Composing Tetrisphere

IGN64.com spoke with Neil Voss, the creator of Tetrisphere's fantastic techno soundtrack.

Although the N64 has all the capabilities to produce impressive music and sound effects, there is no denying that many games have been plagued by rather uninspiring audio -- both on the technical and the compositional side of things. But as companies like Nintendo, Rare or Konami have shown, it is possible to make great music on the N64 (despite the lack of a dedicated sound chip), but it takes quite a bit of work.

IGN64.com was able to speak with Neil D. Voss, the composer of the music of Tetrisphere (developed by H2O for Nintendo) -- by many considered to be the benchmark for good music on the N64.

Q: How did you get into writing music for videogames?


I have been making music with computers since I was 12, starting on the Commodore-64's SID chip -- which I believe was the first integrated sound chip on a home computer. This moved me into making a lot of music for the underground computer scene, or "demo scene", which was loosely affiliated with game development. Many demo scene people went on to become game developers. It was a logical progression into game development because I was always a fan of electronic games, and the music in them was what initially inspired me to create music on the computer.

Q: What exactly was your involvement with Tetrisphere?


I started on the project freelance when it was Phear on the Atari Jaguar. When H2O signed with Nintendo, the scope of the project grew and they decided it would be wise to have an Audio Director for their company. So I went in-house, and was their Audio Director for the duration of the project.

Q: Do you have any programming experience?


Minor. I am currently programming Java/JScript dealing with algorhytmic music and dynamic music, and with tying music and graphics events together. This has a lot to do with my personal projects, which revolve around nonlinear music and visuals. I have always been very technical, and so I do a lot of work with programmers, co-designing replayers and software and helping work things out. But I would not call myself a programmer.

Q: How many people worked on the soundtrack of Tetrisphere ?


I was the sole producer/composer/sound engineer. So I did all the music, sequence programming, sound design, etc. David Pridie (in-house programmer) programmed our custom replayer, which was based on a PC audio format devised by Wilfried Welti and Jean Paul Mikkers. A lot of people were of great help, especially the people at SGI who put up with some of our intrusive visits during the 'still under development' period of the hardware to help us get audio working.

Q: How did you go about creating the tunes? Do you hear melody in your head and sit down at the keyboard -- or do you start with a clean slate and try out things?


Its hard to describe the process. I spend a lot of time making sounds on the synthesizers, some of which will give me an immediate idea for a whole album. I also do a lot of sampling in general... things that I can load up and process and contort later. When I start a track from "scratch" I go into the source and just start messing with things. This is where if there is any pre-determined 'direction' it becomes a factor.

Q: Where do you compose most of your songs?


Now I have a project studio, where I do the majority of my work.

Q: What was your motivation behind picking techno for the game?


This is a bit of a story in itself. We wanted to do something "different" for Tetrisphere to match the game's uniqueness as a puzzler. Something that would add a little attitude. Most puzzle titles follow a very distinct mold. The theme bounced around a lot. It started "cyberpunk" which got way out of hand. I suggested using the "techno" vibe and for a short time was involved in adding this direction to the game. I was personally into it, and could also see that it was growing in popular culture into what it is now (for better or worse). I think it is no coincidence that video games and electronic music are connected, and that it is all being pushed to the mainstream as computer technology becomes more an element of mainstream culture.

Q: Is techno easier to do on the N64 than other styles of music? What's the toughest?


That's very subjective. Doing anything well is difficult because there are a lot of constraints. I think the trick is if you can do something people can connect to and enjoy, limitations are not going to change this. You could say doing a "full-blown orchestral" piece would be difficult, as much so as doing a heavily subtle electronic piece with a lot of textures. So from the beginning you just have to have a concept of what you can get away with, and what you can trick people into thinking they are hearing.

Q: What are your primary musical influences?


What first got me into computer and electronic music were the Commodore-64 composers. I was very inspired by Jeroen Tel (who has since become a good friend), as well as people like Martin Galway, Jens Christian Huus, Rob Hubbard... I was very impressed with the fact that they were taking this obscure little chip and pushing it beyond its limits. Musically, I have always been inpired by artists who have changed and defined styles, typically centering around electronics... people like Isao Tomita, Jan Hammer, Wendy Carlos, Weather Report, Herbie Hancock, and modern archetypes like Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, artists on labels such as Rephlex and Warp, Mouse on Mars, etc. I am excited by people who defy or ignore limits and rules.

Q: Are there any other game soundtracks on the N64 that impress you?


Not extremely. Rare's guys do excellent work from a production standpoint, and Nintendo does in-house as well. Some of Nintendo's campier music gives me a good laugh -- like the singing Yoshis on Yoshi's story -- and I am impressed with the fact that Nintendo is emphasizing dynamic music. To be fair, there are quite a few recent games which I have not checked out aside at E3, where I could not hear them. Most N64 titles seem to have good production quality, while the music is fairly gutless, which means it doesn't offend the game players, but at the same time they don't walk away and talk about it.

Q: How about on other consoles, like the PlayStation?


I was impressed with WipeOut/WipeOutXL's soundtracks on the PSX, but they fall into a completely different category. Parappa the Rapper was a brilliant overall phenomenon. Yuzo Koshiro's stuff on the Genesis was quite good.

Q: I noticed quite a few wah-wah and sawtooth effects that sound like they're from 70s synths in your Tetrisphere soundtrack -- are you emulating them, or are they the real thing?


The real thing, sampled. Its very important to keep things in context. Make synth sounds with synths and strings with strings... Otherwise you get very plastic results. Although plastic is a feel in itself...

Q: What kind of synth set-up do you work with?


I have a lot of analog synths and obscure processing tools. Synth-wise things from Moogs to Arps to Rolands, and some evil Yamaha FM units. I also use a lot of digital synthesis -- computer based synths and processing.

Q: Keyboards aside, do you play any other instruments?


I formally played trumpet as a child up through school. I adapt very quickly to instruments but stick predominantly to synthesizers and the computer, which is an instrument in itself.

Q: One particular song, "Extol," contains background singing voices. How do you go about creating those?


Those were from a sample CD. The sample was chopped up a bit, but was the base of the track. I didn't really have the budget to go record a chorus of Balinese people, and I was too lazy to go and sift through 100 old albums to find the right snip.

Q: How about the cool scatting in "Martist?"


Same... sample CD. Although I avoid them now as much as humanly possible.

Q: Was there anything in your original ideas for Tetrisphere that you wanted to do but couldn't?


Not really. I am never happy with things I did a month ago. There was a lot of "me doing this guy's style" in Tetrisphere that I would have preferred to avoid using in the end. But the strong response to the soundtrack made me realize that for better or worse, a lot of people enjoyed my work.

Q: Which one's your favorite track in Tetrisphere (and why)?


"Hallucid" because a lot of people thought the distored snare drum was a corrupt sample. From a production standpoint "Manic Drum Mix", which was the last track added. There are things I like and hate about each track.

Q: Some of the track names are quite odd -- are they named after anything in particular? How did you pick the names?


I just called them things I would call them if I had to put them on an album. "Azule Lux" was supposed to be "blue light" relating to one of the level backgrounds that impressed me visually. "Snowy Mushrooms" is a drug reference and equally a reference to Nintendo's penchant for mushroom imagery. "Phony" is because I felt that track was too close to Liam Howlett's (of the Prodigy) style (me being phony). "Extol" means to praise, which I felt was appropriate... Things like that.

Part II of this interview will follow tomorrow.

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