Game of Thrones composer Ramin Djawadi on crafting the score for Gears of War 4
By Corey Smith
Long-time Game of Thrones composer Ramin Djawadi continues to add to his impressive resume. According to The Associated Press, he’s crafting the score for the upcoming Gears of War 4 video game, to be released on XBox One and PC on October 11th. Gears of War 4 is the fifth entry in the popular first-person shooter franchise (confusing, I know). Djawadi said the score will depart from his Grammy and Emmy-nominated work on Thrones.
"Obviously, I wanted to make it very different from ‘Game of Thrones.’ Whenever I approach a new project, I want to make sure I’m setting up a new sound — even through we’re still using a lot of orchestra and percussion."
Gears of War 4
Djawadi worked closely with developers at The Coalition, the company behind the game, while composing the score. “There are some really nice scenes that are probably unexpected for ‘Gears,’” he said, “where we’re really pushing the emotional undertones with strings.” This project represents a return home of sorts for the composer, as Djawadi began his career as a composer for video games back in the ’90s, working as a sound technician at Looking Glass Studios (Thief, System Shock). According to him, the industry has changed quite a bit since he started.
"I remember back in the day there was never enough space on the disc to include full orchestral sound. Nowadays, it’s almost limitless. It’s amazing to be able to include a great, full soundtrack."
Djawadi wants to make his Gears of War soundtrack familiar to fans of the franchise, but also wants “to bring my own style to it.” And while Gears is set on the fictional planet of Sera, creating music for a fictional land shouldn’t be too much of stretch for the man behind such epic pieces as “Light of the Seven” or that main title theme we all know and love.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFK0yG8xG5I
Gears of War is not the only thing keeping our favorite composer busy. In addition to his work with The Coalition, Djawadi is behind the soundtrack for HBO’s upcoming series Westworld. He’ll also play music from Game of Thrones on a 28-city tour starting next year. Watch out for that wildfire, Ramin.