art, or how they are made, or who makes them
means very little once they become part of the brand.

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amalcon
See also: Everything by John Williams. Try thinking of Star Wars, Indiana
Jones, or Jaws. You're thinking of the music, now, aren't you?

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PeterInouye
Dun DUN... Dun DUN... dun dun dun dun DUN DUN DUN DUN

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davidtyleryork
oh god you just made this happen in my head lol

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ctdonath
At the end of iD's Doom II, the final boss produces a repeated "kafoomBOOM"
sound.

That sound, like the Wilheim Scream, shows up freaking EVERYWHERE (ok, not
quite that bad but it seems that way). Dunno if anyone else notices it, but it
has reminded me of that game at least monthly for over 15 years.

Yeah, audio hacked this gamer's memory all right.

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thwarted
I recently noticed that two of the most popular Clan Arena maps on QuakeLive
(at least on the servers I frequent) both have the same background music, and
I've been wondering how much that contributes to the way people pay the
game/map and how quickly they learn it.

(Some of us are still keeping Quake3, via QuakeLive, alive)

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dmbass
I agree that audio is a very important aspect of games (and other forms of
media like video), but do people really play mobile games with the sound on?
When I do, it's either to my own soundtrack or none at all.

Has anybody actually polled the device volume level and ambient noise level
when people are playing their game?

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davidtyleryork
I havent seen that polled before. Either way, I am playing mobile games with
the sound on pretty often now. I find it's kinda weird to play a game with my
music in the background, it doesn't fit

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d-lectable
Especially for games that require more agency, i.e. Tesla Wars where you are
constantly attacking people.

I only put my own music on for puzzle games like solitaire.

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TheIronYuppie
I commented on the site, but I could not agree more with this. We
(<http://www.hark.com>) have millions of sound bites, and some of the most
popular, without fail, are from video games - either from last week's latest
release or twenty years ago.

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zipdog
I recently piped just the audio from a bunch of classic games to a group of
people: every game was recognised quickly and spurred distinct memories of the
games, though no-one had played any of them for years.

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d-lectable
Where are those awesome headphones from? Link?

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diziet
Although these headsets are pretty decent, they pale in comparison to
similarly priced headphones from companies that specialize in audio equipment.
Something in that ($200) price range are the Sennheiser 595s. I say this as
someone who has used both.

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d-lectable
Thats why I usually shy away from the more flashy Skull Candies. And while
Beats by Dre look quite nice, they apparently don't sound great.

I'm quite happy with my Audio Technica Pro 700, but wish it would cancel more
external sounds.

