The opportunity to score a game – and get paid for it – will nearly always require considerable effort before you even write a note. The indie boom has created huge opportunity, but it’s also given rise to serious competition. To give you a head start, here’s a selection of essential advice.
Focus on levelling up
Before looking to secure that dream soundtrack gig, you’ll need to hone your craft as a producer. Professional composers often state the importance of understanding your own abilities. It’s best to bide your time until your composition and production skills are objectively up to the task before approaching developers, ensuring it’s a worthwhile endeavour when you do. Critically comparing your work to soundtracks you admire is a great way to benchmark yourself, allowing you to pick out what is a success and what isn’t within your own music, and of course feedback from other musicians and (ideally) composers is extremely valuable.
Play to win
Play games regularly. It might sound obvious, but it’s been noted that many would-be game composers admit to rarely playing them. Understanding gameplay mechanics leads to an understanding of what you’ll be scoring and why. And passion for the medium helps, natch!
Be a specialist
Focus on a style and try to excel in that. This is much more likely to get you noticed than a portfolio showcasing many styles in an average fashion. There’s a market for more than grand, orchestral pieces – many indie games require a chiptune-style vibe, and there are successful artists like Jake Kaufman and Disasterpeace working in retro style.
Network
Networking is as important as talent, so you’ll need to reach out. Research not just who’s making games, but figure out which developers would most appreciate what you’ve got to offer, then concentrate your efforts on them. Connect to a gaming event like Radius, GDC, Develop or Game Music Connect, and talk to developers whose games you are interested in, in the spirit of socialising, rather than trying to land a job – build connections, and work opportunities will arise naturally. While the structure of AAA development is businesslike, the indie scene is quite informal, so getting to know the scene and the projects within it is extremely beneficial.
Let your music speak
Maintain an uncluttered website, a SoundCloud (create a separate ‘showcase’ one if you’re a prolific work-in-progress uploader), and ideally some social media presence. And outside of game soundtracking, developing as a ‘normal’ artist can help create a presence and build useful experience. Giving music away for free might seem self defeating, but if it’s good enough, it’ll help to spread word of mouth, and therefore it can be a good long-term strategy for getting your name out there. And try looking for voluntary projects – the modding scene for popular PC games could be a good place to start for this.
You can also build a presentable portfolio by ‘re-scoring’ parts of a game, creating your own alternative soundtrack. Make videos of gameplay and/or cut-scene footage and write a score to accompany this, uploading it to YouTube to showcase your style and abilities.
Uploading edited game footage is a widespread practice, and if you can’t find a word about it on the official publisher website FAQs, chances are it’s OK to do so.
Collecting coins
As far as payment goes, this is in line with the oft-quoted length of a piece of string. Basically, it’ll vary from job to job. You may be presented with a fixed fee. You could be promised a share of the game’s revenue. The important thing is that you don’t sell yourself short. Do the maths, and ensure you’re able to get by. Games are a risky business, so if you’re getting a revenue share or payment pending on success, make sure you have a financial plan B, just in case.
Co-operative multiplayer
So many people are making games now, you may be able to find someone in your extended social group – or even meet like-minded people online through social media – who would like to make a small game and need music for it. Even if they’re unable to pay anything up front, it can be a tremendously worthwhile experience to actually score a finished game. Finally, with the free tools available now, it’s not out of the question to make your own game. Many tools like Unity, Unreal Engine and GameMaker are free, so you’ve got nothing to lose by giving it a go.
The players
When you’re soundtracking a game you’re not always working alone – here’s a crash course in the other roles you may encounter.
Audio director
Manages all the audio involved in a project. This requires great knowledge of the processes that go into every aspect of the sound, be it voiceovers, foley, SFX or score. Requires in-depth knowledge, management ability, and clear vision to keep all aspects cohesive with the final game. Responsibilities extend to assisting in all final audio implementation in the end stages of development.
Sound Designer
This job seems self explanatory, but there is a complexity to it in a lot of modern productions that might be overlooked. For instance, when firing a gun or striking with a sword in a high-budget game, multiple examples of the sound are expected for ’round robin’-style triggering, and those sounds may themselves be composed individual parts for dynamic triggered or processed (eg. a ringing or muted sword strike comprised of separate transient and sustained ring portions that are layered as required). The role increasingly demands implementation of sound using ‘middleware’, and setting the rules and conditions for them to occur.
Composer
The most widely acknowledged role in game audio, the one that gets the accolades, and the position that’s most competitive. The composer will not only need to write music appropriate to the style of the game, but be able to musically interpret instructions from developers that could range from a vague impression to moment-to-moment specificity. Great computer-based production ability is a must, as is a strong but adaptable style in writing music.
Musicians, orchestral contractors & conductors
Vital to many high-end scores are the musicians contracted for the real-life orchestra recordings of tracks the composers have written for a game.
Recording engineers
Audio engineers with the ability and skills to record the voiceovers and foley sound for a game are needed to provide material to the other people involved in the chain of production. They are indispensable, especially in dialogue-heavy games with expansive world filled with sounds based on ‘found’ recordings.
