? @ Melanie “Krysthal” Meinbach
Pedro Camacho the composer of StarCitizen for almost 10 years. His music is known and recognized by the community and his peers. He was present at the Be@con of Liège this weekend, with a presentation he had prepared. This was already instructive, but Pedro also took the time to answer questions from the public.
Presentation
Thanks
Pedro begins his presentation by recalling that any major project is a team effort, and the music of Star Citizen is no exception. It displays on the screen the names of people who have participated directly or indirectly in its projects. There are big names like the singer Julie Elven (who, among other things, sang the Horizon Zero Dawn theme), or even CIG employees already known as luke hatton (Sound Designer on Star Citizen, and guitarist on some tracks in the game). The list is long between singers, instrumentalists, producers and others; but Pedro took the time to name as many of them as possible.
The Reunion Part 2
Subsequently, Pedro offers us a sound experience. He featured the same video (The Reunion Part 2) from 3 different angles:
- Once with sound effects only
- Once with music only
- And once with full audio
The experience aims to immerse us in the heart of the creative process. This allows you to realize the details of the music and how it follows the image and tells the story as well as the video itself. It also helps to realize that music or sound effects alone cannot do the image justice. The two must be complementary and coordinated to achieve a convincing result.
The creation of the music itself requires the composer to pay particular attention to detail. This involves the dynamics of the music accompanying camera movements, for example, or understanding the relationship between the characters by playing the theme of one of them when the other is on screen.
pyro
Pedro began working on the music for the future Pyro system. The music he presented to us is an appetizer, but promises a heavy atmosphere upon arrival in the system. It is also the first time that he plays the cello himself for Star Citizen music.
During a question from the public about the desired atmosphere, Pedro says he wants to create an atmosphere that is disturbing rather than frightening. He achieves this by various glissandi on the cello and with special synthesizers allowing it, in order to not always be on the same note, which gives a feeling of discomfort, a feeling exacerbated by the absence of vibrato on each cello layer. recorded. Finally, each instrument track is monophonic, in order to return to the player his isolation when entering this system.
Website
Pedro recently did a complete overhaul of his website. The new version will be available at the end of June. The user experience will be improved, and the layout of the site redesigned to be more fluid and dynamic.
Audience Questions
At Citizencon 2019, a certain track was playing when the player entered New-Babbage. I never heard this music again in the game. Where can I find it?
Some music is one-shot for specific trailers or demos, it is normal not to find them in game. For now, this specific music is unavailable for download.
What are the movies and games whose music inspires you that of Star Citizen?
Very young, I loved space. Star Wars, The Last Star Fighter, or Shadow Of The Beast on Amiga are some of the soundtracks that I loved and that inspired me. Another game I really liked was Chaos Engine on amiga. Moreover in this game, when you destroy a “node”, a robotic voice said “node activated”. This voice inspired me a passage from the Arena Commander racing game. You’ll notice that at one point, a robotic voice (and it’s actually my voice) says “speed activated”. This passage is directly inspired by Chaos Engine, whether for the timbre or the text.
How did you come into contact with Chris Roberts?
When I was younger, I loved Wing Commander, so when I saw the game Star Citizen, I said to myself, why not try my luck as a composer. It was unexpected but Chris liked the demo I sent him. This demo later became the main theme of Star Citizen, after being recorded by an orchestra. The first music I composed specifically for the project was then the 300i commercial. Since then, I try to always work hard and take nothing for granted, but I’m happy to work on the game.
What are the atmospheres sought in the music of Pyro that you have just shown?
see paragraph on Pyro.
How do you communicate with the music dev teams?
The developers are very good at giving me ideas to pass on, and then I try to interpret them as best I can. For example for Orison I was asked to give an impression of “Artificial Beauty”. So I recorded a harp, which I doubled with a harp synthesizer for example, so that the sound was not completely natural. In parts of Orison, the breath of a spirit can be heard. I asked the players of wind instruments to play very lightly, always at the limit of the production of a sound, so that we hear more the breath than the note itself. This sound is very particular and it is rare to hear it anywhere in a game.
However, my ideas can sometimes be confusing, or far too obvious. I always refer to other people. I detail my ideas to them, and sometimes they say no! Everyone could have thought of that, try something more original for example. I always favor teamwork.