Bringing the Minecraft Experience to Life Through the Power of Sound
For fans of the one and only ‘Minecraft’, the Minecraft Experience exhibit, which launched last year in Plano, Texas, probably seems like one of the coolest possible things Mojang Studios (the game developers) could have greenlit. After all, a roaming, immersive, interactive experience designed to pay homage to the iconic title is, undoubtedly, a great way to take players’ appreciation to a whole new level – giving them a chance to step into their beloved world in real life.
Unsurprisingly, however, bringing something of this scale to life was not an easy task. Live activations aren’t exactly a cake walk at even the best of times, and this came with its own fair few challenges, especially with regards to audio and sound. So, when Canadian-based music and sound company Circonflex was brought in by experience curators Supply & Demand, the team knew they would have to dig in and get to work.
Off the bat, the big thing they knew they’d have to overcome was that this event would be taking place in a single, large room. Sure, it was a giant space, but without proper walls – the kind that are actually built into the floor and ceiling – to segment the location, it was inevitable that there was going to be audio bleed between the various ‘Minecraft’-inspired subsections. And, considering the fact that the game uses an incredibly diverse soundtrack across its multiple biomes, the threat of horrendously clashing audio was very real.
Additionally, any sound or music provided would need to be able to function above the cacophony provided by the visitors, which meant that simply playing things quietly to avoid the aforementioned bleed simply wouldn’t be an option. So, the Circonflex team did the only logical thing… Over the year-long run-up to launch, it re-harmonised all the selected soundtracks to better complement each other, while playing with the composition of each to add and remove certain elements to create better ambiance. Talk about a large-scale endeavour!
To learn more about the logistics of pulling off a task like this, all while ensuring the result stood true to the tone of ‘Minecraft’ that fans have come to expect, LBB’s Jordan Won Neufeldt sat down with Circonflex’s CEO and composer, Paul-Étienne Côté, for a chat.
LBB> Crafting the sound and music for the Minecraft Experience is a pretty cool opportunity! How did this come about, and why was it something you were keen to do?
Paul-Étienne> Supply & Demand, which built the experience itself, asked us to come onboard as music, audio and creative partner. Obviously we loved the concept of bringing a super popular video game exhibition to life, plus a few of us at Circonflex are massive ‘Minecraft’ fans.
LBB> Figuring out the logistics of playing multiple soundtracks at a venue that has no walls – all without letting the inevitable audio bleed ruin the experience – sounds like a real challenge. At what point did you know this could be feasibly achieved?
Paul-Étienne> Mojang Studios (the creators of the game) gave us full access to the individual stems for ALL the available tracks (over 200!), which meant we could manipulate the music however we liked. We could stretch, modulate, pitch, and completely remix it! Honestly, as soon as we found out we’d have that level of freedom, we knew we could do it.
LBB> Of course, the solution you used was re-harmonising. What was this process like? Tell us about the music theory you used to ensure each wouldn’t clash at the venue!
Paul-Étienne> In music, harmony only works when the notes being played together are in the same key, or relatively the same key.
Here’s a brief crash course. If you have an instrument near you, play a major scale. Great! Now, this time, begin the scale on the second note of the first scale, using all the same notes. This scale will feel like it sets a completely different mood, even though the notes are the same. As you repeat this exercise all the way up the scale, you will have created seven different types of scales called modes.
Once we figured out the mode of each track, re-harmonising was achieved by pitching the track to match the mode of the adjacent room(s). Easy to achieve in theory, but difficult in practice! Some tracks didn’t work at all; some worked for a few bars and then crashed and burned. It just took a lot of trial and error to get to a good place where everything felt complementary, harmonically speaking.
LBB> As part of this, you also removed elements from some of the tracks to reduce cacophony. How did you approach this, while ensuring the original feeling of the music wouldn’t be lost in the process?
Paul-Étienne> Most of the music in the game is ambient, so stripping away elements that were too big or busy seemed right. Bass (low frequencies) travel the farthest in a room, so in many cases we scooped out those frequencies.
It’s also worth noting that the Mojang team couldn’t have been more warm and welcoming. Not only did they encourage us to experiment (we’re very grateful for their trust – it’s their baby after all!), but they also supplied us with a detailed 50-page document on the game’s musical/sonic approach. Not only is it impressive reading, but it really helped us to work within the ‘Minecraft’ ethos.
LBB> You didn’t only remove, however. In some cases, you actually added qualities, like beefing up the percussion in the cave section. What other changes did you make? What was the composition process like?
Paul-Étienne> There’s some really cool stuff here!
In the Mineshaft room, we switched tempos and time signatures to create the feeling of action and excitement.
In the Nether Portal room, we composed from scratch! Here, visitors have to solve a puzzle consisting of 16 blocks in only four minutes. So, we needed to make the experience feel urgent, with the music cueing them to work faster. Each time a block is placed correctly, the tempo speeds up a little and another musical layer is added. We wrote a modular track that would work no matter how quickly they went, and using Unreal Engine, we ensured that the next musical layer consistently dropped on the next available beat.
LBB> Notably, you weren’t able to test in the actual space – you used a virtual system to see how things would sound. What kind of technology did you use, and did it carry over effectively into the main exhibit?
Paul-Étienne> We ran the worst case scenarios in Pro Tools. We put in crowd sounds, crying babies, kids yelling, etc., as well as all the game sound effects and the music, scored to the animations that play in each room. In short, we tried to create as cacophonous an environment as possible! Then, we used convolution reverbs to replicate the three dimensions of each room, and threw all our elements in there.
Ultimately, it carried over effectively, with only some minor mix adjustments being required once the music was added on site.
LBB> And how did the inevitable noise of multiple people at the venue impact your approach, if at all? Were you forced to adjust the dynamic range of each track significantly?
Paul-Étienne> The very nature of ‘Minecraft’ is dynamic, but you’re right, we had to make sure it didn’t get lost.
To overcome this, 20K, the company that implemented the audio system, made some smart choices with speaker placement, and at that point the overall sound mix was in its hands. The team also had on-site control of music, SFX, dialogue, and game sounds.
LBB> Of course, you eventually got to go and check it out yourself. What was it like? Are there any particular soundtracks that turned out especially well?
Paul-Étienne> Aside from the Nether Portal puzzle room, I personally love the Crimson Forest, which is just trippy. Also the Mineshaft, which posed the great challenge of creating high excitement without overdoing it, and without sonically interfering with the rest of the experience.
LBB> Have you learned any lessons from the making of this campaign which you’ll be carrying over to other projects?
Paul-Étienne> Absolutely! For a start, have great partners, as we did with Supply & Demand, Mojang, Microsoft, and 20K.
Aside from that, always remember that anything is possible.
LBB> Finally, do you have an element of the project you’re most proud of?
Paul-Étienne> Not one specifically, but this project was a year in the making for us, and we’re proud we could help make it a success!
