Wednesday,
March 8th, 2000
Just
to give you some background information: Kevin Manthei is the creator
of the music for the game Majesty by Cyberlore. The music takes your
mind back to almost a fairy tail medieval time filled with stories of knights
and dragons. Luckily for those of us that enjoy a variety in our
music selection the music from the Majesty CD can be played from the game
CD over a normal CD player. The music is of such high quality you
might actually enjoy doing this.
Music is used
to set the tone for movies and games. The music in Majesty does this
well. As an example, it is only a shame Kevin was not around to help
the movie Lady Hawke (starring Rutger Hauer and Matthew Broderick).
His music would have been far more appropriate to that movie than what
was used and could have potentially turned a good movie into a great one.
For those of you that remember this movie, you know what I am talking about.
...BUT I digress.
On with the interview!
Dragon: How did
you get started in the music business?
Manthei:
To understand how I got started, I will start from the beginning. As a
young kid growing up I became fascinated with sounds and the emotions I
could emote from the Piano. I started Piano lessons a bit later than
most - in fifth grade. Even before I took Piano, I loved to tinker
on it. I was amused and impressed by the sonic qualities you could create
by banging loudly or playing very softly. My fascination soon
turned into a passion which lead me to my first synthesizer when I was
fifteen, from there to a small 4 track studio, and from there to the University
Of Minnesota where I studied music composition for 4 years. After
Minnesota I headed out to the University of Southern California to be part
of a small, hand-picked graduate program in "Scoring for Motion Pictures
and Television." After the program was over, I was equipped with
many years of composition and study, but the last school was the School
of Hard Knocks which I entered immediately after USC! After a few years
of assisting other composers and doing anything music related so I didn't
have to take a corporate job, I started to obtain my own writing gigs and
the rest is history.
Dragon: You do more
than just compose music. What other roles have you played in the
music industry?
Manthei: I
actually just concentrate on composition. My company, KMM Productions,
does sound fx for games. We work closely with a group of sound fx designers.
Besides doing games I am heavily involved with writing music for film,
television and commercials. I scored my first film 2 years ago called
"Milo." It is a fairly decent "B" Horror film that is in your local
Blockbuster and has been airing recently on Cinemax and Showtime Extreme.
I also compose film music for other composers who are in need of additional
music because of time pressures. I contributed music to "Scream 3"
as well as "Scream 2" and "The Faculty". On the TV side I have contributed
music to "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "The Pretender" and most recently
the ABC movie "Tuesdays With Morrie".
Dragon: What led
you into writing music for games?
Manthei:
After graduation I saw an emerging field in the interactive area.
Games were finally moving past general midi and on to digital audio which
allowed me the opportunity to use my multi-thousand dollar studio instead
of relying on everyone's fifty dollar soundcard. I procrastinated
getting involved early on until I came upon a composing job for a game
almost by accident. Through some networking, I met up with a guy
who had already done some work with the now defunct Viacom New Media.
Since he wasn't a composer, he was looking for someone to do the music
for a game he had already secured a contract for. It was a game based
on the children's movie "The Indian in the Cupboard". I did the music
for the game. I loved the schedule, talking to the producers, and
being creative. I was hooked: writing game music was fun! From
then on, I started to market myself to interactive companies. It started
as any snow man does, small but gradually gets bigger and bigger as you
roll it.
Dragon: What project
are you the most proud of?
Manthei:
Of course I am proud of my work on Majesty. It was a great project
to work on writing authentic sounding medieval music. More on Majesty later.
It's difficult to define my craft with
only one project. I consider my work a journey rather than a one-time
accomplishment. Most composers will tell you that what they are working
on presently is their best work and are most proud of that. I am
in that camp. In the game arena, I have been working on music for
a game for Shiny Entertainment called "Sacrifice". The game itself
has not been talked about much yet but I can say a few things about the
music. Because of the premise of the game and the worlds in it, I
have been experimenting with combining different styles of music to create
other-worldly music. I am composing a separate piece for each world
and each world's music is totally different from the others, yet it has
a similar thread. So as a composer it's a great challenge as well
as a lot of fun.
Another project I am really proud of is
Activision and Nihilistic's "Vampire the Masquerade: Redemption."
With this project I felt like I scored a film. I wrote the music
for the Dark Ages portion of the game and it has a dark, moody medieval
feel combined with a real and present sense of horror. Besides writing
music for each of the dungeons or worlds, I composed music for each of
the main characters, as well as a love theme.
My first CD-ROM project I wrote music for
was Viacom New Media's "Indian In the Cupboard". This project stays
with me as one that I am very proud of. I did it with a limited amount
of time and equipment, yet the music has a very unique and creative sense
to it. It has elements of American Indian styles with magical film
scoring undertones.
Dragon: Have you
done work for Cyberlore before?
Manthei:
No. Through some networking I did with some producers at Psygnosis
in San Francisco, I was pitched for a game they were going to do for Psygnosis.
That fell through and I never really contacted Cyberlore after that.
Months later I got a call from Cyberlore and they wanted to hire me for
Majesty. Once we worked out the business end of things, they hired
me. I didn't have to go through my least favorite thing: bidding.
Composition isn't an auction. I want people to approach me because
they want to hire me. If they are lukewarm about me and want a bid
and are asking 10 other composers, chances are they don't respect music
or understand its value. It's not the way I like to do things.
Dragon: Why do you
think Cyberlore approached you to do the music for Majesty?
Manthei:
I am biased in this but I think they approached me because my demo blew
them away and by the time they dialed the phone to talk to me, they already
wanted to use me.
Dragon: How long
did it take you to complete the Majesty Project?
Manthei:
I worked on it in the Fall of 1998. This gives you a good indication
of how long it takes to develop a good game. The release of the game
is slated for Spring 2000. I would say that I spent about two months
on the music. I was probably working on a few other projects during
that time and would switch back and forth. Incidentally, I just finished
the music for the opening cinematic for Majesty. It is a two and
a half minute cinematic that gives you an introduction to the game and
the kingdom. It's looking really good and the music I came up with
gets you into the Majesty mode right away.
Dragon: What was
your inspiration for the Majesty music?
Manthei: My
inspiration comes from the vision and direction from the Producer.
Each project is different. With some projects they have music from
soundtracks they like, or bands they like and those pieces may become my
inspiration; but a good producer can inspire good music through relaying
their passion for the project and what they believe they need musically.
My inspiration for the Majesty music was just that. Working with the Producer
Rob Caswell was all I needed to get started on the score. Since I
was familiar with Medieval & Renaissance music I was rearing
to go right away after our initial talks. Another point which you
may find interesting is that many top notch working composers do not rely
on inspiration to write music. Inspiration is one of those things
that comes and goes and cannot always be relied upon. A teacher of
mine said that composition is like working on your biceps. The more
you work on them the stronger they become. This is true in my case,
I rely more on my compositional muscles to get me through projects than
pure inspiration. Inspiration and passion are very important but
so are strong compositional muscles.
Dragon: Did Cyberlore
have a clear vision of what they wanted, or did they leave it up to your
expertise?
Manthei:
It was a little bit of both. Rob Caswell, the Producer, was my contact
person and we had a series of conversations about the game and the music
before a note was written. A good producer knows what he wants even
if he can't explain it in musical terms. I try to ask producers to
give me a series of adjectives to describe what they want the music to
be like. This really helps because they don't have to be a musical
expert to get their desires and ideas across. Working with Rob was
really great because of his ability to explain what he liked and didn't
like. On pieces where I had to change certain parts, he was clear
on what he wanted changed and why. Once I did the revision he approved
them right away so there was no back and forth between many revisions that
can take place when a composer and Producer aren't seeing eye to eye.
Rob had a clear vision about the music
for Majesty. He wanted the music to be medieval with a bit of fantasy,
but it had to be orchestral in that it sounded more authentically medieval
than an updated style that incorporated medieval elements. The score
was to be more classical medieval than a modern medieval style. Once
he and I were clear on his vision for the music it was my job to turn that
vision into music. The process of taking adjectives and directions
and turning it into music is not an easy one to write about. It's
really more of a left brain thing that is best described as 'This is what
I do'. I knew Rob and I were on the same wavelength when he accepted
my first piece on the first pass. I started with the Majesty main
theme. The rest of the project went just as smoothly.
Dragon: How many
different pieces did you write for Majesty, and how many were actually
used in the game?
Manthei:
6 pieces total.
1. Opening Cinematic 2:30
2. Majesty Main Theme 3:00
3. Epic Quest Theme 2:00
4. Early Game Music 7:00
5. Mid Game Music 7:00
6. End Game Music 7:00
The Opening Cinematic music goes with the
intro video that plays when you start the game up. The Majesty Main
Theme (which is available on my website
and Cyberlore's) plays during
the main menu screens and setup screens. The Epic Quest Theme is
played when you go on a specific epic quest. Then the rest of the
music is the 21 minutes of game play music that runs during the actual
game. I have yet to work with another company that asked me to do
seven minute pieces. This has to be the most interesting thing that
they asked me to do. For their game it makes sense. It being
a Kingdom Simulation where you slowly build your kingdom, Cyberlore wanted
longer looping pieces to play during the appropriate times in your kingdom's
life. So when you start the game, you will hear the Early Game Music
which starts off very slow and mellow. The music attempts to match
the pace of the game so when you get to the end of the game, the End Game
Music is much more active and exciting than the Early Game Music.
Having seven minutes to create a piece was new to me. I put 3 or
4 ideas in each seven minute piece so it had lots of variety. I think
it would take the listener an hour or two of listening before he was extremely
familiar with the loop and even longer before he would start to hum it
in his sleep.
Dragon: Are you happy
with what you have done for Majesty?
Manthei:
Yes. I think it has a very original take on medieval music yet it
is still very classical and genre specific. I want my music to always
have a sense in it that is original and says 'Kevin Manthei' while it also
does its job in capturing the correct style and mood. The proof
is always with the client on how well one composed. Rob Caswell and
the guys at Cyberlore are very happy with the music and have let me know
on several occasions. It's hard to say this without sounding arrogant!
Dragon: What tools
did you use to compose the music for Majesty?
Manthei:
I used my samplers and extensive sample library. I don't talk about
my equipment much because I feel it's more about what you do with it than
what you have.
Dragon: Do you have
any suggestions for a someone who is thinking of composing as a future
career?
Manthei:
Be prepared to be a smart, savvy business person, and realize that they
aren't coming around knocking on your door if you don't let them know you
exist. Selling yourself is the most important part of this business.
Of course it helps to be a talented composer as well!
Dragon: Can you give
us any idea of any current gaming projects you are working on?
Manthei:
Besides Activision's "Redemption" and Shiny's "Sacrifice" which I talked
about before, I am always working on interesting things. I
just finished working with the talented artists over at Disney On-Line.
They are coming out with a Broadband version of their "Worlds Of Disney"
stories that are interactive stories on-line with voice-over and digital
quality music. For this project, I originally did the music tracks
as general midi but then a few months ago they approached me to take those
midi tracks and make them sound even better with my studio and create digital
tracks. The music and dialogue load in as mp3 files. You need
a fast connection to access these stories thus the "broadband" title.
I am working with Crave Entertainment doing
music for 2 trailers showcasing their upcoming game "Galerians".
I also am writing music for 4 cinematics for Activision's "Redemption."
Although I finished the bulk of the music a year ago, cinematics often
lag behind in production. I just finished writing additional music
for the major motion picture "Scream 3" which hit theaters February 4th.
I did twenty five minutes of full orchestral music for the film.
I am finishing up music for Electronic
Art's new outdoor sports titles. I did over fifty minutes of music
for them and their six titles. The one EA title that has been released
with my music in it is "Deer Hunt Challenge". I am in negotiations right
now to do a game for GT Interactive, Crave Entertainment, Sir-Tech Cananda
and Kemco.
We here at Majesty-Dragon
would like to thank Kevin for taking time out of his busy schedule to talk
with us. We wish him the best, and we know that his talent and hard
work will take him far. Hopefully we will hear more of his work in
the future.
-Dragon
If you would like to learn more about
Kevin
Manthei Music Productions, be sure to check out his Web
Page.
Interview
with Kevin Manthei, Composer
