Game soundtracks with sounds effects.

Plenty of albums that usually incorporate the game sounds into the music one way or another. Some just play the sound effects in the background, or mix them into the song and make it part of the track. Other times they just get thrown in rather annoyingly at the end of a CD.

I noticed this is most common with shooter and fighting game albums.
Anyways, what's your guys' opinions on sound effects in the albums?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Donkey Kong Country 2 is the first game soundtrack that comes to mind when it comes to game music that uses sound effects to great effect and as a part of various tracks.

Breath of Fire V also has different sound effects that pop up in various tracks.

My take is that I like sound effects when they're used to enhance the mood of a track as related to the context of that track. However, the sound effects alone should not carry a track out of some attempt at originality, and they may not be very memorable in a track that is extremely ambient in nature. I like them most when they work hand in hand with the other aspects of a piece of music.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Megavolt

My take is that I like sound effects when they're used to enhance the mood of a track as related to the context of that track.

My thought as well. I rather appreciate the subtle and intelligent use of contextual sound effects in music, be it VGM or not. Like notes produced with instruments, they are part of the sonic realm and can become an interesting audio experience. When inserted during the creation process, they become part of the identity of a song. However, when added later on (e.g. for an album release), they have the potential of degrading the listening experience since they weren't part of the original composition and people might prefer to hear the untouched source material. But they can enhance the experience as well, it depends of the case.

What I usually don't like are those kind of medley tracks which have gameplay sound effects layered on top of them all the way through. I can see why they can be of interest by recreating the whole audio experience as heard when playing the game, yet people are usually in for the music alone. On an album, if they put these + the music without SFX, that good, but if a clean version of the music is not included, that's when it's not brilliant. As for pure SFX tracks, I don't mind them as long as they are grouped together at the end of the CD, at which point I can simply press 'stop' if I'm not in the mood.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

One of breath of fire 3's tracks was a boss fight remix with some voice clips mixed into it.

Looking back, it was actually kind of nice.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Another soundtrack which comes in my mind is Chrono Trigger. There are just two or three tracks (e.g. Last Battle) affected only but there are some.

In my opinion it's alright on a few tracks but it shouldn't be standard. Music pieces should persuade through composition and arrangement and not using ingame sound effects.

I was speaking idiomatically.

It makes sense to put sound effects in them for completeness, as people spend time making those, along with the music. But they usually don't work well to listen to on a soundtrack. Sometimes it can be downright annoying.

The Dance Dance Revolution soundtracks came to mind right away. The first disc of those is just the in-game tracks, while the second disc will contain all the songs mixed together with sound effects and voice samples used in the game. Some of the songs are also remixed on the second disc.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Rimo

What I usually don't like are those kind of medley tracks which have gameplay sound effects layered on top of them all the way through. I can see why they can be of interest by recreating the whole audio experience as heard when playing the game, yet people are usually in for the music alone.

Agreed. I doubt that anyone misses those 'sound story' tracks from the older Dragon Quest soundtrack releases. I wasn't particularly fond of the remixed tracks at the end of the Mother 2 album either. I wanted the original, seperate, unaltered tracks that comprised those remixes to be present in their entirety. A remix or enhanced arrangement on an original score album should be an added bonus and not a replacement. The extra tracks on the Parasite Eve OST are a good example of how it should be done.

FELIPE NO

Particularly where I remember sound effects being featured here and there would be in Mega Man music. Sometimes the sound effects give a little teeny taste of reliving the moment, like Zero's theme in Mega Man X2 where the track plays the sound effect of his health bar filling up when you're about to fight him (if you played the game that way).

A game like Rez would be one end of the spectrum where the sound effects actually make up a lot of the music and make it sound pretty sweet. On the opposite end, there are tracks that I remember fondly with a sound effect featuring in-game somehow but not on the track itself, though I wish it was there. In "Sigma Rebirth" from Mega Man X1 (where the final form of Sigma appears), there's a quiet gap at the end where I recall the 'health bar filling' sound that doesn't actually feature on the track.

The most notable example of those by far (in my opinion) is the stage clear fanfare of Sonic the Hedgehog 1 & 2. It just feels incomplete without that little ring jingle at the end.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Sound effects are one of my pet peeves. Along with out-of-place vocal samples, they make me turn off and delete songs immediately (sometimes I'll try and edit it out). My thinking is this: if I want to hear SFX, I'll play the game. If I want to hear music, I'll play the OST. Never the twain should meet, unless the SFX are tracks of their own at the end of the album (I often use those in projects or give them to people in radio production).

Now, I'm not talking about things that are integrated into a musical whole, like the electronic blips, squeaks, and scrapes in BoFV. Those are really just instruments, not SFX, and you'll find them in everything from pop to classical (I one played a piece that called for a rubber duck squeaking in time).

Jam it back in, in the dark.

One example of when I don't really like the insertion is Gradius Perfect Selection - Return To The Star. They do small drum solos just to throw some sound effects over the orchestra. A valiant attempt, maybe, but I just don't like it.

One I do like, though, is Ryu vs Kyo at the end of the Capcom vs. SNK soundtrack. I suppose it isn't really part of the music, but it seems to flow well. Maybe cuz it makes you feel part of the fight.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Sounds effects bug me for the most part when listening to the music. Maybe it's the idea that if i wanted the sound effects to, I'd be playing the game. I'm listening to the music to hear the insturments and melody, as well as setting a background mood.

The only real exception to this (thus far) has been the track "Zero" from MegaMan X2's OST. As Josiah talked about, the sound of the lifebar filling gives me a happy little nostalgia about the first time I heard that song.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I would agree with most in saying that I really don't enjoy Video game music with sound effects unless it's planned as part of the music itself. I deleted the Halo soundtrack outright when I realized how many tracks had aliens? talking and yelling all over them, I just find it really annoying; I have the same problem with a few tracks from Twilight Princess too, it just distracts from the music in my opinion.

Donkey Kong Country would definately make an exception, but that's David Wise for you. Even Sonic the Hedgehog for Sega did some nice work with odd sounds, and now that I think of it, so did Toejam and Earl; but, the rest are far and few in between.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Sound effect tracks have no actual sit-down-and-listen value, but if you're into using them, then it's nice to have them included. I think I've used about one or two sound effects from games in my life, so the full tracks of them usually just bug me. Thank god for playlists, where I can just leave them off.

Incorporating sound effects into music pisses me the hell off. It took me years to get a hold of a good recording of the Breath of Fire III boss song because of the bullshit sound effects put in there. Why would I want to hear a bunch of screaming when I'm trying to listen to music? Way stupid.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I personaly feel alittle differently about them. While they are ok in Game Rips, they are not ok in full on ocherstral versions. Take for example Dragon Quest / Dragon Warrior osts. In some of them they were nice enough to include the original 8 bit versions with sound effects while keeping the full arranged versions free of sound effects.


That is ideal for me, however I can live with out them.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I'm not a big fan of sound effects in official releases. That said, I was disappointed that the Rockman 7 soundtrack still kept sound effects in. While the music was good, I just found the sound effects in a few of the tracks to be annoying, especially when the game rip had the same quality, but with no sound effects.

FELIPE NO