Remedy Entertainment’s Control thrusts its players into a completely bizarre atmosphere; Shifting concrete walls, vast underground spaces, telekinetic powers, ominous presences – all of these elements informed the experimental music of Petri Alanko, one of the primary minds behind the game’s soundtrack. TheGamer was lucky enough to interview the BAFTA-nominated Finnish composer about his perspective on creating music and sound for the world of Control.
From the very start of the project, what were some of the primary ideas you were excited about when composing for Control?
Well, the setting of the whole concept: everything happening in one building, but still having an open-world! It felt very intriguing to me, and after seeing some of the first concept images, I just wanted to be in. The whole concept of brutalism, concrete and vast spaces within one restricted space felt odd, but appealing. The protagonist choice was interesting, too, as I’ve always loved a development story, and this time it was a transformation from a human being into a superhuman – but without any radioactive spiders or Kryptonite.
There’s something magical about the first moments, when you’re stepping into the new world. Usually the first moments in that space are crucial for the whole project: how you perceive things, how you react to the story and the plotline – all that makes your mind “buzz” and you make some of the most profound decisions within mere minutes. A similar thing happened with Alan Wake and Quantum Break, too. For a developer, I’d say it pays off to hone your presentation for the artists. You can make that first impact only once – that’s where Remedy has always been really good.
But, to be honest: who can resist the lure of moving walls and geometrically altering passages? Seriously.
There is a lot of interplay between the music and sounds in the game world. Was that connection something that was planned from the start, or did that idea develop over time?
The first musical concept was based on the initial presentation I saw about the idea behind Control, and on that, a lot of the score was built. After I’d gotten a “yes” for composing, I wrote what I call a “mother theme,” which sort of represents some or most of the ideas I’d be willing to explore in the project, conceptualizing the ideas and transforming the ideas into a composition. I dissected it into a sound library, which was then used as a basis for some of the soundtrack. Of course, a lot was added to it later on, but the very first tuning mishaps and distorted atmosphere, etc., were there right from the start. So, the connection existed already in the cradle.
Do you think that there is added difficulty composing music for a relatively nonlinear game such as Control, as opposed to something more linear such as Quantum Break?
Actually, I think it’s roughly the same. The mind-setting needs to be a little different because of the concept itself – but initially the project is being carried out in a similar way. In Control, however, there was an in-game AI “rule-set” playing back the exploration and the combat music pieces, which were drawn from a piece that was composed with exploration and combat in mind. I saw that AI system several times, and I must say I was in awe. Whoever was responsible for that needs an award just because of the sheer size of that thing. After clicking the tab open to see the contents, my exact words were “Holy Crap!” – and I’m not scared easily. Awesome stuff!
I must say, however, that the concept of Control does help a little when it comes to non-linearity; it’d be much harder to try and achieve a similar level of elaboration with regular modern orchestral music. “Regular” music requires more defined rules, whereas the mayhem of Control allows a more relaxed, yet very, very piercing approach.
It seems that the soundtrack for Control largely deviates from traditional melodic material in favor of atmospheric, abstract sound events. How do you feel about working experimentally with sound and its structure – is it something you are comfortable exploring?
Oh hell yes – I’m very, very comfortable with such an approach! I’ve always been after a reaction and emotional support, and I cannot myself deviate or select between “a sound” and “a melody.” If either delivers, we’ll use that, but it has to fit in with the concept. With Control, however, it was natural to go with the sound first. As the visual concept was brutalist and bare concrete mostly, it was important to support that with music and an audio concept as well.
I felt it was interesting to let the “walls whisper,” as if they were alive. The Hiss (the antagonist) was present, almost omnipresent, so its effect on everything was always behind the corner. However, you must provide some harmony and melody at some point, otherwise it’ll be just one long blast of noise – and that is tiring in the long run. The best enemies are almost human and they hug before trying to rip your head off, right?
You blend acoustic, electroacoustic, and synthesized sound beautifully in your work, specifically with Control. Is there any insight you can provide about maintaining that balance between media when designing sound for video games?
I think approximately 90% of all the sounds in the soundtrack are from acoustic sources, so basically one could say I was doing an “unplugged” soundtrack… except that it actually was very heavily plugged-in. But I do have this dogma set of mine, and one of the items in that set is “record the raw stuff.” That means truly recording it from a vibrant source, instead of just instantiating a plugin instrument into a DAW (digital-audio workstation) channel and noodle a few notes on the timeline. My soundtracks tend to take a little more work to complete due to this approach, but I have noticed the sounds “speak” more clearly that way. There’s something magical in the performance, despite the fact the “performance” was originally just dragging a piano sound frame on a concrete floor.
It took a long time to learn silence is sound, too. If everything moves or vibrates all the time, you tend to get tired of it – or rather, your ears get accustomed to it. Movement needs stillness, rough edges need delicacy, shouting needs silence – far ends are needed, otherwise it’s just your holding breath: no breath ins or outs. Yin and yang, basically.
Is there anything “in the works” for you right now that you’d like readers to know about?
Unfortunately I cannot spill any beans, but yes, there are several things in my pipeline. Game soundtracks, a concert, an album – plus several gigs with my old bandmates. I love that stuff, getting the wash of energy from an audience feels insanely great and cannot be exaggerated. It’s also a good reason to stay in shape. Nobody likes to watch old fat geezers wobble across the stage!
