Cris Velasco has earned a reputation for writing some really terrifying music, and that landed him a spot on the team composing the soundtrack for Resident Evil 7. Cris and I talked about what makes music scary, and how he created his horrifying cues for RE7, using a sound library that included strings, vocals, and buzzing beehives! It took seven long years for Cris to land his first important composing gig, scoring a game version of Battlestar Galactica, so he wants to help the next generation

Outlast, from Red Barrels Studio , is a different kind of horror game, with a protagonist whose only weapon is a video camera. It was so successful, a sequel is planned for release on April 25th. At GDG, I talked with composer Samuel Laflamme about how he created a special blend of tense music for both games, including a cymbal that sounds like a human scream! Sam says his goal with the scores for both games is to write music that will stand the test of time, and he and the team work hard to

It's already been a fantastic year for composer John Robert Matz ! At the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, his score for Fossil Echo was awarded "Best Interactive Score" by the Game Audio Network Guild, beating out scores from such triple-A games as Uncharted 4. John was also a co-recipient of the "Rookie of the Year" award, given to promising composers whose careers are just getting underway. I caught up with him at GDC the day after the award ceremony. He told me how stunned he was

After performing on many game and film soundtracks, cellist Tina Guo has just released her own collection of iconic game themes: Game On ! In our conversation, Tina told me what she loves about game music, and about her first experiences as a new kid in America, including playing a video game for the first time! Tina uses both her 19th century French cello, and her Yamaha electric cellos on the release. She says she loves the effects that are possible with the electric ones. Plus, they look cool

There's a special skill involved in writing music for trailers: create a mood, but don't give away too much! Michael A. Levine 's horrifying version of the folk song "Go Tell Aunt Rhody" in the trailer for Resident Evil 7 has stirred up all kinds of theories about hidden messages. We get to the bottom of (some of) them in our conversation. Although nearly 100 singers auditioned, Jordan Reyne stood out from the rest. Michael describes her intense sound as a voice you're compelled to listen to.

When Takeshi Furukawa realized that the music he had submitted for an as-yet-unnamed game turned out to be The Last Guardian , the long-awaited epic from Fumito Ueda, he was thrilled! As a fan of Ueda's previous games, Takeshi was eager to continue the legacy of creating a simple yet powerful soundtrack to accompany the moving story and beautiful graphics. As he told me, the challenge was to keep the emotional intensity simmering until the very end of the story. Selections from The Last Guardian

As the lead composer for Dead Rising 4 , Oleksa Lozowchuk was responsible for writing the soundtrack that fleshed out the town of Willamette, Colorado, site of a massive zombie outbreak, just as the Christmas season begins. Altogether, Oleksa estimates he and the team wrote over 12 hours of music, including the diagetic music for the story, as well as creating two radio stations: one of Americana, and one for Christmas favorites. In our conversation, Oleksa explains that the first step was

Jason Graves and Austin Wintory are teaming up with the American Youth Symphony for a "Game Changer" Concert on February 12 in Los Angeles. The orchestra will perform selections from Jason's score for The Order, 1886 , and Austin's Journey, along with music suggested by them from Igor Stravinsky and Benjamin Britten. Getting kids excited about music is important to both composers, and as we talked, I discovered that all three of us got into music with the same piece! Episode Tracklist: Jason

Gareth Coker says that when Microsoft asked if he'd like to write the score for two new Minecraft expansions, he took "about half a second" to say yes! I talked with him at MAGFest about his soundtracks for Minecraft: Greek Mythology and Minecraft: Chinese Mythology. Gareth had years to write his beloved score for Ori and the Blind Forest, but as he explained, he wrote both new scores in about a month. Gareth explained that he was incredibly impressed by the epic structures in the Ancient

One of the highlights of this year's Music and Gaming Festival , Jan 4-8 was a concert of music by Austin Wintory performed by the Videri String Quartet, oboist Kristin Naigus , singer Laura Intravia , percussionist Doug Perry and Austin on piano. While they performed Austin's music, artist Angela Bermudez created a work of art inspired by the music. I talked with some of the artists involved: David Peacock , arranger for the Videri String Quartet, and after the concert, Angela and Austin: It