Posted in : Games , Interview , Microsoft , Video Games| Tagged : austin wintory , Towerborne
We got a chance to chatter with film and gambling composer Austin Wintory about his latest endeavor : the soundtrack for Towerborne
Article Summary
This calendar week , Xbox Game Studios will releaseTowerborneas a " plot preview " title on Xbox consoles , giving histrion a chance to know the plot that has been in Early Access on Steam since September . But while they carry on to work on its ontogeny , some of the claim ’s qualities are already getting praise , which include the soundtrack . Recently , we catch a chance to confab with film and biz composerAustin Wintoryabout make the soundtrack to this particular secret plan , while Xbox free a firebrand - new video showing a behind - the - view see at the fashioning of it . Meanwhile , the soundtrack is available right now viaSpotify , Apple Music , Amazon Music , and onYouTube .
BC : Hey , Austin ! First off , how have you been doing so far this year ?
Ca n’t kick ! I ’ve never had a year with a bunch of tee - up waiver quite like this . One of those funny things where projects bear for years and then somehow all terminate up coming out right on top of each other ( Eternal Strands , thenMonaco 2 , thenTowerborne , and then some others unannounced still ) . It ’s a luxury problem to say the least !
2024 was pretty big for you , with a Grammy nomination forStray Gods , which was third in your life history . How does it experience to get the recognition for your work at that story ?
Peer - voted honour are always poignant . I never felt that glistening target validate the work we do , nor does going unnoticed by those groups invalidate great employment . But it does n’t change that when you ’re favourable enough to get it , it ’s a affecting opinion . Your colleague know what it ’s like . They fight alike battles , so to look across the room to each other and give a nod is a cathartic matter . And I sense that both directions . I took immense gratification voting forWil Rogetthis past year , for case , for his body of work on bothHelldivers 2andStar Wars Outlaws .
For those who may not be aware of your journeying , how did you get into making soundtracks for cinema and games ?
My erotic love for music came from my picture toJerry Goldsmith ’s cinema scores when I was around ten . Patton , A Patch of Blue , Planet of the Apes , and others . It became my missionary post from that point on to write euphony for a living . I had a parallel interest in game and even game development , too , but at the time , most game music was written by in - house , staff composer , and since my path was towards a freelance career , I take games were off the menu . But by dumb luck as a educatee at USC , I meet some game designers , which contribute me toJenova ChenandKellee Santiago , founders of thatgamecompany . We had the opportunity to doFlowas a PlayStation 3 launch title in 2007 , and it got the ball rolling ever since . It ’s insane to me that that was most 20 years ago !
With so many championship to your name , is there any particular method you use to make certain nothing sound quite like something you already did before , and that it fit the temper of that project ?
I conceive the method is avoiding having a method acting ! If ever I feel like I ’m relaxing into a tried - and - dependable approach , I discontinue myself and judge to throw off thing up . It ’s never easy and it means I sort of ALWAYS feel like I ’m treading thin ice , but it seems to keep thing reasonably fresh . Always receive band of collaborators in my life really helps . Obviously different secret plan developers and filmmakers will always inject perspective , but I also like to forever turn out the musicians I work with . Or another example is I do these online contests through my YouTube channel with these very broad prompt , trust to witness unique gift . I ’ve hired a couple XII people that path for various projects .
How did the opportunity to work onTowerbornecome about ?
I begin working with Stoic in 2012 onThe Banner Saga . That terminate up being a trilogy of game we exercise on through 2018 . essentially the import we terminate , their Creative DirectorArnie Jorgensenstarted telling me about his ambitions for the next secret plan , Towerborne . We started on it pretty much straight off !
What did you do to recover the theme for the plot and make it work for the action within ?
Arnie said something that rang in my ears for the entire 5 - 6 age we worked on it : " After well-nigh a decennium on these grim , mature and depressingBanner Sagagames , I ’m eager to do a plot I can meet with my Kid . " Interestingly though , he never meant a so - called " kid ’s game . " He intend something more like what[Hayao ] Miyazakiand Studio Ghibli does : full of artlessness and wonder , and also a veridical elegance in the craft . Stoic want Towerborne to palpate like it was produced at the highest grade of artistry ( as had been the case with Banner Saga too , candidly ) . So that really inform the approach . The word we forever used was " optimism . " At its dark , it ’s never rightfully glum .
There are ingredient to some of the tracks that finger jaunty and playful before things get truly epic . Were you trying to strike a balance between those themes ?
Like I said , that sentiency of optimism was our constant North Star . Joy . There ’s also , for me , this aspect of it highlighting musicianship . The actual performers in the orchestra themselves . When you watch a Ghibli moving picture , you really wonder at every undivided painting , every single frame of animation . I wanted the music to palpate like that : where every bowstroke of the violin or a Riffian on pianissimo or these slenderly novel cat’s-paw like accordions and recorders make you sense that a unfeignedly masterful instrumentalist has play those . We were so lucky to record in Los Angeles , a major rarity for secret plan scoring , and so I was judge to write the music as a sort of salute to what they are up to of . In the end , that ’s what ties it all together for me , whether we ’re being jaunty and playful or all - out epic . It ’s about the performers !
What did the team think of the medicine when you first presented it to them ?
I recall when I first get off the topic to Arnie , he enjoin something like " Look , I screw you’re able to wear multiple lid , but I have to say I was n’t sure if you ’d boom the optimism break all the darkness we just expend on inBanner Saga . But you peg this ! " To his credit , he never told me in advance he held hugger-mugger doubts ! Needless to say , I was grateful it was resonate with him . I must say it was a substantial privilege to tackle this sort of matter . We so seldom get postulate to write music that ’s confirming in this mode . It ’s not very in trend .
WithTowerbornebeing in Early Access and on the threshold of spillage , what ’s it been like seeing fans ' reactions to both the music and the game ?
Ultimately the medicine is in table service of the game , so I ’m really just hop people connect with the secret plan itself ! I think it ’s really special and has this fantastic potential difference to really evolve over time in means that no other games are doing . I ’m excited to see that occur !
What ’s next for you and over the rest of 2025 ?
We in reality finished the primary bulk of scoring onTowerbornelast year , and they ’ve been rivet on gameplay shade in Early Access since then . In that sentence , I shipped these latest titles ( Eternal StrandsandMonaco 2 ) and now I ’m focused on my collaboration with Giant Squid . We ’re working on our third game together , Sword of the Sea . As with everything they do , it ’s exceptionally beautiful and a literal honor to be part of .
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