Scrums debates in V3 are absolutely awesome. Though I wish they were used more, thematically they make perfect sense, visually they’re a spectacle, storywise they have some nice debating, and music wise, ohhhhhh baby. It’s amazing.
This article is spoiler free. I promise.
As an avid consumer of game music, what I love about it is that it breaks absolutely all the rules that other music follows. Conventional music has to have a structure to it, with verses and choruses and the like (this is good for music by itself, by the by. Not trashing it). Soundtracks to things like movies have to sync up with the movie itself and usually don’t stand on their own as much. Game soundtracks don’t get to sync up to anything, as the player has control, and they have to serve the tone more than anything, as the typical musical progression would make it feel choppy as you play. Essentially, they’ve gotta be background music that sets the tone consistently, and that will still sound good on repeat. Tough order, for sure, but songs like the V3 Scrum theme make it all worth it.
The song starts with a sound pitched down and stretched out, alongside a crash cymbal slowly fading out alongside it, to give us a nice musical kickstart to the song. The next bit is all about building up the debate, with every part of the song working to get more intense as it goes. Listen to the synths in the background for this earlier part first. For the first 30 seconds or so, they slowly start to get more high pitched and distorted while not actually speeding up. This maintains a consistent flow while also at the same time making the song feel like it’s speeding up, building to a pitch, getting more intense. Helping this is the drums, which start off at a slow, steady beat, and then suddenly shift to be twice as fast, boosting this feeling.
To transition into the song proper, we first have the drums double in speed again, twice, until they’re a blur, preparing to make the quick drop into the song more notable. For context, this song’s intro is meant to fit into a cutscene going into the debate proper, and that little pause right before the song really gets going plays the moment before you gain control. It’s just a nice little touch that makes it flow from non interactivity to interactivity well.
OK, so the rest of the song’s melody is mostly just synths and the like. Good stuff, no doubt, with ebb and flow and pitch variance and all that. However, I want to focus in on the drums now. The drum beat is more interesting than you might think at first.
Listen in on the bass drum first (the heavy thuds if you don’t know what I mean). You’ll notice that they will always and absolutely stay constant in the song, no matter what’s going on (besides a quick drum fill once or twice). This is a common sign that you’re listening to a disco beat, which is actually exactly what beat this song is using. This serves to keep the rhythm flowing and constant while letting the song around it do whatever it wants in pitch and style.
Next, listen to the hi hats (the quick taps in the background). It’s really hard to discern if you’re not a drummer, honestly, but there’s a tap tssh tap tshh going on in there, which is a signifier of the hi hat being hit while it repeatedly opens and closes. Video example if you’re confused. This is the 2nd big indicator of a disco type beat.
This beat serves to keep an ebb and flow going constantly, with little variance. It’s intended for dance floors and clubs typically, but here it’s smartly used to add to the flow and back and forth of a debate, and more importantly, to keep the energy up. These types of songs and beats were designed to keep a sustained level of energy up throughout the song, never letting it wane until the song is over. It’s a smart and cool move to apply that to a game, ensuring that the scrum debates stick out in your head as always being intense and memorable.
This entire song is just designed super tightly to evoke a specific feel. Rather than just being cool music, the composers tried to make cool music that slots into how you should be feeling for this moment. I’m always a fan of choosing your genres carefully, and Danganronpa V3’s scrum debate theme nails it completely.
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