# Aesthetic considerations

If your team has experience only with traditional cartridge games or games running on a computer, consider using Hollywood or other professional music talent to make Silicon Valley titles rock, hop, sing, and thrill. The 3DO environment's CD-quality audio environment allows developers to take advantage of experience from the "real music world." Big names will also help a product's market appeal, but project management may be more difficult because of the tight schedules of well-known composers or producers.

Interactive titles allow for a multiplicity of musical styles, both to distinguish one game from all others and within one game. For example, you can associate different styles of music with different characters or different rooms in a house. Niche-market producers have not taken over interactive titles yet, so be weird!

As you prepare sound effects, be mindful of the harmonic relations. If you use several effects simultaneously, they should harmonize, even if they are not music per se. For example, the jangling of keys, the clanging of a metal door, or a music cue have harmonic components you need to consider in relation to other sounds. The harmonization should not be limited to pleasing tones-at times, a tritone lends that perfect touch-but you should know all the possible intervals in your title.

Finally, when designing sound effects, decide carefully whether ambient sounds or musical cues should indicate events. For example, when users choose the hardest level a voice might say "Be careful!" A musical fragment or applause might indicate success. A bee flying might elicit "The Flight of the Bumble Bee" or a buzzing sound.

## Tweak, tweak, tweak!

As your title goes to production, make sure music and sound effects are just right. Insist on early installation of sounds and music, and consider the following:

- Volume settings. How often is a sound effect heard and what should be its relative level? Normalize samples to end up with as little wasted headroom as possible. Compare overall title volume levels to normal TV listening levels.

- Synchronization. Use 3DO Animator and/or SMPTE to synchronize sound and pictures. Sometimes sound should not start at the head of a sequence of animation frames. Depending on the action the animation depicts, a pre-roll or a delay may be better. This requires close coordination with the development team's programmers.

- Harmonic relations. Know the implied intervals as sound and music interact in your title.