Bachelor’s thesis on video game music (production)

Hello

I’m a media technology student from Finland. I will graduate in 2012/2013. I have been thinking about my thesis, and thought of writing about video game music (production). It would probably be a qualitative research ie. in-depth interviews with a handful of people rather than polling a bunch of people (quantitative research).

I did some interviews during the Distant Worlds II concert in Sweden. I think I would be able to pull this off.

The thesis itself should be a bit on the technical side, as opposed to cultural impact etc. Basically I would go out and interview important people in the process of video game music development. How it is done, where, when. Everything. I haven’t figured out the specifics yet. Going to Japan is also an option, if I manage to get in contact with the right people.

What are your thoughts? I wish to hear anything you have to say. Has this been done before? If you think this is a waste of time or not conceivable, do tell me. But that will not affect me in any way anyhow, so explain your thoughts as thoroughly as possible.

Thank you,
Nikolas

I think this would be a good idea, but if its more on the technical side how would this be different than any other music production thesis.

if its more on the technical side how would this be different than any other music production thesis.

That is one of the more concerning questions I also have in mind. The answer is, I don’t know. The thesis wouldn’t be purely on the technical side, but would have to focus more on it. Nowadays I guess game music production is also quite close to film music production. But the most important thing for me, is to find something I could research and write passionately about. VGM happens to be a good candidate.

Well, I’m truly interested in knowing that technical side of VG music. It’s always been a mystery to me. And I’m not sure a lot of people have really done a thorough research about it. I’ll be more than glad to read it once it’s finished (hopefully you’ll be able to do that!). There’s still plenty of time though. 😛 Good luck with that!

Here are two books that have been written about Video Game Music:

Game Sound: An Introduction to the History, Theory, and Practice of Video Game Music and Sound Design: Amazon.co.uk: Karen Collins: Books (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Game-Sound-Introduction-History-Practice/dp/026203378X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1290006790&sr=1-1)

The Complete Guide to Game Audio: For Composers, Musicians, Sound Designers, Game Developers Gama Network Series: Amazon.co.uk: Aaron Marks: Books (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Guide-Game-Audio-Developers/dp/0240810740/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1290006790&sr=1-2)

They might help your research.

There is also a similar post at vgmdb that you might want to see. They have a lot of technical posts there:

VGM Research: I need your help! – VGMdb Forums (http://vgmdb.net/forums/showthread.php?t=5078)

I don’t think this sounds like a bad idea at all. I think it sounds like a really fantastic idea actually.

I can’t guarantee your professors will agree but hey, the guy who came up with FedEx for his thesis only got a C or something for it so what do they know? ; p