Mutato Muzika: Composing The Music That The Mini-Bosses Will Be Playing In Fifteen Years
In addition to their film, television and commercial work, Mutato Muzika also scores video games -- seems like a natural fit for the firm founded by electronic-music legend Mark Mothersbaugh.
Mutato crewman Albert Fox talks with Bill about the differences between film and video game scoring, and about the specific challenges that the video game soundtrack format presents.
Oh, and if you're wondering, the answer is yes: all Albert's vocals for this clip have been overdubbed, as he refused to speak to us in anything but Simlish. Those "method" composers can be so stubborn.
ALBERT FOX: [INDISCERNIBLE] celeste, these are some of the games I did music for, Sims 2 Castaway and Sims 2 Bon Voyage. These are on EA coming out, or I think they’re out right now. I had to take the Sims 2 theme and then rework it for basically like an island adventure.
BILL HOLLAND: Jungle theme?
ALBERT FOX: Yeah, and then this one I think it’s -- This is one that’s really go around the world. There’s like a mountain section, an Asian section, and then -- I forgot what else. There’s like three or four different worlds [INDISCERNIBLE].
BILL HOLLAND: I mean obviously with film, you have the video there and you’re scoring to the film. What do you do for a game? Is it you create a loop?
ALBERT FOX: Yeah. Yes and no. Usually you’re given a -- at the beginning, you’re given a spreadsheet. You’re given an Excel spreadsheet and that has basically your times and what their, you know, their schedule and what their aiming for. And mostly at the beginning, we’re giving them sketches. We give them 30 seconds pretty much. If they wanted two minutes, then we will give them like a bit pretty much a quarter of what they’re asking for because to develop and produce a two-minute track that you don't know if that is going to go, it’s just kind of hard for just our part, and it makes it easier for them too because then they can just listen and sit through more ideas that way and I mean really, you know, choose one out there they’re very happy with and the one that they really like.
So, at the beginning, we give them 30 seconds, and then if they like that they’ll say develop it or change this and change that, and then you know you do that until their happy. And sometimes it takes a while to, you know, get a theme or get something finished but, you know, the more you work and the more [LAUGHING] the more you do it, the easier it gets, you know.
It’s easier once you’ve established a certain style already, and once the style for the game has already been established, then it’s you can just go in and knock it out versus if they have no idea what they want then it’s a crap shoot.
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