Interview with Composer Andrew Skeet — Balancing Mass Market Appeal

Composer Andrew Skeet (Orchestrator, Arranger on Hybrid’s Disappear Here) faced a unique challenge arranging and conducting “The Greatest Video Game Music” albums 1 and 2, released in 2011 and 2012 respectively.

While some tracks chosen for the gaming music compilations were already written for a full symphony, others were 8 and 16 bit tunes for machines that could barely manage four sounds at the same time.

The process of adapting those tracks is not only a technical challenge, but reveals some interesting insights on the evolution of game scores as a whole.

The Adaptation Process

“I just treat it as a kind of inspiration,” Skeet said. “I write it out and I play it on my piano so I’ll start to forget, almost, what the original sounds were and just make a new piece based on that. Sometimes the thing could be so good already that we just do a slightly different version.”

This process not only incorporates the original music, but Skeet’s take on the atmosphere of the game. Unsurprisingly, one of Skeet’s favorite tracks is also one of the most atmospheric.

“I tried really hard with the Metroid track,” Skeet said. “That is a game I like and I remember, and I think the game’s got an amazing atmosphere, quite claustrophobic. The sounds are just way out there, especially considering how limited the chipsets were at the time.”

Despite this liberal approach to translation, I was still surprised to hear dashes of electronic synth in some of the tracks (notably the Batman Arkham City main theme and Deus Ex: Human Revolution main theme). Typically, game orchestrations rigidly stick with acoustic orchestra, perhaps to drive home the point that this is a different (read: classier) version.

So why did Skeet decide to retain synth hooks for some of the tracks? Simply put, “I couldn’t see why not.”

“We’ve got some tracks on there that have no orchestra at all, originally, like Chrono Trigger or Fez. With those sort of tracks I wouldn’t put synth sounds because they’re basically a translation,” Skeet explained. “But the ones that have already had synth built in alongside orchestral stuff, that’s what they’re about. My horror is for someone to put on my version and A-Bs it with the original and thinks ‘Christ, the original was massively better.’”

That a music fan could even compare two interpretations of a game’s source material speaks to the maturation of game scores as an entity. However, that maturation has followed a strange path, dictated by technology constraints and imitation of media.

The Evolution of Video Game Scores

“Video game music is heavily influenced by other areas. Compared to film music and classical music, it’s a bit of a new boy,” Skeet said. “Inevitably it’s being heavily influenced by other things. I think it’s going to be interesting what happens over the next period, to see if video games gets its own voice. I don’t hear that myself.”

According to Skeet, it’s only natural that a new art form would borrow from existing mediums.

“That’s the same thing that happened with movies, originally. If you go back to the 30s and 40s, all that music really sounds like classical music,” Skeet said. “Then, suddenly you’ve got composers coming through like Bernard Hermann who came up with a sound that had never been done in classical music.”

Oddly enough, game scores were more unique when they were technically incapable of sounding like movie scores. Now that the capability is there, game music has lost some of its unique characteristics.

However, that doesn’t mean that all game scores are converging. Just like in movies, there’s an artistically aggressive indie scene that’s willing to produce more unique work.

“I imagine the music in [indie games] is a bit more varied and interesting,” Skeet said. “ It depends which end of the market we’re talking about. If you’re trying to sell half a billion units of something…”

That’s what cuts to the heart of the matter, really. Do you want to produce a work that’s unique and artistically progressive, or a work that will appeal to the mass market?

Mass Market Appeal vs. Artistic Innovation

“Video games, like Hollywood movies, are for the mass market. To some extent they have to talk in the language of the mass market,” Skeet said. “Musically, and in other ways like gameplay, they have to make sense to the mass market. The big Hollywood scores, they also have to cater to the mass market. They don’t go out there and do something unusual.”

That balance of mass market appeal versus unusual or innovative work can be found directly in the tracks chosen for the Greatest Video Game Music albums.

“These things are expensive, like a movie or anything,” Skeet explained. “There’s certain people saying ‘Whatever you do, the thing’s got to at least work commercially. It’s a commercial release.’”

Hence, you have tracks from big, recognizable games like Call of Duty and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim next to more obscure tracks from Luigi’s Mansion and Fez.

“I just tried to cover a few of the more obvious bases and then I left myself some room to go and do some less well-known things,” Skeet said

On a Future Album

Even with two Greatest Video Game Music albums down, there’s still plenty of music to choose from. Should Skeet get the opportunity to work on a third, he’s already got some ideas about which tracks would be included.

“There’s a game like Journey which has got an already beautiful orchestral soundtrack. I love the game Dark Souls, I think the music is quite interesting in that,” Skeet said. “I loved that on the first album we did tracks from Fallout that are really great. I mean really simple and actually not very orchestral, but it’d be fun to do.”

Of course, the audience is also very vocal about the games they’d like included.

“There’s a breed of people out there who would like the whole album to be full of Halo. They just sort of missed the point of it,” Skeet said. “People get very tribal about which video games they love. I’m just doing what I think is fun to listen to. So far people are buying it, so it can’t be too bad.”

Whether the tracks are indie or triple-A, modern or twenty years old, there’s a simple directive that guides Skeet’s orchestration.

“In the end you’ll put your headphones on, and you’ll listen to the album, and it just needs to be good music,” Skeet said. “It’s got to be a record you can listen to without knowing the games.”

If you’d like a free track from The Greatest Video Game Music or to check out samples from the albums, check out this website. Of course, you can also purchase the albums on iTunes or Amazon.

Thanks to Andrew Skeet for chatting about game music and to Jon Bleicher for arranging the interview!