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You can follow Christian Pacaud on Mastodon: https://mstdn.christianpacaud.com/@cpacaud
[ Christian is now in the process of answering follow-up questions, gathered from Mastodon ]
Can you tell a bit about your background that is relevant to your practice? Does past education is important for what you do now?
I'm working as an audio designer and music composer in the video game industry. While I've done a lot of sound and audio design throughout the years, lately my work has revolved more and more around the musical aspects of video game development. Since childhood, I've always been fascinated by music in video games. I would download MIDI files of the music from my favorite games and fiddle around, change instruments around and explore the music data. My father was a musician and I think my parents caught on to my interest in music and got me into a music-intensive high school program. This put me on a musical education path that I followed up to a first year of university in music composition. In parallel to all this, I had been looking for a way to get into video games as a profession, and I eventually got an opportunity with a major development studio opening an office in my city. It took a few tries but I eventually got in.
At that time, game audio college programs were only starting to appear. I never had an academic formation for the work I do now — I learned everything hands-on at work. While I wouldn't say my past education is directly applicable to my work, it definitely contributes to a certain set of skills that I can apply every day: the musical ear, music theory, knowledge of music history I can use for researching and establishing interesting music parameters for certain projects, inspiring interactive music techniques and ideas.
How do you approach the relation between theory and practice in art. Do you maybe have recommendations for a book or an article, maybe something from your writing?
My approach to music design and direction in games has been described as "holistic." I derive most of my ideas and goals for the music from the context and "pillars" of a project I work on, from the big picture to the details of the music itself.
For example, if the game has a very narrative, story-driven focus, I will focus on what makes the unique characteristics of that game genre and how that could influence the musical score aesthetically, but also mechanically ("The music tells a story"). I will develop those ideas further, thinking about what music can contribute to the game's storytelling ("The music adds an additional layer to the story being told by the game"). Then, I would dive even further into the meat of the subject for me, thinking about what music could contribute to an interactive, narrative-driven video game ("The music adds an additional layer to the unique story the game allows the player to create").
Two incredible composers with an equal passion for music in games but with relatively different approaches are Austin Wintory and Olivier Deriviere. Austin is particularly active on social media and constantly produces interesting videos that dive into aspects of his craft that are really interesting to get perspective on his approach to interactive music. You can find a lot of material on his Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/awintory
Olivier has created many very innovative interactive scores for games, and has done multiple interviews where he strongly advocates for game music composers to embrace and further the unique opportunities that interactive video games offer for creating music that's as closely tied to the game mechanics as possible, moving away from scoring games like movies or creating a simple ambient bed of background music. Here's a short interview where you can get a sense of the intensity of his commitment to the advancement of interactivity in game music: https://daily.bandcamp.com/high-scores/olivier-deriviere-dying-light-2-stay-human-interview
There is actually an interview led by Austin Wintory with Olivier Deriviere that's immensely interesting and where there are a couple of clashes of ideas that are very fruitful. Let me find you the link… https://gamemakersnotebook.libsyn.com/remember-me-composer-olivier-deriviere
As for me, I've worked with Austin on the game Assassin's Creed Syndicate as music supervisor and designer. We did a panel at the 2016 Game Developers' Conference in which we explained some of the concepts behind the interactive and dynamic components of the game's music. You can find the whole thing here: youtube / peertube.
More recently, I've composed the music for the game New Tales from the Borderlands, and while the interactive scope of the music is much more modest, there are some aspects that are unique to music applied to video games — mainly how to deal with a branching storytelling structure, and how music can accommodate this in real time in an elegant way. My colleagues from the Gearbox audio team and I did a panel in Montreal a few years ago, and you can find the video here: youtube / peertube
How would you describe your current field and context of your art? Are there labels that you accept? Do you consider yourself to be ‘experimental’, or the ‘avant-garde’?
I'd say I have the heart of a traditional music composer, with a passion for video games, and so I take an interest in the interaction between a player, the game and its music. As a professional, I focus on how music in games must contribute and enhance a player's experience of the game in accordance with our goals as creators — and as a secondary layer, what that means for the music itself in terms of composition, and possibilities, and creativity, and advancement of the craft. While I like to think I'm experimental and avant-garde and pushing the envelope overall, I am constantly floored by how FAR OUT some artists boldly go in experimentation and sheer chaotic creation, and find myself pretty conservative in comparison. I'd explain it like this: I like pretty things, and I think "pretty" is a social/cultural construct, perhaps based on nostalgia and one's upbringing and environment, and cultural influences, and so on. I'm happy there are people out there exploring the fringes of art. I like cheering them on from my cozy little spot here. I create to feed my need to hear more of what I like to hear, not to advance the art, but I welcome the experimental artist's invitation to listen further, and I will gladly take it into my creation if the result pleases my ear.
Do you have a favourite game? Or a game genre/mechanic?
My favorite music game is solo, and it's called composition! I find I see it as a sort of puzzle game, where the rules are dictated by my own aesthetic tastes ("How do I make this sound good to my ear?") and my ability to use my musical knowledge and know-how to try to create what my mind is wishing for. I never quite get there, but every piece I finish, I find I'm slowly learning how to inch closer and closer to it. The fun thing is, I know I'll never quite get to perfection, so it forces you to enjoy the path instead of focusing on the destination! And actually, I say composition, but really, it also applies to sound design. I truly think what I enjoy the most is playing around with the sounds and textures of musical instruments, though.
What music do you enjoy? Is there a difference when you’re performing or listening? Any guilty pleasures?
I currently listen almost exclusively to classical music from the 20th century and contemporary composers: Ned Rorem, Eduard Tubin, Rachel Laurin, Francis Poulenc, and David Maslanka. These are all composers whose music is in a relative sphere of tonal music, some classified as neoromantic (so, the evolution of the romantic composers of the late 19th/20th century). I've grown up listening to progressive rock (Yes, King Crimson) and metal (Dream Theater, Porcupine Tree), which has always stayed with me. I occasionally delve into contemporary jazz with great pleasure (Miho Hazama). I went into a long progressive death metal phase (Gorguts, Artificial Brain, Krallice) a few years ago. I've played in bands ranging from jazz to death and black metal with every shade in between. I'd love to brush up my contrabass skills and play in an orchestral ensemble, but time would be lacking.
When performing, I'm in a state where I derive pleasure from the interaction between all the musicians and the thrill of a shared experience of creation in real time. Most of the music I play these days is relatively challenging on a technical level, and there is this "extreme sports" feeling of accomplishment and gratification where I go "we are actually DOING THIS," and I often just go out with a laugh after we finish a song. I also enjoy very much the sensation of LOUD sound; that's a very enjoyable part of playing electric bass in rehearsal and on stage.
When listening, I just soak in the beauty and the energy of the music in sort of a passive way. I'm not one to actively analyze what I'm listening to all the time unless I mean to do it. I trust that I absorb all of it and it fuses into my unconscious, and that I can then tap into that pool of inspiration and knowledge when I create.
Please, tell us a few words about your most recent project. How long it took and how many people were involved?
My most recent "finished" professional project has been New Tales from the Borderlands, the last game to have shipped from my development team at Gearbox Software, in 2022. We made New Tales as an audio team of four people. The complete development team was probably around 80 to 100 people at its peak. I was in charge of designing, composing and implementing the music for the game and the whole game production timeline covers approximately two years. Again, you can find our panel about the game's audio production process here: youtube / peertube.
On the personal side, I'm currently composing a symphonic suite at home as a personal project with the aim of accomplishing my goal of recording an original composition with an orchestra before I hit 50 (I'm 40 right now).
Generally, when cooperating with others, what do you cherish the most? Have you worked with amateur creatives, or do you keep to professional artists and specialists?
I'm mostly curious about the results of a shared creative process, the alchemy of the combination between the influences and preferences of the artists. I find "amateur" and "professional" are not an appropriate measure of anything; they're just a way to qualify the situation of a person relative to their craft - pros make a living out of it, amateurs do it for pleasure or fun, and so for me if the person is the right collaborator for a particular creation, it doesn't really matter where they are coming from.
In a professional context (e.g., at work), if I'm looking to hire someone for a contract - a music composer, outsource some sound design, etc., one will have to provide a certain level of experience, a history of being able to deliver the goods, so to speak. Sometimes I'd like to take a risk with someone that's less proven, but the context will not let me take that risk. That's why, outside of work, I don't set limits, and I try to avoid making compromises.
Do you see something missing from the current landscape of music/game intersection? Or something you personally would like to see more of?
Mmm… I think the current social landscape leads people into "producing content," not experimenting. If there is no shareable, accessible, marketable output to an activity, there is no incentive to do it; most people will not go there. I've seen people judge an artist before listening to their music from the number of monthly listeners they have on Spotify.
So… I'd love to see more people experimenting with the "game" that is music creation, but it requires an open mind and the acceptance that it's a "non-productive" activity, it's something that has to be done for the sake of itself, with a child's spirit of exploration and experimentation, of playfulness. Sadly, I think the world is taking us away from that state of mind. I try to stay optimistic and fight against this force, and try to carry the people around me in that direction as much as I can.
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