Oct 25, 2009

[Music/Tech] Garry Schyman, Animal Collective

I am now writing this on PC that has windows 7. I will talk about the windows 7 experience on another post, for I have more important things to talk about. This time is an interview from Garry Schyman, the composer of the amazing game Bioshock. While his answers are pretty short due to him finishing deadlines (possibly Bioshock 2?) he still shares some good information. He is also pretty frequently interviewed so it's hard not to ask redundant questions. I'll also list his site and some of his interviews here:

Garry Schyman's site


Tracksounds interview

Music 4 Games interview

SoundtrackNet interview


BSOSpirit interview

And my interview/e-mail:

What instrument did you origionaly play before you started composition? I can't find any interview which says what instrument you play.

Piano.



Personally, what musicians and composers influence you?

Many! Mahler, Stravinsky, Lutoslawski, Bartok, John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Penderecki - and many more.



Why did you decide to compose a more late-romantic piece for Cohen's Masterpiece? I would think in a ultra-progressive paradise with no limits in technology or ideas someone like Cohen would go for something a bit more atonal or contemporary, such as Cage's HPSCHD or Berg's Lulu or Glass' Einstein. I'm not complaining, but I'm just curious =]

Remember the date that BioShock takes place. 1960 but isolate since the late 40's or so. I was thinking that Cohen would have been very conservative (perhaps ala Rachmaninoff) writing neo romantic music that was still chic back then. Oh well that was my idea anyways. Not correct answer I suppose.




Can you roughly describe your thought process in writing a piece for a video game?

Hmm - sit down at my keyboard and start writing. Sometimes it flows and other times it's like pulling proverbial teeth! But the deadlines keep the music coming! I love deadlines!


Well it's pretty short but there is plenty of information on him out there so I guess we can be thankful for that much.



Another Animal Collective album is in the works, making this the second album release this year. I'm pretty sure there isn't a leak yet but I could be completely and utterly wrong. The album's name is "Fall be Kind" and is set to be released November 8th. I'll let you know more information when I get to it.

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