FEATURE GAME AUDIO
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that small string ensembles would be the direction for the score. Tey did reimburse me, by the way!” Meanwhile, at the implementation
BioShock Tactics IRRATIONAL GAMES
John Broomhall talks to audio director Patrick Balthrop and composer Garry Schyman about their multi-award winning sound and music work for Irrational Games’ latest title in the iconic BioShock series.
P
atrick Balthrop and Garry Schyman are in a good place. As Balthrop starts a new
journey, launching his company Interactive Sound & Fury, and Schyman continues scoring apace on his current gig for a title TBA, they can both reflect on a great job, well done. Amid the critical acclaim their sound and music has received, came a double whammy at this year’s Game Baftas with BioShock Infinite winning both a nomination for Audio Accomplishment, and taking home the coveted mask for Original Music. Balthrop, who was on the original
BioShock in-house audio team covering sound design and VO editing duties, talks about his role this time out: “I was audio director with a six-strong team in Boston, as well as the numerous audio scripters implementing VO, so if you can hear it, I was responsible for it! I had to concept characters, audio direct sound designers, concept systems, sound design many of the assets in the game build, collaborate inter- departmentally. At all times, I had to maintain the creative quality of the latest game build. Fortunately, I had a very strong team supporting me. “BioShock Infinite’s audio direction evolved as we continued to ship demos
26 May 2014
and hit milestones. We went down the wrong path a couple of times but had the experience to pull back quickly and iterate until we knew we were on the right one. From selling ‘time period’ by designing authentic-sounding Foley (using a 1912 Edison gramophone I bought especially) to creating a highly immersive ambient world – the audio direction really unlocked when we began to support the story in every decision we made. Everything you hear is coloured by the emotional perspective of the characters that drive the narrative – we were helping tell the story Ken Levine [creative director and writer] was creating.”
CHARACTER LED
For Los Angeles-based composer, Garry Schyman, the crystallisation of the game’s musical signature can be pin-pointed quite clearly, as he explains: “It was interesting – originally, the Elizabeth character was not nearly as significant. At E3, when they were showing some early in-game stuff, there was so much reaction to this character that it began affecting how things were structured – a moving target from the composer’s standpoint – because things did change significantly. Tis was a seminal moment in how the
coalface, Balthrop and his team looked to Audiokinetic’s Wwise as their audio middleware solution. Balthrop: “I find technology simultaneously constraining and inspiring. We always want more streams, more memory, more CPU, and more space on the disc to realise our audio ambitions, but on the other hand, sometimes having restraints can focus your creative pursuits. Numerous times on the project Ken would say to me, ‘Audio is at least half of the experience – audio can really manipulate the audience to feel or colour a scene in a powerful way’.”
AUTHENTIC AUDIO Audio director Patrick Balthrop
score evolved. I remember realising, okay, Elizabeth is very significant and I said to music director, Jim Bonney, I have an idea for a theme for her and I think it’s important. I want to record it with live musicians before I present it. I knew that Ken Levine really responded to live players and the emotion they brought to the table, so I didn’t want to use samples, especially as it involved solo instruments. I also knew there wasn’t any budget for this ‘experiment’ so I said, you know what? I don’t care. I’m just going to pay for it myself. (Along with most of the score, this was recorded at Martin Sound in LA.) When Ken heard it, he was very moved and it affected his view of how the music would work and how crucial it would be. Te simplicity of that raw emotional music led us to realise
One particularly delightful aspect of the game’s soundtrack is the inclusion of ‘licensed music tracks’, lyrically meaningful to the game narrative which have been lovingly re-recorded in music styles from the game’s time period. Te results are testament to the passion and authenticity that pervades BioShock’s sound and music. Reflecting on the game’s strong showing at the Baftas, Balthrop comments: “Te overall creative vibrancy of the game is really due to every member of the team that tested it, created assets for it, designed, animated, modelled, concepted, programmed, wrote, acted, and directed it. It was a large, talented team working hard for a long time to bring the world to life… On a personal note, I’m very grateful for the attention the audio has received. It was a long, hard development cycle with passionate professionals working their hardest to create this amazing work that speaks for itself.” Schyman adds: “In general, the most
creative music I’ve ever been asked to write has been on videogames and I think what people like about this score is that it’s different from typical game music – and that’s not just about the composing, it’s also the fact that BioShock Infinite is such an unusual game. It’s also down to the fantastic creative partnerships I have with Ken Levine, Jim Bonney, and Patrick Balthrop. Tey generated an amazingly interesting and bizarre, crazy, super- creative world and then asked me to do very unusual stuff. I was moved and it moved other people – and that’s very satisfying.”
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