On such specific niche is producing audio for games, and in particular iPhone video games. There are several benefits to producing music for the iPhone, but it takes a some specialized knowledge. Here are seven pointers from video game sound designer Nathan Madsen to get you began.
1) Mix for the iPhone Speaker
The iPhone has one external speaker, which is on the bottom of the iPhone near the charging/syncing port. This implies two things: First, all your audio content is going to be heard in mono, and, second, out of a little speaker that can not own bass frequencies. So, when creating mixes for the iPhone, plan ahead for both scenarios. When monitoring your result, see how it sounds with the majority of the lows high-passed out. Likewise, make sure you sum your final mix to mono to eliminate any cancellation of frequencies that could potentially occur from integrating right and left channels.
2) iPhone Audio File Size and Type
The iPhone can not stream multiple MP3 files at as soon as. When contracting out for an iPhone game always ask the client what the maximum file size is for the streaming music.
If possible, try making alternative variations of the same song to provide to the client. It could be as basic as muting numerous of the tracks, changing the instrumentation or performing a various solo. For a client that is open to a larger audio footprint this can actually assist keep the music within a certain size (per each specific file), while giving more range and making the music less recurring.
3) Eliminate Quiet Bookends
The material loops flawlessly in your DAW, when bounced to MP3, there is now a break. You can compose your music in such a way where having that brief pause feels natural and organic to the music. Instead, have a short break in that continuous element which helps cover the MP3 then have the music come back on beat.
4) Check Content
Let’s say you’ve just ended up an awesome track and you want to evaluate how the mix is going to work on the iPhone before sending it off to the customer. Now you can play it on the actual hardware and see how the mix works (or does not work). If you do not desire to mess up your iTunes playlist, simply email the MP3 to yourself then open up the email by means of a 3G or Wi-Fi connection.