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[Music] Interview with the Desktop Dungeons composers: Danny Baranowsky and Grant Kirkhope

dislekciadislekcia
edited in Questions and Answers
The story of how two industry heavy hitters ended up composing amazing music for Desktop Dungeons. Danny explains how he started working with one of his childhood heroes :)

Thought it might be an interesting thing for the local composers here:
Thanked by 3Mexicanopiumdog Elyaradine Gazza_N

Comments

  • MexicanopiumdogMexicanopiumdog
    Thank you @dislkecia! I really appreciate some more audio-based content :D
  • MexicanopiumdogMexicanopiumdog
    I have a question though: "Why did you hire 2 composers for one job?" Both of them seem to come from totally different musical backgrounds...Danny came from a more self-taught side whereas Grant had studied Music at a college...Its very interesting seeing two different minds collaborating on such a project but what was the motivation behind choosing both?
  • dislekciadislekcia
    @Mexicanopiumdog: We didn't. DannyB came onboard like he explained in the interview: We met him at the IGF in 2011 and a couple of months later he emailed me asking who was doing our music, I replied with "Uh, you? If you want" and from then on we started working together. At one point, he asked if it might be cool for a friend of his to do a guest track, that friend turned out to be Grant. They liked working together so much that next GDC we had a meeting to chat about them doing the soundtrack as a team and it all just fell into place.

    Having both of them working on the game's music definitely worked out in our favor: The soundtrack is great, but they each have different fanbases that insta-bought the game because they were working on it. Good thing to have :)
    Thanked by 1Mexicanopiumdog
  • konmankonman
    Wow, This is interesting. Just choosing WHO you collaborate with can have a positive spin on your game! Interesting and noted. Artists obviously have fan-bases too... and they will play your game because their buy-in is the artists.

    "Uh, you? If you want" - was this really so nonchalant? I don't think so... well played :)
  • dislekciadislekcia
    konman said:
    "Uh, you? If you want" - was this really so nonchalant? I don't think so... well played :)
    That's exactly how it went. I had no idea what to say... I mean, what DO you say when one of the most well known indie game musicians is asking about your game's music? Turns out that was the right thing, now we're friends :)
  • MexicanopiumdogMexicanopiumdog
    edited
    Turns out that was the right thing, now we're friends :)
    Any chance I can contact them through you for some tipps? :)



  • Gazza_NGazza_N
    edited
    What struck me were the little things Danny picked up as he lrnd2orchestra from Grant. Coming from someone who works purely electronically/in MIDI, adhering to the instumental build of an actual orchestra when doing orchestral music is something that seems blatantly obvious now, but that I wouldn't have thought about otherwise. Good stuff.
  • dislekciadislekcia
    @Mexicanopiumdog: Just tweet at them with a link to something you might want critique on, they're both really approachable despite being crazy busy.
  • GibboGibbo
    @Gazza_N: Yup it's definitely good to picture how an orchestra would sit in a live situation when planning instruments... using a layout image like this one ( http://www.gammaelectronics.com/images/Symphony-orchestya-layout-with-piano_small.jpg ) helps indicate where to place them in terms of L-R channels and reverb levels
    Thanked by 2Mexicanopiumdog Gazza_N
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