Trash Mutant Interviews (TMI): Darren Korb
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TRASH MUTANT: Bastion was a successful game, selling over 1.7 million copies, and has been praised for its sound, as well as gameplay. How did you react to the universal praise it received and the fan's reception of the soundtrack? Was there any hint at how successful it might be when you first began working on the project? DARREN KORB: The response to Bastion and the soundtrack has been pretty unbelievable. I'm still amazed by how enthusiastic people seem to be about the music. We had no clue that people would react that way while we were working on it. That kind of thing is pretty impossible to predict, I think. We knew that we were happy with what we were making and that we thought it was cool, and that's all you can do really! Bastion was your first work in video games. How different was it from other forms of composition? I think the main differences were in how much creative freedom I had on Bastion, and the fact that I was actually able to influence the project with the music I was making. When I'd done some composition for film projects or commercial work, there was usually a specific thing the clients wanted the music to sound like and a really quick turnaround once everything else about the project was basically finished. You define the style you used in Bastion as "acoustic frontier trip-hop." Can you elaborate on what that means and what your plans are for this genre? For "Acoustic Frontier Trip-hop," I see there as being three general types of components: some sort of acoustic instrument, usually guitar in an open tuning, to give a "western" vibe, exotic/foreign instruments, usually Asian or Middle-Eastern, to give the music some unfamiliar textures, and then sampled urban-sounding beats. As far as plans for the genre, I really see it as something that is tied to the world and fiction of Bastion, so it's sort of tough for me to imagine it out of that context. How did you balance the music with the narrating in Bastion? With the voice over often reacting to the player's actions, I imagine this was something you were wary of. In general I tried not to include elements that would distract from the narration. I didn't put a ton of prominent melodies in the pieces, for example, since that's the kind of thing that could pull your ear away from what the narrator is talking about. In the case of Build That Wall, I worked with the rest of the team to make sure there was plenty of space for the singing and narration to coexist. Also, in the mix I made sure to have the narration be the loudest element, and whenever a line of narration plays, the other elements get quieter. How do you approach creating music? What do you feel is the most important part of it? It really depends on what I'm working on. Sometimes I'll start by noodling around on a guitar or something until I come up with a riff or a chord progression that fascinates me. Sometimes I'll have a specific tempo and feel in mind, and I'll browse sounds or loops until I find something I like. Other times I'll have a melody ready to go and have to fill in the rest. For me, the most important part of the process is "vibe." Getting the feeling of the piece to be where I want it, and convey what I'm trying to say emotionally, is the main thing. What music interests you now? Are there any new bands or artists you feel strongly about? All sorts of stuff. I've been listening to a lot of Imogen Heap lately. Let's see...Nada Surf, Ozma, Bjork, Jeff Buckley, Radiohead, Kings of Convenience to name a few...as far as newer stuff goes, I really like Belle Brigade. Paramore just came out with a new album I've been enjoying a lot. Also Spacehog finally came out with a new album, which is pretty cool as well. Transistor is the next game from Supergiant Games and takes place in a Sci-Fi setting, as opposed to Bastion's Fantasy setting. did you approach the sound design and music differently in this one? How did your experience with Bastion help? The approach for Transistor has been pretty different. For Bastion, I approached a lot of the music and sound from the perspective of "what can I pull off?", and this time around I have some more specific goals in mind, which makes it more challenging for sure. For the sound design in Bastion, I basically learned how to do it by jumping and doing a ton of experimentation, so it was definitely a great learning experience for me. The sonic palette is pretty different this time around. More electronics and a fewer physical elements. If you could work on any video game franchise, what would it be? That's a tough one. Fallout 1 and 2 are some of my favorite games of all time, so maybe those? If they made a new Dungeon Keeper I would TOTALLY do that! Thanks to the poor decisions made by some publishers of AAA games (such as EA's DRM fiasco and Square Enix's "Failed" Tomb Raider), indie games have seen more success than ever. Do you have any predictions on the future of indie and mainstream games? It's hard to say for sure what will happen next, but I do think that Indie games are becoming a large, valuable part of game culture. It's nice to see independent games be recognized by fans and critics and win awards and everything. Journey and Walking Dead just about swept all the awards last year! You performed vocals for Mother, I'm here and then later, in Set Sail, Coming Home with Ashley Barrett. Any plans to sing in Transistor or any other projects? I imagine I will be singing on some project before too long... Besides your work in video games and production work with Audio Fiction, do you have any other music plans for the future? Any new solo or band work, perhaps?
I have a band called Control Group I've been playing with for a while. We just made a small run of a 7" vinyl single for a couple of our songs, so we should be releasing that ourselves pretty soon. That's it for the moment! __________________________ Big thanks to Darren for the interview! You can find out more about "Bastion" and "Transistor" on the Supergiant Games website. Listen and buy the soundtrack for "Bastion" right here. And make sure to follow Darren on Twitter RIGHT HERE, and Supergiant Games HERE. |
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