Tuesday 8 March 2011

Clint Mansell to score Mass Effect 3


There is a rather long but very awesome interview with Clint Mansell – former member of Pop Will Eat Itself and composer of film scores Requiem for a Dream, Moon, and Black Swan, on The Quietus

(thanks to Amy for the link!)

He mentions in it that he’s doing the music for Mass Effect 3.

Do you do much work for other outlets like computer games? Mike Patton, for example, has most recently voiced The Darkness.
CM: I'm doing a video game this year actually. Mass Effect 3. Funnily enough, talking about Mike, we've exchanged emails about the possibility of doing a show featuring the Quartet and people they've collaborated with. It'd be a Kronos show, with different rooms for other people to do their thing, then bringing it all together. It's pretty cool-sounding.
I'm definitely interested in different outlets – that's one of the reasons I get involved in short films. It's not so much that I can experiment as it is to be in a situation where nobody's looking over your shoulder. Short films are usually made by young people and they've got ideas I can bounce off. They can take me in a different direction.
So in a game, the character might arrive at a big boss and you have to have a piece that can quickly become dramatic.
CM: That's what I'm figuring. As I was saying about Public Enemy and re-working old hip-hop tunes for Requiem, and kind of re-working old ballet tunes for Black Swan, with something like Mass Effect you're more like a DJ, with all these elements. You've got the holding pattern, then the big explosion where you need the score to kick in. Then you need to take it off on a tangent. You've got all these different elements that change depending on what the player does. You have to figure out an overall symphony, but be able to break it down into component parts. You can bring the pain when required.

Considering the previous Mass Effects count in my top ever games, this purchase was a given, but this makes it a pre-purchase for sure, especially if the soundtrack comes as a bonus feature!

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