‘Star Wars Jedi: Survivor’ Composers Speak On Crafting New Music for the Franchise
Game Informer recently published an interview with Stephen Barton and Gordy Haab, the composers behind Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. In it, the pair discussed the philosophy behind their work and the evolution of Star Wars music.
Creating music for the Star Wars franchise is no small feat, especially considering John Williams’ legacy; composer Gordy Haab spoke on what the pair looks to for inspiration. Part of that is looking at what inspired Williams himself. Haab stated in the interview that their goal was to “stretch the sound” of Star Wars:
“Stylistically, we tend to take inspiration from the things that inspired the original scores, rather than trying to stick really close to the bone on the original scores themselves …
I’m taking a palette that already exists, and now I’m painting my own completely original painting. But I’m using the same colors.”
Composer Stephen Barton also spoke on how the music of Star Wars has also changed over the years. Barton points to the recent streaming shows and how those have helped evolve Star Wars past the original soundtracks. He states that the music composition of the franchise is constantly changing:
“I think it’s a really interesting moving target. The Mandalorian and Andor have been really good examples, I think, of things that have extended [the sound], where now people go, ‘Yeah, that’s Star Wars.’ Whereas if you said to someone ten years ago, ‘Hey, the recorder is gonna be a really important instrument to Star Wars,’ people would have been like, ‘What? Really?'”
Game Informer notes that while the interview was conducted virtually with the two composers separately located, they both had the same response to what makes a good video game soundtrack. The two answered in unison and said, “Emotional weight.”
The interview comes at a time when the game has received some major developments. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor received a new patch that helps stabilize the game to a more stable 60 FPS. But outside of the game, its director at Respawn Entertainment, Stig Asmussen, abruptly left the company (and Electronic Arts) while they were said to be working on multiple projects including a third Jedi game.
Born and raised in Hawaii, Jay Goodearl runs the YouTube Gaming channel “Good Games, Dude” His channel aims to open up video games to beginners and immediate players and help them understand what makes games the art form that it is.
