Description
The music and sounds of video games have become an inescapable part of our world. Not only do these sonic elements profoundly shape the experiences of billions of players every day, but also the soundscapes of games have stretched out from our living rooms to encompass spaces as diverse as pinball arcades, concert halls, museums, and classrooms across the globe. Research on game music and sound is equally diverse-a vibrant, innovative, and multifaceted field that incorporates approaches from media studies, musicology, sound studies, music theory, psychology, and more. Drawing on the expertise of leading scholars and practitioners from around the globe, The Oxford Handbook of Video Game Music and Sound features nearly 50 chapters on topics ranging from the earliest pinball machines to the latest in virtual reality technology. The resulting volume provides both a comprehensive introduction to the study of game audio and an indispensable resource for experts.
Table of Contents
Contributor AffiliationsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionSECTION 1: DISCIPLINARY QUESTIONS1. Video Game Musicology in Practice: Fifteen Awkward QuestionsTim Summers2. Ode to Joysticks: Canonic Fantasies and the "Beethoven of Video Game Music"William Gibbons3. Crossing the Ludo-Cinematic Continuum: Music-Theoretical Approaches to Video Game Music Sean Atkinson4. Ludomusical Narrativity: Sound and Music as Structures of PlayJulianne Grasso5. A Creative System in Action: Bringing Video Game Music and Sound into BeingPhillip McIntyre and J.T. VelikovskySECTION 2: HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY6. A History of Early U.S. Pinball Sound, 1871-1939Neil Lerner7. Selling Play through Music and Sound: Audiovisual Promotion for Early Consoles, Home Computers, and Games to 1983James Deaville8. Hard Limitations and Soft Possibilities: A "Systematic" History of Early Video Game Sound TechnologyKevin R. Burke9. Visualizing Music with Video Game TechnologiesJonathan Weinel10. Onna no jidai: Women and Video Game Sound in 1980s JapanBrooke McCorkle Okazaki11. Surviving the Game: Published Soundtracks as ArchivesFanny Rebillard12. Symbolic Music and Algorithmic Composing: Computer Archaeological Perspectives on BASIC Game SoundsStefan H?ltgenSECTION 3: PERCEPTION AND PSYCHOLOGY13. Ambiguity and Vagueness in Video Game SoundMark Grimshaw-Aagaard14. A Functional Approach to the Psychology of Video Game SoundTom A. Garner15. How Video Game Music Plays Us: Musical Topics, Modularity, and Compulsion LoopsWilliam R. Ayers16. Auditory Hallucinations and Altered States of Consciousness in Video GamesJonathan WeinelSECTION 4: INTERACTING ACROSS MEDIA17. Music and Sound in Early Film-to-Game AdaptationsWilliam O'Hara18. Sound, Extended Reality, and the Cinematic-Interactive DichotomyTom A. Garner19. Game Noir: The Functions of Jazz in the Detective Adventure Video GameJacob Collins20. Synergy and Syncs: Record Labels, Video Games, and Unending ConsumptionDavid Arditi21. Playground Disco: Playing with Clubs and Aspects of Club Culture in Digital GamesMelanie FritschSECTION 5: IDENTITY22. Beyond Nerdcore: Hip-Hop, Race, and the Business of Gamer-RapEnongo Lumumba-Kasongo23. Press Start to (Fore)Play: Sex and Sexuality in Game Music Michael L. Austin24. Indigenous-Designed Pixels, Circuits, and Game Music and SoundKate Galloway25. Listening to the Gerudo and the Desert in The Legend of Zelda SeriesHyeonjin Park26. Ludomusical Autobiography and the Indie Composer-DeveloperWilliam GibbonsSECTION 6: PRE-EXISTING MUSIC27. Hearing the Renaissance in Video GamesKaren M. Cook28. Claude Debussy's Piano Music and the Evocation of Atmosphere and Humor in Video GamesGurminder Bhogal29. Pop Shove-It, Pop Music: Tunes, Tricks, and Transmediality in Tony Hawk's Pro SkaterJames Millea30. Playing with American Folk Music, Supernatural Encounters, and Perspectives on DeathPeter Smucker31. Taking a Pop at Ludonarratology: Narrative Perspectives on Popular Music in Video GamesAndra IvanescuSECTION 7: MUSICAL PERFORMANCE32. Video Games Alive: Ludic Liveness and (Re)playful Listenings in Video Game Music ConcertsStefan Greenfield-Casas33. Video Games Live and the Gamification of the Orchestral Concert ExperienceElizabeth Hunt 34. Unreal Performances: Playing in Games/Playing with GamesJames Cook35. Of Guitar Heroes and Rocksmiths: Guitars, Games, and Affordance Theory Marc Duby36. Musical Repetition and Predictive Gameplay in Rhythm GamesStephanie Lind37. How Musical are Game Players? Exploring Musical Situations in Video GamesCostantino OlivaSECTION 8: ACOUSTIC ECOLOGIES 38. Analyzing Navigable Narratives through Multiple LensesElizabeth Hambleton39. Ambient Ecologies: Environmental Music in Video GamesMichiel Kamp40. Semiotics and the Negotiation of Musical Communication in Video Game Music: An Imprecise and Beautiful ArtIain Hart41. Abstract Representations of Voices in Video GamesElizabeth Medina-Gray42. Simulating Sounds of Spectators: On the Structure, Function, and Realism of Spectator Sounds in a Sports Video GameNicolai J?rgensgaard Graakj?rSECTION 9: VIRTUALITY/REALITY43. Auditory Reality and Virtuality: Is Space the Final Audio Frontier for Games?KC Collins and Bill Kapralos44. Video Game Sound Design and the Fetish of RealismMark Grimshaw-Aagaard45. Music and Motion in First-Person Virtual Reality GamesKate Mancey46. Intrinsically Unpleasant Sounds and Player ExperienceDenis Zlobin47. The Importance of Sound to the Formation of PresenceMark Grimshaw-AagaardIndex
