composer

Game Music

Dues Ex Composer Alexander Brandon Releases Aven Colony Original Soundtrack

June 6, 2018 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Dues Ex Composer Alexander Brandon Releases Aven Colony Original Soundtrack Share this

Composer and friend of OSV Alexander Brandon is releasing one of his most recent video game soundtracks to digital and physical formats this week. Sci-fi city-building game Aven Colony released last year and will now be seeing its music officially released by Brandon and Materia Collective. Brandon’s former composing credits include the original Dues Ex, Unreal, Jazz Jackrabbit 2 and more, so he has experience composing for sci-fi and fantasy environments.

Aven Colony had a very cool music design. Paul Tozour, lead developer on Aven Colony, requested a feeling of “organic synthesis” and low key tonal beds when the player first begins building. As they progress, the music will shift using the same beds but add orchestra for a grandiose representation of their accomplishments. As Paul put it, “glory of civilization”. – Alexander Brandon, Composer

The soundtrack to Aven Colony features 21 tracks with heavy synth elements blended with acoustic tones.

The Aven Colony Original Soundtrack will be releasing this Friday, May 8th on Bandcamp and iTunes and can be pre-ordered on both for about $10.
Game Music

Composer Olivier Derivière Scores DONTNOD Entertainment’s Vampyr

May 7, 2018 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Composer Olivier Derivière Scores DONTNOD Entertainment’s Vampyr Share this

Fans of the Vampire the Masquerade games might be interested in checking out the upcoming immersive role-playing experience steeped in vampire mythology; Vampyr. This goes double for the fact the game’s soundtrack was created by BAFTA-nominated composer Olivier Derivière (Remember Me, Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag – Freedom Cry), who brings the intense and haunted game’s atmosphere to life with industrial flavors.

“I wanted to capture the struggle between the doctor and vampire that Jonathan Reid becomes. Only a virtuoso cellist like Eric-Maria Couturier, with all his experience in contemporary classical music, could give this performance such complex duality with his instrument. With the use of dual strings and so many disturbing notes, his musicianship evokes something unique that perfectly matches the journey of Jonathan Reid.” – Olivier Derivière, Composer

<a href="http://olivierderiviere.bandcamp.com/album/vampyr">Vampyr by Olivier Deriviere</a>

Derivière’s dense and foreboding score also features dramatic, heart-staking choral performances recorded with the acclaimed Vox Futura choir ensemble, and further enhances the player’s experience by manipulating drones and other hybrid sounds to pan from side-to-side while you are exploring the darkly atmospheric streets of early 20th century London.

The Vampyr soundtrack premieres today on Bandcamp, with a digital release to follow on all platforms June 5. A limited edition vinyl featuring a selection of Vampyr‘s soundtrack is also available to pre-order at select retailers exclusively in Europe.
Game Music

Call of Duty: WWII Original Soundtrack by Wilbert Roget Now Available

November 6, 2017 | Brenna Wilkes | 1 Comment Share this

The soundtrack to thew newly-released installment of the Call of Duty franchise, World War II, composed by the award-winning Wilbert Roget, II (Lara Croft and the Tomb of Osiris, Dead Island 2) is now available for purchase and download.

Roget composed the 21-track soundtrack, which he notes in an interview with Heavy.com was significantly different from composing for previous games.

“There are certainly various trends in military scores set in this era – heroic trumpets to symbolize the bravery of the soldier, snare drums used in action moments, solo violin to underscore the fear and agony of civilians caught in the conflict. But it was important that we made up our own vocabulary of signature sounds, to give our game a more personal, relatable feel.“

The soundtrack was arranged by David Shipps (Titanfall 2) and performed by the Nashville Scoring Orchestra, who also performed the music for Destiny 2 and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. The Call of Duty: World War II original soundtrack is currently available through iTunes and Amazon. You can also preview the soundtrack on Roget’s Soundcloud.
Game Music

Taiwanese Horror Game Star Diffusion to be Composed by Weifan Chang

October 25, 2017 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Taiwanese Horror Game Star Diffusion to be Composed by Weifan Chang Share this

Now for some international horror game news for your Halloween season, Taiwanese game development company CELAD, Inc. has announced that the music of their new mobile sci-fi horror work Star Diffusion will be composed by the famous record producer Weifan Chang.

Star Diffusion is a top-down mobile game in development for release next year, putting you in the shoes of a man named Leonard who is investigating some strange goings-on on “Planet XENO” while also looking for his daughter’s whereabouts. The company’s producer, Fate Yaiba said he specifically chose Taiwanese composer Weifan Chang to compose Star Diffusion‘s music because of his particular style and knowing how crucial music was to the atmosphere of a good horror game.

“I love horror games, and always wear earphones while playing them. I eventually met Weifan Chang through serendipity, and his music impressed me very much. Therefore, when the development of “Star Diffusion” came to stage of music production, the first person I thought of was Weifan Chang.” – Fate Yaiba

Weifan has composed for Taiwanese games, television and film, including the film Lucretius and another horror game, Detention.

Star Diffusion will be featured in this year’s “G-STAR” show, which is the biggest game show in South Korea. The game will be released in 2018 for Android and iOS mobile platforms.
Events, Game Music

Know Your MAG 2016: Rekcahdam

February 7, 2016 | Shawn Sackenheim | Comments Off on Know Your MAG 2016: Rekcahdam Share this Know Your MAG 2016: Rekcahdam

MAGFest attendees may have bathed in the percussive bliss of Rekcahdam in the past while backing up numerous performers but this year he finally has his own show. Friday night he’ll be making his main stage debut at 7pm as the second chiptune performance of the evening. But before you go, Know Your MAG.

Rekcahdam, otherwise known as Roger Hicks, was introduced to music at an early age thanks to his father’s love of jazz music and his church’s need for a drummer. By high school he was programming, composing lyrics and producing his own music. It’s a combination of passions and skills that have continued to weave together as he has worked as composer, designer and programmer on several projects.

<a href="http://rekcahdam.bandcamp.com/album/celestial-mechanica-ost">Celestial Mechanica OST by Rekcahdam</a>

One of the earliest was Celestial Mechanica, an action/puzzle/adventure game created with Paul Veer where he served as programmer, composer and sound designer. Shortly after he coded his own web-based, 8-bit music sequencer called Pulse Boy. He then spearheaded the 25 Year Legend project, a collaboration of indie game composers inspired by The Legend of Zelda featuring Disasterpeace, Hyperduck Soundworks, Laura Shigihara, C418 and so many more.

After composing soundtracks for Seedling, Devil’s Dare and more, programming for Lume iOS and Famaze, and serving as session drummer on Cartoon Network’s Steven Universe, he’s undertaking his biggest challenge yet. Not only is he designing, coding and composing the original game, Band Saga, he’s basically starring in it.

The ambitious 2D music/action roguelike looks even more infectious than its closest contemporary, Crypt of the Necrodancer. Beyond bopping along to the beats, everything in Band Saga generates musical elements allowing players to compose their own unique song as they play and even augment its instrumentation. After a successful Kickstarter campaign Band Saga was picked up for publishing by Playism last September and is currently in development.

Between all that he’s still found the time to make it to MAGFest and put on a show with visuals provided by ohhinaifu. There’s still time to pick up tickets and attend so head over to the MAGFest registration page to get in.
Events, Game Music

Know Your MAG 2016: Chipzel

February 4, 2016 | Shawn Sackenheim | Comments Off on Know Your MAG 2016: Chipzel Share this Know Your MAG 2016: Chipzel

MAGFest has three days of chiptune performances lined up on the main stage this year. It all culminates with a CHIP RAVE that daringly, brazenly lasts “until we are done, baby!”. Amidst that chaos of square waves and laser lights will be Chipzel. So let’s get to Know Your MAG.

Born in Northern Ireland, Niamh Houston discovered the chiptune scene around 2006 and quickly set out to explore the space in her own way with Game Boys in hand. In the following years she released several original albums and performed at Blip Festival 2011 before being contacted by Terry Cavanagh about a game jam project called Hexagon.

<a href="http://chipzel.co.uk/album/interstellaria-ost">Interstellaria OST by chipzel</a>

Later in 2012 Cavanagh would set out to recreate his game jam entry in a super way and once again contacted Chipzel about her music. Creating an original track for Super Hexagon motivated her to get much more involved with game soundtracks. After nearly two years she released her first large scale project, the 55-track score to Interstellaria which you can read much more about in our review. It took so long that she released another soundtrack in between for the twitchy neon arcade racer, Spectra.

<a href="http://chipzel.co.uk/album/spectra">Spectra by chipzel</a>

And now she’s traveling far overseas from her home in London to perform amongst the chiptune artists on Saturday night at the MAGFest Chip Rave. Her portion of the show will be lit, animated and overscanned by the Visualist stylings of Pixelseed, aka Sean Smith from the local Baltimore area. Check her out!
Game Music, Music Production

Mirror’s Edge Composer Confirmed for Sequel

October 5, 2015 | Shawn Sackenheim | Comments Off on Mirror’s Edge Composer Confirmed for Sequel Share this

There’s a lot of hope and expectation piled on top of the long-demanded sequel to DICE’s 2008 cult favorite, Mirror’s Edge. We still don’t know a lot about Mirror’s Edge Catalyst and the origin story of female protagonist, Faith, but with today’s news it seems the music won’t be anything for fans to worry about.

DICE has confirmed that Swedish composer, Magnus Birgersson (also known as Solar Fields) will be returning to expand the fan-favorite soundtrack he created for the original game. Along with the announcement comes a sample of the soundtrack and a short interview with Birgersson over at the game’s UK website. Along with expressing his gratitude over the reception of the original game’s soundtrack he reveals a few tidbits on what to expect from Catalyst.

“I think there’s 70GB in my Mirror’s Edge Catalyst folder now,” Birgersson mentions in regard to the scope of the new soundtrack. “In the first game we had one stereo channel, but this time we’re able to real time mix four different stereo channels based on what’s going on in the game, allowing us to create an even deeper and more dynamic musical experience than we hoped for.”

On how he creates the dystopian soundscapes of the game’s City of Glass he adds, “I combine old, analogue technology with modern synthesizers and equipment. Modular systems, lo-fi synthesizers, VHS tape recorders and so on – it’s a mixture of many things.”

Check out the full interview on the official site or reacquaint yourself with Birgersson with our 2012 interview. And if you can’t quite remember what was so great about the original Mirror’s Edge soundtrack you can always refer to our review.