Fearful harmonies: composing (and decomposing) the PlayStation startup sound

Newman, J (2025) 'Fearful harmonies: composing (and decomposing) the PlayStation startup sound.' In: Cook, K.M, Gibbons, W and Rebillard, F, eds. Global histories of video game music technology. Brepols, Turnhout, pp. 47-66. ISBN 9782503618654

Text 17521.pdf - Accepted Version Restricted to Repository staff only until 11 September 2027.

Abstract

Much has been written about videogame ‘platforms’ with important work drawing attention to the role of hardware and software in shaping distinctive sonic identity. Where this work tends to concentrate on the implementation of in-game sound, this chapter seeks to move forward by rewinding in order to focus on perhaps the most iconic, identifiable and most oft-heard sound of a gaming platform – the system startup chime. The particular focus here centres on the Sony PlayStation (1994) boot sound designed by Takafumi Fujisawa. The discussion begins with an analysis of the design and function of the sound. This might be presumed to stream from the CD-ROM drive so typically understood as a defining feature of the PlayStation platform. However, the sound is actually the product of a highly complex, highly efficient combination of code and composition that is performed in real time using a custom sequencer and three extremely short samples stored in the PlayStation’s BIOS. In addition to providing the PlayStation with an immediately recognisable sonic fingerprint and acting as an anticipatory cue for the forthcoming gameplay, the sound also has important communicative and diagnostic functions that are signalled by the sequential playback of different audio elements. Just as crucial is the potentially agonising pause as the PlayStation performs disc region, readability and compatibility checks as it exercises its inestimable power as the gatekeeper of gameplay. The chapter concludes by exploring the ‘afterlife’ of the PlayStation startup sequence and how recent player/hacker practices have transformed it into an unexpectedly creative site of audiovisual expression and experimentation. With specific configurations of glitched startup sounds documented, codified and given hauntingly evocative names such as ‘Personified Fear’ and ‘Fearful Harmony’ perhaps recalling the dreaded possibility of startup failure, these re/decompositions are the result of the injection of malformed data into the PlayStation BIOS and the deliberate and playful use of incompatible or damaged discs.

Item Type:	Book Chapter or Section
UN SDGs:	Goal 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
Divisions:	Bath School of Design
Date Deposited:	30 Jan 2026 16:25
Last Modified:	30 Jan 2026 16:25
URN:	https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/17521

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