Top Score
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Top Score
Some of the scores for video games are incredibly intricate and deserve recognition, which is why we've created Top Score: a series of podcasts dedicated to the music that accompanies soldiers through battle, sorcerers through forests and aliens through space.
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Top Score: SonicPicnic and Awesomenauts
The soundtrack for the game 'Awesomenauts' sounds like an alien radio station. The music was created by a group of composers who call themselves Sonic...
Composer Ryan Ike got his career started at 'Gunpoint'
Composer Ryan Ike got his first big break in video-game composition by answering an open call for composers on Twitter for a game called 'Gunpoint'. H...
Serious music for a casual game
Millions of people around the world play the 'casual' game Candy Crush Soda Saga, but composer Johan Holmstrom took the music very seriously, even rec...
A musicologist's look at 'Final Fantasy VI'
Ryan Thompson is a PhD candidate in musicology at the University of Minnesota, with a special interest in ludomusicology. What is that, you ask? Ludom...
Tom Salta's bold choice for subtle music
The new game 'Spartan Strike' exists in an audio-dominant world. To make sure he could still capture a player's attention, composer Tom Salta decided...
Top Score says, 'Thank You, Pierce'
Top Score says "thank you" to production assistant Pierce Huxtable for one year of great work. Pierce's position was funded by a (non-renewable) grant...
What's old-school is new again for Michael Schiciano
Michael Schiciano joins Emily Reese on this week's Top Score to talk about old-school and modern approaches to composing. Thanks to the burgeoning mob...
Do a Barrel Roll create innovative covers of game music
The orchestral-rock video game cover band Do a Barrel Roll stopped by Classical MPR to record a set and to chat with Emily Reese, host of Top Score. '...
Sam Dillard is a one-man music-making machine
Completely self taught, Sam Dillard not only composes music, but he also performs and records his work. Recently hired by Kinect for its new Harry Pot...
Chris Huelsbeck's career leaps to next stage
The enduring success of composer Chris Huelsbeck's early works has created a fan following in his native Germany and across the world. His work inspir...
John Robert Matz composes for concert band and video games
Chicago-based composer John Robert Matz isn't strictly a video-game music creator. He also writes for concert band. On this week's Top Score, Matz tal...
Leslie Ann Jones is a Jedi of sound engineers
The director of music recording and scoring at Skywalker Sound, Leslie Ann Jones oversees all sound production in the facilities massive scoring stage...
Triforce Quartet: from one recital to working ensemble
What started out as a one-gig quartet for Chad Schwartz's senior recital has grown into a touring, viable music group. All four members of Triforce Qu...
Scoring Helsinki and 'The Legend of Grimrock II'
From a small studio in Finland, the men of Scoring Helsinki have created a big sound for the dungeon-crawling game, 'The Legend of Grimrock II'. Hear...
Top Score: Composer Paul Ruskay
On this week's Top Score, Emily Reese talks with composer Paul Ruskay, who created the soundtrack for 'Homeworld Remastered'. He explains how he broug...
San Francisco Conservatory of Music stretches bounds
On a recent trip to the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Emily stopped by the San Francisco Conservatory of Music to learn more about the...
Composing music in full color
Composer Daniel Sadowski possesses that rare ability to see music in color, so when he was asked to compose music for the vivid game 'Stormthrone', it...
missingNo's jazzy video-game arrangements
Seven-piece jazz ensemble missingNo arrange video game music into complex, catchy jazz and funk-infused pieces. They are Emily Reese's guests on this...
Penka Kouneva and a composer's 'authentic voice'
Do men and women compose differently? Is there such thing as 'masculine' or 'feminine' music? Is defining music that way inherently sexist? This week'...
Top Score: Brutal honesty brings success on 'Massive Chalice'
Composing duo Brian Trifon and Brian Lee White (aka Finishing Move) met with Top Score host Emily Reese to discuss the game Massive Chalice and the ch...
A sweet and dramatic score for 'Ori and the Blind Forest'
After four years of soundtrack development, the score for the game 'Ori and the Blind Forest' rested on one composer's ability to unite new musicians...
Creating powerful and engaging game soundtracks
Composer, audio engineer and voice actor Alexander Brandon joins Emily Reese on this week's Top Score to talk about creating soundtracks that support...
Heard melodies are sweet for a Grecian game
Composer Marios Aristopoulos has scored the video game, 'Apotheon', a game set in ancient Greece that combines Grecian art styles and 2D platform game...
Top Score: Cris Velasco goes for Baroque
In creating the soundtrack for 'Assassin's Creed Unity: Dead Kings', composer Cris Velasco used traditional sounds, including arpeggios, counterpoint...
Jeff Ball: from commercial fisherman to composer
The California-based composer and violinist has spent significant time living and working in Alaska. He still draws inspiration from the beauty and so...
Top Score: Composer Billy Martin
Composer Billy Martin is known for writing soundtracks with comedic and with jazz elements. This week on Top Score, Emily Reese talks to Martin about...
Top Score: Peter McConnell and the music for 'Hearthstone'
Composer Peter McConnell felt pressure to write great music for the game 'Hearthstone', which was projected to be a big seller. McConnell is Emily Ree...
Top Score: Jason Graves and 'The Order: 1886'
To compose the music for 'The Order: 1886', Jason Graves removed instruments that don't carry a heavy sound. Violins and high woodwinds were thrown ou...
Top Score: Composer Winifred Phillips
A highly versatile composer, Winifred Phillips has created music for the ever-adorable 'LittleBigPlanet 3' and for the brutal 'Assassin's Creed III: L...
Top Score: Jason Graves and the 'Evolve' soundtrack
To create a reactive soundtrack for the five simultaneous players of 'Evolve', composer Jason Graves created hundreds of short pieces of music. And he...
Top Score: Composer Peter McConnell, 'Grim Fandango'
When composer Peter McConnell finished scoring the video game 'Grim Fandango' 1998, he asked people living in his neighborhood to be the instrumentali...
Top Score: Jukio 'Kozilek' Kallio and 'LUFTRAUSERS'
Written by Finnish electronic dance music (EDM) composer Jukio 'Kozilek' Kallio, the thumping score to the new game 'Luftrausers' contains both club a...
Top Score: Composer Ben Prunty and Faster Than Light
For composer Ben Prunty, the glamour of scoring video games did not come without effort. While working alternately as a janitor, Google diagnostician...
Top Score: Jesper Kyd and 'Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel'
For the latest 'Borderlands' release, the game's developers wanted a new sound. Their instruction to composer Jesper Kyd was simple: Bring back the '8...
Top Score: Composer Jason Graves
Composer Jason Graves talks about his score for 'Tomb Raider' and about writing memorable music for video games. Hear it on this week's episode of Top...
Top Score: Composer Silas Hite
It's possible to turn on your TV and find a show scored by Silas. The commercial break could then include his work. If you want a movie, there are mor...
Top Score's top five game soundtracks of 2014
Top Score, which is part of the Infinite Guest podcast network, is counting down the best game soundtracks of 2014. A score's creativity, ingenuity, e...
Top Score: White Paper Games and NJ Apostol
Indie game developers White Paper Games took on a seemingly impossible project for an untested, six-member team. They wanted to create a free-roaming,...
Top Score: Composer Trevor Morris
Trevor Morris received his first commission at 13 years old, when he wrote a song for the Pope. Now, Morris's commissions are for the 'Dragon Age' vid...
Top Score: the work of composing duo known as The Flight
Composers Joe Henson and Alexis Smith form a composing duo called The Flight. They've been working together on music for more than 20 years, including...