The main menu theme in half an hour
There are many game lovers among Habr’s visitors; there are also those who like to make these games. Surely, many are interested in how game music is made and what is needed for this. Today, in a living example, I will tell you in a simple and understandable language how to write a short musical theme for the main menu of the iOs game “Stretched”, spending a minimum of time and effort, while getting a high-quality result.
In summary, the task was: to write a high-quality composition for the main menu, which would take up little space (there is nothing to make the player wait until the main menu loads), would not distract attention (it’s better to admire it with buttons) and create a mysterious and otherworldly mood (so soon I wanted to play).
I used the Logic Pro 9 software studio to write the composition. The software studio is the most basic program with which the sound is recorded, processed and converted into the final product - wav, mp3 or another file that can be played with any player or inserted into the game.
Since I didn’t have to record live sound, I used only software tools that use ready-made libraries of already recorded sounds — these can be either live instruments (violins, flutes and drums), or sounds that are difficult or impossible to meet in nature (for example, various waveforms or all kinds of noise).
The trouble is that the original sounds themselves can be boring and flat - for this, their sound must be tuned and processed in a certain way. For example, you can add “spatiality of sound”, remove the cutting frequency of the ear, or even distort the sound beyond recognition - all this can be done using the built-in tools of the software tools themselves.
Divide the composition into two halves. The first part is based on a simple, light-naive guitar search:
Add mystery (after all, we agreed that the music should be mysterious). Now it has become like this:
The harp is a very mysterious and airy instrument. Add the harp from the NI Komplete library and make the frame of the second half:
Kind and gentle violins will add volume and warmth to us. For violins, use Spectrasonics Omnisphere:
In order not to be boring and varied, we add a little oriental notes. (Again from the Omnisphere library):
It’s boring without drums, but we don’t need too much epic severity of tom-toms. Drum with the True Strike Tension library for NI Kontakt. Let’s listen to how the second half of our topic sounds:
On the screen of the main menu of the game, autumn - yellow leaves fly, objects sway, as if they are pierced by a cold autumn wind. Add the wind:
All together sounds like this:
“Stretched” was developed a little less than a year by three people and is available in the AppStore.
Stretched on the Appstore
The publisher was Chillingo , best known for its Angry Birds and Cut The Rope hits.
On your marks…
In summary, the task was: to write a high-quality composition for the main menu, which would take up little space (there is nothing to make the player wait until the main menu loads), would not distract attention (it’s better to admire it with buttons) and create a mysterious and otherworldly mood (so soon I wanted to play).
Attention…
Minor technical digression
I used the Logic Pro 9 software studio to write the composition. The software studio is the most basic program with which the sound is recorded, processed and converted into the final product - wav, mp3 or another file that can be played with any player or inserted into the game.
Since I didn’t have to record live sound, I used only software tools that use ready-made libraries of already recorded sounds — these can be either live instruments (violins, flutes and drums), or sounds that are difficult or impossible to meet in nature (for example, various waveforms or all kinds of noise).
The trouble is that the original sounds themselves can be boring and flat - for this, their sound must be tuned and processed in a certain way. For example, you can add “spatiality of sound”, remove the cutting frequency of the ear, or even distort the sound beyond recognition - all this can be done using the built-in tools of the software tools themselves.
March…
Divide the composition into two halves. The first part is based on a simple, light-naive guitar search:
Add mystery (after all, we agreed that the music should be mysterious). Now it has become like this:
The harp is a very mysterious and airy instrument. Add the harp from the NI Komplete library and make the frame of the second half:
Kind and gentle violins will add volume and warmth to us. For violins, use Spectrasonics Omnisphere:
In order not to be boring and varied, we add a little oriental notes. (Again from the Omnisphere library):
It’s boring without drums, but we don’t need too much epic severity of tom-toms. Drum with the True Strike Tension library for NI Kontakt. Let’s listen to how the second half of our topic sounds:
On the screen of the main menu of the game, autumn - yellow leaves fly, objects sway, as if they are pierced by a cold autumn wind. Add the wind:
All together sounds like this:
About the game
“Stretched” was developed a little less than a year by three people and is available in the AppStore.
Stretched on the Appstore
The publisher was Chillingo , best known for its Angry Birds and Cut The Rope hits.