The art of the video game soundtrack often goes underappreciated. A kicking OST can elevate just about any title and solidify its legacy. Games from Donkey Kong Country to Halo are revered for their gameplay and soundtracks in equal measure. To get a better understanding of the amount of work that goes into video game music composition, CBR spoke with The Soundlings, the musical duo behind the upcoming Knockout City.
Knockout City is a multiplayer dodgeball title from Velan Studios and Electronic Arts. After appearances in both a recent Nintendo Direct and State of Play, the game began to pick up traction. Part of its early momentum comes from the soundtrack, which was created by Sonny Rey and Matt Naylor. The pair comprise The Soundlings and have an extensive music production history between them. From TV to Quentin Tarantino movies, the two have impressive resumes. That talent is being showcased in Knockout City. The Soundlings were tasked with creating a rich, genre-spanning soundtrack that plays over the in-game radio. While this was a big project, the pair was clearly up to the task.
You both have extensive portfolios of work that span medium and genre. With Knockout City, you're stepping into the realm of video game music. What are some of the unique challenges and affordances of composing game music opposed to, say, music for television or film?
One challenge, specifically with Knockout City, was creating a sound that spanned over six bands within the world of Knockout City but still had enough contrast to give each band an identity of their own. One refreshing affordance, and maybe this is just because we worked with such an amazing team at Velan Studios, was the amount of freedom we had to express our own creativity while still bringing Velan's vision to life. They trusted us with this amazing world they created and let us put our Soundling stamp on it. That gave us what we needed to make something honest and special.
Another challenge with composing music for video games is creating infectious/catchy melodies that have to repeat over and over again without being annoying! The way we composed with this in mind is to repeat our melodies in the track but change it up slightly so the player gets a new version each time around. Also, adding in little ear-candy elements that only happen once in each track.
What is your personal experience with gaming? What other titles in the industry inspired you?
We're both gamers and have been our whole lives. I (Sonny Rey) am proudly and currently champ rank in one of my favorite games, Rocket League! Don’t believe me? 1v1 me bro! Haha!
For inspiration, we listened to something that isn't a game but has amazing music which is the score to Cowboy Bebop. One game that has inspired both of us since childhood is Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. That soundtrack might be one of the best in video game history. It's actually one of the reasons why I (Matt Naylor) wanted to start composing for games.
Having listened to your work on Knockout City, you clearly put a lot of time into conceptualizing these different sounds. Tell me a little about the process of researching and realizing such a diverse score.
Thank you for hearing all the time we put into this!! That's awesome! Between the two of us, we've composed 1000+ tracks in our career. With all of that time spent comes a pretty deep knowledge of many different genres. So when the team at Velan asked us to create new genres for the world of Knockout City we pulled from that experience and mashed up genres to create things like "Electro Doo-Wop" for the Hologramatix. Also, a whole bunch of listening. We listened to a lot of songs and scores ranging from the 1940s to the 1970s, Surf Rock, Big Band, Jazz, Doo-Wop, Motown, Rock, Punk… the list could go on.
What genres were more engaging to work with than others, or were any particularly challenging for you?
Every genre had its challenges but they all were a lot of fun to dig into. Specifically, we gained a whole new respect for Big Band composers!! We had an amazing group of musicians that could pretty much play anything we wrote as long as it was humanly possible. Pushing the limits of what those musicians could do was something that kept us engaged.
In addition to composing the tracks, you also created the fictionalized Knockout City bands who play them. How did you like this aspect of the creative process? How did this challenge recontextualize your tracks, as they're directly linked to these bands instead of just being part of an amorphous soundtrack?
We actually loved this part of the process! We would sit there for literally hours just talking about these bands as if they were about to come in the studio and record! Changing the palette of sounds from band to band helped to keep it fresh and inspiring while still retaining the musical sound of the KO City world. One thing you might hear in every band is some form of brass and horns. That was something we knew would be a running theme and important to the fabric of the sound throughout the game.
From a physical production standpoint, what was it like compiling such a vast project?
There were A LOT of tracks in these sessions. Something that we talk about often after we've mastered and sent a new project is, we look at each other and say, "How did we do that??" The musical process to us is 50% math and 50% magic. The math part is something like, if you're producing for Punk, you need drums, bass and guitar. The magic part is how all of those elements work together.
What do you hope your soundtrack evokes within the player when they're listening?
Honestly, we hope people hear the music and just have fun with it. It's explosive, energetic, doesn't take itself too seriously, but also has a depth to it. I think our dream would be to inspire some kid out there playing this game to pick up an instrument and want to play along! At the end of the day, that is always the goal when creating something and setting it free.
Developed by Velan Studios and published by Electronic Arts, Knockout City releases May 21 across PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch and PC.