HOW TO CHOOSE MUSIC IF YOU'RE TERRIBLE AT MUSIC

author=Red_Nova
Here's what I do: I pick out the music before doing anything else. Then I listen to the music constantly as I'm designing the maps, writing the dialogue, and setting the general theme of the area. Under the influence of the music, I can imagine putting myself in the player's shoes and mentally go through what they would experience. Feeling what they feel, if that makes any sense.

Like Red_Nova, I'm extremely picky with my music. I'll be walking down the street listening to some crazy songs that I've trawled through soundcloud to find, thinking I've gotta build a vibe off this, this is too good to be true. I haven't really used any fantastic songs in my projects so far, except for a couple from Lexical Node which I found after trawling through Newgrounds and I thought absolutely complimented a brooding, yet surreal atmosphere.

Choosing which piece of music to use is like choosing what art style to go for, or which gameplay mechanics to design. Frankly, much of it is based on taste, but I think most importantly, if your music supports your gameplay which supports your story which supports the overall tone of your game, you've got this sense of coherence. Even the worst tracks could be used to good effect if placed with correct timing in a game. Sound design's also a biggie. Like crafting a visual aesthetic to support your game world, background sounds, sound effects and music are there to just support everything else.

If you really feel like you're bad at picking music, then it's just like visual art or anything else... you're probably going to have to practice. When you're listening to songs in the future, you can try picking out different instruments and how they behave. Learning about basic music theory and picking up the guitar or the piano. These seem like time-consuming tasks, but you might also like it.

Overall, a musical ear, like having a good eye for visuals, is a combination of the decisions you make as well as your general view of what's good and bad, and that evolves the more you get obsessed with the medium. Hope that helps.

Edit: Or you could just ask someone "is this a good song or not?" :P

If you're bad at picking music, then just use a soundtrack ripped from a commercial game whose mood matches your own game. Use its songs in the same situations that the original game used them in, and you don't have to be good at jack shit, other than picking the right game. Use its sad mourning music in your sad mourning scenes, use its overworld music on your overworld, use its action chase music in your action chase scenes, use its final boss music for your final boss.

author=CashmereCat

author=LockeZ
Use its sad mourning music in your sad mourning scenes, use its overworld music on your overworld, use its action chase music in your action chase scenes, use its final boss music for your final boss.

Screw LockeZ's advice.

Use the overworld music on your sad emotional scenes. Use its action chase music for your quaint town theme. Use the happy-go-lucky tropical theme for your final boss. And definitely use the funny circusy gag music whenever a death scene occurs.

Make everything Guile's Theme - Guile's Theme goes with everything

I don't know if you can do anything other than what you're doing. The art comparison someone made is fitting; if you haven't studied art, you can browse tilesets and find the right ones, but you're bound to make some faux pas in the process.

You can get a better ear to a degree by learning how to close listen to music, learning some music theory, and listening to a wide range of music. For me, that's all been attached at the hip with actually learning an instrument, so it's hard for me to see those as separate (but others here may have a different experience). There's something organic about playing around with an instrument and hearing the effect of how notes interact with each other; that seems like the best way to build an ear to me. I'd recommend learning an instrument, anyway; it may seem impossible, but it's a skill like anything else, and you'll learn it by practicing every day. It's one of those life-enriching things that I'm glad I didn't miss out on (I just wish I would have started sooner).

author=unity
For example, I've heard on more than one occasion "How can you like this song? It's terrible, the singer's barely in tune"

I was under the impression that this was an unavoidable part of liking ANY music.

Yeah, do a recorder. Clarinet is a bit too complicated to learn if you're learning just for music understanding. That's how I learned. Alternatively, if you have a slightly bigger budget, get a digital keyboard that you can change it's sound, enabling you to play almost any instrument. I haven't looked at it in depth, but I saw some digital keyboards on sale for less than $200.

If that interests you, of course. I'm sure Housekeeping can give you better details than I can.

Funny, I sourced most of Enelysion's music from jamendo as well, uni. ^^ Because the game was Celtic-themed, I just filtered the New Age-Celtic stuff. Also, I tend to stick to certain artists after if I like their music after listening to several albums. It also tends to create a more cohesive feel to your game's soundtrack, rather than just jumping from one artist to another. =)

Hope that helps you in your search for custom tracks!

We have an old keyboard in the back room that possibly still works.

Additionally, there are a lot of decent Music Theory videos on youtube, which have the benefit of being able to see and hear stuff.

Given your tin ear, Uni, I think probably you're better off relying on those of us with better pitch, though I admit I don't know if that's the kind of thing one can train into.

Also:

author=CashmereCat
Screw LockeZ's advice.

Use the overworld music on your sad emotional scenes. Use its action chase music for your quaint town theme. Use the happy-go-lucky tropical theme for your final boss. And definitely use the funny circusy gag music whenever a death scene occurs.

This is the best advice.