Same Composers, Different Styles

So as we saw with Mario Kart 8 previously, it's amazing seeing what a composer (or group of composers) can create in one specific project. In one game, a splash of genres were given to us, arranged for live/electronic settings and interacting differently to the player depending on the level and its design. Composers are generally stressed to understand as many genres and subgenres of music as possible. Anytime, a person may be hired by a director to score a Civil War-era romance or a futuristic dystopian film. So what do you do when you score something completely different from your previous project?

In this post, I want to explore some examples of composers who have done things differently, whether in movies or video games, and took their own chances in create a sound that could maybe be atypical from their comfortable style.

1.) Hans Zimmer

Starting the bat off with the man already criticized for copy-pasting the "BUUURRRRM" sound he made for Inception and applying it to his other works. 


Here's what I defend him for: to me, his music always fits the movie and the action you are experiencing. Everyone knows about his slowing down of Edith Piaf's "Non, je ne regreete rien" to make the Inception soundtrack, or his use of African vocalists for The Lion King. So some interesting comparisons of different works of his include:

(Spoiler warning: My reviews of these tracks won't spoil too many aspects of the movies, but I may dive into specific scenes that reveal a lot about the storylines of these movies, so just keep that in mind as you read this. Thanks!)

Amazing Spider-Man 2 (example track: "My Enemy")

In this movie, the official credit for the composer team is "Hans Zimmer and The Magnificent Six", the name referring to a team that includes  Junkie XL, Andrew Kawczynski, Steve Mazzaroritten, Michael Einziger (of Incubus), Johnny Marr (of The Smiths, Modest Mouse, and did guitar for Inception), and happy fellow Pharrell Williams, who did the schizophrenic vocals you hear in this track.
This track scores the first fight scene between Spider-Man and Electro. Hans is not someone to be really known for dubstep-esque electronic music, which is probably a reason he heavily used a team of six to help him. Heck, they helped him so much, he gave them CREDIT! Which I think is awesome. So OK, a movie technically done by seven musicians, and we're going with this as it's only done by one. Let's keep that in mind and analyze this track.

The track swells between Spider-Man's fanfaric brass and Electro's dominant electronic ambience. Throughout the track, there are whispers heard synced with the beat of the music, representing the anger in Electro, the strange villain in the movie who feels betrayed by Spider-Man. He is a seemingly lonely person who isn't the most social. This leaves him trapped in his own thoughts, which in this case, motivates him to become bad once he accidentally gains electric powers. Throughout the music, you hear phrases like "He lied to me...." "My pulse is rising...." "Paranoia... something's happening...". All while these organic synths swell back and forth in dynamics, as if his anger is represented by the constant charge of a battery. The vocals themselves are put through this cool phasing effect where the whispers seem like they are passing through an electric current.

In one part, too, starting at 1:37, as a gated synth that sounds like something from The Joker's cue from The Dark Knight comes in and dies off, Electro's human theme begins with a rhythm from bassoons and a melody from a clarinet. To be honest, I was quite surprised to hear Hans using woodwinds again. It feels like the last time he used them were in the days of The Prince of Egypt and The Lion King. It's kind of a cute little melody, too, obviously representing Electro's innocence and naivety. A little bit of his social awkwardness, too. The bassoons do some driving of the rhythm later on as well while the electronic synths grow again with Electro's hate for Spider-Man. And even in his innocent melody, you can still heart Electro's angry thoughts passing through his head. 

2.) Christophe Beck

Christophe Beck, the most absolutely underrated part of Frozen. Sure, you've got the cool story, and the songs everyone plays and plays and plays, but you know who did those awesome orchestral arrangements? And who scored this whole movie? This guy right here. 

Let's explore two recent projects of his:

1.) Frozen (example track: "Elsa and Anna")

This music is the first real orchestral introduction of Elsa and Anna. The beginning of the movie introduces the Norwegian world of Frozen with its Norse choir singing the introduction. (You can read about a choir musician's experience with the recording sessions here.) 
Very traditional Disney score, but very effective, of course. The staccato and pizzicato strings follow the happy childhood of the two girls as they run around the house to play and hang out. Little flute and chime cues highlight key parts during their interactions. Slowly, the brass and strings start swelling more and more as Elsa starts revealing her magic powers. The "me-re-do-ti-do" melody is introduced here, starting at 0:35, which plays as Elsa's motif of her magic throughout the whole movie. The motif sprinkles across the woodwinds and the brass as she splashes one of the big rooms in her castle with ice and both of the girls go skating across. The rhythm becomes more and more waltz like, the flutes playing large runs here and there, until the drums and brass indicate danger! Elsa tries to save Anna, but accidentally hits her with her magic.
When the danger of her condition is realized, a beautiful melodic cue from what sounds like an ocarina of some sort comes in. Believe it or not, it's a Norwegian vocal techique called "kulning", and you can hear an example of kulning heard from Christine Hans, the vocalist who performed the little melodious icing. 
The "me-re-do-ti-do" motif then grows with danger from the woodwinds along with the strumming strings and concerned legato cellos. You can hear that Anna does not that too much time before the magic freezes her to death, which is when Elsa's parents ride off to the trolls to save her. From her, Elsa's motif becomes the manifestation of her fear and insecurity from looking like a monster to society in the rest of the movie.

2.) Edge of Tomorrow (example track: "D-Day")

Edge of Tomorrow was Christophe Beck's first time scoring a big action movie. Frozen did have action of course, but this is raw sci-fi happening here. From the start, you hear rhythmic growling synth that sounds like a call to battle. A metallic synth that sounds like a horn comes in to, along with tremolo strings and low brass pounding with drums. 
Unfortunately, as I've only seen the movie once, it's hard for me to describe which scene this takes in, but I do imagine the battleship that Tom Cruise's character wakes up on. And this makes me imagine his realization that he is being suddenly called to battle. This music drives the mood of the movie and his new path of war he is forced to take. Hollywood-like synthesizers overtake the music 1:53. A low gated-synth drives the rhythm while strings with artificial reverb and an echoing metal sound provide a dark ambient atmosphere, creating the mystery of war that Tom Cruise is about to face. 
I really want to know what that metal looping sound that plays every now and then at the end is, too. The sound design in the music does bring to mind the hard textures of the steel battleship and the metal armor the soldiers put on when they are dropped off to fight the aliens. Either way, Christophe faced a cool opportunity being dropped off like Tom Cruise, suddenly called to score a movie where its initial composer was kicked off the gig. He pulled it off well, in my opinion, and proved that he has more in his art than his traditional symphonic style.

Do you have any composers that you personally admire for their unique styles and their ability to camouflage themselves into any work they find themselves scoring? Feel free to comment and post your own examples or thoughts in general. 

Mario Kart 8's Music (A Soundtrack Review)

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Mario and Metal Mario stare down at each other menacingly, not realizing Baby Luigi casually gliding past them. 

    Mario Kart 8 is Nintendo's first HD Mario Kart, released on May 30th, giving a huge roster of characters and incorporating anti-gravity in the racing, allowing you to drive at any angle on a surface (similar to F-Zero). The bikes and ATVs return from the previous games, coins are on the field again to help with small speed boosts, and like the Wii version, 12 racers are on the field at the same time. 

    Another great first for this game is that it's the first time they recorded live musicians for the soundtrack of a Mario Kart. According to Kenta Nagata (composer of Mario Kart 64 and sound director for Mario Kart 8), he felt that "live recorded music would work very well in conjunction with [high-definition graphics]. It really creates a vibrant, live feeling, and amplifies the scale of the game as a whole." The atnoshing visuals in the game, from the flashy colors of rainbow road to the dust and dirt whirring from the tires of the speeding karts, are really brought out by the lively music.
    You still get the classic MIDI synthesizers on certain tracks, but there's a clear focus on a live jazz fusion feel with the music. From this model, the music can transform from jazz to electronic, salsa, big band, heavy rock/metal, and even bluegrass and celtic folk at some points, all depending on the track you race on. To top it off, each track now has its own respective musical track, giving you constant chances to hear something new with each level. 

Let's explore a few of the musical tracks as examples of the wide variety of genres in this game.

1.) Main Theme
 

Sounds like something Berklee would produce and put at an orientation week concert! That's a huge compliment as well. From the first 6 notes and fast bass solo intro, you immediately get a sense of the expanded dynamics in this game in the main theme, which plays in the intro and loops during the first menu. The tune does a great job at introducing the instruments you'll be hearing throughout the game. The brass and saxophones trade off the melody with a solo electric guitar as the slap bass guitar, grooving drums, and quarter-note keyboard hits provide the rhythm section of the piece. Eventually the keyboard turns into a bright synth and plays its own melody, the harmonic rhythm becoming a little slower and more driving toward the cadence of the piece. A solo trumpet comes in singing its own piece, the saxophones play a fill, and then a solo alto sax leads the ensemble into a rendition of the main theme from Super Mario Kart, giving the game's nod at its previous successors. 
From the start, you become aware of the game's live music, bouncy rhythms and change of speed/mood in the harmonies, and the mention of melodies/instrumentations used in past Mario Kart games. I heard this and immediately felt immersed and ready to start racing. Let's start our kart and get to it. 

2.) Dolphin Shoals

An Afro-Cuban drum intro leads us to a Latin-rhythmic song that sounds like Kenny G taking a trip to South America.
Ok, maybe I'm not coming up with the best segues to these song reviews, but I promise you, it's a fantastic track! I'm not sure if this is an alto sax or soprano sax (might have to ask my friend Brian Seymour, who is a blazing saxophone player), but this sax player gets an extremely nice opportunity to shine, along with the guitars and active drums in the background. This level leads you to the aquatic world of Dolphin Shoals, where you actually spend most of the track underwater.

And here's the interesting bit. The sax is awesome, right? It's so awesome and amazing that the game lets you hear it only when you are over the water. When you're underwater, the music lays the dynamics back in the music and instrumentation. To hear what it sounds like, I recommend watching this gameplay video. (I'm going to marvel at the fact that not only does the audio cut off at the final lap during this video, but that I can't find a good-quality video of the final lap of this level. Apologies.) If you watch it, you'll notice that the melody is played by steel drums in the beginning. As you progress in the level, the music becomes even more filtered and laid back, especially as you approach the eel. There's no real melody, just ambient rhythms played by the rhythm section. There's a slight sense of maybe a high-cut filter being used for the music to take away the high frequencies and immerse you into the underwater feel of the level. 
But as soon as you pop out of the water... BOOM, the music livens up and the saxophone becomes alive! It's a beautiful transition and use of interactivity with the music. The saxophone layer of music stays put during the final lap of the level as well.

3.) Moo Moo Meadows

Some of you may remember this track from Mario Kart Wii. Nintendo took a drive in making a live rendition and did really well on it. Now you have a fiddle and an Irish tin whistle carrying the blazing melody in this folky track. I love the sense of a group of folk players standing and playing this track. The live instrumentation helps with the pretty visuals of racing through the acres of a farmland in an evening setting. It's pretty catchy when it speeds up during the final lap, too. The fiddle gets a really nice chance to solo throughout the piece and at the end of the musical loop, too, before the strumming guitars set the cadence to loop back to the beginning. You can hear more folky bluegrass as well when you visit Yoshi's Valley from the N64 redone. 

4.) Electrodome

Ah, there are the synthesizers! Some driving ones, too. As the track name describes, you're basically racing inside a dome that has colorful visuals pulsing from an electronic groove that pumps throughout the race. A classic uhn-tss-uhn-tss beat with classic Mario-sounding synths that phase and vibrato throughout the melody. The harmonic flow of the song is neat as well, as it sounds like it switches from a major key to a more minor pentatonic key. I haven't taken the time to analyze it, but the modulations in the chords are really neat to hear in this electronic track.
It's really neat seeing the entire dome act like the visuals of a graphic equalizer. It helps taking a look at the visuals and musical interactivity as well. There's a neat part where as you drive on the striped purple road, a high-cut filter and ambient pad come in, as if the road is interacting with the music. Before one of the big jumps, you come across these cool bumps that each make musical hits that move chromatically upwards before you fly off to where the goal line is. 

5.) Music Park

A super interactive level that literally has instruments as the road is Music Park, which was featured on the 3DS. The music is driven by a very fun toy-sounding synthesizer solo, and later a guitar that trades off with the melody. The actual level itself is where more of the music does happen. The piano, xylophone, and marimba roads each make 16th note runs that synchronize with the music.  You are surrounded by string instruments and moving brass valves that and horns that move with the beat of the music. As you're racing, you can jump on tambourines and must dodge these huge, fat eight notes with eyes that are bouncy on a ground that makes timpani hit sounds. A retro track from 3DS brought out even more by the live instruments. If you listen closely, you'll also here small snippets of 8-bit sounds from the synths as well. A nice little detail. All of it will make you bop your head to the music as you race. Don't let it distract you too much, though, it's easy to fall off the marimba/xylophone's twisty roads. :)

         These are only a few tracks and a couple of them are updates of tracks already done for past Mario Karts. There are still a ton of other great tracks, one of my favorites being heavy metal-esque Bowser's Castle. The updates to the musical interactivity are fantastic as well. One little rendition they do in this game, too, is during the Lightning item. When you get hit, in past games, you hear the music get quieter and a high-pitched synth run loops as you become smaller and your character's voice is much more higher. The same thing happens for the most part, but now instead of that synth run, the music gets only a little quieter and the melodies sound like they're going through a hilarious vibrato or high-intense chorus effect that makes everything go up and down.
There's a great amount of musical interactivity and great music in general in Mario Kart 8. This games overall utilizes a model of live jazz fusion that eventually transforms into many genres of music. Nintendo has taken a huge leap in its already great use of audio in games and took it to the next level to match the amount of work they've put into the visuals. Even if you don't find Mario Kart to be your thing, I highly recommend listening to this soundtrack.

The composers/arrangers for Mario Kart 8 are:
Shiho Fujii [New Super Mario Bros. Wii]
Atsuko Asahi [Pikmin 3]
Ryo Nagamatsu [Mario Kart Wii]
Yasuaki Iwata [Super Mario 3D World]

I look forward to what else Nintendo will have in store for us in future games.

Teamwork: A Sound Guy's Perspective

Before college began for me, I always saw myself becoming a composer who would never have to talk to anyone. If I was making a game, I imagine myself alone, just sitting in my safe cave, creating some music tracks and sound effects, sending them off to the director, and then waiting for the product to be released without worrying about having to meet people and talk about anything while working on my next project. I’d totally get away with that, right? Not being social, just making music for other people. That’s a way to get around, right?

If I still believed in living in a shell, this program proves how I would never survive reality. And you know what? Because of this program, I am already thankful that I will always try to break away from that mindset.

For MassDiGI’s 2014 Summer Innovation Program, I am the music composer and sound designer/editor of the 4 games being created. Usually, I am just known as “The Sound Guy.”

 I have to confess, it can be quite odd being in charge of an element for 4 games at the same time. For instance, each morning, the teams have stand-up meetings that allow the team members to discuss their daily tasks and objectives. Obviously, I can’t clone myself and attend all 4 stand-up meetings that happen at the same time. That and I need to keep track of audio assets for everyone. This includes tracks of music that loop, sound effects that will be added to the UI and the characters in the levels, and the occasionally needed dialogue for narrators or character lines.

What you’ll see next as you scroll is a preview of how I’ve been organizing the games to keep all the audio files neat and clean for quick preview and save. Here’s how the folder starts out:

The 4 games are listed, along with my folder of notes and art concept pictures in “What-To-Do”. For this, I’ll delve into Night Terrors. We open the folder and we get…

… a folder for Sessions (Logic, DP, etc.) and subfolders located in Audio Files. Sessions helps me quickly go back to where I worked on a music track or specific sound effects if they need revisions or edits. Audio files are, well, where all the audio files are! Let’s dig deeper. We see that we have SFX and MX. For this, let’s take a look at SFX.

As most composers know, .mp3s are annoying. We’re working with Unity, and I need to make sure that the files loop correctly, so for the final submissions, I give the teams .ogg all the time. In a later blog post, I’ll talk more about why .ogg files are preferred. The reason I bounce in both formats, though, are to use the .mp3s to quickly preview the sounds. I just hit spacebar on an .mp3 and I can quickly preview it to remember what the sound was.

Now if we open the .ogg folder…

There they are! Well, not all of them, but a good chunk of the sounds make so far. Ahh, and I need to organize it a little bit. Some voice assets should be in the Voice folder. And now that I look at it, maybe Voice should be a subfolder outside of SFX and MX. Might change that later. :)

So far, this is how I’ve organized myself. Getting back to the point about communicating with the teams, at first, it just seemed like enough work to just compose, make music, and keep everything in an organized area on my hard drive and the cloud system we are all using. This may be a tough summer…

Obviously, I can’t just stop talking to the teams as I’ve already gotten to know everyone after spending time with them while staying at the Merrill building, used as our dorm building.

But by being with them at the dorms and during the work shifts of being at MassDiGI from Monday to Friday, 9:30am to 5:30pm, I realized something amazing. These designers are incredible people to spend time with. I already consider them friends, and am still blown away by their modest attitude in their incredible work and their conscious efforts in making sure that everyone in a team is satisfied with the current progress of a game. There is no away that I could let these people down.

Sure, I don’t know a thing about coding mechanics or drawing/rendering art, let alone draw a shape or figure of any recognizable kind on paper, but I could listen to their amazing ideas and maybe even suggest an idea or two when making the ideas for the games. Maybe in a tower defense game about toys coming alive, we can have teddy bears. Or dust bunnies. Or maybe even evil milkshakes that come alive. That’d be so cool.

And yeah sure, some of these ideas don’t make it, but there’s such a joy I’ve come to love in having so many ideas put on a piece of paper and working as a team to look at what’s best for a game concept.

Even though orientation week was tough in that we had to go through quick exercises of creating game concepts in less than 10 minutes by talking with each other in groups, I realized that no matter how tough a task may be, there is never the feeling of being left behind.  I’m just a weird, artsy sound dude, and yet I can contribute ideas to these game concepts. That was a powerful feeling and made me realize that communicating with these incredible developers I can call colleagues may not be as daunting as I thought.

Our Alpha builds are ready to go and be play-tested. With each week comes more ideas and objectives put as tasks on our Kanban boards. The creativity of these teams has helped me immensely in pushing myself to give music and sound to these projects. There’s a lot done already, but so, so much more that needs to be made. And now I think I can speak for us in saying that we now see the beauty in the amount of work that lies ahead. This summer will be hard work that we can share with each other, and no matter how the games come out, they will be products of combined perspiration and confidence.

I’m going to miss everyone when this is all over. For now, time to get to work.

Welcome!

Thanks for checking out my blog!

So consider this a test post, I suppose, but in this blog, here are the different types of posts you might see:

1.) Event updates and announcements.

2.) Tutorials on composition and sound design.

3.) Outside articles related to the film industry and the video game industry, including any that relate to composing and editing audio that may help!

4.) Reviews of movies/games and their respective scores and soundtracks.

These posts will come with some personal bias to them, so bear in mind any opinions I may share. But they are overall an effort to not only share what I'm up to, but to share knowledge that I hope can help you learn aspects about making music, creating sound effects, and anything else in the world of audio post-production. It will be my opportunity to sit down and share the information I've been learning on my career adventures with you.

If you have comments on any of my posts, please comment and share your thoughts! Or contact me as well. This posts are for you to check out and I hope to share the awesome information I discover with all of you. Let me know what you think!

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