Music, FX and legal consideration.
In this post i will be listing sources for obtaining music/FXfor games you have created, listing three of my favorite and explaining the use of the music within those games and talking about things you need to consider when obtaining music and SFX.
How to get music/SFX
This website allows you to download a variety of royalty free SFX and Music, it ranges from the sounds of doors opening to war and weapons, there is also a soundtrack for nearly all scenarios.
Produce your own
If you have any experience with creating music pieces or even with Foley, you could record your own sounds and music to implement into your game.
Copyrighted Pieces
A core way to get publicity for music producers is to post their music on the internet, this means they will most definitely copyright it. In this case you have to have permission to download and use their music or it may result in a lawsuit.
They could ask for either credit or payment in return for you to use their piece, a smart thing to do in this situation is to write up a contract or get proof that you have the producers permission.
My favorite game soundtracks
Here are 3 of my favorite soundtracks within video games.
1. Assassins Creed
The soundtrack is used in the games cinematic trailer and important cutscenes. It starts out calm with instruments such as flutes and violins, and as somethings about to happen the track will stop and when the action starts again the music louder and faster to create an exciting feel.
2. PAYDAY 2
The soundtrack in PAYDAY 2 varies on what mission the player is on, but they all have one thing in common and that's that they start off stealthy, quiet and edgy and when the players "go loud" so does the soundtrack, it gets much louder and faster to get the player excited, and it works.
3. Grand Theft Auto V
GTA V has two soundtracks, background music created by Rockstar Games and music from various artists, suit the game well.
During missions that contain a lot of action the soundtrack is faster and tends to have a jazz type feel to it, as stealthier missions have a more quiet mellow soundtrack but keeps the player on edge.
For example this is played throughout a high speed police chase:
Legal Considerations.
Most music on the internet is copyrighted, anything created by another producer is copyrighted which means if you want to use it for yourself then you are required to get permission from the original content creator this may result in paying a small fee to them or giving them credit within the game you're creating.
A smart thing to do while acquiring the rights to use the track is to have solid proof that you have permission to do so, writing up a contract is almost essential and protects you from any lawsuits that could be made.
Using a copyrighted piece of music without consent is a crime and you can be fined up to £150,000 and have to pay court costs for everyone involved.
A company called PRS for music protects users with copyrighted music and helps deal with lawsuits etc.
If creating a piece of music a producer should document when they created the piece to prove that they are the original creator, a few good ways to do this are:
- Uploading it to YouTube as it sets the date of the upload.
- Emailing the piece to yourself.
- Creating a physical copy and mailing it to yourself.
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