Hey Austin - this video is great timing. I'm also composing a short medieval-type score at the moment and this breakdown is incredibly enlightening. I love your ability to make that initial horn melody and underlying harmonies completely unpredictable yet cohesive. Great stuff, thanks for all you do!
Usually the goal in production is to bring the various POV's together into a cohesive whole: tree, wides/surrounds, various spot mic's, etc. Make it sound like one natural amalgam, but here the goal was the opposite: make it sort of fractured and almost surreally multi-perspective. So yeah, some stems are 100% dry, with just some simple EQ and balancing, and others have Crystallizer, or weird delays, and some are also cut up every few bars and nudged out of sync with the rest, THEN delayed so the whole thing sort of blurs.
@ Brilliant!! Definitely making me think of how to uniquely produce this game score demo I’m starting to put together. ARPG/ fantasy, leaning into a lost culture inspired by Northwestern Europe - i.e. Scandinavia; and it starting anew following a cataclysmic event. So the instrumentation quickly became clear. Now the challenge is how to make it stand out. The interchanging of guitar string types with Tom aligns with some concepts I was playing with: “traditional instruments that were found and strewn together, creating familiar yet new music.” also reinforcing the avoidance of “renaissance fair music” lol! The thinking spool spins!
Worth saying that it takes a strong devotion to the final product to go through the expense of recording amazing live musicians, to then warp the recordings, sometimes beyond recognition. A good reminder that the final product is always the top priority, and not just accumulating and worshipping technical milestones.
Love hearing about your process, what a great breakdown! It was so cool to hear the early version of the score for the scenes I wrote - really looking forward to hearing the final product ingame next week! 💛
Wow, there is a lot layered into this, super cool to see the inner workings of it all. Love how you used kintsugi as a foundation for approaching the score, very cool perspective to have to compose from. Looking forward to hearing the rest of the soundtrack when the game releases! :)
Sounding great so far! It's giving me similar vibes as "The Redwood Steppe" from The Pathless (especially that french horn solo). Maybe my favorite track from that score, so no complaining here.
Love this! It inspiring to see how much thought and planning you put into your scores to make each one so unique from project to project! These videos are like gold to someone learning composition like me! Keep up the great work!
Austin, one thing I love about your videos (and scores for that matter) is how often they revolve around approaching a traditional concept in an unconventional way. Do you think that’s one of the reasons you resonate so much with Goldsmith’s work? It feels like a kindred spirit to me looking in from the outside! Great video as usual man :)
Goldsmith was the king of that, without question. I'm simply trying to carry that torch forward! There's always another rock to kick over and look under :)
This video shows what I love about your channel. Not only is it a great explanation of your process, but I can't think of another major composer who would post a clip like 4:40 on their official channel. Edit: Your method of evoking kintsugi through reversing sounds is similar to what I was trying to do in my submission for The Pathless challenge, except I had less sophisticated software and far weaker technique.
I can not wait Austin! You are really leveling up your work each time! I was hoping you could play in a world like this and here it is finally! Bring the brass! 😀🤘
I ve your work (Art) in my ears all the time when i need to work or to be calm... Bravo ! (in French my language ;) ). i ve to play that game just for the music then i will see the gameplay :)
Wow, lot of really cool ideas here! I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the guitar part though, something in the rhythm felt a bit off to me (maybe the delay effect?). It sounds a bit too chaotic for my taste haha. To be honest, it sounded much better to me after a second listen-maybe my brain just needed a bit of time to adjust! Anyway, great work, and thank you so much for all the explanations. It's always so inspiring for all of us!
Hey Austin - this video is great timing. I'm also composing a short medieval-type score at the moment and this breakdown is incredibly enlightening. I love your ability to make that initial horn melody and underlying harmonies completely unpredictable yet cohesive. Great stuff, thanks for all you do!
Good luck with your score!!
Using Crystallizer as a reverb alternative, especially for the fragmented concept, is too good of an idea. Looking forward to hearing more!
Usually the goal in production is to bring the various POV's together into a cohesive whole: tree, wides/surrounds, various spot mic's, etc. Make it sound like one natural amalgam, but here the goal was the opposite: make it sort of fractured and almost surreally multi-perspective. So yeah, some stems are 100% dry, with just some simple EQ and balancing, and others have Crystallizer, or weird delays, and some are also cut up every few bars and nudged out of sync with the rest, THEN delayed so the whole thing sort of blurs.
@ Brilliant!! Definitely making me think of how to uniquely produce this game score demo I’m starting to put together.
ARPG/ fantasy, leaning into a lost culture inspired by Northwestern Europe - i.e. Scandinavia; and it starting anew following a cataclysmic event. So the instrumentation quickly became clear. Now the challenge is how to make it stand out.
The interchanging of guitar string types with Tom aligns with some concepts I was playing with: “traditional instruments that were found and strewn together, creating familiar yet new music.” also reinforcing the avoidance of “renaissance fair music” lol!
The thinking spool spins!
Sooo good man! I am binge watching these Under The Hood videos in between work. So inspiring. Those heavily processed strings are soo cool
Thanks for checking them out! :)
The Digital Performer session seems very great.
Worth saying that it takes a strong devotion to the final product to go through the expense of recording amazing live musicians, to then warp the recordings, sometimes beyond recognition. A good reminder that the final product is always the top priority, and not just accumulating and worshipping technical milestones.
So cool. I really need to go back and watch the rest of this series. Very interesting stuff, even as a non-composer/musician.
Love hearing about your process, what a great breakdown! It was so cool to hear the early version of the score for the scenes I wrote - really looking forward to hearing the final product ingame next week! 💛
So close! Can't wait to have it unleashed on the world!
If there is a genre where composers lack of fantasy nowadays, this is fantasy.
I don't understand what you mean by this ... ?
You know it's a great day when Austin posts a video! Can't wait to binge watch this one!! :)
Wow, there is a lot layered into this, super cool to see the inner workings of it all. Love how you used kintsugi as a foundation for approaching the score, very cool perspective to have to compose from. Looking forward to hearing the rest of the soundtrack when the game releases! :)
Sounding great so far! It's giving me similar vibes as "The Redwood Steppe" from The Pathless (especially that french horn solo). Maybe my favorite track from that score, so no complaining here.
Thank you so much for posting this for free! Would be an absolute dream to have classes with you.
Love this! It inspiring to see how much thought and planning you put into your scores to make each one so unique from project to project! These videos are like gold to someone learning composition like me! Keep up the great work!
Austin, one thing I love about your videos (and scores for that matter) is how often they revolve around approaching a traditional concept in an unconventional way. Do you think that’s one of the reasons you resonate so much with Goldsmith’s work? It feels like a kindred spirit to me looking in from the outside! Great video as usual man :)
Goldsmith was the king of that, without question. I'm simply trying to carry that torch forward! There's always another rock to kick over and look under :)
Keen for this one
9:05 Hyper Light Drintory
This video shows what I love about your channel. Not only is it a great explanation of your process, but I can't think of another major composer who would post a clip like 4:40 on their official channel.
Edit: Your method of evoking kintsugi through reversing sounds is similar to what I was trying to do in my submission for The Pathless challenge, except I had less sophisticated software and far weaker technique.
Haha we go for unvarnished truth here (re: the clip at 4 min)!
I can not wait Austin! You are really leveling up your work each time! I was hoping you could play in a world like this and here it is finally! Bring the brass! 😀🤘
Hey, thank you old friend! :) Hope you enjoy the full score!! Drops imminently!
Awesome stuff Austin, specially the Kintsugi foundation you based the score on. Thanks for sharing
LOVE YOU AUSTIN!!!!! You're passion is incredible 🤩
First video of the year and it's an analysis. Love it!
I ve your work (Art) in my ears all the time when i need to work or to be calm... Bravo ! (in French my language ;) ). i ve to play that game just for the music then i will see the gameplay :)
Wow, lot of really cool ideas here! I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the guitar part though, something in the rhythm felt a bit off to me (maybe the delay effect?). It sounds a bit too chaotic for my taste haha.
To be honest, it sounded much better to me after a second listen-maybe my brain just needed a bit of time to adjust!
Anyway, great work, and thank you so much for all the explanations. It's always so inspiring for all of us!
Hehe I like the chaos :)
And I definitely don't mind something feeling more settled on repeat listenings! An acquired taste!
So... first dumbbells and then corrugated... mh mh mmmh.