Music of Rocket League

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Psyonix audio director Mike Ault Mike Ault at GDC 2018 (cropped).jpg
Psyonix audio director Mike Ault

The music of Rocket League , a vehicular football video game developed and published by Psyonix, is a compilation of electronic dance music (EDM) produced and curated by Psyonix audio director Mike Ault. It currently features music from 45 different artists, and has spawned a discography of four albums and four extended plays. The original soundtrack was produced by Ault and his band Hollywood Principle. Ault, having experimented with different genres, used personal projects unrelated to Rocket League as a base for the soundtrack. What followed was an EDM soundtrack inspired by early-to-mid 2000s progressive house music that Ault and Psyonix felt "embodied the spirit of the game." When in-game, the music is controlled using the playlist system "Rocket League Radio". Positive feedback from players, in addition to Ault's vision of a "big budget" playlist sound emulating Triple-A sports games such as the EA Sports titles, inspired him and the team to feature independent artists to be included in Rocket League's soundtrack. Ault credits the success of the soundtrack to the appeal of the EDM genre to the game's player base. In 2017, Canadian EDM label Monstercat partnered with Psyonix and began to feature its artists, and their music, in Rocket League, with multiple volumes featuring the music being released by the label.

Contents

Artists

Mike Ault

The original soundtrack to Rocket League was composed and produced by Psyonix audio director Mike Ault and his band Hollywood Principle, an EDM troupe started in 2013 by Ault with producer Elliott Sencan and vocalist Kayla Hope. [2] [3] Ault was hired by Psyonix in 2011 to lead the studio's new audio department, after having fulfilled a similar role as a contractor for inXile Entertainment during development of the dark fantasy game Hunted: The Demon's Forge . [4] Ault began work at the studio as the lead sound designer on the gothic fantasy game Nosgoth , [5] Psyonix's last project before Rocket League. When Ault began work on Rocket League in 2013, it marked a departure from six years of dark fantasy games; a change that Ault welcomed as he transitioned from "gory-type setting[s]" to "cars, boosts, and mechanical sounds." [6] Ault oversaw the production of both the game's sound design and music, with an adaptive creative process in which he consistently sought to improve upon ideas, reiterating on various components of the game's audio before settling on a final version. [7] Without the financial resources to license popular music, the idea of sounding "big budget", à la EA Sports titles, was a goal highlighted by Ault. [8] For the game's menu music, Ault and the developers constantly cycled through inspirations from the "brassy, regal" sound of SportsCenter and Monday Night Football to Nintendo 64 games, among other genres such as heavy rock and thrash punk. [9] [10]

As development on the game progressed, the team felt that the single track used for the menu had become stale. As a solution, Ault created an in-game playlist consisting of a large number of tracks created by Ault and other members of the staff. The most popular music among the game's team were a number of Ault's personal tracks worked on before he arrived at Psyonix, including "Flying Forever", which was a 2011 collaboration with vocalist Morgan Perry. [11] [12] Ault never intended for the music to be used in a game soundtrack when creating them, though he and the developers felt comfortable with the tracks, and deemed that they "embodied the spirit of the game." [13] [14] For Ault, the diverse "playlist" feel of the soundtrack helped achieve his goal of a "big budget" sound for the game. [15] This new soundtrack for Rocket League was predominantly electronic dance music (EDM), inspired by early-mid 2000s progressive house artists such as ATB, deadmau5, and Kaskade. [10] [16] The "Rocket League Theme" was composed and produced with the timing of the title screen in mind. Ault worked with UI artist Jared Adkins to time out the theme's opening build-up to anticipate the appearance of the title screen. [17] Future tracks that were featured on the title screen were edited in a similar way, including Hollywood Principle's "Firework" and "Breathing Underwater (Ether Remix)", which were similarly shortened and edited to fit the opening cues. [18] Five officially released tracks from the Rocket League soundtrack were credited to Hollywood Principle. Ault describes the Hollywood Principle discography as a "sincere attempt to actually do something with music", in contrast to his earlier solo work. [19]

Music produced by Ault and Hollywood Principle for Rocket League have been released on two soundtrack albums published by Psyonix. The first album was released on July 1, 2015, and included the original eleven tracks included with the game upon its release a week later. [20] The second album, consisting additional music Ault and Hollywood Principle produced for the game's Supersonic Fury, Revenge of the Battle-Cars, and Chaos Run DLCs was released on Rocket League's first anniversary on July 7, 2016. [21] The album also included the tracks "Scorched Earth" by Kevin Riepl and "Rocket League Throwback Anthem" by Adam B. Metal. [22] A three-disc vinyl record compilation album entitled Rocket League: The Vinyl Collection was released by Iam8bit in December 2016. [23] [24] The compilation included all tracks from the first two soundtrack albums and features gatefold artwork by Dan Bronsema of Puddle & Splash. [24] Pre-orders of the compilation included a download code for the albums. A limited edition of the album featuring picture discs decorated with the in-game cosmetic Invader, Lowrider, and Tempest wheel rims was also released, with a thousand copies produced. [23] [25] Iam8bit co-founder Jon Gibson described the idea for the picture discs, which was conceived during an email chain with Psyonix, as "such a simple thought", and that "connecting the fact that vinyl records spin and wheels spin [...] made for a really cool visual." [25]

Albums

Rocket League (Official Game Soundtrack) [20]
No.TitleArtistLength
1."Rocket League Theme"Mike Ault1:28
2."Angel Wings" (featuring Avianna Acid)Mike Ault6:07
3."Darkness"
  • Mike Ault
  • Christian De La Torre
7:30
4."Flying Forever" (featuring Morgan Perry)Mike Ault6:05
5."I Can Be" (featuring Crysta)Mike Ault4:18
6."In My Dreams" (featuring Nikki Wilkins)Mike Ault6:24
7."Lacuna"Mike Ault7:09
8."Love Thru the Night"Mike Ault5:07
9."We Speak Chinese"
  • Mike Ault
  • Abandoned Carnival
4:37
10."Seeing What's Next"Hollywood Principle3:19
11."Whiplash"Hollywood Principle7:17
Total length:59:21
Rocket League (Official Game Soundtrack Vol. 2) [26]
No.TitleArtistLength
1."Firework"Hollywood Principle3:07
2."Breathing Underwater (Ether Remix)"Hollywood Principle4:37
3."Looking to the Future"Mike Ault4:44
4."Escape from L.A. (Instrumental)"
  • Mike Ault
  • Abandoned Carnival
5:20
5."Seeing What's Next (Kev Frey Remix)"
  • Hollywood Principle
  • Kev Frey
5:05
6."When the Lights Come On (Instrumental)"
  • Mike Ault
  • Abandoned Carnival
5:54
7."Hard Buzz"
  • Mike Ault
  • Abandoned Carnival
3:22
8."Game Time"
  • Mike Ault
  • Abandoned Carnival
0:47
9."Scorched Earth" Kevin Riepl 2:15
10."RLCS Theme"Mike Ault1:15
11."Rocket League Throwback Anthem"Adam B. Metal1:38
Total length:38:04
Rocket League: The Vinyl Collection [23] [24]
No.TitleArtistLength
1."Rocket League Theme"Mike Ault1:28
2."Angel Wings" (featuring Avianna Acid)Mike Ault6:07
3."Darkness"
  • Mike Ault
  • Christian De La Torre
7:30
4."Flying Forever" (featuring Morgan Perry)Mike Ault6:05
5."I Can Be" (featuring Crysta)Mike Ault4:18
6."In My Dreams" (featuring Nikki Wilkins)Mike Ault6:24
7."Lacuna"Mike Ault7:09
8."Love Thru the Night"Mike Ault5:07
9."Seeing What's Next"Hollywood Principle3:19
10."We Speak Chinese"
  • Mike Ault
  • Abandoned Carnival
4:37
11."Whiplash"Hollywood Principle7:17
12."Firework"Hollywood Principle3:07
13."Breathing Underwater (Ether Remix)"Hollywood Principle4:37
14."Looking to the Future"Mike Ault4:44
15."Escape from L.A. (Instrumental)"
  • Mike Ault
  • Abandoned Carnival
5:20
16."Seeing What's Next (Kev Frey Remix)"
  • Hollywood Principle
  • Kev Frey
5:05
17."When the Lights Come On (Instrumental)"
  • Mike Ault
  • Abandoned Carnival
5:54
18."Hard Buzz"
  • Mike Ault
  • Abandoned Carnival
3:22
19."Game Time"
  • Mike Ault
  • Abandoned Carnival
0:47
20."Scorched Earth" Kevin Riepl 2:15
21."RLCS Theme"Mike Ault1:15
22."Rocket League Throwback Anthem"Adam B. Metal1:38
Total length:97:25

Indie artists

With the Supersonic Fury DLC and its associated update to Rocket League, the title screen music was changed to a brand new track, "Firework" by Hollywood Principle. [27] [28] The positive reception towards the track and the soundtrack change in general inspired Ault and Psyonix to make further changes to the soundtrack, and also recognized the potential for independent artists, who were not involved with Ault or Psyonix, to gain exposure through music features in the game. [29] [30] A remix contest was held on Indaba Music by Psyonix and Hollywood Principle in late 2015, challenging contestants to submit remixes of the band's track, "Seeing What's Next"; [31] [32] its winner, Kevin Frey, had his remix of the track featured on the title screen of the game's "Neo Tokyo" update. [33] Other tracks by independent artists added through updates to the game include a remix of Hollywood Principle's "Breathing Underwater" by then-17-year-old Baltimore artist Ether, [34] and the "Rocket League Throwback Anthem" by Warrnambool artist Adam B. Metal, who had previously composed the theme to Rocket League's predecessor, Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars . [22] In addition, notable video game composer Kevin Riepl, who had previously composed music for Gears of War , Crackdown 2 , Aliens: Colonial Marines , and Hawken , produced the track "Scorched Earth", which became the theme for the game's Chaos Run DLC. [35] [36] All four aforementioned tracks were included on the second volume of the official Rocket League soundtrack. [26]

In mid-2016, Ault approached German producer TheFatRat to inquire about including his music in Rocket League. [37] He agreed, and a remixed version of his 2014 track "Infinite Power!" appeared in the game as the theme for the "Rumble" update. [38] [39] The track also appeared in trailers for the "Rumble" update. [40] [41] Afterwards, Ault entertained the possibility of "pushing someone that hasn't been exposed yet". [42] The opportunity came after a friend of New Jersey artist Drunk Girl messaged Ault on Reddit, recommending his music to be featured. After being impressed by the song that was sent to him, Drunk Girl's "Don't Stop the Party" featuring vocalist Deanna, it would be added to the game's soundtrack. [43] "Infinite Power!", "Don't Stop the Party", remixes of Hollywood Principle's "Firework" by Edmonton producer Melad and "Spell" by California producer Sando, have not featured on an official album release, though do feature in Rocket League Radio as part of the "Unreleased Tracks" playlist. [44]

Monstercat

2016 Open Beatz - Pegboard Nerds - by 2eight -DSC 3125.jpg
Slushii Mad Decent Block Party 01 (cropped).jpg
Monstercat artists Pegboard Nerds (left) and Slushii (right) were among many that produced music for the soundtrack, under the label's contributions to Rocket League since 2017.

In June 2017, Canadian EDM label Monstercat announced a collaboration with Psyonix to provide the soundtrack to Rocket League's second anniversary update. [45] [46] Monstercat had identified the gaming community as an important part of its audience, [47] [48] having described itself in Billboard as "synonymous with gaming since day one of its inception." [49] Previous efforts by Monstercat to expand its gaming audience included licensing its music library for free use by streamers on video game live streaming site Twitch since the Twitch Music Library's launch in January 2015, [50] [51] [52] and investing $1.1 million with Y Combinator and Extreme Ventures in Revlo, a chat interaction and monetization service for Twitch. [53] Rocket League x Monstercat Vol. 1, an eighteen-track album published as part of the collaboration, was released on July 5, 2017. [54] [55] It features contributions from Aero Chord, Conro, Darren Styles, Ephixa, Notaker, Slushii, Vicetone, and other Monstercat artists. [56] [57] Its cover art, depicting the Monstercat logo painted on the hood of an Octane, was designed by digital artist Thaira Bouhid, using Cinema 4D. [58] Conro's track, "All Me", was inspired by an eponymous affirmation towards his teammates in Rocket League when they have possession of the ball. [59]

In January 2018, Monstercat established two imprints, Monstercat: Uncaged and Monstercat: Instinct, as part of a marketing refresh. The Uncaged imprint houses the label's bass-heavy artists, while Instinct houses the label's more melodic artists. [47] [48] To promote the new imprints, Uncaged and Instinct-themed extended plays were released alongside major feature updates to Rocket League, truncating the size of the albums from eighteen tracks for Rocket League x Monstercat, Vol. 1 to six tracks each for Vol. 2 onwards. [60] The first Uncaged-themed EP, Rocket League x Monstercat Vol. 2, was released on April 2, 2018, to coincide with the game's "Tournaments" update. [61] [62] It featured music from Intercom, Koven, Pegboard Nerds, Protostar, Slippy, and Stonebank. [63] The first Instinct EP, Rocket League x Monstercat Vol. 3, was released on May 25, 2018, four days prior to the release of Rocket League's summer-themed "Salty Shores" update. [64] [65] [66] The compilation featured complementary summer-themed music from Aiobahn, Bad Computer, Dion Timmer, Duumu, Inverness, Soupandreas, Stephen Walking, and Vin, [67] and cover art by Monstercat artist Amanda Cha. [68] The Uncaged-themed fourth compilation, released on September 13, 2018, to coincide with the game's Season Nine update, [69] featured electro house music from Bossfight, [70] Infected Mushroom, Muzz, Pixel Terror, and Tokyo Machine. [71] Dougal, Gammer, and Darren Styles also collaborated once again, after "Party Don't Stop" from Monstercat Uncaged Vol. 2, for the compilation's third track, "Burning Up". [71] The Instinct-themed fifth volume released on November 30 was the last published in 2018, and featured music from CloudNone, Grant, Hyper Potions, Nokae, Rogue, Rootkit, and Smle. [72]

On February 28, 2019, Psyonix announced that tracks from Rocket League x Monstercat Volumes 6 and 7 would be released throughout the year and available in-game on the same day as the individual song's release. [73]

Albums

Rocket League x Monstercat Vol. 1 [74]
No.TitleArtistLength
1."Rock It"Tokyo Machine3:11
2."Fury"Rogue4:04
3."Luv U Need U" Slushii 2:26
4."Bone Dry"Tristam4:45
5."Weapon" (featuring Baum)Grant3:08
6."Outbreak" (featuring Mylk)Feint3:52
7."Apex" Vicetone 2:43
8."Collisions"Droeloe2:27
9."Call Me"Subtact4:02
10."Break Me" (featuring Karra)Trivecta2:27
11."Drift Away"Wrld4:02
12."Wake Up, You're Dreaming" Notaker 4:18
13."All Me" Conro 3:23
14."Skyforth" Ephixa 3:20
15."Play to Win" (featuring Holly Drummond)Rameses B4:18
16."Drop It" Aero Chord 3:07
17."0202"Eminence3:15
18."Twilight" Zero Hero 3:24
Total length:62:39
Rocket League x Monstercat Vol. 2 [75]
No.TitleArtistLength
1."My Love" Koven 3:48
2."What Are You Waiting For"Stonebank4:15
3."Party Freaks" (featuring Anna Yvette) Pegboard Nerds 3:33
4."Flow"Slippy3:49
5."New Horizons"Protostar3:13
6."Truth and Malice"Intercom4:32
Total length:23:10
Rocket League x Monstercat Vol. 3 [67]
No.TitleArtistLength
1."Glide"Stephen Walking3:16
2."Shiawase"Dion Timmer3:37
3."Silhouette" (featuring Skyelle)Bad Computer4:24
4."Keep You" (featuring Sundial)Duumu3:37
5."Hours"
  • Soupandreas
  • Inverness
3:02
6."About U"
  • Aiobahn
  • Vin
2:55
Total length:20:51
Rocket League x Monstercat Vol. 4 [71]
No.TitleArtistLength
1."Horsepower" Muzz 4:51
2."Walking on the Moon" Infected Mushroom 5:36
3."Burning Up"3:15
4."Fly"Tokyo Machine3:17
5."Charge"Bossfight3:23
6."Contra" (featuring Sara Skinner)Pixel Terror3:58
Total length:24:40
Rocket League x Monstercat Vol. 5 [72]
No.TitleArtistLength
1."Badlands"Rogue3:18
2."Castaway"Grant3:18
3."Runnin'" (featuring Nick Smith) Smle 2:56
4."Oh You"Rootkit3:05
5."Expedition"
  • Hyper Potions
  • Nokae
4:47
6."From Here"CloudNone3:20
Total length:20:44
Rocket League x Monstercat – Legacy [76]
No.TitleArtistLength
1."Rock It" (VIP)Tokyo Machine3:15
2."Silhouette" (Feed Me Remix) (featuring Skyelle)Bad Computer5:01
3."From Here" (Attlas Remix)CloudNone5:27
4."Shiawase" (VIP)Dion Timmer3:01
5."Outbreak" (Fox Stevenson Remix) (featuring Mylk)Feint3:48
6."Horsepower" (F.O.O.L and Tokyo Rose Remix) Muzz 3:20
7."What Are You Waiting For" (VIP)Stonebank4:59
8."Walking on the Moon" (Bad Computer Remix) Infected Mushroom 3:09
Rocket League x Monstercat Vol. 6 [77]
No.TitleArtistLength
1."Play"Tokyo Machine3:03
2."Internet Boy" (featuring Micah Martin)Dion Timmer3:18
3."Each Other" (featuring Eric Lumiere) Notaker 3:19
4."Wishes"Grant and McCall4:01
5."Hot"Fwlr2:50
6."The Darkness"Xilent4:25
7."Us"Snavs3:04
8."Color" (featuring Juneau)Grant3:33
9."Amnesia"Pixel Terror3:45
10."No Fear Anymore"Julian Calor and Ava Silver3:22
Rocket League x Monstercat Vol. 7 [78]
No.TitleArtistLength
1."The One"Habstrakt3:50
2."Heat Wave"Tony Romera3:46
3."Cobra"Tails and Juelz3:12
4."Blinded"Duumu3:59
5."Bloom"Throttle4:53
6."Test Me" Slushii and Dion Timmer3:04
7."I'll Go"Direct and Park Avenue4:21
8."Mark Twain"Half an Orange2:49
9."Still"Glacier3:27
10."Only You"Dexter King and Alexis Donn3:13
Rocket League x Monstercat – Radical Summer [79]
No.TitleArtistLength
1."Hang Up" (featuring Savoi)Wrld3:19
2."Dads in Space"Stephen Walking4:09
3."Neon"Televisor4:15
4."Mirai Sekai Part 3: Aeon Metropolis" Varien and 7 Minutes Dead3:55
5."If I Could" (featuring Beth Cole)Tut Tut Child3:15
6."Sundance" Ephixa and Heartful3:13
7."Let's Talk"Rogue3:50
8."Carissa"Desert Star2:25
9."Playing with the Boys" (featuring Alli Simms)Half an Orange3:28

Usage

The soundtrack to Rocket League plays on the game's title screen and menus through an in-game radio branded as "Rocket League Radio" in patch notes and promotional material. [46] [80] Music during matches have been the subject of internal debate at Psyonix; the studio did not consider such a feature after player research on Rocket League's prequel, Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars found that the in-game music would often be disabled or replaced by music not associated with the game chosen by players. [81] The studio initially chose to focus the player's attention towards the sound design, much like other sports games, in order to avoid a reliance on the soundtrack for excitement, as opposed to "building the crowd and ambient sounds". [82] [83] The positive reception from players towards the Rocket League soundtrack, however, influenced Psyonix to later allow players to play music while in a game and/or in training. [62] Upon the game's release in July 2015, a random selection of songs in the game were cycled in the menus. This was changed in September 2015, when the function to skip to another track was added. [52] [84] The option to toggle specific playlists was added in July 2017, allowing players to play specific albums and playlists. [80]

Reception

Reception towards Ault and Hollywood Principle's soundtrack from players have been positive. In a review for Business Insider , Ben Gilbert cites the soundtrack as a contributor to the game's feel of a "madman’s vision for future soccer." [85] The soundtrack also gained favorable notes from USgamer 's Jaz Rignall and PlayStation Universe's Neil Bolt in their respective reviews for Rocket League, describing it as "upbeat" and well fitting in the game. [86] [87] Ault had personally noted the positive reaction to the soundtrack and was surprised by how well it was received, despite the fact that most of the tracks were produced years prior in different contexts and not necessarily for a video game such as Rocket League. [88] [89] Ault credits the soundtrack's accessibility and the appeal of the EDM genre to the game's player base as possible factors in the soundtrack's success. [90] Positive feedback towards Hollywood Principle's "Firework", a track added in the Supersonic Fury DLC, inspired Ault and Psyonix to reach out to other artists to keep a theme of new, "fresh" music for future DLCs and major feature updates for Rocket League. [29] Artists that were featured on the Rocket League soundtrack have seen varying degrees of commercial success. After producer Drunk Girl's "Don't Stop the Party" was added to the game's soundtrack, his followers on Spotify increased from 500 to 60,000. [91]

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Austin Collins, better known as Au5, is an American electronic musician from New Jersey. Au5's music encompasses a range of electronic genres such as dubstep, house, trance, drum and bass, drumstep and ambient, and he is known for fusing the characteristics of trance and dubstep in his music. Au5 is best known for his releases on Canadian label Monstercat, some of which have received millions of views on YouTube.

Koven, sometimes stylized as KOᐯEN or KOVEN., are an English electronic dance music duo made up of producer Max Rowat and vocalist Katie Boyle. They are especially known for their drum and bass and dubstep, but also make trap, future bass, house, pop and other styles. The duo are signed to Monstercat and hail from London, England.

References

Sources

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  2. McKeand, Kirk (February 15, 2018). "How Rocket League became a showcase for new musical talent". PCGamesN . Network N. Archived from the original on May 30, 2018. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  3. O'Dwyer, Danny; Ault, Mike (November 14, 2016). The Music & Sounds of Rocket League with Mike Ault - Extended Interview (Video). YouTube, Google . Retrieved May 29, 2018.

Citations

  1. Gilbert & Ault 2015, Part 2, "We went through a ridiculous number of iterations and ideas for what the music should sound like. Here is our original direction for the music, for example."
  2. Gilbert & Ault 2015 , Part 3, "I met one of my bandmates, Elliott Sencan, in the summer of 2013 [...] A year later after we started writing together, we met Kayla Hope."
  3. O'Dwyer & Ault 2016 , 16:37, "Hollywood Principle is a collaboration of me, Elliott Sencan, and Kayla Hope."
  4. Gilbert & Ault 2015 , Part 2, "... before Psyonix, I worked as a contractor at inXile Entertainment with my old mentor, Jamey Scott. We were brought in to work on the game, Hunted: The Demons Forge. There was no audio department at inXile, so when Jamey was hired to be the Audio Lead and Sound Designer on the project, he hired me to be the technical sound designer and liaison with the company."
  5. Psyonix (2013). Nosgoth (Media notes). Archived from the original on May 29, 2018. Lead Sound Designer Mike Ault
  6. O'Dwyer & Ault 2016 , 03:49, "I had spent a solid six years in a medieval, gory-type setting. So, cars and boosts and mechanical sounds; it was a welcome change."
  7. Gilbert & Ault 2015 , Part 2, "A standard workflow for music in a game (at least for me) is to discover what fits. We went through a ridiculous number of iterations and ideas for what the music should sound like [...] Once we found a specific vibe, I began to craft the music from a more technical standpoint rather than a creative one."
  8. Gilbert & Ault 2015 , Part 2, "To me, the theme’s main goal was to feel “big budget.” I wanted the vibe you get when you start a big sports game from EA, where they are licensing tracks from huge artists, but since we’re a tiny developer by comparison, we couldn’t license things like that — but it had to sound like we did."
  9. O'Dwyer & Ault 2016 , 12:08, "We went through a lot of different iterations on what the menu music should be, everything from ESPN SportsCenter-y to Monday Night Football to very throwback-y, fun, playful, Nintendo 64 type music; each one of them would be in there for five or six months..."
  10. 1 2 McKeand 2018 , "Rocket League’s music went through other iterations before settling on EDM - a brassy, regal, esports sound, for example, and heavy rock and thrash punk periods, too - but nothing fit quite like electronic dance tunes."
  11. O'Dwyer & Ault 2016 , 12:08, "It really got to a point where I just took a whole bunch of music [...] and threw them all into the main menu, and let it sit [...] the stuff that stook was all my personal music."
  12. Gilbert & Ault 2015 , Part 3, "after I put the theme in, people around the office said they were getting sick of it [...] at the time, it was the only song looping. So, I just threw all of my personal music in there [...] “Flying Forever” is the oldest, I wrote that one in the summer of 2011 with the vocalist, Morgan Perry. That was before I even worked at Psyonix."
  13. O'Dwyer & Ault 2016 , 12:08, "It was never really intended for that kind of purpose, it just happened to fit what the vibe of the game and fit it well [...] It kind of embodied the spirit of the game."
  14. McKeand 2018 , "“They were all just ideas I had written,” Ault explains, “and we could never quite hit the nail on the head and find what wouldn’t be annoying in the game. Then one day, I basically took all my old music that I’d been writing on the side for fun, and I just threw it into the game and said ‘What do you guys think of this?’ Eventually they came back with ‘Well, nobody has any complaints’."
  15. Gilbert & Ault 2015 , Part 3, "...I just threw all of my personal music in there to (again) get that EA playlist of popular music type of vibe."
  16. Gilbert & Ault 2015 , Part 2, "Artists like ATB in the early 2000s, Deadmau5 and Kaskade in the mid 2000s, and as of late, Lido and Said the Sky were big influencers."
  17. O'Dwyer & Ault 2016 , 15:10, "When we put the first original Rocket League theme in, I wrote it with a small build in the beginning and then worked with Atkins, our UI artist, to time out those cards so that if you don't actually interrupt them, it would literally time out perfectly."
  18. O'Dwyer & Ault 2016 , 15:10, "Every song, if it doesn't have that appropriate length, it'll be doctored to fit that. [...] When we changed it out to the next song, which was Firework [...] the beginning of the song has to be this long [...] Breathing Underwater Ether Remix is a lot shorter in the main menu."
  19. Gilbert & Ault 2015 , Part 3, "Hollywood Principle is a sincere attempt to actually do something with music. My solo stuff was a lot of “I want to write music,” whereas Hollywood Principle is trying to push the envelope."
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  29. 1 2 O'Dwyer & Ault 2016 , 18:21, "...I realized the positive reaction of Firework, and it was very exciting for people to hear new music in the game [...] we started to realized the potential of what that could do for indie artists in general..."
  30. Gilbert & Ault 2015 , Part 3, "The decision to change the first song you hear in the DLC is something new and we plan to do that periodically. We are also thinking about featuring remixes from the community, originals from other artists, and future soundtrack releases with all-new tunes."
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  34. McKeand 2018 , "Ether is another success story - a relatively unknown 17-year-old who rocket-jumped to success after the game featured his tracks."
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  37. O'Dwyer & Ault 2016 , 18:21, "From there, we approached TheFatRat [..] he was super on-bard with it, super excited..."
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  42. O'Dwyer & Ault 2016 , 18:21, "I wanted to explore the concept of pushing someone that hasn't been exposed yet..."
  43. O'Dwyer & Ault 2016 , 18:21, "His friend reached out to me on Reddit [...] So, I reached out to him and I proposed..."
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  82. Gilbert & Ault 2015 , Part 3, "We decided to keep the music out of the core game loop and focus on the sound effects as most sports games do. [...] If we had kept music playing in-game, we would have been relying on its presence for excitement rather than building the crowd and ambient sounds the way we did."
  83. Gilbert & Ault 2015 , Part 3, "The overwhelming response to the soundtrack has had us revisit the idea of including in-game."
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  88. O'Dwyer & Ault 2016 , 21:46, "It was weird [...] a lot of them were [...] just a song that I did in that point in time in my life."
  89. Gilbert & Ault 2015 , Part 3, Complete answer to "[...] it must be a great feeling to know that your music is inspiring a new audience of people across the globe?"
  90. O'Dwyer & Ault 2016 , 14:07, Complete answer to "[..] it's so fundamental to the feeling of Rocket League, why do you think it does work so well?"
  91. McKeand 2018 , "Take music producer Drunk Girl, for instance: after being featured in the game, they shot from around 500 Spotify followers to 60,000."