When it comes to the relationship between music and visuals, we commonly conjure up memories of great tracks in movies that we love or perhaps theme songs for the tv shows that shaped our childhood.
However, it’s also true that we tend to recall, with a great vivid imagination, the music that accompanied the great games we’ve played, be that in our childhood or long into our adulthood.
Whether it’s the ping every time Mario collects a reward, the noise accompanying Sonic’s speed boost or intro to Fortnite. There are certain musical elements within the gaming world that become almost unforgettable.
Clearly, most of us are introduced to gaming, in some form, at an early age. As such, the audio that we listened to almost non-stop becomes a tool to reminisce when we hear it again, and that’s one way that gaming music can be so very powerful.
Over the last few decades, as gameplay and graphical elements have vastly improved, so too have the musical soundtracks offered by the game producers. They are acutely aware that audio and visual must be in perfect unison for a player to really enjoy the benefits of the overall package.
Then there are examples of gaming music that helps transfer you to a different world, an otherworldly soundtrack that evokes wonder and amazement.
The Importance of Music in Gaming
In many ways creating a soundscape for gaming is far tougher a prospect than any other visual medium. After all, with film and TV, you are dealing, for the most part, with the real world, albeit with some potential CGI assistance.
The music used for a video game, regardless of its nature and technicality, must have a life of its own. This isn’t background music; it’s an audial addition to go with the provided graphical gameplay. It’s a vital cog of the overall experience and given that a good video game literally transports a player to a new reality, the demands of the music that goes with the visuals are higher than in any other medium.
Finding Music for Your Gaming Creations
If you are a game creator, finding the right music is crucial, and If you have a large budget, you can look to use existing mainstream music. This style of gaming music has proven very successful, perhaps most famously popularized by the likes of FIFA and GTA, where the soundtrack is very much part of the overall package.
However, the costs associated with clearing music licenses of this type are likely to prove too much of an obstacle to overcome. You can then consider alternative options.
You can try to use music without copyright or in the ‘public domain’, but both these avenues will almost certainly not be relevant for modern gameplay. Also, as most of the music that’s covered by these licenses is upwards of 75 years old, it’s not really feasible for any gaming options that we can see.
Coupled with this, there are issues relating to the way these formats are stored that would lead a prospective user to have to search a great deal to find anything relevant.
The Many Benefits of Royalty-Free Music for your Gaming Soundtrack
A popular alternative comes in the form of royalty-free music, often incorrectly termed copyright-free music, and this could well be the ideal place to start when seeking to populate your game with a selection of great audio.
Royalty-free music is an inexpensive way to soundtrack your gaming creations and one that offers you a vast array of tracks and SFX (Sound Effects), all of which will help to bring your game to life.
The large databases offered by the best royalty-free providers, such as Artlist, are easy to navigate and provide a near-limitless scale of musical content. You can happily peruse what’s available for each portion of your gaming needs, be that a nifty sound effect that conveys the completion of a task or a catch intro theme, as well as a host of SFX files that will help to add a layer of realism to your virtual pursuits.
Royalty-free music isn’t free; you will need to subscribe for a monthly or yearly term. However, the costs are far lower than you might imagine, and a fraction of the sums associated with attempting to get the license for even one single track of mainstream music.
The additional benefit of the music secured via a royalty-free music provider is that the quality of the audio file is usually of a superior standard. This means that when it’s paired with the visuals you have brought to life in your video game, it will merge effortlessly to create a world that any user can happily lose themselves within.
