Burning Ambition Part 8-B: An interview with composers Nathan Pinard and Eike Steffen

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Burning Ambition Part 8-B: An interview with composers Nathan Pinard and Eike Steffen

by Christopher Buckner on Apr 16, 2008 at 10:00 AM

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Nathan Pinard

Q. Tell us about yourselves.

A (RK). My name is Eike Steffen, aka Romeo Knight. I am 36 and hail from Germany. [Pictured right]

(NP) My name is Nathan Allen Pinard. I’m 28 years old and live in Portland, OR.

Q. What previous experience did you have before joining Burning Man Studios (BMS)?

A (RK). I have already made music for games in the early ‘90s for Bomberman/Dynablaster on AMIGA. I’m a professional composer, sound designer and recording engineer mainly in advertising business for almost 13 years now. I am running out of my own studio and facility here in Germany.

(NP) Regarding video game music, I haven’t had any experience. However, I have had 7 years experience working on many short films and albums as well as writing for live ensembles. However, I’ve also played numerous games in the past and have always paid attention to the music, as well as record it on tape in the old days just to listen to.

Q. How do you think that past experience has helped to prepare you for working with a game company?

A (RK). Well, I believe working for advertising agencies really means bearing the brunt because there are always lots of people with certain visions and politics involved in the project, which has a lot of influence on my work. It means having to do numerous changes to your work, but still being creative and trying to meet all demands and serve for the customer. Composing for a game can be similar. Any track you create has to match a certain mood and fit into the whole concept. And then there is of course the love for games; I belong to the first generation that grew up with the 8-bit machines.

(NP) The fine line between games and movies has thinned over the past years as more technology has been improved upon in terms of graphics, game play, physics, etc. Game music itself has evolved from 8-bit sounds to full orchestras. I feel that the epic style of music I’ve been writing for the past few years will fit perfectly in what BMS is doing.

Q. What do you hope to bring to Burning Man Studios and its primary game title?

A (RK). I hope to bring the audio, music quality and depth in games to a whole new dimension. I know that sounds like a too presumptuous goal, and in fact most games today feature excellent music, but actually most times I feel game music is generic. It’s like typical movie score music without a real connection to the game world itself, even though it is absolutely pro produced. I want gamers to really feel like they are part of the game and its music, when they play Conquest of Heroes. Not just something that is in the background and is forgettable.

Eike Steffen aka Romeo Knight

(NP) I hope to raise the bar with music in terms of writing and production. I’ve heard some great gaming scores in the past, but they’ve never lived up to my expectations when it comes to orchestration, as well as the sound engineering with the virtual instruments used for those orchestrations. My goal is to make music for a game that is listenable as a single entity with the highest possible realism in terms of virtual instruments used.

Q. What has been most challenging for you?

A (RK). It has to be imagining the specific game world and extract it to specific pieces of music that represent it, or special parts of it. Music is still subjective, so it is difficult to match the imagination of others.

(NP) The most challenging part I would say is getting the right feel for which environment you are writing for. You always want the music to reflect the situation and environment the player is in. The other problem is avoiding redundancy. In the gaming world you often have the same piece of music loop continuously. This is something that I would really like to avoid.

Q. What has been most surprising for you so far?

A (RK). I would have to say, that working in a remote team can be so much fun.

(NP) The sheer amount of work that can go into one-two and a half minute song is astounding. There was one particular piece that took about 40 hours of work just to get the sound right. And still after all that work, it isn’t quite where I want it to be yet.

Q. What tools/software do you use?

A (RK). I use Steinberg Nuendo 4.1 as main audio production tool, the complete Native Instruments software range. A lot of different sound libraries such as EastWest Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra Gold or Symphonic Choirs, all kinds of guitars (since I’m a guitar player, too), etc.

(NP) I use Logic Studio 8 by Apple with virtual instruments from the Vienna Symphonic Library and East West. But my main piece of equipment that really raises the bar in terms of expression when sequencing, is my Electronic Wind Instrument.

Q. What do you hope to get out of Burning Man Studios?

A (RK). Even though I have a lot of experiences, I would still like to get more as well as gaining acceptance in the game industry.

(NP) I hope to get some great experience in a game company and create music for more games in the future. I would also like to continue working on other projects that BMS works on in the future. I would also like for BMS to one day soon, to be up to par with all the other game composers in this world.

Q. Did you have a previous interest in video games prior to your work with Burning Man Studios?

A (RK). Of course. I’ve been playing games since 1984, and creating sounds for games since 1987.

(NP) I’ve always been a gamer, almost too much of a gamer. First game system I ever had was an NES with two games: Super Mario Bros. and Willow. From then on I’ve followed video games and the industry ever sense.

Q. How did you come to join the team at Burning Man Studios? What drew you to the project in the first place?

A (RK). There was a handful of people that had a clear vision about a game concept and showing off their ideas with a lot of passion, not the typical ranting you usually find at open game developers message boards. And I loved the concept behind Conquest of Heroes and the company its self.

(NP) There was a former BMS team member that had asked me to do some work on a mod he was working on. I told him to keep me posted. A few weeks later I asked him how the project was going. He told me he was on a different project now, so I boldly asked him if they needed a composer. BMS wasn’t looking for composers at the time as they had already hired RK, but Christopher Buckner listened to my demos anyway and showed it to Steve, then they decided that they would indeed like me to compose for them.

Q. How far do you think the company can go? And what place would you like in it down the road?
A (RK). Well, only time can tell. We’re in an early state of production but I believe there’s a lot of potential in creating something that is this great and exciting.

(NP) This company has a lot of potential when it comes to mainstream gaming. I would like nothing more then to go over to a friends house and find out he purchased a game that BMS has created. Seeing my name across the screen during the opening cinematic would be such a rush for me.

Q. Have you found working with people that live hundreds, if not thousands of miles apart from one another and in different countries difficult?
A (RK). Not really. I was already used to it because I already did some private music projects together with other musicians from other countries. Actually I believe there’s no big difference anymore since networking is a major part of any job these days.

(NP) You would think so, but on my end it’s not as hard as I might have thought. I prefer working alone, rather than with a team. It just allows for more creativity to flow and avoids conflict. The only problem I’ve seen with working via internet, is there can be misunderstanding of what the client wants sometimes, resulting in a lot of rewriting in the music.

Q. What do you think the state of gaming is now? And what do you think BMS can bring to gamers and the industry?
A (RK). It’s very exciting at the moment because games are becoming more and more real, while game machines are becoming more powerful every day. This is an opportunity to create the most intense gaming experiences possible. Game audio will be a major part of BMS.

(NP) I like that more gaming companies are starting to pay more attention to the music as a separate feature, rather than just saying it’s part of the sound design. This is a step in the right direction I think. However, often game companies will hire an audio director that is in charge of both sound and music. This to me is a big mistake. I personally believe the sound department should be separated from the SFX. Even different genres of music can be handled by separate people. Such as rock vs. orchestral, which is in fact what we are doing in BMS. Often in scores, I hear awesome tech/rock arrangements but the orchestration is very poor. We are avoiding this by using myself for orchestral scores, and Romeo Knight for more of the rock and tech scores. We also combine our efforts to make one track. The result can be fantastic.

Q. Be honest. Do you think BMS is just another fan-hobbyist group looking to get rich with a wild idea, or is there some really behind the company?
A (RK). I indeed believe BMS can become a serious powerhouse in the industry. All of our team members take the work on the game very serious as everyone approaches Conquest of Heroes with a professional attitude. Regarding me, I AM a pro, so there’s no reason why the result shouldn’t be state of the art quality (as long as the passion for the game project is there, which it is).

(NP) I wouldn’t have put this much effort into this project if I had thought BMS didn’t have a real chance at making it. I believe this project has a lot of potential. This also is the best first project anyone could ever ask for. Usually you start with really small mini-games, or HL mods, but Conquest of Heroes is epic in ever sense of the word.

Q. What are your thoughts on MMO’s as that is BMS’s ultimate goal?

A (RK). No comment.

(NP) Creating an MMO that is actually successful is no easy task. However, with this project in mind, Conquest of Heroes is a genre that is lacking at this moment in the MMO world.

Q. What, if any mark, would you like to leave behind, both in the BMS and its game, and the game industry in general?
A (RK). I want to leave behind an extreme impression. Something people will remember. Like what Halo did for me and countless other gamers.

(NP) I would like to leave behind the notion that I put my best efforts into making a difference in music within gaming.

Read all 10 weeks of “Burning Ambition: How to make your mark on the videogame industry:“