Radio LBB: LEGO Horizon Adventures
Air-Edel sits down with composer Homay Schmitz to discuss the score for the new Lego Horizon Adventures.
Q> Did you approach writing for a video game, differently or similarly to how you compose for Film, TV and Advertising?
Homay> Well this was my first time writing music for a video game so there were definitely a few different ways of working. The biggest one being the gameplay cues and having to consider the vertical layering aspect. The combat cues are a more obvious example. As the player goes through the world nearing danger, there are multiple layers of intensity depending on how close you are getting to an enemy that you will eventually have to fight. So the biggest learning curve for me was to write a piece of music that makes sense with every layer of the four-five layers of intensity you add or take away throughout the whole piece of music, also without becoming too loop based.
Q> How did you decide how much of an existing melody or motif to use within a new track that you added new material to. Giving the nod for the existing fans, whilst expanding the sound of the LEGO world?
Homay> This was being discussed a fair bit. There were some that definitely had to make an appearance. Especially ‘Aloy’s Theme’ by Joris De Man, it made sense for the main character to keep the original one, which was sung by the wonderful Julie Elven and is just so haunting and beautiful and instantly recognisable. It just had to be infused with LEGO DNA to make it a really light hearted and friendly version. We opened with ‘Aloy’s theme’ in the LEGO game to give you a sense of familiarity from the get go for any existing fans from the original game.
There’s also ‘In The Flood’ from Horizon Forbidden West played back by a baby mobile, which I thought was a nice little Easter egg and ‘City on the Mesa’ from Horizon Zero Dawn was also threaded into the Desert like area.
But because the game obviously is in a completely different style and very kids friendly, it allowed for a lot of new melodies and a lot of upbeat fun music too.
Q> Was there a particular area of the game that you enjoyed writing for the most?
Homay> There were a few that stick out to me that I really enjoyed writing for. But one that was most memorable was the very first time I saw anything of the game, which was a short video of gameplay. I just thought it looked so incredibly stunning and detailed. It had so much charm and warmth about it. LEGO Horizon Adventures being part of an already existing huge franchise put a little pressure on it, which is partially why it’s maybe so memorable but it was also then when a lot of the tone for the game was established in terms of lightheartedness, that I kept referring back to, and a couple themes came about that stuck too.
Q> Having done many recording sessions before, how did the recordings for the game soundtrack differ from those past experiences?
Homay> I spent almost 10 years at a sample library company and got to go to a fair few recording sessions during that time and to create those virtual instruments you have to record almost every individual note in all types of techniques at different dynamics over and over again. So actually recording whole musical passages is one big difference to those sessions. But compared to other recording sessions when it comes to scores I worked on, I think it’s the scale of it. The layers I mentioned earlier need to be divided and isolated enough to have the flexibility to be added or reduced at any given time to create the different levels of intensity within the gameplay, for example, as the player gets closer or further away from combat or a threat.
Q> What surprised you about the way games are edited and made, compared with the editing and final cuts procedure of film?
Homay> The cut scenes worked fairly similarly to what I’ve experienced so far writing to images that carry the story. But when the player in a way carries the story, so gameplay, it's uncertain what the picture is doing exactly yet. I was given enough material and gameplay examples to see what it looks and feels like to get a really good idea but you just don’t know a hundred percent what it is going to feel like until you’re actually playing the game, which I found really exciting because it’s all the elements from the different teams and departments of the game coming together and interacting with one another.
Q> Were you able to use any interesting instruments for this score?
Homay> I remember playing Horizon Zero Dawn with a friend because I didn’t have a PlayStation at the time. But when the LEGO version came through I got myself the console and started playing hours (doing research of course) and really falling further in love with the world and the soundtrack. Stylistically they are of course completely different but I remember being passed on a couple of the sound sources that were used in the original game to tie it in with the LEGO version. I remember instantly recognising the sounds from playing the original games, which were various types of tuned and untuned percussion. To me it was quite special being able to work with the exact same sounds as from this mega game and to be able to sprinkle those into LEGO Horizon Adventures.
But also, because there were so many different styles and genres within the LEGO game, it allowed me to pretty much go through most of my instruments and synths I have acquired so far. It’s been a real mix from synth pop to orchestra metal to folky influences and even some funky slap bass. You knew the bassist in the recording session meant business when the bass glove came out. Or maybe it was mostly to protect his fingers from bleeding with the parts I wrote for him.
There is also a lot of banjo in there. It’s one of the instruments I got involved early on in the project and it ended up weaving itself into being very much part of Aloy’s sound world.
