The Sounds of... Petri Alanko
Every month, we discuss the unique process of making music for video games. This month, Chris Wallace dives into the musical universe of Petri Alanko, who’s behind games such as Control, Alan Wake and Quantum Break
How early in a game’s development process do you usually start working on the score? Well, as early as possible, and if they allow, I’d gladly be available when they’re first putting the pieces together – brainstorming. It’s a precious tool, as even though something they’re discussing isn’t going to be in the final production, the ‘tone of voice’ or ‘the events that lead to’ type of discussions are the ones that matter to me most. In some cases, the events of these sessions produce an emotional impact that provides a profound foundation for – to use a saying from the fragrance industry – a base note. Of course the script will change, and the characters will change, but the essential ingredients are there. The finished character will be a little like meeting an old friend after, say, 20 years. The same with the environment; it has changed compared to the initial talks and ideas, but there’s that something that remained and evolved. Also, those talks and early script versions usually provide a lot of ideas for raw sounds, which, in turn, act as timeline anchors: returning to some early recording or a raw sound or an instrument sample/recording is a portal to the origins of the story. If I’m stuck with something I’m currently writing, sometimes going through the original recordings helps you through. It can be misleading, though, if you’re not careful. Be prepared to kill a few darlings and prepare for a course change, edits, takeouts. Don’t love anything too much. This, however, requires a special superpower: you need to be able to switch yourself from the creative person to the analytical person, without a delay. You need to be the agent and the manager and the artist, all at once, and the role switching will develop in time; the more years you play this gig, the more fluent you will be. What are the typical challenges of writing for games as opposed to more linear narrative forms? Well, things can easily get out of hand quite quickly – or become repetitive in the gaming world. One needs to be really prepared for the amount of material needed, it is surprising how complicated things can get, unless you
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