Game OST, How it's Made?

[Confuted]

I've always kinda wondered how games always had some sort of unique soundtrack to them. Understandably for larger corporations they have whole orchestras dedicated to them for their game (ex: Super Mario Galaxy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SuperMarioGalaxyOST2.jpg)). But it begs the question to me, how does an indie-ish company obtain soundtracks?

[medierra]

I've always kinda wondered how games always had some sort of unique soundtrack to them. Understandably for larger corporations they have whole orchestras dedicated to them for their game (ex: Super Mario Galaxy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SuperMarioGalaxyOST2.jpg)). But it begs the question to me, how does an indie-ish company obtain soundtracks?

There are various ways of commissioning music from different types of audio contractors. Many are independent 1-man shops or small groups but they range all the way up to groups that can record live orchestra. Prices can range from several hundred to a couple thousand dollars per minute of music.

[Llama8]

Not someone with a large bowl of curry farting into a mic then...

Several hundred $ per minute seems quite high though, even allowing for whoever's doing it having to spend significantly longer putting it together (say, 30 mins of work per minute of sound).

[Renevent]

Have you guys considered licensing music from artist community web sites? I believe the guys behind Castle Crashers got most of their stuff from newgrounds...and most of the music in that game is fantastic...I think I also read an interview where they said it was a lot cheaper than commissioning the songs to be made.

Link to Castle Crashers tunes:

http://www.newgrounds.com/collection/castlecrashers

Fun game, btw, if anybody has XBox live :p

[Panthro]

A good site I visit is OC Remix (http://www.ocremix.org/), who remix game soundtracks and I'm pretty sure some of their members have worked with game developers on original soundtracks.

[k4llu5]

Not someone with a large bowl of curry farting into a mic then...



That leaves me out...lol

[yerkyerk]

You could always contact the dudes that made the original Batman theme song.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qP-NglUeZU