Dead Space composer Jason Graves shares lessons from a career in game audio
Jason Graves is the maestro behind some of your favorite video games. The award-winning composer has worked on a vast compendium of projects that includes titles and franchises such as The Order: 1886, Far Cry Primal, Call of Duty: Warzone, Moss, Until Dawn, The Dark Pictures Anthology, several Tomb Raider games, and the original Dead Space trilogy.
It's a roll call that highlights Graves' willingness to experiment with genre, take risks, and venture outside of his comfort zone in pursuit of that rarest of things: originality. During a chat with Game Developer earlier this year, Graves said every project he undertakes begins as an "anxiety inducing experience," but suggested that's precisely what every composer–whether they've been around the block or are just starting out–should feel when gazing at the blank page.
He says the chance of unearthing something original is tied to the sort of risks you're willing to take as a musician. "The more you're risking things–and it could be a personal risk, because you're trying something new–I think the greater your chance of coming up with something original," he says.
For anybody who's starting out, and perhaps doesn't have the luxury of being able to choose their projects, Graves suggests that risk-taking might take the form of creating a demo that meets expectations while shunning convention.
"Even if you can't pick your projects–and this is something I always do–when you have to do a demo for a game and get told 'we want it to sound like this,' you want to get close to that remit in order to get hired, while also veering as far away from it as you can to deliver something original," he adds.
"Sometimes it's like playing cards. So, I might do exactly what I'm asked during the
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