Musicians that should write a videogame soundtrack.

[Nouw]

So I've recently played and finished Hotline Miami and needless to say I loved it *points to avatar from Drive.* I suppose a big part of my enjoyment came from finally playing a game that met the hype surrounding it, particularly with the soundtrack. Katawa Shoujo made me realize just how powerful soundtracks can be when carrying the emotion of a scene. With the right context and the right sounds, something very touching can be made to be experienced which can result in a song can even staying with you even out of game. Naturally I looked up the soundtrack wanting to know who the mastermind behind the music was and I was surprised to see that it wasn't by a musical group or the developers but by various different electronic artists. Bar Jasper Byrne and maybe a few others I'm pretty sure most of them were just musicians, not videogame soundtrack artists.

I know this was also done with Max Payne 3 with the band HEALTH. Has this been happening for a while now or is this a relatively 'new' thing that should become more common in the future?

I couldn't help but wonder what Daft Punk could mix up for a Hotline Miami: Wrong Number thinking back to their work from Homework and Human After All. With a lot of musicians I think it'd be a neat exercise in trying something new to improve and broaden their musicality and I'm damn sure more than a few would be good at it.

So, who are some musicians you think should compose a videogame soundtrack?

 

[Tom_green_day]

You mean musicians as in pop artists or actual composers?

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

Trent Reznor already did some stuff for Quake didn't he? Because pretty much everything he does is good. Ratatat could do some pretty cool soundtrack stuff. I mean, I'd love to play a sci-fi game with something like this:
In the soundtrack.

 

[Thandran]

Oooh, interesting thread.

Rammstein for a FPS.
Daft Punk for a Cyber - Punk game. I think they would suit for Deus Ex.
Marylin Manson for a Horror Game.
Ludovico Einaudi for a RPG or Visual Novel game.

All I can think off, for now.

 

[Pinkscare]

Anduin, Explosions in the Sky, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Radiohead --- Would be awesome! Also, more Sun Araw (Hotline Miami).

 

[shrekfan246]

Depending on the genre of game, Helios, Hammock, Animals as Leaders, Scale the Summit, Dan Dankmeyer, and

Explosions in the Sky

come to mind.

For something atmospheric, slow, with very little action, I'd say Helios or Hammock.

Spoiler: Helios

Spoiler: Hammock

For everything else, there's Mastercard the other bands.

Spoiler: Animals as Leaders

Spoiler: Scale the Summit

Spoiler: Explosions in the Sky

Spoiler: Dan Dankmeyer

I'd feel pretty pumped up after some of those!

 

[XMark]

Daft Punk gets all the publicity for their Soundtrack to Tron Legacy, and Mike Shinoda (of Linkin Park) gets all the publicity for the soundtrack to The Raid: Redemption... But the secret ingredient behind both those amazing soundtracks was Joseph Trapanese. He's the guy who took those artists' ideas and translated them into the language of film soundtracks.

Tron: Legacy was a movie about games, and The Raid: Redemption was a very game-like movie. So I'm thinking it's about time he took a shot at a game soundtrack (maybe with Mike Shinoda again, that would rule)

 

[Rooster893]

Joe Satriani should do a racing game, like if there was a reboot of Jet Moto. [small][small][small]That would be sick...[/small][/small][/small]

Megadeth would be awesome doing a Sonic game. With the exception of vocals, of course... I like Dave Mustaine, it's just that his voice would be somewhat out of place in a Sonic game.

 

[Charlie_Ruskiy]

How has no one mentioned Hans Zimmer? If you want your game to have an epic, goosebumps inducing track there is no one better. If you need proof play the inception theme along with the trailer for Metal Gear: Rengerance (or whatever its called. Rising?) It syncs perfectly!

 

[Zaazel]

How has no one mentioned Hans Zimmer? If you want your game to have an epic, goosebumps inducing track there is no one better. If you need proof play the inception theme along with the trailer for Metal Gear: Rengerance (or whatever its called. Rising?) It syncs perfectly!

Hand Zimmer worked on both the Crysis 2 and CoD: Modern Warfare 2 soundtracks. The fact that I can't hum any line of those two probably means that a big name (with undeniable talent) doesn't always work for games.

 

[Zipa]

Well he is not really a musician by profession but I would like to see Jerry (Tycho) from Penny Arcade write more video game stuff, the games he has written so far were brilliant.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

While I'm not an immense fan of Dubstep, Skrillex's Syndicate Track (Remix?) was so awesome I was really disapointed to find out that it wasn't characteristic of the music in the game...

Also Daftpunk should do a Deus Ex Soundtrack... just saying.

 

[JackyG]

Matt Bellamy and Muse. The work on The International was fantastic and they made World War Z.

 

[The Funslinger]

Random college students.

Make every song in the score Wonderwall.

 

[Pink Gregory]

Sunn O)))

The fact that they've soundtracked nothing so far is a crime.

Dylan Carlson comes a close second.

 

[mariosonicfan5]

John Williams on any swashbuckling adventure similar to Uncharted and such, that would kick ass.

Also Michael Giacchino since he actually composed music and such for video game in the past.

 

[JohnnyLLV]

The only one that springs to my mind that hasn't already been mentioned is Sigur Ros.. Their music gives me chills as it is, so I feel if they made a soundtrack to the right game, it would make it REALLY special.

Kudos for mentioning Animals as Leaders, that would be awesome!

 

[someonehairy-ish]

I think Meshuggah could write a fantastic Horror game soundtrack.

Seriously. Take this song (or actually pretty much any of their songs) without the vocals and put it over a frantic Dead Spacey boss fight -


Fuck yeah.
And maybe get Radiohead or Tool to do some off kilter jams for the more relaxed sections of the game.

 

[GoaThief]

Most 'popular' artists don't have that ability. Many of them don't even know basic music theory. Composing videogame music is its own artform, and it isn't one that easily lends itself to musicians who have thus far thrown together simple chords and riffs together to create short songs.

I very much disagree with much of what you say, in my experience (with a background in professional audio) that just simply is not true at all.

How has no one mentioned Hans Zimmer? If you want your game to have an epic, goosebumps inducing track there is no one better. If you need proof play the inception theme along with the trailer for Metal Gear: Rengerance (or whatever its called. Rising?) It syncs perfectly!

A perfect example of one of the most highly regarded modern composers, and he can't even read a single line of musical notation.

Anyway, here is my pick - Venetian Snares. For obvious reasons. :-D

Spoiler: Dank Stuff

I don't think I've heard Breakcore in a video game before. Techno (the actual genre, not the misnamed catch-all) is surprisingly under represented in gaming too, I can only think of one game that features it in this generation - Centipede and Millipede on XBLA.