GameSound Project launches with its first edition
Last Saturday, August 1, the first edition of the Gamesound Project music and video game days took place, organized by E-Dojo & Mental and with the collaboration of various institutions. Due to security measures, the sessions were totally virtual and were broadcast through Twitch, with Lara Smirnova acting as presenter.
The presentations addressed the fact of video game music from different perspectives. Professors Lidia López, Eulalia Ferrer, Ilaria Sartori and Alba Montoya made their communications from an eminently academic point of view, in which they highlighted a historical approach to the evolution of this type of music (necessarily brief due to time limits) and on various issues, arising mainly from the interactivity required in this medium, which necessarily entails a wide variety of approaches at the compositional level. Undoubtedly, the presence in this event of active teachers on the stage of teaching and research is a good touchstone for amateurs and students of this type of music, with a great presence in Spain for decades but which has not enjoyed of great importance in higher educational institutions until recent years.
On the performance and composition side, we highlight the presence of the well-known streamer Elesky, who explained his procedures when adapting video game melodies to piano practice at various levels, giving a practical demonstration. On the other hand, the intervention of Enoc Benitez and Carlos Romero was very convincing, from a theoretical point of view as well as interpreters with musical studies, in which they traced the possible pathways for those who want to dedicate themselves professionally to this activity. Also very illuminating was the approach, from the world of music production at the highest level, provided by Steve Saylor (consultant in The Last of Us 2) who provided a really interesting point of view on the accessibility of video games at sound level based on his experience in this video game so recent and as a blind player.
However, the most outstanding point in terms of the presentations came from the hand of the legendary Japanese composer Akira Yamaoka, who uncovered part of his experience after several decades years composing for video games, surprising with his focus on the emotional contrast that occurs in the games to which he has put music, especially those of the Silent Hill saga. The format of his speech was that of an interview, in which FreeGameTips was present, asking the Japanese legend about the limitations that he has felt as a composer over the decades, to which he replied that these conditions have not yet disappeared from the all despite the elapsed time.
The music and video games sector is very much alive in Spain with composers who are already a reference outside our borders, such as Damián Sánchez, Oscar Araujo or Javier García Gryzor87. The celebration of events like this Game Sound Project is fantastic news for the sector, while the diversity of the approaches presented (academic, practical, interviews with indisputable references) allows us a good overview of what this sector is today. in our country and outside it. A very good initiative, from which we only hope that it will proliferate much more.
