The Beginner's Guide To RPG Maker Audio

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The Beginner's Guide To RPG Maker Audio

by Kain Vinosec
I. Introduction (To Music Theory)
Hey everyone! I'm Kain. You might know me from the IGM tutorials or the music packs I have
up in the store (The Nothing Battles & The Blackheart Power). This guide assumes you know a little
bit about music already, but I'll do my best to explain things as we go.
This guide is intended for beginners that aren't necessarily accustomed to creating music or
audio in general, as well as those that are not familiar with the types of music and audio that would
generally fit into a video game. It is also intended to demonstrate how you can utilize your audio to
the max with compositional tips and tricks geared towards making your game's audio stand out
above the rest.
We'll be covering the basics of musical scales, and applying their uses to different situations.
We'll also be briefly touching on musical theory by demonstrating how learning patterns to scales can
unlock your creativity without necessarily spending years upon years learning how to play each
individual scale (there are thousands of these things!). We will also cover how different situations and
events in video games (especially RPGs) can be completely changed by what music is playing at the
time, or what sound effects you choose for any given situation or act.
You will not need to know how to read sheet music or tablature to follow along with this
guide, however knowing some musical terminology will come in very handy. Look to the section
titled "Terminology" later on in the PDF to familiarize yourself with some common musical words
that you may hear in this guide or when discussing music in general. On the next page we'll go over
some basic music theory to help ease you into the rest of this guide.
http://www.rpgmakerweb.com/
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Piano Keys Illustration
The above illustration of a piano's keyboard shows the chromatic scale from C to B, including
sharps (#) and flats (). Note that each sharp/flat has two names and these names vary depending on
which scale you are playing. This illustration only shows a single octave. Were the scale to continue to
the right or left it would repeat exactly the same way to include other octaves but the notes would
always be the same notes in the same order.
With the digital technology available today it is not necessary to learn how to play music the
traditional way as simply using your ears and mouse clicks with some trial and error will allow you
to produce music on some level. Actually knowing the basics of how music is created can give you a
huge boost of awesome over other composers that function in this way. It will take less time to create
music even to the point where you can create music in your head without ever picking up your
instrument/program, you'll be more knowledgable about why something might sound wrong and
how to fix it, you'll also understand why something might sound fantastic and know how to recreate
it should you need to.
The single most important musical thing anyone can learn is what scales are and how to use
them as tools. Most people will tell you that scales are a collection of notes, or if you're talking to
someone especially focused on basic instrumentation you might hear that scales are a collection of
notes played a specific way. Both of these are only partly true though and neither touch on what
scales truly are. A musical scale in its most basic form is a pattern made up of distances from one note
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to the next. When you learn to look at scales in this fashion you don't have to learn 12 different major
scales on an instrument, you can learn the major scale pattern and move around your starting note or
"tonic" to whatever key or octave you need the scale to apply to. This applies to all scales though, not
just the major scale.
So why are scales so important? Scales determine your sound, they determine which chords
work well, they bring you melodies, rhythmic riffs, and just coordinate your entire song overall.
Learning which scales work together, what keys to use, which melodies fit over specific chords, etc.
allows you to create songs that are intricate and magical and exactly what you want them to be, rather
than stumbling around in a music program with no musical knowledge which is akin to playing a
brand new instrument in the dark. You may be able to figure out how to craft a song, but that doesn't
necessarily mean you know what you're doing. Scales are the all-important heart of music. The basics
that everything else is built upon.
I am not here to teach you the basics of music though! You will have to seek out that
knowledge on your own via instructors, schooling, websites, books, whatever you can find. Trust me,
it's worth it in the long run and more importantly if you really enjoy music you'll find that it's a blast
learning how to play it on any instrument. If you want to learn more about scales there is a list of
patterns towards the end of this PDF. I highly recommend taking a look at it and learning some. As a
weird old man once said; "It's dangerous to go alone. Take this."
Now, what I am here to teach you is how to use music to improve your video game. So let's get
started and do our best!
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II. Avoid Over-Using Repetition & Chaos

So, first bit of advice! I know that when you listen to music in RPGs you'll find a lot of
repetition. The general reason for that is because the tracks loop from some point after the beginning,
to some point near the end and they play endlessly. What you'll find in really good examples of video
game music however is that music doesn't feel or sound repetitive usually. If you have a main theme
and you want it to repeat very often, all you need to do really is make sure it is broken up by
something a bit different once in awhile. You don't want your tracks to sound minimal (read:
minimalism in music such as minimal techno) because not only will the tracks themselves be
repetitive but they will be looped so it'd be like repetitive^2.
Along with this pack there is a "Music Examples" folder in the directory. Hop in there real
quick and check out "The Blackheart Power - Solemn". This is one of my personal tracks that was
mainly included in The Blackheart Power as an ambience track. Where it might work for an area you
wouldn't spend a lot of time in, it would definitely not work well as a town theme or event theme. It is
simply too repetitive to be used as a full BGM and works better as ambience or more akin to a Music
Effect.
For contrast, check out "Undead Fantasy - Bonus - Illustrious Fields Of Time And Grain". This
is a piece that bears a good bit of repetition, but with a little break and a strong melody it is able to be
used for a town or event theme and works as a BGM.
Another problem comes when you add too much into the track. You can end up promoting
chaos and have a track that explodes with random notes, random melodic changes or not having any
melody at all. Melodies tend to be what drives video game music, whether vocal or the much more
popular instrumental. Without melodies your listeners may lose interest, as well as lose focus on the
track attempting to tune it out. While you don't want your melody to stand out above the gameplay,
you also don't want it to be forgettable or completely unpleasant. Check out "Unreleased Tracks Domination" for a great example of absolute chaos in music.
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III. Silence, Drama, & Intense Emotions

Let's say you've got a character you've been making your players fall in love with all through
the game. Then it comes time to kill them off. Some random black-caped fellow falls from above and
shanks her right in the back. What do you do with the audio for the scene? Silence. Intense heartbeat
noises. The villainous main theme. Don't forget to include the sound of the sword killing your
comrade! This may be a bit overly dramatic but drama and emotional scenes are what drive a lot of
people to play games. If you have circus music playing in the background of a scene like this you're
going to put a lot of people off. Unless your black-caped villain also happens to be a maniacal clown.
In which case, probably not that bad of a choice.
So what types of audio drive drama? In the above scenario silence is used to give a break from
the intensity of the scene. The player is left in total silence for a very brief moment to absorb
everything that just happened and process it mentally. You don't want to use too long of a break of
silence though, as it will give the player a bit too much time to deal with the loss and start wondering
where the music went.
When the music starts back up you'll generally want something powerful that punches the
player in the gut with all the feels. If you have a theme that you've been using for that character,
consider using it again here. You could slow it down, or add more instruments to make it seem more
dramatic. You could also add vocals which can make a scene like this even more powerful or if the
theme is normally in a major key try switching to a minor key, or play the melody using a diminished
scale instead of whatever you'd normally use. Switching to a darker scale/key will provide a massive
impact. Then not only has your party changed with the loss of your friend, but the music of the world
has changed with your loss as well.
The main thing to keep in mind with scenes like this is that you don't want your music or
other audio to take away from the emotional presentation of what's happening on the screen. You
want to accentuate that. If your music stands out too much then your player is focusing on the music
and you've just taken away from your storytelling, which is the most crucial part of any RPG.
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IV. Battle Themes, Powerful Scales, & Masterful Melodies

Ah, my specialty! Whenever I play RPGs or any video games at all that feature intense battles,
fighting for your life or to save the day, I focus on the music. That's what gets you pumped. You're not
telling a story when a battle starts (usually anyway). You're trying to get your player excited and put
them in the mood to defeat some evil! So what makes up a good battle theme?
Speed can be a factor. The faster your music is, the more it'll intensify any given situation. You
can have great battle music that is slow though, so this is only one of many factors. If you're playing
real instruments for your recordings you'll want to be careful of trying to play something too fast for
your level of experience. Make sure you're not just speeding it up for the excitement too, speed it up
because the song needs it. Listen to it repeatedly and make sure that it benefits from being faster
because sometimes slow can be just as good.
Speaking of slow music, sometimes you want to give out a really heavy impression. Most
battle music will be based around rock genres, but there is nothing wrong with going a bit heavier
into metal, or harder into hard rock. When you have heavier, pounding music with crushing drum
beats you'll end up with something that can motivate your player's evil-slaying-needs just as much as
having a faster track. If the argument of slow vs. fast confuses you, check out the example track "The
Nothing Battles - Superior Confict - Void". It starts off with a slow intro (great for a build up) then it
jumps into a really fast bit, rocking out quite a bit and adding lots of excitement. Later on you have
the drums calming down and becoming heavier and more powerful rather than super fast. Then you
get some parts that make your heart pound, rather than making your heart race.
So what are good keys or scales to use for battle themes? Minor scales are generally a good
way to go. Try using the harmonic minor, or if you want something really different try out the
Hirajoshi scale.
The Hirajoshi scale is a little-known scale that is very similar to a natural minor scale. It is a
pentatonic scale (meaning it has only five notes) but it provides a very interesting and only slightly
different sound than the minor scales. It is fantastic for battle themes, whether using it as melodies or
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to build your chords or riffs from. Because it has similar ties to minor scales it can also be great for
dramatic, sad, or even angry pieces of music.
Another great five-note scale to try out is the standard minor pentatonic. This scale is one of
the most influential and most popular scales in music today. It's literally used in every single kind of
music you can think of as far as I know. I've yet to encounter music forms that don't use it in some
way.
Just for fun if you add one note (F#/G in C) to the scale you have the minor blues pentatonic
scale. There are a lot of other simple permutations you can make to have this scale transform and
stand out in different ways, but learning the core scale is the most important aspect here. Use this
scale for melodies, use it for riffs, use it for absolutely anything you can think of. The greatest thing
about this scale is that 99% of the time (not a real statistic) this scale sounds fantastic.
When you start working on melodies, especially darker melodies or tunes that require a bit of
an edge, start off with some 5ths (intervals using the first and fifth note of the major/minor scales) and
play around with the minor pentatonic. You will be surprised how quickly and easily you find
something you like. Then you can move on from there to use more intricate scales and chords if you
like such as the diminished scales or other minor-sounding scales.
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V. Major Scales, Harmonies, & Happiness

When you have a fun event like visiting a theme park or you have a lighthearted character that
is very sweet to their party it might be time to break out the good 'ol major scales. These scales
provide access to brighter tones and happier feelings when they're played. The problem is they can
get very repetitive and everyone has heard them a million times in a billion different songs. What can
you do to make them stand out or make them different?
Harmonies are great for this purpose. When you have one instrument playing a background
riff, and another joins in playing a 5th interval harmony you end up with an awesome sound. You
could do the same thing with any other note of the scale as well, but 5ths are usually the more
common harmonies heard in music because much like the pentatonic scales they almost always sound
good.
Try taking a standard violin sound and play it by itself with a simple melody using the major
scale. Then try adding a second violin playing the 5th interval of each note you played before.
Suddenly the music sounds much more interesting and fun! You can do this with higher or lower 5ths
and you can do it with as many different instruments as you like. You can open up the "Music
Examples" folder and listen to "Example Of 5ths" to get an idea of what I'm talking about. You'll hear
the violin by itself first, then a high 5th harmony comes in along with it and just before the tune ends
a low 5th harmony.
Beyond using harmonies and the standard major scales you're going to want to branch out at
some point and find some other happier sounding scales to work with. Try checking out the whole
tone scale. This scale may seem more like an experiment than a musical scale, but it provides a
slightly suspensful and interesting twist on a standard major scale while still managing to keep the
bright and happier type of sound associated with major scales.
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VI. How Things Should Sound

When you first start out making games it's not always clear what certain events should sound
like mainly because every game does things a little differently. There are general guides you can use
to help you out though and get you pointed in the right direction. Let's list off some common BGM
situations and what kind of music and scales might go with it.
Airship/Flying: Stick towards major scales. Use ascending melodies to give a feeling of being lifted up.
Battles: Minor scales in and around the rock genre. Keep a good pace and use fast melodies.
Boss Battles: Same as battles, but add some more voicings to make things interesting.
Cities: Cities are busy, so go with major scales or similar and keep a good bit going on in the track.
Dungeons/Caves/Etc.: Minor and diminished scales. These can be slow or fast and should be creepy.
End-Game Battles: Go epic! Add choir voicings if you can. Full orchestra and make it rock!
Happy Scenes: Soft and bright major sounds here. Let's not bring down the party.
Heroes: Each hero should have an individual theme to set them apart. Use your discretion to choose the
best sound for your heroes.
Puzzle Solving: Suspenseful but no need to rush. Use some diminished scales to get this feel easily.
Sad Scenes: Minor scales are built for sadness. Go slow, and play around with dissonance.
Timed Events: Your player should feel rushed when the clock is ticking. Give 'em a track to match!
Villages: Villages are small, and their themes should be as well. No drums, soft voicings.
Towns: Towns are the heart of RPGs. Give each one a good theme to match it just like for heroes!
Vehicular Travel: Usually you'll want something that follows with your World Map, maybe a bit
faster paced.
Villains: Minor scales. Dark. Heavy. Make your villains sound as evil as they truly are.
World Map: This one is up to you. Go dark, go bright, go wherever you want. It's your world afterall.
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How about the other forms of audio? Background Sounds, Music Effects and Sound Effects all
have their own places as well. Let's check out some common uses for these items and see how they
can alter your gameplay.
BGS: Be careful you don't use something annoying as this is going to repeat for as long as your player
is in any given area. You want it to be noticeable, but not what your focus is turned to. Consider
including your BGS musically into your BGM in some situations.
ME: These really give your game a big part of its feel as these can sometimes end up playing often. You
might use these for victory, leveling up, game overs, etc. Make sure they are short and to the point. You
don't want a minute-long level up effect to play every time someone gains a level. You may even
consider using Sound Effects in a lot of situations.
SE: These are going to be all throughout your game. A majorly important thing to keep in mind is the
volume of sounds. You don't want to have super loud sounds towering over your music, or for one
sound to be moderately quiet while another one blows your speakers apart. Choose wisely and always go
for quality over file size as these are usually pretty small.
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VII. Closing
I hope this guide has helped steer some of you in the right direction when it comes to audio in
your games! I tried to focus on Background Music as that is the most common but should there be
other guides, or possibly advanced guides I will focus more on all the types of audio that I can. If you
have any questions or suggestions for future guides or notice any errors or anything in this guide let
me know through the forums or email me via the email address below.
Happy composing,
Kain Vinosec - kain@degica.com
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VIII. Terminology
Arpeggio: Playing the individual notes of a chord, usually in rapid succession.
Chords: The sound produced when three or more notes are played simultaneously on a single
instrument.
Chromatic Scale: This is the name for the scale that includes all twelve common pitches. Each
pitch would be a half step above or below the next. Examples of this scale would be playing
every open string and fret on any fretted instrument, as well as playing any/every key on a
piano.
Half Step: The distance between any single note and the next note in chromatic sequence. D to
D#, or D to D for instance.
Harmonies: A harmony is generally any combination of notes being played simultaneously.

For the purposes of this guide we'll be using a more specified definition of the word which is
more akin to the result of two or more instruments playing similar melodies but using
different notes.
Interval: The distance between any two notes, and also the term used when two notes are
played simultaneously.
Musical Direction: When referring to musical notes, directional words take on a new meaning
referring specifically to pitch frequencies. If you say "move up a note" or "play that a note
higher" it means you musically would play the next half step above (E to F for instance), as it is
higher in frequency. "Lower" and "down" would refer to moving down in pitch.
Octave: The interval between a note, and the note twelve half steps above or below. An
example would be playing a C note, moving twelve half steps above it, and playing the note
you would find there. It would be a C, but with a higher frequency (double the frequency in
fact!). The same would occur moving twelve half steps down only the frequency would be
halved.
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Scale: In its most basic form a scale is a pattern of intervals (generally read as half steps, whole
steps, etc.). This pattern provides a collection of notes that will offer up various stylistic
sounds when played together.
Tonic: The first, or "key" note in a scale.
Whole Step: Double the size of a half step, this is the distance between any single note and the
note two half steps away. D to E, or D to C for instance.
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IX. Scales
Major Scale
Pattern: Tonic, Whole Step, Whole Step, Half Step, Whole Step, Whole Step, Whole Step, Half Step
Example with C as the tonic: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C
Natural Minor Scale

Pattern: Tonic, Whole Step, Half Step, Whole Step, Whole Step, Half Step, Whole Step, Whole Step
Harmonic Minor Scale

Pattern: Tonic, Whole Step, Half Step, Whole Step, Whole Step, Half Step, Whole & A Half Step, Half Step
Melodic Minor Scales

Ascending Pattern: Tonic, Whole, Half, Whole, Whole, Whole, Whole, Half
Descending Pattern: Tonic, Whole, Half, Whole, Whole, Half, Whole, Whole
Ascending Example with C as the tonic: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C
Descending Example with C as the tonic: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C
Major Pentatonic Scale

Pattern: Tonic, Whole Step, Whole Step, Whole & A Half Step, Whole Step, Whole & A Half Step
Example with C as the tonic: C, D, E, G, A, C
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Minor Pentatonic Scale
Pattern: Tonic, Whole & A Half Step, Whole Step, Whole Step, Whole & A Half Step, Whole Step
Example with C as the tonic: C, E, F, G, B, C
Minor Blues Pentatonic Scale

Pattern: Tonic, Whole & A Half Step, Whole Step, Half Step, Half Step, Whole & A Half Step, Whole Step
Example with C as the tonic: C, E, F, F#, G, B, C
Hirajoshi Scale (Kostka, Payned, & Speed)

Pattern: Tonic, Whole Step, Half Step, 2 Whole Steps, Half Step, 2 Whole Steps
Example with C as the tonic: C, D, E, F#, G#, A#, C
Diminished Scales
Half/Whole Pattern: Tonic, Half, Whole, Half, Whole, Half, Whole, Half, Whole
Whole/Half Pattern: Tonic, Whole, Half, Whole, Half, Whole, Half, Whole, Half
Example with C as the tonic: C, C#, D#, E, F#, G, A, B, C
Example with C as the tonic: C, D, E, F, F#, G#, A, B, C
Whole Tone Scale

Pattern: Tonic, Whole Step, Whole Step, Whole Step, Whole Step, Whole Step, Whole Step
Example with C as the tonic: C, D, E, F#, G#, A#, C
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X. About The Author

I have been playing music for over 15 years. I took lessons from an amazing teacher for the
first 4 years in guitar and bass guitar. I also ended up taking lessons for 2 years on the keyboard, and 1
year for voice. I taught myself how to play the drums as well, though that is certainly my weaker
instrument. I am currently a teacher with a focus on teaching beginner's how to play guitar and bass
guitar, as well as composition, improvisation, and recording. When I have the time I am a composer
for RPGMakerWeb where I currently have two packs available for sale and hope to have many more
soon.
I have been composing music intended for video games for several years now. I started 5+
years ago and over that time I've taught myself more about sequencing drum tracks, and how to
record, mix, and master music properly and professionally. I work with live instruments (aside from
the drums which I personally sequence in a program) and play everything myself. You will not hear
anything copied/pasted in any of my tracks. I record each instrument for every second of every song.
If you like what you've read, and you'd like to learn more about me you can check out my
website: http://www.KainVinosec.com
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