My name is John Debney and I’m a music composer working in Hollywood, scoring films such as “Passion of the Christ” and “Sin City.” I also composed the soundtrack for LAIR, and wanted to share a bit about that experience with you guys, as well as offer you a sample of the game’s music.
Composing the music for LAIR has been an incredible creative experience. The teams at Factor 5 and SCEA, gave me great freedom and latitude to develop something unique and perhaps unprecedented. Creating new, original themes for this primal world has been one of the most stimulating experiences of my career, something I will look back on and cherish. The overall tone of the work can best be described as operatic, ethnically rich, lyrical, elegant and, at the same time, tragic. From the heroic strains of Rohn’s theme, to the darkly powerful sister themes, Prophet/Diviner theme, we have a musical landscape both unique and glorious. Some of the finest vocalists and instrumentalists in the world are prominently featured in the score. It was a treat to be able to work with these great talents, and I’m sure you’ll appreciate the scope and the power of what we were trying to accomplish. It is ambitious to say the least, and we are so fortunate to have had the London and Royal symphony orchestras with their virtuosic and impassioned performance.
The score for this game is unique also in that it truly presents a large scale symphony in three acts. Quite simply, to give you a sense of the scale of what we did, the music alone in this game would fill three complete movies! Thus was the task; to create a work richly melodic, deeply passionate and savagely primal, all to fit right in with the theme, tone and dramatic elements of LAIR. With that said, I hope this audio clip gives you a taste of what’s to come in LAIR. I’ll be back later this week with another sample, but click below to hear “Diviner’s Theme,” which describes the treacherous, evil villain in the game. If Darth Vader had an evil cousin, this would truly be him. Enjoy!
[audio:2007/08/diviner_battle.mp3]
I was thinking score refered to the 5.5 EGM review.
But if its about music, i already heard the music was great. So Rock on
Lair is going to be great.
@ John
I had read that you worked on this wonderfull score for a year. Great sound clip, and thanks for the update.
Great work, Mr. Debney. Yes, dark and epic are suitable words.
QUESTION: Is there any chance that we might be able to get our hands on the whole audio score via download, CDs, DVDs, Blu-Ray or via a music-only option the game?
I do buy a lot of movie soundtracks and this surely fits my taste.
Bravo! Amazing, both composition and performance. :) Great job, maestro.
Obvious question: will there be a separate disk released with all Lair music? I already want it in 7.1 uncompressed glory. :)
Sony should put the scores to their games on the PSN. ;-)
@Stoffinator
YES! Brilliant thought dude.
Sony needs to get game soundtracks up on the PSStore, or in home or something. Or even better just let us listen to music on the disc.
That would be sweet. Almost as sweet as this rockin Debney track. I had just found out like a week ago or so that John Debney was doing the music for Lair, and that is wicked awesome. He is good composer and will do the epic scale of this game justice.
@32 I’d rather the truth as it’s put in EGM than some fanboy gushing from the other stuff.
Most reviewers giver higher than expected scores just to guarantee advertising dollars and exclusive interviews/previews for the future. It’s good to see EGM say no to that. I just wish the rest of the industry did as well.
Love the epic score, can’t wait to play this game with uncompressed 7.1 audio.
Wow! Very epic and dramatic. Music seems often overlooked in the game industry. This makes me want more theatrical score sounding soundtracks in games, opposed to the occasional electric guitar riff fading in each time enemies appear…. ;)
Epic ,its like:
Star Wars + Braveheart + Gladiator – High School Musical = LAIR SCORE
Nice!
Great music.
I would totally buy the OST. Please release it Sony (on PSN, maybe?)
Very awesome music! I would buy the music alone. :)
beautiful work. thank you for sharing it with us. i cant wait to play LAIR.
Will a soundtrack be available?
I Recall Hearing Some LAIR Music At A PLAY! Concert, And I Have To Say, It’s Bloomin’ Brilliant!
I Enjoy Your Work, And Expecially Enjoy The Fact That Your Music Will Be Heard In A Game That Should Be Equally Brilliant..
Can’t Wait For The Soundtrack!
can’t remember the music Passion of the Christ but I do remember the music in SinCity and it was realy good. Can’t wait to hear the LAIR soundtrack ! :)
Wow very powerful. I love that it’s performed by a real orchestra. Amazing job.
And to Sony, anyway of getting the Lair soundtrack as downloadable content? Hell I’d even like it to be available or shared via Home.
Candy for my ears! I love that metal sound.
Please make the entire soundtrack available later on. Free or for a fee, I don’t care :)
I really doubt im going to buy LAIR anymore, I mean with Warhawk coming out before it now and all…. I am sure I will be pretty busy playing that.
wow great musical work. I this could even rival some of Square Enixes work
It’s just taking too long to come out, i’m afraid with so many titles arriving before this game i’m sorry to say its going to become a bargin bin purchase.
I’m a fan of epic vistas in soundtracks and I enjoy the mood they seemingly build out of nothing with a few instruments to finally come to a crescendo.
But the problem I’m having is that they are starting to sound the same, with them all sounding so epic the actual epicalness seeps out and disappears in a big cloud of John Williams Ghost.
It’s starting to become boring :( but at the same time the games and movies need it.
Very noice indeed.
Remember people, just because critics criticise, does not make them right. The great thing about opinions is that everyone can have one. It would be a very boring planet if everyone agreed all the time.
I can see this music becoming as catchy as the Star Wars music. Well, nearly. But this is soo good. Nice work.
Nice! Great music that perfectly suits the game and the games moments really adds so much! It’s good to see game developers retaining top notch talent in this area.
I love this soundtrack!
Maybe they can be put on CD and added to LAIR..?
This could have totally come from a major motion picture sound track, I think this score will really make the game come to life…TAKE THAT EGM!!
bad reviews or good reviews, im getting this game with no doubt. the music alone will have me buy this game. just like Ravinia at my home^-^ geez LAIR on 5.1 surround sound… even the graphics look like money.
will the sound be looping or just by where you are in the game?
@57
Then you obviously do not read EGM.
As they are the MOST biased, along with their online counterpart 1up I have seen. They are a shame of a print mag. Especially since they used to be the best in the business.
Dont read only playstation reviews read ALL of the reviews and it becomes plain. If they were not this way, I would honestly be worried for LAIR but instead I am completley opposite, highly confiedant it is superb.
I like what I hear…
This has Epic and Classic writhen all over it.
I also hope this OST is available for purchased at PSN.
OMG!!!!!!!! please please please release this on the PS store ill pay 10$ or more for this sountrack(score) im so gonna rent this im sorry but unless i get 60$ between now and baby sit 2 and mow the lawn once im not gonna be able to get this.
Pretty nice, This game looks good.
Sounds great!
Wow
A little off topic here…
I heard that LAIR uses almost 25GB of space on the BD-ROM. XBox 360 games all use 9GB or less. Most PS3 games run native in 720p but most 360 games run native in 1080i. Does anyone know if LAIR uses almost 3x as much data because the massive capacity of the BD-ROM means the developers don’t have to compress the data? or is it just because the PS3 requires significantly more data to perform the same tasks as the 360?
…Or maybe it’s the uber-long sound track.
i must say this is a great work, hearing this music makes me imagine some stuff about the game. And from what i’ve seen (the videos) it really fits with the game.
sounds pretty epic
Great job John Debney, sounds awesome.
Like to see Makeing of on the PSN.
“Diviner’s Theme” Sounds awesome!! Great job. I love the way the Score is heading.
Wow. My impressions: The words that come to mind are ‘operatic’ and ‘epic’. The image that’s coming across for me is a desolate darkened desert with the flames of dragons flying overhead to the backdrop of a black and red sky. I’d say that’s a pretty good match. And I’d say this ‘cousin of Darth Vader’ isn’t going to be an easy kill. >,
I love this music. Absolutely epic and fitting in every way. This is PERFECT for such a grand game like Lair. I just hope that the rest of the game is just as great.
wow, awesome music. i’ve only seen an orchestra once and thats pretty awesome. it sounds like star wars yet is very original in its own way.
The music is…powerful. I like it very much. It seems to me that SONY’s decision to use Blu-Ray will pay huge dividends with respect to sound quality in games because of the use of uncompressed PCM audio.
The music sort of reminds of of the soundtrack of God of War. Excellent job. I would love to see the LAIR soundtrack available for free download on the PlayStation Store. The God of War soundtrack was a free download that I have enjoyed greatly.
That was very epical. Soundtrack in a game is very important and it seems Sony are the only ones getting that.
Will you be able to access the soundtrack from a menu in Lair or do you have to play the game just to listen to the music?
Sounds cool. Any chance of getting an album of the music?
That sounds amazing. I never knew they actually hired composers to go in and write the scores. It makes a bit of sense now.
music is good. cant wait for this game. i have it pre-ordered but now i might be moving across the country when it comes out so i gotta wait even longer to play it now lol.
I like the music, but I have a a question about LAIR. Best Buy is saying they are getting it tomorrow (August 15th). Whats up with that? I thought it was going to be launched Sept. 4th now. according to the last blog post.