Nowadays cyberpunk videogames are very popular, since technology and future have always been performed in any kind of art such as sci-fi action movies, books and comics.
Indeed, original soundtracks in those games are very iconic, powerful and recognizable in their own style. They bring a peculiar sound atmosphere that clearly matches with visual art.
Obviously there are million ways to compose a cyberpunk music, because there are several solutions to let us taste the sound of the future (or the sound from any other past?). However, we will show you guys a little guide (that is precisely our purpose) to make a good cyberpunk soundtrack, sharing some tips and tricks that can help to focus the music target on this game genre.
Start from common
First of all, let’s think about a short list of common stuff in Cyberpunk videogames: not only objects like robots and machines, A. I. , futuristic weapons, spaceships but also all that can be conveyed by the idea of a dystopic place, a corrupted world by androids or an underground landscape where you have to run away from weird monsters.
Nonetheless we need a sort of cybernetic sound environment to fit the game. Most of the times electronic music is used in this genre because it takes the player inside the fallen world created by the developer, giving the scenario a unique sensation of graveness.
What kind of electronic music we need? That is a one million dollar question. Rather than thinking on electronic genres, better focus on gameplay and its features:
- Where am I?
- How fast is this game?
- Is it either shooter or more investigatory?
- Is the graphic simple (like pixel art or graphic novel) or more complex?
These questions are the key to personalize our original soundtrack.
Great, we think this is a good starting point of view to keep in mind in order to compose. Cyberpunk does not only mean “music of the machines” because it would be too superficial. Just let the ideas flow freely through the images we gave above, without forgetting the importance of the gameplay.
Drums in a cyberpunk videogame music
Let’s start with the pulsing rhythm of our game, the drums. We think that this instruments should play an electronic sound, no matter if it comes from a drum-machine or an electronic drum set. That would be nice if every single part of the drums could change its sounds with something electronic.
A tip for the groove: if we are giving the sensation of speed in gameplay, it won’t be enough playing a standard beat faster, but it might work better by arranging a dance music beat of our own personal taste.
This groove will be the metronome of our song. Once we created it, we can put some fast fills with tom and snare inside our part, to avoid boring loops at our player’s ears.
In addiction, we probably need a different beat to vary our pattern. For example, if we’re still looking for that sensation of speed and fast movements, we can just sprint a charleston rhythm played with a regular kick four-on-the-floor. It may work well to create particular music dynamics in gameplay.
Lead Synthesizer in a cyberpunk videogame music
Now it’s time to talk about synthesizers. What better way than to do an iconic melody that will be stuck in your head?
We have to find a recognizable theme which will always recall you that videogame, and most of the times it’s not a bunch of notes.
Since we created the drums in blocks called patterns, the lead sound will strictly follow the rhythm: it can be a phrase, or an arpeggio, or even a ‘drone’, like one long held note.
Once we find a good melody, there are many different ways to vary it without composing another new one. This is a fundamental exercise to make our soundtrack effective.
So we can play a phrase in reverse, or performing it staccato/legato, or maybe we can reply the melody one octave above or below.
Bass Synthesizer in a cyberpunk videogame music
Last, but not least, bass synthesizers are as common as iconic of the whole cyberpunk scenario.
Composing the bass later on allows us to build a part which directly communicates with the drums and the lead synthesizer we have just seen.
You may follow the tonic in two ways: a rhytmic bass pulse step by step or by long held notes.
If we choose the ‘drone’ style, things can be much more easier than a rhytmic bass, but there is a possibility that our song becomes too static. As we told before, the more you vary, the more music dynamics will affect gameplay.
As a rhytmic pulse, the tonic can be played powerfully and quickly. Choose a deep synth bass sound and make it sound loud. Get ideas from the notes we played before and then slighltly change the part, making it more simple.
Tips for some more expression: if you have one or more LFO available on your synthesizer, you can set a modulation by connecting the LFO to your oscillator (or to the cut-off filter too). It will gave a trembling/vibrating effect on your bass, and it will probably sound not as just a musical background, but as a protagonist like the lead melody does.
For those parts where the game needs even more speed, if you have a sequencer on your bass synth, we can build a fast sequence (setted on our song bpm) for those parts where bass and drums are in charge to give the maximum of anxiety inside the gameplay.
Similar to the lead synthesizer, a bass line can be refined by adding a few dissonances, respecting the music development in our key.
A dissonance used in the right way can be another element of identification of cyberpunk, as if that sound actually came from the dystopian world that characterises the videogame.
Guys, here you can find our video about how to make a cyberpunk videogame music, in which you’ll see the outcome we created in this small guide. Hope you will enjoy!