“I recorded this ball of slime for a lot of the sounds in the game.”
In Carrion, you play as an otherworldly organism that attempts to free itself from captivity. Described as a “reverse horror game,” Carrion puts a spin on the sci-fi horror genre by putting us in control of the otherworldly force, rather than humanity. In this sense, composer Cris Velasco created a fitting soundtrack by matching the game’s supernatural themes with striking creativity.
Chatting with Cris about his musical score for Carrion was fascinating. “I always wanted the music to be from the viewpoint of the monster.” He started with the conception of Carrion’s main theme. “My intent was for that to be the monster’s inner dialogue.” In grappling with this concept, Cris mentioned he didn’t want to create “something that’s too melodic for this monster – something that makes too much sense. I [didn’t] want to humanize it.” He settled on an unnerving four-note motif, brought to life through various means of sound production.
“I had tons of fun recording new sounds for this.” Cris even found influence in just a simple ball of slime, eventually going on to record it in several different manners. “I spent hours just squishing it in different ways, throwing it against things, just tearing at it. I even squished rhythms with it.” He mentioned that even though the sounds themselves were often bland, heavy processing brought them to life. “You put some delay and reverb and EQ and distortion, and you just mangle that stuff. Now you’ve got something cool and unique – and I used that slime all over the score.” When I first theorized that some of the more organic sounds were created with Mac ‘N Cheese, he laughed, “I like [that idea]. If these guys do DLC and I record more music, I’m going to have to do some kind of wet pasta dropping on the ground.”
His unchained creativity became even more apparent after I inquired about the unique rhythmic sounds within the score. “It’s literally the sound of a racing heart.” Cris used this to mimic the very reaction he wanted to get out of Carrion’s player-base. “I took the sound of a heartbeat and pitched it way down… then I time-stretched it to fit within queues… then I put it in my DAW and sped it up.” Additionally, he used samples of a children’s choir, which he slowly detuned in the track “Watery Grave”. The composer also paired Mongolian throat singing and “super low digeridoo” in the track “A Maze of Vines” – creating an incredible, bizarre atmosphere.
The depth of more simple concepts runs deep within Carrion’s music, too. For instance, in “All Hope Is Lost”, Cris subtly layered the main theme motif on top of itself by using different string families, with each iteration moving at a different speed. The result is brilliant and haunting.
Cris’ childlike curiosity served the imaginative project quite well. In fact, he was all-in on Carrion since the first sight of it. “I sought it out, very aggressively.” He originally stumbled upon an early animation of the game’s creature whilst scrolling through Twitter, and quickly reached out to Phobia Game Studios. “It just hit all of my buttons for aesthetics. I was totally blown away by how they had this pixel game that could move so fluidly.” As storied as Cris’ career is (Resident Evil, Bloodborne, Overwatch, God of War), it’s profound that he didn’t hesitate about working with a relatively small, unknown team. In fact, the studio is made up of only three members, not counting Cris. For him, it was always about the inspiration.
Lastly, he commented on the album’s artwork. “Growing up I was really into metal. One thing I always loved was the album covers that some of these bands had… I’ve always wanted to commission somebody to do artwork for one of my soundtrack releases.” He tipped his hat to Phobia Game Studios, the first to give him the go-ahead for a commission. Subsequently, Cris contacted his friend and artist Dan Quintana, who did a fantastic job creating a lifelike image of Carrion’s creature. His artwork is featured above, and can also be viewed on Cris Velasco’s website.
Getting to speak with Cris about his ideas was nothing short of captivating. His passion for creativity and exploring new sounds was apparent, and Carrion clearly benefited from his mind and music. Although the composer was unable to reveal details about his future projects, he did confirm he was actively composing new music. Carrion’s soundtrack is out on all major music platforms/vendors, so be sure to check it out if you haven’t already!
This exclusive Skype interview was conducted on September 3, 2020.
