Garść informacji na temat tego jak powstawał album z "Lair"
Jeden z wpisów podejrzewam że ma związek ze mną bo to ja na początku roku 2013 zapytałem LLL na facebooku o wydanie i wtedy dostałem odpowiedź że pracują już nad tym
One of the flagship video game titles for the PlayStation 3, Lair was released in the fall of 2007 from Sony Computer Entertainment. Promising great game play, unprecedented freedom of action, and breathtaking cinematic sequences, the game producers wanted to hire a Hollywood composer to add an even more epic quality to their product, and reached out to American composer John Debney. Excited by the first images of the game, as well as a budget that allowed for a symphonic orchestra, the composer of Cutthroat Island and The Relic immediately agreed to write the music.
Although written for a video game, the score for Lair (with additional music composed by Kevin Kaska) never sounds hindered. Debney has surpassed the technical constraints of the medium to provide such a huge score, an old-school score, which evokes from its earliest measure an exciting fantasy world. It is as though Debney has summoned the spirits of Korngold and Rozsa and, with a tip of the hat to Williams, Horner and Poledouris, delivers a score with exceptional orchestral writing at the level of his now classic Cutthroat Island score. The thematic aspects of the score are very strong, and contain great action motives. Performed by a group of 90 musicians, the extremely rich thematic writing immediately places the action. The orchestrations showcase the brass and percussion, and accompanied by mesmerizing solo vocals by Lisbeth Scott, you’ll truly believe you’re riding a majestic dragon! Lair easily earns its place next to Conan the Barbarian by Basil Poledouris, as a truly epic score.
In early 2013, when La-La Land Records’ MV Gerhard revealed that an expanded release of Debney’s Lair was in the works, Underscores took the opportunity to approach the label with the idea of following every step of the album’s development and production. Album producer and art director Dan Goldwasser kindly provided “log entries” documenting his work on the project.
Dokumentacja pracy nad albumem do "Lair"
Feb 28, 2013
Found out today from La-La Land Records that we will be releasing John Debney’s score to Lair, and I’ve been assigned to work on the project. Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) already has a one disc album from 2007 and we are going to expand upon it to make a 2-disc release. But first we need to find out what assets exist.
March 2, 2013
Coincidentally, I saw Debney tonight at an event, and I told him that we were going to be doing a release of Lair; he seemed very excited and willing to help us in any way possible. I need to reach out to him this week to see what assets he has.
March 11, 2013
Picked up the materials that Debney had sent over to La-La Land. This included an already-mastered disc (which was the previously released 2007album), as well as a second disc which had a few extra tracks. Interesting to note that there was pen notation on the back track list indicating an alternate (preferred) album sequence, which is not what came out in 2007. There was also a CD-R of synth demos, which might have some useful bonus material. Since Sony will be mastering this new album, we need to get unmastered assets - so I emailed Debney to see if he could help with that, and I’m now waiting for John’s assistant, Jaime Hartwick, to see what they have.
March 13, 2013
Just received all of the final stereo mixes (unmastered) from Debney’s office. This gives us over 160 minutes of music to work with, which will be pared down to the 2-disc set. Using the original concept album assembly (which is different than the 2007 digital release) as a basis, I worked to put together the album. I combined a few cues to create lengthier tracks that flowed together nicely, and sequenced it for an enjoyable listening experience.
March 16, 2013
After listening to the first assembly pass, I made a few adjustments to a couple of the tracks, including merging two tracks to create a more satisfying experience, as well as moving a few tracks around so that similar material doesn’t feel repetitive.
March 27, 2013
Now that Debney has signed off on the album assembly, I consolidated all the material and uploaded the 24-bit, 48 kHz album assembly to the SCEA FTP server. Sony then came back and said they wanted to change the track titles for a bunch of the tracks, so that they matched the previously-released album (so that people knew which tracks were new and what was already available). They also provided some of the artwork assets, so I was able to get a start figuring out some of the booklet and disc artwork.
August 10, 2013
Once I got Jeff Bond’s liner notes, I took the available art assets that Sony had provided and put together the artwork package. I still needed to get final credits, but will get those when the album is mastered.
December 30, 2013
The first round of album masters arrived today from Sony, and I’ll be listening to them and giving them feedback and notes next week.
February 6, 2014
After two passes, the album master has been tweaked and sounds phenomenal. It’s been approved!
February 11, 2014
The artwork has been sent to SCEA for their notes and feedback.
February 28, 2014
SCEA had some minor adjustments to the album artwork, which were implemented, and now we’re just waiting on final signoff!
March 9, 2014
SCEA has signed off on the artwork, and the album master has gone off to the plant, and the artwork off to the printer for pre-press proofing!
March 13, 2014
The artwork has been proof-approved, and is off to manufacturing. Debney has agreed to sign a bunch of booklets for the people who order on the La-La Land website when it’s released, likely in early April.
The 2-disc set of Lair will be available for order on 04/08/2014 at La-La Land.
Album credits:
Music composed by John Debney
Additional music by Kevin Kaska
Produced by John Debney
Conducted by Nick Ingman
Orchestrations by Kevin Kaska
Score recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, United Kingdom
Music recorded by Simon Rhodes
Featuring the songwriting and voice of Lisbeth Scott
Ethnic vocals by Tanja Tzarovska
Ethnic instruments and vocals recorded by Jimmy Hoyson
Music mixed by Joel Yarger, Jonathan Mayer & Jimmy Hoyson
Soundtrack album produced by Dan Goldwasser & John Debney
Executive producers for La-La Land Records : MV Gerhard & Matt Verboys
Album art direction : Dan Goldwasser at Warm Butter Design
Lair Concert Suite performed by the Orchestra Filarmonia and the Ziryab Choir, conducted by John Debney