Posts Tagged ‘Garry Schyman’

Game Music Composers Unite for Musician’s Benefit Album “Novum Infinitum”

{ December 6, 2011 @ 12:54 am } · { charity, composer, music, VGM }
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Everyone know’s I have a soft spot for Benefit albums and good causes so I was delighted to find this press release sent to me below. A hearty shout out to all involved!

Many of the video game industry’s leading music composers, producers and songwriters have joined forces to create “Novum Initium” (New Beginning), a benefit album dedicated to supporting working musicians in need of financial assistance. Partnering with the music industry charitable organization Sweet Relief, all proceeds from the album will be donated to the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund which provides financial assistance to career musicians who are struggling to make ends meet while facing illness, disability, or age-related problems. “Novum Initium” will be available for digital download via Bandcamp, CDBaby.com, Amazon MP3, iTunes and 7digital on December 6th.

Featuring all-new original music by composers of such blockbuster titles as Call of Duty®, Dead Space™, Dragon Age™, God of War®, Mass Effect™, Medal of Honor™, Prince of Persia®, World of Warcraft®, with cover art by illustrator Aurelien Police commissioned especially for the project; twenty limited edition CDs of the album will also be signed by the composers and auctioned for sale on eBay here: http://xfer.me/nieb.

Composer Sam Hulick, co-producer of the “Novum Initium” album project, commented: “There are many musicians who struggle with medical bills and making ends meet during tough times after dealing with unexpected health issues. We wanted to put together a special project to help our peers who are on that stressful road after recovery.”

“We reached out to our friends in the video game industry and were overwhelmed with the response,” explains composer and album co-producer Jason Graves. “This is obviously something everyone can relate to. As full-time composers, we are self-employed contractors and there’s no such thing as ‘time off’ or ‘paid vacation.’ If we don’t work, we don’t get paid. Medical bills can add up quickly. That’s the whole impetus behind the album.”

Tracklisting with Artists’ Previous Credits:

“Lionheart” – Sam Hulick (Mass Effect™)
“Adagio Coda” – Brian Tyler (Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® 3)
“Adrenaline” – Jason Graves (Dead Space™)
“Awakened” – Otto Cate (MAG) & Aubrey Ashburn (Dragon Age™)
“Underwood” – Inon Zur (The Lord of the Rings: War In The North)
“The Maelstrom” – Singlefrequency & Chad Seiter (Legend of Zelda™ 25th Anniversary Symphony)
“Shadows And Light” – Trevor Morris (Army of Two™)
“Chrysalis” – Neal Acree (World of Warcraft®)
“Trouble In Chinatown” – Tom Salta (Prince of Persia The Forgotten Sands™)
“Dancing Outtakes” – Garry Schyman (BioShock®)
“Versailles” – Ed Lima (Doom® 3)
“Consequence” – Neil Goldberg (Shift 2: Unleashed™)
“Lacus Turbatus” – Gerard Marino (God of War®)
“Espionage” – Mark Griskey (Star Wars™: The Old Republic™)
“House Of The Vine” – Mick Gordon (Shift 2: Unleashed™)
“The Left-Hand Path” – Cris Velasco & Sascha Dikiciyan (Warhammer® 40,000®: Space Marine®)
“Bullseye” – Christopher Lennertz (Medal of Honor: European Assault™) & Timothy Wynn (Red Faction®: Guerrilla™)
“I’m With You” – Jack Wall (Mass Effect™) & Cindy Shapiro (Myst® III: Exile™)

All proceeds from “Novum Initium” will be donated to career musicians in need. For more information on Sweet Relief please visit www.sweetrelief.org.

Garry Schyman Live Concert Announced!

{ April 11, 2011 @ 9:49 pm } · { classical, composer, concert, live music, music, VGM }
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Garry Schyman, composer for Bioshock and Dante’s Inferno, will be having his music played live by the California State University Northbridge Media and Studio Ensemble. The concert will be on 9th May and Garry will be attending. A complete one off, if you’re about in the area – it’ll be a classical event to not be missed!

Most Viewed April 2010

{ May 1, 2010 @ 10:53 am } · { charts, music, most viewed, games }
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One of the possibly the only annoying thing with the changes to stats via WordPress is that I now have almost 600 visitors who visited “Home Page” and that means that these most viewed charts at the start of each month are missing 20% of the page views considering HPM get about 3000 a month. However Bredan Perry stays on top again, although only just this month as his tour got underway and we posted live clips of all the new songs on his tour. I’m so excited for the new album! Most viewed post though was strangely a review from last year, Echochrome’s OST! Is it because Echoshift’s making waves I wonder? Here’s the top 10 viewed artists…

01) Brendan Perry (3 months!)

02) Keith Burgan & Blake Reynolds (NE)

03) Tom Salta (NE)

04) Hideki Sakamoto (-)

05) Lisa Gerrard (v)

06) Jesper Kyd (-)

07) Garry Schyman (v)

08) Ayumi Hamasaki (v)

09) Normand Corbiel (^)

10) Yoko Shimomura (RE)

Top 5 Games

01) RTL Winter Sports (2 Months)

02) Vancouver 2010 (NE)

03) Battle Tanks (-)

04) Musaic Box (-)

05) Numblast (RE)

Garry Schyman – “Bioshock 2 Score” Review

{ March 28, 2010 @ 12:12 am } · { ambient, classical, composer, game music, music, orchestral, review, scores, VGM }
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Garry Schyman’s Bioshock score was one the best scores under 20 minutes I’ve heard in the last 10 years. With a full scale Bioshock 2 Score out to support the game in 2010, has Schyman excelled again?

The score starts off with “Pairbond: Bioshock 2 Theme” which is a beautifully understated with lush undercurrants of strings and a beautiful solo weeping its heart over the top. It paves an emotiive introduction to “Waking Up In 1959″ which is quite mysterious with lots of tuned percussion tapping out a disorientated melody that’s slightly frantic but still melodic. There’s also a spacious ambience constantly swirling around behind the music and the bending wind instruments that give the track an extra layer. “10 Years Later” is more dramatic with the traditional bending string pulls before “Protecting His Charge” lifts up from tense atmospherics to more hardcore orcestration and lots of screaming brass and stomping strings. “Welcome Back” returns to the more industrial ambience of earlier tracks but with some chilling pizzicato strings and skin crawling melodies and build ups. It’s more a horror film score, this track than anything. Deliciously dark.

“Cult of Lamb” has some great jazzy brass elements that set against an uncomfortable musical soundscape actually sound quiet eerie, and the unsettling whistles and double bass continues throughout “Grace Under the Ocean” as the soundtrack becomes more mood music to destable you and become more unhinged, vying Silent Hill’s music but in a different genre. “The Abyss” has some strange ambient noises which to me sound very much like a heartbeat from inside the womb, which is both creepy and beautiful, depending on the musical context. “Big Sister In the Move” however is all about the fast paced manic strings that pitter-patter out a furious spasm at 100 mph to its furious climax. “Send Him Howling Back to Hell” then becomes much more percussive and larger in scale with all the orchestra getting well into the mix for some big crashes and smashes to heighten your senses. There’s some real fasted paced playing here which deserves a special mention.

“Elanor’s Darkness” is interesting as along with most of the soundtrack, it showcases a decaying beauty of something previously great that now feels and has become such a shadow of its formerself, it’s practically weeping every chord. “That Symbol on Your Hand” is another slow burning tense track, very reminiscent of a quieter track from Schyman’s Dante’s Inferno score with the deep chorus coming into play. In contrast “Out the Airlock” and its sparkling celestial dings are actually like a seasonal greeting amoungst the debris. It is still a sad and intricate piece, but showcases more beauty than delapidation.

“Enterance to Eden” see’s those sparkles fizzle out however as the rot of growling brass and stabbing strings set back in with curious string chords, before “Drained Memories” creeps into your speakers with a song so audiable, it sounds like one of those 1970 hammer horror creep around the house pieces that you can hear the after fuzz of the strings on the speaker. Very cleverly done and a personal highlight of the score. “How She Sees the World” continues this complete closeness to the speakers with a chilling piano track that you can hear the breath and cracks of the piano as its played. Utterly timeless, like a mystical cloud of afterlife passing through you.

“Entering Persephone” returns to the dark and unsettling orchestral underworld of the usual tracks of the Bioshock 2 score. “Lockdown March” increases the urgency with a lot of discordant strings and a constant marching bass string section before “Welcome to the Drop (With Vocal)” gives us more of the same but with vocal ad-libs almost like a plains tribeslady really getting on down with the track. She fits the track perfectly, and there are hints of Plain’s peoples instruments and aboriginal instruments throughout with digeridoo’s being used throuought as a bassline guide. “Under the Tracks (with Vocal)” is an unused track and follows the same pattern but almost in a bluesy way.

“Research” actually sounds a bit like a comical horror piece with its pressing undercurrant of short sharp four note string plucks. “Destroying the Lobby” is more furious and focused as it ramps up to a full on assault on the senses in a fantastical grande finale which is completed in “Gil’s Entertainment” which is full on too. The last massive track is “Escape” which as the only track over three minutes, is the epic full cinematic experience with timpani’s rolling and stabbing string and brass segments with all kinds of industrial elements thrown in for good measure. It’s one of the biggest pieces of pure drama I’ve listened to for a while (outside of the mesmorising Dante’s Inferno which is just badass from start to end). The soundtrack actually ends however with “Eleanor’s Lullabye” which is the only pure piece on the soundtrack and is an uplifting way to end what is generally a downtrodden experience.

Bioshock 2′s score is one teeming with emotion. It’s not for everyone as there’s no real melodies and its more about the feelings protrayed at particular times. It’s also very cinematic so once you’ve experienced the music with the game, it will no doubt heighten your appreciation of the score moreso. I haven’t played the game however and really enjoyed this score. It’s creepy undertones with a beautiful overlay mix a potent reciepe that draws you in upon each listen.

Garry Shyman: Dante’s Inferno OST Review

{ March 17, 2010 @ 2:53 am } · { composer, game music, music, orchestral, producer, religion, review, scores, VGM }
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Garry Shyman has been a busy bee of late and so this will be the first of two soundtrack reviews of the composer. Dante’s Inferno, a game which has came out to general critical acclaim has a very distinctive sound to it.

Opening with the dramatic and powerful “Donasdogama Micma”, you are immediately thrown into the deeply archaic and twilight religiousness of spoken Latin and the sordid manical discordant instruments and rousing chorus. A real throw you in the deep in. “Storms of Lst” continues to weave an underworld waltz to oblivion with striking strikes and operatic laments. The smashing timpani’s and gargling brass layer on thick atmospheric pressure to the music making it feel quite oppressive. “Excessum Alighiero” is a mesmerising albeit short piece that bashes and shouts its way through, marching out a beat and distressing every vocalist in a five mile radius! It’s deliciously dark and there is no let up at all.

“Dante, Casarma Treloch” thrives on the deep male vocalists pushing the brass forward to pounding beats while the tense strings round off everything else in a tight bundle of horror. It’s really rare to have such power and electricity stinging in every single note. You will definately know by track four if this soundtracks for you. “Abyssus Incendia” is quite abstract with its twisted string arrangement and hollaring rallies of war – it’s like listening to Phantom of the Opera sung by Korn! “Redemption” is really the first track to offer a softer lamenting side the soundtrack and stands out for that.

“Tower at the River Styx” reminds me of the old b-movie music with the shrill string stabs, before it breaks out into a percussive frenzy – its a perfect example of unreigned maniacs in the orchestra being let loose – it’s fantastic. “Beatrice Taken” is a sinister track, very underplayed and wriggly as the undertones for each instrument all fit together in an unsettling tone – even when the beautiful choir are solo, because of the music you hear either side is still fresh in your mind, you just know all of a sudden a freak out is coming! “Arphe (The Descent)” is just an eerie with worbling vocals and slimey tense strings sloping their way around the speakers.

“Jas Davos Cha Dante Va” returns to the full on assault with its full choir and orchestra pounding out perfectly scultured passages that you don’t even get in all out blockbuster action sequences from a sci-fi or fantasy film. In many ways, Dante’s Inferno’s score is one of the most unabashedly biggest scaled soundtracks I’ve ever heard. “Whores of Babylon” even has witch cackles and screams! It’s these little nuances that just up the ante over other scores.

“Cereberus” is epic (as is all the soundtrack to be honest) as it really sets up to be a stonking battle track, from the six beats percussion, two beats manic strings and brass time stamp it has at the beginning which then revels in deep and growing percussion and brass. “Dies Irae” is a short brooding piece before “Greed Minions” use a hoarding chant and march that is heavily vocal based, almost like a Maori chant crossed with the demonic sounding olds Latin choirs you used to have. There is a great mini bell/triangle section at one point that reminds me of the Lost soundtracks.

“Adgt Vpaah Zong” is full on again, there’s even a middle section which is so dramatic it reminds me of a carry on film! However the pace just doesn’t let up at all and continues to flow into the militant “Barma Beigla Te Carma” although this one is more rousing than the previous, which was just more pacey. “Hall of Abraham” is more ghostly and otherworldly than the rest of the soundtrack with its ominous lost vocal layers.

“Bella’s Secret Revealed” sounds arabic and completely different in tone to what we’ve heard so far. It’s a very haunting yet simplicitic piece with wraparound chords on an organ/sitar hybrid instrument with glassy overtones.

“Minos” returns to the usual antics of throwing every instrument at you at once, while “Babylon Ors” gives a more miltant feel with its marching drums but the way the whole orchestra ramps and ramps itself up until you can almost not stand it really gets you motivated to start going a bit mental yourself! There’s a male vocal particularly in this track which really stands out in that “I’m purposely a key higher to sound extra emotive” way and it works a charm.

“Phlegyas Marches to Dia” is a brooding step up and down track before “The Second Circle” takes you on a slight breather with an eerie and unsettling vocal/string track. “The Queen of Hell” is another well constructed track going through different movements in a single track and is one of a few to have several different shifts in tone and pace and makes a good track to see if you’ll enjoy the album.

“Battle with Abraham” is more dramatic the previous few tracks and the vocals continue to sound like they are spewing through another relm. Add to that a fully flowing orchestra and a vey busy percussionist, you have the reciepe for another classic track. “Phlegyas Ravages Dis” ups the ante further in pace and drama with stomping timpanis, all kinds of horror vocal flurries and stabs in with percussive number. “The Defeat of Lucifer” is a grande track although it slows down the pace a little almost like a rolling goodbye before “Donasdogama Mica Decepto” closes the soundtrack with a downplayed choir and a bubbling adversity.

Garry Shyman’s “Dante’s Inferno” really deserves to be heard in stereo. That sounds a strange thing to say, but turn up the volume of your speakers and sit in the middle of them.There is just so much sound going on, it gives you a completely different take on the score. “Dante’s Inferno” is not easy listening, not even for orchestral fans. It contains some of the boldest and darkest orchestral music I’ve heard this side of game music and the world is a richer place for having it. Technically stunning and flawless, the way how it captures the essence of the otherworld that’s been created is mesmorising and is already vying for Higher Plain Music’s 2010 soundtrack of the year award.

Most Viewed: February 2010

{ March 2, 2010 @ 12:09 am } · { most viewed }
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Well February 2010 saw our busiest month ever at Higher Plain Music as we hit a record number of views on the website. Thank you so much to everyone that comes to visit. One man completely dominiated though with 3 threads in the top 10 viewed and that’s Brendan Perry as the anticipation of Ark reaches feverpitch. It was also the first month when game reviews really notched up the hits with both winter games reviews grabbing 4th and 5th on the most viewed chart. Also with the new way the stats are made, I have over 700 unaccounted views, so please remember to click the actual posts for views to count!  Here’s the top 10 artists and top 5 games of February.

Top 10 Artists

01. Brendan Perry (^)

02. Naoyuki Hiroko (Halo Legends crew)  (NE)

03. Cris Velasco (NE)

04. Lisa Gerrard (^)

05. Garry Schyman (NE)

06. Jesper Kyd (RE)

07. Yoko Shimomura (NE)

08. Imogen Heap (v)

09. Panda Transport (NE)

10. Akira Yamaoka (v)

Top 5 Games

01. RTL Winter Sports 2010 (PS3)

02. Vancouver 2010 (PS3)

03. Musaic Box (PC)

04. Numblast (PS3)

05. Zoocube (PS2)

The next week may be a bit sporadic due to my own album being released this week but after that its back to usual!

Whispers Of the Plains: Garry Schyman

{ February 20, 2010 @ 5:34 pm } · { arrangements, classical, composer, game music, interview, music, news, orchestral, producer, VGM, video games, whispers of the plains }
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Inbetween all of his project’s he’s been doing, Higher Plain Music was able to grab a very quick five minutes with Garry Schyman! In order to get there we had to attack a few people with the conductors stick (we would be sorry but we got the interview) but here’s what Garry had to say:

Firstly, the BioShock score was a mini masterpiece. What themes did you want to keep or change from the original and did you have any particular new direction you wanted to take the music in?

Thank you for that!  The idea was not to dramatically change the style of the music while making it a fresh and unique score.  As far as themes are concerned the opening of the main theme for BioShock 2 “Pairbond” starts with some material from the theme of the first game but quickly veers in a different direction.

I certainly didn’t want to reinvent the wheel for the second game but I didn’t want to retread it either (to use two wheel/tire analogies).  I think I achieved that and I certainly feel as good about the score for BioShock 2 as I did about the first game’s music.

Where do you start on a project like this thematically and in the song writing department?

First I have extensive discussions with the audio and creative directors on the project to understand what the project is really about under the hood.  I get all of the material I can get from the developer including a script, screenshots,  artwork and if the game is functioning I get gameplay captures to inspire me.  Then I start experimenting with ideas and if I like one I record it and send it to the audio director for a listen.  If they dig it I am off and running – and if not it’s back to the drawing board.

Were there any particular pieces that have a special place for you in the BioShock 2 Score?

Yes – I think the “Pairbond” theme (which is a very sad and beautiful duet between the solo violin and cello) is distinctive and not the kind of music you normally expect to hear in games.  “Big Sister On The Move” is a cue that I was not asked to write but which I thought would be very useful for the game so I just composed and recorded it with the orchestra.  They ended up using it a lot when you are in combat with a Big Sister.

“Out of The Airlock” is a very evocative piece and sort of a mini concerto for violin, cello and orchestra.  And in general the combat music is very intense and I hope interesting to listen to on it’s own.  I am proud of the entire score.

Were there any particular challenges to this soundtrack compared to others you have scored?

Well writing all of the intense combat music was just plain old hard work.  They are very complex pieces that were a challenge to keep interesting and intense all at the same time.

Getting the theme right was also a challenge and I went through a bunch of different ideas before we settled on Pairbond.  After that it went smoothly as I love writing in this style and I knew the style from the first game.

What do you find gets your creative juices flowing for a good session of composing?

A good old fashioned deadline! Seriously I need them otherwise I waste time. I have been writing music professionally for many years and I can just get up in the morning and get to work when I know I have to get something done.  Inspiration generally flows from perspiration as the old saying goes.

That said when I have a particularly challenging cue to write I will visualize finding the answer to what I need at night just before I doze off.  I find that really helps me and I usually have the answer when I start working in the morning.

Do you get the chance to be a gamer yourself? If so what type of games do you like to play?

You know I wasn’t a gamer until I started scoring games about five years ago.  Then I started playing the games I was working on and found them to be utterly fantastic.  I have added a few games that I did not work on as well.  I can’t say enough about Portal.  What an amazing game!

I also played World of Warcraft for a year and had a blast.  Leveled up to 58 and then just got too busy to mess around with it and dropped it.  Amazing game though.

I would say two of my favorites are BioShock and BioShock 2 (which I just finished).  I love spending time in Rapture!  and of course there are these really cool music cues that keep showing up that sound so familiar!

You also compose for TV and film too. Do you have to take a different approach to composing for those as opposed to composing for games? I’d imagine they both require a different style or mindset!

There are similarities and differences.  The most important thing that they share is that music has an emotional impact upon the viewer.   Some mystical magical thing happens when you combine visual images and music and it has a powerful affect on people – essentially that’s why composers like me are hired, to bring emotion and mood and magic to their production.

They differ in several respects – implementation being the most obvious.  Basically implementation of music with film was set about 80 years ago and has essentially not changed.  The music is composed to locked picture (well not always locked unfortunately) and is then mixed with the other sound elements and is never changed after that.   Whereas music for games has many implementation strategies and new ones are constantly being invented.  New technology is permitting the music to become more and more interactive.  This affects, to some extent anyways, how the music is composed.    Because the player’s actions will differ from person to person we try to make the music as interactive as possible to have the best affect on the player.

With film and television you compose to picture and this is quite challenging in it’s own way.  But it also makes it easy on the composer as you have constant feedback as to whether your music is working or not.  You also have the form for the music given to you by the action onscreen.  With games you do have in-game films to score but 90% of your work is not done to locked picture of any kind.    So depending on how far the developer has gotten on the project you may or may not have much to go by when you compose other than a verbal or written description of what is happening when the music is playing.  Also you may be asked to write in layers so that different layers can be brought in when something the player does triggers a change in the game (perhaps combat has started etc.).  In the best case the developer will capture gameplay and send you a movie of the gameplay that is occurring when the particular cue you are writing is playing.  But this is only a guide, as you are not catching anything with the music because the gameplay will rarely be precisely the same for any two players.

You’ve been busy with BioShock 2 and Dante’s Inferno and the release of your Viola Concerto. After at least having a day off rest, what’s next for Garry Schyman?

I have been very busy and I consider myself lucky to be busy doing something I love!  I have a couple of great gigs coming up and though I would love to tell you about them I cannot.  This industry is notoriously secretive.

We’d like to thank Garry Schyman for his time and effort to talk to us and wish him all the best with his next top secret project!

Garry Schyman – BioShock Score Review

{ April 1, 2009 @ 11:35 pm } · { ambient, classical, composer, music, orchestral, review, VGM }
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Garry Schyman’s “BioShock Score” was released as a free downloadable CD containing a selection of the orchestral music from the iconic game. Sadly, of the 12 tracks only one is over two minutes in length and because of that, BioShock score is very short indeed. What’s here though is good.

“Bioshock Main Theme (The Ocean on His Shoulders)” is a tender piece of string work that slowly rouses and swells emotion like an epitaph. It’s a tragic and haunting piece. “Welcome to Rapture” ups the pace with an intricate but understated piece that has underlying tension throughout but never tenses up and freaks out and because of that very reason, it gives the track a disturbing edge.

“Dr. Steinman” is all about the madding high string arrangement that spirals at speed into a frenzy. One minute of pure carnage on a violin! “The Docks” is eerie with an accordion playing in the distance whilst various ambient noises re imagine all kinds of nasties for you. “The Dash” is a short percussive burst somewhere between the two previous tracks. “Step Into My Gardens” then uses the string instruments to all kinds of ambient effects which although this takes place throughout the album, sounds particularly menacing here. It’s one garden I wouldn’t have a tea party in!

“Dancers on a String” is a gentle waltz of piano and violin that is as sinister as it is beautiful before the big three minute “Cohens Masterpiece” bounds onto your speakers as a classical piano track. The playing is perfectly pitched between artistic and melodic for the score’s mood.

“The Engine City” starts the final chapter with its heavy stabbing percussion and string section. The scale sounds epic here more in keeping with a big budget movies climax. Contrasted by the saddening “Empty Houses” which is so innocent sounding that paired with the right visual could evoke tears. A bitter tenderness. “This is Where They Sleep” is a tense piece that manages to make string instruments sound like air raid sirens. The constant rising of notes brings a chill. Closing with “All Spliced Up” which is a dramatic hell for leather orchestral piece, BioShock score is gone in a matter of 20 minutes but remains firmly in your head.

BioShock score works best as a full album placed together but anyone who enjoys orchestral works or music that evokes an eerie atmosphere should do themselves a favour and download this free soundtrack score. It’s well worth the time and no money is needed!

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