Trying to organize game music, looking for genre suggestions

[chilledinsanity]

Hey,

I have a monkeyload of game soundtrack music that I'm trying to organize. While I include the album and artist information in the ID tags, I really hate organizing music that way. I like to lump stuff together by the general feel or mood it has. I've had success organizing my other music this way, but since I have so many game soundtracks and they cover such a wide range, I want to have my own system for game music. Here are some examples of ones I have working:

Sinister stuff: Basically any really creepy music, I have a lot of stuff from the Resident Evil and Silent Hill series in here, some tracks from System Shock 2, this is one of the easiest categories for me to classify.

Old videogame music: I actually have a couple subcategories of this. The really old stuff like Sonic the Hedgehog and some SNES games makes it into here, stuff that uses lots of square and saw waves in it.

Oldish videogame music: Material that is synthetic enough to notice, but more advanced than the old school stuff. A lot of SNES music I throw in here, also music from Unreal and Deus Ex I throw in here. I'll probably expand this to include most .mod and .s3m style music. Under this I have 4 subcategories:

1- Really driving stuff, music that would seem appropriate to play during a fight scene or intense racing, despite its age.

2- Fast paced stuff that doesn't fit into the first category. Very active music, but not rhythmatic or catchy enough to make it into 1.

3- General music, not too slow or fast. The only reason I can get away with this category here is because older synthetic music can sound the same after a while.

4- Calm or calmish music in this category

The biggest problems I have are with modern game music which is advanced enough to not sound synthetic, but is definitely unique from other music genres. Here are some I'm having luck with so far:

"Desert" music- I can't really explain my justification, but music that sounds like it would be appropriate for the desert, so long as it's not really fast paced. I'm also lumping a lot of ambient music in here that sounds like it would be appropriate for deep space. I'm including several tracks from Homeworld, Half-Life, Fallout 1 + 2 in here. I'm pleased with how the overall category sounds.

Melancholy-ish music- This category might get scrapped as it might get harder to classify, but it's doing alright so far. Music that's semi-slow and sort of has a bittersweet quality to it goes in here. There's music like this in all sorts of game soundtracks.


That's about it for now. I'd love to hear any suggestions you may have for new categories. I figure this is the right place to get input from. If you could give a description of the type of music that invokes a similar mood in you that would be really helpful. Also, feel free to list song examples that exemplify the kind you're talking about. My end goal is to be able to take music and just lump it into categories that make sense without having to think about too much. Kind of an ambitious goal, but I'll be happy if it works. Let me know what you think!

[Zeugma 440]

Right in my domain, chilledinsanity !

I have developed a jukebox specialized in video game music, based on my own needs. It allows me to run a random mode based on drag & drop queries (e.g. "every relaxing music from the FF series"), and considering the genre of every tune.

But enough shameless self-advertising, let's get back to the genres. My own collection is organized around 9 genres that work quite well with both old and recent game music :

- Action/combat : Generally, fast-paced non-synthetic music that can fit a fight scene (e.g. "Catching Up" from Suikoden Gaiden Vol.1)

- Atmospheric/BG music : any song that could fit a normal situation, perfect for listening while cooking or doing other stuff. It's a bit like your general category (e.g. "Wandering spirit" from Castlevania SotN)

- Epic : More or less bombastic stuff; music to give courage or celebrate something (e.g. "Healing Winds" from Soul Calibur II)

- Relaxing : Calm stuff to chill out (e.g. "Secrecy of Deep Affection" from Merregnon Vol.1)

- Sentimental : Moving melodies that directly talk to the heart (e.g. "Forever Rachel" from FFVI)

- Dark : Your "sinister stuff" category, plus several evil themes (e.g. "Proto Merkabah" from Xenosaga Episode I)

- Themes : Any music that is so known that it has no genre except its own (e.g. "Kefka's Theme" from FFVI)

- Happy music : Any tune that brings a :) on my face (e.g. the Super Mario Bros theme)

- Electronic : Last but not least, any upbeat techno-sounding music (e.g. "Piranha" from Wip3out)

On top of that, my collection is sorted like that :

PC Games > 1990s
PC Games > 2000s
Console > 1990s
Consoles > 2000s

That allows me to dintinguish several kind of musics according to a platform & release criterion.

Since we have a very similar way to think the organization of our VGM collection, I suggest you take a look at the jukebox (JAX) I mentioned above, on my website (http://zeugmaonline.sytes.net/index.php?section=2).

[Kilu]

:)

Genres are evil :)
The biggest reason for this is that I listen to a lot of music that falls under too many genres, so it would be impossible to categorize them ;)

[Zedie9]

:) For a long time, I eschewed the genre tag on my mp3s - even clearing the field if it already existed. I did so for the same reason Kilu has mentioned - a lot of the music I listen to falls into too many categories to make such a decision easily. At any rate, with the purchase of my mp3 player and its available function to play all of a genre, I anticipated the possible future use of the player in such a way, and have started using the genre field in tags. The resolution, for me, was to try to be more general and less specific. For example, with early No Doubt, I wouldn't worry if it were more ska, punk, or pop - I'd likely just call it pop and be done with it. ;)

That brings me to vgm. While it is a distinct genre in my music collection, I have, as yet, not broken the group down into subgroups, and will probably resist for a while, to be quite honest, though I occasionally do wish for finer categorization, such as with movie soundtracks. These also run a wide gamut of sounds and styles, from orchestral scores to rap compilations and everythin between. But so far, I don't differentiate there either. It's a soundtrack... or it's not. Same with vgm. :bouncy:

[chilledinsanity]

Zeugma, thanks for the suggestions! I think they may be a bit too broad for me, like the calm music (I have several tracks that are very calm then abruptly change, or cross categories), but I like the idea of the epic one. the happy one sounds good too. I have a similar category like that for my non-soundtrack music.

As to you genre-haters out there, genres aren't bad, they're just difficult. Also, you have to make your OWN genres, with your own criteria, not what's a commonly classified style. Hell if you leave it up to the music industry, they all fall into one category: Soundtrack. The music obviously isn't the same style, you just have to find songs that seem to complement others.

Like I said, this is ambitious, but I think the end result will be well worth it. My goal here is to give each song equal representation. I want to be able to pick a general category and hit random play, so that each song in there gets as much a chance to be heard as another. All too often when I just select by folder I'm more inclined to just pick songs I remember and like as opposed to varying my tastes a little more. I find some categorization necessary. Most of the time with music, I don't want to have to think about everything that goes into my playlist, my goal is to have all the thinking done in advance.

If you don't want to think about a playlist each time you think about music, you'll either have to listen to the same albums again and again, or else have it be all one big medley, which doesn't work out either. Anyone listening to Final Fantasy Piano Collection then going to Quake 3 Arena Soundtrack isn't likely to find the result that pleasing. Anyway, thanks for the input, feel free to add ideas still!

[Zedie9]

:) I keep my genre field broad for one important reason - if I get too specific (even with personalized categories), I know that I'd be only a few steps away from evaluating the genre of each individual track I have, not solely vgm. And that would be too much, in my opinion. I have nothing against genres - they do come in handy. Songs are sometimes frustratingly difficult to place sometimes, is all; though I agree with you: personalize, and to hell with everyone else's opinion. ;)

[Zeugma 440]

I want to be able to pick a general category and hit random play, so that each song in there gets as much a chance to be heard as another.
You'd be surprised of how a computer may be able to compose awesome playlists when your genres are properly defined. I remember an "Action and epic music from Console games" generated playlist that was insanely good :spin:
I sometimes wonder if it would be worthy to define the ratio for each genre (e.g. 30% combat, 60% epic and 10% BG music) when generating a playlist. What do you think about this ?

[Kilu]

All my playlists are awesome, because I don't have any bad music :)

A took a quick look over my files just now, and these are my usual genres, they are broad, as is to be expected.

Soundtrack, which includes movie scores, movie soundtrack, vgm soundtrack and vgm arrange albums.
Rock/metal, includes stuff like SoaD, Godsmack, Nightwish, CMX... pretty simple.
Punk/punkrock, including Bad Religion, Offspring, Distillers, Foo Fighters... and the like.

Rest are empty :) If something doesn't fit under those, I don't genre it :)

My folder categories goes as follows.
Game, every official vgm soundtrack goes here.
Mix, which is basicly vgmix and ocremix folder.
Movie/TV, movie and tv soundtracks.
Other, punk, rock, metal, pop and other junk. Mainstream music basicly.
Random Shit, currently holding only one song :) Argh the bees by brothers wogan. It's a joke song, and this folder is here for those.

So yeah, I like to keep it simple I guess :)

[Zedie9]

I sometimes wonder if it would be worthy to define the ratio for each genre (e.g. 30% combat, 60% epic and 10% BG music) when generating a playlist. What do you think about this ?
:) I think it might prove interesting but ultimately unnecessary, as I personally feel that a good mix cd or tracklist reflects somehow the personality of its maker. In other words, Zeugy - trust your instincts and don't worry about so rigid a formula. :D

:evilgrin: And Kilu - stop trusting your instincts. Instead practice humility. ;)

[silverDistortioN]

humility is for people with nothing to boast about. =)

[chilledinsanity]

Zeugma: That's an interesting idea. Would you be able to have a computer generate the list via a winamp plugin or something? That'd be a way to have a nice balance on your playlist and sound more like a regular album, yet taking songs from many different ones.

In case you're curious, I already have a system established for my non-soundtrack music. It used to encompass the soundtrack music too, but the variety of it made me re-evaluate the system. Here are the categories I still kept though. I intentionally made the names a little abstract so as not to feel inclined to meet standard musical genres:

Basement - Jazz, some funk, chill-out music, basically stuff that would seem appropriate for some sort of beatnik cellar café. (DJ Krush, some Death In Vegas)

Dumpster - Misc. stuff that isn't really music, but I want to keep anyway, like intros, outros, intermissions, etc.

E-Tier 3 - Electronic Music, mostly with a calmer tone than the other categories. Not completely calm, can be ambient or simply not enough bpm to make it into other categories.

Gothicka - Stuff I would perceive Goth people as listening too (probably inaccurately). Stuff that's too mellow for the Strife category and also calmer music in general. Instrumental and melancholy music can make their way into this category as well. (Josh's Blair Witch Mix CD, Type O Negative, some Stabbing Westward)

Hell - If you were going to Hell to headbang with Satan, this is the sort of music you should expect to be hearing. (Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson, Fear Factory)

Islando - includes Reggae, Indian, African, Ethnic type themes, basically World music.

Mainframe - Mostly electronic music usually with a driving pace. Includes drums & bass music, some techno, some breakbeats. Basically music that would seem appropriate to be playing if you were illegally hacking into some sort of server. (Prodigy, Overseer, JunkieXL)

Pulp - Pop music, what little I have manages to survive here. (Coca-cola Theme, Ghostbusters' Theme)

Razor - Heavy metal and some rap metal basically. Stuff that doesn't have enough overtones to be in the Strife category and isn't hardcore enough for Hell. (Godsmack, Rage Against the Machine, Papa Roach)

Static 9 - Electronic music that gets too crazy to classify elsewhere, you'll most likely hear the strangest electronic stuff here. (Aphex Twin, Wumpscut, some Apollo 440)

Strife - Music with overtones of strife in it. Consists mainly of heavy metal, industrial, hard rock. Music that's too hardcore for Gothicka goes here. I may break this down into 2 groups since this one's gotten so large. (Stabbing Westward, Linkin Park, some Offspring)

Sunrock - Upbeat rock, rap-rock and anything else that seems similar. Everything in here sounds happy or cheerful. (Phunk Junkeez, Dude, Where's My Car Soundtrack, some Offspring)

Thugged - All rap of some flavor or another. Basically music you would want playing if you were cruising through the ghetto in a Cadillac. (Ice Cube, Geto Boys, Cypress Hill)

Transcended - Trance and techno mainly, music that would seem appropriate if you were flying through a futuristic city. (Ian van Dahl, Chicane, Way Out West)

This sounds like a lot of categories, but I'm very pleased with how they are working out for me. I had a couple more categories for game and movie soundtracks, but I'm scrapping those and am trying to revise those in their own seperate system (hence the reason for this post). This isn't to say that soundtracks can't make their way into these categories, but they really have to sound appropriate to belong there. For instance, the Quake 2 soundtrack works fine in the Razor category, the Quake 3 one mostly fits into the Hell category seamlessly.

All in all, it really is about intuition. If you were to give me a non-soundtrack song, I could definitely tell you which category it would fall into under this system. Zeugma's and Kilu's system isn't intuitive enough for me, but it sounds like it works fine for them. Anyway, thanks for the continual input, somebody else can suggest genre ideas even if they haven't tried them!

[Zeugma 440]

Zedie> I was talking about computer-generated playlists. For example, when I have to type some text, I like to listen to music while typing. Instead of try and compose a playlist with several thousand tracks, or bluntly play a single album, I trust my computer to do this task. The more the playlist generator is elaborate, the more the playlist will be what you expect it to sound like.
But of course, I would never apply this when making a CD !! I'd choose the tracks myself, create a balance between the genres and even think about transitions & fadeout/in between the tracks !!

Zeugma: That's an interesting idea. Would you be able to have a computer generate the list via a winamp plugin or something?
Absolutely, that's what I tried to say in my first reply. The jukebox I designed generates playlists based on all the tracks I own and sends it to Winamp http://www.rpgamers.info/images/smilies/Coolguy.gif Now that I think about it, it could become a plugin, but I fear it would be hard to build a light plugin GUI with all its features...

Concerning your system, even if I don't have that many non-soundtrack albums, it looks very well tought. I'd be curious to see what you will eventually choose for your soundtrack albums....
By the way, Transcended and E-Tier 3 seem to be subcategories of my Electronic category... I'm nearly tempted to give them a try, since many of my non-upbeat electronic tunes are BG music or Relaxing, which is not really satisfying :wonder:

[Zedie9]

:) I misunderstood then - and needless to say, see the point of what you were saying. That sounds much more interesting... perhaps you should try to make a plugin out of it. :shades: