When talking about a good cafe, I’m imagining a chill atmospheric place where I can comfortably sit while sipping my favorite warm drink. Is there anything more I could ask for?

There is, actually.

It’s music. We (or I) tend to take it for granted because we often thought that it’s just /supposed/ to be there. The same goes in Coffee Talk. As a game that simulated the calm feeling that is served in a cup of coffee, the music in it complements the experience.

To learn about the background of the game, see Devlog #1: How the game came to be - The seed, the anxiety, and the belief of design by subtraction

To appreciate the hard work of music composers, I decided to write this devlog so that you could understand the process of making music, especially for games. Now, allow me to introduce you all to Andrew Jeremy, or AJ, as we call him.

AJ has been working as a sound engineer and composer for almost all of the games that are developed by Toge Productions. Currently, AJ acts as the product manager and composer of Coffee Talk project. Playing dual roles doesn’t hinder him from producing delightful music. Although, according to him, sometimes it can be challenging when he’s stuck with no inspiration to make music. But that’s all.

Despite being the only music composer in the studio, he has actually never thought about being one. He graduated from an academy in computer/IT program, with a dream to make innovation in technology. However, music has been his passion for a very long time, and ever since he joined Toge Productions, he just goes with the flow. Now he is aiming to become an audio programmer and to make innovative music application.

Read also: Coffee Talk Devlog #2: Bringing Doodles to Life

Okay, I think we already know enough about AJ by this time. Let’s have a talk with him about his work, shall we?

1. What was your inspiration for the music direction in Coffee Talk?

Hmm, of course when I see games like Coffee Talk, I came across any chill-hop channels (as the game director wants to use this kind of music), and I also thought about instrumental music that is played inside most cafes. Listening to many types of jazz music is also the key to get that feeling and to understand how the music works to give the cafe-relaxing experience.

2. Is the music in Coffee Talk all mechanic, or did you also use real instruments?

All music is composed using our Ableton Live DAW and its high-quality virtual instrument and samples. We invest heavily on these special tools. So, it's all mechanic.

3. Please tell us about the music-making process for Coffee Talk.

I make the Coffee Talk music soundtracks like other music I made for our games. Of course, the first thing to think of is to create jazzy chords and melodies for the composition. I use virtual instruments and samples like piano, guitar, electric key/piano, and other stuff like that. Then I created hip hop drum beats for the chill-hop style rhythm. I also search for any free or short samples to use and arrange them in a way that it produces great melodies and harmonization. If all the components are well-arranged, done, and ready, I will then go into a particular method of lofi chill-hop mixing processes. I add compressions, low fidelity EQ, even vinyl crackles (though not all OSTs), and other things necessary for making lofi jazz hop music.

Particularly for this game, we will have 3 different albums and each album have soundtracks that are arranged and mixed differently but still stay to the main core of jazz chill-hop style music.

4. Which track is your favorite and why?

I would say, one is "Lonely Space". Having a nice touch of reverbs around the instruments of the track gives me so much relaxing experience (the rain sound makes it even more peaceful). But also, another uniqueness to this track is that the instrument I use gives actual distinct/different chord progression from what I really intended (it actually has an almost similar composition to the other song called "Start It Over", so I keep both). Another favorite track is called "Cup Of Sweetness". I like it because of the chord progression and the melody that fit pretty well together. I really love listening to it. The last one is, maybe, the one called "Tenderhearted", maybe not just because it is a superbly good piece of music to me, but also because it is the first song that people like the most (it's actually one of the music from the first phase of the music production).

5. Is there any track that is challenging to make?

Honestly, all the tracks underwent the same challenging process. Every track has its own kind of challenge to make.

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Has any of you ever dream about becoming a game music composer? Well, you can be one if you really want to! AJ himself never went to formal music education, yet he still follows his passion for music and can become a composer himself – which you can enjoy his creation from the playlist before.

Don’t forget to wishlist the game here if you haven’t. You can try the demo as well and find all those fine lo-fi music tracks, only in Coffee Talk!

Thank you for reading, see you on next devlog!