Crysis 2: The Music Production – Part II

 As promised earlier, and as recently revealed, we'd like to announce the man who joined the team in order to compose the game's main themes. We are very happy to let you know that this was the Hollywood veteran and one of the most renowned composers of today – Mr. Hans Zimmer himself!

Crytek: Would you tell us how he got involved and can you describe the collaborative process with him?

Borislav Slavov:

 Yes, I am very happy to tell you about this great collaboration.

Mr. Zimmer’s involvement came as a natural response to our desire to achieve the best cinematic quality for the game. Thus he was invited to compose the main themes, which would ensure that they possess those powerful and iconic marks he is known for.

In May 2010 the President of Crytek, Cevat Yerli, the Senior Audio Director Campbell Askew and I traveled to Remote Control studio in Los Angeles to meet Hans Zimmer and discuss his involvement in Crysis 2. There is hardly any need to mention how thrilled I was to meet such a legend like him in person. His famous red cabinet studio was soaked with inspiration and Hollywood music history.

After we were warmly welcomed we sat down and set to work immediately. In the course of the next couple of days we talked about the game at length and we had the chance to demonstrate the tracks that the Crytek music team had already produced. Through extensive discussions we clarified the themes he was going to compose and the process started. Our collaboration was mainly via the internet, regularly updating him with demo movies and information about the game until the final delivery of the tracks was completed. I bet you are curious about the result? Here you can hear the piece from the menu, which contains the main theme of Crysis 2:

• [DOWNLOAD] Crysis 2 Main Theme (Hans Zimmer)

Right click and "save as" to download the file

Borislav Slavov (left) with Hans Zimmer (right)

Campbell Askew:

It was 5 months after we had Borislav Slavov and Tilman Sillescu on board as our main composers, Cevat told me he felt that he would like to add another ingredient to the music mix. As soon as Cevat told me what that ingrediant was I phoned Borislav to tell him the news. "Hey Bobby, Hans Zimmer is going to join us to write some selected Main Themes". The silence that followed was deafening. It took some time to convince him that I wasn't joking. Then the big adventure began. It was my job to make all this work. Not only musically but schedule wise as well.

With Cevat, Borislav and I presented Hans a big selection of the music that had been composed so far by Borislav and Tilman and we agreed on a method of working that would suite us all. And that is how it turned out. Hans - big cinematic themes frame and Borislav and Tilman - the in-game music and cut scene themes, everything written in an amazingly effective way.

Crytek: What is it that differentiates the music in Crysis 2 from other games in general?

Borislav Slavov:

The first words that come to my mind are ‘cinematic’ and ‘variety’. With Mr. Zimmer on board we achieved powerful cinematic main themes, which also marked the Beginning and the Epilogue of the game in a Hollywood quality way. Fortunately you will not have to wait for too long before you experience it yourself as the game is coming out very soon.

Stay tuned for the final Part III when we will tell you about the live orchestral recording sessions in the lovely capital city of Hungary – Budapest. You will also be able to hear a never before published, live orchestra piece and learn about the music implementation process.

Related Links

• Crysis 2 - The Music Production (part 1)
• Download: Crysis 2 main theme (mp3)