Customer Reviews

Music for New Media: Composing for Videogames, Web Sites, Presentations and Other Interactive Media (Book & CD)

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This is fundamentally a text book devoted to praxis, not a critical or aesthetic book in any way. As such, it is written for the fledgling New Media composer, who may very well also be a fledgling composer and/or musician as well. The book introduces concepts and practices that will be beyond second nature to composers and musicians with even moderate experience. However, those composers and musicians who are new to New Media production will still find value in this book, as it steps the user through the specific formats and ideas applicable to New Media, the end result being a decent portfolio of samples of all types of music and cues. Be warned that the writing is exceedingly simplistic and dull, and that the musical examples the author provides are underwhelming.

When I purchased this book, I was expecting to get relevant information about producing adaptive audio. Although it offers some tips and insights for novices, it lacks the "real thing" about sound design issues for non-linear media. For example, a crucial topic such as GAME MUSIC AUTHORING is less than two pages long. The author hasn't even mentioned some Middleware solutions developed for smoothing the audio production workflow between composers and programmers.

This book is a wonderful, easy-to-read book that takes something that I thought was going to be complicated and make it simple. I had music of my own and wanted to make it available on the web and this book showed me how! It was so easy and the CD that comes along with the book has some wonderful examples! The table of contents is also a huge help if you need a quick answer...that will break the book down so you can find your answer quickly!