Video Game Music Remixes and Music to Write By · 4:32am Sep 11th, 2015
I know a fair number of people seem to like listening to instrumental music when they are writing. Usually when the subject comes up, I pull out a few of my favorite non-instrumental albums to listen to. However, one type of music I listen to on occasion that might not be obvious to people looking for music to listen to that doesn't have lyrics. That would be video game music remixes.
You don't really pay that much attention to the music in the background a lot of times when playing a game, and it's a bit of a shame, because some excellent music has been written for them. I'm rather fond of the music Laura Shigihara wrote for Plants vs. Zombies, for example, enough to have bought the soundtrack. Not only are there some good instrumental tracks, there's also the "There's a Zombie on your lawn" song, which is quite fun.
One classic soundtrack as far as rpgs go would be the music from Chrono Trigger, which was very well done. Just listen to Schala's theme:
[youtube=dJtwEpQe6w0]
Now, if you go to OCRemix.org, you'll find lots and lots of remixes people have done, playing around with themes from video game music, and, in fact, entire tribute albums based on one game or a series.Here's a few I'm fond of. Bear in mind the entire albums is free for download on all of these:
25YEARLEGEND - This is a tribute album specifically to Legend of Zelda. Here's a sample of tracks in a trailer for the album. Laura Shighara did one of the tracks on this album, a minute in.
[youtube=Qu-TrkoAEmg]
Another good album with a different feel is Xenogears: Humans + Gears. It's long and full of good music. It's split into two discs, in fact, with Humans and Gears as separate themes. Here's the trailer.
[youtube=1bjnE3VECTo]
And within the last day or two, Worlds Apart: Inspired by the music of Final Fantasy IX came out. I've only listened to a few tracks, but I loved Final Fantasy IX, and I'll certainly be listening to the whole thing.
[youtube=ja7S7jcgORQ]
I feel like I've maxed out the number of youtube videos for this post, but if you like western music, you might check out Wild Arms: Armed and Dangerous, too.
Not particularly pertinent to ponies, I know, but hopefully at least one of you finds this useful when looking for new background music for writing by, or just listening to...
You know what music inspires me?
Gavin Dunne's pieces, otherwise known as Miracle of Sound.
The Protomen have mega man themed music.
I've never been able to do that "listen to music while doing other things" thing. I couldn't possibly listen to music while writing, for example. It doesn't inspire me; it just distracts me. It's not that I don't like music - it's just that I can either do something creative, or listen to music, but not both at the same time. :)
But video game music? Heck yes! I love it. My music collection consists of half game music remixes, and half Brony music at present. I consider myself an aficionado of Amiga game music, which is plentiful and wildly underappreciated, and as well as the original tunes, there's a whole bunch of excellent remixes produced by the community over at AmigaRemix.