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Working with a Composer, Part III: The Dangers of Placeholder Music

The Dangers of Placeholder Music
This week's topic is about something that if mishandled, can make getting original music in your game very difficult.

Nobody likes to test games that they have written without music. It's much more fun to see the complete picture, right? If you have already made the decision to go with canned library music, then this is no problem. You've picked out the tracks, they're yours to include and play with, you're done!

However, some people take music (sometimes even illegal music that they couldn't use anyways -- like a tune from a favorite CD) and pop it in the game to have something going on with the music side of things. The danger here is that just like smoking and reality TV, habits die hard. Your ears will actually become addicted to that music! (Granted, of course, that you aren't repulsed immediately by it!)

It is a pyschological fact that the more times you are in contact with something, the more you grow to like it. This is why people who might continuously bump into each other have a better chance of being friends, dating, etc. The more times you hear "that song" on the radio, that you might not have ever gone out on your own and grabbed, suddenly its stuck in your head 24/7!

Good songs catch you immediately, but the Best songs are those you can hear over and over, and still find interesting... even if it takes a little more time to get into it.

Now, how does this apply to placeholder music? Well, if you stick one of these tunes in your music with the *intention* of it being a placeholder, like it or not, it will be HARD to give it up when the time comes. Even if your song isn't perfect, that first time you hear the composer's creation you'll think... "hmm... but it wasn't quite what this is that I already have..."

Solutions for placeholder blues

So what's to be done? A couple of options here:

1) Buy good-quality library music and stick with it.
You won't be the first ones, but it will be far easier on you (and your potential composer) in the long-run. I recommend this however, really only if your game has very limited market appeal, or its more of a demo, etc, because of the huge risk of having your music recognized from another source. The one exception to your music being recognized is if this is ON PURPOSE and you've managed to snag the rights to use the next U2 song in your game or something.

2) Give the composer's music more of a chance.
This is a dangerous road that I can't whole-heartedly recommend, but you can TRY to just listen and relisten and test and retest your composer's music (for at least a day or two) before giving them comments back. If they are worthy of their craft, the composer has already done this and has decided that it fits well in your game. Not even taking the time to stick it in your game to play with is doing your game and your composer a disservice.

3) Get a composer involved early on.
This is by FAR your best choice. By arranging terms with a composer early on in the process, so that they are sorta on "retainer" to start work when you need them, you can get music put in your game fast, just when you need it. Really, its silly to have in-game music before there is at least basic playability functionality. Having your character just run around in the world you build is NOT gameplay functionality.

As soon as you are realisticly ready for them, then you don't have to scramble to find someone at the last minute. You'll have evaluated their work, perhaps they've done a speculative demo for you based on your requests and you approved it, and you are confident in their abilities. You are in good shape at this point, without ever needing to feel the temptation of placeholder music.

In Part IV of this series, I will discuss techniques for evaluation of your composer's work and giving them useful feedback. Also coming up -- how to record VO (voice overs) that don't suck. I welcome your thoughts and suggestions.

John Seguin
Composer/Sound Designer
jseguin@seguinsound.com
www.seguinsound.com