We finish up Michael Land et al’s “The Secret of Monkey Island” and take a look Video Games Live! While this one is a bit shorter than usual, we talk about developing/playing with the listeners’ sense of expectation and we hear an interview from Western composers, Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall (from “Play! A Video Game Documentary). Have a listen!
Hi Kenley,
On 7.1: Nice seeing you “in action”, even though the sound nearly overpowers you audio at around 5:00. At the time you also talk about the “west in the east”. A good example for that is the very techniques you presented in the earlier episodes like main theme or leitmotifs.
On 7.2: You already mentioned the ambient sounds in Secret of Evermore’s soundtrack in the first half, and Monkey Island’s music is taking ambience into account as well.
This has made me wonder if sound should not be considered part of the music. Then again, maybe there is not as much art to finding sounds that sound
quite right, as most of the RPG game sound as rather generic and not in any way matched to the music they accompany, or are they? Just a thought, this hasn’t been touched upon and nobody seems to care, even though the sounds are part of the experience.
On the unbalanced rythm in the Opening Theme: I actually found it very well done. For example, with a little effort I found a proper way how the introduction is actually written:
Three bars of 3/4, then 4/4 does the trick for the first melodic line. It’s a little hard to be sure in the second and third even-metered bars, but it does work out nearly until the end
of that long uninterrupted flute melody line, where it gets blurry; but to me, it is actually always comfortable.
In all of this time, you can hear the bass instrument giving the key (the scale, tonality, whatever) at the beginning of each bar; towards the end of the line, Land starts to deviate from this after just playing with the bass on the other beats.
I actually find it hilarious and transitioning just as smoothly as the harmony you point out for “Close to Home” in Unchartered Waters 2.
Still, in other pieces like the Shop’s you play, Land cleary doesn’t want to be followed, but I guess this serves a specific purpose: not distracting the listener with a specific hook while he/she is thinking about the puzzles in the game, something that is very specific to the game genre.
By the way, a very good piece that plays with meter is Derek Burgeois Serenade, also mentioned on his wiki page. I recommend that to anyone who
likes crazy play with meter, and anyone interested in starting to like it.
One last thing I wonder is whether this strange meter is in any way piraty. This was just a thought, as I remember that there is also a surprising out-of-order additional bar in Pirates of the Carribean’s The Black Pearl in the section from 0:38-0:46 which prolongs the wait for the melody section. So I wonder if there is anything specifically piraty or Carribean to such rythmic irregularities, maybe its the boat crashed about by he waves? (Now I’m at quite a stretch)
Last but not least: the “horror sounds” you made were hilarious
Hey maelkashishi! I love how you keep commenting, please keep it up!
07.1 - wow, it’s been so long since I’ve watched this one. I had to review the episode to even reply… it was really weird to do it without a script, it feels like I didn’t even say anything in this whole episode, hahaha. And yeah, the editing wasn’t good in this episode… or the content, I should re-do this episode
07.2 - I think that the sounds ARE part of the music, because the West really messes with what we “think” video game music is. It seems more photo-realistic, like how most (but not all) Western games try and emulate reality, where Eastern games take a more animated sort of role… Where am I going with this? Well… I’m not so sure… it’s hard to say, it goes both ways, but I think that Western music plays with the medium more than the East does (though, I still prefer Eastern music… just a preference towards melody and texture… the Chrono series comes to mind… :))
I agree with you comment on “not wanting to be followed”, I think that that’s a really good observation. With regards to “music as function”, pick up the book “Musicking” by Christopher Small… very interesting.
Also, nice pick on the Derek Bourgeous… you must be a wind player! What do you play? And have you ever played “Serenade?” It’s a lot of fun
Well, if you consider the accordion as a wind instrument… then yes, and I did play it there. Actually, I could not get tired of it
I am just happy people could handle playing in tunes and on time as otherwise I am not sure this is as much fun…
nice, the accordion is a lost art, that’s one beast that I would like to tame!