The End of the Conversation... or the Beginning?

My latest project was contributing sound and music to cutscenes in A Virus Named Tom. After putting in an insane -- though ultimately blissful -- number of hours orchestrating music I was given notes that basically required me to start over. Though disappointed, I've learned this sort of request results in an even better draft that overcomes my favoritism of the first.

I dug into the next draft, and true to form created something I liked even better... and got a request for something more energetic. I tried a different approach, creating three abbreviated sketches of what I thought were energetic cues, hoping one would be worth developing further. I got back a brief response saying that none of the examples grabbed the developer's attention.

Now I was feeling tapped out creatively, dreaming of sending back the cutscene with a soundtrack of white noise and being done with it! I didn't want to burn a bridge, as I sincerely enjoyed working on this game.

Still, between my frustration and knowing there were several other cutscenes to score, I suggested to the developer he might want the other composer in the project for this cue. I felt if I couldn't nail it in all the previous drafts then maybe my mojo wasn't right for it.

I braced for an angry response, perhaps an accusation I was sabotaging his project by playing the Diva Card! But instead he was very cool -- actually a bit confused, as he felt we'd barely gotten started in our musical discussion, where I thought we were at the end of it.

We started talking about previous scenes I'd scored and how I need to achieve similar dark tones -- clarifying what "dark" meant, as we had different interpretations on the definition. He sent me cues from notable games illustrating his points.

A Virus Named Tom

No, I didn't nail the next take perfectly, but the communication energized me. I didn't feel the dreaded burnout of having to create yet another draft that may or may not work. The final draft came together quickly, which ultimately turned out to be the best version that's currently in the game. It was the free exchange of ideas and the open, non-combative manner of our communication that allowed us to maneuver through the roadblock into creating the best audio that served the game.

Lessons learned here?

1. I don't know if this is essential in every case, but asking the developer for audio examples (songs, YouTube, etc.) that represent the mood he wanted really helped me nail down what he was after. Sadly, it has taken me multiple experiences with other leads to make this sink in. Not so much because either us are stubborn; more often they don't want to lock me into ripping someone off, and I want them to think I'm professional enough to handle any challenge they throw at me so they can focus on other things.

Even if they don't want me to rip off anything specific, I can still get an idea of what game music they like. I once went through an insane amount of failed work creating Celtic music for a designer, which I had interpreted as his request. Only when he later sent me a clip from the Pirates of the Caribbean film did I realize he wanted something way more Hollywood and heroic.

2. Developers usually aren't musicians, so there are times you need to clarify terminology when working to understand what they need from your work. I've had folks talk about "chords" when they meant "melodies" -- those things you can whistle. They ask for something dramatic and my delivered music is "too sad". But sad is dramatic, no? The burden of understanding what the dev team wants is usually going to be on the contracted audio expert. Ask questions!

3. Composers working on games need to make clear what sort of work is involved in creating music for a client. The developer of A Virus Named Tom didn't know the many hours I spent writing and orchestrating different mockups to the same scene. Given all the plates he was spinning, I totally understand that he had no reason to.

I should have spoken up at rejection of the first draft and asked what sort of instrumentation (i.e. sounds) should be heard in the music. Violins? Techno beats? In one instance I spent time developing electronic grooves to complement what the other composer was doing, realizing later that I was really expected to handle the more vintage, orchestral-themed music. I went down the wrong path!