[djpretzel]

Ask the Mass Effect 2 Composers (BGC's one of 'em!)

So an obscure little indie game came out not so recently that you may have heard of, Mass Effect 2, and guess what?

Along with Jack Wall, Sam Hulick, David Kates, and music implementation by Brian DiDomenico, the OC ReMix judges panel's own Jimmy Hinson is one of the composers!

How awesome is that? Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy, but it was also mad skills what got him the gig, and we're all very proud he could work with Lead Composer Jack Wall and two other talented & established composers to score the soundtrack to the megahit that is ME2. So, first off, Mass Congrats to Mr. Hinson... truly an amazing achievement. Secondly, we wants to know:

• How'd Jimmy get the gig?
• How did Video Game Live co-creator Jack Wall lead a team of badass composers to score one of the most anticipated sequels of video games?
• How much inspiration did they draw from the original score vs. composing from scratch?
• How much alien sex did they study & analyze - professionally and scientifically - as part of the creative process?

Those are some of the questions WE came up with that WE wanna see answered, but we're pretty sure you've got more. So, post 'em here, and we'll pick and choose and present the final list to the entire ME2 composition team for their thoughtful consideration... and amusement.

Post your questions for the Mass Effect 2 composers on this thread, but remember...

1. Keep it relatively PG, and always respectful.
2. Questions should focus on ME and ME2 only; comparison/contrast to other soundtracks from the same composers are OK, but questions about completely different games/scores should be avoided.
3. Questions can either be directed at a specific composer, or posed to the whole team, in which case Jack will probably respond himself or delegate accordingly. Be specific by prefacing your question with either the name of the composer, or the word "Team".
4. Multiple Qs per thread is fine, just try to limit it to three or four good ones rather than a battery of... less good ones.
5. Questions must be submitted by Monday, February 15th, which gives y'all a week.

So, once again, huge congrats to Jimmy and all the ME2 composers for a job well done... now post your Qs!

[anosou]

Big Giant Jimmy, quite the man.

[prophetik music]

first off, this is a truly incredible soundtrack. easily one of my favorite among games that have come out in recent years - there's a lot of character throughout, and each piece sounds like part of a whole without sounding derivative.

jimmy, i'd love to know how you - as a relatively new member of the composition team as a whole - were interacting with the rest of the team. what projects did you start on? was a composer-by-committee setup, or did each person have specific responsibilities that they had the sole responsibility of?

i'd also love to know what parts of the soundtrack are well and truly yours. i have a hunch or two, but i want to confirm =)

it's so uncommon to hear mixed meter for a major portion of a game's soundtrack, but there's a solid twenty minutes or so of 7/4 throughout the audio, particularly at the end. was that a conscious decision, or did it just work out that way?

lastly, who came up with what seems to be the main motif of the game - the melody notable in Normandy, End Run, and Suicide mission? was that directly from jack and passed down to the rest of the team, or what?

thanks again for helping make some awesome audio, man! congrats!

[Chernabogue]

Congrats ! That's awesome !

And now here's my (silly) question :
Will the music of Mass Effect be played at Video Games Live, considering Jack Wall is the co-creator of VGE ? It would be awesome to see one of OCR's greatest ReMixers's compositions played during this show !

Anyways, good luck to the composers and again congrats to Jimmy !

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Congrats, Jimmy!

[halc]

congratulations, bgc!

[Josh Whelchel]

Oh I know that guy! He slept on my floor at MAGFest. No floor of mine has ever been so honored.

[The Biznut]

Congrats on the accomplishment Jimmy!

I would like to know how much time each individual on the team spent on:
composing?
mastering? (were they responsible for that as well, or just for the score?)

What software/hardware rigs were used (and by whom) throughout this project?

What were the biggest challenges to this project? Were there any significant setbacks?

[TenchuX]

I believe you can actually hear some of the songs he personally worked on, on his site.

http://www.biggiantcircles.com

There's a player on the right. Samara's Montage is awesome.

I've been hooked on this soundtrack since playing through the game a week ago. It's epic orchestra meets sci-fi music of the 80's done right.

[Patrick Burns]

BGC, did you work from Tennessee (if you still live there) or did you have regular face to face confabs with any of the other composers or even visit any BioWare offices?

Congratulations