The Adaptive Audio Design

We have looked at the interactive functionality available with DirectMusic and the DMX control, and we are familiar with the structure of the web site. The next step is to plan our music treatment. We must make decisions about the style of the music that we create and how it integrates interactively with the web site.

Style and Aesthetics — What Is Right for the Site?

When considering the style and functionality of the web site's music, avoid thinking in terms of your own particular taste. Similarly, do not attempt to cram in as many tricks and clever interactions as you can think of. Over-embellishment can annoy the user and obstruct or confuse the purpose of the site. Consider the user's point of view: Who are they? What do they want from the site?

Visitors to the Wide Sounds site are most likely from the games industry. Perhaps they are producers searching for an overview of the company. They might want to read a bit about the services we provide and find out about our background. As we are a music company, it is natural that we want our site to feature music, and as we provide interactive music, it makes sense to reflect that in our site music as well. However, the company information is the focus, so the music should merely serve to enhance the user's experience and give a sense of quality.

For the purposes of the Wide Sounds web site, we use a gentle, unobtrusive musical style that simply aims to provide a pleasant backdrop. We have no idea what kind of musical style our visitors want for their game projects, so it seems sensible to avoid an obvious game style. We do not want to pigeonhole ourselves as electronica artists, classical composers, or some other genre. Having a very general style allows us to appeal to visitors from outside the games industry, in our other markets of advertising, or on the web.

Form and Function

Finding the Hooks

Mouse clicks and rollovers drive the music script behind the Wide Sounds web site. These interactions are very simple to implement and give us the control we need in most circumstances. With this in mind, we can identify which interactions should control our script.

We refer to these interactions as "hooks," and it is important to identify them before designing the music so that the musical content matches the functionality of the site. You should look at the site that you are creating music for in detail, become familiar with its structure, and think about how your music can complement and enhance the content. Consider the amount of time users are likely to spend in each area, which buttons will be used most frequently, and which areas or features of the site should be highlighted musically.

We have six lozenge-shaped buttons on the front page used to navigate the site. Navigating between content pages is clearly the main interaction with the site, and therefore we utilize changes in the primary Segment to reflect this priority. As a further embellishment, when clicking through to a different page, an "opening" or "closing" motif plays. This technique stems from the Flash site where the new page visually expands or collapses from the button, although the musical idea remains valid without the expanding/collapsing animation. We also use button rollovers to play various notes while forcing those notes to conform to the background harmony in a variety of ways. This breaks down to a different note on each button, all of which relate to the chord playing during the rollover. This turns a row of buttons into a basic musical instrument that plays notes in harmony with the background music! The constantly present Wide Sounds logo links back to the front page from each of the content pages. Because it is a logo, an "ident" style motif, as commonly used in corporate branding, seems an appropriate embellishment. Finally, we have added some simple controls specifically for the music:

• Volume +

• Volume -

• Music Off

• Music On

Our web site is very simple, so there are only a small number of hooks. Sites that are more complex may require more complex music implementations. DirectMusic can certainly accommodate the most demanding scripting requirements.

Once you have determined the hooks you will be using to drive the music, you can begin to think about creating musical content to match the site structure and interactive behavior.

Matching Music to Site Content

As our site is purely informational and has no distinctly themed content areas, such as pages dedicated to the different game titles that we have worked on, there is no obvious requirement for distinctly themed musical content. Therefore, the musical backdrop focuses on atmosphere and variety. If the site had themed pages (say, historical or geographical for instance), we could incorporate elements of the respective themes in the musical backdrop. The backdrop could even transition between different pieces of music as the user navigates to different pages within the site.

Thinking as the User

Web site music should enhance a visitor's experience. For the purposes of the Wide Sounds site, the music should also encourage them to retain our services. It is important to consider the user's expectations, needs, and experience when designing music for web sites.

What is the average length of time that a visitor views any given page on the site? Are there elements of the site that the user interacts with quite often? How can the musical content aid navigation and usability? Which recurring elements require consistency throughout the site for clarity? Understanding how the site functions helps in designing appropriate interactive audio.