Making the Music of Band Camp Boyfriend

There will be some spoilers mentioned throughout this post, so it would be best not to read it yet if you haven’t finished the game.

This was my first time writing a full-length game soundtrack. I dabbled a little bit in composing and arranging before Band Camp Boyfriend. Probably not as much as I would have liked, but enough to get to the point where I was able to compose original melodies, and not just subconsciously recycle ideas I’d heard before. I was pretty much learning as I went along when it came to getting virtual instruments to perform my ideas. I’m not sure how much that shows in the final product!

In the very, very early days (like when the characters were still forming) we weren’t even thinking of doing an original soundtrack, and we were exploring free libraries. At some point in time I don’t remember, I decided we weren’t doing that anymore, at all, and I took full ownership of the soundtrack. We even got a couple random offers from freelance composers who liked our concept and expressed interest in helping us out but I was like…NO. This soundtrack is mine. My own. 

Taylor already used this joke but IDC.

So I set out to compose what would become a nearly 40-track OST, not knowing how much I didn’t know. But that’s probably good, or else I might have gotten too overwhelmed to continue.

The Blue Mountain High School Alma Mater was the very first original piece I wrote for Band Camp Boyfriend. I came up with the melody while recording myself messing around on flute (not a flute player, so I was assured the fingerings were easy!), then I went home and made a piano arrangement. Taylor helped write the lyrics. The Alma Mater is the core of the OST, which represents the band’s solidarity, and the piece that all the others would eventually grow out of. You can hear the main motif from the alma mater throughout the soundtrack. In fact, you can hear motifs from many pieces cross-pollinated over the OST. I always loved the use of the leitmotif in composition for films and games–how different musical themes are used to represent characters, places, and ideas–and how they can be weaved together and developed over time to take on new meanings. 

The contour of the melody kind of looks like mountains, doesn’t it? You can hear this motif echoed all over BCB’s soundtrack.

Since this was a game about music, it was a given that it would need a more extensive OST than the norm, and that there would have to be a lot of diegetic music (i.e. music that exists within the actual world of the game). The alma mater, the band show, and the drum cadence are examples. I was always set on writing a drum cadence for the game’s title screen, because what screams marching band more than that? It was another first. I had never written a drum cadence before this (not a drummer), so it was tough to get started on it, but once I did I just kind of wrote this one by heart. It was definitely influenced by my college’s drum cadence in the way it changes up every 4-8 bars. I learned from this venture that I’m more of a melodic composer than a rhythmic composer, as I found it easiest to write the bass drum ideas first, and then build the rest of the drumline around those.

I primarily compose in Sibelius because classical notation just makes way more sense to me than looking at a bunch of blocks in a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). I did almost all my mixing in there too, which is…probably bad, but hey. It worked! I think. I bought a subscription to EastWest Composer Cloud to extend my sound library. Most of Sibelius’s default brass sounds are not very realistic sounding, so Composer Cloud was especially helpful in that regard. Would recommend.

The nice thing about Sibelius is that it does come packaged with a bunch of VDL (Virtual Drumline) sounds including battery and pit percussion. To me, the pit and the battery are the staple sound of marching band, so I frequently used pit percussion in my instrumentation, particularly the marimba and vibraphone, to give the OST that marching band backbone and a cohesive feel. I also wanted to make a point to spotlight each instrument in the wind section, and I think each one has at least one standout track. Jazz band was my favorite music activity outside of marching band and I played trumpet in big bands and jazz combos for many years, so there are a lot of jazz-inspired pieces throughout the OST.

Earlier on when we were still working on the first demo, I wasn’t so concerned with the soundtrack as a whole, and was just having fun writing “overworld” themes and character themes. I had the idea that different music would play throughout the day, and wrote Beating Sun (morning), 3:00 PM (afternoon), and Days Gone By (evening) which all share themes. I have a lot of different inspirations, but Animal Crossing New Leaf music was a big one here, in the way different music plays through the day, and also in tone. I even listened through ACNL’s OST to make sure I wasn’t subconsciously copying anything. 

One of my favorite parts of writing the soundtrack was coming up with all the main character themes. When I was a kid, I loved how in Sonic Adventure 2 Battle (old, I know…) each character had their own genre of music attributed to them, and wanted to do something similar with BCB. It was fun to think, what is this character’s musical signature? I’m going to talk about each one here and I will -try- to be brief.

Peter: Flying High was one of the first character themes I wrote, and it went through a couple iterations. A sassy funk-based tune that heavily features the trumpet section, of course. You can hear the “Days Gone By” chord progression in the background of the B section of this piece, hinting at his angst. I actually wanted to spice up this one even more with heavier big band instrumentation, but I ended up thinking functionally it was better if this song wasn’t -too- in your face considering it plays often. Ah well, the bigger version will live on in my mind!

Clark: Clark’s theme is a remnant of the days of browsing free music libraries. I had jokingly selected an arrangement of Hall of the Mountain King by Kevin Macleod to represent grumpy Clark (Hall of the MOUNTAIN King? Blue Mountain? Clark wants to be king? Geddit??). It stuck, and I ended up making my own version which was an arrangement for woodwind quintet. Clark also ended up with a secondary theme because I ended up wanting something more sweet and sensitive for his route. I continued the theme of using classical music for him and selected…literally the first clarinet sonata that came up when I searched clarinet repertoire in the public domain. The Saint Saens Clarinet Sonata was perfect. I imagine it is the piece Clark heard when he first fell in love with the clarinet.

Samuel: Blues Mountain is a jazz waltz that came to me while driving. I wanted Samuel’s theme to sound like a jazz standard. I feel like I was being influenced by a particular one, but I have yet to figure out which one. It starts out with no saxophone and gives the sense something is missing, then the sax takes over the melody once you get to know him better. The plodding melody takes a while to develop, starting out mournful, then becoming more thoughtful and passionate. Just like Samuel. 🙂

Doug: I also came up with the main melody while in the car. When that happens, you got to quick hit record on your phone and sing it before it’s gone. Just Doug is a cheesy pseudo-reggae sounding thing with a lot of different percussion instruments. If it had lyrics, the lyrics would be D-d-d-d-d-Doug D-d-doug. A simple and easy-going melody in an easy key, since Doug is a simple guy with simple needs. There is also a faster version with more drums for chaotic Doug moments.

Poptart: The cute, bouncy melody of Offbeat is broken up between many instruments (French Horn being one) since Poptart doesn’t have a good sense of identity yet, thanks to his upbringing. This is another piece that changes once you get to know the character more. The cheerful melody remains, but some of the more odd and sinister notes start to come out of the woodwork, alluding to his disturbed mind.

Tom: Let It Slide is the last character theme I wrote rather late in the process. I actually wrote a completely different piece early on, then trashed it. I wanted it to be a sentimental piece not heard as often, that showcases the more beautiful character of the trombone, which usually gets stereotyped as loud and goofy. It shares a lot of motifs with Beating Sun, since Tom is the reason Cadence is still in band and vice versa.

Cadence: I consider IGNITE–the upbeat marching band pep song featuring brass and drumline–to be Cadence’s theme song. It heavily features mellophones on the melody since that was her instrument before she became drum major. This song also plays in scenes where the spirit of competition is alive and well. I also made a crappy “dubstep” version of Ignite called Suicide Mission, since I imagine within the world of the game this song would have been a popular song that was arranged for band.

Mr. Wiley: I always knew I wanted to use a Sousa march for Wiley’s theme, One More Time, and I settled on one that was a little less culturally significant(?). The High School Cadets March sounds upbeat and cheerful, but it’s in a strange key and has this underlying tension about it, which is perfect for Wiley. Initially, I wanted to use more of the piece than just the trio, but I ended up thinking that was too much. You can also hear Semper Fidelis March (which became the bad ending theme, for some reason) and the BMHS Alma Mater in this repetitive piece.

Garth…doesn’t have a theme song. I wonder why. Sorry Garth! I guess he gets associated with 3:00 PM a lot though, doesn’t he?

By now, it should be evident I referenced a number of classical pieces in the OST. Because if you already have great music available to you in the public domain, then why not take advantage? Aside from the pieces I mentioned already, the most obvious is the use of Gustav Holst’s The Planets for the actual marching band show, and you can also hear themes from Venus and Mars in a couple of the other tracks (Run Like Hell, Summer’s End/Melvin, and of course Venus and Mars).

I elected not to write out the entire marching band show (except Jupiter for the end credits) because I didn’t think it would all be heard in a typical play-through anyway. And I had to draw the line somewhere if I was ever going to get done with this soundtrack. 

2022 was crunch time, as Taylor was set on a Spring 2023 release. By 2022, I had all the ideas for the soundtrack sketched out, but there were a good number of pieces sitting waiting to be completed, and some waiting to be started. At some point I realized the OST was becoming too big. I planned waaay too many tracks, including a lot of tracks that would only play in one scene. Most AAA Otome games clock-in at 25 tracks or so and I was over 40. I had to make sure the remaining pieces were versatile and would suit a range of moods/scenes, and I also had to make some cuts unfortunately. For example, I was going to do a full band arrangement of The High School Cadets March for the parade practice scene in Tom’s route, but my sister convinced me to skip it since it’d only be in one scene. And since it starts and stops so much, it probably wouldn’t even be heard in its entirety. So we just reused Wiley’s theme.

The one piece I kind of wish I hadn’t cut was Samuel’s Section Day song, since it is a significant moment. I toyed with doing a sax quartet arrangement of 3:00 PM, since that would have fit the mood. But to be honest, I always imagined the song was Birdland, which is NOT public domain, so I wouldn’t be able to arrange that without paying who knows what. 

Next time you play Sam’s route, listen to this and use your imagination.

One of my biggest challenges was writing tension music. I put it off for a long time, and I fear it may be the weakest part of the soundtrack. The thing about BCB is–once the major plot twist happens in each route, suddenly the perky day-to-day music doesn’t fit the mood so much anymore, and we need some different sounding music to replace it. Using free music or hiring a guest composer was still out of the question, so I powered through it. Songs like Bad Vibes, Death March, Run Like Hell, PTSD, and Escape Plan filled that void. 

Another thing I have a tough time with is writing for guitar. I don’t play guitar. Tried it several times, didn’t like it. So I kind of just write those parts by ear, not completely knowing if what I’m writing makes sense from a playing standpoint. I feel that music is better if written idiomatically, as in playable with respect to ranges and technicalities of each instrument, even if it’s going to be performed by virtual instruments.

2022 was not a great year for me, but I somehow managed to put everything else aside and bang out the rest of the soundtrack, which I completed in March of 2023. Not every piece turned out exactly as I had envisioned it, but I guess that’s just how it goes. I can only hope the emotions I was trying to get across are there.

That last year, I got an insane amount of work done and it showed me what I’m capable of if I don’t spend so much time stalling waiting for ideas to come to me, which was my “process” for writing a number of pieces. Since I’m such a perfectionist who feels I have to get things right the first time, I would have a single idea sitting in a Sibelius file for months, then a year later I’d come back and write everything once all the ideas came to me. I shouldn’t have approached it that way. I should have just thrown myself into composing each piece and developing those single ideas, like I did once I was forced to in order to get things done on time. One idea is enough to get started.

Another thing I wish I would have done earlier is read through the whole script with the express purpose of really nailing down what kind of music I should be hearing during each scene. This would have saved me from a lot of overplanning, and panicking over whether I’d have a piece in my repertoire to fit each scene. Luckily as time went on, I got better at composing what I call “chameleon pieces,” music that can fit a variety of moods and scenes. Swan Song is one of these. It suits any sad scene, but also beautiful serene scenes such as the one with Peter under the willow.

Anyway. I say all this now, but I’ve done some brainstorming for what comes next after BCB, and I’m picturing around 40 tracks again. So I’m probably not going to be listening to my own advice any time soon. Maybe I’ll crack and hire a co-composer next time, since there is so much that goes into making a game! 

That’s all I got. I hope you learned a little more about music composition for video games, and what went into composing Band Camp Boyfriend’s soundtrack!

-Alex