THE EPIC SOUND BLOG

Our collection of bite-size, audio related stories from around the web.

Video interview with ‘Dragon Age: Origins’ composer Inon Zur


August 30, 2010

Sophia Tong over at the Gamespot Sound Byte blog has a fine video interview up with ‘Dragon Age: Origins’ composer Inon Zur.


From Power Rangers to Digimon, and Fallout 3 to Dragon Age: Origins, award-winning composer Inon Zur has worked on video games, movie trailers, television, anime, and film. With more than 40 video games already under his belt, he is currently working on the music for Fallout: New Vegas as well as several other unannounced projects.




  Posted by Asbjoern Andersen, Epic Sound - Contact

Category game audio Tags , , , , , ,

Return of the advertising jingle


August 19, 2010

John Schafer over at the Soundcheck talkshow has an  interesting podcast up about the return of the advertising jingle:

Advertising jingles used to play a crucial role in drumming up sales, but with time they became hokey and hopelessly outdated.

Now, they’re making a surprising comeback. Stuart Elliott, the advertising columnist for The New York Times, discusses the recent trend. And pianist and composer Roy Eaton tells us about his days as a jingle writer.







  Posted by Asbjoern Andersen, Epic Sound - Contact

Category music Tags , ,

The music and sound design of Starcraft 2


August 17, 2010

Over at the Gamespot Sound Byte blog, Sophia Tong has posted a great interview with Starcraft 2 audio director Russell Brower:


GS: In terms of sound design, how did you approach Starcraft II to get the right sound for the game?


RB: Well, we built upon the soundscape that was established in Starcraft, so we do consider the sound for Starcraft II evolutionary rather than revolutionary. So that meant continued use of mechanical sounds. We recorded an endless number of small contraptions. There were large machines; there are sounds made from electronics and synthesizers; and of course with the zerg, there were a lot of fairly gross sounds that came from our various concoctions of flour, water, salt, and goop…and a lot of unmentionable stuff that made our studio a challenge to clean up afterward.


Read the full interview with Starcraft 2 audio director Russell Brower here.


And check out the game trailer below:






Interview with Alan Wake composer Petri Alanko


August 16, 2010

Gaming site G4 features an interesting interview with Alan Wake composer Petri Alanko. I recently had the chance to play Alan Wake and it’s easily one of the most impressive productions I’ve tried this year, both aurally, visually and story-wise.


If you haven’t tried it yet, be sure to take it for a spin! And for a lowdown on the score for this brilliant game, have a peek below:


The Feed: Tell us about what went into composing the score for Alan Wake. Were there inspirations or preconceived ideas you started from or did you let the muse of the game speak to you?


Alanko: Heh, sort of allowing the muse to recite, I’d say. It’s been natural for me to “dive into a picture”, to feel and to dissect things from it, analyzing the minor details in order to build a big picture. I always link a picture to a sound or a theme, melody, atmospheric background etc. I do believe everyone has some of that in them, in different amounts and flavors, there’s nothing extraordinary and it’s just a matter of practicing.


In the beginning we did have a discussion of possible styles, but the end result was a bit different. A lot of the score depended on the raw material, as I felt the long trees needed some scale of distance, length, air, space, and everything around the Bright Falls was more or less surrounded by mountains, bathing in sunlight. That’s an easy view to compose to.


Read the full interview over at G4.


Marius Masalar over at Tracksounds has posted a review of the Alan Wake soundtrack -- and if you want to see the trailer for the game, have a look below:



Via Original Sound Version




  Posted by Asbjoern Andersen, Epic Sound - Contact

Category game audio Tags , , , , , , ,

Interview with the Super Mario Galaxy 2 Sound Team


August 11, 2010

Original Sound Version has an interview up with the sound team on Super Mario Galaxy 2:


We’ve been very fortunate to sneak some of Mahito Yokota, Koji Kondo, and Ryo Nagamatsu’s time away from their new projects to talk about their work on Super Mario Galaxy 2, which is surely one of the best soundtracks of the year.


We discuss the influence of Yoshi on the game’s score, each composer’s respective contributions, the retooling of music from the original Super Mario Galaxy, and the return of “Gusty Garden” as an anthem for the series. We also talk about some of our favorite tracks from the game, including “Yoster” and “Square Timber.”


Here’s the trailer for the game:



Read the full interview with the sound team here.





Video: The Prodigy’s ‘Voodoo People’ recreated in Ableton Live


August 4, 2010

Jim Pavloff demonstrates how to recreate The Prodigy’s ‘Voodoo People’ from scratch in Ableton Live 8 -- well done!



(via Synthtopia)




  Posted by Asbjoern Andersen, Epic Sound - Contact

Category music,niceties Tags , , , , , ,

The score for ‘Inception’ performed live


July 30, 2010

‘Inception’ opened in Danish theaters yesterday, and I’m really looking forward to seeing it. Check out this recording from the ‘Inception’ US premiere, featuring live performances of some of tracks from the movie:



(via @gameost @tracksounds)





Behind the scenes on the Red Dead Redemption soundtrack


July 28, 2010

Game Videos goes behind the scenes on the making of the score for Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption:



(via @nobuooo)




  Posted by Asbjoern Andersen, Epic Sound - Contact

Category game audio,music Tags , , , , ,

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