September 14, 2009

Section 8 Composer Jason Graves on Emotion, Inspiration, Tools, Editing and More
By Louis Bedigian

“The theme instantly took on a larger-than-life, take-no-prisoners attitude, all from just changing a few chords.”

Every composer has his or her own way of approaching a score. For Jason Graves, whose previous credits include Dead Space, Wheelman, Transformers: Autobots/Decepticons and several Star Trek titles for Bethesda, he starts by looking at the game itself. "I accumulate as much information as I can about the title, like artwork, storyboards and scripts," says Graves, whose latest project, Section 8, is out now. "It also helps a lot if I can meet the team involved with the development of the game – it really gives me a better sense of what kind of universe I’m going to be spending time working in. Of course, it’s especially beneficial to be able to play the game, or at least see movies of walkthroughs.

"My other course of inspiration is simply emotion. I love music that moves me, music that ebbs and flows, music that tells a story. I approach each new score as a chance to tell a new story and take the listener on a sonic journey, even if they may not even consciously realize they are going. That may sound a little cheesy, but I believe music should DO something to you when you listen to it. It should evoke some sort of emotional response. That emotional response is my motivation – it’s how I approach every score I compose."

As a new franchise, how much more freedom did you have with Section 8 compared to the existing franchises you've worked on?

Jason Graves: TimeGate was very open to suggestions, which was nice. I’ve worked on franchises before where there were very specific requirements for what could and could not be incorporated into the score. Obviously, those restrictions are there for the good of the game and I’m completely happy following them. But it was refreshing to have a totally clean palette to work with for Section 8.

There was some obvious general direction for the music, but nothing too specific. We all knew there needed to be some military aspect to the score, plus the heroic and “otherworldly” qualities needed for this kind of title. Other than that, I was very free to make suggestions and come up with my own ideas for what other kinds of instruments would help better define the musical world of Section 8.

What were the first things you did when you started to work on Section 8?

JG: I like to focus on the main theme when I’m starting a new project and Section 8 was no different. I’ve found that if everyone agrees on a main theme, the rest of the score comes naturally. For Section 8, I was asked to compose something that was adventurous, heroic and mysterious. TimeGate liked the idea of “exploring the stars with unknown danger and ahead.” We only had a few tweaks to some of the harmonies and everything was set for the rest of the game.

The main theme for Section 8, which is the first piece on the soundtrack, consists of a heroic motif played by the brass with busy, frenetic strings in the background. There’s also a secondary idea, which represents the exploration of space and the unknown that is performed by sweeping, emotional strings and trumpets. It’s very atmospheric and evocative of the stars.

Let's get into the specific sound of Section 8. How did you write the score to reflect the game's futuristic vibe?

JG: I used the orchestra as the main backdrop of the music – it’s what gives all the emotion and sets the stage for the gameplay. Electric guitars and synthesizers portray the more visceral aspects of the music, especially in the desert location. There are also electronic percussion sounds constantly ticking away in the background that contribute to the futuristic quality of the score.

You've said that the music focuses on two primary locations in the game. Which locations?

JG: There’s a desert location and a more temperate location. There were a few things that delineated the two locations. I utilized the orchestra in both locations, but chose a more heroic, “Hollywood” sound for the temperate areas. The desert has a more modern sound, harmonically speaking, with more dissonance and sonic variety in the orchestra. I also featured the guitars and synthesizers a lot more for the desert, bringing out the gritty, dissonant aspects of the music.

Are there any prior scores – from you or composers you admire - that influenced the sound of Section 8?

JG: In its original form, the harmony of the main theme was more minor and dissonant, along the lines of the “exploration and imminent danger” idea I was presented with in the beginning. TimeGate thought they might want a more heroic sound to the theme instead, and I made a new pass with a less minor quality. The feedback was “even more heroic,” so I put some major chords into the progression, the kinds you would hear in the score to a superhero or comic book film. The theme instantly took on a larger-than-life, take-no-prisoners attitude, all from just changing a few chords.

Other than that example, I was able to create the score without any “temp track love” from TimeGate (when I’m given specific examples from films or games that are considered appropriate for their project). Hopefully the end result is a fresh, unique approach to the world of first person shooters.

Regardless of the developer’s direction on a project, there are people that I consider myself indebted to for their contribution to music. Richard Wagner, Bernard Herrmann, Pytor Tchaikovsky, Jerry Goldsmith, Krzysztof Penderecki and John Williams are all amazing composers who made the world a better place for me through their music.

What music creating, mixing or editing tools do you use?

JG: Not to sound trite, but the most important tool I use in the studio is my ears. I think the concept of listening, both to your music and your client, cannot be emphasized hard enough. I try to listen to and study as much music as I can, mostly classical pieces from the last 200 years, but occasionally a film score pops in there as well.

That being said, I compose on a Mac Pro; I’ve been working with Macs since 1990 and am a total Apple geek. I also have two custom-built PCs in my studio that run as slave machines, which are the computers that hold all of my instrument sounds. I also have two additional Mac Pros as slaves – that makes one main computer and four slave computers, totaling 32 Intel processors and 58 Gigabytes of memory. I like having all my sounds at my fingertips so I can concentrate on composing and not on loading instruments.

I’ve got all the commercially available music software for Macs, but really love Logic, Digital Performer, Waves, Native Instruments and Spectrasonics. I use Apogee converters and clocks for my studio and record everything into an SPL MixDream analog summing mixer for additional warmth and sonic goodness.

I was able to play my Gibson SG and Fender Strat on Section 8 (with Waves Guitar for the effects), along with the Access Virus, Moog Little Phatty and my amazing Dave Smith analog synthesizers. They make up my “rock band” that played on the soundtrack, even if I’m the only guy in the band.

Before Section 8, you worked on Dead Space and Star Trek. What's next for you?

JG: I’m currently composing the score for Silent Hunter 5, which is a nice trip back for me into the same musical territory I covered when I was working on Silent Hunter 4. The Ubisoft team in Romania is great to work for; I was very proud to have them ask me to come back for the next title in the franchise.

Two other recent projects I scored are Dead Space: Extraction, coming out at the end of September, and Alpha Protocol, release near the beginning of October. Dead Space: Extraction is a return to the live orchestral avant-garde, horror score that became so familiar to me when working on the first Dead Space. Alpha Protocol is a hip, modern score for undercover agents with pulsing synths, filtered drumbeats and live orchestra. Both of those scores were a lot of fun to work on, especially since they couldn’t get more opposite from each other.

I’m also giving a lecture on adaptive music in games at the Montreal International Game Summit in November. Game music has really come a long way in the last few years, thanks to our current technology and the amazing developers who are constantly trying to improve game audio. I’ll be sharing my interactive music experience with everyone in the hope of elevating the art of music for games just a little bit higher.

Thank you for your time.

For more information on the music of Jason Graves, visit www.jasongraves.com

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