Anybody who’s performed A Quick Hike is aware of the soundtrack makes up a hefty proportion of the expertise. With out it, your two-hour journey can be far more of a stroll and far much less of an expertise. And because it seems, that soundtrack would most likely by no means have occurred if composer Mark Sparling hadn’t performed The Binding of Isaac in school.
Talking to Polygon by way of electronic mail as a part of our week-long have a look at the crossover of video games and music, Polygon FM, Sparling — who additionally composed the soundtrack to Cursed to Golf, amongst others — talked about being impressed by Isaac, his course of when engaged on A Quick Hike, and the significance of pulling from sport historical past when composing for video games.
Polygon: Was there a sport soundtrack or tune that impressed you to pursue creating sport music? Are you able to set the scene of what that felt like for you, and why the music was so efficient?
Mark Sparling: The soundtrack to the unique Binding of Isaac by Danny Baranowsky was a giant one for me.
I used to be in college for music on the time so I used to be taking part in only a few video games. I don’t know why I picked up Isaac — perhaps it was a suggestion from a good friend — however I keep in mind being blown away. I simply thought it was so cool how a small staff might make such an important sport. I couldn’t wait to get to the subsequent space so I might hear its accompanying music. It’s a type of soundtracks the place, when you hear it, you might not think about the sport having every other music behind it. It does such an important job of mixing orchestral devices with all these squishy, glitchy, synthesized sounds. I most likely put over 50 hours into that sport and I by no means obtained bored with that soundtrack. I haven’t performed the sport in a few years, however any time I put the soundtrack again on it brings me again to that world. I had by no means considered composing for video games up till that time, however after taking part in that sport, I knew I wished to present it a shot.
Are you able to break down one in all your personal songs and its influences? Was it impressed by sport soundtracks, different music, or one thing else?
The instrumentation in [A Short Hike’s “Somewhere in the Woods”] is form of a combination between Sufjan Stevens and Animal Crossing: New Leaf. I wished to layer the guitars (and different devices) in a approach that Sufjan does on a number of his songs on Carrie & Lowell. The lovable, minimal percussion was very a lot impressed by New Leaf.
The principle theme of A Quick Hike (“Seaside Buds”) could be very Ghibli-inspired, and whereas the string half on this tune isn’t essentially impressed by Joe Hisaishi, I did need there to be strings on this to have some form of orchestral aspect. There’s additionally a musical layer that is available in while you’re approaching the seaside within the sport that could be very a lot impressed by afro-cuban jazz.
What are the primary devices used to report the soundtrack for A Quick Hike? How did you select these devices?
By way of reside devices, I recorded guitar, mandolin, and banjo. I additionally used sampled piano [and] drums. I felt like these had been an important people music-y place to start out for a sport set at a nationwide park. As I discussed above, I’ve all the time beloved the devices that Animal Crossing: New Leaf makes use of so I wished to take some inspiration for that in my bass and percussion selection. These devices remind me of the outdated basic midi sounds that I had on my first digital piano. I additionally had strings in there as I felt like they helped complement the flying features of the sport. I additionally had some easy synthesizer patches in there as they felt proper with the mix of devices.
Is there the rest we must always learn about your method to composing online game music?
I believe online game music has a really wealthy historical past and I strive my finest to honor and take inspiration from that historical past at any time when I get an opportunity to put in writing for a sport.