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Continued from page 43 than them, call me. If you’re as good as them, don’t, because I already have that caliber of composer. However, if you say to me that you have music that I’ve never heard before, that’s great. Boy, do I want to hear that, because that’s what turns me on. So before you start sending me your CDs, I think Michael is going to tell people how to send me stuff through TAXI so I don’t get buried. But, really, before you send it, listen to these guys online. Listen to their music, and if you’re better than them, submit something. If you’re equal, I’ve already got them. Did that answer your question? Yeah, it did. Actually, I was looking for music for another panel and I ran across a track from one of my favorite composers and I thought,“I want to play this for Bob to see if this guy is in the ballpark.” [Music plays, followed by applause] I picked that one because it sounded kind of video game-ish. But, on a one to 10 scale, is that somebody who’s got a shot, who could and should pursue a career in video game composing? Bob: I thought it sucked. Oh … I’m sorry. [laughter] Bob’s quite a character, but you guys have probably already figured that out. Bob: I thought it was quite good. I thought it was unique and I’d like to hear more from that composer. By the way, much of what I say I preface with—and I really mean this, please listen—I care about you people. I really do. So I preface a lot of my comments with, “Beware of the kisses of your enemies, and cherish the wounds of your friends.” Hollywood will tell you what you want to hear. Some people, your friends, will tell you should hear. So be open to constructive criticism, and don’t resist it, embrace it. [applause] I keep waiting for Bob’s book to come out. Actually, my first conversation with Bob was at 4:30 in the afternoon. I had just gotten home from a doctor’s appointment—I’d left work early—and the phone rang, it was Bob and I spent like an hour on the phone with him. I hung up, I went downstairs and said to my wife,“I want to date this guy.”He’s just so interesting to talk to. Just everything that comes out of his mouth are pearls of wisdom. Bob: I’m already taken.

one of each. Inon, could you take that one and explain to these guys structurally what you do with one beginning, hundreds of middles, and five endings? Inon: In order to understand this statement, you have to understand the nature of composing for a computer game. In order to do that you have to understand the major difference between scoring for film and scoring for video games. When you score a film you are basically just locked to a picture all the time. And there are some difficulties with that, but it also doesn’t leave you a lot of room for improvisation, because you just need to follow what’s going on. In your own style, yes, you could, basically, do many, many interpretations of what’s going on on the screen, but still you are locked to picture. In video games it’s different. There is no way in the world you could lock to a picture that is changing

constantly all the time. So what you do—and here comes, actually, the 100 middles. You need to understand that in order to give the players the feeling that he is being engaged by the music, you have to compose something that will capture a) the atmosphere where the player is, and see what the player feels. Now, if you capture all these elements, basically, these are your 100 ways of doing middles, because, you know—think about it—you’re in a room and you’re fighting, and you could win in one minute, you could win in five minutes, or you could get beaten. There are just tons of ways this thing could go. What would you do? We call it interactiveness. Basically, what the music should convey is something that is happening right now from a dramatic point of view and changing when major things happen. However, it keeps you all the time on your toes. There are a lot of ways, technically, to do it, but this is basically the 100 middles.

Inon: You cheater, you!
One of the things that Bob said to me in our first conversation was a profound lesson to me that I never would have thought of, and I’ve been in the industry for 35 years on the record side and the film and TV side and never would have known this. He said that a video game composer has to do one beginning, hundreds of middles, and five endings, versus a film composer doing
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Recording - May 2010

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