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- Control Resonant composer Petri Alanko says he captures sounds using his iPhone or a field recorder, which he later transforms into harmonies
- He says, "The weirder, the better," but the studio doesn't have an "audio bible" for what it wants
- Alanko adds, "What I’ve noticed in my past: the worse the recording is, the better the outcome"
Control Resonant composer Petri Alanko has explained how he created the eclectic soundtrack for Remedy Entertainment's latest game, revealing that much of what he comes up with is initially captured on a recording device.
In an interview with TechRadar Gaming, Alanko shared that he records "a lot of stuff on a daily basis" using his iPhone or "my tiny, crappy dictaphone," but if he's carrying a bag, he'll have a small field recorder; whatever he records, he explained, he will later manipulate into harmonies that can be used for his professional work.
"Every now and then I go through what I have found, and I start doing the next phase: turning them into something I could use musically, be that rhythm or harmony or melody," Alanko said. "A lot of Control Resonant’s soundtrack is of that origin. The weirder, the better. There’s no 'too weird' for that."
The composer, who also created the soundtrack for the first Control and Alan Wake 2, said since he's been "decorating Remedy’s game universe for ages" he has "a good perspective on what works and what doesn’t," but explained that the studio doesn't have a certain approach.
"We don’t have an exact 'audio bible' for brand usage; it’s just what one might call 'silent knowledge'," he said. "I’d love to create one for Remedy; by the way, I’ve done that for some clients with whom I’ve gone through so-called sonic identity cases, audio branding, in other words. I try to not use that latter expression, as it cheapens the process.
"With Remedy, it’s about philosophy and the emotional layer, and nothing actually is omitted or put aside; everything might work. Emphasis on the word 'might'. It depends, and often one miss would need another miss or two to become an un-miss - and then it works in conjunction with everything else.
"It’s a very meticulous process, actually, but there’s no 'Remedy Game Music And Music Concept For Dummies 1-2-3', really. If it feels right, it is right. I rely on intuition and let it kick my ass with inspiration."
Alanko said that when coming up with Control's atmospheric music fans are familiar with, "sometimes the key to something cool is just slowing down things," or "by stretching or transposing a recorded sound down, a little like slowing the tape," explaining that the slower the sound flows, the lower the pitch, or the higher the frequency, it can reveal "very interesting things."
"Also, what I’ve noticed in my past: the worse the recording is, the better the outcome," he added. "Sometimes I spend ages with iZotope RX to carve out something usable from an intentionally (or unintentionally) flawed recording, then shove that through anything by Zynaptiq and continue from there. Then I gather together some instrument material groups — percussive, tonal, atonal, etc — and assemble something playable through a synth keyboard from them… which is when the first ideas connect with the pictures and the presentation I had seen.
"It’s a very clear 'Hey, NOW I know how things go from here' moment, in other words."
Control Resonant is now available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Series S, and PC.
