And the Beat Goes On…
Next, prepare a list of your musical needs. To determine this, figure out how many levels/environments/chapters/race tracks/unique encounters your game has. Each one of these levels will require background music—literally, music that plays in the background as a kind of audio backdrop for gameplay.
Traditionally, background music is themed toward the level. Spooky music on the haunted house level, medieval music for the castle level, jungle drums for the jungle level—you get the idea.
Background music tracks usually run for a few minutes and loop over again to save space in memory and composition time. Work with your music director to make sure the transition between the beginning and the end of the song sounds correct and isn’t marred by silence or an awkward change in tempo.
The next question to ask is whether you want—or more realistically, you can afford—to have background music on every level. You may have to reuse tracks...