Bioshock Q & A

Sometimes, it's the little things that help a game come together. The direction of the cutscenes, the fluid animation, the booming sound effects of the weapons... and the soundtrack. But how do they get made? OXM sat down with Garry Schyman, Bioshock's music composer, to get some answers and find out what makes Bioshock's soundtrack so special. Check out garryschyman.com for more examples of his work.

Advertisement:

What was the process of composing music for Bioshock? Are you shown game footage and told to write music for it? How does it work?
GS: It varied depending on which part of the game I was working with. In some instances I did receive game footage and wrote using it as a sort of backdrop to my music. The scripted events (similar to cinematics) were not ready when I was writing the score so I had to work with detailed descriptions of the events and their timing.

Bioshock has the look of 'old' America, like 1930's Chicago. Was there any pressure to write music to match that era?
GS: I was given a lot of freedom to come up with something cool for the game. The only pressure I felt was internal - to come up with something very unique and fitting for the project. That said I ended up working in various styles of music from the early and mid 20th Century, which is when Rapture (the underwater city) was theoretically built. Some of the score has elements that sound like popular music of that era. There is also licensed music from that era that is in the game.

How do you think Bioshock's music will stand out from music seen in other games?
GS: Well one thing for sure, no one will ever say that my score for the game is generic! The music I wrote for BioShock is very different from other game scores. I developed a whole new style of composition by combining various techniques of 20th century music. The result is something that I am very proud of because I think the music stands on its own while supporting the game in a very cool way. The project is so unique and different looking that it supported a very unusual approach. I am really very lucky because I have been hired to score some very distinctive games. It makes the writing process so much more interesting for me. For instance I was asked to write a "classical" piano piece that is written by a fictional character in the game. If you're familiar with BioShock then you will know that this is a world populated by artists, writers and musicians - and this piece was to sound as if it were to be written by one of these fictional characters. I ended writing in the style of late Rachmaninoff for the cue and it is a complex and interesting piece of music that plays a critical role in one of the scripted events. There are really very few opportunities for a composer to write such music for film or games.

How is music in videogames seen within the industry compared to music in films? It seems videogames have a tendency to rely on licensed music, for example.
GS: Well films, TV and video games all use lots of licensed music - so I am not sure there is a big difference in that sense. There are many similarities and many differences as well. Films and TV are completely linear and never change once the edit is locked. So the music is meant to fit the picture perfectly. Gameplay is not linear and often needs to be dynamic. That really changes the way you write.

How much of a challenge is it to write music for different sections of the game? For example, one section could see the player involved in an intense action sequence, another could see the player looking around for the door to progress through the game.
GS: That's what I am hired to do - be versatile and frankly it would get boring if I just wrote the same piece of music over and over. It's not really a challenge for me because that's what I am trained and love doing. Sometimes I am asked to write some music that I have never attempted before, but I have a pretty good ear so I go out to Amoeba Records here in Hollywood and buy a few CDs in the style and after a few minutes of listening I get what it's all about and can write the cue.

What's the biggest challenge when it comes to writing music for videogames?
GS: Keeping the music interesting while not getting repetitive, boring or grating on the player's ear. Hopefully the developers are getting hip to the fact that they need not have wall-to-wall music in a game for it to be effective. If there is too much music or if the music repeats too often the player will just turn it off. In BioShock there is plenty of music but it does not play continually. When it does come in it makes a statement or affects the player's experience in a way that enhances it.

The other challenge with game scores is that I find they require me to come up with many thematic ideas to make the various levels or sections distinctive. Well of course that's the hardest part of writing music! Coming up with the idea. Once you've got a good idea you can just crank out the music at that point. So it can really be a lot of work to write a good game score.

How much feedback did you get from the Bioshock development team on the music you were composing?
GS: I worked almost exclusively with the Audio Director for Irrational Games - Emily Ridgway. We have worked together before and she is very musical. She studied music and really understands it and how it affects a game. When I first started writing I tried many different approaches to the score before settling on what I ended up with. She just kept rejecting my ideas until I got it, once I did she loved what I was writing and I wrote quickly. I completely trust her taste and she really pushed me to create something different and non-cliché. Ironically the first project we did together was Destroy All Humans! and that score was all about the cliché's of 1950's sci-fi movie music.

In the end though it was a ton of work and I am very grateful that I was pressed to come up with the original music I wrote for this game. It really has become a major signpost in my career.

What other game music scores do you admire?
GS: I really like what the group of composers write for "God Of War" - it's just perfect for that game. Marty O'Donnell's scores for the Halo series are always very interesting as well!

You composed music for TV shows such as A-Team and Magnum PI. How does that compare to scoring music for videogames?
GS: Ha ha, that was a long time ago when I was just getting started as a composer! The process of writing music back then was very different from how most composers work now. Basically I sat at a piano and wrote everything out on paper with a pencil. I had a video cassette player perched on top of my piano and I would watch the show as I composed. Then I showed up once every week or two and we recorded with a 40-piece orchestra. I learned a lot from that experience and I am really glad I had it. It was the way composers had been working for hundreds of years and it required a whole set of skills that are becoming lost now.

Nowadays I write with the aid of computers and I mock everything up so that it sounds fairly close to the real thing by the time I am done. I still get to record with live players however and that is my favorite part of the process. Don't get me wrong I love the new technology and I have thoroughly embraced it - it's just that I know what real players can bring to the final product and it's really exciting to have them add their musicality to my music. I am always surprised with how much better my score sounds after an orchestra or individual players are finished recording their part.

Ryan King