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Utah has developed expert re- by global gaming giant sources in these spaces, so it’s Entertainment ($1.5B annual rev- no surprise that top video game enue). titles like World of Warcraft, Lord “We chose Salt Lake City be- of the Rings, Infinity Blade, Dun- cause of the beautiful music re- geons and Dragons and many corded here over the years,” says others are coming to Utah for Ubisoft’s Director of Audio Ser- their music. vices, Aurelien Baguerre. “Lis- “We’ve seen an exponential tening to the exquisite Riders of increase in the amount of video Rohan score recorded in Utah game music done in Utah over last summer really solidified the the past 5 years,” says Marshall decision.” Moore, Director of the Utah Film Ubisoft asked Chance Thomas, Commission. “Our talent and who composed the Riders of technical expertise are second to Rohan score and has a track re- none. And with facilities like War- cord of producing award-winning ner/Chappell’s LA East recording music in Utah, to manage their studio in town, we’re starting to recording process. “I’ve been re- attract a lot of attention.” cording in Salt Lake City for many One of the most recent games years,” he said. “I also record to score in Utah was Heroes of in Los Angeles and Seattle, but Might and Magic: The Forgotten some projects are just a better fit Wars, developed and published for the musical ecosystem here.” Images courtesy of Ubisoft 76 77 MIGHT & MAGIC MOTU DUEL OF CHAMPIONS Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts Release date — March 23, 2013 motu.com Developer — Ubisoft Quebec MOTU is a leading developer of computer -based Might & Magic Duel of Champions is an on- audio and video production hardware and soft- ware. MOTU was founded in 1980 and has been line strategy card game set in the fantastic developing audio, video and music technology Might & Magic universe. Choose a hero and products since 1984. build his army with Creatures, Spells and For- Inspired by the Macintosh when it firstappeared, tune cards to defeat your opponents in epic engineers at MOTU developed one of the Mac- battles. The unique Battleground of Duel of intosh's first music programs ever. Performer®, the Champions creates an action-filled game- music industry standard for MIDI sequencing, be- play that fits any style of players. Enter tour- gan shipping in 1985. naments, measure your strength against top MOTU products serve a wide range of users, from players, earn gold and get new boosters for consumers to enterprise-level installations in mu- your deck! sic, broadcast, film, gaming and other entertain- ment industries.

The symphonic nature of music in Might sions over the years. This depth of ex- provide a living wage because of the low The mock-ups take shape using a & Magic required finding an orchestra perience ranks them among the most cost of living. specialized scoring program from MOTU, with deep experience in studio record- recorded orchestras in the world. With the composer, orchestra, recording a Cambridge Massachusetts technology company specializing in digital compo- ing. There is a fundamental difference A spacious recording studio was needed studio and engineering team selected, it sition tools. As musical ideas flow from between an orchestra that gives an with a beautiful resonant sound, vintage was time to move into production. The the composer’s inspiration, digital sam- exhilarating live performance versus an microphones and the latest recording schedule allowed only five weeks from ples of violins, horns, timpani and bou- orchestra that can deliver in the studio. equipment. Warner/Chappell recently first written note to final mix. There was zouki fill the screen. Soon it sounds as if Many orchestral musicians who sound set up shop near downtown Salt Lake. no room for error. an entire symphony orchestra is playing wonderful onstage are totally lost in a Their studio, known as LA East, has a Thomas started by producing sophisti- alongside a Middle-eastern ensemble, recording session. large sound stage with a rich wooden cated mock-ups of each composition in Images courtesy of Ubisoft with a chorus of baritones chanting in In the recording studio, musicians wear resonance and all the top gear. his digital studio. “Think of a mock-up as the background. Even this early in the headphones carrying a metronome-like Ubisoft provided a music budget that the musical equivalent of an animatic,” process, the flavor and power of the click and critical accompanying tracks. was sufficient for live recording, but in he explains. “My writing studio has thou- score are becoming clear. The musicians’ performance must match sands of orchestral, contemporary and a disciplined way without extravagance. Ubisoft checks in with the composer those tracks in intensity, timing and in- This also played into the decision. Musi- futuristic sounds for this – all accessi- tonation. The Utah Film Orchestra has ble at the click of a mouse and playable on a regular basis to monitor progress. cian, engineer and studio rates in Utah When the composition of each track is done thousands of such recording ses- are among the lowest in America but still from a piano keyboard.” 78 79 finished, Chance uploads it to the devel- sixty-five talented musicians and singers a note of the music until that very day. Lexicon’s flagship 960L controller sits opment team in Quebec for review, then requested for the upcoming sessions. Every musician in the studio must be an prominently atop one of the racks. Yet, starts on the next piece. Any requested The studio is booked for two full days of expert at sight reading. They run through there is no mixing console in the studio. changes are discussed by phone and In- recording, with a few hours of overflow the first piece twice and are ready to re- Only a comfortable padded chair and a ternet with revisions uploaded within the on a third day for overdubbing. Ubisoft cord. track ball facing a large flat screen fas- next day or two. In just under three weeks, Audio Director Aurelien Baguerre secures Contemporary recording processes allow tened to the wall. All mixing is done using the entire score is written and approved. his flight so he can attend the sessions. any mistake in a musician’s performance Avid’s PT10 virtual mixing console dis- With composition complete, key digital Everything is set. to be fixed by performing only that part played on the screen. data from each piece of music is trans- On the day of recording, Chance arrives again. This procedure, called punching-in, The sound of the strings is sharpened ferred into Pro Tools, an industry standard at the studio early. Bass player Ben Hen- keeps the previous performance until the with precision equalization and filtering. platform for recording, editing and mixing derson is already there, warming up with engineer punches-in record mode. The They’re sweetened with digital delays and music. This transferal must be frame-ac- long, steady strokes. A film crew wan- new performance is recorded until the reverbs. The brass section is split wide left curate, as each piece of music may con- ders onto the stage, checking the light- engineer punches-out of record, and the and right across the stereo spectrum, with tain dozens of perfectly aligned virtual ing and staking out vantage points for a previous performance continues unin- a doubling effect added to the French music tracks. Any imperfections in orien- documentary about the making of this terrupted. The process of recording and horns. Percussion tracks are run through tation will throw off the rhythmic balance music score. Three stereo pairs of ex- punching as necessary continues until the compression algorithms in virtual plug- and impact of the score. To keep things pensive microphones are perched precar- entire piece of music sounds flawless. ins to pack more of a punch. The fretted synchronized, the studio employs a pair of iously high overhead, their cables joining With recording complete, Chance takes instruments, woodwinds and choir all get Apple’s MacPro towers slaved to an AVID dozens of others from sectional mics and all of the audio tracks back to his studio their own similar special treatment in the SyncHD. headphones snaking across the floor. An HUGEsound, and begins to edit each part mix. Pitch shifting, detuning, chorusing Sheet music preparation is also underway assistant walks out and begins placing of the score, track-by-track. By now there and a host of other effects and process- using another widely used software pack- sheet music on stands while members of are hundreds of tracks to sort through, es shape and mold the nuances of ev- age, Finale. Chance imports data from the orchestra start to file in. including playlists of multiple takes. The ery sound, striving to balance ear-candy the MOTU program into each Finale file, Recording an orchestra and choir is an goal of editing is to find the best possi- impact with emotional resonance. Com- transforming digital bits into staves and invigorating and pressure-packed situa- ble take of all the various components poser, mixer and audio director are all in- notes formatted like a conductor’s score. tion. With musicians, engineers and stu- and weave them together into the most volved. Articulations for each musician have to be dio time billable by the hour, every tick cohesive and emotionally powerful per- It’s a long process, but the final product input by hand, a long and tedious process. of the clock represents a sizable dollar formance. HUGEsound’s editing suite is worth every effort. The music score is Louder, softer, smooth, abrupt, bowing amount. Time and money must be man- includes a pair of digital mixers, high-end carefully encoded and uploaded to Might type, bow position, bow direction, muted aged shrewdly. Likewise, the energy lev- studio monitors and a MacPro tower run- & Magic’s producer Stephane Jankows- or unmuted, sectional divisions, etc. And el of the performers must also be closely ning Pro Tools. ki. After listening to the entire score he that’s just for the strings. Woodwinds, monitored. Brass players and singers only Even after all the tracks are edited, the writes back and gushes, “I just heard C H A N C E T H O M A S the mixed recordings, few seconds ago. FINALE brass, choir and soloists all require similar have so many takes in them over a 3 hour music still needs to be mixed. Might & Chance is a multiple award-winning Damn, it’s epic!” attention. Inputting the proper articula- stretch before their vitality starts to ebb. Magic was mixed at The Pod, a top mix- composer, creative director and music Finale is the world-wide industry tions insures that the musicians and sing- Having a veteran at the helm is critical. standard in music notation software. ing studio near downtown Salt Lake City The secret is out. Utah has the expert producer. His music has underscored ers will accurately reproduce the compos- The first session begins with a few words known for chart-toppers like Kaskade, talent, facilities and experience for world- both professional honors and commer- Anywhere music appears on the er’s creative ideas. printed page, Finale likely created of introduction from the composer and Late Night Alumni and Neon Trees. The class music scoring. The growing track cial success, including an OSCAR, an those pages. Finale helps the Behind the scenes, studio contractor an explanation about the nature and feel studio is dominated by its large ATC mon- record is evidence of success. You can EMMY, several GANG Awards, and bil- choir to sing, the band to march, Jenn Sprague has been steadily working of the game. Keep in mind, none of the itors and racks of analog EQ’s, compres- sample the results for yourself by listening lions of dollars in video game and film the students to learn, and the the phones to bring together each of the musicians or singers have seen or heard sors and high-end pre-amps. here: www.SoundCloud.com/UtahMusicScoring sales worldwide. orchestra to raise the excitement He is a passionate advocate for game level in the latest blockbuster music, having led the movement which movie. first brought game music into the Gram- my Awards. He helped found the Game Audio Network Guild and the Music and Sound Peer Committees for the Acad- emy of Interactive Arts and Science. He speaks regularly at Universities, music schools and industry events on game music production and business topics. He serves on the Board of Di- rectors for G.A.N.G. and on the Audio Advisory Board for GDC.

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