2. TOMB RAIDER LEGEND SCORING A NEXT-GENERATION SOUNDTRACK - BY TROELS B. FOLMANN – CRYSTAL DYNAMICS

3. AGENDA  INTRODUCTION TO LECTURE  SPEAKER BIO  PERSPECTIVE ON SCORING  DIGITAL ORCHESTRATION  CHAOS, CONVOLUTION, SEQUENCING, BALANCE  MICRO SCORING  HOW TO SCORE, WHY MICROSCORE, EXAMPLES  QUESTIONS

4. SPEAKER BIO  NAME: TROELS B. FOLMANN  TITLE: ASSOCIATE PRODUCER / COMPOSER  COMPANY: EIDOS / CRYSTAL DYNAMICS  EMAIL: tfolmann@crystald.comtfolmann@crystald.com  BLOG: www.deffmute.com/blog/www.deffmute.com/blog/

5. TOMB RAIDER LEGEND  +180 MIN OF MICRO-SCORED SOUNDTRACK  DIGITAL ORCHESTATION (NATURAL/EPIC)  ELECTRONIC / CONTEMPORARY  SEVEN CULTURAL INFLUENCES  BOLIVIA, PERU, GHANA, TOKYO  RUSSIA, HIMALAYA, UK  MAIN THEMES FOR:  GAME / CINEMATICS  MAIN CHARACTERS AND DESTINATIONS MUSIC STATS MAIN THEME

6. DIGITAL ORCHESTRATION  GOOD CHAOS  CONVOLUTION REVERBS  SEQUENCING TECHNIQUES  BALANCING THE MIX  SAMPLE LIBRARIES  TOO CLEAN PHILOSOPHY  CUSTOM RECORDINGS OVERVIEW

7. DIGITAL ORCHESTRATION  Chaotic elements  Conductors baton  Page turns  Chair creaks  Hall noise  Human breaths / Coughs  Instrument noises (none-tune based)  Bow noises (strings)  Breath noises (brass/woods)  Skin- and metal noises (percussion) GOOD CHAOS CHAOSEX

8. DIGITAL ORCHESTRATION  Reverbs  Convolution Techonology  Multiple convolutions  Simulate natural hall acoustics  Real hall rooms radiate multiple reflections  Chaos is life  Proper placement of virtual mics  All main instrument groups got own reverbs CONVOLUTION REVERBS CONVOEX

9. DIGITAL ORCHESTRATION  Sequencing  Think- and play like the instrument  Think- and play like an orchestra  Compose like a conductor  Mistakes are evident and important  Asynchronous behaviour  Playing without quantization  Applying quantization with randomness  Quantization kills  Extensive use of volume and faders SEQUENCING TECHNIQUES FEELFORCE

10. DIGITAL ORCHESTRATION  Balance  Balance the orchestral sections  Retain original ensemble sizes for natural orchestra  Expand original ensemble sizes for epic orchestra (MV sound)  Place orchestral sections in respective spots  Place virtual mics and proper use of reverb  50% samples / 50% balance  Fix-in-the-mix BALANCING THE MIX NATURAL EPIC

11. DIGITAL ORCHESTRATION  Orchestral (commercial) sample libraries  EWQLSO/XP (All orchestral groups)  EWQLSC (Choirs)  VSL (All orchestral groups)  Storm Drums (Percussion)  Project Sam (Percussion, Brass) SAMPLE LIBRARIES QLSC

12. DIGITAL ORCHESTRATION  Problems in commercial orchestral libraries  Pitch/Tune corrected  Noise reduced  Avoid of “chaos” in samples  Avoid natural “noises” (breaths, instrument noise etc)  Lack of advanced legato features  Lack of orchestral FX (Ex. Stargate MP soundtrack) TOO CLEAN QLSOXP

13. DIGITAL ORCHESTRATION  Custom instrument recordings  Authenticity / Original sound  Legato / Phrases  FX  Personality / Unique sound  Dirty is cool CUSTOM RECORDINGS CUSTOM

14. MICRO SCORING  PERSPECTIVE ON SCORING  HISTORY OF GAME MUSIC COMPLEXITY  INCREASING DEMANDS  WHAT IS MICRO SCORING?  SOUNDSCAPE BIBLES  MICRO SCORES  DIGITAL ORCHESTRATION OVERVIEW

15. COMPONENTS INFLUENCING THE SCORE PERSPECTIVE ON SCORING

16.  Pr. Game (70-80´s)  Pr. Level (80-90´s)  Pr. Unit (80-00´s)  Pr. Sub-unit (90-00´s)  Pr. Event (00´s-XX)  Pr. Action (00´s-XX)  Pr. Player reference (00´s-XX)  Pr. Player emotion (00´s-XX) HISTORY OF GAME MUSIC COMPLEXITY MICRO SCORING PASTVSNOW

17.  Pr. Game (70-80´s)  Pr. Level (80-90´s)  Pr. Unit (80-00´s)  Pr. Sub-unit (90-00´s)  Pr. Event (00´s-XX)  Pr. Action (00´s-XX)  Pr. Player reference (00´s-XX)  Pr. Player emotion (00´s-XX) MICRO-SCORING FUTURE MICRO-SCORING MICRO SCORING HISTORY OF GAME MUSIC COMPLEXITY MSEX

18. MICRO SCORING 5 LAYER SCORE MSLAYEREX

19.  Increasing demand for true adaptive music  Increasing demand for music customization  Increasing demand for better quality in game music  Increasing complexity in large game productions  Increasing complexity in music interactivity  Technological potential for providing adaptive music INCREASING DEMANDS MICRO SCORING

20.  A compositional methodology  Breaking music into smallest components  Pr. Unit based composition  Pr. Sub-unit based composition  Pr. Event-triggered composition  Acknowledgement of complexity  Empowerment of player emotion  Emotional approach- and feedback  Trigger by player experience, action and interaction WHAT IS MICRO-SCORING? MICRO SCORING

21.  MICRO-SCORING CROFT MANSION  MICRO-SCORING GRAVE  MICRO-SCORING HIMALAYA  MICRO-SCORING VEHICLES FURTHER EXAMPLES FROM TOMB RAIDER MICRO SCORING EXAMPLES

22. THANK YOU  NAME: TROELS B. FOLMANN  TITLE: ASSOCIATE PRODUCER / COMPOSER  COMPANY: EIDOS / CRYSTAL DYNAMICS  EMAIL: tfolmann@crystald.comtfolmann@crystald.com  BLOG: www.deffmute.com/blogwww.deffmute.com/blog FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: