The Game Music Handbook

A Practical Guide to Crafting an Unforgettable Musical Soundscape

Noah Kellman

A clear and concise guide to everything you need to know to be a successful game music composer
Includes highly-technical methodology for subjects not covered before in game music books
Features key insights from interviews with influential developers and composers in the field
Includes access to a comprehensive companion website with practical examples
Includes a Foreword by Rich Vreeland, aka Disasterpeace

The Game Music Handbook

A Practical Guide to Crafting an Unforgettable Musical Soundscape

Noah Kellman

Description

Do you want to learn everything you need to know to be a fantastic video game music composer? The Game Music Handbook is for you. This book takes readers on a journey through many of the greatest video game soundscapes to date, discussing key concepts and technical practices for how to create top-level game scores. It organizes game scoring techniques into an applicable methodology that gives readers a clear picture of how to design interactive elements, conceive and create a score, and implement it into the game. Readers will gain a solid understanding of the core techniques for composing video game music, the conceptual differences that separate it from other compositional fields, as well as many advanced techniques and topics essential to excellent game music scoring. These topics include using music to design emotional arc for nonlinear timelines, the relationship between music and sound design, music and immersion, discussion of the player's interaction with audio, and more.

For beginning composers, this book makes the learning process as clear as possible. However, it also offers invaluable information for intermediate to advanced readers. It includes discussion of game state and its effect on player interaction, a composer-centric lesson on programming, as well as information on how to work with version control, visual programming languages, procedural audio, and more. It also offers indispensable knowledge about advanced reactive music concepts, scoring for emergent games, music for VR, and other important topics. Overall, this book explores the practical application of player and music interaction through the examination of various techniques employed in games throughout video game history to enhance immersion, emphasize emotion, and create compelling interactive experiences.

The Game Music Handbook

A Practical Guide to Crafting an Unforgettable Musical Soundscape

Noah Kellman

Section 1: Game Scoring Fundamentals
01. Creating Emotional Arcs For Nonlinear Experiences
02. Fundamental Game Scoring Techniques
03. What Is "Game Music?" - How VGM Came to Be
Section 2: Creating The Music Design
04. Player Immersion and Music
05. Using Musical Codes to Enhance the Gaming Experience
06. Exploring the Use of Musical Sound Effects in Games
07. Music vs. Sound Design - Defining the Relationship in Your Game
08. Designing Interaction Between the Player and The Music
Section 3: Advanced Reactive Music Concepts
09. Emergence - Music's Role in Player Experimentation
10. Proceduralism - Using Game Data to Create a Real Time Score
11. Advanced Algorithmic Music Systems
12. Music in Virtual Reality
Section 4: Implementing the Score
13. Game Engines and Implementing Music in Unity
14. Programming Crash Course for Composers
15. Using Audio Middleware
16. Essential Skills For Working With Developers: Version Control and Optimization
Epilogue 17 - Game Audio Contracts & Navigating the Business
Index

The Game Music Handbook

A Practical Guide to Crafting an Unforgettable Musical Soundscape

Noah Kellman

Author Information

Noah Kellman, Game Music Composer

Noah Kellman is a composer for video games, film and multimedia based in New York, NY. He is the 2017 recipient of the ASCAP Henry Mancini Fellowship, as well as the recipient of two ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards.

The Game Music Handbook

A Practical Guide to Crafting an Unforgettable Musical Soundscape

Noah Kellman

Reviews and Awards

"Kellman's handbook is one of the best and most comprehensive texts on audio for video games available. Kellman is himself an award-winning composer of video game music, and in this book he goes way beyond music and discusses the entire musical soundscape. A delightful introduction covers game design concepts related to audio, and the 16 chapters that follow offer in-depth discussion that will prove invaluable for students and perhaps even professionals." - J. Brzezinski, CHOICE

"This is the book I wanted as a student just starting to navigate the waters of the game world. I dare say, even now I've managed to learn something new. If you're a composer, and you want to write music for games, this is a no brainer. None of the fluff, and all of the knowledge" - Cris Velasco, composer for Fortnite, Vader Immortal, Overwatch, and many other video games

"Kellman has aggregated an incredible tool kit for anybody that wishes to further their skills or appreciation of how the partnership of interactive media and music have created an ever evolving landscape through which innovation in programming creates innovation in music composition to deepen the emotional impact of video games. Drawing from the beautiful repertoire of modern work that is video game music, it will surely serve as a guide for any level of both musician and gamer!" - Charlie Rosen, Composer, Orchestrator, and Bandleader of The 8-Bit Big Band