Behind the Scenes with the SCEA Music Department

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If you ever though that music in PlayStation games is an afterthought, think again. I spent an afternoon with a trio from the music team here at SCEA and found out quite the contrary. Games like UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves, inFAMOUS and the upcoming God of War III are proving just how amazing game music can be.

This definitely ranks up there with one of my favorite interviews I’ve been a part of. You’ve already met Jonathan Mayer. This time we’re adding Senior Music Manager Clint Bajakian and Music Editor Scott Hanau, who discuss all things music here at PlayStation. In this six-minute video, the team touches on topics including what it’s like to work alongside game developers like Naughty Dog, the huge orchestral sessions at Skywalker Sound and beyond, how the music was crafted for the UNCHARTED 2 train sequence, the percussion in God of War III and much more.

And you’ll also notice UNCHARTED 2 composer Greg Edmonson doing his thing along with Leslie Ann Jones, Director of Music Recording and Scoring for Skywalker Sound.

Hope you enjoy it!

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58 Comments

5 Author Replies

  • I have to say, Uncharted 2’s score is the best I’ve ever heard I listen to it every day on my psp/pc/ps3 you guys did a great job!!! and btw thank you guys at the blog for posting this :-)

  • You guys spend too much money on these huge orchestral scores. I’d love it if all game music sounded like 1990 Shadow of the Beast Amiga music! Put some samples in a MOD tracker and go wild!

  • i’ve never knew i was a god of war fan… iknow now because of this:

    1.I HAVE GOD OF WAR
    2. I HAVE GOD OF WAR II
    3.I HAVE GOD OF WAR RED PSP
    4.I HAVE GOD OF WAR CHAINS OF OLYMPUS
    5. AND MOST IMPORTANT: I ALREADY RESEERRVED MY COPY OF GOD OF WAR III PANDORA’S BOX EDITION!!! OH YEAAH ITS ON!!
    KRATOS COULD EVEN KILL HULK!!! LOL!!

  • OHH AN D BOUGHT GOW COLLECTION!!!

  • !!!! 6.!!! I HAVE GOW COLLECTION AND WORKING THE TROPHIES!!

  • What about an interview about concept art design, 3D modeling design, Background design? all about video games creation its amazing content for this blog, keep it coming!

  • PSN Canadian Video Store sometime this century?

  • Does this mean God Of War 3 will have custom soundtrax?

  • Hey Ma1nframe,

    You know Sony has a video store in Europe now. That means Sony is willing to go across an ocean to give a video store to a region that has more than 2 languages to support. And yet they leave you Canadians in the cold. I guess Sony’s actions should indicate what they think of Canadians desire for a video store. Perhaps its time for Canadians like you to return those sentiments in your video game system consumption habits.

  • Very cool I loved the Uncharted 2 soundtrack!

  • uncharted 2 is the best game out a true must have

  • This was a very cool interview. It’s just so interesting to hear how in depth they go to make the music fit the game. I don’t want to say the music is something I don’t notice because those aren’t the right words… It’s more like I don’t notice it affecting my emotions. Lol.

  • That was very interesting – I would appreciate if you could put up more videos like this, preferably going into more detail about the composing / orchestration process, how the composer works with the game developers, how they choose the sound palette, how they work with different playouts, what parts are electronic and which are done with live orchestras / players, how do you choose songs for certain games, and so on.

    Here’s an excellent video on Killzone 2 that shows what I am talking about:

    http://scoringsessions.com/video/7/

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