The end of the Samurai era, the dawn of an empire

The standalone expansion to the award winning Total War: SHOGUN 2 explores the conflict between the Imperial throne and the last Shogunate in 19th century Japan, 400 years after the events of the original game – a dramatic clash of traditional Samurai culture with the explosive power of modern weaponry.

Guide ancient Japan into the modern age, as the arrival of America, Britain and France incites a ferocious civil war which will decide the future of the nation.

Many of the sounds are loud thanks to the powerful internal motors and mechanisms. Some hummed along gently while others were aggressive and abrasive.

Below you can see a selection of photos from my last ‘machine’ session which included recordings of the following machinery:

• Plasma metal cutter
• 100 tonne press
• Large and small guillotines
• Mig-welder
• Industrial extraction fans
• Power rollers
• Swaging and edging machines
• Lock-former
• Industrial water pump
• Pedestal drill
• Air compressors
• Air release valves

All of these machine were recorded on location so it was important to get in close and personal with the mics to avoid room reverberation, but also because many of the machines had multiple sound producing components such as cogs, electronic buzzes, resonant chambers etc. which I wanted to capture. Close miking and the use of the shotgun mics helped here.

Gallery

Demo 1

Demo 2

Demo 3

Demo 4

Demo 5

Live Orchestra / Choir Showreel

General Showreel

© All tracks are owned by either SEGA, Universal, Mediatracks or Richard Beddow

The Ivors took place on Thursday 19th May 2011 at the Grosvenor House, London and celebrate British music writing. Richard was also nominated in 2010, for the Empire: Total War soundtrack.

Ian Livingstone (Composer), Richard Birdsall (Composer), Richard Beddow (Lead Composer), Gary Dunn (Managing Director – European Development, Sega Europe)

The 2011 winners included:

BEST ORIGINAL VIDEO GAME SCORE
Game: Napoleon: Total War
Composers: Richard Beddow / Richard Birdsall / Ian Livingstone
Developer: The Creative Assembly
UK Publisher: SEGA

BEST SONG MUSICALLY AND LYRICALLY
Song: Becoming a Jackal
Writer: Conor O’Brien
Performed By: Villagers
UK Publisher: Domino Publishing Company

BEST CONTEMPORARY SONG
Song: Pass Out
Writers: Timothy McKenzie / Patrick Okogwu / Marc Williams
Performed By: Tinie Tempah
UK Publishers: EMI Music Publishing / Stellar Songs Ltd

ALBUM AWARD
Album: The Defamation of Strickland Banks
Writer: Benjamin Drew
Performed By: Plan B
UK Publisher: Universal Music Publishing

PRS FOR MUSIC MOST PERFORMED WORK
Song: She Said
Writers: Eric Appapoulay / Richard Cassell / Benjamin Drew / Tom Wright-Goss
Performed By: Plan B
UK Publishers: Sony/ATV Music Publishing / Universal Music Publishing

BEST TELEVISION SOUNDTRACK
Broadcast: Any Human Heart
Composer: Dan Jones
UK Publishers: Faber Music Ltd / Universal Music Publishing

BEST ORIGINAL FILM SCORE
Film: How To Train Your Dragon
Composer: John Powell
UK Publisher: BMG Chrysalis

INTERNATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT
MUSE

OUTSTANDING SONG COLLECTION
Steve Winwood

PRS FOR MUSIC OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO BRITISH MUSIC
Paul Rodgers

PRS FOR MUSIC SPECIAL INTERNATIONAL AWARD
Stephen Sondheim

SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR
Benjamin Drew

THE IVORS CLASSICAL MUSIC AWARD
Michael Nyman

THE IVORS INSPIRATION AWARD
Dizzee Rascal

Given the one-hit nature of recording glass impacts, it was crucial to have enough material to break in order to get decent recording levels and provide a high level of variation in the recordings. Additionally, like anything you record, not all takes are equal so the more material to break the better!

The basic kit here consisted of Sennheiser 416s, Rode NTG3/2 mics and a Rode NT4 microphone. These fed into a Fostex FR-2 and Tascam DA-P1. A combination of Rycote and Rode windshields were used. You may notice on some photos, that the base of the mics are covered in cloth. This is because eventually shards began flying out and hitting the mic stands and affecting the recording. The cloth solved the problem.

You’ll also notice the Gazebo. This was erected because light rain had been forecast but I didn’t want it to stop the recording. This works as long as the rain isn’t too heavy, in which case the volume of it hitting the floor will stop the recording or as long as the wind isn’t too gusty, in which case the fabric of the Gazebo will flutter too much spoiling recording.

Gallery

“NAPOLEON: TOTAL WAR is perhaps the strongest score in the series, and unquestioningly deserves the Ivor Novello for Best Video Game Score that it recently won. Soaring melodies, sensitive underscoring, and a solid live performance come together to produce one of the best game scores we’ve heard yet this year.”
Read the full review at Tracksounds.com »

Scorenotes – 9/10

“What struck me about this soundtrack is that it has a manner about it that simply envelops the listener. In way, it lures you in, and the deeper the dive, the more enthralling it becomes.”
Read the full review at Scorenotes.com »

Q: When did the composing for Napoleon: Total War start?

The initial composing started in the summer 2009 and picked up pace towards the end of the summer period. The score and orchestration were completed towards the end of November ready for our recording sessions at the start of December.

Q: Were there any challenges in giving the soundtrack its own identity, as Napoleon is set in a similar time period to Empire: Total War?

This was perhaps the most challenging yet rewarding part of the music production. For those who may not have heard the score to Empire: due to the size of the game the music is very broad, featuring music tailored to European, American, Indian, Ottoman and Native American factions throughout the battles, campaign and movies.

Napoleon differs from Empire in many ways but one of the most significant is that it is set almost entirely in Europe, so we could focus the score to reflect this. Since Empire featured a lot of music that still also occurred in Europe and America and had music flavoured to suit this we wanted to differentiate the sound of Napoleon from Empire so I decided to focus the music direction heavily on the classical style of the period. It was a nice challenge to see how we had to shape and tailor music of a classical nature to fit the dramatic needs of the game.

Q: During the composing process do you write to in-game footage, FMV or storyboards?

The process for composing for me personally hasn’t changed much between Empire and Napoleon, that is that for the battles I’d get visual captures of the game as a movie file which will then be loaded in to my composition package Digital Performer and then I would compose while watching it like a movie, but not tailoring it to match events as you never know when these will happen in the game. You have to play it a little safer and less thematic to avoid repetition problems. For the campaign section of the game I studied lots of Mozart and Beethoven for the styles that I wanted and then produced relaxed, slow paced tracks in that vein – this was also the direction I gave to the other composers on the project. Finally, for the in-game cinematic sequences, these were provided to us as storyboards but with the timing exactly mapped out where we needed ‘sync’ musical highlights to.

Q: As the game is based around Napoleon, did you establish any unique musical themes for the character?

Absolutely. Since the game was about a legendary historical figure I wanted to give him a unique theme which suggested his passion and his military status but was also in keeping with the period. His theme and the flavour it sets with it’s tone is then used throughout the game tying it all together.

In terms of music direction I wanted we looked heavily at classical composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn and some of their contemporaries to absorb these flavours so we could convey the period flavor in the music.

Q: With the game largely set in Europe, did it still give you much scope for variety?

Sure, this wasn’t a problem for a number of reasons. The game features (as did Empire) 3 specific areas that are Land battles, Ocean battles and Campaign strategy. Each of these sounds different. Land battles focus on quicker and slightly more intricate writing with an emphasis more on conveying a ‘military’ sound, through trumpets and snares. Ocean battles tend to be slower to work better with the pace that the naval engagements occur and help emphasise the size and might of the ships. There the emphasis is more on horns/brass and percussion to convey power. The campaign features some lovely pure classical style tracks, designed to ebb and flow gracefully without becoming intrusive while you plan and make your strategic decisions. Lots of string quintet, gently sung choir, harp and piano based compositions play here. Finally, lots of variety and interest is offered in the scoring of the in-game cinematic sequence, which are also much stronger in their use of the classical language.

Also, a first for a Total War project was that we used a live choir. Not only did we decide to flavour some of the orchestral tracks with choir but I decided to feature a handful solo choir tracks also, which really added a lot to the campaign listening experience and gave us some interesting challenges in creating the Latin phrases for them to sing.

Q: Where and when was the score recorded?

The score was recorded over the 3rd-4th December 2009, as with Empire by The Slovak National Symphony Orchestra at the Slovak Radio Concert Hall, Bratislava. The choral parts were performed by Lucnica – The Slovak National Chamber Choir. We recorded a small sized orchestra for the Theme, Credits and most of the in-game cinematics that would have been the same size used in the 18th Century by composers such as Beethoven. For the battle and deployment tracks the orchestra was huge, 84 players in total to convey the weight and power we required for this music. The campaign and loading screen music was recorded in separate strings and choir sessions. The game then randomisies between these as you play the game.

Q: How many musicians were in the orchestra and choir?

The soundtrack features the biggest musical line up we have ever had in a Total War project. It featured an 84 piece full symphonic orchestra and a 44 member SATB choir.

Q: How did you source the sound effects in the game?

A game like Napoleon features a balanced mix of realistic and hyped Hollywood style (big and bold) sound effects to help create an interesting mix and listening experience. When we first get the specs for the game and I have my initial meetings with the designers, artists and animators I will begin to draw up our assets lists and start making decisions on which effects we want need to record, which effects we may already have recorded previously , and which we can create out of combining our in-house custom recorded and commercial libraries.

If we are custom recording effects this will be either recorded at our in-house facility live room or it will be recorded on location.

Q: What is your favourite track from the album and why?

My favourite track would probably be track 1, Napoleon’s theme – simply because it sums up for me what the game is about emotionally. Passion and power.

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Best Original Video Game Score Nominees

Game: Napoleon: Total War
Composers: Richard Beddow / Richard Birdsall / Ian Livingstone
Developer: The Creative Assembly
UK Publisher: SEGA

Game: Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
Composer: Nitin Sawhney
Developer: Ninja Theory
UK Publisher: Namco Bandai Games SAS

Game: James Bond 007: Blood Stone
Composer: Richard Jacques
Developer: Bizarre Creations
UK Publisher: Activision

About the Ivor Novello Awards

The Ivors are internationally respected for honouring excellence in British music writing. They are judged and presented by the writing community and for over 50 years have been given annually to outstanding songwriters and composers.

The Music

Check out the Napoleon: Total War Soundtrack on iTunes.