Suggerimenti per la creazione di soundtrack per videogame.

Tip #3:

Use mostly stepwise motion and just a few thoughtful skips in your melody writing.

This is more of a guideline than a rule, but if you analyzed several of your favorite melodies you would probably find that most (if not all) of them are made of mostly stepwise motion. Stepwise motion means that the melody moves through the music scale you’re using without skipping over any notes, whether that melody is going up or down. The ratio may look different from melody to melody, but stepwise motion almost always beats out skips - even though skips are also important.

Why is this delicate balance so important? To put it as simply as possible, if you ONLY used stepwise motion it’s easy for the melody to sound predictable and boring. There are exceptions, but they are - by their very nature - exceptional. On the other side of the spectrum, if you’re skipping all over the place your melody becomes too unpredictable and tiring to listen because there’s no anchor or familiarity. Our ears may not like predictability so much, but they’re huge fans of familiarity!

Tip #4:

Pick an interval that you almost never use, and compose a melody with it.

I suggest choosing from the larger intervals, less common melodic intervals such as:

• Tritone

• Minor 6th

• Major 6th

• Minor 7th

• Major 7th

• Octave

These can be ascending or descending intervals. If you usually make ascending leaps, try throwing yourself a descending interval for today. Whichever you choose, commit to making something interesting with that interval - you got this!

You can even be cutesy about it. Did you know that the main theme of Final Fantasy VII uses the interval of a Major 7th as the basis for its melody? Just sayin'.

Tip #6:

Remove artificial roadblocks

But what IS an "artificial roadblock?" Basically, an artificial roadblock is anything that can become a stumbling point, delay, or excuse between you and your goal. And they can be sneaky.

I'll give you an example from my college years. When I went off to college, I had a guitar, a case, a guitar stand, and a tiny dorm room. I didn't want anything to happen to my precious guitar, so my initial plan was to keep my guitar in its case under my bed and take it out when I wanted to play or practice.

How often do you think I took out my guitar during the first few weeks? It sat in the case for days between playing sessions. Luckily, I got the bright idea to keep my guitar out on display in its stand - you know, so if a girl came by they'd be all like "Oh, you play guitar?" and then I'd be all like "Your Body is a Wonderland..."

That totally did not work, and I stayed single throughout all of freshman year. Fail.

But while I lacked in female attention, I made great gains in guitar proficiency because it happened to be out, ready to play, and within arms reach of my computer chair. This made it SUPER easy to grab and play - especially during leisure time on the computer. So it happened often.

In that scenario, my guitar (1) being stored under my bed and (2) in its case were artificial roadblocks. Sure, it's still easy to get the old thing out - but it was just inconvenient enough to derail my guitar playing.

Here are some other examples of artificial roadblocks, with proposed solutions:

Roadblock: Looking for staff paper or writing utensil.

Solution: Keeping an ample supply of both within arms reach of the piano.

Roadblock: Spending time setting up a session in your DAW.

Solution: Create and use templates for your most common needs.

Roadblock: Social media and general internet procrastination

Solution: Composing away from the computer.

Roadblock: Sifting through sample libraries

Solution: Go through your sound libraries once in a while and take notes. Make yourself an index of samples you like and would use, why you like them, etc to quickly reference later or organize them into useful folders.

Tip #8:

Start with a stock drum loop and compose over and around it.

You can always go back and change it/make your own loop later.

In an online Masterclass, EDM artist deadmau5 explains that he often starts with a drum loop to get the general feeling and beat of a new song as a starting point. He then hops into his piano editor and starts drawing in chord progressions, choosing synths, etc. But it all starts with a drum loop.

He absolutely goes back later to make his own original beat with the same feeling/pulse to make sure he’s being original and adding something new, but he uses a drum loop as a backdrop while he conceptualizes the rest of the track. It’s a good strategy to give a try.

Tip #9:

Get inspired by listening to music from a completely different culture than your own

When was the last time you immersed yourself in the rich choral traditions of Estonia, or fired up some West African drumming music on your iPhone? Perhaps a little Brazilian Bossa Nova? If you aren’t from those places, you will probably hear some striking differences from the music you’re used to hearing. And that contrast can be a good thing! It can stir up new ideas and infuse new life into old ideas. So today is all about stirring things up a bit! Pick a country at random and do some Googling, or ask your Facebook friends for recommendations - but listen to something outside of your normal music sphere.

Need some guidance? Follow these easy steps:

Use random.country to pick a random country from around the world.

Google "Music of [country you picked]"

If there's a Wikipedia page specifically about the music of that country, read up.

Head over to YouTube and search for music using keywords, styles, and phrases mentioned in the Wikipedia article.

So, for example, the country I got was Rwanda.

On Wikipedia, I read that Ikinimba was the "most revered musical tradition," of the country. I searched YouTube and found this delightful video of an Ikinimba dance which features both great music and an adorable toddler leading the dance. And now I am enlightened - but I won't stop at just one video if I really want to get a feel for this musical tradition.

Tip #10:

Use a rhythm from a spoken or written line (or lines) to inspire a new melodic idea.

Here's what you'll need to do:

Choose a quote, line, speech, etc that you love. It does not have to be related to music in any way. I'm going to choose a line from an old track & field movie called Without Limits, during which the character of Bill Bowerman (founder of Nike) said the following in a eulogy:

"'Citius, altius, fortius.' It means 'Faster, higher, stronger.' Not 'faster, higher, stronger,' than who you're competing against - just 'faster, higher, stronger.'"

Listen to the line or say it aloud in a natural way, and write out/tap out the rhythm that you're using when you say the lines.

Use the rhythm you just worked out for a new melody.

Good luck, and remember that you don't have to be 100% accurate, but the melody should rhythmically be very close to the original rhythm you used. We're using this rhythm as a source of inspiration - not a strict rule.

Tip #11:

Openly share your work with others - especially your close circle of friends and family.

This tip has a couple of major benefits. For starters, if you keep your creative exploits on the DL with your friends and fam you are effectively cutting them out of that hidden part of your life. That means that they won't be there if you need their support because they won't KNOW you need support. Working independently can be lonely business, so don't isolate yourself by hiding this amazing part of you away. That means you may have to be forward with people and get them interested in you or your music.

The second major benefit? Those who know and love you best can be an amazing source of referrals. No one will speak as highly of you as a close friend or family member, and everyone likes to be the person who "knows a guy." But they CAN'T RECOMMEND YOU IF THEY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU DO OR HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO YOU. So share, ok? Not just to our private Facebook group (which you totally signed up for, right?), but on your public Facebook profile, etc where people will see it. Tweet it. Instagram it. Stream it. And tell other people what you're doing and why it's important to you. Don't be afraid to show your face or your feelings or both.

Tip #12:

Transcribe one of your favorite solos and borrow a trick.

Whether your favorite “solo,” is a line from a video game or not, I would highly recommend transcribing a melodic line and dissecting it to uncover its secrets. You can choose a melody from a game, a guitar solo from any style of music, a saxophone or trumpet solo from a jazz tune: whatever. It can be studio-recorded or live (my preference is live recordings), and you should literally just copy out the solo note-for-note. There are all sorts of things you can learn from a masterful solo.

My personal favorites to transcribe have been the guitar/lead lines in the early Mega Man X games (X1-X3, specifically) and John Mayer's live guitar solos (love him or hate him, the dude's a damn good guitar player). Seriously. Go listen to Spark Mandrill's stage music from Mega Man X and write it out - even just a small part of it - and if you don't learn something I'll be shocked. SHOCKED! Get it?! Because he's Spark Mandrill. HE USES ELECTRICITY AS A WEAPON...!

Tip #13:

Leave some space in your melodies by using rests and notes of longer duration.

In other words, let them breathe a bit. Like a bottle of wine.

I read somewhere that B.B. King played guitar solos as if he were singing, meaning that he played in phrases but left room for "breaths" in between some of them. That's mastery-level stuff right there, but for today I just want you to focus on making things a little less busy. Draw things out a bit. See how long you can go before moving on to the next pitch in the melody, or intentionally add pauses where everything sorta stops for a beat or two. It doesn't have to be absolutely silent, but you get the idea.

Tip #14:

Start by composing a melody first, then a bass line that compliments and elevates that melody while implying the harmonic progression.

Holy geez that is a lot of verbage for a quick tip. Let me explain a bit!

I'm a huge fan of the melody-first approach to composition, but what comes next? Both Mozart and Agematsu, among many others, focused on this two-part writing to ensure a high-quality melodic line and a strong bass line that truly supports the melody in every way. That means it provides rhythmic contrast (the bass chills out while the melody is active, and vice versa) and meaningful, intentional outlining of the chords that would best support the melody. Both composers waited until they had an interesting and well-written melody and strong, complimentary bass line before moving on to orchestration later to fill in the missing chord tones or whatever.

This technique forces you to accomplish two tasks:

Write two interesting lines;

Establish the most important harmonies in the piece.

A well-crafted bass line is a huge differentiated between a forgettable, pleasant piece of music and a truly memorable and clever one. Every song in the top 1% of my music library has a bass-line that is interesting, singable, and tastefully brings attention to itself at opportune times. Don't just spam root notes. If melody is king, then the bass line is queen - and she deserves your time and considerable attention.

Tip #15:

Listen to the music for some of the top 10 games or popular music albums, identify some common traits, and experiment with those elements.

This could very well put you outside of your comfort zone, and while you shouldn't just churn out whatever's popular this month you SHOULD be aware of it. Have fun!