[GDN] What was the underlying theme you had in mind for the Wheelman soundtrack?

I wanted to blend flamenco guitar and percussion with electronica/techno and orchestra. It was a really fun project, and I think it’s quite unique with those styles blended together.

[GDN] What kind of direction did Tigon want the music to go? cinematic, epic, arcade, orchestral?

At first they were talking about Hip-Hop, but I’m glad they chose the direction it’s in now. They were great to work with, and very open to hearing my ideas about where I thought the music should go.

[GDN] You’ve done a wide range of different games - sci-fi, WWII, Dead Head Fred - do you approach each project the same or does inspiration dictate how you proceed?

I approach each project differently and try to do what’s best for the game. When I started out in games, I thought it was important to carve out a particular name for myself in one recognizable style, but I kept getting great offers to do all types of games...so that’s led to me having a diverse back catalogue of music.

The Hobbit, Blacksite Area 51, Dead Head Fred and Wheelman are all different style game soundtracks. The Hobbit was a melodic, traditional sounding Celtic score with acoustic instruments and live orchestra. Blacksite Area 51 was a raging hybrid techno-orchestral score. Dead Head Fred was basically a twisted zombie score with touches of jazz, surf, techno and even bluegrass. For Wheelman, I had the chance to play all the guitars and blend them into a Latin-techno feel with action orchestra.

Dead Space was a different approach than the usual recording sessions using live orchestra. First we recorded a large collection of unique and abstract orchestral effects and motifs, then the compositions were assembled using that custom made library.