Interviews

“Myst IV: Revelation” Composer Jack Wall Gets Musical with GameZone Online

by Louis Bedigian

 

“One shouldn't expect anything to just ‘come to you.’  The world doesn’t work that way.  You sort of have to make people come to you in whatever creative ways you can conjure up.”

 

 

Some video games are synonymous with great music.  No one talks about the Final Fantasy series without mentioning the work of Nobuo Uematsu.  Likewise, when gamers think of the Myst series, they remember the great music composed for it.  Once everyone has played Myst IV: Revelation, it will become synonymous with the music of Jack Wall.

 

Myst IV: Revelation Main Theme by Jack Wall
http://www.mysterium.ch/revelation/revelationmaintheme.mp3

 

Jack Wall is a brilliant, emerging composer with a great attitude toward the industry.  He’s not angered or jaded by the industry; he goes with it.  He takes the hardships in stride and works hard for his future.  Consequently, we get better-sounding games because of it.

 

Now that Jack has completed work on Myst IV, we finally got the chance to talk to him about his newest composition.

 

 

Myst IV: Revelation is the latest project you've completed. Talk about the music, the composing process, how much time you devoted to it, etc.

 

Jack Wall: Well, I started back in July 2003 by signing a contract. But really we didn't get into serious production until late October. I finished about an hour of first draft music by December 1st and then traveled to pay a visit with Peter Gabriel who ended up writing a song for the game. I came back from London and started working on more music around late February. Then in March I started getting the cinematics.

 

The funny thing was that I couldn't seem to get anything done for a long time! Probably around May 1st when I got the lion's share of cinematics in hand, I felt like I had all I needed to compose the bigger picture. I like themes to relate to one another and for there to be a flow in the game between cues – more like a movie really.

 

Once I had the full picture of what the game was going to look like, I felt that I could start to finish the score. Of course I HAD to write because I was leaving to record the whole thing in Europe on May 25th! It all came together pretty quickly. I really like those hyper-focused writing times. That's the way anything like that should be done in my opinion. It makes it all come together in a more cohesive way.

 

In your online journal you said that you didn't feel like the soundtrack was completed until it went gold. Is the waiting period hard for you, knowing that your music is ready but it can't yet be heard?

 

JW: Waiting period? What waiting period! No, I'm constantly tweaking the implementation and playing the builds in order to make sure the intention is there. My assistant, Brian Didomenico and I were fiddling with the implementation right up until the end. No waiting.

 

Now I'm waiting – for the gold version of the game.

 

Have you gotten to play Myst IV yet?

 

JW: Not in it's final form. The last build I played was close, but not quite there yet. I stopped playing it because I really want to get the finished version and play that. I need there to be some surprise I guess.

 

 

Jack Wall conducting the Slovak Radio Orchestra in Bratislava for Myst IV: Revelation.

 

 

Does playing a game like Myst bring back memories of when you were composing the music? Do you hear certain songs and think, "I remember the day I started working on this!"

 

JW: Yes, and hopefully, when I've had enough time away from it, I'm happy with what I've done from that more objective viewpoint. There's nothing like a little time to give you a more truthful perspective on your work. When you're in the middle of it, you're constantly making decisions that you assume are correct. It's only when you are finished and the producers declare the game gold that you're allowed to take the time away – so in that way the production process will never be perfect. But I'm always thrilled to go and play the final product to see how all my assumptions worked out – and then take that information to my next project and grow from there.

 

You've done a lot of traveling lately. Is that something you enjoy?

 

JW: Sometimes and sometimes not. In this case I loved the experience of it. I think that I created this project and how it was done in order to satisfy a bit of wanderlust. I was curious what the journey would do for the score – I like pushing those boundaries. Hey, it fit into the existing budget and we did get some interesting things out of it musically. The biggest price was that it was quite a bit of work and preparation. But, hey, anything that's worthwhile takes work, so I'm not afraid of that.

 

Which mainstream artists and record labels have you worked with?

 

JW: Well, that was about nine years ago now, but my favorite experiences came with John Cale and his oeuvre. We got to work with Patti Smith, David Bryne and the like. John gave me lots to do and we had a great run together working on film, producing records for John, Maids of Gravity, the Jesus Lizard, we even did a ballet for the Rotterdam Ballet Company. I worked with Rosanne Cash producers John Leventhal, Larry Klein and other top guys. It was fun. Oh yeah, remember Information Society? Worked with them a bit on their, I think, last record. Kurt Harlin, the singer is now a composer in the video game industry. Funny... Met my wife in the studio when she had a development deal with Gary Gersh and Capital Records.

 

It's interesting that the main theme from Myst III: Exile made its way into a Universal Studios motion picture. Tell us how that happened.

 

JW: Not the picture, but the trailer for the movie Peter Pan. Well, there's a trailer company in Hollywood called Antfarm. Apparently, someone there had a copy of the soundtrack and just slotted the music into the trailer. The director liked it and so it made it in. That's all I know.

 

How did it feel to hear your music – which was composed specifically for a game – during the trailer for Peter Pan?

 

JW: Of course it was cool, but you have to understand that they used about 35 seconds of the very beginning of it. They didn't even touch the part that I thought they would use which is the really big, exciting full orchestra and choir stuff! It's interesting, but really cool to hear it in a theater. My 7-year-old daughter was proud – I guess that was the best part.

 

You're the Senior Director and Co-founder of The Game Auto Network Guild (G.A.N.G.). What has this done for you, and what has G.A.N.G. done for other game composers?

 

JW: I think more than anything else, it has become a meeting ground for all of us about issues important to the industry. Before GANG there really was a lot of the same mistakes being made over and over again. Now that we have a central place to discuss these issues people have resources so they don't have to start from scratch now. Also, I've made a lot of friends! The networking is the thing.

 

How did this year's awards ceremony go?

 

JW: Well, great! I think that we made a lot of production improvements from the first year. This year we had Clint Bajakian produce the show which gave it a lot of production value that people expect from a show devoted to audio and video. Much better organized. This coming year, we'll raise the bar again.

 

 

Myst IV’s organic worlds perfectly match Jack Wall’s passionate sounds.

 

 

I also heard that G.A.N.G. held a party during E3...

 

JW: Yes, we try to have a party for every major industry gathering. We all get to crawl out of our dark studio caves and come out and greet each other in the light of day (or night). They are a lot of fun and great connections are always made at those things.

 

Some game composers are really jaded by the lack of freedom and promotion that they receive. Do you believe this will change in the future? Or will the change only occur for a few select game composers who never stop fighting for what they want?

 

JW: It's only a matter of time before this industry makes its superstars or "A" list. It's just like anything else – as music becomes more important to the producers of the games, the importance of having the right composer for a game will increase. I'm seeing this change take place right before my eyes. It started about two years ago and shows no signs of slowing down.

 

I think that composers in this industry need to understand how it works in other industries and take their cues from there. Basically, we are small businesses in a creative medium. If we don't give just as much importance to the business side – that is – contracts, PR, networking, promotion, etc., we won't do nearly as well as we could. I don't know – I seem to have plenty of freedom and get plenty of promotion. But I pay for it and I go after it. One shouldn't expect anything to just "come to you." The world doesn't work that way. You sort of have to make people come to you in whatever creative ways you can conjure up.

 

Also, we need another few years to dispel the myth that video game music is just beeps and bloops!

 

What about crossovers? Game composers usually want to compose for every medium, not just games. But when a great opportunity presents itself (example: a video game is being turned into a movie), Hollywood looks to their own crop of composers. How can game composers – or any composer for that matter – prevail against this close-minded way of thinking?

 

JW: The reality is that composing is composing. Though I will say that video game composers need an extra shot of understanding how game music gets implemented and how it gets used interactively in a game. It's a learned thing and fairly easily overcome – but only if you love and appreciate the medium.

 

In terms of close-minded Hollywood…? Well, Michael Giacchino who scored the first four Medal of Honor games went on to do the TV series "Alias" and just finished the score to the latest Pixar offering "The Incredibles." I think it's because Michael is a great composer and also so easy to get along with. If I were a producer I'd want to work with him! He's broken down the barrier with seeming ease. It's just a matter of time before more guys follow.

 

I'm always running into movie people in LA who "never knew" that such great music was being done for games. I think in Michael's case there were just a lot of movie people who happened to play MOH and so they knew him right away. The music was a huge standout.

 

We know you have one project that you can't yet talk about. Are there any others?

 

JW: I'm working on Jade Empire right now for Bioware and Microsoft. Loads of fun that one. Real Taikos and lots of Chinese instrumentation. Look for it around March.

 

Thanks for your time Jack.  It was great speaking to you.

 

 

For more information on Jack Wall and his work, visit: www.jackwall.net


Haven Song by Jack Wall and performed by the Warsaw Village Band
 http://www.mysterium.ch/revelation/wvbhavenmusic.mp3

Myst IV Teaser Trailer Music by Jack Wall
 http://www.mysterium.ch/revelation/revelationteaser.mp3

 

Jack Wall is managed by Bob Rice of Four Bars Intertainment.



For More Product Information
Myst IV Revelation (PC)