EA Games and Lucasfilm presented“The Star Wars Musical Universe” at San Diego Comic Con 2023. Panelists included co-composers Gordy Haab & Stephen Barton and audio director at Respawn Entertainment Nick Laviers. The panel was moderated by Chandler Poling of White Bear PR and presented with the support of ASCAP and BMI.The three were there to talk about their musical contributions to the recently released video gmae Star Wars:Jedi Survivor, the sequel to the popular Star Wars:Fallen Order videogame from a few years ago.Haab, Barton and Laviers sat down with Cherry the Geek TV and a few other press members before the panel to talk about the process, challenges, and triumphs of composing new music for an established IP like Star Wars. They also talked about their working relationships and how they contribute to each other’s success. You can watch the full interview by clicking on the link below:
In Jedi Survivor, the story of Cal Kestis continues. This narratively-driven, single player title picks up five years after the events of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and follows Cal’s increasingly desperate fight as the galaxy descends further into darkness. No longer a Padawan, Cal has matured and grown into a powerful Jedi Knight. As the memories and expectations of the Jedi Order weigh on him, his crusade against the Empire has only become more perilous. Cal has to decide how far he’s willing to go to save those closest to him. The cinematic combat system from Jedi: Fallen Order returns with additional Force abilities and new lightsaber fighting styles. Combine all these abilities and weapons to find your distinct style and defeat enemies new and old. From the sweeping score to the infectious beats of the in-world songs, the game utilizes music on a whole new level.
Gordy Haab is a multi-award-winning film, video game, and television composer who has written music for many well-known titles, including Star Wars: Squadrons, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Microsoft’s Halo Wars 2, and Star Wars: Battlefront I and II, among others. In 2022, Haab was nominated for an International Film Music Critics award for his work on the feature film My Country, My Parents, and was bestowed the inaugural “Music City Maestro” Award by the Society of Composers and Lyricists for his ongoing support of the Nashville music and recording community. In October 2022, his music from Star Wars: Battlefront I and II was featured as part of DICE’s 30th anniversary concert series and performed by the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm.
In 2020, for the second time in three years, Haab won ASCAP’s Composers Choice award for Video Game Composer of the Year. He also took home the inaugural Society of Composers and Lyricists Award for Best Interactive Score, and Music of the Year at the 18th annual Game Audio Network Guild Awards for Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, which he co-wrote with composer Stephen Barton. In 2018, Billboard proposed that he could be the “Heir Apparent to John Williams.”
For his work on Star Wars: Battlefront, Haab won Music of the Year, Best Interactive Score, and Best Instrumental Score at the 14th annual Game Audio Network Guild Awards and his work was nominated for a BAFTA for Excellence in Audio Achievement. Haab also scored Activision/AMC’s The Walking Dead, based on the #1 hit TV series, and Microsoft’s Kinect: Star Wars, which won Best Music at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards. He continues to compose the music for EA and Bioware’s Star Wars: The Old Republic, for which he was awarded Best Original Soundtrack and Best Instrumental Music at the 10th Annual Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.) Awards.
Haab’s music has received the highest praise from numerous industry publications and many of the world’s leading media outlets, including the Huffington Post, who said, “Star Wars: Battlefront is sounding better and better every day…this new Star Wars music will light your saber”. Hardcore Gamer said, ‘‘Star Wars: Battlefront features the best game score John Williams never wrote”. And the Los Angeles Times said, “Haab created ‘the B-side to John Williams’ score’”.
Stephen Barton’s extensive credits in film, television and video games include Star Trek: Picard, writing the music for all sixteen seasons of Apex Legends; and penning the scores for both Star Wars: Jedi games, MultiVersus, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, 12 Monkeys, and Unlocked, amongst over four dozen other projects. The live service games he has scored (Apex, MultiVersus) have over 300 million regular players worldwide. Born in 1982, at the age of eight he won a prestigious scholarship to sing in Winchester Cathedral Choir, touring the world and performing with numerous orchestras and soloists at venues such as Sydney Opera House, Carnegie Hall and the Royal Albert Hall; and appearing on more than a dozen albums. He began his composing career at 19, as an assistant to Harry Gregson-Williams (Shrek, The Chronicles of Narnia, Kingdom of Heaven), moving to Los Angeles from his native UK, in 2001.
Nick Laviers has been working in video games since 1995. His first game was Privateer 2: The Darkening for EA/Origin. In those days he was a software engineer but always had a hand in sound design and music. He was dragged into leadership pretty early on and (around the time Playstation 2 came out) encouraged to leave behind the programming part of his role to focus entirely on audio. It turned out to be a good call because he discovered a deep love of recording orchestras and making players cry. Over the years that followed he has had the privilege of working on video games like Harry Potter, Burnout, Command and Conquer, Assassin’s Creed, Dead Space, Titanfall and now Jedi.
You can watch a behind-the-scenes video of Haab and Barton at work below:
The soundtrack and game for Star Wars:Jedi Survivor are both available to buy now.
About Author
