Finishing Move
Next Level Sound
“Scoring games is like concept art; we have discussions about what we’re trying to accomplish stylistically...” stylistically. For Borderlands 3, which is a massive game, they needed a number of composers. So as we were writing music, we would test and make sure how it worked, and then adjusted our writing to that.” “I think the big, broad brush of the process is that with most of the music in games, we have to picture it as interactive – you have to plan around how the players are going to experience that music,” Trifon offers. “The big differentiator between games and film or TV is that you’re not working to picture almost all of the time. You have to create something for the game and then put it in and play with how it interacts with the player’s approach to the game, and really test it and see how it makes you feel. “The other thing is that a game is triggering different parts of the brain – when you’re watching a film, it’s a pretty passive experience, but when you’re in a game, your mind is fully juiced, and you’re working. So the types of music and how you feel and perceive music totally changes in that context.” This requires a different approach to composition, and lots of iterations. Usually, Finishing Move are the last people to add their skillset to a game in terms of sonics and mastering: “We’re often putting assets directly into the build and testing them,” Trifon reveals.
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“Sometimes we’re actually placing in assets we’ve composed, and testing them. A big part of our process and something we really pride ourselves on is having a really great mix space and deep knowledge of the sonic process to make stuff sound good.” Adding Fusion to the Mix Helping aid the duo’s workflow is an SSL Fusion all-analogue 2U stereo outboard processor, utilising its five analogue colouration tools designed to bring the perfect combination of added tonal character, weight, and space to a mix bus or stereo stems, complete with that signature SSL analogue sound. Trifon was first introduced to SSL’s Fusion two years ago, after selling all his analogue gear. “I never really reclaimed what I was missing, so I finally bit the bullet [with Fusion] and I went back off the blocks for my master chain. I started building that piece by piece to get a sound that I wanted,” he explains. “Typically, I have a bigger mastering chain that has a couple of transformer processors and a couple of compressors, and then the Fusion. “I instantly loved the drive control on it – that sound of cascading transformers that I was missing. The transformers give you a bit of that. Fusion is the missing piece of the puzzle:
it’s not killing my dynamics, it’s filling up the sound in a way that behaves really nicely on cinematic stuff with strings and big drums, but also sounds amazing on pop, rock and EDM. That’s the cornerstone of how I use the Fusion: I love the drive control. I would pay the price of the unit for just the drive control!” Although this is not the only feature of Fusion that impresses him: “The other parts are also great, like the EQ – and the high frequency compressor is another amazing tool that most people don’t think about. They don’t thing about de-essing their whole mix, but when you’ve got a bunch of really harsh sample libraries and stuff that’s gone through the wringer, and been converted 1,000 times, it can have some nasty aliasing. “The high frequency compressor really helps settle that down in a way that’s a little bit more natural because it’s an analogue circuit. Also, using a plugin de-esser has this natural almost tape-style high frequency roll off. And that’s great.” The pair also like to add a bit to the width in terms of the stereo image control: “I use the insert for SSL like a 4K style VGA compressor,” he continues. “That goes in on most mixes. I love that insert, it adds a whole lot of value. It’s great for processing single tracks.” According to Trifon, in terms of working