One way to avoid associations and connotations is to use electronic and synthesized instruments – you can make brand new sounds that way, if that’s what you’re after. On the other hand, a high and lyrical bassoon solo can be heart-breaking, and because that sound isn’t used as much it has fewer cultural associations. But that also applies to the way an instrument is played – a low, staccato bassoon melody will instantly come across as comic because it’s been used that way many times – even if that wasn’t the intention. Instruments have all sorts of cultural connotations and baggage and emotional connections that an audience will make subconsciously. I suppose ultimately, I’m trying to figure out what the soul of the game is so that I can best support and express that.ĭo you believe specific instruments can lead to certain musical aesthetics in games? What is your process for selecting what kind of instrumentation you will represent in a given game’s soundtrack? Reference music from the game director/audio director/dev team at large is important in narrowing down a style but I also like to know what people are listening to as they work – have they made themselves a chilled out playlist or do they feel more in tune with the game if they’re listening to something more active? I can then think about what the similarities are between the references and people’s listening habits (which may be harmonic or structural or emotional or any number of other things) and that’s another clue into what the music needs to be. Any of these are big clues as to what the music should be. For me this question gets outside the technical nuts and bolts (which are important) or music references (which are also important) and just leaves the core emotional aim – and expressing emotion is what music’s especially good at! The feeling the game is aiming for might be ‘satisfied’ or ‘elated’ or ‘pumped up’ or ‘inconsolable’ or even just ‘that was fun’. But I think the most valuable question I can ask early on is ‘how should the player feel when they finish the game?’. I like to know as much about gameplay, story, art, animation as possible – it all feeds into what the game is. What is your process like when you’re trying to land on what sort of musical style is the best for a particular game? How much collaboration with the art and narrative teams of a project does that require? I find it really hard to narrow things down but in terms of music that I come back to for inspiration a lot: Prokofiev, Ravel, Leigh Harline, Django Bates, Elmer Bernstein, Duke Ellington, and, and, and… So, so many! I started to make a list and it just went on and on and on. Have there been any pieces of music or tracks from certain individuals across media that have inspired you as a musician throughout your career? "I suppose ultimately, I’m trying to figure out what the soul of the game is so that I can best support and express that."
You can read our full conversation below. Recently, we had the chance to talk to him about his work in the industry, how he goes about approaching every new project, and how he feels music and audio in games can improve in the future. Whether it’s the scores of recent releases like Blood and Truth and Creature in the Well or orchestrations of the soundtracks for games such as Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture and Bloodborne, chances are, if you play games extensively, you’ve heard his music. With nearly two decades’ worth of experience in making music and designing audio for theatre, films, and games, Jim Fowler is certainly a man who knows his music, and the quality of his work certainly speaks for itself.