Using techno music for computer games

[Ritzi Lee]

In the past we had a little discussion on how to stimulate techno music.
One of the main questions was:

"How do we make techno music interesting for the kids?"

So there where some ideas on how to make a link between sound and the visual aspects of things. To present records, think about how the sleeves would look like. People must be stimulated by using their fantasy when they see some picture of a weird Marsian. :lol:

But there was one nice idea to apply technomusic together with computer games. (PS2, XBox or any other system) It was to bad we didn't elaborated this point. Just think about it! Action games, Sci-fi games with technomusic at the background on different scenes.

And just think about how this would effect the perception of people who have actually never saw it that way. See how this would set techno in the picture again as an interesting genre for more people then just the freakz who've been there allready for a long time now.

[mrbenn]

Making it compulasary for every 16 year old to go to at least one free party would increase intrest among young people!! It worked for me anyway :lol:

[Mirsha]

Techno has been sadly misused in computer games, a lot of games will use "technoesque" music which is just techno thats been so heavily watered down it's lost all it's flavour which makes it techno. Just take any tecno track you lie and turn it into a four bar loop repeated endlessly and you get the idea. There is only one game I can think of thats stuck in a blasting techno track and just let it run, and thats Rez with the Ken Ishii track which was easily the best track in that game.

Similarly I think it's too easy for a game to sell out to commercial music as this is clearly going to increase their sales since it's something popular already to build on. Look at two games, the utterly amazing Frequency and it's sequel Amplitude. Frequency featured about twent tracks from a variety of bands and genres, most bordering on the publicly acceptable ranges so you had a bit of No Doubt as they were were well known, a few hip hop, some thrash metal guitar type tunes and a few dance ones. It's sequel Amplitude I have almost no desire to play as the tracks on that sound awful with a cash cow of commercial tat cash in. I mean the first game didn't even feature any tracks that interested me but the game made the tracks tolerable. Putting some proper stomping techno into a game like Frequency would make for one of probably the most sublime gaming expereiences I can imagine.

I think the other problem with techno music in games is techno itself has some negative associations with it, drugs, drink, violence and all the other cliches the popular press pull out of hat whenever they need to do something bad. These days a lot of games want to appear kidlike in some form another so they can appeal to all ages, techno music is the sort of thing which is going to tarnish this image.

Finally, it never stopped me playing techno in games anyway. I remember a lot of joy playing Battlefield 1942 with some Daniel Benavente sets firing on the backgroud as you sneak about over hills and strafe bomb tanks or sticking on some Adam Beyer mixes whilst playing Enemy Territory.

[Zektor]

I remember i was playing this futuristic race game with some cool 'underworld' beats playing in the background... :roll:

Didn't James Ruskin produced some music for a computer game?

I can only say for 100% sure that Fumiya Tanaka, Chester Beatty and Ken Ishii have provided music for computergames.

[Stretch]

Tubejerk and Sir Real do computer game music.

[TechMouse]

I remember i was playing this futuristic race game with some cool 'underworld' beats playing in the background... :roll:

Didn't James Ruskin produced some music for a computer game?

I can only say for 100% sure that Fumiya Tanaka, Chester Beatty and Ken Ishii have provided music for computergames.

That would be Wipeout.

The soundtracks to every Wipeout game have been awesome.

[gunjack]

ruskin did smugglers run. the soundtrack for wipeout is awsome???? yea, i guess, if you like prodigy and chemical brothers hits.


GTA san andreas has THE soundtrack. classic house. classic gangsta rap, classic p funk and the grand daddy MASTER FM.

[TechMouse]

yea, i guess, if you like prodigy and chemical brothers hits.

mmm, yes.

oh wait, don't forget...

Future Sound of London
Fluke
Underworld
Photek
Daft Punk
Orbital
Leftfield
Sasha
MKL
Propellerheads
New Order
K-Klass
Hardfloor
Dreadzone
The Shamen
Utah Saints
Humanoid
Timo Maas
Nightmares on Wax
Luke Slater
JDS
Plump DJs
Elite Force
Braniac

... amongst others on various different Wipeout games.

[gunjack]

yea, i guess, if you like prodigy and chemical brothers hits.

mmm, yes.

oh wait, don't forget...

Fluke
Underworld
Leftfield
Sasha
MKL
Propellerheads
New Order
K-Klass
Hardfloor
The Shamen
Utah Saints
Humanoid
Timo Maas
DS
Plump DJs
Elite Force
Braniac

... amongst others on various different Wipeout games.

oh god i am having a seizure...............

[Stuart]

My Girl friends daughter loves it when I'm haveing a mix at home. She calls it Stuarts Dancing music and she loves to dance to it. She's certainly got the ear for techno. One of my mates put on some funky house and she told him to play my music. :D

[penthesilea]

mm not sure about that one... for me, computer games are always associated with crap repetitive stuff.. You know that annoying little tune that keeps coming back then again, I don't play computer games...

For me associating techno and computer games would be bad for the image of techno...
Don't know, am I the only one who finds them boring, mind numbing etc???

[Rydel]

Wipe out does have great music!!! But indeed, as Mirsha said, mostly techno is looped anyway. So unless they start putting DJ-sets in games, it'd be pointless. (Unless the traxx aren't really loops) Gaiden - "Point Blank" is an excellent song to race to, still love it after all this time

[The Overfiend]

ruskin did smugglers run. the soundtrack for wipeout is awsome???? yea, i guess, if you like prodigy and chemical brothers hits.


GTA san andreas has THE soundtrack. classic house. classic gangsta rap, classic p funk and the grand daddy MASTER FM.

Nothing like pulling a drive by in La to the sounds of break for love.

[TechMouse]

Gaiden - "Point Blank" is an excellent song to race to, still love it after all this time

That whole "Walking on Wires" EP is brilliance.