[BrothaDom]

I'm sure this has been asked a billion times, but, what exactly makes good, memorable tunes?

I've been trying to make original music for some games...but I'm not sure if I'm capturing what made the tunes of some of my favorite games so memorable.

Any thoughts/suggestions on what made your favorite tunes so memorable?

[Meteo Xavier]

Strong melodies. Melodies you can hum. In my opinion, thats what makes game music good. Unlike TV/movie soundtracks which are mostly to help setup the atmosphere, game music is designed to help push things along and entertain.

That means its much easier to do energetic western-music-theory/rock tracks or jazzier numbers that take the better forefront of the sound experience. You don't, for the most part, have to create music against an active scene, the music drives much of it home alongside the action itself.

Does that help?

[ShrackAttack]

There are a few elements that play into making game music memorable:

1) If you're referring to older nes/snes/n64 music you notice that most of the most memorable tunes are just short and to the point and are usually only around 0:45 to 2:00 in length and then repeated incessantly. For obvious reasons, you remember something much easier when you have listened to it much more (IE Pop radio). Even if you don't particularly like or care for a song, you still will find it memorable just because you have heard it 70 times.

2) One reason you remember certain game songs so well is due to the visuals that go along with the song. Just listening to a random song once and going on your way with no actual game to go with it won't really make the song 'memorable'. The point is that if you put each individual medium (the visual, the audio, or the story behind it) on its own then it will probably be a much weaker idea. But if you combine: Terra's struggles in FF6, the visual events in the game, and Terra's theme song you create a much more memorable concept. It is the story behind the song that helps to make it so memorable and recreate that nostalgia for you. If you went up to a random person on the street and had them listen to Terra's theme a couple of times they would probably either just call it shitty game music or think it was an okay song. They wouldn't have that same connection with the song as you did.

Now I'm not saying that the music doesn't stand on its own legs, but all of these elements are what really create something nostalgic for us like a lot of old game music.

3.) Obviously good writing

[Calum]

I'd say, in terms of melody repetition - and not just repetition of the melody as a whole but having the melody have repetition within itself. E.g. having a rhythm which repeats throughout the whole melody. Or having one pitch which it keeps returning to. I often find that I instinctively put repetition like that within melodies as it's what sounds good to me but i think you'll find that if you construct a melody with repetition and either in-step movement or movement based around triads/arpeggios, you'll come up with a great one. Don't forget to leap up a 5th at the beginning of the melody or jump up an octave at the end - those are kinda classic formats which seem to work!

But otherwise (still just talking about melody) analyse other songs closely. Something that was instantly catchy or you thought just worked (make sure it wasn't because you'd heard it 100 times - however you can tell that!) and see how the melody was constructed? Is it based around the triad? What kind of shape does it take? Do they keep returning to one note? How does the rhythm play a part in it?

[dannthr]

Originally Posted by BrothaDom

I'm sure this has been asked a billion times, but, what exactly makes good, memorable tunes?

I've been trying to make original music for some games...but I'm not sure if I'm capturing what made the tunes of some of my favorite games so memorable.

Any thoughts/suggestions on what made your favorite tunes so memorable?

I find it interesting that you're asking a question that isn't really directed at good game music but rather memorable music in general.

Good game music must support the game 110%. Good game music must SERVE the game.

In service to the game, it may be necessary to create a memorable musical theme, but sometimes the exact opposite is necessary--you may need to create a musical moment that supports the action but is completely forgettable.

Memorable game music doesn't equate to good game music by default.

However, in respect to your question about memorable music, basically, you must employ elements of form such as unity and variation, contrast and balance.

Create a melody utilizing scale information and scale degree relationships, then remember that the shorter your melodic motiv, the more likely someone is to recall that motiv. Repeat with variation, sequence, transposition, etc, etc. You can create variation and contrast by creating a new melody, but retain coherence by utilizing unity in rhythmic motif.

Study simple examples of this like Yankee Doodle Dandy and America the Beautiful.

Study cadential antecedence and consequence.

Melody is structure informed by harmonic relationships.

You can do it all intuitively, because it's part of your biology, but for the beginner, you may find yourself searching often for direction.

Music theory informs your direction.

Tip #1: Study music theory.

[Rozovian]

Straight from the LoTR appendices: is it hummable?

[DusK]

Originally Posted by Rozovian

Straight from the LoTR appendices: is it hummable?

This is a really good way of putting it.

[FM]

Repetition is a form of change - Brian Eno

[Omni-Psyence]

Originally Posted by Rozovian

Straight from the LoTR appendices: is it hummable?

Man I can hum all sorts of shit though, I'm like Peter Griffin with those ridiculous scat skillz.

[BrothaDom]

Meteo, yes, helps a lot thanks!

Originally Posted by dannthr

I find it interesting that you're asking a question that isn't really directed at good game music but rather memorable music in general.

I guess I didn't phrase the question in the most clear way. I didn't mean to equate good with memorable. I always think tracks like Ice Cap Zone, Elec Man's theme, and things like that are good and memorable and it seems that others agree fairly often I imagine.

I'm just curious what made them good AND memorable. Like it was said before, there's tons of good tracks that aren't memorable and many tracks that are memorable but aren't good.