What's happening on UAT's campus- A blog published by UAT Students.

Hello all!

Think of your favorite video games. Think of your favorite scenes from your favorite games, TV shows, and movies. What would they be without the music? Would the death scene of your favorite character have the same impact on you if it was without the sad or brutal notes it was before? Often times the soundtrack to these scenes goes unnoticed and very unappreciated. We rarely notice when we are humming along with the theme song of a certain area or when we are being moved by the music itself. We don't pay attention to how much the music is helping us get involved and absorbed into the game we are playing.

As a musician and a gamer I have a great appreciation for soundtracks in games. Personally I would rather listen to game, TV, and movie soundtracks instead of popular songs on the radio. I can definitely say that if I didn't go into Game Art and Animation I would have pursued being a musician for game soundtracks. There have been many studies that prove that music directly effects the listeners emotions. Music is behind some of our personal attachments to characters. A fantasy world can be brought to life with music. Below are some of my favorite gaming musicians and how their music has affected the certain game genres.

Nobuo Uematsu

Nobuo has to be one of the greatest video game composers of all time. He is essentially the face of Final Fantasy music. Any theme that a gamer knows from any Final Fantasy was created by Nobuo. From the very first game to now the 15th Final Fantasy he has been composing all if not some of the music. He brought every game to life in a unique way. Every area you would enter and every impactful scene has its own song that adjusts the mood according to the situation. See below some of his greatest songs:

[su_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rcV-KzouZw"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi7KPDi_yQI&feature=youtu.be[/su_youtube]

Koji Konda

Just like Nobuo is known in the Final Fantasy series, Koji is known for his work in Super Smash Bros and The Legend of Zelda series. Some of the most popular games Nintendo has made, like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and Windwaker have music composed by Koji Konda. Koji is definitely a composer that rivals Nobuo in his music. To this day he is still composing and creating meaningful sounds for Nintendo games.

[su_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1Xf2Gle0FU"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi7KPDi_yQI&feature=youtu.be[/su_youtube]

Kazumi Totaka and Kengo Hagiwara

It takes a lot of skill to help keep a player entertained when playing games that involve a lot of work. Games like Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon are very popular games that these guys have worked on. Music plays an enormous role in games that involve the ability to do day and night cycles. They do great work in this by creating music that is very fitting to the game and the situation.

[su_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1BdsJJevFc"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi7KPDi_yQI&feature=youtu.be[/su_youtube]

Gustavo Santaolalla

Usually a movie composer, Gustavo did such an amazing job on The Last of Us. This games scenes were very heavily dependent on the music being played. Gustavo's music in this game brought so much more emotion to every scene it is amazing for someone who hasn't done many video game soundtracks.

[su_youtube url="https://youtu.be/Ejdjcun2Jo4"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi7KPDi_yQI&feature=youtu.be[/su_youtube]

Yoko Shimomura

Yoko is known mostly for her work in Street Fighter and Kingdom Hearts. She does amazing diverse music that has been appreciated throughout the years. She is considered one of the most famous and successful female video game composers in the world. [su_youtube url="https://youtu.be/tmdJ6-xdyNk"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi7KPDi_yQI&feature=youtu.be[/su_youtube]

That's all for today!

Karina