The Music- Part 2- Alex McGery

[MCM]

I remember the first time I heard Alex's music. It reminded me a lot of those old blockbuster soundtracks that one would find with the great 'epic' movies. There was a depth and a sophistication to the movements of the pieces that leapt out at you, even with repeat listenings; sweeping, panoramic, bold, lush with texture..

We were surprised to find a young man with so much talent and and obvious potential, with a long time love for RTW based games.

Although you will here a lot more of Alex's work in other campaigns yet to come, his music pieces have inspired many on the team to seek in themselves a further level of sophistication in their own work.

Alex took some time out recently from University to answer these questions for you.

Cheers,

MCM

Please tell us a little bit about you. Who are you, where are you from and what do you do?

My name is Alex McGery. I’m a 20-year-old music student, studying for a degree at Sussex University. I’m from Southeast England, and currently reside at the Sussex University campus.

How did you first hear about RTR?

I first heard about RTR a few years ago, whilst looking for modifications to Rome Total War.
Having done everything in Rome Total War, I wanted to get a little bit more out of the game, and so gave it a download.

What special challenges does writing for RTR give you?

Writing for a full orchestra (albeit a computer-generated one) is a challenge in itself. For previous commissions I’ve been asked to use primarily synthesised instruments or combinations of synths and orchestra. With RTR, I had to rely mostly on my musical knowledge rather than my technical knowledge. In this way, I had to make sure that the pieces were musically dynamic and fairly complicated (e.g changing key throughout the piece rather than staying in the same key). Also, due to the sheer number of pieces I wrote for the game, staying musically fresh was sometimes a bit of a struggle. Writing music for different cultures was also a problem at times; I’m very much used to writing abstract music, i.e. music that does not necessarily represent anything, and therefore conveying an entire culture within a piece of music was a real challenge.

Since games are becoming more and more dependent on the emotive reaction of the player to in-game environmental stimuli, do you think that the nature of music for games is changing?


Definitely. Video game music has always tried to react to the environment to some extent, but the first game I remember that truly did this was the hugely under-appreciated Body Harvest (1998) on the N64. Basically whenever any action took place, the music would immediately change to battle music. This would eventually diminish to a more peaceful underscore, once all the surrounding enemies were taken care of. This idea was developed upon in games such as Deus Ex (2000), where during play the music would change to a different version of the song currently playing based on the players actions. In terms of Real-time strategy games, I believe that the total war series was the first to employ this idea.
The overall sound of music in games is headed in much the same way as music in the film industry, but there are rarely any games that make use of a live orchestra. Hopefully this is something we will see/hear more of in the future.

What kind of concept did you apply when writing pieces for RTR?

Usually I’d start off by thinking of a melody or some kind of motif that would feature prominently throughout the piece. The motif would often serve as the material for the opening, so I often started by going to my computer and scoring the melody/motif. Since I’ve always been able to replicate the sound of an orchestra in my head, I hear the motif and its accompaniment fully orchestrated, so all I need to do is to try to emulate what’s in my mind. Once the opening is complete, I write and orchestrate the rest of the piece as I go.
When writing for RTR, I would try to mentally picture what might be happening in the game, e.g. units moving through a desert. With this in my mind, I’d imagine music that would suit or suggest this scene.

Your campaign map pieces like ' valley of the kings' are really evocative. What kind of research do you do when you write?

I guess the real research I undertake before writing is to listen to lots of different orchestral music. It’s really important in today’s modern world to remind oneself of exactly what music should sound like. In other words, a lot of the stuff I hear today in films or on TV is massively uninspired in comparison to work produced by classical, romantic and neo-classical composers. When writing, we often draw inspiration from the music that surrounds us, whether we particularly like that music or not. Therefore in order to hear more complicated harmonies, I make sure that I listen to music by composers like Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky or Elgar in order to refresh my musical mind, and rid it of modern simplistic tendencies.

You use a lot of orchestration in your pieces, and that really drives the on screen action along- is that intentional?

Absolutely. RTR is an absolutely huge game, and I decided that the only way to musically support this was to write for a full orchestra, thereby using lots of different orchestration in the process. Also, the more interestingly orchestrated a piece is, the more interesting it becomes in itself. I personally think that if I had stuck primarily to a string orchestra, the pieces would simply not have realised their potential; they simply would not have been epic enough!
The way in which the orchestration drives the action along is very much intentional. For example, when a theme or melody is played, there are often counter-melodies played by various combinations of instruments that act as a musical embellishment. This gives the music a denser, more hectic feel, adding to the intensity of the overall gaming experience.

What is your hope for the future?

Essentially, I’d like to ‘make it’ as a big time composer. I’d love to write for some big budget Hollywood blockbusters and some commercial video games. With any luck, I’ll bump into the next Steven Spielberg somewhere down the line, and get the chance to score some epic movies that go down in movie history. I’d also love to write a fully orchestral score for a future Legend of Zelda video game, one of my favourite game series! It would be fantastic to hear my own personal variations of the Zelda theme played by an orchestra, as well as bringing my own thematic material to the table.
Before I get this far, obviously I need to dramatically improve my music writing skills. This is something that over time will develop naturally, but I’m aiming to spend a great deal of time in improving my notation skills so that I don’t have to rely on a computer when writing for a live orchestra.