II. What Makes a Great Soundtrack
Thanks to John Romero, Outlaws was the first truly
great PC game soundtrack I encountered. From that point on, I was
hooked. I couldn't help listening to every new PC game with a critical
ear to see if it approached the greatness of Outlaws. I began keeping
games I would otherwise give away or sell, based on the quality
of their soundtrack.
But what seperates the great soundtracks from the also-rans? I
began to formulate a couple rules based on experience.
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Unique. A unique soundtrack stands out because
it doesn't resemble music in any other game. For example, the
funk of Interstate '76 or the classical riffs of Total
Annihilation. We haven't heard those genres of music in
any other games to date. But create a techno soundtrack and
you're automatically competing with dozens of other similar
sounding games. These soundtracks, even if they aren't your
cup of tea, at least took the time to try something different.
That automatically moves them up several notches on the scale.
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Memorable. A memorable soundtrack has a visceral
association with the game it appears in. For example, the Tie
Fighter music, which was dark and brooding, but instantly
recognizable as Star Wars. Or, the creepy, haunting strains
of Dungeon Keeper's ambient tracks. These are the soundtracks
that you absolutely, positively do not turn off while playing
the game. They don't just add atmosphere— they are the
atmosphere. Even if you never played the game, the minute you
hear these soundtracks, you get a strong feeling for what the
game was trying to accomplish. After hearing the soundtrack
to Outcast , several people I know actually went out
and purchased the game on the merit of the music alone, trusting
that the rest of the game would be of similar quality.
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Well known. Music isn't a popularity contest.
But it's hard to get people excited about the soundtrack to
Big Red Racing, no matter how good it may be. Some
soundtracks become popular because the game itself is wildly
popular. For example, every recent Blizzard game will come up
in discussions of great soundtracks. And they are all quite
good. But compared musically, some are clearly better than others,
particularly Diablo I and Diablo II.
Given my natural interest in the topic, it's only natural that
the website I founded, GameBasement, would end up hosting a PC game
music radio station sooner or later.
A Few Questions
I get asked this question a lot: why PC games? Why not (insert
favorite platform here)? Well, there are two reasons. First, I do
almost all of my gaming on the PC, so it is the platform I am most
familiar with. Second, there are literally dozens of web sites already
broadcasting arcade, console, and music from other platforms. As
far as I know, we are the sole PC-only game music broadcast in the
entire world.
The other question that occasionally comes up is the legality of
providing nearly complete game soundtracks in a radio broadcast.
I believe this is covered under the "Fair Use" doctrine in US copyright
law. "Fair Use" is a limitation to a copyright holder's rights.
It allows others to use some or all of another's work under certain
circumstances without the copyright holder's approval. There are
four factors used to consider whether a use made of a copyrighted
work is a "Fair Use":
1. The purpose and character of the use, including whether
such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational
purposes;
2. The nature of the copyrighted work;
3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation
to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value
of the copyrighted work.
I don't think any reasonable person would consider listening to
the soundtrack as potentially damaging to sales of the game; it's
a small fraction of a product created by a large number of people,
not just musicians. The situation would be very different if we
were broadcasting, say, a complete Ricky Martin album. In that case, the audio
is the entire product!
The Atwood Awards, plus Tips
on Dialing In
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