A Critical Analysis of Modern Day

Video Game Audio

dissertation

submitted

by

Norman Chan

For the Degree of Bachelor of Arts

in

Music

Department of Music

University of Nottingham

May, 2007

1
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................................... 1
ILLUSTRATIONS ....................................................................................................................................... 2
INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................ 3
CHAPTER 1: BRIEF HISTORY OF VIDEO GAMES AND ITS MUSIC ............................................ 6
CHAPTER 2: THE TYPOLOGY OF MUSIC IN VIDEO GAMES ..................................................... 16
CHAPTER 3: VIDEO GAME AUDIO COMPOSITION: THE TRUE FORM OF INTERACTIVE
COMPOSITION......................................................................................................................................... 21
BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF RICHARD JACQUES ................................................................................................. 21
VIDEO GAME AUDIO AS THE NEW DEFINITION IN INTERACTIVE COMPOSITION .......................................... 21
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................ 24
CHAPTER 4: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF CHRISTOPHER TINS BABA YETU: THE USE OF
MENU MUSIC ........................................................................................................................................... 25
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE VIDEO GAME AND CHARACTERISTICS ................................................................... 25
A BRIEF LOOK AT THE USE OF MUSIC IN THE GAME PLAY OF CIVILIZATION 4............................................ 26
BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF CHRISTOPHER TIN .................................................................................................. 27
BABA YETU AND A BRIEF LOOK AT CORONATION: THE USE OF MENU AND TITLE MUSIC IN CIV4 ............. 27
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................ 34
CHAPTER 5: POPULAR MUSIC DEFINING AN ERA: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF
ROCKSTAR NORTHS GRAND THEFT AUTO VICE CITY AND SAN ANDREAS USE OF
POPULAR MUSIC .................................................................................................................................... 35
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE VIDEO GAME ........................................................................................................ 35
SYNOPSIS OF GTA VICE CITY AND SAN ANDREAS ................................................................................... 36
USE OF FAMOUS ACTORS AND VOICE ACTORS IN THE GTA FRANCHISE .................................................... 37
REFERENCES TO POPULAR CULTURE AND REAL LIFE ................................................................................. 38
LICENSED TRACKS AS MUSICAL DOCUMENTS FOR CULTURAL REFERENCES TO AN ERA ............................ 40
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................ 43
CHAPTER 6: CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF JEPSER KYDS MUSIC IN EIDOS HITMAN: BLOOD
MONEY....................................................................................................................................................... 45
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE VIDEO GAME AND CHARACTERISTICS ................................................................... 45
SYNOPSIS OF HITMAN: BLOOD MONEY .................................................................................................... 46
THE USE OF MUSIC IN HITMAN: BLOOD MONEY ....................................................................................... 46
YOU BETTER WATCH OUT................................................................................................................. 48
USE OF DIEGETIC MUSIC IN OTHER MISSIONS ............................................................................................ 51
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................ 53
CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................. 54
BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................................................... 55
APPENDIX ................................................................................................................................................. 59
CHAPTER 2: THE TYPOLOGY OF MUSIC IN VIDEO GAMES ........................................................................ 59
CHAPTER 4: VIDEO GAME AUDIO COMPOSITION: THE TRUE FORM OF INTERACTIVE COMPOSITION ....... 61
CHAPTER 4: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF CHRISTOPHER TINS BABA YETU: THE USE OF MENU MUSIC ........ 74
CHAPTER 5: POPULAR MUSIC DEFINING AN ERA: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF ROCKSTAR NORTHS GRAND
THEFT AUTO VICE CITY AND SAN ANDREAS USE OF POPULAR MUSIC ................................................. 100

2
Acknowledgements
First and foremost I would like to thank my wonderful supervisor Dr.
Virginia Anderson for listening and understanding my ideas and giving me an
expert eye on my dissertation. I extend a hand of thanks to Professor Adam
Krims and Professor Mervyn Cooke for letting me run my initial ideas with them
at the beginning of the 2006 summer and my tutor Dr. Sarah Hibberd in sitting
patiently and listening to my ideas and feeding me comments.
It must be noted that without Professor Mervyn Cookes help I would not
have been able to get in contact with Iain Simons who graciously got me an
opportunity to interview the mighty Richard Jacques. I would like to thank Richard
Jacques for letting me interview him for forty five minuets, a staggering fifteen
extra minutes longer than what I requested. Also I give my fondest regards to the
talented Christopher Tin. Without their generous support through letting me
interview them and Christopher Tin providing me the scores to Baba Yetu and
Coronation this dissertation would only be half of what it is today.
I would like to thank my friend William Ko for taking his spare time reading
over this dissertation whilst he had his exams. Last but not least I would like to
thank God for allowing me to write about my passions without major incident,
without Him everything would be in chaos.

1
Illustrations
Note all screen shots are done by the author unless stated here.
1. Pong screen shot fig 1.0. Pong, Pong,
<http://emustatus.rainemu.com/games/pong.htm> [accessed 21 April 2007]
2. Simon Says photo fig 1.1, Owen Edwards, Simonized,
<http://www.smithsonianmagazine.com/issues/2006/september/object.php>
[accessed 21 April]
3. Space Invader screen shot fig 1.2. Games Similar to Galaxian, Games Similar to
Galaxian, <http://www.galaxian.dds.nl/simili.html> [accessed 21 April 2007]
4. Pac-Man screen shot fig 1.4. Wikipedia, Pac-Man,
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pac-Man> [accessed 21 April]
5. Donkey Kong screen shot fig 1.5. Wikipedia, Donkey Kong (video game),
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donkey_Kong_%28video_game%29> [accessed 21
April]
6. DDRMAX2: Dance Dance Revolution screen shot fig. 1.9. The Video game critic,
The Video Games Critics Playstation 2 Reviews D-E,
<www.videogamecritic.net/ps2de.htm> [accessed 21 April 2007]
7. Elite Beat Agents screen shot fig 1.10. GameSpot, Elite Beat Agents Screens for
DS at GameSpot,
<http://uk.gamespot.com/ds/puzzle/elitebeatagents/screenindex.html?om_act=co
nvert&om_clk=gsimage> [accessed 21 April 2007]
8. Grand Theft Auto screen shot fig 5.0. Bob Colayco, The History of Grand Theft
Auto, <http://uk.gamespot.com/features/6111834/index.html> [accessed 21 April
2007]
9. Grand Theft Auto III screen shot fig 5.1. Bob Colayco, The History of Grand
Theft Auto: A Vision Realized, <http://uk.gamespot.com/features/6111834/p-
3.html> [accessed 21 April]
10. Hitma: Blood Money screen shot fig 6.3. GodLikeMouse, Video Game Reviews:
Hitman: Blood Money: Game Slander Built by Gamers for Gamers,
<http://www.gameslander.com/hitman--blood-money-game-review-113.phtml>
[accessed 21 April]

2
Introduction
The new medium of the video game cannot be underestimated in its ability
to capture the imagination of the young and old alike; it is the new film, the new
jazz. There have been many observations in the video games graphical
development, psychological impact on society and programming capabilities.
Many of the non-musical observations focus on the narrative of the video game
and the cultural significance. In Barry Atkins book More than a game1, he
illustrates that video games are more than just a game but another type of
fictional form, thus the rise of different genres of video games give birth to new
and different fictional form. I agree with Atkins that different genres of games are
different fictional form, but by being different fictional forms music has developed
new ways of being used in video games. It is easy to see comparisons in video
games with televisions and film; however video games are in their own a right
different species and have their own musical language.
In The Video Game Theory Reader2 each essay tackles the social and
psychological implications that video games cause from sexuality, individualism
and video game space. Alison McMahans article Immersion, Engagement and
Presence3 deals solely on the immersion and presence of the player as he/she
plays the video game. McMahan touches on the idea that video games spaces
are navigable.4 She also touches on the concept of realism and the obsessive
nature of video game developers to reach photorealism. Although these points
are no doubt valid and important to video game scholarship, the immersion,
engagement and presence of the player in a video game is not merely a visual
concept but also audio as well.

1
Barry Atkins, More Than A Game; the computer game as fictional form, (Great Britain: Manchester
University Press, 2003)
2
Ed. Mark. J. P. Wolf and Bernard Perron, The Video Game Theory Reader, (Great Britain: Routledge,
2003)
3
Alison McMahan, Immersion, Engagement and Presence, The Video Game Theory Reader, ed. Mark
J.P. Wolf and Bernard Perron (USA: Routledge, 2003), p67
4
Ibid., p70

3
 Mark J.P. Wolfs article Abstraction in the Video game5 deals with visual
abstractions of player controlled avatars6 in the early years of video games and
how they dominated video games for two decades. As Mark J.P. Wolf states at
the beginning of his article and deals with the notation of abstract shapes as
avatars
The video game began with perhaps the harshest restrictions encountered by any
nascent visual medium in regard to graphic representation. So limited were the
graphics capabilities of the early games, that the medium was forced to remain
relatively abstract for over a decade.7
However what Mark J.P. Wolf did not mention are the audio abstractions of that
period in video game history as well. Both visual and audio abstractions are
interlinked with each other and share the same reason why avatars and video
game audio were abstract, and that is technology. The frustrating issues with The
Video Game Theory Reader is if it was to show a collection of essays written by
different disciplines such as cultural theories, social studies, psychology and
English literature why is musicology left out. Even though video games, like
cinema and television are all mainly visual entertainment they all process audio
information too.
What these essays lack is the observations in music and how it helps or
hinders psychological catharsis in playing video games. Again many point
towards the narrative, but few have tried to understand how the music helps the
narrative. The questions that all these video game scholars do not ask are
whether video game audio/music plays an important part in video game
narrative, in video game immersion, in video game realism and in video game as
part of the entertainment package? The simple answer is yes!

5
Mark J.P. Wolf, Abstraction in the Video Game, The Video Game Theory Reader, ed. Mark J.P. Wolf
and Bernard Perron (USA: Routledge, 2003), p47
6
Avatars are the visual representation of the player in the video game, be it Pac-Man, Super Mario or Lara
Croft from the Tomb Raider franchise. There has been a lot of interest in this area of video games
especially the concept of avatars and how they represent players in Massive Multiplayer Online Role-
Playing Game (MMORPG).
7
Mark J.P. Wolf, Abstraction in the Video Game, The Video Game Theory Reader, ed. Mark J.P. Wolf
and Bernard Perron (USA: Routledge, 2003), p47

4
 This dissertation is to look at how video game audio is used in modern day
games. The sheer amount of video games produced since it was born in 1970s,
one cannot start to define video game audio from the beginning in such a limited
time and space. First there will be a brief introduction to the history of video game
music, and then a typology of video game music will be discussed. Case studies
will be utilized to further clarify the use and musical techniques used in modern
video games. The dissertation will also briefly tackle the use of sound effects in
video games due to the demands of video game players for more realistic gun
fire or engine noises which stem from the development of the CD-Rom based
consoles.
The case studies that are used show an extraordinary wealth of musical
material and are from a range of video game genres. One will also notice that a
few of the case studies are for multiple platforms8 and none of them are arcade
titles. This is because there is a current trend for a larger audience in the home
entertainment system then there are in the arcade. Also it is far easier to access
home platform games than arcade titles.
It is hoped that each case study gives an example of a genre in video
game music at the moment of writing. However the reader must be warned that
the velocity of new games being produced by the gaming companies is immense.
By the time the essay is finished, the case studies would be considered out of
date.
Another problem that was faced writing the essay was the accessibility of
the music. For some video games the sound track is included with the game or
can be commercially bought; however the majority of the time the music must be
ripped out9 from the game or can only be listened during game play. Thus many
hours have been spent staring at the computer monitor and trying to transcribe
music over the sheer noise of sound effects and the whirl of my computers fan.

8
Multiple platforms basically means that the game was released not just on one console but onto other rival
consoles as well; by doing so video game publishers can widen their net market.
9
Manually opening the programe of the video game and searching the audio files. However this can cause
problems for the audio files are not in the typical MP3 or WAV formats and the problem of conversion
begins.

5
Chapter 1: Brief History of Video Games and its Music10
In the beginning video games did not have any audible components. The
first computer game was invented by an engineer named William Higginbotham
from Brookhaven National Laboratory. The video game was a tennis-type game
and was on an oscilloscope. Five years later in 1963 an MIT student named
Steve Russell developed a game on the PDP which featured two fighting space
ships. What is interesting to note is that both games were silent in much the
same way as the early films of the late 19th century were.
In its early years video games were silent however audio sound finally
made its way in the guise of Nolan Bushnells Pong11. All that could be heard was
the sonar-blip as each time the digitalized ball was hit (fig 1.0).

fig1.0 screen shot of the original Pong

Two years later this gave way to Simon Says12, a portable game which consisted
of four different coloured lights and four separate tones. The aim was to copy the
pattern shown to the player; as each pattern was correctly completed a new note
was added (fig 1.1).

10
Adapted from Glenn McDonald, A Brief Timeline of Video Game Music,
<http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/video/vg_music/> [accessed 21 April 2007]
11
Atari Inc, Pong, (Atari Inc. 1972)
12
Milton Bradley Company, Simon, (Milton Bradley Company, 1974)

6
 fig 1.1 photo of Simon Says
As the technology and market potential of video games increased so did the use
of sound effects. In 1975 the Japanese video game company Taito created the
game Gunfight. It was the first video game to use a micro-processor instead of its
hardware to produce sounds, and it produced mono-sound gunshots. It was not
until 1978 with the introduction of Space Invaders13 again from Taito that music
and sound effects were used to heighten tension in video games. In Space
Invaders the player is defending earth from aliens invading by shooting the space
crafts out of the sky. The aliens would advance slowly scrolling down the screen;
as the aliens got closer to earth the beeps increased in tempo and their speed of
decent as well (fig 1.2 and fig 1.3). What is interesting to note is that the ostinato
can barely be heard at the beginning of the game, however as the aliens get
closer it crescendos to the point where it over powers the sound effects of the
players missiles being fired.

13
Taito Corporation, Space Invaders, (Midway, 1978)

7
 fig 1.2 is a screen shot of the original Space Invaders

fig 1.3 the ostinato theme for the entire game which accelerates as the aliens scroll down the
screen
As the 70s gave way to the early 80s the soundscape of video games did
not change much. However it cannot be understated the effect that Pac-Man14
(fig 1.4) and Donkey Kong15 (fig 1.5) had on the video game climate.

fig 1.4 screen shot of original arcade version of Pac-Man

14
Namco, Pac-Man, (Namco, 1979)
15
Nintendo, Donkey Kong, (Nintendo, 1981)

8
 fig 1.5 screen shot of original arcade Donkey Kong with Mario/Jump Man rescuing The
Lady/Pauline
Both had sound effects but it is their use of introduction germ of music at the
beginning of the game. We will see that this idea of introduction music later gave
raise to title music (fig 1.6). In Donkey Kong Shigeru Miyamoto composed a
basic ostinato that is played throughout the game as the player controls Mario
(fig 1.7).

fig 1.6 the title germ at the game menu

fig 1.7 ostinato that is played as the player controls Mario

This later continued into 1985 with Nintendos launch of its Nintendo
Entertainment System (NES) which had a Motorola 6502 processor for sound.
With this new tool, Japanese composer Shigeru Miyamoto composed his most
beloved video game title music for Super Mario Brothers16. It must be noted that
Super Mario Brothers is a landmark in video game audio. It was the first game to
use musical themes to portray different levels (fig 1.8).

16
Nintendo, Super Mario Brothers, (Nintendo, 1985)

9
 fig 1.8 Super Mario Brothers above ground theme
The sound effects on Super Mario Brothers also harmonically co-existed in the
musical landscape. An example would be when the player controls Mario and
hits a block containing coins; the sound effect for the coin being collected is part
of the harmony. The video game soundtrack of interactivity between the players
action and the musical landscape reacting to the players action had been
initiated.
As we enter the late 1980s Sega in 1986 unveiled the Sega Master
System (SMS) which had three channels dedicated for music and one for sound
effects. The chip was made by the Japanese music technology company
Yamaha and they still make sound chips for Segas arcade titles. From just
having no sound, to just sound effects, to monophonic music to three way music
channels, the video game has come a long way since the 1970s and this has
only been a decade. We finally start to see technology moving forward and the
creative view point change in 1987 when Square release a game called Final
Fantasy17. The music; composed by Nobuo Uematsu; changed the way players
heard video game music with its cinematic scoring compared to Super Mario
Brothers high-jinxed music. It was serious and dramatic.

17
Square Co., Ltd, Final Fantasy, (Square Co., Ltd, 1987)

10
 When we come to the end of the 1980s we see a push forward for better
quality of sound from the consoles. Nintendos Game boy released in 1989 had
four channels for music and can be called early stereo sound. It could pair two
channels on the left and on the right speakers but it was also able to map out all
four channels on both speakers as well. What must be noted is that the Game
Boy was a handheld machine. By being handheld, it is implied that one could
hold the console in ones hands and play wherever one wanted. Not like the NES
or the SMS where it had to be plugged into an external power source and was
too heavy to carry. The Game Boy showed the world that video games need not
be confined at home or at a shopping mall arcade, one could do it anywhere.
NEC seeing a valuable market released the TurboGrafx-16 which
processed a 16-bit processor, but what is to be noted is that it also released an
attachable Compact Disc (CD) player where the games were stored on CD. This
idea of CD storage did not begin with NECs TurboGrafx-16 but with Nintendos
Famicom, however it was only on sale in Japan. Sega replied to NECs creation
with the Sega Mega Drive (or Sega Genesis in the US). This also had 16-bit
graphics but with the added presence of six channel stereo sound. In the early
90s the war of the consoles had erupted as we have seen in the late 80s but to
become more ferocious. In a three year period (1990-1993) Nintendo released
Super Famicom; SNK released the 24-bit Neo-Geo; in defiance Sega launched
the Sega CD which moved forward the use of CD based storage; Panasonic
came into the market with 3DO which had a huge seventeen channels for music
and then surprisingly Atari fought back with the launch of its Jaguar which was
not 32-bit like the others but 64-bits. In reality it was really two separate 32-bit
processors (cheerfully named Tom and Jerry) and Jerry was a dedicated sound
processor which meant that it was able to produce CD quality music and stereo
effects.
It is here that the survivors of the war of the consoles are seen and they
were Sega, Nintendo and, a new comer to the video game market, Sony. Sega
launched their Sega Saturn which was followed by Sonys PlayStation in 1995.
The Sega Saturn processed an impressive two dedicated processors for sound

11
from Yamaha (the Yamaha FH1 24-bit digital signal processor) and Motorola
(22.6MHz Motorola 68EC000 sound processor). The PlayStation on the other
hand had a twenty four channel sound chip and processed the ability to digital
effect sound such as reverb and looping. Not being outdone by Sega and Sony,
Nintendo released their Nintendo 64. What is interesting to see is that Nintendos
machine does not rely on processors or sound chips to produce sound but its
CPU. It must be noted that during this period of video game music history the
technology given to developers and composers had become extremely powerful.
Video games that were released were breaking new boundaries in
interactivity and in video game audio. Capcoms Resident Evil18 (Bio-hazard in
Japan) showed the way how the audio soundscape can be manipulated to create
the atmosphere of tension and horror. The game places you in a mansion which
is infested with zombies, werewolves and aliens. To emphasis the atmosphere
ambient noises such as the squeaking of the floorboards, ticking of a grandfather
clock and the distinctive sound of the zombies slowly making their way towards
you showed other developers that video game music and audio did not need to
be a childish affair.
Konamis ingenuity shined through in 1998 with their arcade hit Dance
Dance Revolution19 (DDR). This could be seen as the pinnacle of player and
music interaction. The purpose of the game is to dance to the music by correctly
stepping on the right arrows that scroll up the screen. The more accurate to the
beat the more points you get (fig 1.9).

18
Capcom, Resident Evil, (Capcom, 1996)
19
Konami, Dance Dance Revolution, (Konami, 1998)

12
 fig 1.9 screen shot of DDRMAX2
This ingenuity spawned many Benami games such as Guitar Freaks20 where
the player played a guitar to music, DrumMania21 where the peripheral was a
drum kit and Hip Hop Mania or Beat Mania22 in Japan where the player scratches
turntables to music.
The end of the 90s produced the end of Segas captivity in the video game
console market as Segas Dreamcast was its last console. It featured a 32-bit
RISC CPU which was a sixty four channel ADPCM. By the year 2000 Sony
launched its PlayStation2 (PS2) which gave the developers forty eight channels
of sound plus 2MB of dedicated sound memory to use.
Not out done, the genius of Nintendo shone through a tough year, it
introduced players to the idea of controlling the character with ones voice. Hey
You, Pikachu23! came with a microphone and a voice recognition pad; the aim
was to guide Pikachu though endless mini-quests with ones voice.
As 2001 approached Microsoft entered the videogame console industry
with its Xbox. The Xbox showed the way forward in how video games would be
played, with its mighty CPU it came with the ability to produce Dolby 5.1 surround
sound and had something named sixty four 3D sound, which literarily meant that
the Xbox could produce 256 independent channels for music.
The PlayStationPortable (PSP) was released in 2004 and showed how the
video game industry has come a long way since the 1970s. It came with two built

20
Bemani, Guitar Freaks, (Konami, 1998)
21
Bemani, DrumMania, (Konami, 1999)
22
Bemani, BeatMania, (Konami, 1997)
23
Ambrella, Hey You, Pikachu!, (Nintendo, 2000)

13
in stereo speakers. With the relative power of a PS2 in the hands of the player,
the developers and composers could bring new experiences to handheld game
play. Nintendo released its Nintendo DS a month before the PSP came out. The
two main attractions was its inbuilt microphone and touch sensitive screen. By
having such innovative parts it contrasted the PSP in being more playable and
ingenuity in its video games. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney24 was an example of
where the player controls a lawyer, during the trials the player can shout
Objection or Take that and the game would respond accordingly. The touch-
sensitive screen showed a new way in playing musical or Benami games. In
Elite Beat Agents25 players tap the screen, trace rhythmic patterns and keep the
beat as the story unfolds on the top screen.26(fig 1.10)

fig1.10 screen shot of Elite Beat Agents. As one nears the beat that needs to be hit, the circles
gradually decrease size. The Nintendo DS has two screens and the touch-sensitive screen
is the lower rectangle.
In 2006 Sony releaseed their PlayStation3 (PS3) and two days later
Nintendo releases their Wii (pronounced Wee). Like the Nintendo 64 the PS3
uses the CPU to produce sound. This is achieved by its 3.2 GHz Cell Processor
24
Capcom, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, (Nintendo, 2005)
25
iNiS, Elite Beat Agents, (Nintendo, 2006)
26
Nintendo, Elite Beat Agents, <http://www.nintendo.com/gamemini?gameid=wXN8Hm-
UBmpvpXtHe6d_aIH0XZDGE3SJ> [ accessed 21 April 2007]

14
which implements different physical processor cores to do different types of work
independently and simultaneously. With all this power, programmers could have
one processor mainly performing calculations on the physics of the game;
another might be governing the actions of the character and most importantly, in
our case, is that one processor can be decoding and implementing multiplexing
audio27.
The technology of video games goes hand in hand with the music and
audio of video games. With better technology came better quality music and a
larger storage space for musical data. This not only helps musical composition
but also allows greater freedom for programmers and composers to experiment
with compositions and see how far interactive video games can be in all aspects
of video game play, especially aurally. It is hoped that this selective summary of
video game history and music will help the reader to understand the following
chapters better and to be aware of the case studies used and how they fit into
the history of video games.

27
Multiplexing audio is the process where multiple analogue signals or digital data streams are combined
together into a single signal. By doing so it means more information can be sent and in the case of video
game music higher quality of sound combined with interactive 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound can be utilized.

15
Chapter 2: The Typology of Music in Video Games
I have compiled a typology of three different genres of video game music.
This typology is only a brief look into video game music at the present (2005-
2006) and not a complete typology of the history of video game music. However,
a warning must be given out to the reader because video game music, like any
other genre of music, cannot be completely pigeon-holed. I have found that some
pieces of music can be placed into one or more different genres. One must look
at this as less of a boxed view but more of a Venn diagram; in the sense that
some video game music has similar characteristics with other categories of video
game music.
The first type of music used in video games is licensed music. Licensed
music can be in two different forms, on one hand there are licensed classical art
music which is used less, and on the other hand licensed popular tracks. An
example of licensed classical art music can be found in one of the case studies,
Sid Meires Civilization 4. Due to the epic nature of the video game, Civilization
4s sound track is canonic of classical music from 15th century secular music,28
Baroque period,29 Classical period,30 Romantic period31 and Modern period32
(these are only examples, the full sound track listing can be found in the
Appendix)
Video games are a popular cultural phenomenon so it is not surprising that
some video games use licensed popular songs of the twentieth century. This is
seen heavily as a use of defining an era or a place that the gaming environment
is trying to recreate. That is, this type of video game music uses popular tunes to
enhance atmosphere. One beautifully crafted example can be seen in the Grand
Theft Auto (GTA) franchise.
Music was not an extra-diegetic (also known as non-diegetic) component.
For an example if the player was exploring the various cities music would be
played in the background. The stroke of genius was to make the music part of

28
Gregorio Allegr, Miserere
29
J.S. Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F Major, BWV 1047: III. Allegro assai
30
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Symphony No. 41 in C, K. 551 - "Jupiter": II. Andante Cantabile
31
Johannes Brahms, Symphony No. 3 in F Major, Op. 90: III. Poco Allegretto
32
John Coolidge Adams, Christian Zeal and Activity

16
the diegetic landscape. From being an extra-diegetic component for a decade;
music had changed into a diegetic element. Music would not be played as the
player walks the streets, but once the player enters the car music would start to
play in the guise of a car radio.
The player was able to change radio stations and different radio stations
had different styles of music. In the first GTA this was not as prolific as later
games but it did set the tone for later games as seen in GTAIII, GTA Vice City,
GTA San Andreas, GTA Liberty City Stories and GTA Vice City Stories
Marc Ecks Getting Up Contents Under Pressure33 also uses licensed
music almost in the same way as GTA but not as an in car radio but as part of
the in game Apple iPod, however this can only be accessed in the game menu.
Due to Marc Ecks cultural relationship with graffiti and urban culture, music in
Getting Up Contents Under Pressure shows how the music business has applied
its market practices in video game audio. MTV awarded Getting Up Contents
Under Pressure with Best Video Game Sound Track34.
Due to the popularity of video games, the use of the video game as a
marketing platform cannot be understated. Just like the synthesis of movies and
popular music, both are used as marketing props. Video games such as Driv3r35
used bands that are not well-known but have creditability to the young3637.
Another area where licensed music plays an important part is in musical video
games. These musical games use music in an obvious way. The arcade game
Dance Dance Revolution38 (DDR) uses dance tracks where the player must
dance to the music in time by pressing down touch sensitive pads in time with
the music. Sonys SingStar39 for the PS2 is another game where popular tunes
are licensed as it is basically a karaoke game where players receive points in

33
The Collective, Marc Ecks Getting Up Contents Under Pressure, (Atari 2006)
34
Full track listings can be found in the Appendix
35
Reflections, Driv3r, (Atari, 2004)
36
Nimrod productions, Beyond Composition, Game City Conference: Nottingham, Thursday 27 October
2006
37
Full track listings can be found in the Appendix
38
Konami, Dance Dance Revolution, (Konami, 1998)
39
SCEE, Singstar, (Sony Computer Entertainment, 2004)

17
hitting the right notes and in time. Nintendos DS has Elite Beat Agents40 where
the player must touch the circles that appear in time with the music.
The top video game companies, especially Electronic Arts (EA), have
such a colossal budget that they can use leading pop artists in their games. This
can be seen industriously in EA sub-label, EA Sports, which specializes in sport
simulations and can boast the fact that they can acquire teams names, logos
and images. Popular music is usually played at the title sequences, main title
and menu pages. Examples of EAs power can be seen in its title tracks they
used in FIFA Road to World Cup '9841 with tracks from Blurs Song 2, The
Crystal Methods Hugga Bear and Chumbawambas Tubthumping42. FIFA Road
to World Cup 98 was the first time that the company and the first video game
company to be able to use famous bands known to the general public. As the
franchise expanded more and more artists were used and the idea of marketing
synthesis was enforced and can be seen to this day. However the first game to
do so was Wipeout43 due to its close development with Sony, they allowed the
developers to use their catalog of dance tracks.
Sony Music have given us the use of their catalogue, to get a host of different
dance band in the vein of Leftfield, Apollo 440 and so on. We want to get some
names behind it, because the plan is to launch a complication CD at the same time
as the game. That sort of thing sells very well in Japan.44
The second type of music is dramatic orchestral scoring and is used in
many present day video games. These pieces are composed in a traditional
orchestral film score and are usually influenced by dramatic film music. These
musical pieces stem from an influence from film music scoring and many of these
composers also compose music for film and television advertisements.45 The use
of film music aesthetics is strongly recognized in the pieces too. Inevitably these

40
iNiS, Elite Beat Agents, (Nintendo, 2006)
41
EA Canada, FIFA 98: Road to World Cup, (Electronic Arts, 1997)
42
Wikipedia. FIFA series soundtracks, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_series_soundtracks> [accessed
12/11/06]
43
Psygnosis, Wipeout, ( Psygnosis, 1995)
44
Edge, Feature: Wipeout, Edge Magazine, 21 June (1995), pp 25-27
45
Christopher Tin has composed and arranged music for a number of independent films as well as the
Hollywood blockbuster X-Men 2 and has composed music for the Puma advertisements, whereas Richard
Jacques has composed music for the Stella advertisements. Michael Giacchino composes music for two
American dramas Alias and Lost.

18
pieces are used to heighten tension or aura, and so I have decided to name
these pieces dramatic orchestral scores. It is interesting to note that in many
Western games dramatic orchestral scores are used heavily and has almost
become a standard for big budget modern day video games. An example can be
found in the Call of Duty series of video games. Even though Infinity Ward had
chosen different composers to compose the audio for the franchise, the sound
track has remained heavily orchestrated with strings and the full use of the
46
orchestra. Michael Giacchino composed for Call of Duty, Graeme Revell
47
composed for Call of Duty 2 and Joel Goldsmith composed for Call of Duty 348
The third type of music is new music written in a popular style and is used
specifically for the video game, hence its popular styled music. These pieces are
usually composed by in-house composers but the popularity of using freelance
composers cannot be denied for many of these freelance composers started as
in-house composers49. The video game Hitman: Blood Money50 uses a perfect
blend of dramatic orchestral scoring and popular styles (mainly dance music). Its
composer, Jesper Kyd, has a distinctive dark techno sound to his music and in
his dramatic orchestral scoring. This is well suited to the Hitman franchise for the
player controls a hired killer who, through the completion of various missions,
uncovers government conspiracies and his own twisted background. Noteworthy
tracks that are new music composed in the style of popular music in Hitman
Blood money are tracks nine, Vegas and ten Club Heaven. However like in all
modern video games, the music is not only popular styled music but also
includes dramatic orchestral scoring and pre-composed art music.
Title and menu music is also used in video games. Like in so many
mainstream mediums, title music is important in setting the mood and portraying
the contents of the video game, much like a film or television theme tune is used.
I use title music instead of theme music because the terminology of theme music
is misleading in terms of video game music. Video games are an interactive

46
Infinity Ward, Call of Duty, (Activision, 2003)
47
Infinity Ward, Call of Duty 2. (Activision and Aspyr, 2005)
48
Treyarch and Pi Studios, Call of Duty 3, (Activision 2006)
49
Most notably Richard Jacques who started as an in-house composer for SEGA in the early 1990s.
50
IO Interactive, Hitman: Blood Money, (Eidos Interactive, 2006)

19
medium; however one does not hear the title music again during game play;
however, it is possible to hear theme music techniques in many video game-film
crossover or tie-ins. Crossovers or tie-ins are video games that use the same
intellectual material as a movie or television series. In some cases the video
game is developed along side the film as in the case of remake of King Kong
directed by Peter Jackson in 2005. Examples of crossovers and tie-ins include,
Superman Returns51, X-men Last Stand52, Lord of the Rings: The Battle of
Middle-Earth53 and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation54 (and its many sequels).
Title music is usually placed alongside title sequences and trailers. Like in
films, trailers are used to give a quick preview of what the video game is about
and to tantalize fans of on going franchises. Title music can consist of either
dramatic orchestral pieces or popular styled music and recently licensed music
has played a major part in trailers too (an example is Driv3r which uses less
mainstream artists which is cost effective but also gives the video game street-
cred and in return of this the bands are known instantly to millions of people
through the game).55
As the typology might show, one can easily pigeonhole one type of genre
of video game music to another. However, there is another factor that is working
as well, in that there are many ways that video games utilize music to its
advantage. Some modern video games not only utilize one genre of music but a
whole mixture of different styles to give not only a visual pleasing but also an
aurally interesting experience for the player. Video games rely heavily on
dramatic orchestral scores and popular styled music due to the musics flexibility
and production costs. By asking in-house composers to compose music in the
style of a movie or band, the game developer can save production costs.

51
EA Tiburon, Superman Returns, (Electronic Arts, 2006)
52
Z-Axis, X-Men 3: The Official Game, (Activision, 2006)
53
EA Los Angeles, The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth, (EA Games, 2004)
54
369 Interactive, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, (Ubisoft Entertainment, 2003)
55
Nimrod Productions, Beyond Composition, Game City Conference: Nottingham, Thursday 27th
October 2006

20
Chapter 3: Video game audio composition: the true form of
interactive composition
The chapter will focus mainly on an interview given by the author to
Richard Jacques, a modern day video game composer, who has been in the
industry for more than fifteen years. It has to be said that due to the pace of
technological advancement in the video game industry, fifteen years is relatively
a long time. The full transcription can be found in the Appendix.

Brief biography of Richard Jacques

Richard Jacques was educated at the Royal School of Music in London
after winning a scholarship. He then went to Colchester University and processes
a BA Honours in music. Richard Jacques has worked on many video games56,
most notable are Battlestations Midway, Headhunter, Jet Set Radio, Outrun 2,
Outrun 2006: Coast to Coast, Pursuit Force, Sega Rally 2006, Sonic 3D Blast,
Sonic R, Space Channel 5 and most recently in development Cross Fire. He has
also worked on a couple of independent films and the Stella Artois
advertisement.
Sega first employed him in 1991-1992 as they entered their initial phase of
their first development house in Europe which was (and still is) based in London.
After working for Sega on and off for eight years he became a free lance
composer. He recently lectured on the Game Developers Conference in San
Francisco, California and has just been voted onto the Board of Directors for the
Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G).57

Video game audio as the new definition in interactive composition

After the interview I realized that video game composition is completely
different to film or television music. What many players and scholars do not
realize is that although the visuals are more impressive on the first impression,
video game audio is as complex as the most advanced physics or visual engines

56
Full list in Appendix
57
Richard Jacques, Richard Jacques Composer News, http://www.richardjacques.co.uk/swf/base.html
[accessed 16 April 2007]

21
in the game. It is because most people rely on visual information than audio
information that video game audio can be taken for granted.
Modern video game audio is not blips and an obscure melodic line
produced by MIDI synthesised keyboard. Modern video game music combines
big budget sound engineering with record studio quality performer and sound
quality. Audio Media: The Worlds Leading Professional Audio Technology
Magazine has even ran three short articles on video game audio due to its quality
and technical advancement. All three focusing on big budget games such as
Peter Jacksons King Kong The Official Game Of The Movie58, Scarface The
World Is Your59s and 24 The Game60. Surprisingly Audio Media have only
focused on video game tie-ins.61 However what started off this immergence for
cinematic quality and sound realism? As with anything to do with video games,
the advancement of technology, especially the CD-Rom console, pushed the
boundaries of video game development and realization.
NC: So you are saying that the CD-Rom initiated better music and real music in
video games?
Richard: Yep. In general better quality music started off like composers, like
myself, could use a lot more instruments and the music license thing
as well. Definitely due to the CD-Rom.
The idea of post production for games to many people may sound
absurd, but this is the reality of the modern day video game. Gone are the
days of abstract sounds being pumped out of a simple sound chip. In
Scarface The World Is Yours62 the development team approached Skywalker
Sound63 to help them develop the in game audio.

58
Terry Nelson, Peter Jacksons King Kong The Official Game of The Movie, Audio Media: The Worlds
Leading Professional Audio Technology Magazine, 182 (2006), pp.35-36
59
Rob Bridgett, Scarface The World Is Yours, 192 (2006), pp. 34-35
60
Paul Mac, Finale Cut Special: 24 The Game, Audio Media: The Worlds Leading Professional Audio
Technology Magazine, 179 (2005), pp.38-44
61
As described in Chapter 3, video game tie-ins are games based and licensed by a movie or television
program. By doing so it widens the movie and television target audience and in the case of Scareface a
renewal of interest in the film.
62
Sierra, Scarface The World Is Yours, (Vivendi Games. Inc, 2006)
63
A division of George Lucas Lucas Digital Motion Picture group and specializes in sound design, sound
engineering and music recording .

22
 However what quickly came apparent were the differences of video
game composition to film and television composition. Where two mediums
were linear, film and television, the other, video games, was not.
[] The way the two mediums are very, very different is that film is linear and
games are non-linear and interactive. Therefore a film score will last 90
minutes. A video game maybe played for 100 hours or in the cases of some
online games such as World of Warcraft64 you might hear a piece of music so
many times.
Here lies the problem that all modern video game composers face, that of
repetition of their score. In a recent interview with Tord. D. Nikolasien who is
the lead sound designer for the video game under development Age of
Conan: Hyborian Adventures,65 Tord. D. Nikolasien also elaborates on the
problem of repetition,
However in a film most sounds happens once, but in a game they happen
again and again and again [] As such its really important that they [sounds]
are quite unique. Not longer the same sample being played over and over
again.66
Richard Jacques as a composer uses
a lot of techniques by multilayer stems with big orchestral cues which you can
cross fade between or certain sections that loop whilst other melodies continue
[] its up to the game composer to make hundreds and hundreds of
variations, and multiple ways to fit together.
And only applies in game where the music must react to the player. Title and
menu screens are mainly linear. However there are video games that use
linear tracks in game such as Out Run2006 Coast 2 Coast67 and Jet Set
Radio68 where the music is used as deigetic music to further immerse the
player into the video game world.
To push the boundaries of interactive music even further Richard
Jacques was kind enough to briefly describe the process of his compositions
in the eagerly a waited game Crossfire69

64
Blizzard Entertainment, World of Warcraft, (Vivendi universal, 2004)
65
Funcom, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, (Edios Interactive and Funcom, release 30 October 2007)
66
Gamepot, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures,
<http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/ageofconanhyborianadventures/download_ini.html?sid=6168951&autopla
y=6168951&tag=topslot;title;4> [accessed 16 April]
67
Sumo Digital, Out Run 2006 Coast 2 Coast, (Sega, 2006)
68
Smilebit, Jet Set Radio, (Sega, 2000)
69
Pivotal Games, Crossfire, (Edios Interactive TBA 2007)

23
 Now because theres different stages of combat for that, what we wanted to do
[] with this specific project we have an ambient layer of music, we have
encounter [music], light and heavy combat [music]. We cant actually have four
tracks laid out on the disk in a multi-track fashion because of the technical stuff
they are doing with the disk. So Im writing all the cues separately, but of
course they have to interlock. Not necessarily harmonically but you have to cut
from layer four to zero if you want [hand gesture from high to low] like that
within a second. And that has to match the orchestration, what percussion is
happening, if there are any hell string notes going on. [] So we have a big
table with 4000 lines in it. Basically its like a look up table. If were in [a]
combat situation and were in layer four which is heavy combat, we want to go
to layer two. What bar are we at? What key are we in? But Im the one who has
to actually make all those fit together.
However with the amount of technology and specialists being used surely the
budgets of such video games are enough? Not surprisingly Richard Jacques
commented on the fact that video game audio is under funded however most
video game publishers and developers are becoming more understanding.

Conclusion
What this chapter has to show is the amount of advancement of video
game audio has become and some of the problems video game composers
face. Video games (due to its visual nature) do have similarities with cinema
and television which is obvious, however the combination of interactivity and
cinematic linear tracks are a challenge. Richard Jacques states that
The beauty of interactive composition is the perfect marriage of the human
writing the music and the computer and technology allowing us to do very
complex things which you cant do in film or TV.
The embodiment of technology and humanity is seen through the creative
projects video game composers do. As musicologists we cannot stand by and
let the birth of this new compositional technique be unobserved. It is worthy of
scholarship as much as film music scholarship is.

24
Chapter 4: A critical analysis of Christopher Tins Baba Yetu:
The use of menu music
Brief history of the video game and characteristics
The Civilization franchise first came onto the PC in 1991 and was created
by Sid Meier for Microprose. After its success, sequels appeared as Sid Meiers
Civilization II (1996), Sid Meiers Civilization III (2001) and its latest reincarnation
Sid Meiers Civilization IV (2005)70. What is interesting to note, is that after the
first Civilization game Sid Meier was not part of the development teams for the
sequels. The reader must appreciate that Sid Meier in the video game
community is revered as one of the fore fathers of PC video games design. By
placing Sid Meiers name on a product, it symbolizes the video game is made to
a standard of high quality and that the game play is intelligent and thought
provoking.
All Civilization games have been turn based strategy games (TBS). Unlike
real time strategy games (RTS), TBS changes the game flow from actual time
into partitioned segments; like a board game where each player has a turn to roll
the dice or in terms of Civilization much like chess where each player has a turn
to move their piece. Depending on the game and settings the player is allowed a
set period of time to analyze the current situation before he/she commits to a
turn.
The sole purpose of Civilization is to build an empire to stand the test of
time.71 In a normal game, the player starts with his/her chosen empire in 4000BC
with a settler which can build a city. From there the player has to make the
empire grow and last until 2050AD through competing with rival nations. This can
either be military action; spread of ones culture; religion and the players ability in
democracy is also tested. The player wins by five different goals;
conquering all other civilizations (Conquest), controlling the majority of the
world's land and population (Domination), being the first to construct a space
ship capable of colonizing Alpha Centauri (Space Race), increasing the

70
With the expansion pack Warlords (2006) and a new expansion pack scheduled for 2007 Beyond the
Sword updating and placing new civilizations, rulers and situations for the player to control and play with.
71
Sid Meier, Sid Meiers Civilization, (MicroProse, 1991)

25
 Culture ratings of three different cities to "legendary" levels, and by being
declared Secretary-General of the united Nations (Diplomatic).72

A brief look at the use of music in the game play of Civilization 4

As stated above, Civilization 4 (Civ4) is a TBS, therefore extending the
amount of time a player plays the game. Because Civ4 is a ruthlessly challenging
game (from the micromanagement of your cities, deploying military action against
rival nations, spreading ones religion, diplomacy with rival nations, the happiness
of your people the list of things to control is endless), the time used to analyze
the ones empire can be long. Thus the use of loops and multi layering or multi
stemming is useless in a game where the action at times is not fast. What the
developers in Civ4 have done is unique and clever. By using the players pace of
researching historical technology73 to trigger the change in extra diegetic music,
it gives the players a sense of achievement, but also the sense that ones empire
has become more civilized.
Unlike other video games Civ4 uses a mixture of licensed tracks and
original composed music by Jeff Briggs, Mark Cromer, Michael Curran and
Christopher Tin. What is notable about the sound track to Civ4 is the use of
classical art music to symbolize the different historical periods (or ages as they
are called in the game) as ones empire advances through time. They start from
the beginning of time from the Classical Age, Medieval Age, Renaissance
age, Industrial age and Modern age. These are triggered by researching a
technology that is associated (through the developers opinion) with that age. For
an example if one researches Feudalism, one will reach the Medieval age and
the extra deigetic music will change from simple wood block, folksy melodies to
Gregorian Chants74. Furthermore Civ4 uses the voice talent of Leonard Nimoy75
who reads a quote that is related to the technology that had just been discovered
or researched and also the introduction before one starts a new game. However

72
Wikipedia, Civilization IV http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization_IV [accessed 18 April 2007]
73
Such as the technology of the wheel, the arrow, iron working, priesthood, gun powder, philosophy again
the full list of historical technology can be found in the appendix.
74
A full list of tracks used in Civ4 can be found in the Appedix.
75
Most famous for his Star Trek, The Original Series character of Spock; a half human, half Vulcan alien.

26
what one would like to look at is the title and menu music used in Civ4 composed
by Christopher Tin.

Brief biography of Christopher Tin

Christopher Tin has had an exceptional higher education by studying in
Stanford University and Oxford University receiving a BA with Honors in Music
Composition and English Literature. He then later won the Fulbright Scholarship
to study at the Royal Collage of Music in London where he earned his MMus and
there he won the Horovitz Composition Prize.
He then had mentorships from Hans Zimmer, Graeme Revell, Klaus
Badelt, Marco Beltrami, John Ottman and Joel McNeely, thus paving his way into
Hollywood. Notable Hollywood projects include X2: X-Men United and Lilo and
Stitch 2. Civ4 was his first video game composition which won him the GANG76
Best Original Choral Work and a Rookie Of The Year awards. Christopher Tin
has also composed music for the Puma advertisement campaign and several
independent films.77

Baba Yetu and a brief look at Coronation: the use of menu and title music
in Civ4
The use of music in the menu is a linear affair. The menu screen for the
most part is a separate space in the video game. Where as the actually playing
of the video game has interaction between the player, visual and audio. The
menu screen is there to help the player choose options that affect the game.
Most PC games have options to change the difficulty of the game, video options,
and sound options or help options. In a sense the player is interacting with the
game but at a very basic level.
In most cases there are sound effects when buttons and slides are pushed
and moved but nothing more. What is notable about Civ4 menu screens music is
the sheer co-existence of the visuals and the audio. It is here we will observe
Baba Yetu.

76
Gaming Audio Network Guide.
77
Christopher Tin, Biography, <http://www.christophertin.com/biography.html> [accessed 21 April]

27
 Upon ones first contact with Baba Yetu the visual representation of the
menu screen (fig. 4.0) and the sound track combined is aesthetically beautiful. As
you can see from fig 4.0, in the back ground of the menu screen we can see the
earth from space. The earth is simulated as spinning by the movement of the
weather system and even the lights of people living and growing the earth can be
seen. Every few moments the sun rises.

fig 4.0 menu screen for Civ4

Through e-mail correspondence with Christopher Tin it has come about that
musically there are swells of music to symbolize the sun rising.78 Looking at the
score,79 we can see these swells co-inside with the use of the cymbals in a
fashion very similar with Debussys La Mer. If we compare the build up towards
the climax from Baba Yetu (Bb. 31 to 38) with Debussys swells in the 1st
movement of La Mer the techniques are very similar with the use of cymbal
tremolos to enforce a sense of grandeur and the increase of texture by adding
more and more strings accompanying the wood winds with the second thematic
material. Furthermore at Bb. 31, the way Baba Yetu uses its strings in a fugal
fashion by inter-locking with each other is similar to Debussy at Bb. 119 in order
to change to Eb minor which in Debussys case is a semi-tone up from his starting
key of D major, if one could call it that (fig 4.1).

78
Full e-mail correspondence with Christopher Tin can be found in the Appendix.
79
Score can also be found in the Appendix.

28
 fig 4.1 Baba Yetu Bb. 31-38 fugal strings section.
Christopher Tin like Debussy uses the string section as a tool for
modulation. In Baba Yetu we start in the key of G major, at Bb. 25 we enter the
key of D major (the dominant of G), however as we build up towards the climax
he modulates frequently starting at Bb. 30 in the strings from D major down to C
major at Bb. 31; then back to D major at Bb. 32; E minor at Bb. 33; back to D

29
major at Bb. 34; then to G minor in Bb. 34 - 35; at Bb. 36 hes in F minor; then at
Bb. 37 he travels to Ab major into Bb. 38 in C# minor which at the end of that bar
in B minor; he then at Bb. 39 goes into A major; Bb. 40 in E major and from Bb.
43-46 is a repeat of Bb. 39-42; at Bb. 47 though we enter A major to Bb. 51
where at Bb. 52 we go into B major; then into C major at Bb. 53; back up to D
major in Bb. 54 and finally back into the original key of G major.
The string section is used musically to enhance tension and emphasize
rhythmic qualities in the choir and technically speaking is part of the Western
tradition of orchestral writing. The pairing of flute and strings is a common timbre
combination, however what is striking within Baba Yetu is the synthesis of
Western orchestral writing with African-isms and is done skillfully.
If we look at the instrumental list, we find a compelling arrangement of
Western and African instruments. On the one hand we have a basic orchestra
with an added choir and a fairly large percussion section. On the other hand the
percussion section is enlarged by five dominant African percussive instruments,
which play throughout the piece. The orchestral percussion is used only at the
pinnacles of musical swells, with the cymbal used only to highlight these swells.
Christopher Tin states that these swells occur every sixteen bars but they also
become more frequent as they build up to the climax of the piece. Since there is
a group of African percussion, he uses them to create a dense rhythmic layer
that continues throughout Baba Yetu much like an ostinato (fig 4.2), however
there are slight variations in the finger cymbals. The variations in the finger
cymbal part occur at Bb. 5-30, 34-46 and 55-63. These rhythmic patterns echo
the main thematic material found in the choir (fig 4.3).

30
 fig 4.2 Bb.11, rhythmic layer provided by the African based percussion section.

fig 4.3 Bb. 11, the rhythmic quality of the theme is echoed by the African based percussion
section.
The musical swells can be heard whenever the suspended cymbal is hit and they
occur at Bb. 6, 22, 26, 38, 54, 58, 62 and 65.
The use of African-isms is not limited to instrumentation but also in the
writing for the choir and the text he uses. In the choral writing he frequently uses
call and response between the main choir and the tenor soloist (fig 4.4).

31
 fig 4.4 example of call and response from Bb. 7-11.
The interval of the perfect 5th found in the main thematic material is also used
often, and thus the use of parallel 5th as well (fig 4.5 and fig 4.6).

fig 4.5 the first thematic material sung by the solo tenor Bb. 7.

fig 4.6 parallel 5th in cello part at Bb. 39 which is doubling the lower register of the choir.
The main germ of Baba Yetu can be found at Bb. 2-4 which is sung by a
solo alto (fig 4.7). This germ is not only the basis for Baba Yetu but is also used
in the title cut scene track Coronation, thus linking the two and by doing so the
transition between title scene to menu scene is seamless.

32
 fig 4.7 the germ in Bb. 2-4.
The germ is accompanied with a simple G major chord in the strings, however
this simplicity portrays a wonderful sense of awakening; the awakening of man.
Not only does Christopher Tin use African techniques and instrumentation,
he also uses the Swahili translation of Our Lords Prayer. It has come to my
attention that this is not the first time that the Swahili translation of Our Lords
Prayer was set to music. Stephan M bunga composed Misa Baba Yetu in 1959 at
the height of the expansion of Christian liturgies into African80. Thus I asked
Christopher Tin why he chose the Swahili translation of Our Lords Prayer and
has he ever encountered M bungas Misa Baba Yetu? The use of the Swahili text
was of practical reasons and
[] Nor have I ever heard Mr. Bunga's setting of Missa Baba Yetu (there are lots of
Baba Yetu's out there, I believe).
However there is a correlation between the use of religion and Africa in Civ4.
Religion, as described at the beginning of the chapter, plays a major role in the
game play. Also as Tin pointed out the title sequence sweeps across Northern
Africa and the Mediterranean Sea. With Civ4 basing its concept of building an
empire at 4000BC and helping it to grow, the idea of using African-isms and
sacrilegious text is not as far fetched as one might view in the first place.
The idea of using African music to symbolize the birth of civilization also
embroiled itself into a question of why Christopher Tin did not consider using
Ancient Chinese music. Christopher Tin answered,
I have a fair bit of familiarity with African music, having been the music director of
Talisman A Cappella81, and having visited Northern Africa and South Africa on
separate occasions. There were a number of reasons: for one thing, the opening

80
Gerhard Kubik, Tanzania: 3. Recent developments, Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 21
April 2007), <http://www.grovemusic.com>
81
The music group Talisman A Cappella is a Stanford University choral group who specializes in African
music.

33
 screen is a shot of the Mediterranean and Northern Africa. African music is a lot
more accessible to Western ears because much of Western pop music is based on
blues music, which in turn is based on African music. The techniques that you
mentioned: call and response, homophonic chorale writing... they are all very
familiar to Western ears.

Asian music, on the other hand, is an aesthetic that is pretty far removed from what
Westerners are used to hearing. Likewise with Indian and Middle Eastern
music....the scales and structures are very foreign to Westerners, and a lot of
techniques used in Western music (like modulation) aren't found in them.

Conclusion
From the choices of classical art music to the title screen and menu
screen music, music in Civ4 has been treated with the utmost care and
intelligence. It is interesting to see that Firaxis Games decided to use Christopher
Tin, a man who at that point only composed songs for film and advertisements, to
compose the menu and title screen tracks. In a sense the writing for film and
television for the title and menu screens of Civ4 are not entirely different. Both
are linear and are not true interactive mediums, thus giving the composer more
freedom to compose.
Again the use of licensed tracks and voice-overs by famous actors can be
seen as an easier way for the developers to get what they want and the increase
the ability of marketing the video game. In the case of Civ4 the choices of tracks
are not as marketable as say popular songs, but were
to reflect the breadth of the classical canon, from Gregorian plainchant to
minimalism.82
In Soren Johnsons (the lead designer) view the classical cannon reflects what
Civ4 and all the Civilization games are about, they are about culture and history.
By a strange chance the Civilization games have been able to teach and reach
people about history and classical art music in a fun and direct way. It is a
testament to the mind of Sid Meire and a testament that video game audio can
be intelligent and entertaining at the same time.

82
E-mail correspondence with Christopher Tin.

34
Chapter 5: Popular Music Defining an Era: A Critical
Analysis of Rockstar Norths Grand Theft Auto Vice City
and San Andreas use of Popular Music
Brief history of the video game
The Grand Theft Auto (GTA) franchise first came out in the late 90s on the
PS1. The first two games and the expansion pack GTA London were all 2D video
games, with an over head perspective of the gaming world. It caught the
attention of the media due to its violent content that allowed players to kill Non
Player Controlled (NPC) characters as well as the option to steal cars (fig 5.0)

fig 5.0 screen shot of GTA and its top down game view
As the millennium dawned, GTA3 was released in 2001 on the PS2 and it
shocked the video gaming world. Its depiction of gritty urban life, with fully 3D
graphics and NPCs being able to eat and sleep as if they were alive in a real
city. Liberty City had day and night cycles as well as its own weather system in
place. It was a fully functional city, with its own ghettos and suburbs (fig 5.1).

fig 5.1 screen shot of GTAIII and its 3D visualization in Liberty Cities China Town

35
 After GTA3 each game succeeding it would be placed in a certain era of
modern America. GTA3 was loosely based in the present (that is the present of
2001), GTA Vice City was based on the 80s and GTA San Andreas was based in
the early to mid 90s. To some extent it placed a microscope of the different
decades and parodied the time period the video game was based. Its use of
parodies is not confined to visual aspects of the game but musically as well. It is
this aspect of the GTA franchise that I will be looking into for it uses licensed
tracks from artists to convey an era and the way that GTA packages this for the
player as a video game player and as a consumer must be looked upon as well.

Synopsis of GTA Vice City and San Andreas

Let us first look at the narrative in GTA Vice City. The blurb at the back of
the packaging reads,
Welcome to the 1980s. Welcome to Vice City, a huge urban sprawl stretching
from the beach to the swamps and the glitz to the ghetto, a town brimming with
delights and degradation. Having just made it back onto the street of Liberty City
after a long stretch inside, Tommy Vercetti is sent to Vice City by his old boss,
Sonny Forelli. But all does not go smoothly upon his arrival in the glamorous,
hedonistic metropolis of Vice City. Tommy is set up and loses everything. Sonny
wants his money back, but the biker gangs, Cuban gangsters, and corrupt
politicians stand in his way. Most of Vice City seems to want Tommy dead. His
only answer is to fight back and take over the city himself.83
Reading like the synopsis of a modern gangster movie the video game sets itself
up to the player as adult orientated entertainment material with the age certificate
18 in United Kingdom editions. The city itself is loosely based on Miami in
Southeastern USA and has a sub-tropical climate and experiences occasional
strong winds and rain with the random hurricane.
GTA San Andreas uses the same concept of starting at the bottom of the
criminal ladder and climbing up the hierarchy by doing missions for the criminal
elite. The blurb at the back of the packaging reads
Five years ago Carl Johnson escaped from the pressures of life in Los Santos,
San Andreas, a city tearing itself apart with gang trouble, drugs and corruption.
Where film stars and millionaires do their best to avoid the dealers and gang
bangers. Now, its the early 90s. Carls got to go home. His mother has been
murdered, his family has fallen apart and his childhood friends are all heading
towards disaster. On his return to the neighbourhood, a couple of corrupt cops

83
Rockstar Games, Grand Theft Auto Vice City, (United Kingdom edition: Take 2 Interactive, 2003)

36
 frame him for homicide. CJ is forced on a journey that takes him across the entire
state of San Andreas, to save his family and to take control of the streets84.
Interestingly San Andreas narrative seems more inclined to the Boys N the
Hood85 than GoodFellas86 maybe due to the video games location and the black
personification of the character. That being said some missions are given out by
the mafia syndicate and the narrative pushes forward the idea of what would
happen if the African-American protagonist left the hood. The fictional state of
San Andreas is based on California and Nevada, so therefore there is a large
range of weather conditions from foggy, to heavy rain to heat wave like
conditions.

Use of famous actors and voice actors in the GTA franchise

Leading on through the success of GTA Vice City and its use of actors
such as Ray Liotta as Tommy Vercetti the protagonist, Dennis Hopper as Steve
Scott and Burt Reynolds as Avery Carrington, GTA San Andreas surpasses this
with notable performances from Samuel L. Jackson as police Officer Frank
Tenpenny, James Woods as Mike Toreno, Peter Fonder as The Truth, Frank
Vincent as Salvatore Leone87 and Chris Penn as police Officer Eddie Pulaski88.
With such a huge case in GTA San Andreas it is not surprising to find
famous musicians lending their voice acting skills for the video games characters
and radio station DJs; most notably the rappers Ice-T as the in game rapper
Madd Dogg, and MC EIHT as Lance Ryder Wilson. Notable musicians as DJs
in the radio stations are the rapper Chuck D as DJ Forth Right MC on the radio
station Playback FM, Axle Rose lead singer from Guns N Roses as Tommy The
Nightmare Smith on the radio station K-DST: The Dust and George Clinton the
man behind the funk bands Parliament and Funkadelic as The Funktipus on the
radio station Bounce FM. Furthermore the use of real life radio DJ Julio G, who is
an influential West Coast hip-hop DJ, shows the effort of authenticity that the

84
Rockstar Games, Grand Theft Auto:San Andreas, (United Kingdom edition: Take 2 Interactive, 2005)
85
Directed and written by John Singleton and was released in 1991 to critical acclaim with Academy
awards nominated for Best Directors and Best Writing or Screenplay Written for John Singleton. In 2002 it
was selected and made for preservation in the Nation Film Registry in the USA.
86
Directed and co-written by Martin Scorsese and was released in 1990
87
Frank Vincent played the same character in GTAIII as the head of the Leone Mafia family.
88
A full cast list for GTA Vice City and GTA San Andreas can be found in the Appendix.

37
GTA franchise is willing to get. Compared with GTA Vice Cities radio stations
with only DJ Super Rocking Mr. Magic as the only famous musician to lend his
voice. GTA San Andreas has been able to inject itself into the consciousness of
popular culture and music. By being able to use famous actors, musicians and
their music, the GTA games are able to show to the consumers a fully
marketable package. Much like a film the video game can be bought and played
but also the sound track which is usually marketed separately can be bought as
well.

References to popular culture and real life

Let us first examine the popular cultural references that are placed in GTA
Vice City. As explained above, GTA Vice City is based on the 80s in Miami. With
the 80s being a distinctive era in modern day American and Western history it is
not surprising to find cultural references in GTA Vice City. The video game
visuals feel and look like a 1980s movie with its distinctive pastel colours of pink
and blue. Film inspiration can be found in GTA Vice City from Scarface, Carlitos
Way89 and from the 80s television hit Miami Vice90. References to Scarface can
be seen in its narrative of a criminal starting from the bottom and reaching the
heights of the criminal elite. The reference to Carlitos Way is made by one of the
main characters in the video game named Ken Rosenberg. Rosenberg looks
similar to Sean Penns character in Carlitos Way, David Kleinfeld. Both look
physically similar and have similar dress code. Also both become increasingly
paranoid by their cocaine addictions. What made the video game a complete
1980s experience was its references to Miami Vice, from its fashion to its exotic
cars, to the flamboyance of the main characters (fig 5.2).

89
Both films were directed by Brian de Palma and star Al Pacino as the leading character. Scareface was
released in 1983 and Carlitos Way was released in 1993
90
Miami Vice was a five season series which lasted from 1984 to 1989

38
 fig 5.2 screen shot of GTA Vice City on the famous Miami based street
GTA San Andreas on the other hand being based in the 90s has a
completely different feel and look to it compared with GTA Vice City. Cultural
references to run down ghettos of South Central Los Angeles of that decade with
inspiration to films like Boys N the Hood and Menace II Society91. What is most
striking of all is the reference to the 1992 riots in Los Angeles which were race
related due to police brutality on an African American man named Rodney King.
The last mission of the game places the player in a situation where the riot
begins and the player chases the corrupt policeman Officer Tenpenny through
the fiery streets of Los Santos and finally kills him. The main difference is, is that
Officer Tenpenny (as played by Samuel L. Jackson) is African-American where
as in reality the Police Officers involved in the beating were all Caucasian expect
for one Hispanic police officer92.
What is interesting to see is that like a film it portrays the era to the player
with all the authenticity of a big budget movie would. However unlike a film the
video game player is actually inside the narrative and experiencing first hand, in
a stylized way, what it would be like to live in that time period; interacting with
main characters and the environment. In this section I have not mentioned the
role of music in the GTA games yet for one important reason. The point is that
the licensed tracks in these games are used as cultural reference points and as

91
Menace II Society was directed by Allen and Albert Huges
92
Police officers involved were Sergeant Stacey Koon, Officer Laurence Powell, Officer Timothy Wind
and Officer Theodore Briseno

39
historical documents to further help the authenticity of the video game. It is the
music that brings all the visual aspects and game play of the video game into a
package and by doing so the music becomes another marketing strategy that the
record and video game companies can tap into. This can be seen by the way that
Rockstar has marketed GTA Vice City and GTA San Andreas by releasing the in
game sound track commercially and separate from the game; in a sense how
films market their sound tracks. An example of his can be found at the back of
GTA San Andreas manual as Capital Records have advertisements on old and
current artists.

Licensed tracks as musical documents for cultural references to an era

As stated in Chapter 2 Typology the GTA franchise has used the medium
of radio stations to enhance the experience of the video game play. The tracks
that are chosen for each radio station has a specific theme but also each track is
chosen due to its connections to the period in question. Let us focus mainly on
the use of licensed tracks in GTA San Andreas. Again just like GTA Vice City
there are a range of radio stations covering a large genre of popular music from
rap to country. We can see this expand from GTA Vice City from being seven
radio stations to San Andreas ten.
If one looks carefully at the tracks that are chosen, especially tracks from
the radio station Radio Los Santos the emphasis is on West coast rap artists.
This is logical for the game world is supposedly based around the Los Angeles
area and the West Coast. The use of Ice Cubes It Was a Good Day and Check
Yo Self says something about the production team at Rockstar North and their
sensibilities. Also the use of Da Lench Mobs Guerillas In Tha Mist and 2 Pacs I
Dont Give a Fuck highlights this. What these tracks show are the connections of
rap during that period with the restlessness and disparity in Southern California in
the 90s.
Ice Cubes controversy in the 90s was his provocative debate solo album
AmeriKKKas Most Wanted93 which focus on the hardships of life in the ghettos
of Southern California and the racial tensions that were becoming more and
93
Ice Cube, AmeriKKKas Most Wanted, (USA: Priority, May 16 1990)

40
more apparent. However this being said the tracks It Was a Good Day and
Check Yo Self come from his third solo album The Preditor94. One can speculate
what the GTA San Andreas producers were pushing at. The Preditor album was
released seven months after the April 29 1992 riots and the connotations with the
riots cannot be understated. This connection can also be seen with the rap group
Da Lench Mob who first appeared on Ice Cubes AmeriKKKas Most Wanted
album and had Ice Cube as their executive producer. Apart from this obvious
connection their album title Guerillas In Tha Mist95 (released in 1992 as a post-
1992 riot album) was a clever pun on comments made by Officer Laurence
Powell96 one of the four police officers held trial over the beating of Rodney King
which in turned sparked the April 29 1992 riots in LA. Officer Laurnece Powells
comments on a scene of a domestic disturbance involving African-Americans as
right out of Gorillas in the Mist97 is used in conjunction with the idea of guerilla
warfare. However the question that still remains is why the producers used Ice
Cubes It Was a Good day? I believe it was mainly chosen for its lyrics and its
popularity in 1992. If we analyze It Was a Good days lyrics it might show us the
reasons behind their choice98.
The lyrics in themselves narrate to the listener how Ice Cubes day was a
good day by not being able to see a jacker in sight, or Didn't even get no static
from the cowards/ Cause just yesterday them fools tried to blast me. What is
disturbing is the fact that Ice Cube raps Plus nobody I know got killed in South
Central L.A. The track heavily samples The Isley Brothers track Footsteps in the
Dark99 which loops continuously throughout the song (fig 5.3).

fig 5.3 Footsteps in the Dark loop used in Ice Cubes It Was a Good Day

94
Ice Cube, The Preditor, (USA: Priority, 1992)
95
Da Lench Mob, Guerillas In Tha Mist (USA: Street Knowledge, 1992)
96
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerillas_in_tha_Mist [accessed 15 March 2007]
97
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lapd/Kingkeyfigures.html [accessed 15 March 2007]
98
Lyrics can be found in the Appendix
99
The Isley Brothers, Go For Your Guns, (USA: T-Neck Records, 1977)

41
However Footsteps in the Dark is a slow grove based track and talks about
infidelity. This apparent juxtaposition of connotations is deliberate for in It Was a
Good Day Ice Cube himself cannot believe it was a good day with his ironic
repeat of shit each time he raps at the end of the three verses.100 This
undermining of the slow-jam grove is further emphasized by Ice Cubes final
phrase and the cut of the loop as this is said, Hey wait, wait a minute Pooh, stop
this shit/ What the fuck I'm thinkn about? This narrative of life in South Central
LA is taken up by GTA San Andreas by its visuals and its storyline at the
beginning (fig 5.4).

fig 5.4 screen shot of GTA San Andreas on Grove street, Carl Johnsons neighborhood
The connection with the 1992 LA riots can be seen with the last mission in
GTA San Andreas. One might argue that the use of such a serious topic being
exploited by the video game company was outrageous, but in a way it gives
video game players from other cultures and from a different generation to
connect with political issues that concern all of us. The issues of race and
poverty concerns us all and the musical tracks as an authentic soundscape of
that period helps to portray that world to the video game players whether she or
he has ever heard or know about the 1992 LA riots before they played the game.
However this being said the musical genres not only focuses on black popular
music but also on rock, country and techno as well.

100
I cant believe it was a good day (shit),Today was a good day (shit), and I got to say it was a good
day (shit).

42
 Radio station Radio X: The Alternative which focuses its tracks to
alternative rock gives us a glimpse of what Generation X would have listened to.
Notable tracks are Rage Against the Machines Killing in the name, The Stone
Roses Fools Gold, Faith No Mores Midlife Crisis and Depeche Modes Personal
Jesus. The anti-establishment self absorbed nature of Generation X is
personified by Sage the radio DJ, but it also gives us a glimpse of the other
soundscape of the 90s other than rap.

Conclusion
The ability to change the radio gave the GTA franchise, at first a novelty
but importantly, a new dimension in video game experience. By giving the player
the ability to choose what music he or she wanted to listen to when playing the
video game; the game gave another freedom rather than game play. Interestingly
as a by product of this it helped a new generation of young adults or adults in
listening to different genres of music which they might or might not have listened
to before. The success of GTA Vice City made it possible for a different
generation to experience the hope and the never lasting wealth that was
associated with the 1980s. With many eighteen year olds in 2004 being actually
five or six year old toddlers when the 1992 LA riots happened, it educates in a
fun way and over stylized way on these events. Much in the same way the film
industry does.
Technically the use of diegetic music in radio form on the one side loses
the players empathy towards the game character and the situation because it
does not infuse the emotional connection with the action; with the exception for
driving or riding a car/boat/motor bike. The music is only there as a prop for
authenticity or a prop to make the players suspend their disbelief. The problem
with solely having diegetic music in this form is that it is limited in its effects on
the player. However on the other hand, it may be seen as an authenticity of life
and the life of the video game character. In real life, one does not suddenly hear
a rush of dramatic strings when one catches the bus (unless one has a walkman
or CD or MP3 player). Most people when driving their car would listen to music
through their car radio. This sense of simulation and realism has been part of the

43
video game development since the rise of CD-Rom based consoles. It is this
water mark that visually and audibly that can be seen in modern video games
and the GTA franchise has been part of this movement since GTA III.

44
Chapter 6: Critical analysis of Jepser Kyds music in
Eidos Hitman: Blood Money
Brief history of the video game and characteristics
The Hitman franchise began in December 2000 with its release on the
Personal Computer (PC). It was developed by the Danish computer game
developer IO Interactive but was substantially taken over by Eidos Interactive;
however it still retains its previous name and is based in Demark. From the
success of the first Hitman game entitled Hitman: Codename 47, IO Interactive
released Hitman: Silent Assassin in 2002 for multiple platforms101, followed by
Hitman: Contracts in 2004 and finally the latest video game involving the bold
head assassin Hitman: Blood Money was released in 2006 for PS2, Xbox 360
and the PC. As stated briefly above, the main protagonist is an assassin merely
named Agent 47 (or abbreviated to just 47). In the first game, Hitman: Codename
47, we learn that our protagonist is in fact a clone. A clone created from the
recombinant DNA of five of the worlds most dangerous criminal master minds.102
As in all popular Science Fiction, the role in creating such a clone is to harness
the strength, power and speed of the five of the worlds most dangerous criminal
master minds. Like many video games at the present the protagonist is a male
Caucasian with the exception that he is bold.
The main aspect of the game relies heavily on stealth and killing ones
targets silently. Two particular features of the game that was new to the video
gaming community when Hitman: Codename 47 was released and is still a
recognizing factor to the series was the freedom to carry out hits in a variety of
ingenious but nevertheless ruthless ways103 and the option to disguise oneself to
make infiltration easier. The methods of murder are limitless from strangulation,
to sniper fire. It is up to the player to decide how to complete the mission. That
said it has only been recently in Hitman: Blood Money that sabotaging certain

101
Hitman: Silent Assassin was released on the PC, Xbox, PS2 and the Nintendo Game Cube
102
Hitman (computer game series),
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitman_%28computer_game_series%29> [accessed 24 March 2007]
103
Jesper Kyd, Hitman: Blood Money Original Soundtrack, (Eidos Interactive, SE-2024-2, 2006)

45
structures can cause accidents and if done properly results in the death of the
target.
The possibilities of music in a video game such as Hitman cannot be
denied. The use of ambient noises with the use of extra-diegetic music is used
forcefully in the series. Due to Jesper Kyds involvement throughout the series
we can see how his style matured and in Hitman: Blood Money it is his high
quality work that is noticeable.

Synopsis of Hitman: Blood Money

In Hitman: Blood Money the narrative of the entire game is narrated by the
former director of the FBI Leland Alexander (later on we find that he is the leader
of The Franchise104) to a journalist he has invited over for a news paper interview
through a series of cut-scenes after each level has been completed. The main
narration is about how Alexander observed Agent 47s assassinations in a two
year period from 2004 to 2006 and subsequently tracked and hunted down 47.
As we are treated to each cut-scene, it becomes apparent that the narration is
flawed and as each assassination mission is explained the player plays out what
really happened. A look at the blurb at the pack of the packaging shows us what
is to be expected in the video game.
Hitmans back, drawing you closer than ever into his deadly world where staying anonymous,
being smart and totally ruthless are the key to a perfect execution. Lucrative contracts on the
rich and powerful in high profile locations make killing for money good business. But when a
rival agency enters the scene its war and only the best man will be left standing105.

The use of music in Hitman: Blood Money

The main questions that arise in all video games are where and when
should music be utilised? Should music be constantly playing throughout the
level or does the video game dictate that music should be used subtly? In the
case of Hitman: Blood Money it is the latter. However the use of music subtly is
utilised during game play, what is customary in most video games is the use of
title music and menu music; which has been discussed in Chapter 4. With
Hitman: Blood Money (and other video games) the mixture of extra-diegetic

104
The Franchise is a rival agency of Agent 47s International Contract Agency (ICA)
105
Io-Interactive, Hitman: Blood Money, (UK Edition, Eidos Interactive, 2006)

46
music with the combination of ambient sound and sound effects is used to create
a soundscape very similar with film soundtracks but at a higher interactivity and
flexibility. It is this complexity that will be observed in Hitman: Blood Money
through observations during game play in the missions.
I have chosen mission seven entitled You Better Watch Out because it
demonstrates the use of extra-diegetic music in a video game environment and it
is also the first time as a player I felt that the music was in the foreground and not
merely a subtly entity. The synopsis for this mission is as follows; Agent 47 has
two targets to terminate. The first target is named Lorne De Havilland, who
seems to be loosely based on Hugh Hefner,106 is a
Self professed playboy, porn aficionado and American culture icon he peruses the many
videotapes surreptitiously recorded through one-way mirrors installed in all of the back cabins
in his strip joints. Blackmailing politicians, clergyman and movie stars now provide the major
bulk of his income.
With this background information the second target is the youngest son of
Senator Bingham, Chad Bingham Jr. who often hang[s] out in local bars or
sleazy strip joints.107 However Senator Bingham was being blackmailed by
Havilland who has a compromising video of Chad Bingham Jr. man slaughtering
a stripper in a sexual bend. What is some what disturbing is the fact that
Senator Bingham has ordered the assassination of his son and De Havilland due
to his
involvement in a tight re-election campaign. The Video could cost him the election [and] so
could any future misbehaviour by his son.
The mission is set in the Rocky Mountains at De Havillands private resort
where he hosts his annual Christmas party, note the pun on the mission title of
You better watch out which is part of the lyrics of Santa Clause Is Coming To
Town108. Since the Hitman series has always allowed a choice of multiple
narratives109 in completing the mission. I will mainly focus on the path that I have
chosen, however I will elaborate only on audio differences compared to the other

106
Co-creator of the Playboy magazine
107
Io-Interactive, Hitman: Blood Money, (UK Edition, Eidos Interactive, 2006)
108
Written by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie, and the original recording was done by Tommy Dorsey.
109
The multiple narraives are paths that the player can choose to take to reach the goal. In many modern
video games today, the goal is set, however multiple paths (or narratives) can be taken. By doing so it is
hoped that the video game player has more freedoms in the out come of the game.

47
path that I did not choose. It must be said that multiple narratives are
interconnected and the player can switch from one path to another seamlessly.
Before we actually observe the mission, we must understand the concept
of triggers in video games. Triggers are points in the game where the players
action causes a reaction in the game. A very simple example is that of the player
walking through an open door way. As the player passes the doorway, the door
shuts behind the character, forcing the player to move forward. This type of
trigger is visual and part of basic video game play. In modern video games these
triggers have become elaborate and can be seen like a domino effect. However it
is the use of triggers in the audio track that we are interested in. Thus let us
begin the observation of You Better Watch Out

You Better Watch Out

We start the mission outside and it is presumed that Agent 47 has just got
off the boat (fig 6.0).

fig 6.0 Agent 47 arriving at the party

Audibly there was no music played either diegetic or extra-diegetic. The only
audio information that the player received was of ambient noises that occur
naturally in that environment; the crunching of snow under Agent 47s feet and
the idle talking of lingering guests. This simulation of reality is used heavily in

48
Hitman: Blood Money and in many modern video games. Again this is due to the
CD-Rom and the video game players hunger for realism.
It is here where we first encounter a split in the narrative. One could
choose to go up to the party in the main elevator or one could sneak in through
the staff elevator, I chose the latter. The first audio trigger I encountered was
when Agent 47 entered the main elevator. The track Vegas played as 47
ascended up towards the party. The timing of the track was such that it portrayed
the situation of Agent 47 in his Italian suit almost James Bond-esk. The audio
track Vegas overpowers the soundscape leaving only sound effects above it.110
As we enter the first major room where all the guests are moving about the track
Vegas cuts and leaves only the ambient noise of the party. Smaller audio triggers
are snagged by passing NPCs and their dialogue can be heard.111 However
diegetic music can be heard in this room, but the main issue with it is its level.
Compared to the ambient noises that are being played it is hidden behind the
sound of clinking glasses, NPCs talking and the intense tension of the player as
he walks by people hoping that he/she will not be noticed (fig 6.1).

fig 6.1 Agent 47 entering the main party room

110
Sound effects such as heavy breathing as Agent 47 climb up the elevator hatch and gun shots.
111
This party sucks. I thought the chicks were going to be naked, Now, now, Im not that type of girl,
Man these babes are hot! and Ive never seen such babes in my life! can be heard said by the NPCs.

49
 The digetic music that is played in the main party room is an audio loop,
but the composition is not a simple sixteen bar loop but is a full fledged piece,
even though many players may not have noticed it. The piece begins with an
electric keyboard jazzy riff. This is continued until a synthesized high-hat enters
and is then accompanied by a clave beat. From this synthesized strings play
below this texture and an electric bass enters. We go into the B section with a
short improvisation from the bass and a wah-wah guitar can be heard within the
texture. However there are no band members seen (the only visual instrument is
a piano but no one is playing) so it is assumed that the music is produced from
two visible speakers.
The Vegas track starts off where it was cut off when we entered the main
party room as we enter the VIP room. But if one was to re-enter the main party
room, the Vegas track cuts again. The cutting and stopping of the audio track in
this fashion seems some what odd, but one assumes that the design team
wanted to allow the party atmosphere to be portrayed to the player as he/she
walked through the main party room.
The Vegas track does not last long though, after taking a photographers
clothes as a disguise, the audio track changes again as we take the second
elevator up towards De Havillands private quarters. The audio track changes to
Amb Zone which is also used if one was to take the stair cases. It provides the
player a sense of forbidden access, a sense that the player should not be doing
what he/she is. The track Amb Zone is used quite extensively throughout the
game because the player will be controlling Agent 47 to places where heightened
tension is needed. Other triggers emerge when Agent 47s cover is blown and
the guards are alerted to your presence. As chaos starts audio tracks
Apocalypse and 47 Attacks are played. The use of sensational music to further
heighten tension of the situation is used extensively as a pure extra-diegetic tool.
As one gets closer to the target, quite ambient noises can be heard from
cymbal harmonics to the low tremolo of a bass drum. The use of instrumental
ambient music coincides with the ideas placed forward by Rob Bridett who
argues that video game music has to move away from filmic compositions used

50
in a loosely interactive way,112 to a more ambient sensation level. When one
successfully assassinates a target, silently, a quite low timpani roll can be heard.
To the average video game player the timpani roll may not even be heard.
However if it was taken away from the action the scene lacks something. It is as
if the sound of the timpani roll is part of the assassination process. This use of
instrumental ambient sound is used subtly and is extremely important for the
video games atmosphere.

Use of diegetic music in other missions

In the game there are so many instances of diegetic music used to
authentically convey a place. On the mission Death on the Mississippi, as Agent
47 enters the 1st class section of the boat one can hear a jazz trio playing113, or
the instance in Till Death do us Part as 47 is sent to kill the groom and the
brides father. As we enter the wedding party country music begins to play from
visible speakers and NPCs start dancing to it. The attention to detail and the
portrayal of authentic places through visual and audio means is almost obsessive
in video games.
Another mission that uses diegetic music to its fullest its fullest is in
mission nine, A Dance with the Devil. The track Club Heavens main germ (fig
6.2) is repeated at the beginning and is combined with ambient sounds.

fig 6.2 main theme of Club Heaven sung by sopranos

This is played as we enter the top floor of the party. The track then loops the first
0:50 of the track, this co-insides with the beautifully clad women in angel
costumes and silver confetti falling from the ceiling (fig 6.3).

112
Rob Bridgett, Problems with the Film Music Model,
<http//web.archive.org/web/20021203022406/http://www.sound-design.org.uk/problems.htm> [accessed
13 February 2007]
113
However the visual confirmation that a band is playing is a lone NPC performing on a piano.

51
 fig 6.3 screen shot of Hitman: Blood Money in the mission A Dance with the Devil
As we descend into the basement where the other party is held we enter a hell
themed party. The track enters its club music section and one can see NPCs
dancing on the floor below. What is intriguing is the use of the germ stated above
in fig 6.2. When one is in the heaven themed party on the top floor, the germ
which his accompanied with ambient chimes, distorted tremolo strings, heavily
synthesized tubular bells and a non threatening bass line. However as we hear
the germ as it peaces through a texture of synthesized high hat, heavy bass and
a German vocal distorted by some sort of vocoder.114 The heavily textured club
section of Club Heaven, which is used in the hell themed party, as an almost in
audio able ambient wind blow which is ghost like can be heard and adds to the
tension of the piece. The germ features in Club Heaven then appears in the next
track Invasion on the Mississippi River but is augmented and played by
tremolando violins.
However the question remains, why did the video game developers
choose Jesper Kyd after all he as been with the franchise since its birth? It was
quite surprising to find out when I mentioned this to Richard Jacques he
explained that many composers can be typed cased into writing certain game
music.115 Throughout the Hitman series Jesper Kyds output of music stylistically
dark and the mixture of European club music with orchestral timbres is an

114
A voice synthesiser.
115
Appendix Interview with Richard Jacques.

52
unnverving combination. Thus the obvious reason is that the video game
developers wanted Jepser Kyds sound to give Hitman a score that underpinned
the main theme throughout the series, that of a dark and gritty realism.

Conclusion
What can be seen with a brief observation of Hitman: Blood Money is that
modern day video games use a lot of techniques to produce a truely interactive
audio experience. In the short course of one mission we have witnessed, the use
of triggers, cues, loops and the seamless transitions between tracks to
accommodate the actions of the video game player.
As Rob Bridett has shown in his articles and own projects, video game
audio that although it is useful to use the film model of music as influence or
comparison the approach is starting to show itself up as unsatisfactory in many
ways116 The issues that concern video game composition has been discussed in
Chapter 3, however it is interesting to observe these problems first hand with a
case study such as Hitman: Blood Money.

116
Robert Bridett, Problems with the Film Music Model,
<http://web.archive.org/web/20021203022406/http://www.sound-design.org.uk/problems.htm> [accessed
21 April 2007]

53
Chapter 7: Conclusion
The audio in video games have come a long way since the 1970s, from its
abstracted sounds to now with 7.1 surround sound abilities. This new medium
has only been around for three decades and it is till going strong. Compared to
film the video game has advanced tremendously in both visual and audio
perspectives.
It is hoped that this dissertation has promoted video game audio as a
feasible musicological area. There are many other questions that this dissertation
was not able to do in the limited word count that there is. One such question is
the cultural differences between East and Western video games and how video
game audio is an embodiment of that. In the two interviews that I have curried
out I have briefly mentioned this to Richard Jacques and Christopher Tin and it is
hoped that this question will be tackled in a later paper. This dissertation has not
tackled the technical side of video game audio because one does not have the
knowledge but can also be part of video game audio scholarship in the future.
Video game audio is such a new medium; musicology cannot stand idly
and not observe and critique it. However inside the video game community, video
game audio is not taken seriously then how can video game audio be considered
for scholarly observations. If video game scholarship, as a whole, is to be the
next new area of scholarship then it would be a shame that musicology will be
missing in the whole view of video games. Music plays such an important part in
all entertainment, because music is not visual or feasible does not make it less
important than the visual aspects of such mediums.
The current trend of video game audio is a combination of film scoring and
interactive composition. The medium of video games is still young and the
exciting issue is what will the future hold for this medium? How will video game
audio evolve? Hopefully in the future musicologists will be there to find out.

54
Bibliography
Books
1. Aaron Marks, Complete guild to Game Audio, (USA: CMP Books,
2001)
2. Barry Atkins, More Than A Game; the computer game as fictional form,
(Great Britain: Manchester University Press, 2003)
3. Ed. Daniel Goldmark and Yuval Taylor, The Cartoon Music Book
(Chicago: A Cappella Books, 2002)
4. Ed. Lucien King, Game On; The History and Culture of Videogames,
(London: Laurence King Publishing Ltd, 2002)
5. Ed. Mark J.P. Wolf and Bernard Perron, The Video Game Theory
Reader, (Britain: Routledge, 2003)
6. Geoff King and Tanya Krzywinska, Tomb Raiders and Space Invaders;
Video game forms and contexts, (London: I.B.Tauris, 2006)
7. James Newman, Video Games, (Britain: Routledge, 2004)

Journals
1. Lynn Pocock Williams, Towards the Automatic Generation of Visual
Music, Leonardo, Vol. 25, No. 1 (1992) pp. 29-36
2. Mark J. P. Wolf, Inventing Space Toward a Taxonomy of On and Off
Screen Space in Video Games, Film Quarterly. Vol. 51, No. 1 (Autumn,
1997) pp. 11 23
3. Sharon R. Sherman, Perils of the Princess: Gender and Genre in Video
Games, Western Folklore. Vol. 56, No. (Summer 1997), pp. 243 258

Websites
1. Christopher Tin, Christopher Tin Composer,
<http://www.christophertin.com/news.html> [accessed 21 April 2007]
2. Filmsound.org, Game Audio Articles, <http://filmsound.org/game-audio/>
[accessed 21 April 2007]

55
3. G.A.N.G, Game Audio Network Guild, <http://www.audiogang.org/>
[accessed 21 April 2007]
4. GameSpot, GameSpotUK, <http://www.gamespot.com/> [accessed 21
April 2007]
5. Gerhard Kubik, Tanzania: 3. Recent developments, Grove Music Online
ed. L. Macy (Accessed 21 April 2007), <http://www.grovemusic.com>
6. Gerhard Kubik, Tanzania,
<http://www.grovemusic.com/shared/views/article.html?from=search&sess
ion_search_id=886999406&hitnum=1&section=music.27485.3> [accessed
21 April 2007]
7. Jesper Kyd, Jesper Kyd Productions, <http://www.jesperkyd.com/>
[accessed 21 April 2007]
8. Music 4 Games, Music 4 Games: The Future of Rock n Roll & Interactive
Entertainment est. 1999, <http://music4games.net/> [accessed 21 April
2007]
9. Richard Jacques, Selected Credits,
http://www.myspace.com/richardjacquesmusic [accessed 21 April 2007]
10. Richard Jacques, <http://www.richardjacques.co.uk/swf/base.html>
[accessed 21 April 2007]
11. Robert Bridgett, Problems with the Film Music Model,
<http://web.archive.org/web/20021203022406/http://www.sound-
design.org.uk/problems.htm> [accessed 21 April 2007]
12. Robert Bridgett, Subtlety and Silence, <http://www.zero-
g.co.uk/index.cfm?articleid=722> [accessed 21 April 2007]
13. Wikiepedia, Music in Civ4,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_in_Civilization_IV [accessed 21 April
2007]
14. Wikipedia, Computer and Video game music
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Games> [accessed 21 April 2007]
15. Wikipedia, Driv3r, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driv3r#Soundtrack>
[accessed 21 April 2007]

56
 16. Wikipedia, Marc Eck's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure,
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Eck%C5%8D%27s_Getting_Up:_Conte
nts_Under_Pressure#Official_Mixtape> [accessed 20 April 2007]
17. Wikipedia, SingStar,<
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SingStar#International_track_list> [accessed
20 April 2007]
18. Wikipedia. FIFA series soundtracks,
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_series_soundtracks> [accessed 21 April
2007]

Discography
1. Epic Records, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Official Soundtrack Box Set,
(Sony, 2002)
2. Jesper Kyd, Hitman: Blood Money Original Soundtrack, (Eidos Interactive,
SE-2024-2, 2006)

Gameography
1. Firaxis Games, Sid Meiers Civilization IV, (2K Games, 2005)
2. Io-Interactive, Hitman: Blood Money, (Eidos Interactive, 2006)
3. Radical Entertainment, Scarface: The World Is Yours, (Vivendi
Universal Games, 2006)
4. Rockstar Games, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, (Take 2 Interactive,
2003)
5. Rockstar Games, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, (Take 2
Interactive, 2005)
6. The Collective, Marc Eckos Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure,
(Atari, 2006)

Miscellaneous
1. Nimrod, Beyond Composition, Game City Conference: Nottingham,
Thursday 27th October 2006

57
2. NC Chan, E-mail correspondence with Christopher Tin, August
November 2006
3. NC Chan, Interview with Richard Jacques, Thursday 27th October 2006
4. SCEE (Sony Computer Entertainment Europe), Music in Video Games,
Game City Conference: Nottingham, Thursday 26th October 2006

58
Appendix
Chapter 2: The Typology of Music in Video Games
Soundtrack listing for Driv3r
1. Big Brat - Phantom Planet
2. Black Thread - Los Halos
3. Bowels Of The Beast - The Raveonettes
4. Boy From The City - SLO-MO
5. C'mon And Try - Mellowdrone
6. Destiny - Syntax
7. Evil Brother Narco
8. Exit - Stateless
9. Gimme Danger - Iggy and the Stooges
10. Move Over - Teddybears STHLM
11. Ripe For The Devil - Okuniev
12. Static In The Cities - Hope of the States
13. Streets of Miami - Narco
14. The 2nd Evolution/Stand Off - Narco
15. Zero PM - The BellRays

Wikipedia, Driv3r, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driv3r#Soundtrack> [accessed

20 April 2007]

Soundtrack listing for Marc Ecks Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure
1. Aural Prostitution - DJ Vadim
2. Book of Judges - Pharoahe Monch
3. Boxcutter Emporium - Sixtoo
4. Catch a Bad One - Del tha Funkee Homosapien
5. Cavern - Liquid Liquid
6. Chin High - Roots Manuva
7. Chin High Megamix - Roots Manuva
8. Click, Clak, and Spray - Pack FM
9. Club Foot - Kasabian
10. Follow the Leader - Eric B and Rakim
11. Getting Up Anthem: Part 1 - Talib Kweli and Rakim
12. Helicopter - Bloc Party
13. I Smell a Rat - Big Mama Thornton
14. Motion 2000 - Polyrhythm Addicts
15. Mountain Song - Jane's Addiction
16. My People Hold On - Eddie Kendricks
17. Save Their Souls - Bohannon
18. Shook Ones Part 2 - Mobb Deep
19. Sinnerman - Nina Simone
20. Subway Theme - Grand Wizard Theodore
21. Survival of the Fittest - Mobb Deep

59
 22. There They Go - Fort Minor
23. Throne of Redemption - Thomas Rusiak
24. Too Cold - Roots Manuva
25. Version 78 Style - Glen Brown and King Tubby
26. Wanted - Rhymefest
27. Who Shot Ya? - Notorious B.I.G

Wikipedia, Marc Eck's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure,

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Eck%C5%8D%27s_Getting_Up:_Contents_U
nder_Pressure#Official_Mixtape> [accessed 20 April 2007]

Soundtrack listing for Singstar

1. Take On Me - a-ha
2. Just A Little - Liberty X
3. Scandalous - Mis-Teeq
4. I Believe in a Thing Called Love - The Darkness
5. Get The Party Started - P!nk
6. Superstar - Jamelia
7. Ace of Spades - Motrhead
8. Careless Whisper - George Michael
9. Complicated - Avril Lavigne
10. Downtown - Petula Clark
11. Murder on the Dancefloor - Sophie Ellis-Bextor
12. If You're Not the One - Daniel Bedingfield
13. Kung Fu Fighting - Carl Douglas
14. Never Gonna Give You Up - Rick Astley
15. World of Our Own - Westlife
16. Livin' La Vida Loca - Ricky Martin
17. 50/50 - Lemar
18. Like a Virgin - Madonna
19. Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison
20. Don't Stop Movin - S Club
21. Groove is in the Heart - Deee-Lite
22. Round Round - Sugababes
23. Suspicious Minds - Elvis
24. Crashed the Wedding - Busted
25. YMCA - Village People
26. Girls and Boys - Good Charlotte
27. Heart of Glass - Blondie
28. Thank You - Dido
29. Eternal Flame - Atomic Kitten
30. One Love - Blue
31. Ain't No Sunshine - Bill Withers
Wikipedia, SingStar,<
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SingStar#International_track_list> [accessed 20 April
2007]

60
Chapter 4: Video Game Audio Composition: The True Form of
Interactive Composition
Richard Jacques video projects list
1. Amuze, Headhunter: Redemption, (Sega, 2003)
2. Amuze, Headhunter, (Sega, 2001)
3. Bigbig Studios, Pursuit Force, (Sony, 2006)
4. Bizarre Creations, Metropolis Street Racer (Sega, 2000)
5. Eidos Interactive Hungary, Battlestations Midway, (Eidos Interactive,
2007)
6. Ocean, Snow Surfers, (Sega, 1998)
7. Pivital Games, Crossfire, (Eidos Interactive, TBA)
8. Razorworks Studios, Total Immersion Racing, (Empire Interactive,
2002)
9. Secret Project (Sega, TBA)
10. Sega, Baku Baku Animal, (Sega, 1995)
11. Sega, DarXide, (Sega, 1995)
12. Sega, Euro 96, (Sega, 1995)
13. Sega, Sega Rally 2006, (Sega, 2006)
14. Sega, Sega Touring Car, (Sega, 1996)
15. Sega, Sega Worldwide Soccer 97, (Sega, 1996)
16. Sega, Sega Worldwide Soccer 98, (Sega, 1997)
17. Sega, Shinobi X (Sega, 1995)
18. Sega-AM2, Daytona CCE, (Sega, 1993)
19. Sega-AM2, Outrun 2, (Sega,2003)
20. Smilebit, Jet Grind Radio, (Sega, 2000)
21. Smilebit, Jet Set Radio Future, (Sega, 2002)
22. Sonic Team, Samba De Amigo, (Sega, 1999)
23. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, Eight Days, (Sony Computer
Entertainment America, TBA)
24. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, Eye Toy: Play 3, (Sony
Computer Entertainment, 2005)
25. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, Eye Toy: Play Sports, (Sony
Computer Entertainment, 2006)
26. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, SingStar 80s, (Sony
Computer Entertainment, 2005)
27. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, SingStar Legends, (Sony,
2006)
28. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, SingStar Party, (Sony
Computer Entertainment, 2004)
29. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, SingStar, (Sony Computer
Entertainment, 2004)
30. Sony Computer Entertainment Studios London, Eye Toy: Play 2,
(Sony Computer Entertainment, 2004)
31. Strangelite, Starship Troopers (Empire Interactive, 2005)
32. Sumo Digital, Outrun 2006: Coast 2 Coast, (Sega, 2006)

61
 33. Travellers Tails and Sonic Team, Sonic 3D Blast, (Sega, 1996)
34. Travellers Tails and Sonic Team, Sonic R, (Sega, 1997)

Richard Jacques, Selected Credits,

http://www.myspace.com/richardjacquesmusic [accessed 18 April 2007]

Interview with Richard Jacques (27 October 2006)

Norman: How did you become a video game composer?

Richard: Basically being a gamer for a long time. I started playing games
about the age of 6 or 7 years old. Well when I was nine years old I had a
ZX Spectrum Computer and started playing a lot of games on it. That
was my first taste of having a dabble in programming music and some
because the computer was a very accessible for most people to actually
get a sound out and using the basic [programming] language.

In those days I was playing games like sound chip was very basic. 1
channel, some clever programmers were able to get 3 channels. That
was my first real game music as a concept in itself. But at the same time
I started learning the piano at 5. Both my parents were musical, my
father is a composer and a piano teacher and my mother was a piano
and violin teacher so a very musical er

NC: Musical background?

RJ: Yea. So I started on the piano and when I was 7 years old I started
learning the trombone. My Grandfather was in a brass band

NC: So a very solid musical back ground there. So a very J.S. Bach family
[laugh]

RJ: Yes thats right, it was a very kind environment to be in as a child, you
know. A very lucky environment so yea, I was surrounded with music all
the time I heard my father composing and improvising at the piano all
the time. And I suppose I took that for granted and very natural for me
[]

When I was about twelve or thirteen I had a scholarship with Royal

School of Music in London as a junior, which I studied the piano and
trombone again. Playing in orchestras and jazz bands et cetera et
cetera. I did all the national ensembles

During this time I got an Atari ST computer. The Atari 520 which had
built in MIDI ports so it was very easy to connect up keyboards. That

62
 was when I started writing more. I think I actually Ive written my first
piece at 7.

NC: When you started composing where you composing specifically for the
games?

RJ: No, just writing, just composing. The first piece I ever wrote was about
the age of seven or eight, which was a piano duet. I did that by writing
one piece and playing it on a tape recorder and writing the other part. So
very early multi-tracking. So around twelve or thirteen the Atari St got me
in writing music in various styles and that was through a computer and I
was doing a lot of notation on the old notated logic program which came
out. That was a big help in developing compositional style and
influences. Id write tracks in the style of John Zar Zar and then Ill write
tracks in a style of Jazz.

NC: I havent played all the Out Run games but I have played Out Run 2006
for the X-Box, some tracks are, would you say smooth jazz influenced?

RJ: Yea I mean a lot of tracks were influenced by J-pop [Japanese popular
music] wise.

NC: Was that due to Sega or

RJ: Well there were a number of people working on that project. My

involvement in Out Run2 and Out Run 2006 was to re-mix the original
sound track from the original 1986 version, which was very interesting
for me because I remember the day I played the first Out Run game
when I was about fourteen years old in an arcade in Barney in Devon. [I]
remember seeing this shiny cabinet and it was the first time Ive seen on
with stereo speakers. It was the first on or seen which had sampled
drums. The first one I head which had three channel sounds in the
arcade.

NC: Ive played Our Run 2006 in the arcade in Hong Kong. The arcade
scene seems to be dieing and stigmatized.

RJ: Because Sega historically has done a lot of business with Yamaha who
make a lot of sound chips. So youre right about the scene it had died
globally I think. In the UK its been more popular in big cities and sea
side towns. I know that the arcade business even in Japan has dropped
off over the last four [to] five years. Since really the CD-Rom based
consoles started coming onto the market base. The quality went up so
high that you could play Daytona or Sega Rally at home.

NC: So how did you get into the business? Did you just ask Sega?

63
RJ: It was actually during my degree course which was a BA honours
degree, a straight music degree. My majors were performance which I
did on Trombone, music technology and compositional arrangements.
So that was a combined course. Many people would take one but I
wanted to do all three because it was all the things I enjoyed. As a
student I had a Sega Mega drive, and it was at the final year of
University I had presumed that all the music was composed in Japan
because the Japanese console manufactures had dominated the
market, specifically Nintendo and Sega. Even in the student home we
lived in we had a Super Nintendo, a NES, the Mega drive

NC: Wow even the Game gear the big beast?

RJ: Yea exactly and that was just [being] a student so erm..

NC: Wow thats a lot of money,

RJ: No I had two part time jobs to fuel my passion for video games and
music tech[nology]. I even buy equipment even back then [] didnt
have a PC at the time so I wasnt that aware of the development scene
in this country which there was at the time but I didnt really know about
it. And then during my final year it was only about three months before
my degree finished a friend of mine actually saw an advertisement for
Sega who was looking for an in house composer in London, which was
really by chance. They were establishing a new development house in
London.

NC: A new European HQ?

RJ: Yea, but they had always had a sales office and PR here, but never like
a game development set in Europe so it was a bit of a case of right place
right time, but there were over 300 applicants for the job. Two rounds of
interviews, lots of demo tapes and I got the job and started two days
after my degree finished. And I think they said that they liked that I could
write in a lot of styles and having a good ear I find is crucial for this
business because you are often asked to play dance styles

NC: So are you still in-house or a music consultant?

RJ: No! Im totally freelance now. I spent eight years on off composing for
Sega. Ive been a freelance composer for five to six years.

NC: When you were at Sega did they ask you or part of the group in getting
licensed tracks into their music? Because I went to the SCEE
conference they were talking about licenses this and that. It seemed very
complicated.

64
RJ: Yea I work with those guys all the time. Sony is my biggest clients now.
Some times its a personal thing. At the time there werent a lot of
licensed tracks erm it was Wipe Out and games like that kind of
started it. And of course before consoles had CD-Rom drives you
couldnt get licensed tracks anyway. So it was really around 1995 when
PS1[PlayStation] and Saturn came out.

NC: So you are saying that the CD-Rom initiated better music and real
music?

RJ: Yep. In general better quality music, started off like composers like
myself could use a lot more instruments and the music license thing as
well. Definitely due to the CD-Rom.

NC: Second question is what are you inspirations or influences do you have
in composing music for such a new medium?

RJ and NC: [Both laugh]

NC: Do you look back at old video game music?

RJ: No!

NC: No?

RJ: I do with a nostalgic view for personal pleasure, but normally I dont
because its not really applicable. The reason for that is because the
technology was so limited, erm you know the most advanced machine
could only play at the most three monophonic channels of music [at that
time]. So you never going to get big harmonies or

NC: Melody quality. I mean if we listen to Mario or Zelda youll instantly know
it is them. Do you think we are losing this melodic quality?

RJ: I think we are. I think now at the moment there is a shift where people
have forgotten the importance of melody and theme in games and it is a
shame.

NC: One of the case studies Im using is Hitman: Blood money with music
composed by Jesper Kyd. Im not sure yet if he has a theme tune or
melody for Agent 47 but his music seems very stylized for the franchise.

RJ: Yes it is. A lot of his style is actually very much like that. He writes very
dark orchestral, electronic music. And for that reason he had been
chosen to do a lot of those types of projects. In a way its similar with me

65
 being chosen to do a lot of big action projects. So you kinda get typed
cast as a composer or you can be. But flexibility is the key think as a
composer; you know you have to be very adaptable. Going back to your
question, yea dont look at the old game musical influence because it
was from a different time. My influences now as a composer film
music, dance music, rock music, J-Pop[Japanese popular music] and I
suppose due to my musical up bringing I did have a lot of Jazz training
as well because I was interested in that, and even in some ___ you
could hear Jazz harmonies that are defiantly jazz chords in an orchestral
setting and I like to keep things contemporary and sometimes not rely on
influences too much because it doesnt progress you as a composer
especially in this medium were always trying to find something slightly
different to do than the Americans.

NC: Do you feel that when you are composing for a game the producers are
hindering your creativity?

RJ: Yes erm It does depend on the companies. Some companies give me
almost free reign, they kind of say, We want roughly like this, or We
want it to be dark, or Go and do your thing! Some people due to
designers part say, You must sound like Hans Zimmer!

NC: [Laugh]

RJ: You know Ive stopped doing those kind of projects because it doesnt
help anybody, its really lack of experiences by the game designers and
producers. You know its still a very young key stage. You have to think
were in this business now when the film industry would have been in the
1920s, just started with the piano

NC: Nickelodeons

RJ: Exactly. In the grand scheme of things we are at that stage.

NC: Do you think that the comparison of film music and video game music is
justified?

RJ: Yes and no. On the one hand the mediums share a lot of similarities. In
terms of a lot of games have a narrative and characters, cut scenes and
cinematics. But then you wouldnt see Katamari or Locoroco on film. So
considering on the point of music I think yes a lot of people look at game
music being like film music now. And thats a good thing in terms of
recognizing the quality. On the other hand Im always asked to make it
[the game] sound like a big budget Hollywood movie score which I can
do and have done but people dont realise that the average budget like
that is about $3 million dollars. Ill give you a figure off my head. James

66
 Newton Howard who did Signs, $6 million dollars that score cost.
Including his fee, recording And I did a score for 100,000. They
[game designers, producers and companies] have no idea what it costs.
We keep telling them, you know to hire an orchestra will cost a lot of
money because you are dealing with 89 people. You have union rights
as well, the Musician Union, especially if you live in this country. I mean I
record a lot at Abbey road in London, theyre 3000 a day to book a
studio. An engineer would cost you anywhere from 600 to 1500 a day.
You know it does mount up. So weve still fighting to get a bigger budget,
I mean I still have to record in Eastern Europe for some projects its
cheaper that way. But the quality does show. Quality verses cost are
directly linked.

The way the two mediums are very, very different is that film is linear
and games are non-linear and interactive. Therefore a film score will last
90 minutes. A video game may be played for 100 hours or in the cases
of some online games such as World of War Craft you might hear a
piece of music soo many times.

NC: What is your procedure in composing game music?

RJ: The way I create a game score is completely different to how I create a
film score, because it has to interact with what the player does. I use a
lot of techniques by multiple layer stems with big orchestral cues which
you can cross fade between or certain sections that loop whilst other
melodies continue. Things like that to try and mix it up. Whenever the
player does something we have to react to it immediately. We dont
know when thats going to happen.

I mean there are still certain scores I do that are linear based but mainly
tracks. So the Out Run ones are linear track, but when Im doing a big
orchestral score for an action game for example. Im working on one
right now which use a huge data base which we actually made before I
started writing. And in this [game], its a military shooting game called
Cross Fire which Im just working on for Edios and has just been
announced for the spring next year for the 360 and PC.

Now because theres different stages of combat for that. What we

wanted to do, Ive discussed with the designers, so with this specific
project we have an ambient layer of music. We have an encounter
[music], light combat and heavy combat [music]. We cant actually have
four tracks laid out on the disk in a multi-track fashion because of the
technical stuff they are doing with the disk. So Im writing all the cues
separately, but of course they have to interlock. Not necessarily
harmonically but you have to cut from layer four to zero if you want [hand
gesture from high to low] like that within a second. And that has to match

67
 the orchestration, what percussion is happening, if there are any hell
string notes going on. Loads and loads of things we have to think about
from the start. So we have a big table with 4000 lines in it. Basically its
like a look up table. If were in combat situation and were in layer four
which is heavy combat, we want to go to layer two. What bar are we at?
What key are we in? et cetera et cetera. But Im the one who has to
actually make all those fit together. So you have to think everything in
advance.

NC: Would you be helping with the programmers?

RJ: Yes on a project like that Ill be finishing the code myself. Thats the only
way you could work it. With this data base were built a play back engine
into it. Its a very simple one, just for me to test. So once Ive finished
writing the cues, recording and mixing them, I can actually fit them into
the tool in my studio and I could sit there with a small check button and I
could say, Right layer three, layer two, and make sure it all goes
smoothly and transitions work. So before the program even gets out I
know it works.

I mean there are a lot of composers in the game industry that sadly have
no idea of interactivity and theyre not interested in it, and I find that
astounding working in this industry because that is the holy grail of
that[]

The stuff we have to do at the end of the day has to be pre-rendered. It

is always going to be a WAV file or a collection of loops or a collection of
things et cetera et cetera. Its up to the game composer to make
hundreds and hundreds of variations, and different ways how they can fit
together and make multiple ways how they fit together. Repetition is one
of the problems we come across all the time because we know, game
play wise, on average will last you twenty hours plus to play. An
adventure game or an action game title; many of them Ive worked for
have forty to fifty hours of game play! Well were not going to do a big
fifty hour score. Thats budgetary and irresponsibly and take me a good
few years. But what we do, do is try and get bang for buck out of the
score I created. Again on Cross Fire Im on at the moment each main
music cue is about four minutes in length and there are four versions of
that which sound very, very different, but to get more bangs per buck Ive
also done five versions of those four minutes so there is in fact twenty
minutes times four layers of each level of the game. So thats a good
way of getting more bangs for buck in what Im doing. I still make the
deadlines.

68
 Generally I do it. I may tell the programmer how to implement it, if its
very hardcore involving the code because Ive an understand of code
and Ive done a little on its Pre-Max programming []

NC: How did you feel when your music was merely used as background
music? Was it hard to acknowledge?

RJ: Not really at all because in every game therell be very underscore type
cues, there might be some big themes, there might be some action set
pieces, so no Im not pressure about my music as long as it fits the
purpose. When designers came and say to me, Oh we want music here,
here and here and I disagree, Well what is the function of the music
there? I mean if there are two people [characters in a game] talking
about the weather you dont need to score that. If their having a
conversation about the weather and someone comes over and shoots
them youll score that. A lot of designers seem to want music
everywhere but they dont trust the composer. So I often have battles
saying, No we dont need this there! because when you do have music
it highlights it more.

NC: One example of that could be in Call of Duty2 where you are in the thick
of battle you don[t hear no music, just the sound of explosions and your
what notes, but when you near a certain event, say for instance the Axis
soldiers are about to attack your position, you have a scoring of rich
strings.

RJ: Well Michael does it all the time and does it really well. And again if you
look at films like Return of the King from The Lord of the Rings, every
battle has a big music cue apart from the last main battle which has no
music at all. It has the creative affect, artistic license so its up to the
composer and the producers. I take each project on its different merit. In
the shooting game Im working on we have got quite full on intense
music during the gun battles because it does help and it is a shooting
game at the end of the day.

NC: Do you feel that video game music is sneered by other composers and
the media?

RJ: Yea I mean in terms of music and the whole creative art in video games I
think within the last two years there has been quite a big shift. It started
happening around the time with the PlayStation1 and Sega Saturn;
again CD-Rom based consoles, but in the last three to four years youve
got people like Peter Jackson wanting to do games, people who want to
do video game music has colossaled [exploded], its just as competitive
as film business []

69
 From my side Im massively passionate about the industry people look at
it, a lot of composers look at it as a steeping stone to do film business
but they dont take it seriously. Not actually the people youve mentioned
because they are very good composers. But a lot of people do in a way
look down on it that way. I could do a bunch of games and become a
Hollywood film composer! Well, Ive been in the business 15 years; Im
still more focused on this than anything else. With the new technology I
can exploit it especially more. I might do films in the future I dont know
but right now Im only interested in doing most interactive scores you
can. I think the art world have really picked up on games as well. The
quality of visuals are improving, a lot of game companies are using
people from a film background in the art departments; my lead sound
designer, Dominic, hes done sound design for three of the James Bond
films. I brought him in to do games for me because hes very, very good
sound designer. I take care of the interactive side, he just gives me the
sound I want, thats his discipline and I dont expect him to want to learn.
I just want him to make good sounds!

Yea I think the tables are turning. I dont think we are getting looked
down too badly now. The government has finally realised that there are a
hell a lot of creative talent in this country. Whether you like GTA or not
its a great game and made by a great company and its a very big
success; made a lot of money. It is a very creative industry; I think we
are jut scratching the surface of what we can do. In the past two to three
years theres been a lot of sequels, hell of a lot of World War 2 shooters,
I mean if you get a game like Locoroco or Katamari its genius. There
should be more games like that.

NC: Is there a big cultural split between Western and Eastern video game
music?

RJ: Part of the problem is that in the past two to three years is that Western
game companies, primarily American and European, they seem to want
to make games based on real life. Whether its in the past like a WWII
shooting game or in the present like GTA. Where is in Japan, you know,
I love playing games with a purple guy with big horns flying around the
world with the world scenery coming from the top. You cant do that in
real life, its pure escapism. I think thats why puzzle games have had a
resurgence with things like Luminies and that. Whereas, I had an
interesting discussion with a programmer from Sony about how they
spent so long making this piece of code to represent the sun coming
through the windows, not realising in films all they do is that they have a
set with massive lights outside. So the shadows wont be right either. I
mean culturally, obviously, I know the Japanese market very well. Ive
spent a lot of time there and worked on projects just for that market []
so there is a cultural divide, but I wish that Western companies would be

70
 a bit more creative and in a way take more risks. The Japanese are
never really afraid of take risks. I mean look at that tank game with that
massive controller. That controller is about 150, but I dont know how
many buttons its got on it they are never really afraid to take risks, I
mean stuff like Papa Rapa and all that could have been a massive flop.

NC: Do you think their [Japanese] music is more experimental than Western
composers or not? Or is it because its targeted for a Japanese market
full of J-Pop so as Western gamers we dont fully understand it and find
it experimental?

RJ: Wed find it experimental as Western audience, but as soon as you go to

Japan its everywhere. I mean like Jet Set Radio I worked on, Space
Channel Five, as soon as you go to the centre of Tokyo thats how life is
over there. Its mad, its crazy, and there are loads of cartoon cut
characters, all the manga art work. I think the Japanese market helps us
to think what game music could be and where it could go. I mean Im a
big fan of, one series of games, which I think is experimental, is Panda
Dragoon [] its quite experimental and the Japanese influences in
terms of harmonies, pentatonic things like that. Very contemporary. Its
quite strange, brilliant music; Shadow of Colossus as well. Great score,
which I knew a Western composer didnt do.

NC: Do you feel that your structures a limited and if so why? Is there any limit
to how long the piece is?

RJ: It can be limited. For certain technological reasons Im not allowed to put
in time signature changes or tempo changes. Sometimes it has to be
very strict all the way through and making it loop. The reasons for that is
that we need to know exactly which bar were on, which beat were on all
within the code so we can switch. Stuff like cut scenes you can do what
you like with. Im trying to break some of the barriers with some of the
stuff Im doing at the moment. And it has to involve a lot of programmers
help because I want to creatively change key, tempo, time signature
whenever I want or whenever I think is appropriate for the game. So
technology can limit that. Also your music has to be looping which can
be a little bit frustrating. In general things are improving. As technology
gets better, the relationship between composers and audio programmers
seem to get closer. A more experience interactive composer shouldnt
be that limited. Therell always be some restrictions because its not like
writing a piece of concert music.

NC: Do you think you work is to only enhance the atmosphere or are there
more psychological aspects of this?

RJ: It varies.

71
NC: I was writing some notes yesterday about comparing video game music
to Ancient Greek tragedies and /or French Opera where you have music
there to convey abstract emotions.

RJ: Absolutely, it comes to all of those things. It really depends on the game
and what is involved in the game. What the storyline is, what the
characters are doing? Ive written projects where Ive hinted at an
underline theme all the way through the game but you dont really notice
it until the end. I dont feel restricted in that way, some times its to
enhance atmosphere, sometimes for emotional affect. Ive done games
where it had some sad moments and someone dies and you have a
lovely beautiful melody or Ive done pretty horror, horrific music, very
twisted music to give a sense of unnerving. Yea the skys the limit with
that. Ive never felt limited in that respect at all and my music will back
whatever is needed; whether its a big theme or a very minimal one. I do
silence quite well as well.

[Both laugh]

NC: Do you see in the future that game music will be considered as
academically sound like certain film music has? Or do you feel that its
quite far away?

RJ: I dont think its that far away. Film has become quite stale in the last five
years, especially in the big Hollywood genre, starting to sound the same
[] I think because of the technology involved in games I think the sort
of academia will look on it. Theres always big questions about should
we look towards alga rhythmic compositions. At the end of the day a
computer can play chess but it cant compose a symphony on its own.
Even if it had a pre-set of rules, I dont believe well go down that road.
Theres no human input. He beauty of interactive composition is the
perfect marriage of the human writing the music and the computer and
technology allowing us to do very complex things which you cant do in
film or TV. To interact with the game so closely Ive been approached
to do some teaching at the Royal academy in London so if thats the
ultimate accolade

NC: DO you ever feel like you are lowing down your music for commercial
success?

RJ: No, not really. Again it depends on the game. For example when I was
working on Jet Set Radio and jet Set Radio Future, both of those were
very carefully stylized. Originally from the artwork which was very manga
influenced and graffiti influenced and its done with Shell-shading, it was
the first game to use Shell-shading. The sound track; parts of the sound

72
 track were done by a colleague of mine and it was very clear and I
understood what it had to be and I just had to write some more tracks. I
wouldnt have gone on in a tangent for that game, it wouldnt be
appropriate. But now, there are a lot of composers now, myself included,
who are not afraid to write a really atonal score if it fits with the game. I
mean some film music, Jeremy Gold was a master of that, and some of
his film scores were very atonal and not very accessible and the public
doesnt really notice. I mean look at Tron [Wendy Carlos] has a fantastic
score, very strange score, very minimal, very alien, and very
experimental at the time Great movie as well.

I dont expect people to go out and buy a score that I written if its if I
dont think it was particularly successful, I think that will determine if it is
a piece of work in its own right. In that sense, I wouldnt change what I
write for the game. I write for the game. If the game requires cheesy pop
music Ill write cheesy pop music. But if it is at really way out atonal
music and it works for the game Ill do that. But I wont expect people to
go out and buy it.

NC: Do you think there is an evolution from 8-bit sound to now? Is there a
ling with technology?

RJ: Yea, its interesting theres not that many composers that have made a
successful transition from the 8-bit days into the modern world of
orchestral music for example. Theres only a few and the reason is they
were always great musicians and were classically trained or what ever
when they were doing 8-bit tunes. There are some people who believe
we should be still doing 8- bit chip music, but come on thats technology.
You cant stop the pace of technology and I love 8-bit music. Im a good
friend of Tim Collins and I love the many games he worked on and he is
an awesome musician. The whole style of game music has changed. I
would say that 8-bit even 16-bit game music you could easily define. If
you place 5 people in a room and they can say thats game music and
thats not. Now you cant really tell, which I think is an interesting
concept.

NC: Do you think theres cross fertilization between video game and film
music?

RJ: Yea mainly in terms of production values and also some stylistic things
youll find.

NC: You did the Stella Advert and some independent films, would you take
off your television cap and put your game music hat on or is it all three
combined?

73
RJ: Its kinda all in one really. Stylistically theres no difference if Im writing a
piece of dance music for a game or TV show, apart from the way it is
constructed and the things Ive talked about interactivity. I wouldnt try
and write a piece of action orchestration different in the stylistic way[]
My first project was on the 32X chip on the Saturn and that sounds very
different to what I write now so technology has changed things.

NC: So has technology influenced you has a composer?

RJ: Yea sure. I mean having the medium to have orchestras, singers and
jazz bands that just opened the flood gates.

Chapter 4: A critical analysis of Christopher Tins Baba Yetu:

The use of menu music
Sid Meires Civilization 4 technologies

Agriculture Alphabet Animal Archery Artillery

Husbandry

Assembly Astronomy Banking Biology Bronze

Line Working

Calendar Chemistry Civil Service Code of Laws Combustion

Communism Compass Composites Computers Constitution

74
Construction Corporation Currency Democracy Divine Right

Drama Ecology Economics Education Electricity

Engineering Fascism Feudalism Fiber Optics Fishing

Fission Flight Fusion Future Tech Genetics

Guilds Gunpowder Horseback Hunting Industrialism

Riding

Iron Working Liberalism Literature Machinery Masonry

Mass Media Mathematics Medicine Meditation Metal Casting

75
 Military Mining Monarchy Monotheism Music
Tradition

Mysticism Nationalism Optics Paper Philosophy

Physics Plastics Polytheism Pottery Priesthood

Printing Press Radio Railroad Refrigeration Replaceable

Parts

Rifling Robotics Rocketry Sailing Satellites

Scientific Steam Power Steel The Wheel Theology

Method

Writing

76
Civ fanatics.com, Civilization IV Fanatics Center: Civ4 Technologies,
http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/info/techs/ [accessed 18 April]

Sid Meires Civilization sound track

Music in Civilization IV
Other
Title Artist/Composer
Information
Coronation Christopher Tin Theme song
Baba Yetu Christopher Tin Menu music
Marines' Hymn Roosevelt's theme
La Marseillaise Napoleon's theme
Harpsichord Sonata K.380 "The Hunt" Domenico Scarlatti Louis XIV's theme
Sakura Tokugawa's theme
Johann Sebastian
The fourth of the Goldberg Variations Frederick's theme
Bach
Second movement of Beethoven's Ludwig van
Bismarck's theme
Symphony No. 3 Beethoven
Peter the Great's
The Volga Boatmen's Song Mily Balakirev
theme
Jean-Joseph
Fanfare-Rondeau Elizabeth's theme
Mouret
Rule Britannia Thomas Arne Victoria's theme
"Medieval Age"
Miserere Gregorio Allegri
background music
"Medieval Age"
Ay Santa Maria Anonymous
background music
"Medieval Age"
La Gamba Anonymous
background music
"Medieval Age"
Gloria Antoine Brumel
background music
"Medieval Age"
Deus Chant
background music
"Medieval Age"
Laudate Chant
background music
"Medieval Age"
Regen Chant
background music

77
 Francisco de la "Medieval Age"
Alta
Torre background music
"Medieval Age"
El Grillo Josquin Des Prez
background music
Lamentatio super morte Josquin des "Medieval Age"
Jheronimus Vinders
Pres background music
"Medieval Age"
Alma Redemptoris Mater Orlande de Lassus
background music
Johannes "Medieval Age"
Intemerata
Ockeghem background music
Johannes "Medieval Age"
Kyrie
Ockeghem background music
"Medieval Age"
Recercada Diego Ortiz
background music
Giovanni Pierluigi "Medieval Age"
Missa Papae Marcelli: II. Gloria
da Palestrina background music
Giovanni Pierluigi "Medieval Age"
Missa Papae Marcelli: III. Credo
da Palestrina background music
"Medieval Age"
Ballet Praetorius
background music
"Medieval Age"
Bransle Praetorius
background music
"Medieval Age"
Volte Praetorius
background music
"Medieval Age"
Media Vita John Sheppard
background music
"Renaissance
Hail! Bright Cecilia: Thou Tun'st This
Henry Purcell Age" background
World Below
music
"Renaissance
Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F Johann Sebastian
Age" background
Major, BWV 1047: III. Allegro assai Bach
music
"Renaissance
Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Johann Sebastian
Age" background
Major, BWV 1048: I. Allegro Bach
music
"Renaissance
Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G Johann Sebastian
Age" background
Major, BWV 1049: I. Allegro Bach
music
Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in B-Flat Johann Sebastian "Renaissance
Major, BWV 1051: I. Allegro Bach Age" background

78
 music
"Renaissance
Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in B-Flat Johann Sebastian
Age" background
Major, BWV 1051: III. Allegro Bach
music
"Renaissance
Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV Johann Sebastian
Age" background
1007: II. Allemande Bach
music
"Renaissance
Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV Johann Sebastian
Age" background
1007: IV. Sarabande Bach
music
"Renaissance
Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV Johann Sebastian
Age" background
1007: V. Menuet I and II Bach
music
"Renaissance
Cello Suite No. 4 in E-Flat Major, BWV Johann Sebastian
Age" background
1010: V. Bouree I and II Bach
music
"Renaissance
Cello Suite No. 5 in C minor, BWV Johann Sebastian
Age" background
1011: VI. Gigue Bach
music
"Renaissance
Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor, Johann Sebastian
Age" background
BWV 1043: II. Largo ma non tanto Bach
music
"Renaissance
Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor, Johann Sebastian
Age" background
BWV 1043: III. Allegro Bach
music
"Renaissance
Violin Concerto in A Minor, BWV 1041: Johann Sebastian
Age" background
III. Allegro assai Bach
music
"Renaissance
Romance No. 1 for Violin and Ludwig van
Age" background
Orchestra in G Major, Op. 40 Beethoven
music
"Renaissance
Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21: II. Ludwig van
Age" background
Andante Cantabile Con Moto Beethoven
music
"Renaissance
Symphony No. 8 in F Major, Op. 93: II. Ludwig van
Age" background
Allegretto scherzando Beethoven
music
"Renaissance
Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, K. Wolfgang Amadeus
Age" background
466: II. Romance Mozart
music
Serenade No. 10 in B-flat Major, K. 361 Wolfgang Amadeus "Renaissance

79
- "Gran Partita": III. Adagio Mozart Age" background
music
"Renaissance
Symphony No. 41 in C, K. 551 - Wolfgang Amadeus
Age" background
"Jupiter": II. Andante Cantabile Mozart
music
Symphony No. 5 in C Major, Op. 67: II. Ludwig van "Industrial Age"
Andante con moto Beethoven background music
Symphony No. 6 in F Major "Pastoral",
Op. 68: I. Awakening of Cheerful Ludwig van "Industrial Age"
Feelings Upon Arrival in the Country, Beethoven background music
Allegro Ma Non Troppo
Symphony No. 6 in F Major "Pastoral",
Ludwig van "Industrial Age"
Op. 68: II. Scene by the Brook,
Beethoven background music
Andante Molto Mosso
"Industrial Age"
Hungarian Dance No. 1 in G Minor Johannes Brahms
background music
"Industrial Age"
Hungarian Dance No. 16 in F Minor Johannes Brahms
background music
"Industrial Age"
Hungarian Dance No. 3 in F Major Johannes Brahms
background music
Symphony No. 3 in F Major, Op. 90. II. "Industrial Age"
Johannes Brahms
Andante background music
Symphony No. 3 in F Major, Op. 90: III. "Industrial Age"
Johannes Brahms
Poco Allegretto background music
Slavonic Dances, Op. 46, B 78: No. 3 in "Industrial Age"
Antonn Dvok
D Major background music
Slavonic Dances, Op. 46, B 78: No. 7 in "Industrial Age"
Antonn Dvok
C Minor background music
Slavonic Dances, Op. 72, B 145: No. "Industrial Age"
Antonn Dvok
10 in E Minor background music
Slavonic Dances, Op. 72, B 145: No. "Industrial Age"
Antonn Dvok
12 in D Flat Major background music
Suite in A Major - "American", Op. 98b "Industrial Age"
Antonn Dvok
(B190): I. Andante con moto background music
Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, Op. 95 "Industrial Age"
Antonn Dvok
"From the New World": II. Largo background music
Scheherezade, Op. 35: III. The Young Nikolai Rimsky- "Industrial Age"
Prince and the Young Princess Korsakov background music
Cello Concert No. 1 II: Allegretto con "Industrial Age"
Camille Saint-Sans
moto background music

80
 John Coolidge "Modern Age"
Christian Zeal and Activity
Adams background music
John Coolidge "Modern Age"
Common Tones in Simple Time
Adams background music
John Coolidge "Modern Age"
Grand Pianola Music: Part IA
Adams background music
John Coolidge "Modern Age"
Grand Pianola Music: Part IB
Adams background music
John Coolidge "Modern Age"
Harmonielehre: Part I
Adams background music
Harmonielehre: Part II. The Anfortas John Coolidge "Modern Age"
Wound Adams background music
Harmonielehre: Part III. Meister John Coolidge "Modern Age"
Eckhardt and Quackie Adams background music
Shaker Loops: I. Shaking And John Coolidge "Modern Age"
Trembling Adams background music
John Coolidge "Modern Age"
Shaker Loops: II. Hymning Slews
Adams background music
John Coolidge "Modern Age"
Shaker Loops: III. Loops And Verses
Adams background music
The Chairman Dances: Foxtrot for John Coolidge "Modern Age"
Orchestra Adams background music
John Coolidge "Modern Age"
The People Are The Heroes Now
Adams background music
John Coolidge "Modern Age"
Two Fanfares: Tromba Lontana
Adams background music
"Chinese
The White-Haired Woman unknown Unification" theme
music
Violin Concerto: II. Chaconne: Body John Coolidge "Modern Age"
Through Which The Dream Flows Adams background music
Wikiepedia, Music in Civ4, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_in_Civilization_IV
[accessed 18 April 2007]

E-mail correspondence with Christopher Tin (August November

2006)
Norman: What is your procedure in composing video game music?

Christopher: My procedure for composing the theme and opening movie music
for Civilization IV were largely similar to the process of scoring films

81
 in that I was given a rough approximation of the footage first, and
then told to write the music to it. As this was my first job writing a
game score, however, there were some elements of the process
that caught me off guard. For example, I'd never worked to rough
CG renderings before, and when I received the rough output of the
opening movie, all the characters in the coronation scene were
standing still. In retrospect I realize that this was because the
motion simply hadn't been added to the scene yet, but at the time I
thought that the figures were standing in a moment of solemnity,
and so I wrote solemn music for the actual crowning. As it turns out
later on, they wanted a sense of hustle and bustle in the crowd.

NC: Do you feel that structurally your pieces are limited? If so why? Is
there a limit to how long a piece of music is needed inside a
game?

CT: Yes, but no more so than in film music. I actually found that I was
given a little more freedom for my pieces in Civilization IV, for
example, particularly the menu theme, Baba Yetu. In this particular
case, the music takes place over a still shot of the earth as seen
from outer space; every once in awhile, the sun rises over the
horizon in regular intervals. I wanted certain swells in the music to
take place precisely when the sun rose over the horizon, which
meant that my music had to have a perfectly regular 'square'
structure; in this case, sunrises every 16 bars. As for the issues like
tempo, however, the programmers were very adaptable, and told
me that they would be happy to work around whatever intervallic
timing I wanted to give them; so thus, I was free to write a piece at
whatever tempo I wanted, and they would make the speed of the
visuals map it.

There are other ways in which writing video game music is actually
liberating compositionally; for example, the same phenomenon
happens in video games as in animation, where the sound world
created is a completely controlled, artificially built sonic landscape.
With live action film, a lot of location recording happens that
introduces white noise, imperfect recordings of dialogue, etc, that
will ultimately cause your music to lose prominence in the mix.
While video games are traditionally very loud (especially action-
based ones), it's still a controlled environment. Likewise, the type of
video game you're writing music for affects what you can get away
with; a strategy game such as Civilization IV has a more sparse
sonic landscape which allows your music to breathe more.

NC: Do you ever feel like you are 'lowering' down your music so that it is
more accessible for the audience or do you feel liberated due to the

82
 fact that many gamers would not even think twice about the music
and so you can experiment with the music?

CT: In this case, I felt quite the opposite of being forced to 'lower down';
being given the chance to write the title theme to one of the most
anticipated PC games of all time gave me a chance to put on my
pedagogical (?) hat and write music that I thought was intelligent,
and might open up a few people's minds. Musical audiences are a
lot more adaptable than most people give them credit for, especially
when the music is being written for a film, video game, commercial,
etc. People who are ordinarily only fans of X and Y genres of music
are suddenly a lot more lenient towards Z when it's accompanying
a visual. In the case of Baba Yetu, I think that few people would
have said that they were fans of Swahili translations of Christian
prayers, accompanied by orchestra prior to listening to the song.

On a side note, despite a lot of the conjecture on the internet, the

choice to use the Baba Yetu text boiled down to a simple case of
what was easiest to accomplish in a short amount of time. I needed
a foreign text; Talisman had already sung a different version of
Baba Yetu, and were already familiar with the words. And so it
became a simple matter of me adapting a translation to suit my
needs (admittedly I made a few mistakes). Likewise, there was no
over-riding religious motivation in this case; I myself am not
religious, although I find religion interesting from an academic and
historical standpoint.

Soren Johnson, the game's lead designer, had a similar approach

in picking the background music that they licensed for the in-game
background music. Soren actually asked me for some advice as to
what to listen to when making selections, as he wanted the music
to reflect the breadth of the classical canon, from Gregorian
plainchant to minimalism--not that he needed much help, as he's
extremely knowledgeable about music himself, having played the
cello and being a DJ back in college. It's just a guess on my part,
but part of his motivation for doing so may have been educating
gamers on the history of Western music; much the way that the
game itself is a cultural anthology primer of sorts.

NC: What do you think you are doing as a composer of Video game
music? Do you feel that your work is to only enhance the
atmosphere or are there more psychological aspects to this?

CT: In an ideal world, you want to enhance the atmosphere of the world
that you're playing in; but you also want to help tell a story. Video
game music works in the same way that film music does, in that it

83
 often signals a shift in mood; perhaps warning that danger is near,
or that the end of a level/scene is at hand. Once these basic
housekeeping tasks are taken care of, there are higher goals that
one can aim for (although in all practicality, with lack of budgets,
time, and creative constraints, you often don't get the chance to do
much more than what's absolutely necessary, whether in films,
commercials or video games). One can seek to educate, for
example (as per my previous response). I myself have discovered a
whole new world of music in J-Pop (Japanese pop music) through
playing the Katamari Damacy ames.

NC: What are your inspirations or influences do you have towards

composing music for such a new medium? Do you look back at old
video game music or film scores?

CT: On one hand, the craft of writing game music is no different than
writing music for anything else. You still adhere to the qualities that
make music good: balance, movement, counterpoint, etc. In this
regard, one is influenced by the same sources as in composing for
films and the concert hall; in my case, those influences would be
Mahler, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, John Williams, and my mentor Joel
McNeely.

On the other hand, the interactivity of game music is a new element

that demands a new aesthetic treatment--I'm not the best person to
talk about this, however, having never written true 'interactive'
music.

However, I would not look back on old vintage video game scores
too long; those scores were written when the technology was
radically different, and the paradigm of scoring for games was in its
infancy. On one hand, they were extremely limited in the sounds
that they could produce, and so the music written for them was very
different than what's being written today; however, on the other
hand those limitations led to an emphasis on core musical qualities-
-mainly melody--that actually caused them to benefit in the long
run. Nowadays, when we listen to the themes from Super Mario
Bros. or The Legend of Zelda, we're filled with nostalgia: both
because their sonic qualities hearken back to the time of
synthesized 8-bit sound of our childhoods, but also because the
melodies themselves were so indelible.

NC: Do you think the comparison of video game music and film music
will be considered as academically justified?

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CT: Ultimately, both branches of research will be considered
academically justified...but not for a long, long time. Having done
some film music academic research myself, I think it's quite clear
that any scholarship in such a nascent art form will not be taken
seriously by most scholars (and even in film, which is barely a
century old, is still nascent in comparison to painting, which found
its birth at the dawn of civilization at the Lascaux (sp?) sites).

The comparison is valid, though, in that video game music draws

from its sources the same talent that film composers draw from. In
the early days of film scoring, concert composers were the ones
who had the most prolific careers (Korngold, Steiner, etc.)--and as
such, analysis of film music was largely the same as analysis of
Romantic concert music (allowing for a few variations due to the
specifics and idiosyncrasies of writing to picture). Nevertheless, film
music scholarship took as its basis classical music scholarship.

In much the same way, video game music scholarship would seem
to be a natural progression from film music scholarship, largely
because the same composers who write for film also write for video
games. But as film music scholarship itself is still in its infancy,
video game scholarship has much less of a foundation to draw
from. And despite the best efforts of concerts like the Video Games
Live shows, video game music is even more distant from concert
music.

The books are largely unwritten as to both forms of scholarship,

particularly video game scholarship. But while the parameters of
scholarship for the aspects of game scoring that are still new to
composers and new to the world (interactivity, technical limitations,
etc.) have yet to be set, game music can still be analyzed like any
other form of music: based on its inherent musical qualities.

NC: I've come to realise that there is a cultural split between West and
Eastern cultures towards Video Games and its music. Being
American Born Chinese do you see these cultural differences too
and what do you think are the sole differences?

CT: I have nothing but the highest regard for Japanese game
composers, and I think that the scores that they write for their
games are in many ways ahead of what we're writing here in
America. I think you have only to go to one of the Video Games
Live concerts (there's one in November in London, in fact, that I'll
probably be attending, as they'll be performing Baba Yetu) to see
what I'm talking about. The breadth of styles of music from all the
Japanese game scores (Mario, Sonic, Zelda) completely

85
 overshadow those of the American games--and I say that with all
due respect to my American colleagues. Part of that has to do with
the difference in games that Japanese companies turn out, as
opposed to those that Americans turn out. To generalize, Japanese
games tend to take more abstract routes to the notion of 'fun'.
Katamari Damacy, for example, which has one of my favorite
soundtracks of all time, is a very unusual premise for a game--you
roll a sticky ball around and pick up objects. It's pure fun, yet it's
completely unlike anything that any American studios turn out.

On the whole, I'm very impressed with the way that the Japanese
think outside the box, not only in terms of their music and their
games, but also their consoles. The Nintendo Wii and the DS are
two of the most creative platforms out there; we'll see how well the
American market does with them.

NC: In your title score Baba Yetu, it seems that it begins simplistically
and increases complexity towards Bb 39/40; does this adhere to
the Civ4 game play of organic growth?

CT: Yes, but not as a conscious choice. The essence of musical form is
a progression from simplicity, to complexity, often back to simplicity
again. Take the sonata form, for example: the classic exposition-
development-recapitulation form is the essence of much of western
music, and while Baba Yetu is not a sonata, it still adheres to a lot
of the principles. (Including having the second iteration of the theme
coming in the dominant key.)

I would argue that most narrative art follows a similar sort of

progression. It is that simple archetype of simplicity-progressing
towards complexity that forms the basis for much of western drama.
And when you take a look at video games, which often have an
open- ended structure, it becomes even more important to adhere
to those principles in order to create a compelling story. Every
video game has a classic progression from easy to hard, simple to
complex....it's how you keep the player engaged.

NC: You use a lot of African compositional techniques such as call and
response, open 5ths and octaves. You also use a large arrange of
African percussion and not to mention the Swahili text, what made
you choose African music instead of Ancient Chinese music to
portray the advancement of civilization?

CT: I have a fair bit of familiarity with African music, having been the
music director of Talisman A Cappella, and having visited Northern
Africa and South Africa on separate occasions. There were a

86
 number of reasons: for one thing, the opening screen is a shot of
the Mediterranean and Northern Africa. African music is a lot more
accessible to Western ears because much of Western pop music is
based on blues music, which in turn is based on African music. The
techniques that you mentioned: call and response, homophonic
chorale writing... they are all very familiar to Western ears.

Asian music, on the other hand, is an aesthetic that is pretty far

removed from what Westerners are used to hearing. Likewise with
Indian and Middle Eastern music....the scales and structures are
very foreign to Westerners, and a lot of techniques used in Western
music (like modulation) aren't found in them. As you may be able to
tell from Baba Yetu, I'm a big fan of modulation.

NC: I have also concluded that both pieces are based on this germ,
however I wanted to ask you why you choose this as a building
block for your pieces? Has it got anything to do with the Shona
bichord sequence found in Tanzanian music? Also is Baba Yetu
loosely based on Misa Baba Yetu composed by Stephan M Bunga
in 1959?

CT: Yes, that four-note motif was originally my idea for a recurring motif
throughout the score, and so I incorporated it as much as possible
into the two opening pieces. Also, as the Intro Movie is meant to
lead into Baba Yetu, I used that motif as a linking structure, and
placed them in the same key, so that the pieces would flow one into
the other. And as for the Shona bichord, I have no idea what that is.
Nor have I ever heard Mr. Bunga's setting of Missa Baba Yetu
(there are lots of Baba Yetu's out there, I believe).

NC: Oh and by the way I did notice that you love modulating, especially
when wanting to increase tension towards your climax in Bb.38. Bb.
31 - 38 are giving me a headache, I'm trying to figure out if you are
using the Shona bichord sequence or the mbaqanga sequence,
and with my limited knowledge I think I might just be making it too
complicated than it should be.

CT: No, I really don't know what the bichord sequence or the mbaqanga
sequence are....I think you're making this a little too hard on
yourself

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Baba Yetu Score

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Chapter 5: Popular Music Defining an Era: A Critical Analysis of
Rockstar Norths Grand Theft Auto Vice City and San Andreas
use of Popular Music
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Official Soundtrack Box Set117

Disc 1: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City OST Volume 1: V-Rock

1. DJ Lazlow Intro Various Artists

2. You've Got Another Thing Comin Judas Priest
3. Too Young to Fall in Love Mtley Cre
4. Peace Sells - Megadeath
5. Dangerous Bastard Roackstars Love Fist
6. Turn Up The Radio - Autograph
7. DJ Lazlow Halftime Various Artists
8. I Wanna Rock Twisted Sister
9. Bark at the Moon Ozzy Osbourne
10. Madhouse - Anthrax
11. 2 Minutes to Midnight Iron Maiden
12. Raining Blood - Slayer
13. Cumin' Atcha Live - Tesla
14. Yankee Rose David Lee Roth
15. Cum on Feel the Noize Quiet Riot
16. DJ Lazlow Outro Various Artists
17. Exploder Various Artists
18. Thor Various Artists

Disc 2: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City OST Volume 2: Wave 103

1. DJ Adam First Intro Various Artists

2. Two Tribes Frankie Goes to Hollywood
3. Pale Shelter Tears of Fears
4. Kids In America Kim Wilde
5. Atomic - Blondie
6. I Ran (So Far Away) A Flock of Seagulls
7. (Keep Feeling) Fascination The Human League
8. DJ Adam First Halftime Various Artists
9. 99 Luftballons - Nena
10. Love My Way The Psychedelic Furs
11. Gold Spandau Ballet
12. Hyperactive! Thomas Dolby
13. Never Say Never Romeo Void
14. Sunglasses At Night Corey Hart
15. DJ Adam First Outro Various Artists

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Epic Records, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Official Soundtrack Box Set, (Sony, 2002)

100
16. Sissy Spritz Various Artists
17. Synth and Son Various Artists

Disc 3: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City OST Volume 3: Emotion 98.3

1. DJ Fernando Intro Various Artists

2. Africa - Toto
3. Crockett's Theme Jan Hammer
4. Missing You John Waite
5. (I Just) Died In Your Arms Cutting Crew
6. Waiting For A Girl Like You Foreigner
7. Broken Wings Mr. Mister
8. DJ Fernando Half Time Various Artists
9. More Than This Roxy Music
10. Tempted - Squeeze
11. Keep On Loving You REO Speedwagon
12. Sister Christian Night Ranger
13. Never Too Much Luther Vandross
14. Wow Kate Bush
15. DJ Fernando Outro Various Artists
16. Knife After Dark Various Artists
17. Petstuffers Various Artists

Disc 4: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City OST Volume 4: Flash FM

1. DJ Toni Introduction Various Artists

2. Out Of Touch Hall & Oates
3. Four Little Diamonds Electric Light Orchestra
4. Billie Jean Michael Jackson
5. Your Love The Outfield
6. Life's What You Make It Talk Talk
7. Run To You Bryan Adams
8. Dance Hall Days Wang Chung
9. DJ Toni Mid Party Announcement Various Artists
10. Call Me Go West
11. Running With The Night Lionel Richie
12. Self Control Laura Branigan
13. Kiss the Dirt - INIXS
14. Owner Of A Lonely Heart Yes
15. DJ Toni Outro Various Artists
16. Blox Radio Commercial Various Artists
17. Just The Five Of Us Various Artists

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Disc 5: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City OST Volume 5: Wildstyle Pirate
Radio

1. Wildstyle DJ Intro Various Artists

2. Rockit Herbie Hancock
3. The Message Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
4. More Bounce To The Ounce Zapp & Roger
5. Wildstyle DJ Mr Magic Various Artists
6. One For The Treble (Vocal Mix) Davy DMX
7. Bassline - Mantronix
8. Wildstyle DJ Halftime Various Artists
9. Hip Hop Bee Bop (Don't Stop) Man Parrish
10. Al-Naafiysh (The Soul) - Hashim
11. Clear Cybotron
12. Wildstyle DJ 3rd Quarter Various Artists
13. Looking For The Perfect Beat Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force
14. Wildstyle DJ Mr Magic Premier
15. Rock Box Run-DMC
16. The Breaks Kurtis Blow
17. Wildstyle DJ Mr Magic Super Blast Various Artists
18. Magic's Wand - Whodini
19. Wildstyle Dj Outro Various Artists
20. Degeneration Various Artists
21. Maibatsu Thunder Various Artists

Disc 6: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City OST Volume 6: Fever 105

1. DJ Oliver Ladykiller Biscuit Introduction Various Artists

2. Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' - Michael Jackson
3. Automatic (Extended Version) - The Pointer Sisters
4. Act Like You Know - Fat Larry's Band
5. Juicy Fruit - Mtume
6. Behind The Groove - Teena Marie
7. DJ Oliver Ladykiller Biscuit Halftime - Various Artists
8. Get Down Saturday Night - Oliver Cheatham
9. Ghetto Life - Rick James
10. Shame - Evelyne "Champagne" King
11. All Night Long - Mary Jane Girls
12. Summer Madness - Kool & The Gang
13. I'll Be Good - Various, Angela Winbush, Rene Moore
14. And The Beat Goes On - Whispers
15. Dj Oliver Ladykiller Biscuit Outro - Various Artists
16. Salivex - Various Artists
17. Yuppie and the Alien - Various Artists

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Disc 7: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City OST Volume 7: Radio Espantoso

1. Pepe Introduction - Various Artists

2. Super Strut - Deodato
3. A Gozar Con Mi Combo - Cachao
4. Me And You Baby (Picao Y Tostao) - Mongo Santamaria
5. Mambo Mucho Mambo - Machito & His Afro-Cuban Orchestra
6. Jamay - Xavier Cugat & His Orchestra
7. Pepe Intermission - Various Artists
8. Mama Papa Tu - Mongo Santamaria
9. La Vida es Una Lenteia - Unaesta
10. Expansions - Lonnie Liston Smith
11. Aguanile - Irakere
12. Maracaibo Oriental - Beny Mor
13. Latin Flute - Deodato
14. Mambo Gozn - Tito Puente
15. Pepe Outro - Various Artists
16. Fernando's Medallion Ad - Various Artists
17. Think Your Way To Success - Various Artists

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Official Soundtrack Box Set118

Disc 1: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas OST Volume 1: Bounce FM

1. Bounce FM Intro - Various Artists

2. Hollywood Swingin' - Kool & The Gang
3. Cold Blooded - Rick James
4. You Dropped a Bomb on Me - The Gap Band
5. Candy - Cameo
6. West Coast Poplock - Ronnie Hudson
7. You're on Bounce FM - Various Artists
8. I Can Make You Dance - Zapp
9. Let It Whip - Dazz Band
10. Running Away - Roy Ayers
11. Funky Worm - Ohio Players
12. Twilight - Maze
13. That Was Bounce FM - Various Artists
14. Glory Hole Theme Park: Fun With Strangers - Various Artists
15. Eris Pump Up Shoes - Various Artists

Disc 2: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas OST Volume 2: Playback

FM/Radio Los Santos

1. Playback FM Intro - Various Artists

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Greffen, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Official Soundtrack Box Set, (Interscope Records, 2004)

103
2. Rebel Without a Pause - Public Enemy
3. Brand Nubian - Brand Nubian
4. Children's Story - Slick Rick
5. You're on Playback FM - Various Artists
6. I Know You Got Soul - Eric B. & Rakim
7. It Takes Two - Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock
8. La Raza - Kid Frost
9. That Was Playback FM - Various Artists
10. It's Funky Enough - The D.O.C.
11. Guerillas In Tha Mist - Da Lench Mob
12. Hood Took Me Under - Compton's Most Wanted
13. How I Could Just Kill a Man - Cypress Hill
14. I Don't Give a F**k - 2Pac
15. Ice Diamonds - Various Artists
16. Commando Pest Eradication - Various Artists

Disc 3: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas OST Volume 3: Master

Sounds 98.3

1. Mastersounds 98.3 Intro - Various Artists

2. The Payback - James Brown
3. Jungle Fever - The Chakachas
4. Think About It - Lyn Collins
5. I Know You Got Soul - Bobby Byrd
6. Express Yourself - Charles Wright
7. Cross the Tracks (We Better Go Back) - Sir Joe Quarterman and Free Soul
8. You're on Mastersounds 98.3 - Various Artists
9. (I Got) So Much Trouble - Sir Joe Quarterman and Free Soul
10. In My Mind - Various Artists
11. Grunt - The J.B.'s
12. Smokin' Cheeba Cheeba - Harlem Underground Band
13. Funky President - James Brown
14. Green Onions - Booker T & The MG's
15. That Was Mastersounds 98.3 - Various Artists
16. Cluckin' Bell - Various Artists
17. Zebra Bar: Fun To Try - Various Artists

Disc 4: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas OST Volume 4: K-Rose

1. K-Rose Intro - Various Artists

2. Crazy - Willie Nelson
3. Hey Good Lookin' - Hank Williams
4. Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man - Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn
5. Bed of Roses - Statler Brothers
6. You're on K-Rose - Various Artists
7. Amos Moses - Jerry Reed

104
8. I Love a Rainy Night - Eddie Rabbit
9. All My Ex's Live In Texas - Whitey Shafer
10. Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow up to Be Cowboys - Ed Bruce
11. Always Wanting You - Merle Haggard
12. Three Cigarettes In the Ashtray - Patsy Cline
13. That Was K-Rose - Various Artists
14. Logger - Various Artists
15. Starfish Resort and Casino - Various Artists

Disc 5: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas OST Volume 5: CSR 103:9

1. CSR 103:9 Intro - Various Artists

2. Groove Me - Guy
3. I Got The Feeling - Today
4. Don't Be Cruel - Bobby Brown
5. My Lovin' (Never Gonna Get It) - En Vogue
6. New Jack Swing - Wrecks-N-Effect
7. Motownphilly - Boyz II Men
8. You're on CSR 103:9 - Various Artists
9. Poison - Bell Biv DeVoe
10. So You Like What You See - Samuelle
11. I'm So Into You - SWV
12. Don't Be Afraid - Aaron Hall
13. Sensitivity - Ralph Tresvant
14. That Was CSR 103:9 - Various Artists
15. Renegade Cologne - Various Artists
16. The Epsilon Program: Covet - Various Artists

Disc 6: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas OST Volume 6: K-Jah West

1. K-Jah Intro - Various Artists

2. Chase the Devil - Max Romeo & The Upsetters
3. Here I Come - Barrington Levy
4. Great Train Robbery - Black Uhuru
5. Ring My Bell - Blood Sisters
6. Funky Kingston - Toots & The Maytals
7. King Tubby Meets the Rockers Uptown - Augustus Pablo
8. You're on K-Jah - Various Artists
9. Bam Bam - Pliers
10. Cocaine In My Brain - Dillinger
11. Don't Let It go to Your Head - Black Harmony
12. Drum Pan Sound - Reggie Stepper
13. Pressure Drop The Maytals
14. That Was K-Jah - Various Artists
15. Sooth Cough Medicine - Various Artists
16. Wrestling on Weazel - Various Artists

105
Disc 7: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas OST Volume 7: K-DST

1. K-DST Intro - Various Artists

2. Barracuda - Heart
3. Strutter - Kiss
4. Smokin' - Boston
5. Some Kind of Wonderful - Grand Funk Railroad
6. Woman to Woman - Joe Cocker
7. Get Down to It - Humble Pie
8. You're on K-DST - Various Artists
9. A Horse With No Name - America
10. Eminence Front - The Who
11. Free Bird- Lynyrd Skynyrd
12. Two Tickets to Paradise - Eddie Money
13. Young Turks - Rod Stewart
14. That Was K-DST - Various Artists
15. Midlife Crisis Center - Various Artists
16. San Andreas Telephone: New Father - Various Artists

Disc 8: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas OST Volume 8: Radio X

1. Radio X Intro - Various Artists

2. Rusty Cage - Soundgarden
3. Unsung - Helmet
4. Midlife Crisis - Faith No More
5. Plush - Stone Temple Pilots
6. Killing in the Name - Rage Against the Machine
7. You're on Radio X - Various Artists
8. Cult of Personality - Living Colour
9. Mother - Danzig
10. Personal Jesus - Depeche Mode
11. Been Caught Stealing - Jane's Addiction
12. Pretend We're Dead - L7
13. That Was Radio X - Various Artists
14. My Five Uncles - Various Artists
15. Exsorbeo Handheld Gaming System - Various Artists

Ice Cube, It Was a Good Day lyrics

[Ice Cube]
Break 'em off somethin
{*inhales*} Shit...
{*exhales*} Yo...
Yo... uhh...

[Verse One]
Just wakin up in the mornin gotta thank God

106
I don't know but today seems kinda odd
No barkin from the dog, no smog
And momma cooked a breakfast with no hog (damn)
I got my grub on, but didn't pig out
Finally got a call from a girl I wanna dig out
(Whassup?) Hooked it up for later as I hit the do'
Thinkin will I live, another twenty-fo'
I gotta go cause I got me a drop top
And if I hit the switch, I can make the ass drop
Had to stop, at a red light
Lookin in my mirror and not a jacker in sight
And everything is alright
I got a beep from Kim, and she can fuck all night
Called up the homies and I'm askin y'all
Which park, are y'all playin basketball?
Get me on the court and I'm trouble
Last week fucked around and got a triple double
Freakin niggaz everyway like M.J.
I can't believe, today was a good day (shit!)

[Verse Two]
Drove to the pad and hit the showers
Didn't even get no static from the cowards
Cause just yesterday them fools tried to blast me
Saw the police and they rolled right past me
No flexin, didn't even look in a nigga's direction
as I ran the intersection
Went to $hort Dog's house, they was watchin Yo! MTV Raps
What's the haps on the craps?
Shake 'em up, shake 'em up, shake 'em up, shake 'em
Roll 'em in a circle of niggaz and watch me break 'em
with the seven, seven-eleven, seven-eleven
Seven even back do' Lil' Joe
I picked up the cash flow
Then we played bones, and I'm yellin domino
Plus nobody I know got killed in South Central L.A.
Today was a good day (shit!)

[Verse Three]
Left my nigga's house paid (what)
Picked up a girl been tryin to fuck since the 12th grade
It's ironic, I had the brew she had the chronic
The Lakers beat the Supersonics
I felt on the big fat fanny
Pulled out the jammy, and killed the punanny
And my dick runs deep, so deep

107
So deep put her ass to sleep
Woke her up around one
She didn't hesitate, to call Ice Cube the top gun
Drove her to the pad and I'm coastin
Took another sip of the potion hit the three-wheel motion
I was glad everything had worked out
Dropped her ass off and then chirped out
Today was like one of those fly dreams
Didn't even see a berry flashin those high beams
No helicopter looking for a murder
Two in the mornin got the Fatburger
Even saw the lights of the Goodyear Blimp
And it read, "Ice Cube's a pimp" (yeah)
Drunk as hell but no throwin up
Half way home and my pager still blowin up
Today I didn't even have to use my A.K.
I got to say it was a good day (shit!)

[Ice Cube]
Hey wait, wait a minute Pooh, stop this shit
What the fuck I'm thinkin about?

DJ Flash, It Was a Good Day Lyrics,

<http://www.ohhla.com/anonymous/ice_cube/predator/good_day.cub.txt>
[accessed 18 March 2007]

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