AMANDA DYAR: You’re obviously a talented composer having won numerous awards over your career and even recently receiving a Grammy Award nomination for your work on The Shrine, however, Spy Hunter will be your first venture into the gaming industry. What did you find most challenging when changing to this form of media in your newest project, and can we expect to hear your work on other video game soundtracks in the future as well?
RYAN SHORE: Thanks so much. I certainly hope so. I absolutely loved scoring this game and really look forward to being able to score many more. To be honest, there isn’t really any one aspect that stood out as being the most challenging. It was all just a ton of fun. I really wish that I was able to have written even more music for the game, because there was no shortage of ideas. I could have kept going and going.
AMANDA: Spy Hunter was just released on the PlayStation Vita, but it’s based on a classic series that dates back to the ’80s. Were you able to go back and listen to the classic soundtracks before completing your work on the new game, and if so, what were you able to take away from it and incorporate into your own score?
RYAN: I definitely did go back and listen to the score from the original arcade game, which is the one I played when I was growing up. But it’s funny because when you go back to listen to it, there really isn’t very much musical detail in it at all. It’s extremely simplified which I’m sure obviously had to do with the limitations of the playback engine available in those days. Of course now music can be created in the same way it would be created for any medium – film, television, albums, etc. and recorded with live musicians and then brought into the game so the music can be infinitely more detailed now. But all of the intent of the score was certainly there on the original so it was fun to be able to use modern tools and fully realize my interpretation of it. I didn’t go back, however, to any of the different versions of the game that have been released since. Through my discussions with the creators of this game, I was clear as to what kind of music they were looking for so I was able to just jump right in and get to work.
AMANDA: Spy Hunter is an action-packed racing title that will allow players to take control of the decked out G-1655 Interceptor supercar. Since the game is likely filled with plenty pulse pounding scenarios, what types of music will be pumping through our ears when the game is finally released, and were you able to try out Spy Hunter before you started composing songs for the game?
RYAN: The score for the game is very modern. I utilized many combined techniques from recording tons of acoustic material, to remixing all of that music with modern electronic sounds and production techniques. There is definitely the brilliant Peter Gunn theme by Henry Mancini, and then there is also a large amount of new musical material I wrote, which is inspired by Mancini’s great theme and is woven into it. The goal was to find a way to utilize his theme but in a way that the listener wouldn’t grow tired of only hearing his theme. In the end, about 20% of the score is the Peter Gunn theme, or elements from it, and about 80% of the score is new material I composed. Hopefully it all sounds like it was cut from the same cloth, and will leave the player with the impression that they have been feeling the Peter Gunn theme throughout.
AMANDA: Typically, you’ve composed music for films that would blast your music loudly over the speakers of an enclosed theater, but Spy Hunter will obviously be played over a handheld gaming system that won’t be pumping out nearly as many decibels into listeners’ ears this time around. In what ways were you forced to change your approach to composing music on this smaller scale?
RYAN: Well, I suppose that would depend on how loud, and how good, the player’s headphones are! I certainly composed the music hoping that the listener would hear it in a full spectrum listening experience. Actually towards that goal, I’m so happy Warner Bros. released the score soundtrack on their record label, WaterTower Music, so that the complete score can be heard on its own, without any of the sound effects or gameplay married in. So really I didn’t change my approach in any way at all for accommodating the smaller scale screen. Actually, to the contrary, because the game doesn’t have any dialogue, it was incredibly freeing for me musically because I was able to detail the music much further than I would normally be able to do for a film. This is primarily because I wasn’t writing around dialogue, and also because the lengths of the pieces I was writing for Spy Hunter were in general far lengthier than a composer would normally be asked to write for a film. So I was able to develop musical ideas much more fully. It was an incredible musical experience to be honest, especially after having written for films for the past 15 years. I really hope to write for many more games in the future.
AMANDA: Spy Hunter was released for PlayStation Vita on October 9, 2012. Besides the game’s amazing soundtrack, can you tell us why PlayStation Vita owners should pick up the new title?
RYAN: Thanks so much. I would recommend picking it up if you love driving games. I know I do, and it’s hard to beat driving such a cool car, in so many different scenarios, blowing things up, and completing missions. Not only would I recommend picking up the game, but if Warner Bros. ever released the actual car to the market, I would recommend picking one of those up too!