Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), today announced the intensely atmospheric orchestral score for EA’s new sci-fi survival horror game Dead Space. Developed with award-winning composer Jason Graves, in association with Rod Abernethy and under the direction of EA Redwood Shores studio; Jason’s chilling score for Dead Space enhances the horror and tension of the game through extreme aleatoric and extended 20th Century orchestral music techniques.
“Graves’ work on the Dead Space score is simply fantastic. The music is a key factor in the overall tense mood of our game,” says Don Veca, Audio Director of Dead Space. “We needed an original orchestral score for Dead Space — Aleatoric in style, dark and dissonant, ranging from subtle creepy/eerie moods to completely cacophonous frenzies.”
Dead Space is a bold and bloody sci-fi survival horror game that is designed to deliver the ultimate in psychological thrills and gruesome action. In Dead Space, players step into the role of engineer Isaac Clarke, an ordinary man on a seemingly routine mission to fix the communications systems aboard a deep space mining ship called the USG Ishimura. Set approximately 500 years in the future, Isaac discovers that the crew of the mining spaceship is found horribly slaughtered and transformed into terrifying monsters. Now Isaac is cut off, trapped, and engaged in a desperate fight for survival.
The official soundtrack for Dead Space will be available on www.ea.com/eatrax for purchase to coincide with the release of Dead Space on October 14, 2008. The score features over three hours of music recorded during two different recording sessions. In the first session Graves conducted sixty musicians of the acclaimed Northwest Sinfonia Orchestra at the Bastyr Chapel in Seattle, and a year later Graves conducted sixty players of the Skywalker Symphony Orchestra and twenty voice choir at the world famous Skywalker Sound Scoring Stage. During both sessions, co-produced by Jason Graves and Rod Abernethy, the orchestra was recorded individually by section (woodwinds, brass, percussion and strings) with multiple dynamic levels and variations to be implemented as adaptive layers of music in the game. EA’s audio team designed the music system to be multi-layered so the music could be mixed at run-time based on gameplay and situation.
“The unique interactive aspect of the Dead Space music gave me the opportunity to experiment and try things I’ve never been able to do in a video game score before,” said Dead Space composer Jason Graves. “Many thanks to Don Veca and the rest of the team at EA for allowing me such freedom with the score; it was both the most challenging and most rewarding music I’ve ever composed.”
Dead Space will ship on October 14, 2008 for the Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system. The PC version will ship on October 20, 2008. For more information on the game, visit the official web site at www.deadspacegame.com.
###
About Jason Graves
Renowned for his cinematic and prolific orchestral music on action/adventure video game titles such as Blacksite: Area 51, the Blazing Angels franchise and the Star Trek franchise, Jason also creates award-winning music for film and television. Jason studied under film composers Jerry Goldsmith, Elmer Bernstein, Christopher Young and orchestrator Will Schaefer while earning a degree from the University of Southern California’s prestigious film scoring program. He has scored more than 150 commercials, 90 television shows, movie trailers, and feature films, conducting orchestras at Capitol Records, Paramount Pictures, Skywalker Sound, Seattle and Salt Lake City. His music has been awarded three Telly’s, an Addy, nine Silver Reels, a Gold Case Award, and a Cable A.C.E. Award. Jason also won 2nd Prize in Turner Classic Movies’ 2005 Young Film Composer Competition, of which there were more than 500 entries. His video game awards include two G.A.N.G. “Best Original Theme” nominations for Star Trek: Legacy and Blazing Angels 2, G.A.N.G. “Music of the Year” nomination for King Arthur and winner of G.A.N.G. “Soundtrack of the Year” award for The Hobbit. For more information visit www.jasongraves.com.
About Rod Abernethy
Rod is known worldwide for his cutting-edge approach to composition, placing him at the top of the interactive composer A-list. He has created award winning scores for over 50 video games including Blacksite: Area 51, Star Trek: Legacy, Blazing Angels I & II, Transformers, Dead Head Fred, Silent Hunter 4 and The Hobbit that won G.A.N.G.’s Best Soundtrack of the Year Award in 2003. His video game work includes collaboration with Harry Gregson-Williams on Flushed Away and veteran film composer Elmer Bernstein on the Wild Wild West: The Steel Assassin. An extremely versatile music-business veteran, Rod has composed for Midway, Vivendi/Universal, Sony, Ubisoft, Bethesda/Paramount, Disney/THQ, Electronic Arts, Activision, Konami, Majesco, Namco and Nintendo, has recorded in major studios around the world for record industry giants Warner Bros., Elektra, Atlantic, and MCA Records and collaborated with legendary producers Paul Rothchild (The Doors, Bonnie Raitt), John Anthony (Roxy Music, Queen) and David Lord (Peter Gabriel, Tori Amos, Tears for Fears, The Pretenders). For more information visit www.rednoteaudio.com.