Joris de Man scores Killzone 2 at Abbey Road
Posted on March 2, 2009 by Dan Goldwasser
This past fall, composer Joris de Man was at the world-renowned Abbey Road studios to record his score for the new videogame, Killzone 2. The follow-up to 2004’s hit game Killzone, de Man (represented by Air Edel) scored 60 minutes of in-game music and 30 minutes of live orchestral for the game, with the help of Nimrod, a UK based music production company.
From left to right: Marc Canham, Executive producer for Nimrod, Composer Joris de Man, Music Assistant Rob Webb and Orchestra Contractor and Double Bass Player Stacey Watton. On the chair Balance Engineer Rich Aitken and Andrew Dudman, Recording Engineer manning the desk.
Conductor Jonathan Williams prepares the strings for another cue
The score was recorded over two days, with string sessions on the first day, and brass and woodwind sessions on the second day with an additional choir session in the evening.
In order to get a realistic orchestral sound, sections of the orchestra were recorded in their original seating positions.
The choir gets prepared for their first cue…
Final mixing was done at the Nimrod Studios by Balance Engineer Rich Aitken with percussion pre-records by Joris de Man.
Joris, Rob and Jonathan check the score on a tricky cue
The game will be released world wide on the 27th of February exclusively on Playstation 3. A seperate soundtrack release is under discussion.
Credits:
Composer & Orchestrator – Joris de Man
Midi Transfer, Score Copyist and Additional Orchestrations – Jonathan Williams – Nimrod Productions
Executive Producer – Marc Canham – Nimrod Productions
Performed by the Nimrod Studio Orchestra (22 brass & wind) and Choir (30 singers)
Conducted by Jonathan Williams – Nimrod Productions
Producer & Balance Engineer – Rich Aitken – Nimrod Productions
Recording Engineer – Andrew Dudman – Abbey Road Studios
Assistant Engineer – John Barrett – Abbey Road Studios
Assistant Engineer – Gordon Davidson- Abbey Road Studios
Music Assistants – Stacey Watton, Robert Webb, Tom Wilkinson and Gareth Williams
Music Manager – Alastair Lindsay – Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
Sound Director – Mario Lavin – Guerrilla Games
Sound Designer – Lucas van Tol – Guerrilla Games
Composer Representation – Trevor Best – Air Edel
Composer Support & Music Production Publicist – Sam McCarthy – Open Book.
Photos by Matthew Florianz and Lucas van der Tol
Special thanks to Joris de Man
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