Hey there guys! 

As promised, today I will show you my approach while composing the first track to this game music pack - a town theme. We will be going through instrumentation choice, composition and orchestration. The mixing part will be too much information for this devlog, so we could either do an entire episode on it, or leave it out. There are plenty of great mixing tutorials on Youtube, so I believe that this would be out of our scope here. Also, some concepts here in regards to music theory may be a little bit more advanced, but I will be linking some references as we go. Needless to say, music theory concepts really help, not to know what works, but to understand what does not and why.

[Initial plan]

So, first question is one that is very frequently overlooked - what is it that I want to achieve?

Trust me, I lost count on how many times I sat down my keyboard without a clear plan in mind just to be utterly lost in the process. Or when I start writing a romance cue, but then suddenly it feels darker than I expected. So, let's make a plan, shall we?

I wanted to start writing a town theme. More specifically, I wanted to write a "home town" track packed with nostalgia. But what does this word even mean? Well, according to the dictionary, "a sentimental longing or wistful affection for a period in the past". I can't stress enough how this is going to shape our compositional process.

[Instrumentation]

Following the same line of thought, let's think about our instrumentation. We want to choose instruments that evoke feelings that are right in the middle of sadness (but not somber) and peacefulness. Now, this can get a little bit subjective, but my choices were harp arppegios for chords with bowed double bass playing the bassline, alto flute for the melodies, pianos for counter melodies on the first part and strings in the second part,  and a light percussion (tambourine, bamboo sticks and large frame drum). You don't want to overshoot percussion for a track of this nature.

[Composition/Orchestration]

So yeah, after deciding all the above, we can start the fun part!

First thing, we have to choose what key we will be using. A key is a subset of notes/pitches around which a piece of music evolves. They will help you choose which notes to play and what would (in the vast majority of times) sound good to our ears. Some helpful videos on the subject are: 

Now, I prefer to write using modes, which is a slightly different approach, but they are, in the end, still keys. They specify which note is the tonic. Without getting too much into details, each of these modes carry with them different moods/flavours. The one I chose was the Lydian mode, because of how ethereal and floaty it sounds, which I felt it was perfect for the type of track we were aiming to compose. The difference between a Lydian scale and your typical major scale is the sharpened IV. That means the fourth note of the scale is a semi-tone sharper. For instance, the F major scale contains the notes F, G, A, Bb, C, D, E and F - the 4th note being the Bb. The F lydian mode would include the IV note a semitone raised, so a B instead. There are plenty of great introductory videos on Youtube regarding modal writing, so feel free to check those out. We can definitely talk more about this in the future - let me know in the comments below if that is something you would be interested in hearing.

Ok, so we selected the Lydian mode to write this theme. Now is the time I like to think about form and structure. Trust me, this is a fundamental step that will make your life much easier really soon.

I like to make my loops like this: a short 4-bars intro, than an A section (8 bars long), an A' section (8 bars long) and a B section (8 or 16 bars long). On the video, the intro goes from 0:00 to ~0:14; notice how I introduce the melody on the alto flute only when A section starts. If you use middleware tools such as FMOD and WWise for implementation, the track will likely loop on the A section and not play the intro on the second time (although the intro also sounds very naturally if played in the second loop too). The A section also introduces a light percussion. The A' section is very similar to the A section, but with some changes in harmonies/melodies, which are already enough to differentiate it from the first section. So, for instance, you could play a melody in a high register using a violin in the first section and then in a lower register with a violoncello in the second section; you could also add a counter-melody and change some instrumentation - but not a lot, as we want this section to be similar. At least, this is usually how japanese composers (such as Mr. Uematsu, Mr. Mitsuda, Mr. Hamauzu and so forth) write tracks for JRPG games. The vast majority of the tracks they write follow this structure.

The real change comes in the B section. I usually change everything - the instrument playing the melody, the melody per se, the harmonies and so forth. The way I like to think is: if I did arpeggiated chords or ostinatos (which are just continually repeated musical phrases) in the A/A' sections, I will be looking to add some sustained string harmonies now; if the melody had this tendency to go up/higher in the register, I may now want it to follow a progressively lowering pitch; if the melody was played in a flute, I may change it to a stringed instrument, and so forth. This drastically changes the mood of the theme and takes the listener through a trip before coming back to the start of the loop.

Very important: Notice how every ~4 bars or so I am introducing new elements to the theme (even if I am still in the same section). The reason for this is to avoid hearing the same thing over and over again, which can very quickly become boring. On bar 8, for instance, I introduced a piano playing the counter melody. On bar 12, I added more percussive elements (bamboo stick and large frame drum) and also some repeating harp harmonics (the aforementioned ostinato), along with a new melody in the violin doubled with the cello in a lower octave. On bar 16, the 2nd violin is now doubling the alto flute in the main melody.

It is very important to design the loop in such a way that, when it loops, it sounds natural and makes sense. You can hear how well it loops in the video ~1:50 mark - it returns very naturally to the tonic chord. That is because of the way I ended the chord progression, or more specifically, the choices in the harmony. Now, the Wikipedia definition to harmony is the process by which the composition of individual sounds, or a superposition of sounds, is analysed by hearing - which usually relates to pitches/chords. Some notes on a scale create a lot of tension and "urge" you to go back to the tonic note - they are called dominant notes. For instance, on a major key, the dominant note is the 5th note, aka V (with a 7th extension). So on a C major scale - C D E F G A B - the 5th note is the G. If you were composing a theme using this scale and your last chord was a G7 (the 7th extension adds even more tension), it would very naturally return to the tonic C in the beginning of the loop.  For this reason, I frequently end my loops with one of these chords. 

Another way to make your loops very natural is to use the same chord in the end of the loop that you have the beginning - the transition will be much less "jarring". So, finishing the track on a C chord would allow for a very natural return to the same C that you started on, although with less tension and more resolved or "at rest" than if you were to end the loop on the dominant chord. Does that make sense?

Phew! That's it for today. Let me know what are your thoughts on my approach. 

Feel free to comment below and let me know if there is anything else that you would like to hear or if you have any questions in regards to virtual instruments, music theory, mixing and so forth. Next devlog will be about one of my most listened tracks on this music pack! Plenty to talk about there, including ostinato, use of articulations and so forth. In the meantime, if you'd like to check some of my work, feel free to visit links below.

See you soon! Stay safe out there!

Twitter: @geekanduke

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My email address: geekanduke@gmail.com