.

Here I get to speak to the audio composer for the ground breaking and utterly terrifying Dead Space, the BAFTA award winning Jason Graves. The Dead Space soundtrack won awards for 'Use of Audio' and 'Original Score' and is without doubt one of the creepiest ever written for a video game. Read on to find out how such an important piece was created...

Shane - Hi Jason, first up how did you get to be in the position to solely create the soundtrack for Dead Space?

Jason - When I first heard of Dead Space, Electronic Arts said they had a new franchise and needed a unique approach to the score; one that would set the game apart from other titles in the same genre.  They said they needed someone to compose the “scariest video score ever made.”  I put together a few cues specifically for the pitch and in a month or so I got a call from the Dead Space Audio Director, who loved what I had submitted and wanted to arrange a meeting and sit down and play through the game.

Shane - You won not one, but two BAFTA's for the piece (Best Original Score, Use of Audio), and although you've won many previous awards, what was that experience like?

Jason -  The overall audio in Dead Space was nominated for “Use of Audio,” which included sound effects, dialog and music, and “Original Score.”  We won “Use of Audio” first, which truthfully I expected to a certain extent; the whole audio package was just a phenomenal presentation.  I happily went onstage and accepted on behalf of the whole team.

When they announced my name for “Original Score” it was truly one of those out-of-body experiences you read about.  It was a wonderful surprise and definitely something I’ll remember as long as I live!

Shane - You're at the top of your game working with full orchestras now, but for anyone trying to break into the field, can you give us any information on how exactly you got started with your career?

Jason -  I come from a classical music background - that’s where it all started for me.  After getting my undergrad in Music Composition, I studied Film and Television Music at USC in Los Angeles.  That’s where I began my career, mostly doing movie trailers and television.  That was about fifteen years ago.  About eight years ago I was asked to compose the score for the game King Arthur, based on the movie of the same name.  That was so much fun to work on!  I’ve been focusing more on composing for video games since then, though I do work on the occasional film and have my music licensed for television on a regular basis.

Shane - The soundtrack has been hailed as one of the downright creepiest ever made for a video game, which we totally agree with, any inspirations you'd like to mention?

Jason -  From the beginning, I knew the music would be much more effective on a psychological level if it didn’t draw a lot of attention to itself.  I also knew I wanted to get under the player’s skin and really creep them out.  If they didn’t realize the music was playing, it was even better.  So I had a “music as sound design” kind of approach in mind before I went onto either of the scoring stages with the orchestras.

The fact that so much of the score is essentially non-musical, from a traditional standpoint, allows it to blend almost seamlessly into the background.  I knew there were going to be lots and lots of creature sounds.  I also knew they were some of the biggest, baddest and scariest sounds I’ve heard in a game.  I composed the music thinking about the space that would be needed for those sounds to be heard properly and sonically “carved away” at the score so they would have room to breathe.

What is truly scary?  The fear of the unknown.  I tried to strip anything away that was familiar and musical.  As a result, a lot of the score is either a series of evolving ambient textures or harsh, shrill stabs and shrieks that pulse and grind against each other.  Those kinds of textures seemed to blend the best with the other-worldly, animalistic sounds from the creatures.  Another benefit of the more ambient music was that it was already so non-musical - it seemed to naturally blend into the ambient sound to create a wonderfully creepy atmosphere.

I had players tapping their instruments, playing all kinds of fast, random notes, over-blowing for shrill shrieks and hisses, improvising different rhythms all at the same time, tapping their music stands - the list goes on and on.  Another excellent technique I discovered was getting each instrument to play well out of its comfortable range, either by playing extremely high or extremely low.  Quite often the results were very disturbing and unrecognizable.  A lot of them had folks on the sound stage holding their ears as we recorded - they were just downright nasty, evil, piercing sounds.  In other words, perfect for Dead Space!

Shane - Did you play Dead Space? If so, what did you think of the end product?

Jason -  Well, I've been playing Dead Space for about two years now, so you'd think I would be completely sick of it.  However, EA's made such a wonderfully immersive, dynamic experience that I'm playing it all over again, especially now that the final version has shipped.  It's very gratifying to hear the end result of everything we spent two years working on in 5.1 surround sound.

I haven't had as much time as I would like to play lately, so I'm only about halfway through the final game.  I'm playing on the hardest setting, but I figured that was only fair since I already know where the creatures jump out at you and all the secrets to taking them down effectively.  I'm still constantly amazed at the depth and beauty of the visuals, not to mention the whole thing just drips with atmosphere.  And it STILL makes me jump out of my seat, which is definitely saying something!

Shane - Can you give us some information on how exactly the soundtrack logistics work for a video game, or at least in your experience, are you merely given a script or do you get to see the game in action beforehand to try and get a feel for it?

Jason -  Most of the time I get a little bit of everything.  The developer will send me scripts, artwork, back stories and walkthroughs (QuickTime movies of gameplay) when different parts of the game come online.  The walkthroughs are always really helpful for me, because they usually have no music under them, which is my preference.  Whenever I’m working on a new track I can always pull up the movie and see how the music is playing underneath the game.  It also helps me a lot with instrument choices; most of the time there are sound effects and dialog going on at the same time.  I always carve some space out of the music to let all the other sound effects cut through.

Shane - Although you've created music for many video games, are you a gamer yourself? Any games that stand out, scary or otherwise regarding their soundtracks?

Jason - I do play as much as I can, but like most people I wish I could play more.  Right now I’m working my way through God Of War III, Split/Second and Uncharted 2.  My favorite game scores really run the gamut.  All the classic Mario Bros. music is just fantastic.  You can play everything with just two notes!  Sounds simple, but pulling it off is the exact opposite.  I think the Castlevania series has got some great, memorable music in it.  Of course, Nobuo Uematsu has contributed so much wonderful music to games I lose count, but the Final Fantasy series is a great place to start.  Also, Medal of Honor really pulled game music into the cinematic, Hollywood sound.

Shane - The Dead Space soundtrack in my opinion was probably 50% of the experience after the game-play and graphics, especially when used in conjunction with a decent surround sound/headphone set-up, just how important do you feel sound is exactly whether it be movies, video games etc?

Jason - I think it was Steven Spielberg who said, “Audio is 50% of the movie experience.”  I couldn’t agree more.  And when you’re talking about horror, I think you could bump that percentage up a little bit more.  It’s all about the build up to the “boo,” and the only really effective way to do that is through building tension.  And what’s the most effective way to establish tension in a horror setting?  Yep, it’s all about the audio!

Shane - Finally Jason, what are you working on now regardless of the medium/genre that we can look forward to?

Jason -  I just wrapped a sixty minute score for the Paragon Studios’ title City of Heroes Going Rogue, which is a really cool online superhero game that comes out next month.  I had the chance to compose some really fun “comic book-style” tracks that blend heroic orchestra with my analog synths and electronic percussion sounds.  The official soundtrack for the game was just released on iTunes and includes about forty minutes of the score.

I’ve also posted three other new albums on iTunes.  One is the score for “Fatal Flaw,” a thriller with a dramatic, very Dead Space-esque score.  After many requests, I decided to release two independent film scores from previous projects.  One is the score to “Seeds of Darkness,” which was a fan-made Stars Wars film from 1998.  The other is a jazz-based score to the film “The Collector,” which was a documentary about the abstract expressionism art scene in New York.

I’ve got a few big game franchises I’m currently working on, but unfortunately have been sworn to secrecy until the release dates get a little closer.  I can say both titles are in the same sonic territory as Dead Space.  I’m having a lot of fun trying new things and experimenting with different kinds of sounds.  That’s another great benefit to composing horror/suspense music: there are no rules.

----------

I'd like to thank Jason for taking time out of his busy schedule to answer me the questions, don't forget to check out his official website. I'd also like to give a special thanks to Greg at Top Dollar PR for organising this.