Making the Music

How I made my music

Instead of using Logic to simulate that old school electronic sounding instrument and music style, used within the 90's and 80's, I decided to use my Yamaha DJX keyboard. This keyboard can perform loops and samples which can be used by me to create the music and style that we want for our game.

How to record

The Yamaha DJX MIDI input and output do not work on modern computers, it's to old, so in order for me to capture it's sound and tunes that I make within the keyboard, I need to record it's output from the headphone socket. To achieve this I used a double ended aux cable, one to the headphone socket and one to the mic input socket on my laptop. This method allowed me to record all the tunes into my laptop which I can then place within logic for more editing.

I've never used my Yamaha DJX keyboard before to do this, so everything I'm doing for the music of our game is somewhat new to me, this worries me and excites me at the same time. I'm worried a may not get the same music structure or tune that I could produce within logic using it's audio plugins but also excited by the results I might get from using this retro keyboard.

(Please note that the keyboard belongs to me, so I have the rights to use the loops and samples on the keyboard) 

Making the music

The first song I worked on was the main menu music. Thanks to the research I've done I have a very clear idea of how and what the menu music should feel and sound like, so finding and creating that same tune on my Yamaha shouldn't be to much of a problem. I wanted a relaxed but also funky tune that represented a 90's time period within the menu music. I have to make all the music loop properly, this means the songs can be replayed over and over without the listeners knowing that the song has restarted.

There were plenty of tunes as the Yamaha has a wide range of music genres to choose from. I could use one of the genres which sounded just right to me to create the menu music. I found and created the tunes I wanted and then recorded them into my laptop. I had to record sections of the samples and loops on the keyboard into logic, there I will have to piece the audio recordings together to make music.

(Track layout of Menu Music)

Making and arranging the music for the menu was very easy and straight forward. I made a good choice in starting off with the easy tunes, so I can get my head around the process in which is needed to be taken. I had to use some apple loops for the fills, the fills job is to demonstrate to the listeners that key changes are coming up within the song. Once I had got everything sounding the way I wanted, and looping well, I mixed and EQ the song and bounced it off, ready to go. I was pleased with the result I got from my menu music, it sounded just as I wanted it to. I showed my music to the team, and they loved it.

(Follow the link below to listen to the menu music)
https://soundcloud.com/patrickcollegework/menu-screen-music?in=patrickcollegework/sets/j-ga-rally-soundtrack

The next piece of music I worked on was the results music. This music is played when the player finishes all the laps in the race course, it will be played as the information of the players best time is displayed.

I wanted to create a piece of music that was very chilled, as I felt the player might want something a little low key after playing such a crazy rally game. So I spent some time working on my keyboard to create and find the tunes I needed. Once I found some tunes that could be blended together, I then recorded each part into logic. I want this song, to keep changing it's key/music style after 8 bars to keep the song interesting.

(Track layout of results music)

The music again still holds that very 80's and 90's music style feel, and is very cheesy, just the way we want it. I'm pleased with the outcome I got from this music, it's so cheesy it makes me cringe, but it's exactly what we were after. The music was shown to the team, they enjoyed it and agreed it should be used in the game for the results music. 

(Follow the link below to listen to the results music)
https://soundcloud.com/patrickcollegework/results-page?in=patrickcollegework/sets/j-ga-rally-soundtrack

It was time to move onto the in game music, I knew I wanted to make a crazy tune for our game, as well as one that was somewhat acceptable and reflected the games race track theme, but for now I would focus on the crazy tune. I explored the electronic/techno side of music genres to achieve this crazy style I had in my mind, so this involved exploring and playing around on my Yamaha till I got something I liked. 

I was looking for electronic sounds and tunes that were cheesy but yet catchy, and I think I found them when exploring my Yamaha. I record what I liked into logic, which I then pieced together to make my in game music. 

 (Example of track layout for Funky Jäga)

A lot of apple loops again needed to assist me in the fills that helped tell the listeners of key changes, I often found so far from making the music for our game that I have to use apple loops a lot to help me in that area, one of the many problems of making music through my Yamaha keyboard. Once the song had been structured, mixed down and ready to be bounced, I played it to my team, who enjoyed the funky and crazy tune. 

(Follow the link below to listen to Funky Jäga)
https://soundcloud.com/patrickcollegework/funky-j-ga?in=patrickcollegework/sets/j-ga-rally-soundtrack

The next song was the song which reflected more of the theme of the race track, but at the same time cheesy and somewhat unrelated to rally, as my music research shows the music used by Sega rally really do not sum up and reflect rally driving in anyway. This song took me a very long time to make, I needed to find the right tunes and key changes that blended together. After spending some time on this I finally found the tunes I wanted on my Yamaha and recorded them into logic. 

(Example of track layout for Shake the Jäga)

Making this song was very difficult. I ran into a lot of problems with key changes and appeal within the song. I added in apple loops tambourines and recorded MIDI hand claps played by me, to help bring out the tune within the song, as well to make it interesting and fun to listen to. The end result was okay by my standards, I didn't have a lot of time to keep working on the song, so I can't be to picky about it. The team again loved the song, which made me happy as I felt I didn't do a very good job in someways because of the time I had.

(Follow the link below to listen to Shake the Jäga)
https://soundcloud.com/patrickcollegework/shake-that-j-ga?in=patrickcollegework/sets/j-ga-rally-soundtrack

Outcome: I was somewhat pleased with the music I've made, I really wanted to make more than four songs, but because of the time it takes to make the music I couldn't keep working on it. I would of liked to of made longer in game music, something that was 4 minutes long, instead of the ones I've made which are 1 minute long. I would of loved to be able to display different structures of music within the songs as well, just like Sega Rally does, but time is not on my side and I really couldn't play or experiment with these ideas. I have to keep things short, It takes me a long time to find the right tunes and to edit them all together. However despite some disappointment, I feel I did achieve in my goal in making cheesy, and wacky sounding 90's and 80's style music for our game.