SoundCast Interview: Lorne Balfe (Assassin's Creed: Revelations, Skylander)

Interview: Lorne Balfe (Assassin's Creed: Revelations, Skylander)

Marius Masalar talks with composer Lorne Balfe about two of his latest projects:  Assassin's Creed: Revelations and Skylander: Spyros.  Balfe as reveals how he got into video game music, the challenges of writing music for popular sequels and what he considers his dream project.

CORRECTION: Lorne Balfe composed the exhibition trailer for Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, which was the third game of the series, not the second as he inadvertently stated.

Episode Highlights

02:06 — How did you transition from film to video games?
06:27 — How did you come to work on SKYLANDERS
13:13 — Did you feel that you had to be dutiful to the original Spyro?
15:25 — WHYBLT? - Hugo, Twilight for Chamber Orchestra
17:22 — Assassins Creed: Revelations - How did you work with composer Jesper Kyd?
24:14 — What were some of the musical highlights for you from AC: Revelation
27:00 — What sort of reactions have you gotten to your music for AC: Revelation
28:51 — The next Assassins Creed, Sherlock Holmes, Anthems, and Bat Man
33:01 — What is your ideal project?
36:02 — The Ron Howard/ Canon Project
40:10 — Taste, subjectivity, and style

Select Music

00:00 — "Rhodes" (Assassin's Creed: Revelations) by Lorne Balfe
06:26 — "Shattered Island" (Skylander: Spyros Adventure) by Lorne Balfe
10:28 — "Sky Schooner Docks" (Skylander: Spyros Adventure) by Lorne Balfe
11:55 — "Skylanders Main Theme" (Skylander: Spyros Adventure) by Hans Zimmer
17:15 — "Master and Mentor" (Assassin's Creed: Revelations) by Lorne Balfe
24:45 — "Assassins Creed Theme" (Assassin's Creed: Revelations) by Lorne Balfe
43:35 — "The Road to Masysaf" (Assassin's Creed: Revelations) by Lorne Balfe

Download the episode here

Subscribe and more info here

Assassins Creed: Brotherhood feat. Score by Jesper Kyd

Are you looking forward to the next ASSASSINS CREED game?  You should be.  In addition to the fun to be had playing it's multiplayer option, the score promises to be something special, once again, with JESPER KYD at the composing reigns!

The incredible-looking Collectors Edition comes with the game soundtrack as well:

Look for more epic coverage of this title in the weeks to come, but for now...the official presser...

ASSASSIN'S CREED® BROTHERHOOD FEATURES MASTERFUL RENAISSANCE MUSIC SCORE BY WORLD-RENOWNED COMPOSER JESPER KYD

Original Soundtrack to be released November 16 on iTunes

Los Angeles, CA - October 27, 2010 - BAFTA award-winning composer Jesper Kyd has composed an original music soundtrack for Ubisoft®'s Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, the next iteration of the critically acclaimed, multi-million selling video game franchise. Assassin's Creed Brotherhood is inspired by historical events during the occupation of Rome by The Borgias in 1503. Kyd's new music score for Brotherhood draws influence and authentic instrumentation from this Renaissance period, immersing players in Ezio's adventures to liberate Rome from a corrupt and tyrant regime. The Assassin's Creed Brotherhood Original Soundtrack will be available for digital download from iTunes on November 16, 2010, to coincide with the North American release of the game on Microsoft Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system and the Sony PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system.

"Researching the history of the Borgia Family it became clear early on that Assassin's Creed Brotherhood would require a very dark score in order to match the Borgias' aspirations to become the rulers of Italy. The music reflects the compelling story of Ezio as a Master Assassin going up against the Borgias," said Kyd.

Kyd's globally acclaimed score for Assassin's Creed® 2 continues to receive top honors for Best Original Music including the Gold Spirit Awards, Hollywood Music In Media Awards, GameSpot Readers' Choice, GameSpy Editors' Choice, Game Audio Network Guild Awards as well as recognition from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, International Film Music Critics Association, Golden Joystick Awards and Spike TV VGAs.

In Assassin's Creed Brotherhood the critically acclaimed single player experience of Assassin's Creed is back and better than ever as Ezio returns in an enduring struggle against the powerful Templar Order. Now a legendary Master Assassin, he must journey to Rome, center of power, greed and corruption to strike at the heart of the enemy. Defeating the corrupt tyrants entrenched there will require not only strength, but leadership, as Ezio commands an entire Brotherhood that will rally to his side. Only by working together can the Assassins defeat their mortal enemies. Assassin's Creed Brotherhood is also the first time the franchise has featured a multiplayer gameplay experience, which has already received numerous industry awards.

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood is a worldwide production effort led by the Ubisoft Montreal development studio in collaboration with Ubisoft studios in Singapore, Bucharest, Québec City and Annecy. Assassin's Creed Brotherhood will ship on November 16, 2010 for the Microsoft Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system and the Sony PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system. For more information about Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, please visit, please visit www.assassinscreed.com.

Listen to 5 Tracks from Assassin's Creed 2 by Jesper Kyd

On November 16, Jesper Kyd's latest project, Assassin's Creed 2, will be available, but we give you an advanced listen to 5 tracks from the upcoming, 35 track release!

More on Assassin's Creed 2

Award-winning composer Jesper Kyd has created an epic soundtrack for Assassin's Creed II, the sequel to the fastest-selling new IP in video game history. Following his atmospheric score for the original Assassin's Creed, Kyd takes the music in an adventurous new direction and crafts an immensely diverse, melodic and progressive musical palette featuring acoustic and symphonic orchestrations with emotional depth and diversity. The original score was recorded with A-List musicians and a Hollywood orchestra and choir at the world-renowned Capitol Studios. The Assassin's Creed II Original Soundtrack will be available for digital download from popular music stores on November 16th.

Assassin's Creed II features a new hero, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, a young Italian noble, and a new era, the Renaissance. The game tells an epic story of family, vengeance and conspiracy set in the pristine, yet brutal, backdrop of a Renaissance Italy. Ezio befriends Leonardo da Vinci, takes on Florence’s most powerful families and ventures throughout the canals of Venice where he learns to become a master assassin. The music propels the action, captures the allure and mystery of the story and immerses players in the breathtakingly detailed settings.

Patrice Desilets, Creative Director at Ubisoft: "Jesper Kyd’s score for Assassin’s Creed II brings players into the Italian Renaissance by providing a true sense of depth for the poignant moments, while also giving a jolt of adrenaline to the action-packed sequences. We are thrilled to have Jesper Kyd back with us in making Assassin’s Creed II an epic title on all levels."

Jesper Kyd: "We created a unique musical identity for Assassin's Creed II that reflects the character and story of Ezio and elevated the music, both in terms of creativity and live production, to a whole new level."

Assassin’s Creed II is the product of over two years of intensive development by the original creative team behind the Assassin’s Creed brand. Assassin’s Creed II is scheduled to launch on November 17th, 2009 for the PLAYSTATION® 3 computer entertainment system, the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PC. For more information about Assassin’s Creed II, please visit http://www.assassinscreed.com/.

Give ear here! or Pre-Order the soundtrack here

Ubisoft Annouces Assassin's Creed 2, Avatar, and more!

Videogamer.com reports that Ubisoft has confirmed the upcoming releases of some major league stuff over a twelve-month period beginning in April of this year. What sort of major league titles and why are you even mentioning this? You say.


Well, to start the titles to be released include:

ASSASSIN'S CREED 2 . More great music from JESPER KYD perhaps?

SPLINTER CELL: CONVICTION (speaking of this title, we interviewed the score composers, KAVEH COHEN and MICHAEL NIELSEN for this game waaaaaay back in 2008.

AVATAR (Tie-in game to James Cameron upcoming film that is supposed to change the world of movie-making). Will it pilfer James Horner's original score from the film or bring in some other composer? Oh...and the game is reportedly going to be in 3-D...shipped with 3-D glasses.


So Ubisoft is clearly doing its part to give us some decent games to look forward to...and some decent game scores.


Check out videogamer.com's brief report here

Jesper Kyd's Assassin's Creed Wins at ELAN Awards

While it didn't quite make it as a 2007 Cue Award nominee, composer JESPER KYD brought home the ELAN award for "Best Original Score in a Video Game" with his score for the hit game ASSASSIN'S CREED. Below is the official press release.


========================================

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JESPER KYD HONORED AT ELAN AWARDS

ASSASSIN'S CREED Wins "Best Original Musical Score In a Video Game"
at Canadian Awards for the Electronic and the Animated Arts


Los Angeles – Feburary 18th, 2008 – Jesper Kyd's original score for ASSASSIN'S CREED (Ubisoft) was awarded "Best Original Musical Score in a Video Game" at the 2nd Annual Elan Awards www.theelans.com, the Canadian Awards for the Electronic and the Animated Arts. The awards show was hosted by Seth MacFarlane ("Family Guy," "American Dad") at the Centre in Vancouver for the Performing Arts on February 15th.

This prestigious industry award follows a series of nominations for Jesper Kyd's ASSASSIN'S CREED score including "Best Original Music" in the GameSpot 2007 Special Achievement Awards and three nominations by the Game Audio Network Guild; "Music of the Year," "Best Original Vocal - Choral" (City of Jerusalem) and "Best Original Vocal - Pop" (Jerusalem Horse Ride). All G.A.N.G. awards nominees and winners are decided by the music and audio professionals of the video games industry. The winners will be announced on February 21st, 2008 at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

Visit Jesper Kyd's Official Site

Listen to Music from Crysis by Inon Zur

A little bit of game music and game music new for you today...

First off, have a listen to INON ZUR's trailer music for the hit game CRYSIS. If you didn't buy the collectors edition of the game, then you've likely been waiting to hear about a possible soundtrack release for the non-collectors out there. Well, good news! The official soundtrack from CRYSIS will be released by Sumthing Else in January or February of 2008.

And more game soundtrack release news...Jesper Kyd's score for ASSASSIN'S CREED is slated for release to coincide with the PC release of the game in March 2008.

For now...enjoy the tracks here (right column and scroll down)

New track from ASSASSIN'S CREED by JESPER KYD

The launch day for ASSASSIN'S CREED is just about one week away! To commemorate the 7-day mark, Greg O'Connor-Read over at Topdollar PR, Jesper Kyd and Ubisoft have made yet another full track available from the soundtrack!

Below you can listen to the new track "JERUSALEM HORSE RIDE" in addition to the original track released "City of Jerusalem." Great mix of Middle Eastern instrumentation, vocals and electronica! Unfortunately, no further word on an official soundtrack release.

High Score! The New Era of Video Game Music - Relaunched

Just relaunched the feature HIGH SCORE: THE NEW ERA OF VIDEO GAME MUSIC. Included in the relaunch is a total redesign of the feature page, but more importantly a couple new additions:

First - a new interview with COMPOSER JESPER KYD centering around his work for the upcoming game, ASSASSIN'S CREED (the game looks incredibly engaging and Jesper Kyd's score is fascinating.)

Second - a full review of JOHN DEBNEY'S epic score for LAIR. If you thought I gushed over the 5-track promo then wait 'til you read the review of the soundtrack as released by iTunes!

More cool game-music-stuff on the way, but don't wait...

CHECK OUT HIGH SCORE! HERE

(Updated) Full Track from Jesper Kyd's ASSASSIN'S CREED

Greg O'Connor-Read over at Topdollar PR, Jesper Kyd and Ubisoft were cool enough to make this full track, from the upcoming game ASSASSIN'S CREED, available for our listening pleasure! From the sound of things there's going to be more than some great gameplay here. The musical experience is going to be something to savor.

Jesper Kyd recorded over 3 hours of music for the game, but no official soundtrack has been announced yet. Keep your daggers crossed! Also, I hope to have an interview with JESPER KYD posted soon. Keep checking in.

Below you can feast your ears on the track "CITY OF JERUSALEM."

So what do you think of it and what your expectations of the game and the full score?

Assassin's Creed (Soundtrack) by Jesper Kyd

The year of 2007 has already turned out to be one of the best in terms of solid game score releases. That trend continues with composer JESPER KYD's original music for the highly anticipated game ASSASSIN'S CREED.

I have to admit that I've been hooked on the potential of this game since I saw one of the E3 trailers which featured the music of UNKLE, "Lonely Soul." Simply one of the most engaging game trailers I've seen to date.

The game itself certainly looks like another entry into the genre of "playable cinema" and I looking forward to "playing this flick." No word on whether there will be an official soundtrack release yet. If I get word, one way or another, I'll definitely post here on it. Below is the official ASSASSIN'S CREED press release.


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
UBISOFT ANNOUNCES ASSASSIN'S CREED™ VIDEO GAME SCORE
COMPOSED BY AWARD-WINNING JESPER KYD

San Francisco – October 16th, 2007 – Today Ubisoft, one of the largest video game publishers, announced the score for the highly anticipated Assassin's Creed™ video game is being composed by British Academy Award winner Jesper Kyd. Players will become truly immersed into the mindset of Altair, the game's main character, and the rich environments of the game through Jesper's thematic score. The combination of epic orchestral compositions with acoustic, percussion and vocal performances delivers a deeply spiritual aesthetic with Hollywood flair. The rich and melodic palette, created exclusively for Assassin's Creed, will be discovered by players worldwide this November.

"We listened to many composers before finding the right person for Assassin's Creed. Jesper Kyd turned out to be the perfect match for the title because he is able to create epic historical pieces fused with both traditional medieval instruments and modern synth sounds," shared Jade Raymond, producer of Assassin's Creed. "For Assassin's Creed we wanted the score to capture the gruesome atmosphere of medieval warfare but also be edgy and contemporary. Jesper not only achieved this balance but also underlined the changes in gameplay and pacing in a way that immerses the player even further into the Assassin's Creed experience."

While the graphical beauty and detail of Assassin's Creed is quite evident visually, the music takes on the same level of precision and attention. Each setting within the game has its own theme and distinct musical identity, ranging from the tragedy-stricken city of Acre to the proud stoic stronghold of Damascus to the powerfully spiritual and multicultural capital of Jerusalem.
"I was inspired by the deep and engaging world of Assassin's Creed and working with the visionary team at Ubisoft Montreal was a fantastic experience," said Jesper Kyd. "It was truly refreshing to be given so much creative freedom for such a high profile blockbuster title and I believe we took it to the max."

In such instances as the surreal and hypnotic compositions that accentuate the Assassin's approach to his target, Kyd instilled his immersive style and film scoring techniques in Altair's meditation and stealth modes, while also capturing the action, combat and escape sequences with measured tone that crescendos into a fast-paced fervor.

About Assassin’s Creed

The game is set in 1191 AD, when the Third Crusade was tearing the Holy Land apart. Shrouded in secrecy and feared for their ruthlessness, the Assassins intend to stop the hostilities by suppressing both sides of the conflict. Players will assume the role of the main character, Altair, and will have the power to throw their immediate environment into chaos and truly experience the art of a master assassin.

In 2006, Assassin’s Creed received the Game Critics Award: Best of E3 2006 for “Best Action-Adventure Game” and swept the “Best PS3 Game” category across numerous video game websites.*

Assassin’s Creed will be available in North America at the MSRP of $59.99 with the Limited Edition priced at $69.99 – Assassin’s Creed is rated “M” for Mature by the ESRB. For more information, please visit http://www.assassinscreed.com/.

*1UP “Best PS3 Game,” GameSpot “Best PLAYSTATION 3 Editors’ Choice Winner,” GameSpy “Best of E3 PS3 Game of the Show,” Games Radar “Best of E3 PLAYSTATION 3,” GameTrailers “Best of Show,” IGN “Best PS3 Game of the Show”

About Ubisoft:

Ubisoft is a leading producer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment products worldwide and has grown considerably through a strong and diversified lineup of products and partnerships. Ubisoft has offices in 21 countries and sales in more than 50 countries around the globe. It is committed to delivering high-quality, cutting-edge video game titles to consumers. Ubisoft generated sales of 680 million Euros for the 2006-07 fiscal year. To learn more, please visit http://www.ubisoftgroup.com/.

© 2007 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Assassin’s Creed, Ubisoft, Ubi.com, and the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the U.S. and/or other countries. “PlayStation”, “PLAYSTATION”, and “PS” Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

Jesper Kyd to score Assassin's Creed

Another game of note...another game-score to be on the lookout for...

JESPER KYD (Hitman, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Unreal Tournament 3, Kane & Lynch) composes the score for yet another compelling upcoming game from Ubisoft - ASSASSIN'S CREED.

Set in the turmoil of the crusades, you play as the prince assassin, ALTAIR, in an environment rarely explored in the video game world. The exotic locale and menacing storyline should lend itself perfectly to JESPER KYD'S talents.

The game is scheduled for release on November 13, 2007 for both PS3 and Xbox360...and later on the Nintendo DS. About a year ago, there was some talk about a limited edition which might include, among other things, a soundtrack release, but it appears that isn't going to be the case.

Doesn't mean there won't be any sort of release, so keep your eyes and ears peeled.

Not sure but the official game site just might offer a few audio-glimpses of Kyd's upcoming score. If nothing else, check out the mesmerizing trailer.