MCB Interviews Stephen Baysted
“In the end nothing really comes close to the energy, musicality and inspiration of working with really talented musicians and singers.” - Stephen Baysted
There are few composers who seamlessly fuse traditional compositional methods with cutting edge hybrid electronic scoring techniques. Stephen Baysted (Need For Speed:Shift, C.A.R.S, Shift2: Unleashed) describes his love of writing with manuscript paper. “For me there’s nothing better than sitting in front of our grand piano with a pencil in my hand, sketching out harmonies and thematic ideas”. He aims, as he comments to “use as many live musicians as the budget allows." Baysted combines this approach with the technology that is now available to people working in the audio world. In his studio he uses Cubase 6 and Nuendo 5.5, and uses Pro Tools to mix his creations. He also is a big fan of Spitfire Symphonic Strings - “nothing sounds quite like this wonderful library, except from the real thing.”
Given his love for, as he names it, “the core principles of composition” it isn't difficult to see how his list of compositional giants influence him to write. “Beethoven, Wagner, Elgar, Mahler, Strauss, Stravinsky and Holst teach us so much about line, colour, scale and texture”. By no means limited to the greats he says we must “keep listening to new work and new artists in all fields.” He lists John Williams, Hanz Zimmer and Harry Gregson-Williams among some of his favourites.
The gap between the budget for video game music and film music is rapidly diminishing. The gaming industry is capitalising on this by employing world class orchestras, producers and composers. “This enhances the game playing experience like never before," says Baysted. "Composition for games has altered hugely over the past 10 years or so and the role of music has evolved from being a minor bit part player, to something approaching the status of film music."
2012 looks to be a busy year for Baysted, as he is composing the soundtrack for Strange Factories (a feature length horror), Submerged (a short thriller), 4 major games (3 of which are being released over the coming months) and intriguingly for an online game (Skid Racer - available on the google chrome) that enables full 3D console graphics within a web browser, which Baysted describes as “kind of mindblowing”. Even with these commitments, Baysted remarks that he wishes to score a film or game based on warfare, broadening his compositional horizons even further.
For more information about Stephen Baysted visit his website here.
Thom Robson is a UK based Composer studying Music at the University of Leeds. Visit his site at ThomRobsonMusic.co.uk.