Game Boy Music: But Not The Kind We’re Used To

Writing and producing music has a lot of facets that most people are unaware of. There are several procedures that you do to get the sounds, instruments and vocals to really pop out of a mix to make it break through the overall noise of a song. With today’s technology, you don’t have to have expensive instruments in order to create appealing sounds that sound like regular instruments. A tap on a cigarette package can easily be EQed into sounding like a kick drum or even a snare. It’s all in how you set the low, mid and high range of frequencies. It sounds kind of odd and complicated, but the reality is that it’s all about patience and base knowledge really. You have to sort of know what frequencies are most common in a kick drum (bass drum) to know how to lift the right levels. If done right, you can fool pretty much anyone.

That is exactly the case with this unique and ultimately awesome Game Boy created music. You might think that it has something to do with the 8-Bit SID chip, and even though that is highly impressive and has started to flood the mainstream music sound bank, it doesn’t have anything to do with that. This has to do with the Game Boy itself really. By tapping on its outer shell, connecting and disconnecting the headphone cord, and flicking the battery springs, you can create the perfect sounds to make a really appealing, odd and insanely catchy kind of song.

Even though this has been done several times before, maybe not with the Game Boy, it is a testament to what a little bit of creativity can do. If you have the mind for it really, anything is possible. Even though I prefer the sound bank I have built up myself through the years, I find this really fresh. It gives a new perspective to how music comes in a lot of different forms and shapes. There are plenty of producers out there that like to experiment with non-conventional sounds, and the one most of us know is Timbaland. He incorporates sounds from pretty much anything that has a sound. If you listen carefully, you can find plenty of sounds in the songs he has produced that are not from a store bought instrument. Long live the Game Boy! *blip*