Lesson video

Hello, welcome to today's lesson entitled, Horizontal Resequencing.

My name is Mr. Norris.

Today, we're gonna be exploring a core aspect of video-game music, which is the process of horizontal resequencing, looking at how we change our music to match different outcomes or different possibilities in video games.

Our outcome for today's lesson, is I can use horizontal resequencing to create a contrasting section of music that responds to a sudden change in the action.

Some key words.

Adaptive music, this is music that can change by reacting to a stimulus.

A video-game music reacts to the player's actions.

Linear loop, this is a repeating musical idea in a video game that can be looped indefinitely.

Horizontal resequencing, this is where a new section of music begins in response to a player's action.

And finally, vertical layering, this is where layers of music are stacked on top of each other and change in response to the player's actions.

To start off, we're gonna look at creating an adaptive ending.

There are two ways that video-game music adapts to a player's actions.

The first is vertical layering.

This involves the repetition of linear loops, which are these repeating loops that can go on indefinitely, with extra layers being added or taken away to create changes in the mood.

An example of this would be an extra part joining in to thicken the texture and create a little bit extra excitement.

Now, this is used where the composer wants slight changes in the music, but without interrupting its flow too much.

So, it needs to be musically seamless and feel musically natural when these vertical layers are added.

Horizontal resequencing is where composers create a completely new section of music that's triggered by changes on screen.

And usually these are for significant changes in the action.

So, these are not slight changes of mood with additional layers of texture or rhythms being added or taken away.

Instead, this is a contrasting and new section of music that creates a dramatic change with what came before.

Have a think, can you think of any moments in video games that might require a complete change of musical mood? Pause my video, and a think or a discussion.

And you might have thought of some of these.

You might have said a character moving to a different place, a different location that requires different music to change that mood.

You might have suggested sudden action.

For example, if a fight starts, the music's gonna wanna change to match that new mood.

You might have suggested the end of an event.

For example, the end of a race, you want the music to change to match the change in mood that happens then.

Or anything where the fundamental mood needs to change.

And there are countless examples we could talk through of where composers will use horizontal resequencing to suddenly change the mood based on changes in the action in the game.

Let's check your understanding.

Which statements are true about horizontal resequencing? It adds layers on top of repeating loops.

It introduces new musical material.

It changes that a predetermined time.

Or it changes in response to action.

I'll give you a few seconds to choose any that are true.

And the true statements here are, it introduces new musical material and it changes in response to action.

Remember, there's nothing in video-game music that changes at a predetermined time.

It's all adapted, and in response to the player's actions.

So, in "Asphalt Eclipse," we can create music for a title theme, we can use linear loops for a race scenario, and we can add some vertical layering to enhance the excitement during Turbo Boost mode.

But we can also use horizontal resequencing to create contrasting musical sections that play at the end of each race.

So, when there's a distinct change in mood based on the fact that the race has ended.

The music that plays when the player wins a race should create a positive and victorious mood.

So, we've got the music to reflect the outcome of the race.

Now, the same features that are used in film music to create a positive victorious mood would work here.

Can you think of any examples of musical features that would be effective for creating this kind of mood? Pause my video and have a quick think.

And there are many different musical features you might have thought of here, but two particularly typical features are using major tonality 'cause that creates a positive, optimistic mood, and using an ascending melody and possibly doing it high-pitched as well.

Both of those can be really effective for creating a suitable mood for a victorious, optimistic, positive moment.

Let's have a look at the process of using these to develop music for a victory scenario.

I'm gonna create now the victory music for the end of the race.

Now, for this, I want to create a positive, optimistic mood that suits that victory.

And so, the first thing I'm gonna be using, is major tonality and trying to use major chords.

The second thing I'm gonna do, is to create an ascending melody because ascending melodies often feel hopeful, optimistic, and positive.

So, those are two key things there.

And one thing I need to make sure when I'm doing this, is that there's some consistency with the sort of sounds and timbres that I'm using.

So, if I was to, all of a sudden, switch to some orchestral instruments, it might sound quite jarring to listen to it because most of my competition so far is using synthesizers.

So, I'm gonna be using some synthesized sounds for mine.

But you need to use whatever fits with a sound world, the kind of instruments that you've been using so far so there's a little bit of continuity and consistency.

So, I'm gonna start by making a new track, and I'm gonna start working out now a chord sequence.

Now, I've chosen this synthesizer to use.

I quite like this one, it feels quite bright, and exciting, and sort of optimistic almost.

It'll work really well for this mood.

And there's a couple ways I can do this chord sequence.

Now, because I want to have this sort of major positive feeling at the end, I could explore some of the chords in D minor and work out one that sounds effective to end on that is a major chord.

So, the obvious candidate to use would be to finish on an F major chord 'cause that's a major chord in the key of D minor.

So, I could do something like this, starting on D minor.

(soft piano music) That's quite a positive sounding ending.

However, how much good is something slightly different, which is something a little bit unusual, which is actually to finish on the chord of D major.

Now, obviously we are in the key of D minor, so D major chord is from a different key.

But this technique of finishing on the tonic chord but making it a major version of that chord is quite a common and effective way of creating a really sudden positive feeling and positive mood at the end of a composition.

So, I'll show you what I mean.

I'll have a four-bar chord sequence using some of my D minor chords.

(bright piano music) So, that last code there is our D major code, which is instead of an F in the middle, it's got an F sharp in the middle, (soft piano music) and that creates this sudden positive feeling.

So, I'm gonna use that.

And you might choose, for this victory music, to end on a D major chord as well 'cause it's a really positive, suddenly exciting, and hopeful chord.

So, I'm gonna record in a four-bar sequence.

I'm gonna experiment with some different chords, create one that I like, and then finish on that D major chord.

So, I might do, for example, D minor.

(soft piano music) Something like that.

But again, you experiment and see what works for you, I'm gonna record in my sequence.

(bright upbeat music) (soft piano music) So, what we've got there, is we've got a sound, the timbre that sort of suits the other synthesized timbres of my composition.

It uses the same key to begin with.

So, I chose four chords from the D minor key and it ends on this big grand D major chords that creates this really positive feeling at the end.

I could also add some base notes to fit with that.

So, I could do a really simple base part that fits underneath it.

I'll just choose a synth base for now.

(frantic piano music) That'll do.

And I'm gonna record in the root note of each of my chords underneath just to give it a little bit more sort of space as a section.

(bright upbeat music) (bright piano music) Quant has that as well.

And then the final thing is to create a melody.

And as I said, I want an ascending melody to create a feeling of positivity and hope.

Now, I need to base my melody notes on these chords.

So, I'm gonna be looking at the notes of these chords that I've used, and trying to match my notes to them.

And I'm just gonna create a really simple melody that actually fits the exact same rhythm as those chords.

But you could do something a little bit more complicated if you want.

I'm gonna try and find a synthesizer that creates a suitable sort of sound.

Let's see what this sounds like.

(frantic piano music) I'll go for that.

And that's quite consistent with some of the sounds that I've got in my earlier section as well.

(gentle piano music) Something like that, a really simple ascending melody would fit with my chords.

(gentle piano music) I could elaborate it a little bit, some passing notes like that as well.

But something that's ascending and feels hopeful and optimistic.

I'm gonna record it in.

(bright upbeat music) (bright piano music) I am gonna bring the volume of that one up so I can hear it a bit more.

Just the balance, a touch of these different parts.

Let's hear this new section.

(bright upbeat music) (bright piano music) Let's check your understanding.

What melodic shape best suits an optimistic positive mood.

Is it ascending, descending, ascending then descending, or descending then ascending? I'll give a few seconds to choose the best answer.

This answer here is ascending.

Generally that melodic shape is the one that best presents this feeling of optimism and hope.

For Task A, you're gonna create a short section, either four or eight-bars long, for the race ending.

And this is to be used when the player wins a race.

So, we're gonna try and create that victorious, optimistic, positive mood.

Here are the three steps.

Start by creating a short chord sequence using chords from the key of D minor, finishing on either an F major, that's the relative major chord, or the D major.

Then create a simple baseline based on the root notes of those chords, and then create a simple ascending melody that fits with the notes of the chords.

So, chord sequence, baseline based on the course, and then a simple ascending melody.

And together, those three elements should help create this positive victorious mood for a race victory.

You can pause my video, give this task your best shot.

For the second part of this task, I'd like to listen to this music for a victory scenario.

How successfully does this suit a victory scenario? And how could it be more successful? Let's have a listen.

(bright upbeat music) (soft piano music) So, you can pause my video just while you reflect on that.

How successful does this work? And how could it be more successful for that victory scenario? And you could have said here that it doesn't really suit a victory scenario very well, it's not particularly successful.

It does have an ascending melody.

So, that's one point that does help to suit that feeling.

But it would work better if it finished on a major chord and used brighter, more celebratory timbres and instruments.

So, timbres that create a feeling of excitement, and positivity, and optimism.

The timbres also sound very different from the main section of the music, so there's no continuity between them.

It might work more effectively.

They're more similar to some of the timbres from the main section of the music.

Well done if you managed to pick up on some of those points.

Now, we're gonna move on to look at creating a contrasting adaptive ending.

Video-game composers create different loops to respond to different actions and outcomes in the game.

To create an adaptive ending for each race, the music should respond with a suitable mood.

And so far, we've created one that suits the scenario of a player winning a race, that victory scenario.

But if a player loses, there needs to be a feeling of loss and defeat.

So, we need to mirror that action in our music.

Have a think.

What musical features would help to achieve this feeling, one that suits a loss in a race, a feeling of loss or defeat? Pause my video and have a think.

And there are many different aspects you could use here, but two typical features are using minor tonality that creates a greater sense of despair and loss, and using a descending melody, again, that better suits that feeling of loss.

Let's have a look at the process of using those features to create a suitable ending for a loss in a race.

I'm gonna follow exactly the same process for my loss scenario as I did for my victory one, but with a few subtle musical differences.

Before we do anything else, I'm gonna move my victory music out of the way.

That allows me to record in my loss music right at the end of the main race music that will help me check that the transition between the two sounds effective.

Now, I'm gonna add a new track.

And for this, I'm gonna, again, be trying to choose a timbre that has some continuity with the kind of sounds that I've used so far.

So, mostly I've been using synthesizers.

So, again, I'm gonna be going for a synthesizer for my chords here.

However, here rather than having a bright, exciting, positive-sounding synthesizer like I went for with my victory music, I'm gonna try and choose something that sounds a bit more subdued, a bit more mellow and gentle, and a bit more, maybe it's suiting that negative sort of mood I'm trying to create.

So, I've decided I'm gonna go for this one.

(gentle piano music) I think it it's gonna really suit that sort of more gentle sadder mood for this scenario.

Now, when I'm writing my chord sequence here, I'm not gonna be finishing on a major chord like I did for my victory scenario, which gave it that really optimistic positive ending.

Instead, I wanna make sure I'm finishing on a minor chord.

And because we're working in the key of D minor, I really wanna be finishing on a D minor chord.

(gentle piano music) That's D, F, and A that'll help it feel like a sort of negative ending, which is what I'm going for.

And I'm going forward with the exactly the same process I did before, which is to create a little chord sequence and end on a long D minor chord this time.

So, I'll experiment with a few chords.

I might do something like this.

(gentle piano music) Or something similar, and then I'm gonna finish on that D minor chord.

I'm gonna record that in now.

(bright upbeat music) (gentle piano music) So, there I went for D minor, (gentle piano music) C.

(gentle piano music) Then A minor.

(gentle piano music) Then G minor.

(gentle piano music) Then a low D minor chord.

(gentle piano music) And I think it sounds quite good down there.

It's not so low that it sounds really mushy and hard to pick apart the notes, but it sounds sort of quite deep and dark and negative.

Now, again, as before, I'm gonna create a simple baseline to go with that.

I'm gonna use the root note of each chord.

So, if I know what my chords were there, I'm just gonna pick out the bottom note of each chord in a base track and I can record them in.

(bright upbeat music) (gentle piano music) And then finally, I'm gonna be writing a melody.

Now, with my victory music, my melody, as we can see here, was ascending.

It was going up in pitch, and that's often what we'll use in film and video games to create sort of positive-sounding melody.

However, this time, I want the opposite, so I'm gonna use a descending melody to fit with my loss mood.

So, again, I'm gonna try and find an instrument that sounds a little bit mellower perhaps than the other ones.

I might go for one of these leads, but try and find a fairly gentle one.

(frantic piano music) I will go for that one for now.

I think I've had a bit more time and explore a few different ones to try and find one that fits the mood exactly.

So, I want a descending melody, and I'm gonna use some notes from these codes that fit that shape.

And, again, I could create a melody that just fits exactly with the rhythm of those chords so I could just copy the rhythm of those chords, or could create something a little bit more rhythmically complex.

(gentle piano music) Something like that would sound quite good.

That's all just picking out different notes from these five chords.

Or it could do something a bit more complex.

(gentle piano music) Something like that, but it still got that ascending shape and feels quite negative.

Now, I'm gonna record that in.

(bright upbeat music) (gentle piano music) Finally, I want to check that the transition from the main race music into that loss ending works well.

Let's have a quick listen.

(bright upbeat music) (gentle piano music) So, that's my loss ending.

We've got that descending melody, we've got the finishing on the minor chord and the choice of mostly minor chords throughout, and then we've also got timbres that have some continuity with the sort of sounds I've using in my main race music and that that synthesizes, there's some similarities, but they also really suit that negative mood, that deflated mood that we would have on losing the race.

Let's check your understanding.

What melodic shape best suits a defeated negative mood? Ascending, descending, ascending then descending, or descending then ascending? I'll give you a few seconds to choose the best one.

And the correct answer is descending.

That's the melodic shape that's most likely to suit a defeated negative mood.

For Task B, you're gonna create a short section, four or eight-bars long, for the end of the race.

And this is to be used when the player loses a race.

So, we're trying to mirror that mood, that feeling of loss, of defeat.

Your first success criteria, is that you use one or both of the following features.

We've got minor tonality and a descending melody.

And then secondly, make sure that the timbres and the key create continuity with the race music.

So, you can pause my video and give this task your best shot.

Now, for the final part of this lesson, we're gonna have a listen to this ending for a loss scenario.

How successful does this suit a loss? And how could it be more successful in creating that mood? Let's have a listen.

(bright upbeat music) (bright piano music) Just pause my video while you're finishing your answer.

And there are a few things you might have picked up here.

Overall, it doesn't suit a loss scenario very well.

The ascending melody feels quite optimistic, so it worked much more effectively if there was a descending melody.

And the final major chord also sounds quite positive and hopeful, so it would work better with a minor chord at the end.

We could also point out that the timbres contrast too much with the main section, so there's very little continuity between the timbres that are used in this ending and the main section.

So, we can improve that by having some more similar timbres that link the two.

Well done if you picked up on some of those points.

Let's summarize today's lesson.

Adaptive music in video games uses two techniques to respond to a player's actions.

These are vertical layering and horizontal resequencing.

In horizontal resequencing, new sections of contrasting music are used to match big changes in the game.

Many different sections are created so that music can respond to any of the possible changes.

And a typical example is using different musical ideas to represent victory or loss in a racing game, as we've done in our tasks today.

That's the end of today's lesson then.

Hopefully, now you feel like you've got a good grasp of the two key concepts that video game music composers use when they're writing music.

There's vertical layering where we add layers to create incremental changes, and horizontal resequencing where we create contrasting music to suit different scenarios.

And together, these are at the core of adaptive music.

So, next time you're playing a video game, have a think about how these different features are being used as you're playing.

How is the music adapting and responding to your actions? And what techniques have the composers used that are similar to some of the techniques that we've been using today? Thanks for taking part, and I'll see you in another lesson.