Do you write music for games the same way you would make a track for an album? What’s different?<\/strong><\/p>\nI’ve always listened to a lot of video game soundtracks and film music, so I really didn’t hesitate when I was asked to compose the soundtrack for Haven after my participation on the soundtrack for Furi. \nI was really curious and very motivated to be able to create and imagine an entire soundtrack on my own, and I really want to thank The Game Bakers for trusting me with this collaboration.<\/p>\n
My approach to the soundtrack was first of all to not let myself be overwhelmed by all the ghosts of soundtracks that I\u2019ve listened to over the years.<\/p>\n
Many iconic film score composers have a solid background in pop music (Hans Zimmer\/The Buggles, Cliff Martinez\/Red Hot Chili Peppers, or Trent Reznor\/Nine Inch Nails). While I wouldn’t dare compare myself to these giants, I think I represent a generation of musicians who grew up with other influences, largely from video games. I\u2019m fairly comfortable working in this medium because video games are no longer just for nerds with super niche references, and it can be helpful to understand today\u2019s music to compose soundtracks.<\/p>\n
There’s no question of doing a soundtrack the way a traditional music composer would. On the contrary, I tried to add pop influences into the soundtrack. \nI used fairly straightforward hooks and gimmicks, but sometimes subverted them with weird or orchestral elements, sometimes making them “morph” into a form that wasn\u2019t quite so pop.<\/p>\n
My goal was to combine musical genres that aren’t necessarily the most obvious pairings at first glance, in order to create a dreamlike feeling that\u2019s really specific to this soundtrack.<\/p>\n
Even though I use different genres, I tried to keep a specific vocabulary. I wanted to use a limited sound palette so that you feel like you’re in a well-defined universe, with clear references, and can play with its codes. I wanted to put it together like a studio album, rather than an RPG soundtrack where different instruments are used to evoke each place, the beach, the snow… On the Haven soundtrack, there\u2019s a rather limited but versatile vocabulary.<\/p>\n
To help visualize it, I imagined the various compositions on the soundtrack like a child’s drawing with its fair share of impossibilities and inconsistencies, which could have been transcribed more faithfully using more sophisticated techniques.<\/p>\n
So within the same piece, you move from one style to another, with the fragrances and memories that are associated with them.<\/p>\n
For example, funk guitars can suddenly appear alongside trap bass and synthwave, then folk sounds, and then it goes back to an orchestra: it’s all weird, but I tried to make it sound normal after a while.<\/p>\n
My goal was to have the soundtrack express what\u2019s created as you explore the game, as you get more attached to the characters and the universe, that sense of connection I mentioned earlier.<\/p>\n
You\u2019re never fully immersed in a state of joy and fulfillment; there’s always that little sound that raises a doubt, reminds you of how fleeting it is. That’s what makes this connection so poignant for me, and that’s the whole point of it all.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how I went about creating that feeling: I refer back to past musical styles, such as funk and disco, and I make them dialog with more modern elements of Trap and House music, always within the same track. I create pairings of Trap and Disco, House and Synthwave, or Vaporwave and Folk that may seem unlikely.<\/p>\n
Where a “traditional” composer would have used only classical orchestration methods to create a feeling, I tried to use the inherent qualities in each of the musical “styles” of disco\/funk\/synthwave\/orchestra whenever they were most relevant to express a certain feeling.<\/p>\n
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What makes you vibrate, what inspires you the most these days?<\/strong><\/p>\nWorking with video games a lot has made me rethink our relationship with avatars in general. They\u2019re like so many digital masks, which make them an obvious tie-in with my work.<\/p>\n
For a long time now, I’ve been observing projects like Hatsune Miku, Gorillaz, Daft Punk or Kraftwerk, which have all explored this concept of the avatar. And since 2pac appeared at Coachella, and Final Fantasy characters were featured in fashion campaigns for Louis Vuitton, I’ve been wondering what we can expect about the question of representation in music in the future. \nThis future with musical avatars is something I\u2019m really interested in. I\u2019m currently working with LIL BRAIN www.iamlilbrain.com, who released a 1st EP on my 1789 label in December 2019.<\/p>\n
As I realize a little more each day just how different I am from a machine, I\u2019m finding myself fascinated by our relationship with them, especially with computers. It might seem obvious, but often I realize that almost everything I\u2019ve learned requires a computer to be enjoyed. I don’t particularly enjoy playing guitar or piano compared to all the things I can do with sound on my computer.<\/p>\n
As video game fans, we are curious to know if there is an iconic video game you would like to compose music for (even old IPs)?<\/strong><\/p>\nI’d love to do more soundtrack compositions in the future. \nThere’s a future for cross-over projects between video games and music, in the same way that in film there are often director\/composer partners who work together. I think the video gaming world could benefit greatly from this (Fincher and Trent Reznor for example, or Miyazaki and Joe Hisaishi).<\/p>\n
Video games are in their golden age, where even AAA’s are trying out some weird things (Death Stranding). There’s still a lot to be done in soundtracks.<\/p>\n
Personally, I don\u2019t consider any movie or video game to be a “cult classic” if it doesn’t have an incredible soundtrack.<\/p>\n
For now, I imagine my music more in the world of independent video games, which allows for projects that are a little rougher around the edges, but on the other hand I\u2019d love to imagine my music being used in a game like Final Fantasy, a Hideo Kojima or a Fumito Ueda.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The original soundtrack of Haven is fully composed by French electronic musician Danger. With one foot in the world of music and the other in computer graphics and gaming, Danger returned to the spotlight with his work for\u00a0Haven\u00a0after his first album \u592a\u9f13 and Origins. Haven Original Soundtrack is available on Bandcamp, Spotify and a lot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-haven"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
DANGER INTERVIEW: COMPOSER OF HAVEN SOUNDTRACK - The Game Bakers<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n