The seasoned tunesmith is usually drawn to horror-tinged video games like Lords of the Fallen, but enjoyed shifting tones for the feather-light Fae Farm.
By Thomas Quillfedt
Since he was a young kid, Cris Velasco has loved monsters.
When clearing out old closets, his family unearthed boxes and boxes of drawings of weird, fierce creatures that young Cris had dreamed up. He’d sneak out to a friend’s house to watch horror movies. In another life, he might have become an entomologist because of his attraction to insects; or work in the Jim Henson Creature Shop fuelling the nightmares of children everywhere.
For him, “fear is a visceral feeling. There’s nothing like being scared. [I don’t mean] fearing for your life while strapped to train tracks, but Lovecraftian, eldritch horror. Stephen King and Clive Barker novels, that kind of stuff.”
“Horror is such a dynamic genre that really allows me to explore the emotional depths of storytelling through music. In the right context almost anything can be scary. This gives me more creative freedom than any other type of score.”
“So Close Yet So Far” by Cris Velasco from Resident Evil 7: Biohazard:
Velasco is also an avid art collector, curating dark and surrealist art exhibitions in Los Angeles and Chicago, including ‘Wunderkammer’ celebrating eclectic and visionary artwork from Clive Barker; and ‘From The Depths’ showcasing paintings paying homage to H.P. Lovecraft.
Franchise hopper
“Regardless of the universe, some constants guide my approach. I start by immersing myself in the narrative and understanding their emotional core. I do imagine that these worlds are real, for instance with something like Borderlands: ‘I’m in the dusty desert, there are raiders out here with crazy guns and four-wheel drive trucks trying to kill me…’ What’s the soundtrack that plays in my head in these situations?”
“Things like Bloodborne, Resident Evil and Lords of the Fallen — those could be similar sounding scores, so I spend a lot of time early on working out what the signature sound of the game is. Even if it’s going to be a straight-up orchestral sound, there are so many different things you can do with that. For example, Lords of the Fallen and Fae Farm both use organic, orchestral instruments, but they couldn’t be further apart.
“Collaborating closely with a game’s creative team ensures a shared vision. Crafting new themes and then musical motifs that resonate with them ensures I’m providing a cohesive sonic identity. Flexibility is also key: adapting my style to match the unique demands of each project. This process allows me to create a musical tapestry that enhances the immersive experience across varied franchises.
“The beginning is my favourite stage of that process, exploring and figuring it out. I try to start with a Main Theme always, because that encapsulates the rest of the score. Sometimes that doesn’t work: Lords of the Fallen’s main theme was one of the last I wrote. To initiate a horror or darker score, I often begin by experimenting with unique sounds or instrumentation and pacing to evoke a gradual sense of tension and dread.”
“Adapting a score to the gameplay experience of an action-adventure versus a cozy sim feels rather obvious, since these are polar opposites. However, while I consider the player's actions, it's crucial for the creative and audio directors to provide clear direction. Their insights into the desired emotional impact help to guide my music. By maintaining open communication and understanding the gameplay dynamics, they can help me tailor the music to enhance the player's immersion.”
Entering a nightmare realm
Lords of the Fallen, however, is a game essentially about going to hell and murdering things.
On days when the projects crossed-over he would grab a cup of coffee in the morning and get to work on the former, lighter score. In the evening after dinner, he’d grab a glass of wine or scotch, turn on mood lighting, and enter the brooding realm of Axiom.
The Lords of the Fallen franchise launched in 2014 as an early ‘Souls-like’ title, following in the footsteps of FromSoftware’s breakout titles, the wickedly innovative Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls.
For the 2023 reboot (once more simply named Lords of the Fallen) Cris Velasco shared musical duties with Norwegian composer Knut Avenstroup Haugen, who was returning to the franchise. Haugen handled the sinister Radiant/Attestants faction, while Velasco scored the pure horror of the Umbral realm and the aggressive, warlike Rhogar.
Velasco recalls that he was brought onto the project because of a previous relationship: “One of the producers I worked with on a VR title wound up at Hexworks. He reached out and asked if I’d like to score Lords of the Fallen, and knew of my penchant for scoring that kind of dark fantasy game. I jumped at the chance!
“The game itself provided all the ‘aesthetic guardrails’ I needed. I’m a very visual person, and seeing the artwork and some early gameplay told me exactly how this game needed to sound. My studio [also provided] tons of inspiration.... It’s sort of a music studio-meets-dark art gallery. This project, maybe more than any other, suited my own personal aesthetics perfectly. It was such a pleasure.”
Riffing like a boss
It does, however, dial up the score to 11 for boss fights. This is where Velasco paid a lot of attention to detail in terms of the mood, scale, and pacing of a particular encounter.
His favourite cues from Lords of the Fallen include “Maw of Faith and “Deathless Duty”: “When I saw the gameplay, I felt like the music needed to really keep you on your toes. I had a lot of fun writing all those mixed meters. There’s something kinda scary about not being able to find the groove when you’re battling these monsters. The music feels like it’s just as much a part of the encounter as the boss is.”
“That’s one issue I sometimes have with game music: it can start to sound a bit formulaic. So I made sure ”Deathless Duty” was anything but. It can be quite a puzzle to string so many meters together and have it sound cohesive. A fun puzzle though!”
As the audio engine often needed to switch up intensity of score between boss ‘phases’, Velasco’s time signature hopping presented a bit of challenge to the game’s audio programmers who were trying to work out the meter changes. In the end, he handed over the MIDI files (in addition to stems) for certain tracks to help the team implement them into the game effectively.
Another aspect of Velasco’s cues was the use of strummed instruments, particularly for the Rhogar faction. “I wanted to create a rhythm without relying on percussion. But it did sound a bit too “happy” sometimes, so I pitched it all down an octave or two, and it gave it a really cool texture. I also used my own breath as a rhythmic device. As if you’re scared out of your mind and running for your life…”
Fae-ling to avoid a cozy embrace
Phoenix Labs’ Fae Farm is a far cry from the dark dealings or interstellar adventures of Velasco’s other projects. He jokes: “I actually tried to talk my way out of this one! I’ve been writing music for [action RPG] Dauntless, Phoenix Labs’ other released game, for many years. They wanted me to tackle Fae Farm as well. It just felt so far out of my wheelhouse though, and I wasn’t sure I’d do a good job. Putting yourself in an uncomfortable situation can really help release your creativity in ways you’d never expect, though. I quickly discovered my cozy side, and Fae Farm became an extremely fun experience.”
“It’s actually a really deep game, but doesn’t have the sense of scale that a dark fantasy adventure has, so you don’t need a giant orchestra. The intimate vibe of a smaller ensemble gels well with the game, especially since there are a lot of interior places.”
Despite having all the trappings of a so-called ‘wholesome’ or ‘cozy’ game, there is variety within Fae Farm’s score, with cues for mysterious mines and combat complementing the peaceful, sunny vibes.
Some of Velasco’s favourite tracks include two piano pieces for a rainy day in the game. “They’re meant to invoke some of my favourite jazz piano tunes from Vince Gauraldi on the “A Charlie Brown Christmas” album.”
He adds: “I also like “The Jumble’s Fugue” a lot, mostly because it was hard to write! I had to dust off some old music theory from college on that one.”
Whistle while you work
Fun Fae Farm fact: it was on this project that Velasco made his professional debut as a whistler.
He recalls: “We were in the studio and I had a whistling part, but nobody would do it. I'm like ‘hey, can you whistle?’ And most people are like ‘nah, not really.’ There’s not a big roster of LA session whistlers then! So I went out and whistled the melody into the mic.”
“It was super fun but I did feel that pressure. I got a bit of that ‘red light fever’: having the headphones on, hearing the click track and seeing the ‘now recording’ red light turn on. Suddenly what is normally so easy is like ‘oh no, I forgot how to whistle. Can I get some water?’ As a player, the pressure completely changes between sitting on a concert stage and sitting in a recording booth. There's something oppressive about headphones and trying to express yourself through an instrument or your vocal cords.
“I would do a take and, to me, it sounded pretty good. After waiting a bit, they're like ‘okay, here we go again’. I asked: ‘what was wrong with it?’ And my orchestrator is in the booth and just says: ‘no specific feedback, just do it better.’ I realised that that’s how it feels to be a session player! The boot’s on the other foot this time.”
Ensemble size is instrumental to the vibes
While budget can significantly affect the size of the live ensemble recorded (as well as individual session players), of course it’s a creative decision to go with a string quartet over a symphony orchestra and choir, for example.
For Fae Farm, Velasco says: “a small ensemble just felt like a natural fit for this game. It was made up of a string quintet: four woodwinds, piano, and a variety of strummed, guitar-like instruments. This small ensemble and these folk elements were chosen to evoke a sense of intimacy and connection with this whimsical world. My ultimate goal was to have the players unknowingly humming along to the score as they might if they were one of the characters going about their daily business.”
Whether the ensemble is large or small, “they both significantly shape the music's relationship to the player. In titles with a BIG orchestra and choir, the grandeur enhances epic moments, creating a powerful experience.”
The bulk of the live-recorded elements for Lords of the Fallen were performed by the Budapest Scoring Orchestra and Choir. Velasco placed a lot of trust in the sessions, having previously recorded several projects in the Hungarian capital.
Fear in their voices
For lyrics, Velasco deployed a mixture of Sanskrit, Latin, and “nonsense that sounded cool” to create this effect, even if it were only subliminal. This contrasted with Haugen using Hungarian lyrics, translated from English, to avoid the more common choral use of Latin.
Velasco admits: “whispering is so creepy to me. There's this whole ASMR thing that everybody seems to be into. For me, it's super relaxing — quiet whispering done in a pleasant way can be tingle-inducing.
“My wife is the opposite. She absolutely loses it if she hears whispering — like nails on a chalkboard. There can be something inherently scary about whispering… If the lights are out and there's this chattering coming from somewhere… That's super creepy. I wanted to use that rather than tingly ASMR whispers,
“It's all context in horror. A boy soprano singing in a sacred setting for the Pope or something would be a beautiful, moving, religious experience. Put that into Lords of the Fallen and suddenly it's creepy as hell.”
Despite the odd stroll on the cozy side, for Velasco — the child that adored abominable monstrosities — the musical tools that appeal most are those that unsettle and disturb.
Cris Velasco is a composer for media – crisvelasco.com | x.com/MonarchAudio | instagram.com/monarchaudio | Spotify
Check availability on the Lords of the Fallen soundtrack vinyl, and find the streaming links: lacedrecords.com/collections/lords-of-the-fallen
Fae Farm is now streaming: soundtracks.lnk.to/faefarmWE
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