Gamasutra - Features - "Riffing on Tolkien: The Conceptualization, Production, and Dissemination of Music in The Lord of the Rings"

Riffing on Tolkien: The Conceptualization, Production, and Dissemination of Music in The Lord of the Rings

These recordings would be used in current and future games, so I isolated and recorded the orchestra one section at a time - strings, brass, and then woodwinds. This approach yielded undiluted sectional "stems" which would work flexibly in any number of future arrangements, offering each game a chance to use the high-quality live recordings we made within the context of infinitely varied compositions. It maximized quality and flexibility in one fell swoop. We started with the strings.

We didn't exactly get off to a smooth start. Version incompatibility between my Windows XP drives and the studio's Windows ME drives made it impossible to transfer my guide tracks. While the studio scrambled to find a fix, the orchestra grew restless. An outburst by a prominent member of the orchestra only added to the building tension. As we waited on the tech team, I watched the dollars slip into the chasm, and my blood pressure began to rise.

The control room finally called down with an interim solution. I rose to the podium and took a moment to gauge the atmosphere of the room. The players were unfocused, uneasy, and some seemed antagonistic. I was outwardly calm but totally rattled on the inside. This was no way to start a session, especially for my Lord of the Rings score. So I did something I had never done in a session before. I announced to the orchestra that I was going to pray, and before they could protest I bowed my head and started talking loud enough for everyone to hear. I gave thanks for everyone's talents and professionalism, I gave thanks for the rare privilege we had of making music for a living, and I asked for help in capturing a performance that would live up to the lofty standard of the literature. I said, "Amen," picked up my baton, and started describing the story behind the first piece. Interestingly, those sessions gave us some of the best tracks I've ever recorded.

In contrast to the orchestra, which benefited from some "divine intervention," the choir was a hit right from the start. I contracted an ensemble of singers, most of whom perform with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and they far surpassed my expectations. Here are a few moments from our sessions together.

Rare, antique acoustic instruments bring an ancient flavor and feeling to a game that nothing else in the world can. In truth, the sounds of these instruments are the only game elements that actually do come from another place and time. Getting some of these instruments into our Lord of the Rings recordings was essential.

Ferreting out ancient instruments in the 21st century is an adventure game all by itself. You can wander unsuccessfully for days and still come up empty-handed. I was lucky to find Gael Schults, an ancient Celtic music enthusiast who knew just about everyone in the world of archaic instruments. She provided two of the instruments herself and put me in touch with several other great players. Some of the specialty instruments we used in recording our themes and songs included the hurdy-gurdy, viola di gamba, psaltry, penny whistle, recorder, mandolin, rebec, dulcimer, and even an arch lute (also know as a theorbo).

With the recordings completed, it was time to get the music into the hands of the developers and into our games. This process had great potential to fall apart, since all the developers had a different composer signed on for their individual game score. But our music design was developed for this precise circumstance, and it actually held up remarkably well through the first round of scoring. Let's examine some of the specifics.

After bringing all the music tracks back to my Yosemite studio in five massive Pro Tools sessions, I started carving out the music cues. By way of explanation, music cues are game-useful segments of music that underscore a particular mood or game state, and are ready for implementation as a digital audio file. Every racial overture was broken down into five to ten such cues of the full orchestration, each lasting from 30 seconds to two minutes. I now had close to 35 usable cues from the main themes for all our developers.

Next, I went to work creating variations on these cues with different mixes. One section from "The Overture of Men" is instructive. From the movement entitled "The Life and Love of Men," I was also able to derive a brass-only mix, a harp and flute mix, a strings-only mix, a woodwinds-only mix, and a strings and woodwinds mix. Each sounds remarkably different and conveys a unique atmosphere. Thus each is useful for a different scoring purpose. Suddenly the number of usable music cues was approaching 100.

I uploaded all of these music cues to VUG's FTP site and made them available to the developers. I also uploaded the original MIDI files and sectional stems, and I sent each developer an asset list with recommendations for using them. A personal visit with each composer followed, offering further instruction, encouragement, and clarification. A brief summary of the development of three LOTR scores will show how it all came together.

War of the Ring. Composer Lennie Moore and the team at Liquid Entertainment have taken full advantage of every aspect of our design. Lennie used the MIDI files as a starting point for 75 to 80 percent of his compositions. He generally began by quoting one of the themes, working into a variation of the theme, then going off into a completely original idea. In producing the score, he made generous use of the choir stems, especially the phrases sung in Sauron's Black Speech. Each of the sectional stems has been utilized to add texture and definition to the score, and even the solo fiddle from "The Overture of Men" is mixed into one of his pieces. In addition, extra brass, pipes, voices, and Irish whistle sessions were contracted to record fresh material and some wild variations on Sauron's theme. Finally, music cues from the main themes were used under the movies and underscore some of the key game events and transitions. The result is an artfully complete score that is perfectly in harmony with the music style guide, sings the main themes with clarity and variety, and creates a unique identity for War of the Ring within the body of Tolkien music.

Treason of Isengard. This game was cancelled, but that too can be instructive. Composer Brad Spear and the team at Surreal Software took a more selective approach with our design. Brad used the MIDI files generously but was more crafty in his quotes and quicker to move into variation and onto his own material. The Treason score did not include any of the stems or music cues. Nevertheless, it adhered faithfully to the Tolkien Music Style Guide and quoted from the main themes reasonably enough to establish it as a VUG Tolkien game score.

Middle-Earth Online. Instead of relying on MIDI files like the previous two games, developer Turbine Entertainment and composer Geoff Scott prefer sprinkling the game world with the ready-made music cues pulled from the main themes. These fully produced theme segments are perfect for an MMO, and Middle-Earth Online is taking full advantage of them. As of this writing, there are at least 90 different cues that have been identified for implementation in the game. This abundant thematic foundation allows Geoff to concentrate on creating source music and specialty tunes for the game. In addition, he has contracted additional recordings on lute, solo woodwinds, and guitars, quoting some of the main themes by ear and offering grassroots variations for the score.

Great literature is a wonderful catalyst for the imagination, and very few works of literature inspire better than The Lord of the Rings. With our authoritatively documented Tolkien Music Style Guide, meticulously produced main themes, and successful franchise music design, each game score orbits tightly around an authentic Tolkien center, while offering its own unique adaptation and interpretation of the material. The result is a desirable union of individuality and continuity.

I am grateful for the chance given to write music from such a brilliant font of inspiration. In deference to LOTR fans I have been as thorough, scholarly, and authoritative as possible in adapting these works for music, and so have the various composers who have worked with me. I hope fans will find each game score evocative, authentic, of award-winning quality, and ultimately irresistible. In addition to the music cues available at www.gdmag.com, many of the examples I've discussed, plus video footage from the recording sessions and interviews with the creative team are available at www.LOTR.com, where VUG has built a web hub dedicated to our Lord of the Rings music.

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Peeking Through the Lens of Videographer John Pratt