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Interview With Jamey Scott
Jamey's small but comfortable studio is where we initially met to view some cut scenes from an upcoming project. Although familiar with his work, I was still intrigued by the immensity of his productions as well as how his well-crafted orchestrations set each scene perfectly. Every episode was like a miniature movie, scored to evoke intense emotion and to draw the player deep into the virtual world. While enjoying Jamey's musical scores, I couldn’t help but wonder how he had arrived at this point in his musical journey… How did it all start for you? I have a Bachelors Degree in Music from San Diego State University, where I studied jazz performance and general music composition. I knew video games were going to be the next big frontier and I wanted to set myself up in it early in my career. After I got my music together I got involved with a little multimedia developer who gave me a job and the opportunity to learn the requisite computer skills. I started working on small games, things like Compton’s and McGraw Hill kids learning programs. Originally I was attracted to film work, mainly because of the money, but I got away from all of that. I’m pretty much through with chasing the dollar, and now I’m more interested now in the art itself. As a matter of fact, I’ve pretty much lost most of my desire to work in movies. Games are much more comfortable for me at the moment, and they continue to challenge me with their increasing complexity. Also, I love the autonomy involved. I mean, whereas you may have 20 or 30 people in a film working on the soundtrack, in a game it can be one person. And I like being that one person. Not only do I get to compose, but I love doing sound effects and creating the entire soundscape. With games I can have a vision, and with my knowledge, I can make that vision a reality, something that is difficult to do with movies. How did you get hooked up with Presto? I was working at a company called Echo Images, and they were working on a revamp of The Journeyman Project with Presto. While working with them, I got to know them pretty well, and when the opportunity came up to join them, I jumped at it. We enjoyed working with each other; in fact, we clicked almost immediately. I’ve been with them for 3 years now.
What advantages do you see being an in-house audio guy versus a freelancer? For me, being an in-house composer and sound designer means working with a team, and I am more focused on the creation of the art. One of the things about working as a freelancer is that there is no communication. There is always this barrier between the two parties You work hard on a project, present your work to the producer, and whether or not they really like the work, they always tell you they do, and then they don’t hire you for any future projects. Nine times out of ten, they will use the stuff because they have to, as they’ve already invested the time and money, but they won’t be happy about it. That’s not the case at all at Presto. I can have people listen to some music and if they don’t like it, they will tell me and I trust them to be honest with me. Then I have the opportunity to change it and make them happy. I’ll rework it until it’s right. For a good product we continue this process up until the end. As far as business goes, I’m not as much of a mercenary as I would need to be if I were a freelance. I don’t do alot of freelance jobs. I’m much more focused on my day job because that is my priority. It has gotten to the point now that I am very motivated artistically, and I’m not going to slack off just because I have the in-house job. What projects are you currently at work on? Beneath is a cutting edge technology game we are currently doing. It is amazing being able to pull off a real-time environment on a 3D card like this. It looks fantastic. It re-creates the beauty of The Journeyman’s pre-rendered graphics, while taking the really big step into the real-time arena. Unfortunately, it looks like this project is going to be shelved for reasons I’m quite honestly not privy to. It’s certainly not because it’s a bad game, as the quality is extremely high and could realistically compete with the top games currently on the market. Star Trek: The Hidden Evil is a game that takes place nine months after the story in the latest Star Trek movie, "Insurrection". We are doing a kind of sequel with a new story line, but you return to some of the places in the movie to gather information and look for clues. It’s pretty cool. It’s kind of in the style of the Grim Fandango, as it’s a real time engine and it has characters with pre-rendered backgrounds (the characters are able to walk in front of the backgrounds, giving a sense of a 3D environment). We are really pleased with it, and the game seems to be working out well. This will be the first project out of Activision with the Star Trek license.
Do you have any other ventures? My time is pretty well-filled at the moment. I’ve dropped all of my freelance clients, and I stopped doing corporate work and just have been simply focusing on straight game projects. I’ve got a couple of opportunities to do some other outside game projects, and depending on how much commitment is required, will decide whether I do them or not. What did you charge for outside projects when you had the time? I usually charged $1000 per finished minute. That’s for everything, whether it be voice-overs on top of music, sound effects, or just music. I don’t charge per layer because I tend to get very intricate. The detail contributes to the end quality whether it gets noticed or not. It’s just easier to charge one price. Do you play in your off time? No way. I burned out on that stuff along time ago. I was a professional musician for almost 7 years, playing every single night, 50 bucks a night, hauling my gear around from gig to gig, losing my hearing. I was always a little bit too analytical about the music. I found myself standing up there thinking about the music instead of entertaining the crowds. I slowly realized that it wasn’t exactly the best kind of work for me. |
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