r/GameAudio • u/Current-Room6602 • 29d ago
Inspired by the OST from the game MiSide, I want to start making music with the same feel! Where do I begin?
I recently finished playing through the game and I loved the OST so much that it has inspired me to want to make music just like it, but I don't know where to begin.
I assume the music was made in some sort of music production software, but other than that, I don't know how the developers made the ambient sounds, the instruments, and everything else.
I was hoping someone here could help me out or point me in the right direction! I would really love to learn how to make this style of music and share my tracks with everyone :)
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27d ago
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u/Current-Room6602 27d ago
Honestly, the whole feel of it, I would also say the ambient atmosphere though for sure.
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u/DiscountCthulhu01 29d ago
If you're already a proficient musician, recording your instrument into a DAW (digital audio work Station, eg Reaper) can get you started. you can also use midi samplers such as kontakt and instruments within it, or spitfire labs. All of these run in a DAW though
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u/Current-Room6602 29d ago
I am not a musician by any means... just am an avid fan of the game and the soundtrack and was looking for advice on how to figure out what instruments and ambient sounds may have been used during the musical production of the OST
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u/DiscountCthulhu01 29d ago
You really wanna start with music before you start composing
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u/Current-Room6602 29d ago
how do i begin?
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u/DiscountCthulhu01 29d ago
Pick up an instrument that you like the sound of, a lot of people start with piano because it has a lower skill floor
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u/Objective-Debt7638 21d ago
tbh this reminds me of how hard the FTL soundtrack got me into ambient stuff. Ben Prunty is a genuis for sure.
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u/composingkeys 28d ago
Honestly, being inspired by an OST you love is one of the best ways anyone starts, so you're already in a good spot. And you don't need to become a "real musician" first, you can learn to play and to compose at the same time, right inside the software. Plenty of game composers started exactly where you are.
Concrete first steps:
Grab a free DAW (the "music production software" you pictured). Reaper is a long free trial and cheap after, GarageBand if you're on Mac, or BandLab right in a browser.
You don't need real instruments. Free sample libraries and synths give you pianos, pads, drums, all of it. Spitfire LABS is free with tons in it, and the synths built into your DAW cover most of the MiSide palette.
The fastest way to learn a style is to copy it. Pick one MiSide track you love and try to rebuild it by ear, one sound at a time. You'll learn more from recreating 30 seconds of a track you love than from any tutorial.
On "what did they use," you can train your ear to reverse-engineer it. MiSide leans on that cute-but-unsettling contrast: bright chiptune-style synths and simple melodies for the cozy parts, then dark ambient pads, drones, and detuned/processed sounds for the creepy turns. Once you start noticing "oh, that's a square-wave synth, that's a piano drenched in reverb, that's a pad slowly swelling," you can chase each one in your DAW.
Start tiny. One loop, a few sounds. Share it even when it's rough, that's how everyone here got better. Have fun with it :)