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With relocation to Northern Japan finished, a brief trip to the US in August and lectures in Australia in late September, 2006 is proving to be as busy as 2005 was. Two major game title releases have occupied the first half of the year, the challenge of learning a new language and writing a symphonic work are amongst the highlights for the second half of 2006. With the commencement of production of a live percussion show he has composed in Tokyo and performing in Taiko performances in his new home prefecture Stephan has fully immersed himself in the music he loves. Working across Japan, America and Australia Stephan continues to expand both his list of works and his audience. | 
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The background music on this webpage has been selected for its unobtrusive nature; the pieces below provide a selection of more up-tempo and action orientated works.
One of the more difficult aspects of modern music is a distinct lack of availabilty of scores for study purposes. While it is a very straightforward process to obtain a score for just about anything that Beethoven or Mozart might have written, it is far more difficult to obtain a score for most of the film music written in the last thirty years. The development of advanced notation software has not only made composing and orchestrating more efficient, but makes sharing the end result easier. All works included on this page were composed and orchestrated using Sibelius 3.
Included below are the scores for two pieces from two different games. The Zeppelin is one of the more up-tempo pieces from The Polar Express game score and was written for a sixty-piece orchestra. Goddard's Insides is a quirkier piece written for a 30 piece orchestra and a Theremin. Both of these pieces can be downloaded as mp3's from the music page (or by clicking the links above). The pages are optimised jpegs designed to fit correctly on A4 size paper. They are made freely available for study purposes. Performance of either work requires the composer's permission.
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The Zeppelin |
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Goddard's Insides |
Stephan Schütze has the good fortune of being responsible for both the music and the sound assets for most of the projects he works on. While this naturally increases the amount of work that needs to be completed, it has the benefit of giving him the opportunity to craft an entire audio environment himself.
In the audio environment of a game or film, music and sound should work together to create the desired atmosphere, rather than competing against each other. Having this level of control allows Stephan to create a unified environment in which all sound assets work seamlessly together.
This control also allows Stephan to enjoy one of his other great interests: sound recording.
"There is a certain awareness of the world around you that can greatly benefit anyone involved with sound recording.
"At its simplest it is just being prepared to listen to the sound environment you are in, and think of the potential of every sound that you hear. At a more complex level it can involve being constantly aware of how the world in which you live changes sonically from moment to moment. You know how and when to capture sound events, and often how to artificially create the sound you want from the most unlikely and unusual sources.
The greatest difficulty in recording clean sound material is that the world in
general is a noisy place, and sound travels a lot further than most people
realise. To capture natural ambience may require travelling out into the
wilderness, and unless you are prepared to hike for days you will probably need
to drive. Unfortunately others will probably use the same road that got you to
your excellent sound source, and the excellent high quality microphone you are
using to capture the clearest sounds, will also pick up the distinctive sound
of another car about 5 kilometres away.
Equipment Information
Using the correct equipment for a job goes a long way to increasing your chances for success. High quality equipment really does make a difference if you have the opportunity and budget.
There are various qualities to keep in mind for different pieces of equipment, but for location recording there are two factors that Stephan rates highly: build quality and weight. This may seem a little unusual after making a comment about how important recording quality is, but if your gear breaks down on location it doesn't matter how high quality it was, its no good to you if it's busted. Also after one or two hours wandering around the wilderness every extra ½ kilogram becomes more of an issue than you might expect.
Currently Stephan's personal gear is based around an old Sony portable DAT recorder. It's far from state of the art, but at the time it was a very good unit for the price and he has grown comfortable using it.
There are many new hard disk recording systems that have become available, of varying quality and price. Stephan has considered, and is still considering, upgrading to one of these. Audio equipment is an area where you really do get what you pay for. There are lower price units that appear to be well equipped from a functional standpoint, but that are often too flimsy to really consider for location use.
From a budget point of view Stephan will always spend at least half his budget on microphones. He is currently using a Sennheiser MKH 60 shotgun microphone with a Rycote windshield and fluffy cover. This is NOT a cheap piece of equipment, but it is worth every cent invested in it.
After upgrading from a cheaper microphone the improvement in recording quality was obvious. These two pieces of equipment form the core of his equipment for location recording and have done so for over three years.
Stephan also utilises a variety of microphones for special situations or to achieve unusual effects. A stereo microphone is quite useful for getting nice ambient material. However, a microphone designed to capture good quality music in stereo may be overly sensitive for outdoor use.
He uses a Rode NT4 stereo microphone, which has given him some excellent results indoors recording choirs and instruments, but he has found it overloads very easily outdoors. This will eventually be remedied with the addition of a good quality windshield, but without it has little tolerance for wind.
Another, more unusual microphone he uses is designed to function underwater.
The Aquarian hydrophone was originally designed for use by marine biologists
and the like, but Stephan has found it to be an excellent addition to his
equipment list, and it is quite reasonably priced.
An award winning score for Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis and a continuing association with Melbourne Symphony emphasizes Stephan Schütze's position as Australia's principle orchestral composer for the games industry. In the five years as Lead Audio Designer at Melbourne's BlueTongue Entertainment he has worked on several premier titles and earned a reputation for excellence that has spread worldwide.
A background of professional playing and extensive academic studies has resulted in a mature approach to the writing and producing of musical works. Stephan spent five years in The Australian Army Band Melbourne as a horn player, and this combined with musical studies at both The Victorian College of the Arts and Latrobe University provide a strong foundation as a composer.
A selection of short film scores, Taiko drumming and works for mobile phone platforms adds to his composing experience. As a member of the Australian Guild of Screen Composers and the Australian Fellowship of Composers, Stephan actively pursues his interest in the Australian music industry.
His academic skills have also become widely regarded, with several articles
published including a paper in Organised Sound, a Cambridge University music
journal. Stephan has also presented lectures for The Australian Film Television
and Radio School, The Digital Media Fund and The Australian Game Developers
Conference.
Composer/Sound Designer
Lead Audio Designer THQ Melbourne Composer/Sound Designer
Australian Film Television and Radio School, Sydney Australian Film Television and Radio School, Melbourne Australian centre for the moving image Australian Game Developers' Conference Melbourne University Australian Guild of screen composers Fellowship of Australian Composers 2004 Composer/Sound Designer
Speaker
Australian Film Television and Radio School, Sydney Australian Film Television and Radio School, Melbourne Australian Game Developers Conference Melbourne Continuum speculative fiction convention Interview
Inside Film magazine - Dec/Jan 04/05 The Sound Game 2003 Composer/Sound Designer Writer
Organised Sound volume 8 issue 02 August 2003 Cambridge University Press
The creation of an audio environment as part of a computer game world: the design for Jurassic Park - Operation Genesis on the XBOX™ as a broad concept for surround installation creation
Game Developer Magazine November 2003 Award
Best Audio 2003, Australian Game Developers Conference 2002 Composer/Sound Designer
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Stephan Schütze is a prolific composer/audio designer and a sought after speaker for conferences and lectures.
Should you have any questions regarding either audio services or speaking requirements, please don't hesitate to contact us.
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Mail: PO Box 472
Carlton North
Victoria 3054
Australia
Web Design by GrayCeltArt.
Japanese translation by Tomoko Kawaguchi Translation Service.
