As part of our 2009 Project G initiative, launched to shed more light on video games starring the King of the Monsters, we’re excited to present an interview with Heavy Melody, a talented team of composers and sound designers that includes Neil Goldberg, Dave Fraser and Ari Winters. Genre fans will likely recognize them as the creative force behind the outstanding soundtrack for Godzilla: Unleashed.

Thanks to Heavy Melody, we’re also thrilled to offer exclusive MP3 downloads, featuring the promotional music used to market the game:

E3 Trailer Music – E3 Trailer Music (with sounds)

Chris Mirjahangir: How did the project come about?

Neil Goldberg, Dave Fraser and Ari Winters: We were contacted by Keewan Herr, a producer at Atari; we had worked on several other projects with them and thought it would be really fun.

Chris: Were you fans of the Godzilla movies prior to working on the game?

Neil, Dave, and Ari: Yeah! What’s not to like? Impossibly large gnarly creatures, and pyrotechnics for days… not to mention mass destruction!

Chris: Any favorite Godzilla films?

Neil, Dave, and Ari: We’d have to go with Godzilla (1954). Nothing beats the original!

Chris: Who was it that decided each monster would get their own theme and each faction their own musical style?

Neil, Dave, and Ari: When we received the design doc for the game (we came in at the end of the development cycle of the title), we presented the idea/concept to have each faction be represented with a different musical style. They thought that was a great idea, and went with it.

Chris: What movies did you watch for inspiration?

Neil, Dave, and Ari: While we watched a few of the classics, we spent more time with the design document, artwork, and the builds of the game to get a sense of what would work musically. The developers and Atari wanted to go with a more modern sound for the score, so we were given a bit of liberty to develop the individual themes for the factions.

Chris: What monsters were the easiest to write music for? Hardest?

Neil, Dave, and Ari: Jet Jaguar was quick and fun because of his “nimble nature”. We went with the high energy metal vibe. The themes for Godzilla and SpaceGodzilla were the most difficult. These were the most recognizable characters, and took the most work to get right.

Chris: How was the music recorded? Live instruments or synth instruments?

Neil, Dave, and Ari: Actually, it’s, a combination of both. We integrate a number of orchestral libraries together to produce a really effective midi orchestra, and then layer on live players to round out what’s there. It’s been very effective for us. In the case of the Mech faction, all of the guitars and bass were played live.

Chris: What’s your recording setup?

Neil, Dave, and Ari: You can check out some of our suites at the website (www.heavymelodymusic.com). We have 4 digital recording suites, all using dual G5 Macs, custom music PCs, digital mixing consoles, a live room, a live guitar recording room, tons of mics, and external audio processing hardware. We also use proprietary sounds and virtual instruments developed by our sister company, Heavyocity Media, Inc. (www.heavyocity.com).

Chris: What are your favorite tracks and why? Mine was the Mech faction. My only complaint is that the music wasn’t longer!

Neil, Dave, and Ari: Definitely Godzilla’s track, because of its grandiose nature. Space Godzilla because it is dark, dissonant, and impacting. Moguera, because it is just so “metal”! Biollante, because its so unpredictable. [Regarding their length…] yeah, it definitely would have been fun to have the tracks a little longer, but we had to follow the guidelines we were given.

Chris: Who played what instrument on the soundtrack? Who did the writing?

Neil, Dave, and Ari: We all wrote different tracks and used a mixture of samples and live performance. Dave focused on Earth Defenders, Neil focused on Mechs and Mutants (Neil played guitar and bass) and Ari added tracks to Mutants and Earth Defenders (Ari played violin). Also, another member of our team, Mark, played trumpet on a few of our tracks as well.

Chris: What was your working relationship with Atari like during this time? Did you ever hear from Toho on what they thought of the music?

Neil, Dave, and Ari: We had creatives at Atari and Pipeworks (the developer) providing feedback on the music. It was a pretty smooth process, overall. We never got any feedback from Toho, to be honest.

Chris: With the absence of Toho music, fans were skeptical of how good the music would be. I can easily say that you’ve pretty much pleased all the fans, which is a VERY tough thing to do.

Neil, Dave, and Ari: We are delighted to hear that. Thanks so much for the kudos!

Chris: How long did you have to work on the music?

Neil, Dave, and Ari: Between 3 and 4 weeks.

Chris: That’s pretty impressive for such a short amount of time. At what stage of the game’s development cycle did you begin?

Neil, Dave, and Ari: We were brought in during the last 2 to 3 months of development.

Chris: Did you play the game to help you compose ideas for the music? Did you watch videos or look at concept art?

Neil, Dave, and Ari: We initially referenced concept art and design docs. Toward the end, we were able to play through some of the builds.

Chris: What do you think of the way Godzilla: Unleashed came out?

Neil, Dave, and Ari: We had a lot of fun playing it on the Wii, beating each other up. We loved being able to destroy so much of the environment… it was like taking the classic arcade game, Rampage, and multiplying it by 100 on the destruction scale!

Chris: What was the mood during work on the music? Was pressure ever felt?

Neil, Dave, and Ari: There’s always going to be a certain amount of pressure when you’re working in a creative capacity with looming deadlines. We had a fairly large body of work to accomplish, but are pretty well used to dealing with tight schedules.

Chris: What, if any, music from the Godzilla movies inspired you while writing the music for Godzilla: Unleashed?

Neil, Dave, and Ari: No specific themes, but with the Earth Defenders, we wanted to pay homage to the classic big orchestra sound.

Chris: On December 23, courtesy of Toho Kingdom and myself, the soundtrack to Godzilla: Unleashed was released to the world on after it was given to us by Atari (and accompanied by two fan made cd covers). What was your reaction?

Neil, Dave, and Ari: We were really psyched to hear about it. Any time anyone can find enjoyment in the sound and music we create, it’s very gratifying.

Chris: I saw on the main page of your site that you guys found out in late April. Atari didn’t notify you?

Neil, Dave, and Ari: Actually, we found it through some posts on YouTube.

Chris: What was your reaction to the fan made CD covers?

Neil, Dave, and Ari: They were really cool. It is exciting to see how passionate the fans are

Chris: If given the chance would you like to work on another Godzilla title?

Neil, Dave, and Ari: Absolutely. It’s a great franchise, and we love working on anything that has a serious edge. Godzilla has just that!

Chris: Well, that’s it for the questions. THANK YOU for taking the time out for the interview!

Neil, Dave, and Ari: Our pleasure!