How to Become a Video Game Music Composer
Video games are insanely popular pastimes, particularly because most homes use the television and computers as major entertainment tools. If you've played video games, you've probably noticed that, like movies, video games have background music. This helps set the mood of the game, make scene transitions clear and adds another sensory level to our enjoyment. All video game music is composed like any other music, and in fact, being a video game composer is an entire career toward which you can strive.
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Things You'll Need
- Music theory books
- Ear training software
- Composition software such as Finale
Instructions
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Education
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Enroll in music courses at an accredited academic institution related to composition such as music theory, ear training and instrumental techniques. A composition degree is ideal, but if you are naturally musically inclined, any music degree will teach you the music basics needed.
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Take courses specific to video games and animation, such as Video Game Design, History of Animated Film or Animation Techniques. This will help you understand how your music will fit into the video game production process.
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Hone your conducting skills with conducting classes and conducting everywhere you can (your church choir is a starting point). You will be expected to be able to conduct the music you compose so that it can be recorded for the video game company.
Marketing and Promotion
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Write as many short pieces as you can in all orchestrations.
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Hire musicians and rent out a recording studio.
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Record your compositions.
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Put your compositions on a demo CD.
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Distribute your demo CD to video game development companies, along with your current resume.
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Tips & Warnings
It is much easier to have your demo CD taken seriously if you can work as an intern with a video game composer who will be a reference for you.
Look at the music programs at local colleges to see if anyone would be willing to participate in or complete your recordings. Students sometimes need certain numbers of performances or recording hours for their degrees, or they will work for very little pay in order to build their resumes. Focus on master's and doctoral degree students for the highest quality.
Familiarize yourself with copyright laws for music and other media. If you are offered a contract, have someone review it to find out if you are getting a GOOD deal. Always try to negotiate for royalties.
To gain credits, try working with smaller production companies first and with lesser known animators and coders.
Computer software can be used in place of real musicians if you can input your composition into the computer and combine it with excellent sound libraries, since many production companies won't use real musicians for the game tracks anyway (they'll wait for a soundtrack release due to expense).
References
Comments
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I found this article most helpful, thanks!
