While washing a large stack of dishes, that was doing what could be the best tower of Pisa impersonation outside of Italy; I had time to think. While taking on this behemoth task I would slip into constant flashbacks, like a poorly scripted Anime. In one of them I seemed to recall a good friend of mine talking about his impression of music. He didn't say much, but he did say very bluntly he didn’t like instrumental music. That's ironic in that I made music for games we made together (these were simple flash games mind you), and he is largely impart a level designer and gamer himself. Since so much of game music is instrumental only, he was essentially saying he didn’t like my music or game music in general. I had to think about that for awhile. Through reflecting on it, I came to realize game music is in reality a niche market. I can easily envision that the honest sentiments of my friend is actually held by many other people out there. I pictured thousands of gamers hammering to find the mute button the moment their favorite game loaded up.
There was an article in kotaku I read a few days ago ( http://kotaku.com/5821655/why-video-games-with-silent-heroes-had-the-best-soundtracks) which attempted to argue that any sort of vocalization is a hindrance to musical affect. It even went so far as to announce that characters and scenes are much less memorable, with vocalization on top of instrumental accompaniment. The argument focuses on some examples of personal nostalgia and a strong preference for the music of Final Fantasy or Chrono Trigger. (which I am not so impartial to myself). The author goes on to emphasize that action scene's in particular have less affect with any sorts of vocalization and references movies such as Star Wars, stating that the theme's never play while the characters are on screen, and even presents a working example to help demonstrate the main point;
Here's a scene from final fantasy scored without voicing (the original) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx7nlSDFZVM&feature=player_embedded. Contrasted with one later rerecorded by the auther, voice acting included , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2-6NnQVaBU&feature=player_embedded
As much as I would to believe this argument and take it all in like a starving child who suddenly finds himself in the midst of a large western all you can eat buffet for the first time, But wait after taking it all in the fortune cookie that I read out loud (“the food was not real”) and left a bad taste in my mouth. This argument is shaky on so many grounds for brevity sake I'll address only a few.
The main example for films given, (Star Wars) is probably one of the best examples only to disprove the theory. Star wars lives and dies by its music, and the interaction on the set are not brought to life by the wonderful dialogue, or incredible acting on set, but more so the way the music brings out the emotions in scenes where Lucus may have otherwise failed (awaits hate-mail) . To see this in action you just have to count how many times you hear Obi-Wan's voice ringing out, use the force Luke, followed by that theme for the force that instantly sets up our state of mind for this mystical religious concept that draws us in every-time we hear it. Or when Luke first spy's princess Leia on a holographic recording from R2, the audience hears her plight meanwhile Leia's musical theme brings us into the experience that Luke is having at the time. Or who could forget the final action scene of the movie were Luke is about to make the shot to save the empire, and we here Obi's voice and the theme for the force right before he switches off his guiding system and makes the shot that saves all.
The example of final fantasy 7 scene with and without voice acting is also suspect. The voice acting and music could be great on its own, but you cannot just combine them willy-nilly and expect it to work out. Just as a composer cannot just drop in a "cool" song into what is seen as a good game, and expect the sum of the two to work indefinitely. A more pragmatic view would look to the voice as you would any other instrument. As such you cannot just drop in a voice track over a good song and consider that it will be better for it. Instead scoring it as one would an instrument, being mindful of its range, and frequency bands allotted as well as how best to fit the music, would go a long way.
My dishes are still not done, and as much as I love and cherish instrumental music I'm reflecting that I should like to escape the traps set up by this article and avoid getting stuck with a mindset that does not allow me to experience new forms of music. My first clue that this article was way off, came from the experience of listening to whole genres of music, dedicated to the sampling of vocal lines, from movies and T.V . These include certain forms of hip hop, industrial music, and pys-trance to name a few. Unless game designers and composer want to find themselves washing more dishes regularly, (and not just the occasional tower) Games need to expand and adapt to changing tastes of people and the market. Not every soundtrack has to imitate Final Fantasy or Chrono trigger, and vocal music should inevitably play a larger roll in the games to come.
In our time, our century the instrument most revered is not the the piano the drums, or even the guitar, but the human voice. The use and application of this knowledge even in a minimal fashion could be useful in bringing a larger audience into gaming as well as introducing gaming as an art form, and a credible way to tell a story as well as entertain. While the situation may not be as as dire, as my mini leaning tower, it does warrant some new thought and better foresight, then I had before the tower first sprouted up in my sink.
