In this topic, we explore uses for transitioning dynamically between different different audio tracks, in a non-linear fashion.
(This is for entire audio tracks and not just layers. For just layers, see this post.)
Tracey
Lumino City
The puzzle game Lumino City features a house that can spin with two different orientations. Ceilings become floors and vice versa.
In one orientation, the melodies finish in a downwards contour. The tracks in the other orientation feature higher notes.
This helps the player to better orient themselves and distinguish the alternating orientations while navigating this house.
This is how the composer described the process:
(There’s also even a gramophone track you can switch on and off, which also alternates between two versions depending on the house orientation)
Sonic Generations - examples & counter examples
In Sonic Generations, the level select is a large area. You can navigate in front of the portals to different zones, and the background music will change to match the theme of the zone that you’re standing in front of.
Here is some footage from around the first three zones, in the first 20 seconds
Here it switches between 4-5 different tracks all in under 30 seconds!
And there is footage of a mod (with elements from another Sonic game, Sonic Unleashed) which illustrates how the music changes. The video creator mentions that the tracks are fixed 8-bar loops.
When I played Generations, I found it to be an interesting use of the dynamic and interactive aspect that video games offer as a medium, compared to other media.
One thing it did bring to mind was that the tracks transition between each other only between full bars, so the rhythm stays consistent.
But there were a few things that might have made it feel more coherent to me.
Gaps
Sometimes if you travelled fast, the music would stop and there would be gaps of silence before you hear music from the new place that you’re standing in front of. This would feel noticeably disruptive, and sometimes I travelled in a way to try and stop the music from having gaps.
Instrumentation
Another thing is that the instruments playing the melody can vary a lot between the tracks. For example, even within one area, it can be flute and violin playing different parts of the same melody.
But sometimes when the music had the same instrument playing a melody for different zones, or the same instrument for harmonies, the transition would sound EPIC.
E.g. in the first bit here, the melodic instrument is retained between Perfect Chaos and Crisis City.
And in this video, some people comment that their favourite transition is between Chemical Plant and Stardust Speedway — this is probably due to the fact that they share instruments.
It turns out that coherent instrumentation can help a lot with mashups. We'll see in the next example with an Auxy project.
Auxy "Bad meme" project
This is a project by Matik titled "bad meme", which was posted on the Auxy Disco forum. It’s a mashup of meme songs.
I’ll record of a video of it later on for people who don’t have Auxy/iOS
https://app.auxy.co/projects/4Lm5e44jj0VnMO3eW3UYsg==
You can jump non-linearly between the meme songs and it will sound quite smooth. This is because:
- the instrumentation remains consistent
- the tracks are in similar keys
Pentatonix - Daft Punk mashup
This is just one example of where having the same key or similar keys, when switching quite a bit between tracks, can help a lot.
Some of the songs in this mashup are not in their original key, but have been changed to best match the key of the other songs.
(I think having tracks be in the same key might help more, in the kind of dynamic music transitions that Sonic Generations level select does.)
Side note, someone made an orchestral cover of this…
Then the French army used it when trump visited for bastille day lolol. Apparently Macron hinted beforehand that he liked Daft Punk.
Outlanders
I have another example from the game Outlanders. You can manager villagers to try and survive and get food, build and so on.
The music changes between different tracks when you start a level, and depending on how happy your followers are.
Summary
- gaps can make for an abrupt experience
- coherent instrumentation can make for smoother transitions
- having the same key, or keys with mostly shared notes, can make for a smoother mashup