Video game music production

A

audio_leak

New member
hey everyone, really not sure where this one would go. sorry if its in the wrong place.

i was wondering if anyone here new anything about how to get work in the video game industry as a musician/ producer/ mixing/mastering?

where would be a good place to start?

trying to think outside of the box for where to take my future in music.

im interested in this maybe as a possible career path down the track, and id like to know what i should be learning to do so that maybe one day one of these companys would want me to work for them?
 
@SouthSIDE Glen
thanks glen, exactly what i was looking for it has info on the various role and positions involved in the game industry with the audio side that is

to continue on from my orignal post..

id like to get involved with the musical composition mostly, and maybe the mixing/mastering side of things

id like to be involved with the creation of the music and maybe even the various sounds that fill up the overworld in video games (the "ohs, oohs and ahhs", a river running, a horse galloping, ect)

would they hire someone without a college education in a musical background?

id like to do a course like the link you provided me with glen, but im not much of a programmer, or a 3d modeller (ive tryed both) but im very much interested in the actual production side of things,

-background music
-overworld music
-recording the voice actors
-the general setting and placement of the music and the tone it creates for the particular part of the game.

ive read of a few of my favourite video game music producers, (who are mostly from japan) and they all seem to have been college educated in some way or another.

but if i could learn the skills needed to be able to do the job, i have a portfolio of work that proves im capable,
and i went to one apply for a position at a big company would i have some kind of a shot?
or are these positions strictly taken by college graduates?

id think with how many people would be after a position like that i wouldnt have a chance.
 
Well, leak, I have to confess that as a person who doesn't even care for video games, I am probably the last person you should be asking for information on the video game industry.

All I can say is what I would probably do in the way of research if I were in your place, which would be a few steps:

- I'd contact a recruiter at a place like Flashpoint and probably a second similar place, and get some advice from them along with some course catalogs. I'm not saying you have to take classes, I'm just suggesting using them as sources of information as to just what they actually consider as prerequisites for getting jobs in the industry or what kind of things employers actually want to see.

- Monitor the Craigslist and CarreerBuilder lists for job openings, and check out what they themselves say they are looking for in the way of such job description.

- If you think you have the chops now, put your profile/resume up on CareerBuilder and start fishing for jobs. Get yourself a website - even if it's just a meSpace page - and a *serious* Facebook account that include information on your qualifications, samples, education, etc.

- Contact the game companys themselves. E-mail - or MUCH BETTER, call on that olf-fashioned device called 'the telephone' - and ask to talk to their HR rep to *ask them* about job openings, and whether they have any at the time or not, tell them you are interested in A CAREER doing that kind of stuff, and ask them what you need to have or do for them to hire you. They'll not only be more than happy to tell you what the official job descriptions and basic qualifications are, but will probably want to tell you exactly what you need to do to get that kind of job. They'd much rather educate on how to become qualified and what hoops to jump though than have to sift through a pile of unqualified resumes.

G.
 
thanks glen, some very solid advice.

im just trying to think outside of the box for we to go in the future, seems theres enough people in home recording, and id like to set myself some real goals for places to be and what to do with the rest of my career.

i just meant the top part of my last post for you specificaly, i was just adding onto my orignal post with the rest of that info

good advice, is still good advice though, cheers again
 
i know this may sound like the long way to your goal, but i would recommend starting at the bottom... game testing. here you will learn about the industry and its culture... and most importantly, build a network of friends (friends get one everywhere in this business).
 
audio_leak said:
hey everyone, really not sure where this one would go. sorry if its in the wrong place.

i was wondering if anyone here new anything about how to get work in the video game industry as a musician/ producer/ mixing/mastering?

where would be a good place to start?

trying to think outside of the box for where to take my future in music.

im interested in this maybe as a possible career path down the track, and id like to know what i should be learning to do so that maybe one day one of these companys would want me to work for them?
Click to expand...


I'm not involved in the video game industry but from what I know as a composer, if you're interested in just the music end of the business, most video game manufacturing companies just license the music for their products. The major video games, on the other hand, work just like a movie production. They have pre-production, production and post-production and the music portion of the production is usually done during Post-production. A composer is hired, or commisioned rather, to compose a score for the game. Usually, this composer is also being commisioned to compose music for other projects as well, meaning; rarely do they work for the company they are composing music for.

So, if you are already a recording musician then you are already on your way. You simply offer your music to a video game music licensing opportunity such as you would see in Braodjam.com or Sonicbids, or other avenues and hope that the manufacturer will like your goods. Composers who are known as "video game music composers" built a relationship with the video game industry and are called upon to compose music for video games because they're work is well known and they are trusted by the industry to consistantly put out a quality product. It's no different then John Williams scoring for Steven Spielberg or Danny Elfmann for Tim Burton. Therefore, it's crucial to build relationships in this business.

Or, are you more interested in the sound design, sound effects side of the house? That would be another area of expertise and possibly another forum.
 
hey sonic, great post exactly the info i was after.


no im just a musician, so id like to stay in the music/composing side of things.
maybe recording VOs or something if that was called for.

when you say "You simply offer your music to a video game music licensing opportunity such as you would see in Braodjam.com or Sonicbids"

what would be a good sample of music to offer to a video game company? if you have any advice there.

like would i be putting a few 3-6 minute tracks on a cd, called like

"foresty song" for say an adventure game in medievil times
"urban song" for a action gun game or something

you will also be providing a score for these works no doubt yes?
do you have any idea how this process would work? sorry for all the ?'s bombarding you. lol. id appreciate even just a few of em answered if you can. :D

thanks again, some really good info there.
 
You are not going to get hired to do any of that stuff.

Find some guys making low budget games or game mods and volunteer to do music and sound effects for them. After you have built up a good body of work you probably still won't get hired to do any of that stuff but at least you can say you did it. ;)
 
TexRoadkill said:
You are not going to get hired to do any of that stuff.
Click to expand...

I do not know if the OP will get hired to do that stuff, but people certainly do get hired for that. Most of the large game production companies have audio staff. Its a tight knit and competitive business, but the opportunities are there.

As previously stated, the really big games are almost like film scores. My best friend recorded and/or mixed music for Assassin's creed 2 and the Avatar game, and it seemed pretty much just like his work on big Hollywood films.
 
Ronan said:
I do not know if the OP will get hired to do that stuff, but people certainly do get hired for that. Most of the large game production companies have audio staff. Its a tight knit and competitive business, but the opportunities are there.

As previously stated, the really big games are almost like film scores. My best friend recorded and/or mixed music for Assassin's creed 2 and the Avatar game, and it seemed pretty much just like his work on big Hollywood films.
Click to expand...

Of course they hire people. They just don't hire people like the OP who seems to have little or no experience. I would be surprised if there were more then 1000 people working on game audio/music worldwide. You'd probably have a better chance at finding a job as a Bikini Inspector.
 
Ronan said:
I do not know if the OP will get hired to do that stuff, but people certainly do get hired for that. Most of the large game production companies have audio staff. Its a tight knit and competitive business, but the opportunities are there.

As previously stated, the really big games are almost like film scores. My best friend recorded and/or mixed music for Assassin's creed 2 and the Avatar game, and it seemed pretty much just like his work on big Hollywood films.
Click to expand...

thats awesome!

i just finished playing assassins creed 2 and its actually one of the games striking my interst back up in trying to pursue this, i dont know what he did specificlly obviously, but thats some awesome work by your friend.
i was very impressed with the AC2 soundtrack, and how it played thoughout the game.

i feel like id be pretty capable of creating something like whats seen on both of those games, not of the same standard obviously or id probably be hire already lol, but this is the kind of things id like to be making.

im guessing your friend who works on these games was commisioned by UBISOFT if he was working on AC2 and the avatar game? is he working on any other projects like it at the moment?

could you give me any info on how he got involved with that process? what his experience was? industry ties? how long hes been in the business?
 
TexRoadkill said:
Of course they hire people. They just don't hire people like the OP who seems to have little or no experience. I would be surprised if there were more then 1000 people working on game audio/music worldwide. You'd probably have a better chance at finding a job as a Bikini Inspector.
Click to expand...

im trying to find out how to get that experience tex.
try looking at the glass half full for once.

so theres more then a 1000 bikini inspectors working in full time paid employment worldwide? LOL

there maybe more then a few hobbyists though... including myself :)
 
You guys are throwing the word "hired" around like it's the holy grail of gaming music. It's not. You want to get your music licensed to a video game company who will use it for one or more of their projects. But why stop at video games? Try to get your music licensed to any film/tv/Internet/gaming opportunity you can. Why would they be interested in your music? Because it's a hell of a lot cheaper to license your music then it would be to commission a James Horner score. Unless, it's a multimillion dallor budget game. In which case, Tex is right, you, me and most everybody else who has enough spare time to write in forums like this won't stand a chance.

As for what kind of music should you submit, I submitted a piece to a post apocalyptic styled first person shooter video game a year ago. A link to the piece I submitted is the link in my sig line. In the end, they went with another piece (I'm thinking my piece wasn't picked up because it's a pure Classical piece and therefore not enough variety but who really knows).
 
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