Which composers, past or present, have had an influence on your work?

The composers who have had the most influence on my work are some of the “old-school” guys. Ennio Morricone is definitely my biggest influence, as I really loved his experimentation and the way he used instruments in un-traditional ways. His love themes are still the best. Some other composers I love are John Barry, Bernard Herrmann, Alan Silvestri and of course John Williams, although I don’t write much music in that style. Lastly, I draw lots of inspiration from lots of other music writers like Vangelis, Pink Floyd, Miles Davis and people like that.

Which do you prefer, making music for games or film…and why?

I have always loved to juggle and jump between writing music for different forms of media. Each one, be it a game, film or something else, has its own set of challenges and rewards. I am most happy when jumping between a big game project to a nice film and then fitting in some cues for a TV show. Rinse and repeat. I would love to get more into writing music for live entertainment as well, be it for an orchestra or a traveling circus!

How does the process differ between making music for games as opposed to movies?

I find that the process of writing music for games and a film are pretty similar if you can convince your brain that they are. What I mean by that is for a game, much of the music is written before any of the visuals are actually done. A lot of times all that is provided is a sheet of paper describing what music needs to be written for certain levels, environments or characters. What I do is try and “visualize” exactly what is going on here, and I usually visualize everything with the highest possible production values (even if the end product may look like crap)! That seems to do the trick usually. Also, you have to been very careful about writing too much melodic content, as the listener is likely to hear the piece looped over and over again, and you don’t want to drive them crazy (unless that is the desired result). Balancing those elements can be the toughest part.

What challenges do you find in composing a dynamic and interactive score for a game as opposed to one for a narrative story, like a film?

There are definitely some very specific challenges in composing an interactive game score. First of all, these challenges meet correctly by working hand in hand with the team who will implement the music into the game. Without having a good communication with them, the music that I write might be implemented in a completely different way than I intended. I love to work with the developer and the tools they have in order to create the most engaging and interactive game experience. Some specific things that are different from a narrative film is how the music will transition between different music cues and different mixes within the same cue (stems). Finding a creative and dramatic way to use these tools are what game music is all about.

Who do you consider to be the top composer in the games industry and why?

We are at a unique time in game music history, in that the expectation for high quality music is now pretty much equal to that of film music, especially on the bigger games. This has even resulted in a lot of huge film music composers making the jump into videogames. While there are a handful of truly great game composers in our industry, I’m not sure there is one top composer out there. I really don’t think that there is a truly unique John Williams, Hans Zimmer or Danny Elfman quality composer out there right now writing music exclusively for games. Of course, those guys are starting to write music for games themselves!