Music...

[Warlok]

Who is the composer of the music for Act Of War? It sounds very good.

Is it performed by an orchestra? If so, which one? I realize synths can often sound extremely realistic... just wondering. Thanks for any information.

[Jeff_ATARI]

Originally posted by Warlok
Who is the composer of the music for Act Of War? It sounds very good.

Is it performed by an orchestra? If so, which one? I realize synths can often sound extremely realistic... just wondering. Thanks for any information.

Hi Warlok,

Great question. The game’s musical soundtrack was recorded at the prestigious CTS Lansdowne Recording Studio in London and features the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO), players of which have performed on movie scores such as Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Troy, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Cold Mountain, The Magic Roundabout and Sky Captain – The World of Tomorrow. The group we hired, Nimrod, has been composing, producing, and delivering music to the entertainment industry for some time, and did a great job capturing an "edgy classical" style (my words, not theirs) that they felt was fitting for a technothriller storyline. As for the decision to record rather than synth, they pretty much have a policy that if it's supposed to sound live then it is played and recorded -- no MIDI or samples unless the composer calls for it.

Hope you enjoy the rest of the score. There's talk of releasing a soundtrack, but I have no more information on that as of yet.

Best,

Jeff Foley
Sr. Brand Manager
Atari

[Warlok]

Thanks for the information. Nice to hear the score was performed in London - US union dues/reuse fees won`t necessarily outright slay a soundtrack release then.

Please let me know if a score CD proceeds. Thanks for your time!

[SimonTheSaint]

Nice question effectively Warlok !

Thanks for answer Jeff !

I decide to buy Act Of War finally.
So I can't wait march...


Where are my tanks?

:D

[KingsRevenge]

I want some of those arabian sounding tunes.

[Marc N]

Thanks for the nice words Warlock...

I'm Marc Canham, the guy that co-composed the Act of War score with Jon Williams and Rich Aitken (collectively known as Nimrod) - we used our orchestra 'The Nimrod Studio Orchestra' (I noticed a typo above that said different) - our orchestra uses the stars of the London orchestral scene who have played on some of the biggest film soundtracks ever. Lets hope you like the results.

As I said it is quite an edgy score that sees full orchestral arrangements and the occasional explosion of the orchestra accompanied by intense technological sounds.

I wanted the score to constantly evolve from Eastern influences (very percussive) through to contemporary powerful western orchestral styles. I see on alot of RTS games over use the music so we have tried to be subtle saving the 'big bang' for the right moments, while appreciating the more stratgic and thougtful moments of the game and story with some calm. Musical scores that continuosly go crash-bang-wallop can become tideous to the ears more often than not.

Anyway, we worked very hard with the music for Act of War and I am very proud of the results but it's up to you guys to see if you like it... fingers crossed....

Not sure about the soundtrack but I'm hopeful we can arrange an online setup to get the music.

Thanks again.

Marc N

P.S. Apologies to you Amercians - I NOW know Nimrod means something entirely different over in the US than in the UK. An American friend once said "to call yourself Nimrod you must be good"... I like to think that's the case.;)

Thanks again....

Marc

www.nimrodproductions.com

[stock76]

What does Nimrod mean on your side of the pond?

[KingsRevenge]

Do you have any arabian sounding music in the game? I believe thats what you fall eastern, such as like flutes and those types of instruments, giving me the ethnic music/sounds?

[Marc N]

Nimrod means mighty hunter - powerful connotations... not sure exactly why we chose it but it sounds cool.

With regards to eastern styles we decided to go down a percussive route using lots of different drums, bells, chimes etc - no flutes I'm afraid... We also composed so that our string section in the orchestra played around with eastern scales - but it is not extreemly obvious.

[KingsRevenge]

Awww, I was hoping for the authentic sounding music. well atleast it seems the soundtrack will be good either way, any chance you guys can throw in some of the true ethnic music, perhaps a song or to?