Music: Served Best with Visuals

[Ph1l2007]

Hey all,

I just wanted to share something I have been pondering, and I am curious if anyone else thinks the same way I do when it comes to this certain method of listening to music. This post is lengthy, but I think it would be an interesting read for anyone who is curious about some of the many different ways people can interpret music.

I have come to realize that I actually enjoy music a lot more that is, or has been, juxtaposed with visuals (such as movies, video games, AMVs) than music that I experience in a purely auditory manner. The reason being is that I believe when it is linked with these visual experiences, music takes on a whole other dimension. The music begins to take on the emotions, scenery, moods, and events of the game or movie so the music represents more of a story, or painting if you will.

So you may better understand what I am talking about, allow me to elaborate on a personal experience when I felt music in a really intense way, as a result of it being tied to a visual experience. (This experience may sound silly to some of you but it is the honest-to-God-truth!)

One of my first and favorite 3D gaming experiences growing up was Bomberman 64 for the Nintendo 64, and one of my favorite songs to this day is a game track called “Black Fortress” (named after the famed and coveted “final level” of the game). I remember when I finally reached the first stage of Black Fortress I was, for an instant, feeling an intense mix of emotions. I was so happy and excited that all my previous “hard work” in the game had allowed me to reach the point where I would face the final enemy. At the same time I was filled with a degree fear and nervousness. I couldn’t help but think this last level would be the most grueling game experience I had ever played, and that all my feelings of accomplishment might be lost to a level that could prove impossible to beat.

But the environment of Black Fortress itself also had a strong emotional impact. The stage filled me with a sense of awe. Unlike the previous “natural” looking stages of the game, this one had an extremely high-tech, futuristic, and surreal atmosphere. The level was essentially a Death Star-inspired fortress hovering in the sky above Bomberman’s pastoral village. It was like a dark city in the clouds, bristling with weapons, vivid lights and high tech structures (like blue, red, and purple laser-projected walkways and force field barriers), not to mention a central highway for hovering cars that extended all the way through the city. Lastly, I was filled with a sense of mystery, as I dreamed of what would lay beyond this final level, and the glorious ending the game would have if I defeated the final boss.

Now, what I have just explained was all the emotion the gaming experience was infusing in me. But when the music started playing, the emotions I felt were suddenly amplified. A fast paced electronic song began effectively “rubbing in” the dangerous and dismal mood of the stage, as well as these feelings of nervousness and trepidation I was having. The hard hitting rhythms and epic orchestral hits seemed to be a perfect aural representation of the intense, action-packed, and danger-filled atmosphere of the final level. The bubbling, high pitched electronic blips and bleeps and the dark buzzing bass line of the tune seemed to represent the noises the enemy security computers and robots would make (all of which were all hell-bent on preventing me from reaching the goal). But just as I thought the song would only speak doom and gloom, a beautiful melody of synthesized strings, sprinkled with the subtle “ahhs” of a choir, suddenly swept into the pattern. The only way I could reconcile this musical contrast between the dark and dismal rhythms and this seemingly heavenly melody was the sense of mystery of what lied beyond, and the feeling of hope I had that somehow, some way, this final level could be conquered.

As I reflect back on this experience I got from listening to game music, I strongly believe that I enjoyed this game music more than any other modern ‘ techno’ tune because it was an inherent part of this amazingly fun, otherworldly (and sometimes emotional) experience that we call a video game. I mean the reason why I think a lot of use love video games and anime is because it quite literally takes us to another world, and I think the music is a big part of creating that experience. As I continued to play video games and watch movies and anime through the years, I had similar experiences to the one I described above on a number of occasions. Every time I would witness a particularly sensory and emotionally stimulating sequence in a game, movie or anime (be it an epic battle sequence, a tearful breakup between lovers, or a surreal space flight through to some far away galaxy) the music I heard during those sequences became an aural representation of the emotions the visual was invoking. As a result, whenever I would listen to soundtrack music outside of playing the game or watching the anime, I would still feel and visualize all the emotions, sights, and atmosphere of the visual.

As I got older, the pressure of some peers and acquaintances eventually led to expand my horizons by listening to music that wasn’t necessarily composed for games, anime, or movies. In fact through some active digging and sampling I came across a few unique styles of music that had certain aesthetic qualities that were incredibly similar to my game-music favorites. In fact some of the tunes had everything the game or anime music would have, and more (I found a few instrumental tunes for instance that had cinematic orchestral melodies, but were also backed by a funky hip-hop beat)! But for a long time (for reasons unknown to me back then) I didn't enjoy these tracks nearly as much as the actual game music. Looking back, I tended to interpret the music in a very literal sense - merely as a pattern of different sounds. I couldn’t visualize any environments, nor experience any emotions like the ones a saw and felt when I listened to soundtrack music.

This perplexing anomaly was what lead me to perform this extensive analysis on myself over the past few months. But through it I realized what a difference an audio-visual juxtaposition can make on the degree to which I enjoy various forms of music. That is when I got the bright idea to begin experimenting with the art of juxtaposition, particularly by playing my favorite games to custom soundtracks of these non-soundtrack, tunes I thought would fit well in the game. It took a stretch of imagination because in the back of my mind I knew that the non-soundtrack music was never designed to be used with the game I was playing, but when I let my imagination take over, I began to have that same magical experience I had with the game music years ago, only now to a different, and more dynamic melody. After I do this, I will listen to this non-soundtrack tune on my Ipod, but now in a much less literal sense. It seems to contain a lot more substance – a lot more emotion and imagery - after I have juxtaposed it with a visual experience.

So now that I look at what you people do with AMV’s, I am wondering if any of you can relate to this experience. I get the sense from analyzing this art form that one of the primary reasons why people create AMVs is to try and achieve a similar experience that I have described. Does creating AMVs help you enjoy a non-soundtrack tune more by changing its context? Unfortunately I haven’t made any AMVs of my own due to a lack of time and tools, but often times I “dream up” AMVs in my head by imagining certain sequences of a show that would fit well with a song I am listening to, all as a means of enjoying the song I am listening to more.

[Kevmaster]

To be honest: No.

I prefer listening to music and making up images in my own head. I rather think of my own interpretion that watching someone elses.

[requiett]

To be honest: No.

I prefer listening to music and making up images in my own head. I rather think of my own interpretion that watching someone elses.

Think about what kind of website you're hanging around on then.

[Emong]

I haven't really got this experience. The visuals I imagine in my head are really uncreative when I listen to music. I mostly just see the album cover, or more like a blurry, non-accurate version of it. Especially I pay attention on the main colors of the album cover. This is why I associate certain music with certain colors (mostly, if not always, the association is born with the album cover colors)

Another thing I see is sort of a timeline. I think editing has had an effect on this, but I tend to visualize music as different layers, sections, etc. Very much like a timeline when editing. This provides control and cosistancy of the song I'm listening to to. I feel the need to keep it in order for myself. This all happens automatically, just like association with colors and the album cover.

However, sometimes when I am..was..planning amvs or lamvs in my head I used to get really obsessed with the song and the anime visuals connection. It feels really focused and exciting, but not necessarily any "better" than how I normally listen to music. It's just different.

I don't care much for the visuals I have in my head. I guess I'm not much of a visual person. I just like to listen to the audio and analyze the song's meanings and structures etc. I don't mind attaching music with visuals though. In a way this loses the immediate experience one gets from listening to audio only, but similarly one can't experience music attached with visuals by listening to audio only.

Also, attaching visuals to audio doesn't mean having the song interpreted for you. Sure, it sets some limits to your interpretion, but as a balancing effect visuals also add more things to interpret. Take amvs for example. An editor might have a completely different view on a song and presents it in an amv. Now you not only need to have a certain interpretion of the song and the visuals, but you also need to interpret connections between these two and further. I'd view that rather as an expanding than a narrowing experience.

[kentoshogun]

To be honest: No.

I prefer listening to music and making up images in my own head. I rather think of my own interpretion that watching someone elses.

That's the point.

Why people make AMV's? normally it's because while you are listening to a song you come to realize that it's freakin cool, then you try to background images to it in your head.
When you like someones amv it's because you think the concept, idea, or images goes well with the song and that could be the same idea you may had if you decided to do an amv with that song.

PD: I think the good music is the one that has the power to make you imagine.

[Kevmaster]

To be honest: No.

I prefer listening to music and making up images in my own head. I rather think of my own interpretion that watching someone elses.

Think about what kind of website you're hanging around on then.

Yeah, that is probably the reason most amv's bore me.