Is background music with vocals too distracting for readers?

Questions, skill improvement, and respectful critique involving music, sound, and movies.
Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
YossarianIII
Veteran
Posts: 382
Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2015 10:26 pm
Completed: Guns & Lovers; SRRT!; Kill Your Refrigerator; Banality Man; Beretta Mondatta
Projects: Solidarity Forever
Organization: KONOL Games
Contact:

Is background music with vocals too distracting for readers?

#1 Post by YossarianIII »

Can anyone think of examples where background music in a VN had vocals and lyrics?

It seems like something that's guaranteed to foreground the music too much and maybe even make it difficult to read... but I'm really tempted to try it.

For my current NaNoReNo project, I think it'd be really cool to have (fictional) pop music playing diegetically during the background of certain scenes. I mean, people can talk while music's playing in the background, right?

But early tests confirm my initial thought -- lyrics are just too distracting.

However...

I am kind of happy with the results of stripping away everything but the chorus and then just mixing that super duper low. It seems to kind of suggest vocal music without having as much of a monopoly on the reader's attention...


Does anyone else have any thoughts or feedback here? Have you ever tried diegetic music in a VN? Did it work how you intended?

Image Image

SundownKid
Lemma-Class Veteran
Posts: 2299
Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2012 9:50 pm
Completed: Icebound, Selenon Rising Ep. 1-2
Projects: Selenon Rising Ep. 3-4
Organization: Fastermind Games
Deviantart: sundownkid
Location: NYC
Contact:

Re: Is background music with vocals too distracting for read

#2 Post by SundownKid »

I think it could work. I mean, Persona has background music with vocals at the same time that you are walking around and talking with people.

User avatar
YossarianIII
Veteran
Posts: 382
Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2015 10:26 pm
Completed: Guns & Lovers; SRRT!; Kill Your Refrigerator; Banality Man; Beretta Mondatta
Projects: Solidarity Forever
Organization: KONOL Games
Contact:

Re: Is background music with vocals too distracting for read

#3 Post by YossarianIII »

SundownKid wrote:I think it could work. I mean, Persona has background music with vocals at the same time that you are walking around and talking with people.
True.

My concern specifically was reading, since lots of people say they can't read or write with vocal music playing. But since this is just NaNoReNo, my thought at this point is to just go for it...

Image Image

User avatar
Dylan_Bain
Regular
Posts: 101
Joined: Mon Mar 09, 2015 2:05 pm
Organization: Dylan Bain Games
Location: Scotland
Contact:

Re: Is background music with vocals too distracting for read

#4 Post by Dylan_Bain »

I guess it would depend on the game.

If the atmosphere was quiet, where there wouldn't be even non-vocal music in real life, I would avoid it, but if the scene was a cafe or school or somewhere there might be music anyway, it could work. You would have to make sure, though, that it wasn't too loud, especially if you had voice-acting, as it could distract players from the game.

Hope I helped!

User avatar
Laniessa
Veteran
Posts: 251
Joined: Wed Feb 09, 2011 11:10 am
Completed: CDC, Cerulean, WBW, Helena's Flowers
Projects: Chomp Chomp, WaV
Tumblr: adirosa
Deviantart: adirosa
Contact:

Re: Is background music with vocals too distracting for read

#5 Post by Laniessa »

Make the lyrics sound like they’re in another language, maybe. I’m guessing that’s what the Persona team and The World Ends With You team were thinking, and since it’s kind of mispronounced English to us, it works this way too.

Otherwise, lower the volume on the vocals part so it essentially sounds like another instrument, or make the main melody not very noticeable.
Last edited by Laniessa on Sun Jun 21, 2015 4:18 am, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
YossarianIII
Veteran
Posts: 382
Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2015 10:26 pm
Completed: Guns & Lovers; SRRT!; Kill Your Refrigerator; Banality Man; Beretta Mondatta
Projects: Solidarity Forever
Organization: KONOL Games
Contact:

Re: Is background music with vocals too distracting for read

#6 Post by YossarianIII »

Laniessa wrote:Make the lyrics sound like they’re in another language, maybe. I’m guessing that’s what the Persona team and The World Ends With You team were thinking, and since it’s kind of mispronounced English to us, it works this way too.

Otherwise, lower the volume on the vocals part so it essentially sounds like another instrument, or make the main medody not very noticeable.

Oh, man that's it -- The World Ends With You. I KNEW there was some game out there that did exactly what I was trying to describe, but I just couldn't place it. I'm going to look up that soundtrack right now.

Thanks, Laniessa. It was bothering me so much that I couldn't think of that.

Image Image

User avatar
FlyingCarParts
Regular
Posts: 25
Joined: Sun May 03, 2015 3:48 pm
Contact:

Re: Is background music with vocals too distracting for read

#7 Post by FlyingCarParts »

As long as its quiet, I don't think it's too distracting.

User avatar
Ziassan
Veteran
Posts: 231
Joined: Thu Jun 09, 2011 8:14 pm

Re: Is background music with vocals too distracting for read

#8 Post by Ziassan »

I guess it's too late since it was asked for NanoReno, but for futur read, vocals songs are indeed hard to match with games and especially Visual Novel.

Hard doesn't mean impossible, but it can be distracting and it's a lot more work for the composer (writing, recording and such), so rarely something to do.
However, if it's "background" voice without clear meaning, it acts just like an instrument and it feels better.
An example could be the episode 7 from Umineko VN which had some vocal songs : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfVA1F1mdV8 & https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NORRQc_C9g
Tho there you could say the voices are disturbing, but it's intended.

User avatar
namastaii
Eileen-Class Veteran
Posts: 1350
Joined: Mon Feb 02, 2015 8:35 pm
Projects: Template Maker for Ren'Py, What Life
Github: lunalucid
Skype: Discord: lunalucid#1991
Soundcloud: LunaLucidMusic
itch: lunalucid
Location: USA
Contact:

Re: Is background music with vocals too distracting for read

#9 Post by namastaii »

Make the music really quiet and almost unnoticeable. It will help set the atmosphere but won't be too distracting.

kikcac

Re: Is background music with vocals too distracting for read

#10 Post by kikcac »

That would be very distracting for me to read and listen to music with lyrics at the same time, it will get mixed up in my head. So unless you want to play a movie and/or there are no irrelevant texts to read, maybe. Or else, I think it's not a very good idea. personally if I like the game enough, I will have to mute the music to read.

User avatar
Kinmoku
Miko-Class Veteran
Posts: 591
Joined: Mon Aug 11, 2014 9:39 am
Completed: One Night Stand
Projects: VIDEOVERSE
Tumblr: gamesbykinmoku
itch: kinmoku
Location: Germany
Contact:

Re: Is background music with vocals too distracting for read

#11 Post by Kinmoku »

I don't think I could read if there are lyrics going on. Another language might work, but if the reader also understands the other language, that will still be confusing!

User avatar
namastaii
Eileen-Class Veteran
Posts: 1350
Joined: Mon Feb 02, 2015 8:35 pm
Projects: Template Maker for Ren'Py, What Life
Github: lunalucid
Skype: Discord: lunalucid#1991
Soundcloud: LunaLucidMusic
itch: lunalucid
Location: USA
Contact:

Re: Is background music with vocals too distracting for read

#12 Post by namastaii »

Oh, are there lyrics involved? Consider instrumental music instead? If you want to keep the lyrics, then it'd be better if there were no voices on the characters. (Sorry, I guess I didn't pay close enough attention)

User avatar
Selebus
Regular
Posts: 27
Joined: Fri Apr 15, 2016 6:10 pm
Skype: djhornwastakensoichosethis
Soundcloud: user-92101212
Location: HOUSTON, TX
Contact:

Re: Is background music with vocals too distracting for read

#13 Post by Selebus »

Kindred Spirits on the Roof has one of the best soundtracks I've heard and a good portion of the songs have a vocal track (Albeit just la la la's and ooh's and stuff). As far as anything with actual lyrical content, I think it might be a little distracting.


Writer/Actor.
Nothing is Beautiful (Psychological/Romance) Demo Available Now! - https://djnostyle.itch.io/nothing-is-beautiful
2019 Character Demo - https://soundcloud.com/user-92101212/dj ... ation-demo
Writing/acting samples available on request!

User avatar
J-Ray
Regular
Posts: 67
Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2016 3:48 pm
Contact:

Re: Is background music with vocals too distracting for read

#14 Post by J-Ray »

Actually it's not possible for the mind to read and listen words at the same time at still clearly understand both - it will jump from one source to another all the time and both will be lost.
I wouldn't advise to mix reading and listening to lyrics unless they have same content (like karaoke).

User avatar
PurpleMind
Regular
Posts: 109
Joined: Mon May 19, 2014 5:38 am
Completed: I contributed to 22 visual novels so far!
Projects: Kosmos Connections, Black Heaven, The Inn Between, Sugar Service, Driftwood, The Glass Coffin, Heart Agency
Location: Cracow, Poland
Discord: Marek Domagała#1778
Contact:

Re: Is background music with vocals too distracting for read

#15 Post by PurpleMind »

How about using vocals as an instrument, and not necessarily for lyrics? What I mean by that is to cut the words off and just put some syllables, or any sounds. This could work, since it might not distract the reader as much as singed lyrics probably would.

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users