Interview: Garry Schyman (Bioshock Infinite)

Composer Garry Schyman speaks with Marius Masalar (@mathazzar) about his unusual path to becoming the composer of the award winning music for the Bioshock franchise.  He tracks his process and challenges of writing each of the three game scores:  Bioshock, Bioshock 2, and most recently, Bioshock Infinite.


Music:

0:00 - 22. Doors
20:20 - 6. Step Into My Garden (from the original Bioshock score)
25:29 - 8. Elizabeth
31:48 - 4. Lighter Than Air
37:50 - 16. The Battle for Columbia III
49:56 - 25. AD

Interview:

0:35 - Intro & path to a composing career
3:25 - First video game scoring and the Philips CD-i
5:08 - THQ and Bernard Hermann
7:02 - Hired by Irrational to score Bioshock
8:11 - The early landscape of video games and why it was appealing
12:41 - What makes the Bioshock franchise so compelling to a wide audience?
15:16 - Bioshock's violence and how to sell a modern game
18:14 - Bioshock's evolving musical approaches
23:06 - Not in Kansas anymore…Bioshock Infinite's new musical language
24:14 - Elizabeth's theme and recording as you go
28:10 - Hints of the original Bioshock
30:09 - Small ensembles instead of an orchestral sound
32:46 - Ambiguity in the characters and their music
36:17 - Garry's unusual approach to the combat music
40:07 - What is it that makes a good game score?
40:40 - Interactive music vs. creative integrity
45:20 - Upcoming projects
46:41 - Advice for young composers
48:48 - Conclusion and contact information

You can support Tracksounds by picking up the popular video game, Bioshock Infinite at Amazon.com here: http://amzn.to/10JFMqJ

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Interview conducted and produced by Marius Masalar. Video editing and effects by Marius Masalar.

Composing Bioshock with Garry Schyman and Emily Ridgway

With the imminent release of BIOSHOCK INFINITE, Gametrailers presents this 20 minute look at the music for BIOSHOCK.  They speak with composer Garry Schyman as well as audio director, Emily Ridgeway.  If you want a quick history of the unforgettable music of the Bioshock franchise, then take a few minutes and immerse yourself in part 1 which covers Bioshock and Bioshock 2.

Composer Garry Schyman Returns: Bioshock Infinite

At long last, the press release confirming what we've long suspected.  Composer Garry Schyman is returning to the remarkable world of BIOSHOCK, from the minds at Irrational Games.  Truly one of the stand-out franchises over the last half-dozen years, BIOSHOCK's mystique owes a lot to the music of Garry Schyman.  Schyman has carved out a distinct, musical place for the game franchise - one that couldn't easily be discarded or shifted.  So who else could really score the next entry?

Sadly, there is no mention of an original score release...yet.  But let us hope Irrational Games is as generous has they have been in the past!

You can listen to a sample and read the full presser below...

BIOSHOCK INFINITE FEATURES ORIGINAL SCORE COMPOSED BY GARRY SCHYMAN

Los Angeles, CA, Feb.25, 2013 - Award-winning composer Garry Schyman has created a unique musical score for the highly anticipated video game BioShock Infinite developed by Irrational Games and published by 2K Games. Recorded with solo string instruments, intimate string ensembles, and experimental percussion, Schyman's raw and intensely emotional score reflects BioShock Inifinite's compelling narrative, following the development of the relationship between the lead characters, Booker DeWitt and Elizabeth, and immersing players in the game's spectacular alternate early Twentieth Century setting. BioShock Infinite will be released for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Windows on March 26th, 2013.

Film, television and video game composer Garry Schyman is one of the interactive medium's foremost composers, renowned for his multiple award-winning score for the original BioShock - winner of Best Original Score from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, Spike TV's Video Game Award for Best Original Score, G4 TV's Soundtrack of the Year and four awards from the Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G) including Music of the Year, Best Interactive Score, Best Original Instrumental and Audio of the Year.

"It doesn't get any better for a composer than to be able to score a game as remarkable as Bioshock Infinite," says Schyman. "It provided a vast canvas filled with extraordinary and completely unique characters and situations that permitted me to be creative in ways that we composers usually only dream of. Much thanks goes to Ken Levine, James Bonney, and the entire team at Irrational for inventing such an astonishing world and then letting me write music for it!"

BioShock Infinite is planned to launch globally on March 26, 2013 for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and Windows PC.

PRE-ORDER BIOSHOCK INFINITE AT AMAZON.

G.A.N.G. Award Finalists Announced

THE GAME AUDIO NETWORK GUILD has recently had their award finalists published over at MUSIC4GAMES.NET. The list is quite interesting...below you'll see the original score category nominees. Many of the noms are to be expected: Bioshock, Crysis, Halo 3, but John Debney's LAIR with only one nomination and NO noms for Michael Giacchino's MEDAL OF HONOR: AIRBOURNE is more than a little head-scratching-incident. I'd call it - next to outrageous. Suffice it to say that this provided my top "WHAT THE?" moment of the week. Nice to see Jamie Christopherson's THE GOLDEN COMPASS get some recognition though. Anyway, here is a portion of the list.

MUSIC OF THE YEAR

Assassin’s Creed
BioShock
God of War II
Halo 3
The Golden Compass

BEST ORIGINAL INSTRUMENTAL

"Welcome To Rapture" – BioShock"
Infiltrating The Eagle’s Nest” – Blazing Angels 2
"Main Menu” – The Golden Compass
"Epilogue” – Lair
"The Citadel" – Mass Effect

BEST ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK ALBUM

Dead Head Fred
God of War II
Halo 3
Mass Effect
Red Steel

Check out the full list at music4games.net

The winners will be announced at the annual G.A.N.G. Awards on February 21, 2008.

Playable Cinema - The Fusion of Gaming and Movies

As I finished up both my review of BIOSHOCK and my interview with the composer of the game's score, GARRY SCHYMAN, that phrase "playable cinema" kept running through my mind. That is where the gaming and film industries have been moving toward for a number of years now. With the release of games like BIOSHOCK and perhaps even moreso, HEAVENLY SWORD, we might just be there. I can't say that I've ever seen any game like the visuals of HEAVENLY SWORD or been as enveloped by a games atmosphere like BIOSHOCK. I've been addicted to the short animated back-story shorts presented at the HEAVENLY SWORD site. I've been swept up in the depth of 2KGames' official sites for BIOSHOCK. Both of these games and LAIR as well, have created new, detailed worlds, that are as interesting as the games themselves. For as long as movies have been made, audience members have said to themselves "I wish I could do that!" ...and the day has come where they can.

If you look at the history of it - the two mediums have been on a collision course for decades. We first saw game-spin-offs of movies and more recently movie spin-offs from games. As processing power continues to exponentially increase, the merging of the two seems only natural...if not inevitable. I, for one, am ecstatic at seeing this media evolution continue. As I've remarked elsewhere, with the storage, bandwidth, and processing power available for game development ever on the increase, this affords game producers what they need to hire grade-A composers and grade-A orchestras for these game scores. And we won't even speak about the budgets. They certainly have plenty of bucks now-days.

Let's not underestimate the power of symphonic music in these games. While the visuals cause our jaws to drop, just how much less impacting would the game play be without the contributions of a MICHAEL GIACCHINO, INON ZUR, or JESPER KYD? As it's been said before "Audiences will put up with bad picture, but they won't put up with bad sound." 128-bit+ graphics with 16-bit sound would be unforgivable. So as we are witness to "playable cinema" emerging before our very eyes, I hope you'll join in the anticipation for where this will lead musically. If the music matters within film and it matters within a game - just how much more when the two become one? As gross as it sounds...my ears salivate at what's to come!

Interview with composer Garry Schyman (Bioshock)

As 2KGames continues to get rave reviews for their ground-breaking effort BIOSHOCK, Tracksounds speaks with composer GARRY SCHYMAN about his work on the project, his thoughts about a potential paradigm shift in the gaming industry, if he'll be involved with a "Bioshock 2," and his most recent project DESTROY ALL HUMANS: PATH OF THE FURON.

Check out the interview here!

Bioshock Soundtrack by Garry Schyman

Beauty and the Big Daddy
Review by Christopher Coleman

One of the most anticipated games of 2007 has been 2KGames' BIOSHOCK. The game has garnered super-high praise from the gaming community due to its immersive environments, engaging storyline, and chillingly creative score. BIOSHOCK along with upcoming games such as LAIR and HEAVENLY SWORD are good examples of what could be called "playable cinema." In order to make a big splash in the gaming-world it's no longer enough to have just a clever game concept (although in the end it remains the most important ingredient). What we are currently witnessing is the line between video-gaming and movie-going becoming thinner by the minute. And at least one good consequence of this media-blending is the increase of feature-film-quality game scores being produced.


Read the full review here (covers the soundtrack + promo release)

Download free tracks from the Bioshock Soundtrack

Free Download of Music from BIOSHOCK!

2K Games releases 12 tracks from Garry Schyman's original score to one of the most popular and well-reviewed video games of 2007, BIOSHOCK. You can download them FOR FREE at The Cult of Rapture site. Below is the official press release regarding Garry Schyman's score.

Download the music here!


BIOSHOCK FEATURES ORIGINAL SCORE BY GARRY SCHYMAN

AWARD WINNING HOLLYWOOD COMPOSER PROVIDES CLASSICAL MUSIC PALETTE FOR INNOVATIVE FIRST PERSON SHOOTER VIDEO GAME

Los Angeles, CA – Film, television and video game composer Garry Schyman (www.garryschyman.com) has created the original score for the highly anticipated and innovative first person shooter BioShock developed by Irrational Games and published by 2K Games. Composed in various styles of early twentieth century writing, the music is at times chillingly ominous and at other times deeply beautiful and poignant. BioShock is developed for the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PC and will be released in North America on August 21, 2007 and internationally on August 24, 2007.
“Garry Schyman’s work for us was incredible from the start in every possible aspect,” said Emily Ridgway, Audio Director at Irrational Games. “From his ability to produce and compose amazingly unique orchestral recordings, all the meanwhile perfectly accommodating the peaks and troughs of game development, Garry really deserves all the praise he gets for the BioShock soundtrack and then some.”

Ken Levine, Creative Director at Irrational Games, attested, “It’s kind of hard to imagine BioShock without Garry’s music. It just wouldn’t be the same game.”

BioShock is the "genetically enhanced" first person shooter that lets you do things never before possible in the genre: turn everything into a weapon, biologically mod your body with plasmids, hack devices and systems, upgrade your weapons and craft new ammo variants, and experiment with different battle techniques.

You are a cast-away in Rapture, an underwater Utopia torn apart by civil war. Caught between powerful forces, and hunted down by genetically modified “splicers” and deadly security systems, you have to come to grips with a deadly, mysterious world filled with powerful technology and fascinating characters. No encounter ever plays out the same, and no two gamers will play the game the same way.

To immerse players in this captivating and haunting world Schyman crafted a complex combination of aleatoric elements, early 20th century writing, musique concrete, traditional tonal and late romantic styles. The score, recorded with a live orchestra at historic Capitol Studios in Hollywood, features solo violin, cello, and piano performances.
“BioShock is a composer’s dream project; I have never been offered such a unique palette to write for,” said Garry Schyman. “I really pushed myself to create a score that truly complements the extraordinary experience of BioShock and Irrational Games supported me all the way. I even had the opportunity to write a solo piano work in the style of late Rachmaninoff!”

For more information on the composer visit www.garryschyman.com.
For more information on BioShock visit www.bioshockgame.com.