Research
Composition Case Study
To start, I felt it was a good idea to look at how composers evoke and enhance the visual design of a game area to create a cohesive audio-visual aesthetic. As research has suggested that playing melancholic music makes participants more likely to identify sad faces in images (Phillips, 2014, p. 45), it can be concluded that a fitting underscore can also subconsciously enhance a game’s audio-visual thematic cohesion if composed sensitively. Kamp defines this idea as a “paraspace”, a sonic unity that “locates the player in a certain time and place through cultural connotations” (2012, p. 240). To delve deeper into this concept, I chose to study the music of “Freezeflame Galaxy” from Super Mario Galaxy. This area’s underscore consists of two, sonically-contrasting variations that display the two sides of the level’s visual design (ice and fire) while sharing some harmonic, melodic and structural content for musical cohesion.
Sonically, the choice of instrumental palette in the ice variation features very little bass content and a lot of bright presence, culturally evoking the resonant chime of the ice that surrounds the player when struck. The harmony here is also of note, using C5 and D5 instead of triads, as it actively avoids using the third and sixth degrees of the key, the tones that would decide the tonality between Dorian, Mixolydian and Aeolian. This lack of tonal resolution, along with the extensive use of reverb and delay, gives the piece an otherworldly feel, reminiscent of the stagnant limbo of being frozen in ice or gliding through the surrounding void. Although the harmony by the end of the piece is much more tonality-affirming, the chords are almost always voiced with various extensions like major sevenths and suspended fourths, giving everything a very open, free sound. This has perhaps shifted in its representative goals from the stagnation of frozen water to the majesty of ice skating, a feat Mario performs many times in the level.
![Freezeflame Ice.png](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/d0e8b3_b7e3e5b2c28d4055a730ff43fbac7037~mv2.png/v1/crop/x_119,y_13,w_661,h_449/fill/w_295,h_200,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/Freezeflame%20Ice.png)
Ice Variation-Section A
Ice Variation-Section C
![Freezeflame Fire.webp](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/d0e8b3_bfd82a28bf394cf2aeb044be12653528~mv2.png/v1/crop/x_138,y_0,w_974,h_655/fill/w_297,h_200,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/Freezeflame%20Fire.png)
Fire Variation-Section A
Fire Variation-Section B
The opening of the fire variation begins with a strong emphasis on percussion, low synth stabs, and a suggested D Phrygian tonality with the use of the minor second, contrasting with the treble-heavy harmonic sparsity of the ice variation. The use of this scale, parallel fifth harmony and filter-sweeped synthesisers evokes Eastern harmony more strongly than traditional Western classical harmony, which, culturally, we tend to associate with warmer climates due to their traditional countries of origin. A modulation to Bb occurs in the B section, however the persistence of an A note in the melody shifts the harmony between Phrygian and Phrygian Dominant, adding an unstable quality to the music, evoking the instability of the volcanoes. In summary, the differences between these two variations play on cultural associations, both harmonic (traditionally Eastern scales) and purely timbral (resonant, chiming synthesisers), to create cohesive “paraspaces” that aid audio-visual cohesion rather than detract from it, enhancing immersion in the game world.
Adaptation Case Study
Although I already had some experience of using FMOD for adaptive music, I thought it was a good idea to look at a real-world, creative example of using vertical re-orchestration (the “use of dynamic mixing…of pre-composed audio loops which are faded in and out according to the game-state”) (Ferrero, 2013, p. 11) as, based on my initial concept, it would likely be the method I used for the vast majority of my adaptation.
For this I decided to analyse the music from “Skyview Temple”, the first dungeon in the 2011 release “The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword”. Outside of specific combat and boss themes, the music has three distinct variations that trigger based on the player’s location within the dungeon, varying through an evolving instrumental, melodic and harmonic palette rather than transitioning through separate pieces like horizontal re-sequencing. This allows for much more dynamic variability within the score, being able to switch swiftly and smoothly either to match and enhance the intended atmosphere of the current location, or to more realistically represent the the player character’s current state. In the case of “Skyview Temple”, the adaptive music also enhances the feeling of progression within the dungeon through the increasingly dramatic and vast soundscape.
The first, and most instrumentally thin, of the three variations is heard as soon as the player enters the dungeon, accompanying the initial corridors with a lilting bassoon motif, reverb-drenched choir pads and occasional swells of ambient sounds, enhancing the locale’s sombre nature. These ambient pads are also harmonically sparse and leave the tonality ambiguous due to the omission of harmony-affirming intervals such as the third or sixth. As well as leaving space for future adaptive development, this choice also creates a uniquely mysterious quality to these initial rooms. As the player enters the dungeon’s first main chamber the second variation enters, immediately harmonically contrasting with the first iteration by jarringly shifting the Dm7-F#m7 vamp to a Dmmaj7-F#mmaj7 accompanied by the introduction of strings with the original choir pad. This sudden chromatic movement adds an immediately uncomfortable quality to the new location that contrasts with the mystery of the first variation, continuing the area’s musical narrative and creating a sense of ludo-sonic unity as the deepening of the mix directly corresponds to the player progressing deeper into the temple. The final variation accompanies the biggest visual shift of the location in the second main chamber, from dark-blue hallways to majestic golden architecture, with an appropriately grandiose timbral leap. Previously high string chords descend out of the choir pad’s range as the pad itself is replaced by an organic, full choir, with newly added timpani and double basses more prominently filling out the low-end that was purposefully lacking before. These additions add a new sonic depth to the music, musically representing the player reaching the “heart” of the dungeon and enhancing the satisfaction of progression through musical catharsis.
![Skyview Room 1.jpeg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/d0e8b3_9c61b4e226824952a70944ed606f6326~mv2.jpeg/v1/crop/x_0,y_0,w_609,h_348/fill/w_271,h_155,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/Skyview%20Room%201.jpeg)
Skyview Variation 1
![Skyview Room 2.webp](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/d0e8b3_00dd864ca0c04697ba206bdd7a542f4d~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_273,h_155,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/Skyview%20Room%202.png)
Skyview Variation 2
![Skyview Room 3.png](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/d0e8b3_83d6217b0a164c60908116c1a51ad62e~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_273,h_133,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/Skyview%20Room%203.png)
Skyview Variation 3
Final Plan
Informed by my research, I decided that I would compose scores for four contrasting yet interlinked areas that all adapt via at least one parameter using vertical re-orchestration. Horizontal re-sequencing would be used for transitioning between the areas as well as linking additional pieces of music such as combat themes to form a fuller body of work. The end goal being an FMOD project that will allow me to complete several theoretical “runs” the player could make with the music adapting to each event accurately and smoothly. I also sought to make each area audio-visually cohesive with the several reference images pictured in each of the relevant pages. As most of the areas would utilise vertical re-orchestration, I concluded that composing in Logic Pro X and exporting mixed stems to FMOD would be in my best interest, with the only element added in FMOD being group delays and reverbs. Additionally, I decided that all my parameters would be continuous rather than discrete as, in my opinion, it is a superior method than FMOD’s current “seek speed” option for parameter modulation and allows for additional tweaking of fade speeds later if needed.
Below is the initial “game map” I created (some parameter values have changed in the final version and stingers have been added).