As the composer of the soundtrack to Demeo, I'm excited to share the behind-the-scenes details of recording the soundtrack for our latest adventure, Reign of Madness, with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra.

I'm often asked about the emotional impact of the soundtrack on players. The music of Demeo plays a significant role in creating the game's immersive and atmospheric experience, drawing players into its dark and foreboding world. In this blog post, I'll dive into the nerdy details of the recording process and share my experience of working with such a talented group of musicians. I'll also discuss the emotional impact of the music and how it enhances the player experience.

Step 1: Compose The Music

Preparing to record the Demeo soundtrack with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra was a multi-step process. First, I composed the music for the adventure and arranged it for a live orchestra. This involved creating detailed scores for each instrument, and considering the strengths and limitations of a live ensemble. I had roughly three months to compose three in-game songs with variations and also remake our main theme song with additional parts. During that time our other games at Resolution also needed attention and all the sound design and voice recordings to the Reign of Madness adventure had to be worked on. It was a tight schedule and I needed to send the finished music to the orchestrator two weeks before the recording. I finished the score in roughly three months from the first piano draft to 30 minutes of fully orchestrated music.

Inspiration works in different ways for everybody, but for me it usually starts with me sitting at my piano, looking out through my window at the forest and improvising. I talk to the team about what we are trying to achieve, looking at the art, new heroes and enemies, and reading the script, to make sure the music accompanies the emotional general theme of the game.

I usually get my inspiration from experiences, traveling, reading books or watching a great movie and I find it especially meditative to ride a train and record melodies that pop up in my head onto my phone. The Demeo main theme was originally one of those small audio snippets.

Step 2: Preparation

The first step in recording a soundtrack with a live orchestra is to prepare the sheet music. The composer of the original soundtrack will need to create a score that includes all the parts for the orchestra. This includes the melody, harmony, and any other instrumental parts that make up the soundtrack. In my case, I sent the score and audio reference to an orchestrator that made the sheet music for all the individual instruments.

Once the sheet music is ready, it's time to find a venue for the recording. The ideal venue will have excellent acoustics and plenty of space to accommodate the orchestra. In this case we chose to go to the Czech National Symphony Orchestra studio in Prague. The orchestra's sound is lush and powerful, and its ability to bring out the nuances of the music would add an incredible depth to the game's soundtrack.

Step 2: Rehearsals

Before the actual recording took place, the orchestra needed to rehearse the music. The conductor led the musicians through the score, ensuring that everyone was playing with the right emotional intention in the correct tempo. This also lets the conductor find difficult passages that need extra attention or might have to be rewritten or adjusted on the fly.

During the rehearsals, the composer offers guidance and makes any necessary adjustments to the music. The goal is to have the orchestra playing the music as close to the original idea as possible.

Step 3: Recording

Once the rehearsals are complete, it's time to start recording. This is a time-consuming process that requires multiple takes to get the perfect recording. The conductor reads the orchestra through each take, making sure that every note is played correctly and with the right dynamics.

In addition to the main recording, the sound engineers also record individual tracks for each instrument. This allows them to make adjustments to the mix later on in the process.

Step 4: Mixing

After the recording is complete, it's time to start mixing the tracks. The sound engineers take the individual tracks for each instrument and mixes them together to create the final sound. They adjust the levels and add any necessary effects to make the music sound as close to the original recording as possible.

Step 5: Mastering

The final step in the process is mastering. This involves taking the mixed tracks and optimizing them for the final output. The mastering engineer ensures that the sound is balanced and clear, and that it sounds great on all types of speakers and headphones.

Step 6: Implementation

The music was recorded in stems, or small sections of the instrument sections, for example full strings, string quartet, woodwinds, brass, percussion and choir. This allowed us to build many different versions of the music that we could use in the game to make the music always sound fresh and non repetitive. So 30 minutes of music recorded in stems and variations ended up being hours of music in the game.

The stems were then imported into the game engine and we added the music to our music system that dynamically adapts to playback of the game events, for example combat, menu, exploration, boss fight and other scenarios. The music experience is uniquely crafted for every situation in the game but in reality it consists of hundreds, sometimes thousands of small audio files neatly put together by the music system in real time reacting to what is happening in the game.

Recording the soundtrack to Demeo’s Reign of Madness adventure with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra was an incredible experience that required meticulous preparation and collaboration. The final result is a testament to the power of a live orchestra and the incredible talents of the musicians. The Orchestra brought the music to life in a way that we couldn't have achieved with digital instruments alone. The added depth and emotion of the live orchestra added a new layer of immersion to the game, enhancing the overall player experience. As the composer of the soundtrack, I'm proud to have been a part of this project, and I hope that players continue to enjoy the emotional resonance of the music that draws them even deeper into the dark and foreboding world of Demeo.

Listen to the Demeo Reign of Madness soundtrack here.

Behind The Scenes: Recording Demeo’s Soundtrack With a Live Orchestra