Key Takeaways
- Modern composers in video games produce innovative music.
- Video game music is perfect as background music, creating mood and soundscapes.
- The community covers and reinterprets video game music in various styles and genres.
I love music, but it’s never really mattered to me where that music comes from, which is why a big section of my daily playlist contains music from soundtracks for movies, TV series, and video games. If you only confine your musical discovery to artists who release music through the traditional album or single model, you could be missing out big time.
Like Film, Some of the Best Modern Composers Make Game Music
As someone who loves listening to classical music, it’s a little sad that the only new compositions seem to come from media like film or video games. After all, these are the projects that are still willing to pay for a symphony orchestra, and that’s where modern classical composers get most of their gigs. It’s not just classical composers either, though. In the video games industry there are some truly innovative composers.
Mick Gordon’s work for Doom (2016) is phenomenally innovative, and the music by lead composer Keiichi Okabe and his team in Nier: Automata is some of the best music I’ve heard. Period. I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention Nobuo Uematsu, who is responsible for the superlative music in the Final Fantasy series of games.
With retro game music, the innovation often came from having limited tools, which gave rise to entire genres, such as “chiptunes.”
It’s the Perfect Music to Work or Relax To
Unlike most mainstream music, video game music is designed to act as a backdrop, to set a certain mood, and create soundscapes, rather than dominate the foreground. So, just like popular genres like Lo-Fi, video soundtracks in general are perfect to have on while you’re doing something else.
A lot of my writing happens to the sound of Final Fantasy or any number of my favorite RPGs, and just like regular non-video game soundtracks or classical music, you don’t need to know anything about the game in question to appreciate this music.
The Diversity of Covers and Reinterpretations Are Vast
Because video games have such a dedicated following, it’s no surprise that musicians like to take the original music from games and remake them. These can be covers in various styles and genres, or straight adaptations from the original chiptune to a full band or orchestra. Video game music has inspired a lot of creativity, and thanks to platforms like YouTube and Spotify, there are some mighty performances of these pieces by talented musicians. Such as this amazing rendition of Super Mario 2 music by Sam Griffen.
There’s endless depth to the video game music community, and if you’re a musician yourself or just interested in music beyond simply listening to it, there’s a whole universe to discover here.
Game Music Often Tells a Story
Even if you don’t know the game in question, or the story that goes with it, it’s clear that most video game music has some narrative built into it. You can feel that something is meant to be a climax, or a sombre moment, or a tragedy, and so on. I’ve always been in awe of how video game composers can relay the emotional beats of a story just by using abstract sounds, and one way I know this is because I listen to music for games that I haven’t even played myself. So even though I am what people would call a “gamer” I haven’t limited my exploration of video game music to just what I’ve played myself.
It Might Just Get You to Appreciate the Medium
If you aren’t someone interested in video games as a whole, listening to some of the best music the medium has to offer might give you some appreciation for the overall artistry that goes into creating and designing video games. Games are more than just a form of entertainment, the artistry involved is phenomenal and unique compared to any other medium. If you think the music is great, wait until you actually try your hand at playing something.
