Two genre changing series lose their music composers.

K

Kaon

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Composer Jack Wall, known for Mass Effect & Mass Effect 2 as well as Kelly Bailey - the composer most known for scoring the Half Life series - have parted ways with their respective developers.

 

http://www.gamezone.com/news/item/why_jack_wall_isnt_composing_mass_effect_3/ Gives some insight into why Jack Wall has chosen to depart from Bioware; the article also states his replacement for Mass Effect 3 will be Clint Mansell - known for his work on Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan (and if you're eagerly hoping for some glint of a history with space melodies) Moon also has a hauntingly beautiful soundtrack.

 

http://www.geek.com/articles/games/kelly-bailey-half-life-sound-designer-and-face-of-gordon-freeman-has-left-valve-2011037/ As the article states, it was recently discovered by a Steam user that Kelly Bailey was no longer part of the Valve employee list; after some questioning it was revealed Kelly had left Valve sometime late last year. While the reasoning behind his departure is yet unknown, it seems Mike Moransky (composer of the music behind TF2, L4D and a contributing composer for Portal) is next in line to take Kelly Baileys' place.

I just found it rather bemusing how two monumental game series both lost their musical composers prior to the release of what will be the third (perhaps final) and hopefully most impressive game from each developer..

While I love the work Clint Mansell has done and the romantic tie-in of space themes and deep orchestral music à la Moon, I'm not sure Mass Effect will be Mass Effect without the hint of 80s sci fi ambience that Jack Wall brought to the table. Mike Moransky also has huge shoes to fill, but his work on Portal 2 looks quite promising, so perhaps there is hope for Half Life 3 yet?

What do you guys think about the changes? Perhaps it's something that you won't be bothered by when the games are released, but the soundtracks from both the Half Life and Mass Effect series thus far are my all time favorites from any video game.

Here's hoping Kelly Bailey and Jack Wall can put their magnificent talents to use elsewhere. (Song links below)

Clint Mansell – Welcome to Lunar Industries (Moon)

Jack Wall -



Mike Moransky – Portal 2 Trailer Theme

Kelly Bailey –



 
Composer Jack Wall, known for Mass Effect & Mass Effect 2 as well as Kelly Bailey - the composer most known for scoring the Half Life series - have parted ways with their respective developers. 

http://www.gamezone.com/news/item/why_jack_wall_isnt_composing_mass_effect_3/ Gives some insight into why Jack Wall has chosen to depart from Bioware; the article also states his replacement for Mass Effect 3 will be Clint Mansell - known for his work on Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan (and if you're eagerly hoping for some glint of a history with space melodies) Moon also has a hauntingly beautiful soundtrack.

 

http://www.geek.com/articles/games/kelly-bailey-half-life-sound-designer-and-face-of-gordon-freeman-has-left-valve-2011037/ As the article states, it was recently discovered by a Steam user that Kelly Bailey was no longer part of the Valve employee list; after some questioning it was revealed Kelly had left Valve sometime late last year. While the reasoning behind his departure is yet unknown, it seems Mike Moransky (composer of the music behind TF2, L4D and a contributing composer for Portal) is next in line to take Kelly Baileys' place.

I just found it rather bemusing how two monumental game series both lost their musical composers prior to the release of what will be the third (perhaps final) and hopefully most impressive game from each developer..

While I love the work Clint Mansell has done and the romantic tie-in of space themes and deep orchestral music à la Moon, I'm not sure Mass Effect will be Mass Effect without the hint of 80s sci fi ambience that Jack Wall brought to the table. Mike Moransky also has huge shoes to fill, but his work on Portal 2 looks quite promising, so perhaps there is hope for Half Life 3 yet?

What do you guys think about the changes? Perhaps it's something that you won't be bothered by when the games are released, but the soundtracks from both the Half Life and Mass Effect series thus far are my all time favorites from any video game.

Here's hoping Kelly Bailey and Jack Wall can put their magnificent talents to use elsewhere. (Song links below)

Clint Mansell – Welcome to Lunar Industries (Moon)

Jack Wall -



Mike Moransky – Portal 2 Trailer Theme

Kelly Bailey –
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Clint Mansell did Moon?!? I loved that movie! Awesome soundtrack too, I'm torrenting it as soon as I post this...

 
I agree, absolutely loved Moon. I was worried when I first heard Clint was who Bioware hired to do the Mass Effect 3 soundtrack, but after realizing he was the composer behind Moon I'm now quite excited to see what he comes up with.

 
From experience i can say that changing a composer, when you've had the same one for so long, does effect the game. Frank Kelpacki worked for Westwood Studios and wrote all the music for the Command & Conquer games. But after EA bought them out he left and took his talents elsewhere, and you hear the difference in Command & Conquer 3 and 4. He did come back and work on a couple songs for Red Alert 3, and again, you can tell.

Also Akira Yamaoka, was the composer for the Silent Hill games(and the movie), but he left and there is a lot of speculation over what the next game will sound like.

With Half-Life, I really hope they can capture the essence of the music as we have heard it. I've rated HL2 as one of my top 5 soundtracks, ever. But TF2, L4D, and Portal all have great sounds to them, so I'm hopeful.

And I've never played Mass Effect, so I don't have any comment... :/

 
Holy crap, the Moon soundtrack is on my top of the best soundtrack's ever. And I love Clint Mansell. I Agree, but I think Kelly Bailey should make music for HL3 anyway... I can't imagine any other composser making music for HL

 
Holy crap, the Moon soundtrack is on my top of the best soundtrack's ever. And I love Clint Mansell. I Agree, but I think Kelly Bailey should make music for HL3 anyway... I can't imagine any other composser making music for HL
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Agree completely. I don't think I've ever heard music in a game that was so well placed as the tracks in the Half Life series. Everytime one came on it was always so perfectly timed; an adrenaline rush. I recall many times during Half Life 2 a song would play, then end so soon after leaving me wishing it was longer.. Dang tease is all they were hah.

 

From experience i can say that changing a composer, when you've had the same one for so long, does effect the game. Frank Kelpacki worked for Westwood Studios and wrote all the music for the Command & Conquer games. But after EA bought them out he left and took his talents elsewhere, and you hear the difference in Command & Conquer 3 and 4. He did come back and work on a couple songs for Red Alert 3, and again, you can tell.
Click to expand...
 

I don't know how they'll do the music for EP3/HL3 if they don't hire Kelly even as a freelancer. I'm sure they'll find someone amazing, but Kelly Bailey made such unbelievable stuff it's hard to think someone could replicate that.

 
Huh, I'd heard about Jack Wall and Clint Mansell, but the Kelly Bailey thing I hadn't heard. I'd wondered about it though, because it seems the last thing he scored was Episode 2. Mike seems to have scored everything since then.

Honestly, I think Mass Effect will be okay, but I'm going to miss Kelly's music in Half-Life.

 
Kelly Bailey left Valve? Shit, I loved his music. I already knew about Jack Wall.

But either way, the new guys they got seem to be very capable in their work.

 
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