Tomb Raider - Video Games - Music

Music

All the scores to the Tomb Raider saga are produced by respective composers using software instrumentation, such as recording samples and electronic synthesizers. The exception is Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness which was recorded live by the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios, London, in June 2002.

A few Tomb Raider soundtracks have had official releases made (see: Soundtracks). However, the majority of the in-game music has yet to be commercialized. Eidos has expressed no concern (despite considerable fan demand) in 15 years of publishing the franchise. Even though score commercialization became common ground during the late 2000s (with music being sold from blockbuster titles such as the Halo, Assassin's Creed, and Mass Effect series), soundtracks to the Tomb Raider saga remain unreleased.

The composers are unable to sell their music independently because under employment as in-house composers (at either Crystal Dynamics or Core Design), they are also tied to Eidos (as the parent company) by contract. Subsequently, Eidos owns the licensing rights to the composers' material. An example of this is Troels Folmann's recycled music from Tomb Raider: Legend and Anniversary (plus O'Malley's Underworld) present in the 2010 game Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light.

The basic instrumentation for the Tomb Raider scores is orchestral, though the games adopt different instrumentation and tone with each instalment in the series. Nathan McCree's style when scoring the first Tomb Raider is most similar to Classical music, especially the cues with a fast tempo. Additionally, slow tempo cues are built on a minimalist base using minimalist cells and two to four repeated musical notes. Different instruments like the vibraphone, strings, harp, or woodwinds provide a mysterious setting for the player.

The main theme of the first Tomb Raider game was composed by Nathan McCree. A solo oboe melody orchestrated with choirs and strings, exposing for the first time the four most important musical notes, the signature, the motif of the entire series. These notes are composed in a most conjunct melodic manner possible: G-A-F-G. The original motif is followed immediately after by the sequenced motif with B♭-A-G, giving at the same time the possibility of looping the theme and the feeling of completion. Variations of this tune, especially the G-A-F-G motif has been used throughout all Tomb Raider games, including the second movie, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life.

The symphonic sounds of the earlier games composed by Nathan McCree were created using Roland Corporation's Orchestral Expansion board for their JV series modules (JV-1080 Synthesizer Module & SR-JV80-02 Expansion Board).

Stings were used very often to warn the player about an impending danger, or if the player discovers a certain area. As an example, if the player picks up a secret object or, in later games, if an area with that object is discovered, a short vibraphone sound may be heard indicating the player has found a "Secret". The sound has been used in the first five Tomb Raider video games, including Tomb Raider: Anniversary, though it has some minor sound variations.

With Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, the composer changes for the first time in the series, Peter Connelly being the next composer to come, he tries to respect Nathan's musical style of the series, keeping the stings and similar orchestration. For the main theme of "The Last Revelation" he sequences with a vibraphone the original motif in a 4 musical note minimalist cell, used from the beginning to the end of the melody.

Angel of Darkness is the first game to bring underscores, previous games using stings and full scores only. Furthermore, as another premier for the series, the score has been performed by a real orchestra (London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by David Snell). The basis of the main theme of this 5th game is the ending of the previous game.

Troels Brun Folmann brings with Legend a new kind of music style with underlying beats, just like electronic dance music, that sometimes has small parts of an electronic-like orchestra, but instead of recreating the atmosphere of a real orchestra, Folmann uses a lot of echoes for its sounds. The title track starts off with the first few notes of Lara's original theme used in all the games before this one, being played with slight ornamentation on a Middle-Eastern duduk.

Folmann's work for Anniversary is different from that of Legend, as it has no underlying techno beats or electronic effects, and no underscores. Folmann uses more complex instrumentation and composition in his scoring, acquiring more woodwinds, instrument articulation, and ambience. Folmann leaves somewhat of a trademark in his Anniversary music by adding a significant amount of chimes throughout the score. Folmann composed the music in the style of an electronic orchestra. Some recognisable themes from the first game, composed by Nathan McCree, such as "Time to Run," "Puzzle Theme," and "Puzzle Theme II" have been recreated. The main theme can be described as a celebratory version of the original theme from Tomb Raider, as similar chord and instruments are used in the piece. The song starts off with a heavy crescendo of woodwinds and low strings playing the famous Tomb Raider melody, and then breaks off into an almost playful arc, featuring parts of the harp composition from the Tomb Raider theme. Pizzicato strings, cascading pianos and celeste, chimes, and glass instrumentation are prominent throughout this version, implying the fresh and modern twist that Folmann and Crystal Dynamics have placed in Anniversary.

The music supervisor of Underworld was Troels Brun Folmann, he also composed the main theme, while Colin O'Malley scored the bulk of the music. Underworld's music is purely orchestral in style. There are pieces that do not loop, meaning they only play one time and are triggered on specific events. The score is made more of musical fragments, similar to the first five games of the Tomb Raider series with less constant music than in Legend. The first seconds of the main theme are the well known four-notes of the original Tomb Raider main theme. The end of the it gets louder than the beginning by adding choirs and percussion. It then drops into a solo performance of the same four-notes reminiscent of the Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness main theme.

2010's Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light uses recycled musical cues from Legend, Anniversary, and Underworld by composers Troels Brun Folmann and Colin O'Malley.

The composer for Tomb Raider remains unannounced On 21 December 2010, a podcast was released via the exclusive Game Informer media coverage. As well as featuring an interview with the developers regarding selected publicized fan questions, it also included "a sneak peek at a track from the game itself" composed by Aleksandar Dimitrijevic. The music heard introduces piano and guitar layers, purporting darker undertones. This literally and symbolically creates a distinct feel for Tomb Raider; made explicitly separate to the rest of the music of the Tomb Raider franchise which the guitar as an instrument is particularly foreign to. Most similar to music from Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness, fully orchestrated strings follow, which are accompanied by percussion. The instruments develop into an inverted minor derivation of the classic Tomb Raider motif composed by Nathan McCree in 1996. However, on the eve of the "Turning Point" CGI Trailer, which debuted on 3 June 2011, Dimitrijevic expressed that "none of the music did for the game or the trailer will be used in Tomb Raider or the upcoming Tomb Raider trailer." A new theme for the trailer was created, currently available as a ringtone from Tomb Raider's official website.