Video games as a way into music

[Open Blue]

So NPR did a piece on music and kids and one of they people they talked to this time is 29 year old Nico Muhly. In it Nico talks about how Nintendo games helped him learn how music could influence emotion and then used that as a classical composer.
Additionally, I highly recommend listening to the full version of The Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra.

Do you play an instrument or compose music? If so, how has the video games you've played influenced not only how you play or compose, but how you understand music?
If not, have video games influenced your musical palette or given you an understanding of music?

[Tiresias]

In all honesty I'm not sure they have. I am aware of how 8-bit videogame music has enjoyed a recent influence on a lot of dance music and the like oddly, and there have been some gorgeous game soundtracks, all in all...I don't really think that my taste in music has ever really aligned in either direction. Still Alive is obviously a great song I suppose, but generally I rarely find videogame music much cop outside the game.

There seems to be a lot of games that use 'epic orchestral' music, that I find just a bit dull (though I think Total Annihilation still wins this category) or there's the more lovely restrained and more ambient music used in others.

Most cringeworthy I found was in Halo 2 when all of a sudden POWER GUITAR SOLO kicked in and you could just feel annoying macho game developer saying THIS IS TO SHOW THAT THIS IS AAWWWWWEEEEESOOOOOME.

Thankfully Halo 3 I supposed fixed this and rather relied on a lovely piano motif.

[Open Blue]

I remember when I was very young, playing Zelda: OoT and figuring out that when you shift the controller, it would change the note. I developed a short-hand notation for it which is a bastardised version of basic musical notation and to this day, most of the music I jot down (mostly during boring management lectures) is done in this style.

Speaking of Zelda, the shifting styles that it had opened me up to new ways to play music I once considered drab; try playing Cannon in D with a Gerudo-esk vibe, I can promise you some weird looks from some of the more classical teachers. More importantly than just simple stylistics, the dramatic music changes with different factions/areas of a game was one of the first things to really make me thing how would they play it. It's one thing to copy someone stylistically, but something completely different to understand what something means to someone else and why. That was one of the differences between the music of Banjo-Kazooie and Mario 64: where B-K would take one melody and add stylistic flair to it based on what world you were in, Mario would take different melodies and instruments and apply the same sort of typical "mario-style" to it.

I just want to take a moment to point out how important I feel The Black Mages are to gaming. Not only have they made a few of the most iconic songs in gaming via the Final Fantasy series, but they also represent a clear case where you can take a rock band, an orchestra and a choir and make it sound amazing. From their high-intensity "Battle on the Bridge" to a quiet and reflective piece like "Frontier Village Dahli", everything they do seems to invoke emotion and through that you can understand how they do it.

Going to your example of halo with it's guitar solo, I'd say it was more of the composer thinking it was awesome than considering what the grunting fan-base wanted. He took the style and worked with it and the Halo style just happens to include great guitar rifts. I don't feel any part of the game should reflect on the other parts, eg. bad graphics shouldn't mean bad music, nor should your understanding of the target audience or possibly insight to how the developers think reflect on what's being presented.
Look, I'll be the first to admit the OST for Halo wasn't anything special, but it did have it's moments.

Needless to say, video games did influence my musical palette, not a week goes by without me playing something from a video game, however it also colours the type of music I like. I'm always attracted to the high-energy music, things with a lot of emotion or meaning. I guess that's why I enjoy Muse so much.

I think video games did do a lot for my musical sense.

[Sparki]

Would have to count myself into the club of those who were inspired by game music. Almost 29 too, so I'm somewhere around the same as Nico .

[Harmanoff]

Where in Halo is that power guitar solo? I find i hardly ever pay much attention to in-game music and the only part i remember with more rock-style music is when you chase the heretic in a banshee(loved that mission btw).

[Tiresias]

well maybe exaggerating on solo part but remember you're fighting through covenant council chamber or something and suddenly GUITAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR

[OhJohnNo]

...But that bit was amazing. And so was the song.

[Harmanoff]

Hmm ok.. i don't remember that at all actually but that's a good example of music i don't generally listen to.. do they call it nu-metal still?

[Hand of Asur]

This was the most outstanding one for me:

[Codex]

@ Hand of Asur
Haha, that's from Republic Commando right? I got Ash's album then, but after I did it turns out that I liked Clones a lot less than many other songs on the album.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofjMh0IXIGY

[Ra owa]

I love music in games. Some of it I can just listen to as if it were 'normal' music. Final Fantasy is a great example of this. Also, that little indie RPG 'Cthulu Saves the World' had some great pieces in the old electronic style - I was able to download the entire soundtrack from the developers site

Like in another thread, some of the game music is brilliant when played orchestrally or by bands.

[bman3k]

Video games are probably the largest influence on my music tastes to date, before seeing so many Halo 2 montages on the internet I never really ever bought CD's or anything, I would listen to the radio and watch those hit list shows, but it was a fairly narrow range (but then again I wasn't actively looking). I kind of branched off of what I heard in video game montages into other things (not to say I loved every single song I heard in a montage).

In game music has also been a fairly large influence on my tastes. Halo 1 introduced me to strings and vocals (which are to date my favourite "genre"(???)) and not to be a fan boy but I think one of the strongest aspects of the Halo games is the music, it fits the mood/tone/setting very well and always transitions nicely. I only really hated the Flood themed songs (they fit well enough with the Flood, but I just did not like the sound) and one or two of the "redos" they did in Halo Reach.

Also @Harmanoff you mean this right?

[Elerium]

Yeah seconding others when it comes to VG music, mainly because it's an experimental area where I can listen to new composers. Also Emperor: Battle for Dune has one of the best soundtracks I've heard from in a video game to date, heck it made me listen to acid electronica- the way Jarred Mendelson (the composer of all the Ordos tracks) put all this stuff together facinated me plus hearing it in a game was just a good moment for kid me.

[Codex]

I love it when game music is so influential that it spawns its own genres- Zeldastep, a mixture of Legend of Zelda and Dubstep.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orpimUSiK8I Song of Storms remix
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU75u...feature=relmfu Lost Woods remix

if I were to highlight a couple choice ones out of the rest.

[Kapp'n]

Love those Zelda dubstep mixes!

I am quite a fan of Nintendo video game music, with the orchestrated Mario Galaxy score being a great recent example. On the other side of things, I grew up with a Sega console, and so I put many hours into the Sonic games. I loved the music then and still do now, with Starlight Zone, Ice Cap Zone and Sky Sanctuary Zone being among my favorites. Cool remixes.

[Codex]

Glad you enjoyed those.

Listening to those Sonic songs now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqctftxbS3c
Jesper Kyd composed for Assassin's Creed 2 and Brotherhood. I've been especially impressed.

[Dimension]

the soundtrack of the original Gran Turismo made me get into rock. I was a happy rave exclusive prior to that. Garbage and Feeder, but especially Ash claimed me for quite a while, Ash was my favorite band for years until they got bumped by Muse and Radiohead in the new millennium.

[Misiok]

How come did no one mention Universe at War/Tiberian Sun music, made by Frank Klepacki? Come on people. Universe at War had 3 sides, each with their own distinct music parts - for silent, base building, for attacking and obliterating and etc.

Hierarchy, the big bad guys who built massive walkers with which they liked to stomp everything, basically the big bad agressor with big bad guns, has music like this -

Spoiler

Then the Novus, sleak, small machines run by an sophisticated A.I. have music like this

Spoiler

And then there's the ancient Masari who are known as gods to every other race, even Humans, sound like this

Spoiler

Also, Tiberian Sun has awesome music, considering the game had a pretty old engine, it allowed to create a mysterious, apocalyptic feel for the game and its atmosphere, considering that storywise, apocalypse was well on its way to destroy humaniy and all life on Earth.

Spoiler

So yeah, I really advise to listen to Frank Klepacki, I like his music he composes for games, and Universe at War's is available for free, legally.

[Codex]

If there's any of you who haven't played Braid, do it. It's immense. But a few choice pieces from the beautiful atmospheric music Jonathan Blow chooses for this piece of art.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bk22...feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7UVf...feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bk22...feature=relmfu

[Civik]

It's interesting. I liked the soundtrack to Halo, and right now I'm actually stuck on the Space Marine soundtrack. Really need to find more music like it. Heroic action orchestra? I guess I'll have to do more searching.

'Valkyrie Run' might also give me a bit of a lead foot on the freeway...