I am joined by Mark Benis, who has composed the musical soundtrack for the point and click adventure game Rosewater, set in the wild west and released in 2024. Mark has also worked on the soundtrack for Lamplight City with others credits for titles including Wolfenstein: Youngblood.
In this podcast, we discuss his joy of retro chip-tune music of retro gaming platforms including the Nintendo Game Boy, which has inspired his journey creativity to now write musical soundtracks for modern gaming titles.
Mark Benis’ opportunity to become a game composerChildhood love of Pokémon Red/Blue music led to a lifelong curiosity about chip musicThe beauty of 8-bit music to orchestral and back againUsing Wwyse and FMOD as audio middleware to replace line-by-line codingMark’s early days and the audio equipment he usedThe financial barrier of the many professional audio sample librariesNo woodwinds in the game Lamplight City inspiring creativity by limitationHow hardware MIDI modules (Roland MT-32, Sound Canvas etc) have been replaced with software music audio librariesMark’s go to piano performances to loosen his fingers and inspire his thoughtsMark’s computer and desk setup for music compositionWhat is Rosewater and the musical brief you were givenAvoiding the typical wild west country style musicHow much of the original work made it into the game soundtrack?How much of the artwork and game direction did Mark see before composing the tracks?Timing introductions to the music, or arranging the music to the intro?Hearing the voice acting dialogue for the first time reactionsMixing virtual instruments with live music playersChoral music creation for the game Lamplight City recorded in a church with a real choirMark’s future projectsCollaborating on musical projects and avoiding argumentsFeatured music within the podcast, kindly provided with permission by Mark Benis…
7-43 to RosewaterOnce Upon a Time in Western VespucciaNight WalkThe ShowdownSo Long, PartnerFlor Silvestre by Christiane RamirezYou can download the full Rosewater Soundtrack on Mark Benis’ Bandcamp page.
The full transcript can also be downloaded…
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Original post link: Video Game Music with Rosewater’s Mark Benis – Game & Gadget Podcast #40, created by James Woodcock.
For even more content, visit Pixel Refresh - Retro Gaming & Modern Tech.
Original post link: Video Game Music with Rosewater’s Mark Benis – Game & Gadget Podcast #40, created by James Woodcock.
For even more content, visit Pixel Refresh - Retro Gaming & Modern Tech.