Music Respawn with Kate Remington show

Music Respawn with Kate Remington

Summary: WSHU Public Radio’s Kate Remington combines her love of music and video games in this series of informal conversations with composers and performers of game soundtracks. Plus, there’s lots of music in the interviews, so you can hear it for yourself!

Podcasts:

 Borislav Slavov's Uniquely Customizable Music for Divinity Original Sin 2 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 3020

It's been a big year for the Role Playing Game Divinity Original Sin 2 by Larian Studios . The game was awarded a BAFTA for Best Role Playing Game, and composer Borislav Slavov was nominated for a Game Audio Network Guild Award for his soundtrack! Borislav designed the soundtrack to be as customizable as the character you create in your game, with a choice of four unique-sounding main instruments that become the leading voice as you're exploring and engaging in combat. As he told me, it gives

 Skye Lewin: Creating Music As Vast As Destiny 2's New Worlds | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1805

As Bungie was scaling up the many new worlds players visit in Destiny 2 , it became clear very fast that the music team needed a better and faster way of implementing the hours of music needed to enhance all the experiences players have exploring, in missions and strikes, and in the Crucible.

 Eric Hamel Finds Austen's Wit and Sarcasm Perfect For A Strategy Game | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1364

As a character in one of Jane Austen's witty novels, you need all the help you can get to achieve your goal. That's the inspiration behind the strategy game, Austen Translation, created by the studio Worthing & Moncrieff. Luckily for you, the music will give you feedback to let you know how you're doing against your rivals, as Eric Hamel explained in his session at the Game Developers Conference, and when I chatted with him after the session. Austen Translation takes Jane Austen's biting wit

 Jason Graves' Mouse-Sized Music For Moss | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 4497

Enthusiastic animal lover Jason Graves jumped at the chance to create the soundtrack for Moss, a virtual reality game created by Polyarc Games . He says he was brought in so early in the process that there was only concept art and a few videos of Quill, the lovable but fierce mouse heroine of the story, but he knew immediately that he wanted to write the music for her epic adventure! It's your job as the player to help Quill solve puzzles and fight tough enemies, and right from the beginning, it

 Winifred Phillips: Composing For Virtual Reality Has Real Challenges | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1514

Creating an immersive experience is the number one goal of studios that make virtual reality games, and that extends to the music, too. I talked with composer Winifred Philips at this year's Game Developers' Conference in San Francisco about how she approaches writing the music for VR games that run the gamut from tense first person shooters like Scraper to the cartoon-style Fail Factory . In our conversation, Winifred told me that just like any other game, the implementation of the music in a

 Austin Wintory Makes Science An Emotional Experience | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1881

A lifelong love of science is the spark that galvanized composer Austin Wintory to mount an ambitious Kickstarter campaign to bring his October 5th concert "A Light in the Void" to a worldwide audience. Austin teams up with Emmy-nominated filmmaker Tony Lund to create a unique concert experience that features a massive orchestra and three internationally renowned scientists. Austin told me he wanted to share the same wonder and emotion of science that it gives him.

 Ryan Ike Weaves An American Tapestry In Songs | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 4090

Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is described by its creators, Dim Bulb Studios, as "a bleak American folk tale." After losing a bet with a mysterious character (voiced by Sting), you criss cross the country in search of stories, which become a currency you trade with the interesting characters you meet on your travels. Composer Ryan Ike told me that the Depression-era setting, and the chance to create a soundtrack that's a patchwork of iconic American music was too good to pass up!

 Nikola Jeremic: Going Solo On Starpoint Gemini Warlords | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 3798

Writing music for games is a dream that Nikola Jeremic has worked very hard to achieve. After winning several music and audio design competitions, and contributing additional music for games including Destiny 2 , Nikola got the chance to score a game on his own. He says he combined his admiration for the music of Vangelis as well as Paul Ruskay's music for Homeworld in his OST for Starpoint Gemini Warlords . Nikola says he's very grateful to the team at Little Green Men, the studio behind

 Game Music Fans Gather At The Twin Cities' VGM Con | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1517

March 2 through March 4, game music fans and performers will gather in the Twin Cities for the annual VGM Con , a celebration of all facets of video game music! As Thomas Spargo, the Con's creator told me, there'll be a lot to enjoy, including panels by special guests Jason Graves , composer of Lone Echo, Far Cry Primal and The Order, 1886 , and Rich Vreeland, better known as Disasterpeace , whose credits include Hyper Light Drifter and Fez. Thomas said the inspiration to start this convention

 Lena Raine's Music Ascends A Mountain In 'Celeste' | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 3437

Although it seems like a simple platform game at first, Celeste actually is a brutally difficult journey of self-discovery for Madeline, the main character, as she bravely faces challenges climbing the namesake mountain. Composer Lena Raine had her own set of difficult challenges writing a soundtrack for a game that turned out to be quite different than she expected. Lena told me she drew on her personal experiences of dealing with depression and anxiety to give her music an authentic, heartfelt

 Gordy Haab's Iconic Theme For A New Star Wars Heroine | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1915

With several earlier Star Wars games under his belt, composer Gordy Haab was ready to take on a new challenge: creating an iconic theme for the new character of Iden Versio, who has an incredible story arc in Star Wars Battlefront II. In our conversation, Gordy shared an exclusive cue of battle music that's never heard in the game! Writing music for a new character was Gordy's opportunity to add to the Star Wars canon, and he found ways to extend and modify Iden Versio's 20-second theme so it's

 Matthew Carl Earl's Music Gets Arena Of Valor Players Stoked For Battle | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 2364

Matthew Carl Earl's music for Honor of Kings, created by China's Tencent Studios, has been heard by tens of millions of players. A North American version of the game, Arena of Valor , launched in December 2017. In our conversation, Matthew said writing music for Tencent's games is a dream come true because he gets to write music for games he'd love to play! The Chinese version of the game features iconic Asian characters. Matthew told me as he was scrolling through the new characters for the

 Marty O'Donnell: The Origin Story Of Music Of The Spheres | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 5166

More than four years after it was finished, Music of the Spheres , the prequel suite for Bungie Studios' game Destiny by Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori, was released in its original form – by a pair of devoted fans on Christmas Day 2017. Now that the authentic version of Music of the Spheres is out in the world, for the very first time Marty is able to talk about the theme-rich suite he and Mike wrote to put the creative wheels in motion for Destiny's development team. Once Bungie had

 Michael Wandmacher: Drama For Bloodborne's Battles In Three Acts | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1975

Michael Wandmacher's been a fan of the epically difficult Dark Souls games by the studio From Software for years, so he was thrilled when he was asked to contribute music for Bloodborne , by the same studio. As in the earlier Dark Souls games, the player wanders throughout a ruined landscape in search of redemption, with many tortured bosses to defeat. Michael told me he devised a unique way to create music that corresponded to each of the battles' three acts. In all, the soundtrack was the work

 Marcin Przybylowicz: Making Music From Whatever You Can Scavenge | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 2751

Seven The Days Long Gone is set on a post-apocalyptic prison island, where scavenging and stealth are the main ways to stay alive. As bleak as the game world is, composer Marcin Przybylowicz felt strongly that music should be an integral part of the experience because, as he says, "music is part of our humanity." As he told me, his soundtrack is assembled from over 20 instruments, many of which were made specially so they would sound as though thy were assembled from what's left of the world. In

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