# Composer Interview - Wilbert Roget, II (Call of Duty: WWII, Mortal Kombat 11, Star Wars: Vader Immortal, etc)



## Peter Wayne (Jul 30, 2020)

Composer interview with Wilbert Roget, II is now up on my Youtube channel and website.

On this episode Wilbert talks about his early career and networking. How he starts writing a new cue before touching the DAW. How the Call of Duty WWII score was written to avoid sonic conflicts with the sound effects. Plus a lot of other interesting topics. Enjoy the episode and be sure to subscribe!

Feedback is always appreciated as I will be doing more of these interviews in the future.


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## NoamL (Jul 30, 2020)

No surprise Wil writes away from the DAW - he has chops!


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## jonathanparham (Jul 30, 2020)

been enjoying Call of Duty WWII sound track


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## Peter Wayne (Jul 30, 2020)

NoamL said:


> No surprise Wil writes away from the DAW - he has chops!


Yeah and he uses waterproof post-it notes in case he gets ideas in the shower.


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## Traz (Jul 30, 2020)

Peter Wayne said:


> Yeah and he uses waterproof post-it notes in case he gets ideas in the shower.



That's so awesome! 

I've been looking forward to more of these interviews. Just started this one! Going to have to watch the Mikolai Stroinski next, didn't realize I had missed that one.


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## davetbass (Jul 31, 2020)

The technical information in this is great! I use Reaper also so maybe a little more meaningful to me, but still the more details of how top level guys like this actually work are very appreciated, thanks!


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## SampleHoarder (Jul 31, 2020)

Peter Wayne said:


> Composer interview with Wilbert Roget, II is now up on my Youtube channel and website.
> 
> On this episode Wilbert talks about his early career and networking. How he starts writing a new cue before touching the DAW. How the Call of Duty WWII score was written to avoid sonic conflicts with the sound effects. Plus a lot of other interesting topics. Enjoy the episode and be sure to subscribe!
> 
> Feedback is always appreciated as I will be doing more of these interviews in the future.



I can’t believe I was unaware of your channel. What a great interview! Subscribed!


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## Peter Wayne (Jul 31, 2020)

SampleHoarder said:


> I can’t believe I was unaware of your channel. What a great interview! Subscribed!


Thank you! I only very recently started the interviews. But hoping to do a lot more!


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## Peter Wayne (Jul 31, 2020)

davetbass said:


> The technical information in this is great! I use Reaper also so maybe a little more meaningful to me, but still the more details of how top level guys like this actually work are very appreciated, thanks!


Thanks! Yeah I really like the technical stuff too. Let me know if there are any other info you want to know as it helps me come up with suitable questions for each guest.


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## Petrucci (Jul 31, 2020)

I also watched this one and the one with Mikolai Stroinski - very interesting indeed, thank you!


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## davetbass (Aug 2, 2020)

Peter Wayne said:


> Thanks! Yeah I really like the technical stuff too. Let me know if there are any other info you want to know as it helps me come up with suitable questions for each guest.



I listened to it again, as I'm kind of new to orchestral samples. This guy had some pretty generous and detailed answers compared to some other interviews (not yours). For example when he mentioned he liked the earlier version of a library before they cleaned up the attack because it had a more realistic feel for his style of playing in parts vs drawing midi. If in future interviews some one doesn't go this deep conversationally, you could maybe ask what qualities they prefer in their favorite libraries' articulations or even in general if there is reluctance to criticize certain products. Thanks again!


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## Peter Wayne (Aug 2, 2020)

davetbass said:


> I listened to it again, as I'm kind of new to orchestral samples. This guy had some pretty generous and detailed answers compared to some other interviews (not yours). For example when he mentioned he liked the earlier version of a library before they cleaned up the attack because it had a more realistic feel for his style of playing in parts vs drawing midi. If in future interviews some one doesn't go this deep conversationally, you could maybe ask what qualities they prefer in their favorite libraries' articulations or even in general if there is reluctance to criticize certain products. Thanks again!


Sure, I can certainly dive deeper into sample library content if that's a point of interest . Thanks!


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## Rasoul Morteza (Aug 3, 2020)

I very much agree with his point that game music is only good if people can hear it. A crucial point that is often neglected. I don't want to name companies here but... some are god awful in incorporating music into their games. And some of them have in-house composers which further makes no sense. 

Like what is the purpose of having your team write an entire character theme if people are only going to hear the first 2 seconds?

It is also for the same reason that I'm not a fan of using the same amount of ambient/tree/far mics generally found in film music, in video-game music as well. Some of the best video game music out there (in terms of immersion) are not shy of using a good amount of spot/close mics and it just works, because it cuts through all the other sound FX and dialogue present in the game. It is also easier to mix that entire soup.

@Peter Wayne Also thank you for not interrupting your host like many other interviewers, keep it up!

Cheers


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## Peter Wayne (Aug 3, 2020)

Rasoul Morteza said:


> I very much agree with his point that game music is only good if people can hear it. A crucial point that is often neglected. I don't want to name companies here but... some are god awful in incorporating music into their games. And some of them have in-house composers which further makes no sense.
> 
> Like what is the purpose of having your team write an entire character theme if people are only going to hear the first 2 seconds?
> 
> ...


Thanks so much for the feedback! 

Yeah Wilbert really hit the nail on the head about scoring for games. It's not just about writing great music but it's also about sonically working together with all the sound effects. I've heard other composers do this as well. But the major problem is games are very difficult to mix because you have to account for every situation and both music and sound effects are being created at the same time. Gameplay can change on a dime and all the sound effects and music have to dynamically respond, which is very challenging. The key is making the content work together from the beginning. While some composers totally get it and consciously listen and compare their music to the sound effects in game as they write, unfortunately some do not and the mix will suffer when there are sonic clashes. You also are limited to the amount of music stems you can run in real time due to hardware limitations. 

Another point worth mentioning is some studios mix the music very loud to the point that you can't even hear the sound effects. But this is generally a *conscious* and *creative* choice, especially in Japan. I think it's also the reason why some Japanese companies make the sound effects very harsh, otherwise you can't hear them over the loud music. Sometimes it's hard to understand this stylistic choice. But after living in Japan for the last 8 years, I've realized it just a matter of different taste. It's just that simple.

I agree that mic choices matter. But I think they main point is how the music is mixed. Games budgets greatly vary. Some have the budget for full orchestras with professional mixing and mastering engineers focusing on the final mix. Others don't even give the composer enough to get a professional mixing engineer to help improve the mix. I think if you gave all the stems to a professional mix engineer, plus a few different stems of the in-game sound effects. And said "make the music sonically worth better with the sound effects". The results would be much better across the board. Either way, no matter how things are done it always has to be a conscious choice from the start.


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