Thoughts On Video Game Music
Follin's methodology of music was that music is "basically an unconscious experience" that does not and should not "engage your intellect." Rather, Follin believed game music was "more of a sort of atmospheric thing" and had "always written music to be part of something else," intending for the video game (or other media the music is composed for) to provide the image or scene of context.
Within his personal experience, Follin always found the hardest part of creating music to be the concept phase, saying "I probably tear my hair out more over arrangement than over anything else." The easiest part was the execution of the solidified concepts.
Follin felt the idea of computer music was "a silly one to begin with," as soundchips from the earliest platforms (e.g. ZX Spectrum) were only meant to produce sound effects. As early as 1994, Follin expressed his desire to move away from scoring video games and transition to films, stating that he preferred never to work with chip-generated music again along with his hopes that the games industry would not move backwards from the emerging standard of CD audio. Whether dealing with the audio limitations of older consoles or a game's narrow style guidelines when composing for modern soundtracks, Follin regarded the challenge of creating music within constraints to be an interesting part of working in video game music.
As a video game composer, Follin believed the necessities of being proficient in many genres and creating music on demand often confused the general public, who are used to acts that produce one style of music. He observed that "musicians generally aren't rewarded for being heterogeneous."
During his game music career, Follin never had the mood or interest to join any demoscene groups. Though Follin knew few fellow video game composers, he highly respected Richard Jacques for the amount of work put into his music.
Read more about this topic: Tim Follin
Famous quotes containing the words thoughts, video, game and/or music:
“The foolish fears of what might happen.
I cast them all away
Among the clover-scented grass,
Among the new-mown hay,
Among the husking of the corn,
Where drowsy poppies nod
Where ill thoughts die and good are born—
Out in the fields with God.”
—Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861)
“We attempt to remember our collective American childhood, the way it was, but what we often remember is a combination of real past, pieces reshaped by bitterness and love, and, of course, the video past—the portrayals of family life on such television programs as “Leave it to Beaver” and “Father Knows Best” and all the rest.”
—Richard Louv (20th century)
“Truth is the cry of all, but the game of few.”
—George Berkeley (1685–1753)
“It is from the blues that all that may be called American music derives its most distinctive character.”
—James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938)