[Chapter 1 is printed with permission from Focal Press, a division of Elsevier. Copyright held by CMP Media LLC, 2001. "The Complete Guide to Game Audio: For Composers, Musicians, Sound Designers, and Game Developers" by Aaron Marks.]

CHAPTER 1: An Introduction to Game Audio

1.1 Insert Quarter Here

They say a journey begins with a first step, followed by another and another. Regardless of whether you are already many miles down the road or are just about to take that first step, this book is designed with you in mind. Working in the multi-billion dollar game industry as an audio content provider is a challenging and rewarding avenue - best traveled with a useful guidebook in hand. My thanks to you for bringing this particular one along.

There are as many reasons as there are individuals for wanting to work in the games domain. Doing something you enjoy, creating games which millions will play and experience, and getting a paycheck for it, are undoubtedly given most often. Another motivation, perhaps, is the mystique and prestige associated with it. Most of the world is practically computer illiterate and those of us who can get inside "the box" and make it do incredible things holds a high place in our society. We like to be that kind of person.

There are countless job descriptions within the industry: programmer, artist, animator, game designer, producer, etc. But the ones which probably led you to pick up this book are titles such as: composer, musician, sound designer, or audio content provider. These are the jobs that bring us the kind of satisfaction we crave - creating music and getting paid to do it. It will also give us another way to get our music "out there" and maybe even receive a Grammy Award in the process, getting us the needed recognition and acceptance from our family and friends who thought being a musi­cian was a "waste of time" and might even serve as a stepping stone to another career such as film. There are endless possibilities for meeting your personal and professional goals as a game score composer and sound designer. And it's not such a bad career either.

Music had always seemed to be a part of my life and like everyone else, I had big dreams. I just didn't have a clue as to the "what" or "how" part of it though. I did know how to spend money, however, and as my abilities and interests grew, so did the number of instruments and record­ing gear in my inventory. So much, in fact, that my wife became concerned with the excessive outflow. The foot was brought down with a thud and a new challenge was posed. I could not buy any more "gear" unless I made money with it, and after that, this little hobby of mine was to remain self-sufficient.

Originally, local television and radio seemed to hold some promise but as I jumped into that chaos with both feet, I soon realized the competi­tion was fierce and little 'ol me was just a tadpole in a piranha-infested sea. Out of necessity, my strategy widened and diversification became fun­damental. I looked into composing for music libraries, local video production companies, and multimedia. I had to have more gear, after all.

I soon learned just how these other businesses worked. They all wanted grand, original orches­tral scores, á la John Williams, but only wanted to pay $200 for them. Considering the amount of time and effort you need to pursue this course, there was no way to see any return on the invest­ment. It became painfully obvious that even though I was still overwhelmed by the urge to sell my music to someone, this was not the way to go about it.

(Photo courtesy of AMC Studios.)

I didn't naturally move to video games. I was still playing the original Nintendo at this point and didn't consider the noise I was hearing to be music. And I'm sure nobody was making any money for those simple compositions either.

But when scoring for video games finally did run up and slap me across the face, I realized my perceptions of this strange, new world were woefully distorted. The gaming world has advanced far beyond what I had imagined and the music had become utterly fantastic! And to top it off, I discovered some game composers were making $50,000+ per game for just a month or so of work. Now I was interested!

Thus began an incredible journey - making money selling my brand of noise, realizing my goals and my dreams, raising my "hobby" to a successful business and most importantly, bring­ing peace and harmony to the home front. But, because I knew absolutely nothing about the business, it took a couple years to struggle into it, learn the ropes, and find my niche before I began to realize success.

That, in a nutshell, is the purpose of this book:

• to educate you,
• to help you decide if this industry is right for you, and
• to give you the knowledge to take the gaming world by storm. My experiences have given me a certain view of this unique industry and this is what I intend to share with you. If I can provide you the assistance to hit the ground running and save a couple years in the process, my objectives have been fulfilled. So, sit down, hang on, and enjoy the ride.