Q & A With Chad York

[chadyork]

1. How much experience did you need as a musician to get where you are today?

I suppose all of it.  I started playing music as a kid and I'm in my forties now.  I think one missing skill that a lot of musicians don't think about when they leave school is life experience.  There isn't really a short cut to living life and having experiences that you learn from...and most importantly learn about yourself. 

Being an Audio Director has a lot of aspects beside creating Music, Dialogue and SFX.  The first one being that you have to mentor and manage people.  Know how to get the best from them.  Get 4-10 people creating music or sounds that work together and sound cohesive.  Remember these are creative people with their OWN ideas.  You need experience to be able to give them feedback that makes the work consistent with the rest of the team but doesn't kill their creativity or ego. 

You also need to know that composing music for media is about understanding the humanity of a character and what emotion needs to happen at each point in the scene.  It's not just sitting down and writing a "cool piece of music" when you feel inspired.  That means personally knowing what it's like to fall in love, having your heart broken.  Losing a loved one.  Traveling to see some of the world.  Having a child.  All of these things give you perspective and empathy that allows you to create what is needed musically.

Other skills...you need to be able to budget both money and time effectively so you can communicate to your clients how much x will cost vs y.  How many minutes of cinematics can you score in a week and be happy with the quality.  Know which battles to pick and which ones to let go of when there is disagreements on direction. Understand project management and QA.  All of these skills have to be second nature so that you have the confidence to stand up in front of a group and get them excited and motivated to do their work...and also be confident enough so you can enjoy the process and not be stressed out!

I definitely could not done the Audio Director gig when I left college.  I made opportunities for myself and slowly gained these skills over years and years.  I learned pretty early that making a career with music is a lot more than just understanding music.  You need to learn the business aspecst of the industry. Working with people is a skill, get better at it.  Take risks.  Sometimes you hit a home run and sometimes you stumble and fall on your face.  The trick is to have the humilty to learn from your mistakes and not make excuses.  There are plenty of bitter and cynical people out there.  But I think if commit to making yourself better and learning every day the rest will fall into place. 

2. Are you working on any other "big" projects right now or in the near future?

Yeah, you bet!!  Of course Nintendo holds the reigns on when games get announced...not me. 

[chadyork]

1. Is there any song in Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon that you're not very convinced with or would want it to be different?

Yeah, there are a couple of NIS's that I wasn't completely thrilled with...or we had to compromise creatively with another opinion on the team.  But mainly because sometimes they're so short it is hard to develop/complete a coherent musical thought.

2. What is your favorite song of the game?
I'm really happy with how the Intro Movie turned out.  Love the flow of ideas and themes.  I also love the final cadence with the Polterpup at the end of the game...also the NIS intro leading into the Haunted Towers Boss (B6??)

[Yugi]

ohhai

Question: What do you think about the LM:DM arrangments we already have here?

http://www.ninsheetm.us/smf/index.php?topic=2320.msg208210#msg208210
http://www.ninsheetm.us/smf/index.php?topic=2562.msg207180#msg207180
(I think these are all of them.)

[FireArrow]

ohhai

Question: What do you think about the LM:DM arrangments we already have here?

http://www.ninsheetm.us/smf/index.php?topic=2320.msg208210#msg208210
http://www.ninsheetm.us/smf/index.php?topic=2562.msg207180#msg207180
(I think these are all of them.)

What?! We need to arrange more! 

(Sorry off topic...)

[The Deku Trombonist]

Hi there Mr York! 

Do you have any advice for those of us here who do some arranging?

[FSM-Reapr]

I'm not into arranging as much as the others and I have no intentions of becoming a part of the gaming industries, so instead of asking anything, I just want to say that I really liked your work on the Mario Strikers Charged. I'm not sure what else to say. Thanks for coming!

[chadyork]

What advice do you have for those beginning to nosedive into the realm of Game Audio?

Other than the stuff I've talked about already I think games require you to be very diverse musically.  Learn to authentically write and arrange in as many styles as you can.  Not only because you will get asked to score in specific styles, but because those tools will help broaden and deepen your ideas in the styles you are already proficient at.  i.e. writing walking bass lines in jazzy ragtime pieces can add some unique elements to your palette of ideas when you're writing more traditional or classical string arrangements.

[chadyork]

1. Do you feel that Punch-Out!! on the Wii is a worthy successor to the NES classic?

I like to think so!

2. Who is your favorite character in the Punch-Out!! series?

Don Flamenco

3. Not counting the ones that you composed, which video game/video game series would you say is the biggest inspiration to you music wise? (i.e., which game franchise has your favorite soundtrack?)

I think the Mario side scrollers will always hold a special place in my heart because of their innate "catchy-ness" and the fact that you can listen to those themes over and over without getting tired of them.

[chadyork]

1. Do you think it is difficult to get a job as a video game composer? Are there many people trying to get in it?

Yes and yes.  I get around a dozen composer reels a day from people who want to get into video game composition.

2. What do you think is the best way to become a video game composer? I've heard the best way is to set up your own booth or something at an E3 conference.

The best way is to get working.  Now more than ever there are tonnes of small iOS and Android games getting made.  They all need music and SFX.  Search out and find some local developers and strike up some conversations.  In some cases agree to work on spec deferring payment until the game ships and taking points on each sale.  I've seen this work for many guys around Vancouver. 

3. How long does it take to make a soundtrack such as that for Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon? Would soundtracks for a more mainstream system (if you will, (e.g. WiiU)) usually take longer, or about the same?

Top to bottom I was making music for LMDM for about 3 years.  There is not much difference composing a Soundtrack for 3DS vs WiiU.  The time consuming part is the composing/recording.  Implementing them into the console is almost exactly the same process for both.

4. Does all coding for a game need to be programmed for a deadline set before the release date? (For testing purposes I imagine) How long is this gap between finished game and release date usually?

There are many checkpoints along the way to finalling a game.  Like most software development we follow a milestone process.  Alpha (content is complete)>>Beta (code is complete)>>RTM (Release to Manufacturing - Bug fixing is complete).  Alpha to RTM is usually around 8-12 weeks

5. What is the process by which a game may wind up with it's own soundtrack CD? Does this process involve you in collaboration with the other staff? If so, with who (specifically) and in what way? How are publishers for such CDs found?

That is really up to the Publisher (i.e. Nintendo) to decide, as they own all of the content, whether or not they want to release the content.  Usually their marketing department would be driving how/when it would be released.  Remember, once you've created it, they own the rights to chose how they want to distribute it.  It's not your decision to make.

6. Have you ever worked on a game that ended up with it's own soundtrack published and distributed as a CD?

I have worked on many published CDs, but I don't think Nintendo has released any NLG game soundtracks.  They have sold the tracks as ringtones in some countries I believe.


7. When writing a song, do you write the melodic line and add the accompanying parts to it after? Or start with chords and add melody after? (I'm mostly asking this because you said your prime instrument is guitar, and my guitar teacher starts his compositions with chords)

I think most of the time it is something I hear in my head first.  Usually melody against some sort of bass motion. Sometimes I write on an instrument, but you have to remember that your abilities on that instrument may limit what kind of ideas you create. 

When I do write on an instrument it can start off either way, melody first or just a riff ...or small vamp that gets the ball rolling.  I try to use the guitar as just a vehicle to get the ideas out.  I use a Godin classical guitar with a 13 pin output into a midi converter to get the ideas into ProTools. 

...and drop 2 and drop 3 guitar voicings are really great for Big Band, Brass and Orchestral writing!!

[chadyork]

1. Is there a specific process you go through when composing music?

When I work on my own, I like to practice and improvise for a bit as a warm up.  Often I'll work through some tunes in the Real Book.  Or create an exercise in a really cool iOS app called iReal.  Maybe I'll make a small progression or vamp based on a specific mode like Lydian b7 that has a specific tone to it.  Then I'll just improvise over it until I feel warmed up.  Some times those improv sessions produce some ideas that end up as cues!!

When I work with Darren and Mike we all sit around with our instruments in the studio and bounce ideas off each other.  Write a quick lead sheet or even verbally communicate a concept, someone starts to improvise the changes, the others improvise melodic ideas or rhythm section feels.  I think because we studied Jazz together it is quite natural to improvise in a group setting.  On a personal note I think this is the most amazing luxury.  The depth you get from having several people contributing ideas allows us to work really fast.  There is no second guessing whether an idea is good or not like when you are working alone.  If all three of us think an idea is good, then it is pretty likely going to work.  If even two of us question whether an idea will work, then it might not be a good path to keep pursuing.

2. Do the songs you compose go through multiple drafts before getting into the game? If so, how different is the first draft of a song compared to the final draft?

It depends.  A lot of the scoring for NIS or cinematics happens pretty fast and so they often end up being the first draft.  Gameplay cues tend to go through more drafts.  Most often tempo changes or tweaks to the arrangement to accommodate the various game states that are tuned by the Game Designers.  Remember that the game is still being made while we write this stuff.  So the gameplay is changing underneath us all the time.  I'll come back to a Boss Battle a week after we score it and it may have completely changed.  Some of the Bosses in LMDM were completely redone from the ground up several times!!

[DonValentino]

All answers are very interesting! I read all of them, Mr. York. It's a real honor to have a video game music composer here at our humble site answering our questions.

Thanks again!

[FireArrow]

What Don said, it's an honor to have you here Mr. York! Your answers are really inspirational and make me want to pursue composition as a career!

Thanks again!

[FireArrow]

If we're still doing this, I have a few more questions:

1. What made Nintendo choose you as composer over other people applying for the job?
2. Would you want those who aspire to be a video game composer to follow in your footsteps or take a different route?
3. What mistakes have you made in your journey to where you are now?

Thanks! 

[chadyork]

1. What made Nintendo choose you as composer over other people applying for the job?

Well in my case they didn't really chose me per se, Nintendo chose to work with NLG to develop games for them.  But to answer in a slightly different way, "why would anyone hire one composer over another?  I think the answer is usually the same, when you're hiring you want everything. 
  - Great composer/arranger
  - Knows how to collaborate with other creative leaders like the game and art directors
  - Knows how to scale the compositions and arrangements based on budget and time
  - Good technical foundation in how to implement music in games

2. Would you want those who aspire to be a video game composer to follow in your footsteps or take a different route?

Well either would be fine with me.  I think the reality is that to make a career out of music everyone forges a bit of a unique path. 

3. What mistakes have you made in your journey to where you are now?

Wow, well probably too many to list!  Underestimating how much work a project was, undercharging for my work, taking on bad projects, etc...

But the most important thing is to understand when you've made a mistake.  If you can, correct it, if not apologize and learn from it.

[SlowPokemon]

How much should a composer charge for working on a project?