1 February 2006
Combining his knowledge of music, licensing experience, and industry contacts with his account management background, Sergio is responsible for managing the music licensing on all internally developed games at SCEE’s London studio including EyeToy, SingStar, The Getaway as well as some second and third party titles, ensuring that their music requirements are realised. Most recently he supervised the music for one of SCEE’s flagship PSP titles, Wipeout Pure. Previously to this Sergio was Creative Director with music consultancy CouchLife, working on game soundtracks with all of the leading publishers and developers worldwide. His previous music supervision credits include Extreme G Racing and Burnout. The Wipeout Pure Official Soundtrack is now available on Distinctive Records.
M4G: First of all congrats to the entire Wipeout Pure music team for the nomination in the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences’ “Soundtrack” category. How did you ensure that the artists were contributing original tracks and not simply digging up their old tracks and remixing them?:)
Sergio Pimentel: When we started speaking to the DJ/Producers we wanted to work with on the game, it was evident that some were working on a number of tracks already. The final soundtrack was made of exclusively composed tracks for the game or unreleased tracks that were completed with a Wipeout mix of the track. All of the producers we approached were really excited about getting involved in the game especially since it was one of the first games to truly utilize a fully licensed soundtrack.
M4G: How did the process work in terms of selecting the artists for Wipeout Pure? How much input did the producers have on the music style and artist selection?
Sergio Pimentel: The development team in Liverpool had a very decided vision of the game and also the genres of music required for the game. Nino Ceraolo, the Liverpool Studio’s Communication Manager has always been very music savvy and has had a big part to play on Wipeout so both Martin Hewett, my colleague and I worked closely with him and the team in Liverpool. The gameplay celebrated that of the original games, so we wanted to create a soundtrack that had some of the producers that were on the original games such as Paul Hartnoll and Photek. We mixed these with more contemporary producers to ensure that the overall soundtrack had producers from the breaks, electronica, drum and bass, and trance genres.
M4G: What was the philosophy and musical brief for the Wipeout Pure soundtrack? How would you describe the various styles featured in the game’s soundtrack?
Sergio Pimentel: Although we approached artists from all of the genres above, the brief was for them to take their natural style and create a song with the Wipeout feel - adrenaline fueled, dirty and frantic! There were some technical requirements in that each of the tracks needed to be approximately 3.5 minutes long and within that time needed to have peaks and breakdowns - think of a radio mix of an 8 minute Breaks or Drum and Bass record.
M4G: Overall, Wipeout Pure seems to have quite a retro feel. Was this going back to the roots approach a conscious decision?
Sergio Pimentel: The game play was harking back to the original games therefore we felt that taking this approach with the soundtrack should do the same in terms of sound, whilst bringing new blood in terms of production to the table .
M4G: How many artist/tracks did you listen to during the entire selection process? Any artists/tracks that didn’t make the final cut that you’d like to have featured but there just wasn’t enough room or perhaps were not considered compatible with the rest of the soundtrack? Will you release any new tracks in future package updates?
Sergio Pimentel: We initially looked at 30-40 artists when we started working on the soundtrack, but the final selection was based on who was right for the game and also took into account people’s schedules. There will be downloadable music packs for Wipeout Pure in the future so check out the website soon!
M4G: There have been several Wipeout clones released across the various gaming platforms. Why do you think the Wipeout franchise stands out from the crowd and has stood the test of time? And where do you think the series will go from here? What about an interactive soundtrack?
Sergio Pimentel: Wipeout has always done the futuristic racing thing better than everybody else - it was the game that bought together PlayStation and club culture which has had a huge impact on gaming.
Our guys up in Liverpool have always understood the strengths of the franchise and have always delivered what the fans want whilst ensuring that the game has something to bring in a new audience.
M4G: How does working in-house compare to your previous role as a freelance consultant? For example, if you were working on Wipeout Pure as an out-of-house agent would that have made your job more challenging in some ways, especially with a coveted franchise like Wipeout? Are there any restrictions working as in-house music licensing manager?
Sergio Pimentel: To be honest I felt humbled and slightly scared to be working on such a coveted franchise on the inside. Both Martin and I regularly discussed our plans for the game with the team in Liverpool and from very early on we knew we wanted the same from the soundtrack so it was very collaborative. The main difference to working in-house is that the department gets brought into projects at concept document stage which is fantastic and is down to educating people into a way of thinking that gives music the importance it deserves in game. The days of needing music a month before master are hopefully gone in the industry!
M4G: A few years ago it was quite startling to find that the two divisions of Sony-Sony Computer Entertainment and Sony Music- rarely connected. Do you feel that the climate has changed at all and is there an improvement with the interaction and cooperation between the two operations or is this still an uneasy relationship? Isn’t the exposure of Sony music on a Sony platform a no-brainer? Why the resistance in the first place?
Sergio Pimentel: Since I have been here at SCEE we have had great relationships with all labels and publishers including Sony’s record label and publishing arm. I think the main reason behind the occasional lack of cooperation between both industries is due to the fact that some people in both industries still do not understand how the other works, and therefore do not speak the right language when dealing with them.
M4G: Videogames have long been touted as the next major platform for promoting music artists, often compared to radio or MTV in the ‘80s. But the reality is they have not been as instrumental a launch pad for new artists as the hyperbole might suggest; instead videogames are just one more medium for record companies to tap into. Do you agree/disagree and where do you see the most innovation in licensing music for games where the artist can benefit?
Sergio Pimentel: I don’t think that this is necessarily the reality as no one has really researched the link between hearing an artist in a game and this relating to sales of an album. The only research that has done this so far was Electric Artists’ survey which you featured 3 years ago.
I think in the future we will see more exciting collaborations between artists and also more exclusive songs in games rather than straight licenses.
M4G: What projects are you working on next?
Sergio Pimentel: We’re just wrapping up work on SingStar Rocks! where we have managed to license a number of bands that historically do not license their music so we’re very excited!! Other than that we have a number of unannounced PS2, PSP and PS3 games we are working on at the moment so you’ll have to watch this space.
For more information visit:
http://uk.playstation.com
www.distinctiverecords.com/wipeout/
www.wipeoutpure.com
https://web.archive.org/web/20070630070850/https://music4games.net/Features_Display.aspx?id=4