Writing Engaging Suspense Music

Suspense music, intrigue, thriller score or mysterious underscore, are all words to describe pretty much the same thing; music that creates tension. Audiences of suspense productions need to feel uncomfortable, disturbed and at times terrified. How does a composer establish a sound of tension in their compositions? This article will focus on compositional techniques for creating engaging suspense music.

Recently I was given the task of creating a one minute promotional piece for Tokyo Snow Club’s Summer Splash 2010 trip. The brief was to create a thriller/suspense video that centered around a knife scene on a tour bus. The music was to build and swell, underscore a tour guide narration, then abruptly change into a fun and exciting modern sound while the trip’s details were displayed. The video then was to end with the Tokyo Snow Club logo.

The first step was to sum up what suspense music essentially consisted of. After some time spent listening, it was immediately clear that all suspense music has;
1) Crescendos and large percussion hits,
2) Dissonance and the use of minor scales or dark sounding modes,
3) Dark ambient sounds and samples,
4) Tension and release.

So let’s take a close look at each of these four points, as they form the basis of this article.

The Use of Percussion and Dynamics

What is it about crescendos and percussive hits that resonate so well with suspense music? If you take a close listen to any thriller underscore, you will immediately hear the swelling of strings and horns, strange ambient sounds entering and exiting, and a multitude of percussive strikes.

Crescendos and percussive hits help to guide and evoke emotions in audiences. They draw out the time it takes for events to happen in visual productions and can be used to raise concern in audiences when danger is not immediate. This in turn strengthens the time when danger does finally arrive.

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Don’t forget that crescendos and percussive hits can also be used to confuse and misguide audiences. Generally underscore music is used to support visuals, but it can be also used to give viewers false information. This is a very commonly used technique to draw out suspense in thriller and horror productions. Audiences are used to believing, or let us saying ‘feeling’ since they may not be completely paying attention to the music, that when a crescendo or percussive strike occurs, that an undesirable event is going to shortly thereafter happen.

Directors and composers take advantage of this technique, and can draw out, and strengthen the final event that the audience is anticipating. Without this kind of musical deception, audiences would be more inclined to predict the timing of events in thriller productions.

Dissonance and Note Choice

It goes without saying that suspense music relies on dissonance and carefully chosen musical scales to convince audiences to feel uncomfortable. The use of minor scales and the exploitation of the augmented fifth can help to quickly set the mood for tense music.

Without delving too deeply into the technical aspects of dissonant chords and modal scales, let’s just say that composers need to experiment with different sounds based on these scales and discover a sound they are personally happy with. It is without a doubt, that melodies based on these scales will naturally cause a feeling of tension, and combined with careful instrument and sound sample choices a composer can effectively create suspenseful music.

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Scales such as the aeolian mode, the sixth mode of the major scale which runs from A to A on the piano (only the white keys), and chords with the augmented fifth, are extremely effective for creating tense, suspenseful music. Experiment with different instrumentation playing melodies and harmonies based on the aeolian mode with some additional usage of augmented fifths.

Dark Ambient Sounds

This is an area of composition and sound design that can truly give composers their own unique style. The way that ambient sounds are incorporated into musical compositions is a delicate art and without rules. Listening through mainstream suspense music it is evident however, that some sounds have become ‘industry standards’. The sound of glass bottles slid across the strings of grand pianos, the subtle sounds violins can produce in an orchestra, or the endless world of digitally created and manipulated samples.

The point really is, to find sounds that can effectively fulfill the goal of creating engaging suspense music, whilst also giving composers a sound stamp that can be recognized by directors, fellow composers and in some cases audiences. Simply listening to the huge amount of suspense music available can give plenty of ideas about what to sample.

Production techniques for creating samples is another article in itself, and taking a close look at Spencer Sternberg’s Making Sound Effects article may prove informative in this regard. In summary, time stretching, pitch shifting and careful use of effect processing can lead to amazing ambient sounds.

Tension and Release

Having tension at the beginning of the Summer Splash promotional piece creates a more effective impact when the modern sounding music enters later in the piece. Tension and release is a common compositional device to help lead listeners into feeling the progression of a musical piece. In popular music, it is used in chord progression choice to help distinguish when a section of the music is going to end and be replaced by a new section (such as the use of a pre-chorus before a chorus).

In the Summer Splash promo the release comes with a funky loop to support a list of informative titles.

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The tension before the introduction of the modern music is used to build up anticipation in listeners, causing the final information in the promo to have a stronger effect. In suspense music, tension and release is used to build emotion and anticipation in listeners, and from a composers point of view needs to follow the action in the picture. Tension and release can be used continuously, rising and falling, to help accentuate the final arrival of an event.

The Tokyo Snow Club logo completes the end of the promo, so the music changes quickly back to a final suspense sting. This is to keep in the suspense theme of the promo and also support the logo.

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Final Thoughts

Experimentation is the key word when creating suspense music. By basing composition on the ideas of dissonance, scale choice, instrument choice and sample choice, a composer can experiment with a personal style of creating suspense music. Pay attention to the order of events in the visuals and try to misguide audiences at times, to create a stronger effect when final events to arrive.

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Take a look at the final version of Tokyo Snow Club’s Summer Splash promo by Spencer Sternberg.

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Part Two continues on from Writing Music for the iPhone, which looked mostly at instrumentation, motifs, structure, recording processes and the importance of critical listening for iPhone game music composition. Part Two focuses on creating thematic development through the use of varied instrumentation.

When composing music for a project that requires a large number of music tracks within a short period of time, utilizing thematic variation can save you enormous amounts of time. This variation also helps with impacting a more memorable soundtrack on the listener. The key to effective thematic music is short, catchy motifs, that are repeated by varied instrumentation, over several different tracks in a game’s score.

This article looks at writing game music for the iPhone and aims at giving suggestions towards producing varied video game music.

Is thematic music important?

Thematic music is derived from motifs; short melodic or rhythmic lines played to elicit particular feelings from a listener. The motifs could be used to create any kind of feeling, from intrigue, to surprise, to sadness. In computer game music, themes are often used to remind a listener what game they are playing and can be used to instill a game more vividly in a player’s mind.

Thematic music has another function however, and that relates to productivity. For a composer, an enormous amount of time is spent on creating melodic material, be it woodwind lines over a percussion loop, or a vocal melody over hip hop beats. By basing a game’s soundtrack on as little as two or three main themes, more time can be spent polishing the production of the game’s individual tracks .

Once the motifs have been established, creating more tracks in a game simply comes down to the use of varied instrumentation.

Repetition vs. variation

Repetition can be very annoying, but it is also a necessary part of music, especially music that accompanies visual material. Without repetition it would be easy for a player to forget where they were in a game and even what game they were playing. Varying instrumentation is a clever compositional technique that allows motifs to be repeated without incurring the same repetition that individual instruments are prone to suffer from. By passing a motif from one instrument to another the thematic ideas can be more subtly instilled in a player’s memory.

The choice of instrumentation ultimately comes down to what the game level requirements are.  If it is a tense, war battle scene, then some large orchestral brass and woodwind sections might work well. If it is a mystical forest scene, then some wood and metal percussion would most likely hit the spot.

Instrument choice for video game music should be based on the feelings the instruments elicit. This is an area of composition that any creator of game music needs to strive to be an expert in.

How were the themes varied in Plushed?

In the case of Track Eight of Plushed, the brief was to create a music track the followed the main character through the room of a princess. The keywords and phrases were; ‘huge’, ‘creepy’, ‘dollhouse’, ‘symbolizing a young girl’s dreams’, ‘zombie/skull twist’, and ‘princess is a little insane now’. From this, it was immediate that some kind of music box or toy piano sound was needed to satisfy the ‘young girl/dollhouse’ element, whilst also needing some dark ambient sounds to take care of the ‘creepy’ element.

By taking a closer look at the first track of Plushed it is more clear how effective varied instrumentation can be. The first track of Plushed consists of one flute melody, introducing one of the main theme motifs, whilst being supported by light cello pizzicato. It also has a repeat of this motif played by violas, and an ending with oboe and clarinet. Track Eight of Plushed is a variation of this track.

The pizzicato cellos from Track One were replaced by a toy piano, a glockenspiel and a vibraphone.

Track One: Pizzicato Cello

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Track Eight: Toy Piano

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The main flute motif from Track One was then replaced with a bassoon, which gives a darker, and also more playful effect than the flute.

Track One: Flute

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Track Eight: Bassoon

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The oboe motif from Track One was then reinforced by a choir section to add more texture to the theme. This building of the theme’s texture helps to the notify the player that they have progressed further in a game. A short harmonizing clarinet line also helps to add texture the the motif that was introduced in Track One.

Track One: Oboe

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Track One: Oboe and Choir

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As can be seen from the manuscript above, very little has changed when transferring the Track One motifs to Track Eight. However, for a listener playing a game, this technique of varied instrumentation can show development in game’s storyline, create a more memorable soundtrack and also help a composer make better use of their precious time.

Final Thoughts

It is incredibly useful to have the earlier version of a theme for a player to reference against. Since Track One of Plushed is so light and harmonious, by the time the player has reached Track Eight, they realize that the game has turned a lot darker since the time they first began playing.

From the manuscript in this article, it is easy to see that after a main theme has been composed, it is only a matter of varying the instrumentation to create a whole new track. This can save that precious extra time needed, for a composer to find the difference between creating a good game soundtrack and great game soundtrack.

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For your reference, the two final versions of Track One and Track Eight, from the iPhone game Plushed, have been added below;

Track One (Final Version):

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Track Eight (Final Version):

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When writing music, especially music that is required to support visuals, it is important to know who the audience is and how they will perceive the music. What kind of music are they familiar with? Which instruments will they recognize as suggesting the feel and mood of the visuals? How can a composer safely branch out from the norm, to satisfy ones creativity, yet ensure that the music will be received well by the audience?

In the case of writing the music for Plushed, the iPhone creation by Blacksmith Games, the question that was immediately apparent was; how can a short looping composition catch the attention of an audience and also remain instilled in their memory?

This article explores the process of writing video game music, based on the compositional process for one of the ten levels of music from the iPhone game Plushed.

Step One: Choose your instruments

After receiving the brief of a game, and in particular the brief of a level, a composer has a fairly clear idea about what the requirements and aims of the music should be. This is at least in reference to the characters, the setting and the mood. With these key elements in mind, choosing the instrumentation for video game music is simply a matter of answering the question; what instrument creates what mood?

How important is instrumentation?

The instrumentation in a game is one of the most powerful methods of eliciting setting and mood. Listeners can, at least subconsciously, associate sounds of instruments with particular places or feelings. Take for example pizzicato strings, which immediately conjure up images of tiptoeing and sneakiness.

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The point is not if a listener is consciously listening to the pizzicato strings, though a composer would prefer at times they did not, the point is that a composer needs to be knowledgeable about which instruments create which effect.

Why choose orchestral instruments for Plushed?

The instruments across the orchestra are exotic, unique and incredibly varied. Using orchestral instruments makes for easy sharing of melodies and motifs across instruments, which allows for both an increase in suitable repetition and an increase in variation. Repetition is incredibly important in thematic music as it is used to impress a theme onto an audience. However, too much repetition can disempower the effect of a theme and therefore variation is needed to give thematic music space.

Step Two: Create your motifs

Motifs are where music derives its character, and when writing music for video games is where the characters derive their place in a game. From a high, fluttering flute line, to a deep, dark string run. Without this important compositional technique video game music would be unrelated and disconnected from the essence of the game.

Motifs are the melodic and rhythmic material that is at the core of a theme. It is what will be used and modified when developing a theme and is the basis for reminding an audience of a theme.

What are the second level motifs in Plushed?

The second level game music in Plushed is rich with motifs; the pizzicato strings and flute being very prominent in the opening sequence.

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While the oboe has several small motifs also. Such as at bar ten,

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and also at bar nineteen.

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Then there is the clarinet and bassoon counterpoint at bar fourteen,

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and the rising flute run at bar sixteen.

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Motifs can be very short, even just several notes. As long as a motif achieves its goal of contributing to a theme, then duration is of lesser importance.

Step Three: Build your structure

What would a series of motifs be without structure? Structure determines the impact of thematic music by deciding how motifs can be developed and shared across instruments. It controls when and for how long main motifs will be played. It is also the key factor for creating variation.

Structure and compositional technique

The game music for the second level of Plushed is a one minute looping track, consisting of twenty-three bars of flute, oboe, bassoon, clarinet, pizzicato strings, legato strings, marimba and light percussion. The track is dominated by the flute and the oboe, which play the main motifs. The track structure is as follows;

1. (Bar one) – Light percussion introduced
2. (Bar two) – Pizzicato string motif
3. (Bar three) – Ascending marimba run
4. (Bar four) – Flute motif call
5. (Bar five) – Pizzicato string and marimba response
6. (Bar seven) – Flute motif extension
7. (Bar eight) – Pizzicato string and marimba variation
8. (Bar ten) – Oboe motif
9. (Bar twelve) – Pizzicato string and marimba repeat
10. (Bar fourteen) – Bassoon and clarinet counterpoint motif
11. (Bar sixteen) – Flute ending motif
12. (Bar eighteen) – Ascending marimba run
13. (Bar nineteen) – Oboe ending motif with pizzicato strings

The track opens with light percussion, running at ninety-two beats per minute, which sets a relaxing, yet playful tempo for level two. Being only the second game level out of ten levels, the percussion consists only of pitched finger drums and shakers, as the later levels have more percussion.

Mood is created almost immediately by the introduction of the pizzicato strings which are based around the aeolian scale. Since Plushed is a side scrolling action game, the pizzicato strings give the track a light, playful feel and work well together with the movement of the main character.

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The aeolian scale is essentially a harmonic minor scale with a lowered seventh. It has a dark, mystical feel, and harmonies based on the aeolian scale resonant well with visuals that are seeking to be engaged by the audience.

Following shortly after is a medium paced, ascending marimba motif, based also around the aeolian scale. This was added to bridge the pizzicato strings to the flute and oboe and accentuates the playful nature of the track. By basing the marimba on the aeolian scale, it creates a light tension that is also supported by the dissonant sounding legato strings.

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At bar four the flute is introduced, playing a short motif, the first of a two part sequence. The pizzicato strings and marimba then repeat, and the second part of the flute motif follows in bar seven. This is an example of a call and response between the strings and the flute, with the marimba acting as a bridge. This kind of call and response gives variation and also helps in the build up towards later sections in the music.

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At bar eight and nine the pizzicato strings and marimba double together to play a new motif. This is a development from the first cello motif and helps lead into the oboe motif.

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By bar ten the call and response between the cellos and the flute has been well established. By bar ten in a twenty-three bar composition, the time is right to vary the flute motif, and so the oboe motif in introduced, giving instrumental variation.

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There is then a movement to a bassoon and clarinet motif. By having the bassoon and clarinet play in counterpoint allows for more harmonic interest and relieves the flute and oboe from the task of lead motifs. With the flute and oboe sitting in the higher register, the bassoon and clarinet balance the melodic range of the track.

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By bar sixteen it is time to return to the flute, which has been the main motif instrument, and so a small climax is reached by the introduction of a new rising flute motif.

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The track comes to an end with a new oboe motif, supported by the original pizzicato strings motif.

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The decisions about structure come from a balance between the lead motifs and their supporting instruments. Variation of instrumentation, together with repetition of the main motifs, is the key to creating a memorable composition.

Step Four: The recording process

At this point in the compositional process it comes time to record. Ideally, the score will be printed off and given to the players that are required. Though not every situation is ideal and the budget for many games will not be high enough to pay for the performance and recording of quality orchestral players. If that is the case, then it is best to create the best sound quality possible with the equipment at hand.

With the production of the video game music for Plushed, high quality orchestral samples were used and were triggered by a midi score. There are advantages to this style of composition, primarily the time required to create a fully produced score, and the soundtrack of a video game can be composed in very short amount of time.

An important point to make is that a lot can be achieved by remixing the samples used in midi compositions. By utilizing effects and mixing techniques, the scale and perception of a score can be greatly enhanced. Through the use of layering, delays and high quality reverbs, an already sweet sounding score can move into a whole new realm.

Step Five: Listen and listen again

Compositions need to be checked and listened to, repeatedly, before they are completed, and in the case of video game music, submitted. It is a good idea to try out methods that prove whether a track can be repeatedly listened to. For video game music, which is going to be heard over and over again, the last thing a composer wants is the listener muting the audio because it is too repetitive and boring.

The best way to limit the chances of repetition is to make full use of variation in instrumentation and thematic devices. By having several key motifs that are balanced across varying instruments, the chance of the music sounding repetitive and boring will be greatly reduced.

Testing the music in different situations can help a lot too. Using a game music track as a ring tone for example, is an interesting way to see how well the track will be received. How long will a person keep that ring tone? They will certainly change it if they find the music too obtrusive or too repetitive.

Final Thoughts

This article has explored techniques for making video game music through the explanation of how one level of a ten level iPhone game was produced. It needs to be strongly emphasized that the balance between well thought out instrumentation and varied, engaging motifs, will produce video game music that is powerful and memorable.

To see the final version of the second level game music of Plushed, an ingame video has been included for reference. Note: At 45seconds the game play video changes to a higher game level music track.

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