Are we ever going to get a Useful to Boot instrumental track? I'm kidding.
Have you ever thought about rearranging the original Sam & Max: Hit The Road theme song just for fun and not as something that will play in the game? Jeremy Soule has done something similar at least once, although he posted that "for fun" project on OCRemix.org.
If you really want one, go into the files in any season 2 episode and find mus_Wizard.aud, and open it with something that can play aud files, like Audacity.
It's the music that plays during setup and the driving game in 203. I think it's the same as the music in Useful To Boot, but I don't think all the parts are in the same order.
Ooh, if you listen to mus_Wizard.aud back to back with Useful to Boot (specifically, mus_EndCredits from Reality 2.0), they blend seamlessly. Awesome, it's like Useful to Boot with a long instrumental intro.
1) To an outsider, music composition seems to be a very creative endeavour. What happens when/if you don't feel particularly creative or inspired - is it still possible to sit down and churn out the music? Is scoring as natural and procedural to you as, say, programming is to a programmer?
2) Until you voiced the Marquis de Singe in Tales of Monkey Island, we didn't realise you were freakishly good at anything other than music. What further hidden talents lurk in Jared's unplumbed depths?
3) The lives of successful musicians are often fraught with the temptation and vice that come with the trappings of fame. You, however, seem like a very down-to-earth young man. How do you manage to "keep it real"? Or have you simply been lucky enough to escape the glare of tabloid journalism thus far?
Just wanted to ask you what your favorite experiences were working for Telltale.
Anything particular you have learned by doing the music for all these games?
Jared, I was just wondering if you have played any of the games you were involved with making? Do you play video games at all for that matter? If so which ones?
Hey Jared, love your work (music, voice acting, everything)! In fact I'm listening to the Bone soundtracks as I type!!
Here's something I'm always curious about with musicians. What is your favourite genre of music to listen to? And what is your favourite genre to compose?
A lot of your music reminds me of certain classic adventure games. Are there any adventure classics that you are particularly inspired by?
Your voice acting as DeSinge was awesome! Will you be voicing anyone in The Devil's Playhouse?
And of course, what is your all-time favourite Beatles song?
Hi everybody, and thanks to those of you who are staying up super late for this (if any). We tried to find a time that would work reasonably well for as many of you as possible, but as always some folks get the short end of the stick.
Before digging into all of these excellent questions, I wanted to quickly let you all know how much I appreciate all of your interest in, and support for me and my work. I got into this business because the work itself brings me a lot of personal pleasure, so the fact that the finished products are being enjoyed by so many folks all around the world is more than I ever hoped for when I started.
Now, some responses (and if you want more details, definitely feel free to pester me during the rest of the q/a)—I'll start by answering the first questions that came in on Wednesday, in order (apologies in advance for my lack of forum posting...I expect many double posts, and other noob errors).
I wonder, what synthesizers did you use for "New Location Unlocked"? It's not mentioned in the CD's credits.
What software do you use for mixing in general?
Can we see some "Making-Of"-videos from the music production?
It's too bad that so many music is overcompressed nowadays. I'd like to thank you and the entire producer team that you kept sufficient dynamics in your music intact. Keep it that way! Thank you very much.
If I recall, for "New Location Unlocked" I used a combination of several different software-synths: Arturia Minimoog, Korg LegacyCell, Arp Oddity, and Arp2600. I generally do all of my MIDI sequencing in Digital Performer (old habits die hard), and all of my live tracking and mixing in Pro Tools. I also use Sibelius for my sheet music prep.
I would love to have a full "making-of" video put together at some point (there was a small one a couple years back that Jake and Nick make, and it is probably still available somewhere in the TT web archives); but generally we're so crunched for time during production—particularly during the recording sessions—that all I can really manage is to have a few snapshots taken. We have many of those pictures posted up on our Facebook page for Bay Area Sound, which you may access here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Bay-Area-Sound/60739756013?ref=ts To those of you who do not have Facebook accounts, I'm sorry!
Yes, overcompression is a real scourge, and it's been getting worse and worse every year, particularly in game audio. We work diligently, especially on the soundtrack CDs, to create masters that preserve the dynamic range of all the performances.
How did you start working with Telltale? How'd they reach you?
Can you shortly narrate one of your experiences about composing game musics? (It must be a special one.) (:
I totally loved both S&M seasons' OSTs. Will Devil's Playhouse's soundtrack be entertaining as others'?
Thanks for your time...
We knew several of the founders of Telltale from back in the LEC days (Julian worked with most of them and we were all acquaintances. We met with them early on, as they were just starting production on the first Bone game, and it's been a pretty close working relationship ever since.
My process for writing any given cue for a game generally goes like this (you'll notice that the actual composition is a relatively small part of the overall production):
1. Meet with the designers to discuss the tone, story, characterization, etc. of a given space or sequence
2. Write up a "scratch" version of the music in Digital Performer using sampled instruments
3. Dub those parts to Pro Tools and make a rough mix
4. Master the scratch track and get it to the programming staff to drop into the game as temp during development
5. Go back into DP and export a MIDI file of the note data for all of the instruments
6. Import that MIDI into Sibelius and clean up/arrange/proof read the parts, adding all articulation and expression markings
7. Record the live instruments to replace the scratch parts in the initial PT session
8. Make a final mix, substituting the new live parts (and any improvised solo material) for the scratch
9. Master that file and get it into the game.
10. Play the game about a billion times, to make sure it's all working as it should, and make any mix adjustments if necessary
11. Sleep
Since it's all subjective I can't make any promises, of course, but I think you will really like the soundtrack to season 3. There is a LOT of new music this time around (much more than there was in the first two seasons), and I'm quite happy with how it's all turning out.
On voice acting:
Do you have a hand in directing(/casting) the voice actors as well? You did the voice for DeSinge in Monkey, what was that experience like for you? Will you be doing any more voices in the future?
On music:
Where do you get your inspiration? Was it a case of Chuck Jordan telling you about the 70s sci-fi theme and giving you a couple of movies for inspiration? Are there any movies/games/musicians in particular that serve as an influence this season?
Also, the same question I asked Ryan in his Q&A: If you could decide what game Telltale will make next, what would it be? It doesn't matter if it would result in a fun game or if it would even be possible to create a game out of that subject, just base your choice on the music you like to create.
I'm not really musically gifted, so I'm afraid I can't really ask any in-depth questions. All I can say is that I love your work, and I own both Sam & Max soundtracks (and I hope more will be released!). Oh, and I would love an MP3 of the music from the trailer.:D
I definitely do have a hand in the voice directing (I split that work with my business partner, Julian Kwasneski). We also prepare all of the casting documents and auditions; however, we leave all of the actual casting decisions up to the designers (although we sometimes make gentle suggestions, if there is a particular actor we think they should (or should not) consider, based on our experiences working with them).
I loved playing DeSinge. What a guy, eh? I love acting, and I'd love to do more, but it's all up to whether or not a role comes along that I'm interested in trying—and, of course, on whether or not I get cast by the team. By the way, I always submit my auditions under a pseudonym, so as to keep the audition field level.
Generally speaking, I listen to a lot of music. I try to keep my ears open as much as possible, and that really helps me with any questions of inspiration. I also love collaborating with creative storytellers like Chuck and the rest of the team, so that is a huge factor, too. In the case of the upcoming season, they knew from the get-go that they wanted that 70s sci-fi vibe, so that was always a given for the season 3 music. As far as film and television go, we're all dorks of a similar ilk, so for the most part we all had the same frames of reference: the twilight zone, dr. who, the outer limits, etc.
As far as letting me decide what the next game is, heh, I'm not sure. More than anything I really enjoy variety in my work, so I guess I'd love to do something that'd feel very different from both Sam and Max and Wallace and Gromit, since those are the musical worlds I've been steeped in the most over the past years. I'd love to do something really dark, like a game of Transmetropolitan, or something in a David Lynch-ian vein. But it'd also be fun to do something with more of a foundation in rock or electronica. That is a great question, sorry I don't have a more coherent response for you!
We'll get you folks some mp3s from season 3 before too long, I promise!
Regarding the soundtrack releases for S&M:
How much additional work do you have to put into the music to turn it into a "listenable" format for the soundtrack CDs? Do you already do preparations for a CD-release during the music production?
Oh, and here's hoping for a Season 3 soundtrack release! (Actually I'm hoping for a W&G release as well, as I really LOVED the music you did for those, but that's probably out of reach)
Quite a bit of re-mastering and some light remixing goes into preparing the music for the soundtracks. Obviously, the function of the music in the game, and what you'd want for casual listening are arguably pretty different, so we try to tailor the masters for both appropriately. I definitely think about the soundtracks while we're in production, but most of the work has to happen after the score is complete, mostly just because of schedule and time. Also, obviously, in many cases there are cues which are separate files in the games, but which we stitch together into single cues for the soundtrack (like the Jürgen's Lair Suite, the cutscene suites, and all instances where there are multiple versions of a tune in the game (like the two tracks in the oval office in Abe Lincoln Must Die (President version and Max version).
I would love a W&G soundtrack as well! I'm not sure if it's ever going to be possible, but I'd love to see it happen! I'm glad you liked the music.
Hello Jared. What is the story behind that happy tune Chippy plays? Will Bluster Blaster be back this season??
Heh, Jake. Um...weeeell. Okay, so the story behind Chippy's little tune requires this convoluted backstory: in college my close friend Nick James and I had an ongoing joke about an imaginary rock opera version of Beckett's "Waiting For Godot," in which Godot actually shows up and the end and saves Vladimir and Estragon with the power of rock and roll. Over the course of a couple years, we actually wrote up several songs from said imaginary rock opera, and then finally, in the last weeks of my senior year, we actually wrote up the book, and did 3 staged readings of the show in the little 50 seat theater we had in our performing arts dorm. The show starred Nick and I, plus our friends Brad Wilson, and Sam Knowlton. Anyway, the tune Chippy plays is a little excerpt from the big finale of the show "I am the one," in which Godot arrives on his starship of dreams, and promises to take Vladimir and Estragon away to fly across the galaxy with him, and to save the universe with rock. It's a highly goofy thing...and very dear to my heart. So that's the story behind that...heh.
As for Bluster Blaster, let's just say I don't have any opera gigs lined up, so I'm all for thrashing my voice for comedy jokes. Let's do this.
My question is about sound effects.
I was wondering, when you make the sound of, say, a door, do you actually record a door, or do you record something completely different? If so, what are some weird things that became completely different sound effects?
Also, I'm curious about the order in which things are done. Music, voices, sound effects, I'm guessing they all come into the game at different times, don't they? Do you had sounds to the already animated cutscenes basing it off of what's going on (say, someone taps his forehead, so you had a sound for that) or is there some kind a specific storyboard that allows you to work with the sounds earlier than that?
And applying effects to the voices (like the muffling you didn't get to put in the game for the bear heads in season one), when does that happen?
Also, Chuck said we broke you. Sorry about that. Did you get better? More seriously, how insane are you to work that much?
I think you're awesome and I love your music, although I don't know enough about music to ask questions about that...
Good question. In the case of doors, we do generally record actual doors. For more esoteric things, or more character driven things, etc., we do often get a little bit more creative with the source material. The ui popup sounds in the homestar menu, for example, are me making sounds with my mouth.
There is always quite a bit of overlap between the three parts of the audio, but generally speaking it goes like this: Voice usually comes before anything else, just because the rest of the team needs it from the start, in order to do all of the animation, choreography, and programmatic authoring/wiring. We generally try to get all of the voice processing in as early as possible, but we usually do it after the full set of voice has been delivered. Music rolls into production next, since it takes the longest of the three (starting with the environment loops). Sound comes at the end, since it's dependent on the visuals being locked in and finished. The music for the cutscenes also needs to come in at the end, since it needs to be timed to the finished scenes as well.
Heh, it's a busy lifestyle, that is for sure. In the thick of production it's not unusual to be pulling 80-100 hour weeks, but I do my best to focus on the parts of it that I love, the composition, working with musicians and actors, etc. I've always been a bit of a workaholic, though, even back in high school...so I guess I found a career that suits my personality.
How long does it take for you to make one whole soundtrack?
How long is your normal day at work and what do you generally do in one day?
Thanks for making so many great songs. Desinge was really fun to listen and he was one of my favorite characters so I hope you continue voice acting in Telltale games.
Good question. Of the many talented folks I have worked with, Peter McConnell really stands out for me, both professionally and personally. To be honest, I don't actually listen to a ton of game soundtracks, so I'm probably not as good a source for recommendations as a more avid gamer might be. Of course I really love the greats like Koji Kondo and Nobuo Uematsu, and I really love some of the work by newer folks like Kō Ōtani.
There is some variation in how long it takes to make a soundtrack, and it mostly depends on the production schedule for the games in question. Telltale games tend to be extremely heavy on the music order, so for the previous two Sam & Max seasons it was around 5-6 months from start to end, and for Wallace & Gromit I want to say it was a little more, like 7-8 or so. For some of our other, smaller gigs, though, where we turn around a soundtrack in a month or two.
In a normal day I usually spend about 10-12 hours working (sometimes less, sometimes more). What I do varies hugely, depending on where we are in production, and what needs to be done. Today, for example, I'm answering these questions for the first couple hours!
!! you took the words right out of my mouth. but its totally still true, the whole jazz feel of sam and max, the way the theme sounds like a crime comedy from the 50s, i just close my eyes and see myself in frank sinatraesque bachelor pad. when did you start doing music professionally? did you play any instruments as a kid? how has designing music changed for you over the years? (equipment, styles, etc)
The first pro gig I had was working as a part copyist and composing apprentice for Clint Bajakian's score to Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb, back in the summer of 2002. It was the summer between my junior and senior years in college.
I started playing the violin when I was little, 4 or 5, and I studied singing quite a bit throughout High School.
So far my process hasn't changed too terribly much. There is always new gear, and new bits of technology, but at the heart of it, my composition is roughly the same as it ever was (same as it ever was...same as it ever was).
I would love to have a full "making-of" video put together at some point (there was a small one a couple years back that Jake and Nick make, and it is probably still available somewhere in the TT web archives) [...]
Thanks for keeping us Europeans in mind with the timing
Apart from our usual dose of hard jazz and the sci-fi sound that we've already heard in the trailer (I really dig that wee theramin thingy over the main hook in the trailer) what other genres can we expect to hear creeping in this season?*
When you're writing say a big musical number or music to fit a cutscene do you have to time it around the animations or do the animaters work around the music?
Simon or Garfunkel?
Thanks for your time, i'm very excited to hear what's in store for us this season and I really mean that
*There was a vicious rumour of an auto-tuned sexy RnB song sung by Max flying about. Started by me
Ps. sheet music and chord charts please sheet music and chord charts please sheet music and chord charts please sheet music and chord charts please sheet music and chord charts please sheet music and chord charts please kthxbai
Without giving too much away, you can expect to hear some earlier american styles, like ragtime, and early pre-jazz—also some more classic film noir scoring.
So far, for the musical numbers, they've been generous in letting me write a full thing, and then they've tailored the animation to the music.
Hahah, um...that is a hilarious question, dude. I'd have to say Simon, just because I'm more familiar with his body of work, and it's so extensive. Garfunkel does have that awesome fro, though, so...hard to say.
Heh, I'll see what I can do about sheet music. I'm happy to get you the material I have from our sessions, but I'm afraid it might not be super useful since it's generally just part of the full score. I can definitely get you folks some MIDI files, if you feel like arranging some parts yourselves. If you do end up playing the tunes, I wanna hear it!
Just one or two questions that might actually be out of your field but I thought I'd ask.
1. Do you deal with any of the technical side of integrating the music and sound effects into the game or just the creation of the music and sounds?
2. I assume the telltale engine take a "pre-rendered" approach to sound, meaning that you record what is going to be used and then wait for events to trigger that sound effect. Have you ever heard of or worked with the idea of generative music and sounds, where the game itself generates the music or sound effects based upon what is happening in the game or other input/output (probably from samples of music or algorithms)?
Yes, we do all of the sound implementation, and I do some of the music implementation as well. Basically any audio that occurs in a cutscene is hand scored by us. The environment music loops often need some special care from the programming staff, so they really help out with that side of it, but we're definitely rolled into the process.
Yes, I'm definitely interested in generative audio, but I haven't had a ton of personal experience with it. My colleague Damian Kastbauer has a lot more hands on experience with that side of things, and I'll bet he could go into a lot of detail about it. I think Telltale's games operate in a way that really requires the pre-rendered approach, since they are so cinematic, and since so much of the action of the games takes place in story driven cutscenes, etc.
Jake stole my questions. But yeah, listening to the commentary of season 2, will Bluster Blaster return or was that deemed too demanding for your health (or, he returns just less shouty).
Favorite song is "New location unlocked", gotta love that song. I know it's a remixed Midtown Cowboy's song, but after 100 times, I still can't hear that though... also really love the small bleeping song of 105 and 105. Should have used that one for the puzzle of 205 devs instead of the mimesweeper song!
Anyway, questions not dealing with TTG even. I saw a certain "Jarad Emerson-Johnson" worked on KOTOR2 cinematic cutscene movies. I assume that's just a typo'ed you though. Made any new songs there too, if so, which?
Back to the TTG territory... What's the song of season 3 that you most like and we definitely should keep on the wait for?
See my response to Jake. I'm all for bringing him back. I've got my throat spray at the ready.
Regarding "New Location Unlocked," try skipping to 2:47 and see if you can make it out...the rhythms are adjusted, and it's generally slower and more chilled out than the actual theme, but it's there.
People have had more trouble getting my name credited correctly than I can count I've been Jerad, Jerrod, Jerod, Jered...and my last name has been just "Emerson," and just "Johnson," too. It's mostly just funny to me. My work on Kotor 2 was mostly in an editing capacity, but stay tuned for more information on the KOTOR music front.
Edit: Uhhh I forgot. When I recieved my Copies of both soundtracks, I play them in the Car with my dad in a long trip. He loves it. And he didn't know who are Sam and Max (He doesn't like adventure games). Well, he didn't actually say that, he asks me about the band . And considering those copies took a long trip to get to my hands, I'm lucky to still have it. (In a totally unrelated note, those copies survived a Mega Earthquake *thumbs up*)
can we expect any randomish musical numbers this season?
Hmm...the most fun. Tough question. If we're talking the most fun from the Telltale Games catalogue, I'd have to say...gosh, I'm really not sure. I generally like what I'm working on at the moment the most, so I guess I'd have to say some of the stuff I just finished for season 3!
Being skilled in sound how often does poor sound design ruin a movie for you because its more obvious for you than for someone who isn't trained to notice?
Heh, it can be distracting. The most funny thing to notice are stock library sounds in big, high budget pictures. I can usually just laugh about how lame it is and move on, though. I try not to let it get me down
It was disturbingly easy, actually. I don't know what that says about me.
I got the idea when the character is actually really really diferent to you, is easier to play it. My stock characters when I was in the School Theatre Group were ussually really different to my actual personality. Well, that's a noob talking about that =P
Ugh, now I'm gonna get my ass kicked, but I have to go with The Beatles. They're both great, but I really admire the variety and the scope covered by the Beatles catalogue. When I'm in the mood to just fully rock out though, you can't go wrong with "My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down."
What do you use to note down and listen to your compositions before you record the live instruments?
...and are the strings also real instruments or are you taking those from sample libraries?
Love your stuff, keep up the awesome work
Some of this is covered in some of the earlier replies (DP, etc.).
As for the strings, it depends. For single violin passages, it's often me playing, for larger, more orchestral textures, I do sometimes use sampled strings. It often depends on the context and the genre (and the budget).
How much actual written music is in an episode, vs. how much of it is looped?
Sam and Max has a jazz theme, have you ever considered recording several dozen solos over the same changes as a way of expanding the music?
**Edit: As a musician I know you have CONSIDERED it (we all have), but has that ever been a point of discussion vs. doing loops of music?
Believe it or not, we actually do that at various points in the scores. If you listen to the soundtrack, it's all extrapolated out into a linear form, but we do often have several sets of solos that go over the same forms in various locations. I can go into more detail about this, if you're curious.
Comments
Also, I really liked the Consecutive Office song, and I was wondering why you decided to make that specific song an 8 minute long jazz ensemble?
Anyway, I'm thinking about a career in computer music. I'm pretty handy with Abelton Live, and I wanted to know if you had any advice for me?
Have you ever thought about rearranging the original Sam & Max: Hit The Road theme song just for fun and not as something that will play in the game? Jeremy Soule has done something similar at least once, although he posted that "for fun" project on OCRemix.org.
now I want one, just so I can attempt to rap to it
It's the music that plays during setup and the driving game in 203. I think it's the same as the music in Useful To Boot, but I don't think all the parts are in the same order.
I like it. I wish it'd been on the soundtrack.
Actually, Michael Land composed that music.
2) Until you voiced the Marquis de Singe in Tales of Monkey Island, we didn't realise you were freakishly good at anything other than music. What further hidden talents lurk in Jared's unplumbed depths?
3) The lives of successful musicians are often fraught with the temptation and vice that come with the trappings of fame. You, however, seem like a very down-to-earth young man. How do you manage to "keep it real"? Or have you simply been lucky enough to escape the glare of tabloid journalism thus far?
Just wanted to ask you what your favorite experiences were working for Telltale.
Anything particular you have learned by doing the music for all these games?
Here's something I'm always curious about with musicians. What is your favourite genre of music to listen to? And what is your favourite genre to compose?
A lot of your music reminds me of certain classic adventure games. Are there any adventure classics that you are particularly inspired by?
Your voice acting as DeSinge was awesome! Will you be voicing anyone in The Devil's Playhouse?
And of course, what is your all-time favourite Beatles song?
Before digging into all of these excellent questions, I wanted to quickly let you all know how much I appreciate all of your interest in, and support for me and my work. I got into this business because the work itself brings me a lot of personal pleasure, so the fact that the finished products are being enjoyed by so many folks all around the world is more than I ever hoped for when I started.
Now, some responses (and if you want more details, definitely feel free to pester me during the rest of the q/a)—I'll start by answering the first questions that came in on Wednesday, in order (apologies in advance for my lack of forum posting...I expect many double posts, and other noob errors).
If I recall, for "New Location Unlocked" I used a combination of several different software-synths: Arturia Minimoog, Korg LegacyCell, Arp Oddity, and Arp2600. I generally do all of my MIDI sequencing in Digital Performer (old habits die hard), and all of my live tracking and mixing in Pro Tools. I also use Sibelius for my sheet music prep.
I would love to have a full "making-of" video put together at some point (there was a small one a couple years back that Jake and Nick make, and it is probably still available somewhere in the TT web archives); but generally we're so crunched for time during production—particularly during the recording sessions—that all I can really manage is to have a few snapshots taken. We have many of those pictures posted up on our Facebook page for Bay Area Sound, which you may access here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Bay-Area-Sound/60739756013?ref=ts To those of you who do not have Facebook accounts, I'm sorry!
Yes, overcompression is a real scourge, and it's been getting worse and worse every year, particularly in game audio. We work diligently, especially on the soundtrack CDs, to create masters that preserve the dynamic range of all the performances.
We knew several of the founders of Telltale from back in the LEC days (Julian worked with most of them and we were all acquaintances. We met with them early on, as they were just starting production on the first Bone game, and it's been a pretty close working relationship ever since.
My process for writing any given cue for a game generally goes like this (you'll notice that the actual composition is a relatively small part of the overall production):
1. Meet with the designers to discuss the tone, story, characterization, etc. of a given space or sequence
2. Write up a "scratch" version of the music in Digital Performer using sampled instruments
3. Dub those parts to Pro Tools and make a rough mix
4. Master the scratch track and get it to the programming staff to drop into the game as temp during development
5. Go back into DP and export a MIDI file of the note data for all of the instruments
6. Import that MIDI into Sibelius and clean up/arrange/proof read the parts, adding all articulation and expression markings
7. Record the live instruments to replace the scratch parts in the initial PT session
8. Make a final mix, substituting the new live parts (and any improvised solo material) for the scratch
9. Master that file and get it into the game.
10. Play the game about a billion times, to make sure it's all working as it should, and make any mix adjustments if necessary
11. Sleep
Since it's all subjective I can't make any promises, of course, but I think you will really like the soundtrack to season 3. There is a LOT of new music this time around (much more than there was in the first two seasons), and I'm quite happy with how it's all turning out.
I definitely do have a hand in the voice directing (I split that work with my business partner, Julian Kwasneski). We also prepare all of the casting documents and auditions; however, we leave all of the actual casting decisions up to the designers (although we sometimes make gentle suggestions, if there is a particular actor we think they should (or should not) consider, based on our experiences working with them).
I loved playing DeSinge. What a guy, eh? I love acting, and I'd love to do more, but it's all up to whether or not a role comes along that I'm interested in trying—and, of course, on whether or not I get cast by the team. By the way, I always submit my auditions under a pseudonym, so as to keep the audition field level.
Generally speaking, I listen to a lot of music. I try to keep my ears open as much as possible, and that really helps me with any questions of inspiration. I also love collaborating with creative storytellers like Chuck and the rest of the team, so that is a huge factor, too. In the case of the upcoming season, they knew from the get-go that they wanted that 70s sci-fi vibe, so that was always a given for the season 3 music. As far as film and television go, we're all dorks of a similar ilk, so for the most part we all had the same frames of reference: the twilight zone, dr. who, the outer limits, etc.
As far as letting me decide what the next game is, heh, I'm not sure. More than anything I really enjoy variety in my work, so I guess I'd love to do something that'd feel very different from both Sam and Max and Wallace and Gromit, since those are the musical worlds I've been steeped in the most over the past years. I'd love to do something really dark, like a game of Transmetropolitan, or something in a David Lynch-ian vein. But it'd also be fun to do something with more of a foundation in rock or electronica. That is a great question, sorry I don't have a more coherent response for you!
We'll get you folks some mp3s from season 3 before too long, I promise!
Quite a bit of re-mastering and some light remixing goes into preparing the music for the soundtracks. Obviously, the function of the music in the game, and what you'd want for casual listening are arguably pretty different, so we try to tailor the masters for both appropriately. I definitely think about the soundtracks while we're in production, but most of the work has to happen after the score is complete, mostly just because of schedule and time. Also, obviously, in many cases there are cues which are separate files in the games, but which we stitch together into single cues for the soundtrack (like the Jürgen's Lair Suite, the cutscene suites, and all instances where there are multiple versions of a tune in the game (like the two tracks in the oval office in Abe Lincoln Must Die (President version and Max version).
I would love a W&G soundtrack as well! I'm not sure if it's ever going to be possible, but I'd love to see it happen! I'm glad you liked the music.
Heh, Jake. Um...weeeell. Okay, so the story behind Chippy's little tune requires this convoluted backstory: in college my close friend Nick James and I had an ongoing joke about an imaginary rock opera version of Beckett's "Waiting For Godot," in which Godot actually shows up and the end and saves Vladimir and Estragon with the power of rock and roll. Over the course of a couple years, we actually wrote up several songs from said imaginary rock opera, and then finally, in the last weeks of my senior year, we actually wrote up the book, and did 3 staged readings of the show in the little 50 seat theater we had in our performing arts dorm. The show starred Nick and I, plus our friends Brad Wilson, and Sam Knowlton. Anyway, the tune Chippy plays is a little excerpt from the big finale of the show "I am the one," in which Godot arrives on his starship of dreams, and promises to take Vladimir and Estragon away to fly across the galaxy with him, and to save the universe with rock. It's a highly goofy thing...and very dear to my heart. So that's the story behind that...heh.
As for Bluster Blaster, let's just say I don't have any opera gigs lined up, so I'm all for thrashing my voice for comedy jokes. Let's do this.
Good question. In the case of doors, we do generally record actual doors. For more esoteric things, or more character driven things, etc., we do often get a little bit more creative with the source material. The ui popup sounds in the homestar menu, for example, are me making sounds with my mouth.
There is always quite a bit of overlap between the three parts of the audio, but generally speaking it goes like this: Voice usually comes before anything else, just because the rest of the team needs it from the start, in order to do all of the animation, choreography, and programmatic authoring/wiring. We generally try to get all of the voice processing in as early as possible, but we usually do it after the full set of voice has been delivered. Music rolls into production next, since it takes the longest of the three (starting with the environment loops). Sound comes at the end, since it's dependent on the visuals being locked in and finished. The music for the cutscenes also needs to come in at the end, since it needs to be timed to the finished scenes as well.
Heh, it's a busy lifestyle, that is for sure. In the thick of production it's not unusual to be pulling 80-100 hour weeks, but I do my best to focus on the parts of it that I love, the composition, working with musicians and actors, etc. I've always been a bit of a workaholic, though, even back in high school...so I guess I found a career that suits my personality.
Contrabass FTW!
Good question. Of the many talented folks I have worked with, Peter McConnell really stands out for me, both professionally and personally. To be honest, I don't actually listen to a ton of game soundtracks, so I'm probably not as good a source for recommendations as a more avid gamer might be. Of course I really love the greats like Koji Kondo and Nobuo Uematsu, and I really love some of the work by newer folks like Kō Ōtani.
There is some variation in how long it takes to make a soundtrack, and it mostly depends on the production schedule for the games in question. Telltale games tend to be extremely heavy on the music order, so for the previous two Sam & Max seasons it was around 5-6 months from start to end, and for Wallace & Gromit I want to say it was a little more, like 7-8 or so. For some of our other, smaller gigs, though, where we turn around a soundtrack in a month or two.
In a normal day I usually spend about 10-12 hours working (sometimes less, sometimes more). What I do varies hugely, depending on where we are in production, and what needs to be done. Today, for example, I'm answering these questions for the first couple hours!
The first pro gig I had was working as a part copyist and composing apprentice for Clint Bajakian's score to Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb, back in the summer of 2002. It was the summer between my junior and senior years in college.
I started playing the violin when I was little, 4 or 5, and I studied singing quite a bit throughout High School.
So far my process hasn't changed too terribly much. There is always new gear, and new bits of technology, but at the heart of it, my composition is roughly the same as it ever was (same as it ever was...same as it ever was).
For anyone who's interested, I think it's here.
Without giving too much away, you can expect to hear some earlier american styles, like ragtime, and early pre-jazz—also some more classic film noir scoring.
So far, for the musical numbers, they've been generous in letting me write a full thing, and then they've tailored the animation to the music.
Hahah, um...that is a hilarious question, dude. I'd have to say Simon, just because I'm more familiar with his body of work, and it's so extensive. Garfunkel does have that awesome fro, though, so...hard to say.
Heh, I'll see what I can do about sheet music. I'm happy to get you the material I have from our sessions, but I'm afraid it might not be super useful since it's generally just part of the full score. I can definitely get you folks some MIDI files, if you feel like arranging some parts yourselves. If you do end up playing the tunes, I wanna hear it!
Yes, we do all of the sound implementation, and I do some of the music implementation as well. Basically any audio that occurs in a cutscene is hand scored by us. The environment music loops often need some special care from the programming staff, so they really help out with that side of it, but we're definitely rolled into the process.
Yes, I'm definitely interested in generative audio, but I haven't had a ton of personal experience with it. My colleague Damian Kastbauer has a lot more hands on experience with that side of things, and I'll bet he could go into a lot of detail about it. I think Telltale's games operate in a way that really requires the pre-rendered approach, since they are so cinematic, and since so much of the action of the games takes place in story driven cutscenes, etc.
See my response to Jake. I'm all for bringing him back. I've got my throat spray at the ready.
Regarding "New Location Unlocked," try skipping to 2:47 and see if you can make it out...the rhythms are adjusted, and it's generally slower and more chilled out than the actual theme, but it's there.
People have had more trouble getting my name credited correctly than I can count
Awesome, and awesome!
Same.
Trust me, you don't
Hmm...the most fun. Tough question. If we're talking the most fun from the Telltale Games catalogue, I'd have to say...gosh, I'm really not sure. I generally like what I'm working on at the moment the most, so I guess I'd have to say some of the stuff I just finished for season 3!
Heh, it can be distracting. The most funny thing to notice are stock library sounds in big, high budget pictures. I can usually just laugh about how lame it is and move on, though. I try not to let it get me down
It was disturbingly easy, actually. I don't know what that says about me.
I answered some of this a bit further up, but I use Digital Performer, Pro Tools, Sibelius, on a G5 running OS 10.4
We use a really wide variety of mics for the recordings, too many to list.
I got the idea when the character is actually really really diferent to you, is easier to play it. My stock characters when I was in the School Theatre Group were ussually really different to my actual personality. Well, that's a noob talking about that =P
Oof...these questions are so hard. I gave a pretty extensive list in this interview from awhile back: http://talesofmi.net/?p=777
It's about halfway down the page. My list of favorites is always shifting around, and it's really hard to pick just three.
Ugh, now I'm gonna get my ass kicked, but I have to go with The Beatles. They're both great, but I really admire the variety and the scope covered by the Beatles catalogue. When I'm in the mood to just fully rock out though, you can't go wrong with "My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down."
Some of this is covered in some of the earlier replies (DP, etc.).
As for the strings, it depends. For single violin passages, it's often me playing, for larger, more orchestral textures, I do sometimes use sampled strings. It often depends on the context and the genre (and the budget).
Believe it or not, we actually do that at various points in the scores. If you listen to the soundtrack, it's all extrapolated out into a linear form, but we do often have several sets of solos that go over the same forms in various locations. I can go into more detail about this, if you're curious.