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sai-national.org • SPRING 2016 • PAN PIPES 11 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z For some, video games are a hobby. It's something to do on the weekends, or in a rare moment of free time, or known only as a fleeting obsession of teenage children. But for some, like Alyssa Menes, the love of gaming evolves into a career. Menes is a game composer and sound designer based in New Jersey. She holds a degree in Music eory and Composition, but it wasn't during college that she found her career path. It was several years later, while working in an unrelated field simply to pay the bills, that she attended a panel on game audio at the Music and Gaming Festival (MAGFest) in Washington, D.C. e panelists discussed how to break into the gaming industry at the local level through independent game developers or smaller companies. Inspiration hit: is is awesome, she thought. I can do this! Soon aer, she began attending game development events locally. "As a freelancer," Menes says, "you have to actively build your work. Initially there's a lot of going to events and growing the network." She started getting work creating sound effects for many independent games, but her first big project was composing the ending credit scene for an indie game titled Blackwell Epiphany. "Once your name starts to get out there," she says, "the people start coming to you." Game audio has come a long way since its humble beginnings. In the 1970s and 1980s, game consoles and televisions were equipped with two chips to produce musical tones, and music was limited to only two sounds. e Atari 2600 is the best-known of the early consoles, with this simplified duel-chip music we now call "chiptune." It wasn't until the mid 1980s, with the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System, that music expanded: the NES could do three different musical tones, plus had a separate noise channel to serve as a bass line. It was at this point that music in games became something people paid attention to and the beginning of composing music for games. Previously it was oen the game developers themselves who wrote the music, but now professional composers were brought in for the jobs. Now there are no limitations. Menes and her contemporaries can use full orchestration, using both instrumentation and vocals depending on a game's needs. With a background in classical composition, she uses live recordings and incorporates a lot of woodwinds and strings into her work. But there is also something to be said for the vintage feel of the Atari. "Sometimes a game developer wants to use chiptune," Menes says, "and I have to simplify." It may be the composer who writes the music, but developers oen have their own ideas of what will work best in a game. And the sooner the composer is introduced to the process, the better. "Usually I prefer to work with a game that has a playable demo," Menes says, "so I can start seeing what the game is about. But sometimes I'll be brought in at ground level, at the concept art phase." In modern gaming, music is an integral part of a game's world. And if the composer comes in early enough, the game itself can be influenced by the music, rather than the other way around. "It's always cool when that happens," Menes says. Of course, there are also moments that she's called into the process at the last minute. But those moments are limited (so far, she hopes) to sound effects, whether the game requires the swish of a weapon in combat or a "bloop" when selecting a menu item — less time-consuming than composing a full score. Being a woman in the gaming industry isn't without its challenges. Menes will oen be one of few women attending game audio conferences, but she doesn't let it discourage her—instead, it has the opposite effect. "I try to encourage other women to get into audio by doing seminars and talks," she says. "If other women do it, we can shi those numbers and make it more equal." She grew up in a more traditional household regarding what men and women "should" be doing, and since then has gone against the grain to challenge those roles. And the gaming industry provides the platform to do it. "ere haven't really been any issues being a woman, at least as far as game audio goes. ere's a real sense of community, and we all support each other." Her musical career doesn't stop there. On top of composition, Menes also offers private music instruction, plays bass guitar for Asphalt Grey—a local rock band—and, her most recent project, founded the Montclair Gamer Symphony Orchestra. "I really wanted to provide a community outlet for musicians who don't have an opportunity to play," she says of the orchestra. "Gaming music is very near and dear to me, and I wanted a place where we could come together and have fun." She brings her composition and teaching background into rehearsals. She encourages the orchestra's members to arrange music, which gives them a chance to do something they wouldn't otherwise have an opportunity to learn. "But it's a learning experience for everyone," she says. is is Menes's first time conducting for a group, and also several of its members are returning to their instruments aer years of not playing. e group is preparing for its first concert this summer. It's not all work and no play—Menes also makes time to actually play the games, both for fun and for research. She's currently into Just Cause 3 and Fire Emblem Fates, and is also involved in Smash Brothers competitions. "Not professionally. It's just for fun." en, she added with a laugh, "But for glory." Her portfolio can be found at acmenesmusic.com, or you might find her at various game audio conferences across the east coast. Or hosting a seminar. Or standing in front of the gamer orchestra. Or attending a Smash Brothers competition. Or you'll hear her work the next time you boot up a game, in that rare moment of free time. Angela Zurlo is affiliated with the New York Alumnae Chapter and holds a degree in Creative Writing. She works in print book production at Simon & Schuster and, in her rare free time, is a gamer. From Chiptune to Orchestration VIDEO GAME COMPOSITION Alyssa Menes

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