Interview with Alone in the Dark Composer Olivier Deriviere

OCmodshop had a chance to sit down with Olivier Deriviere.  For those who aren’t avid game fanboys, Olivier is the composer behind the creepily beautiful music and atmospheric sounds on the new ‘Alone in the Dark’ video game.  Other critics call the Soundtrack to AITD “The best game soundtrack of the year to date hits a choir full of right notes”.  Oliver has also composed the soundtracks to other popular video games, including Obscure, Obscure 2: The Aftermath (reviewed here), Destination Treasure Island, Rally Championsheep, and others.

OCMS: How did you get into composing for video games?
Deriviere: Since my childhood I’ve always been fascinated by video games. At the age of 14 I started writing music on computer with software called sound trackers. It led me to “coding parties” where people would hang out for 3 days without sleeping and they would create PC, Amiga and Atari ST demos. The connections I made there helped me get into the video games industry.
OCMS: Where does the inspiration come from for your work?
Deriviere: The main inspiration for any project I do is mainly the director’s intentions. I like spending time talking with him to make sure I understand what he needs and discuss how I can translate his vision into music. For Alone In The Dark I talked a lot with David Nadal, the Director, to understand what instrumentation and style of music I could use.

OCMS: Alone In The Dark has been around for a while, what do you hope to bring to the table?
Deriviere: Alone In The Dark is a great franchise but this time they tried to get away from its roots. It’s now an action game with some horror in it. This is what I’ve tried to capture in my score. I think people who listen carefully to the music will discover how connected the instrumentation, the themes and the implementation are spread throughout the game. If you turn the music off while playing you will lose a lot of the experience.

OCMS: This is the first video game score published by Milan Records.  Why did they choose to make your work their first game-inspired release?
Deriviere: Actually we tried to work together on a previous game I made called Obscure 2. It features great musicians such as Boston Symphony members and National Opera of Paris Children’s choir. We were very excited to release this soundtrack but unfortunately the game took a long time to get finished and we had to let it go without a CD release. So when I got back to them proposing the new Alone In The Dark featuring the Grammy award winning choir Mystery of Bulgarian Voices they were even more excited!

OCMS: How long does it take to put together a track with the desired effect needed in a horror themed game?
Deriviere: I think it depends on a lot of things. Composing for video games is very different from other media such as film and TV because you have to deal with a lot of technical restrictions (music player, memory, loadings…). Then, you have to discuss with the director to get his intentions and also the level designer to make sure your music will match with the level. Once you’re aware of all of this, it is quite straightforward to compose (if you already have your themes). I’d say for a sequence like the section called “Hang on” (Beginning of Episode 7) it took me a day of composition and for a sequence like the kidnapping (middle of Episode 4) it took me a week or so.

OCMS: If there were to be an Alone in the Dark 6, would you consider doing the score?
Deriviere: Of course I will consider it! It was great to work on the 5th!

OCMS: From beginning to end, how long does it take to complete a musical score for a video game?
Deriviere: This is a question you don’t want to ask me. As far as I know there are few composers that work this much and this close to the team like I did for AITD. It took me about a year to compose the full score. It’s over 5 hours of original music. What surprises me is that people don’t know this while they’re playing. I mean, they say “Wow! Great Atmosphere!” And sometimes “Great Score!” so I think they feel it but don’t “see” it. So for today I don’t know what works best: do a beautiful score in 3 months and let the team deal with it or write a really in-depth videogame score production and take care of everything.

OCMS: The gaming world has really taken off in the last few years.  How has this effected the demand for your  skill?
Deriviere: I think it’s a great time! I’m part of a new era of composers. I’m not an old fashion 8 bit aficionado neither a famous film scoring composer. For my generation of composers videogames are a great medium. I think also that we’re still searching for our own kind of music, our own culture. It’s becoming more and more clear that we will explore new ways of composing for games and this is very exciting!

OCMS: Music is now an integral part of any visual story, but in games it is more interactive.  When a creature comes out of the mist, the music alone is enough to make your heart skip a beat.  How do you pull this off effectively?
Deriviere: The way you compose for games, to me, may appear close to film scores but it is not. First of all, you don’t compose the music at the end of a project but at the same time. It’s a really different approach. As the game evolves you have to adapt you score depending on time constraints, memory or even radical changes. This is why you have to be very careful when you decide to start scoring a level. For AITD I tried not to rush the process but I was talking a lot to all the game designers and level designers to make sure they won’t “forget” the music. At the end it is very exhausting but it’s very rewarding when you see the result.

OCMS: How many hours a day did you spend in the studio perfecting the tracks?
Deriviere: I was in my studio every day to write and mix the score and to get it ready for implementation. It was really intense and I had spend weeks without a day off, working 14 hours a day and trying not to avoid eating! I worked like this for almost 6 months…it was crazy but really great since I moved all my gear to Eden Games. I was there, with the team, being a real part of the creative direction.
OCMS: You teamed up with The Mystery of The Bulgarian Voices for this project.  What was it like using amazing talents like these to create such haunting pieces of work?
Deriviere: Working with such a talented choir is one of the best part of this experience. They were very concerned about the music and I was very nervous. But finally they liked the music and agreed to sing it. It was just incredible when I went to Sofia (Bulgaria) to record them. They were so perfect, so professional! I was very amazed each time they sung my music, not because I liked what I had composed but because they took the score to a whole new level I wasn’t expecting. It is great when you can feel the musicians take your music and make it that more special.

OCMS: What is the process for producing such original and hauntingly beautiful music so that it blends perfectly with the game play?
Deriviere: To tell the truth I wasn’t that confident when I proposed the choir idea to David Nadal.  When we started to implement the music to the gameplay I was very nervous. You almost wanted to say you have other ideas before seeing if this one works. But as we started playing the game with the music everyone, including me, was happy. It was a great day when I had implemented the music for the first driving sequence of the game. To succeed in this way, there is no secret; you have to be working as close as possible to the developer to make sure you’re composing the right music!

OCMS: If you could pick any other composer to work with, who would it be?
Deriviere: It’s a tough question. Since you said “any composer” I assume even those from a long time ago. I think it would be Shostakovich….or Roger Waters….or Peter Gabriel…..or Aphex Twin… Sorry, there are more than one!

OCMS: Will you continue working with games or do you have bigger plans?
Deriviere: I think composing for games is already a big plan and I hope I will go on writing for this exciting meidum! However, right now, I’ve been commissioned for composing a Mass and later an Opera. This is very challenging and very scary at the same time! One of my secret plans would be to work for a videogame where music and gameplay would be connected as never before!

I’d like to sincerely thank Olivier for taking time out of his busy schedule to chat with us.  We’re big fans of all aspects of gaming, and it’s always a thrill to work with those in the gaming industry.  You can find out more about Olivier and his new album from these links:

www.olivierderiviere.com
www.milanrecords.com
www.centraldark.com