Winifred Phillips

Game Music

Women Working in Video Game Audio: The Video Game Music Database Report

October 6, 2017 | Ryan Paquet | Comments Off on Women Working in Video Game Audio: The Video Game Music Database Report Share this

About a month ago I reached out to the administrators at the Video Game Music Database (VGMdb) to ask if they could make some modifications to their advanced search. I wanted to be able to search for something specific: Women artists involved in game music. With the help of VGMdb admin Bigblah the advanced search was updated and here’s what you can search for now:

You can now refine the database search results by Male, Female or Unspecified genders, and isolate the results by Composer. Performing a search to include composers who were female for an original game soundtrack revealed 1,040 results! You can also make further refinements to your search to reveal more women that have worked in the video game audio industry.

Part of my motivations behind refining the advanced search was because a while back Original Sound Version began a series called Matron Maestras which highlighted some of the women working as composers in the video game industry. The composers included Winifred Phillips, Tomoka Sasaki, Eveline Fischer, and Michiru Oshima. We wanted to let you know that this series will be making a comeback in the coming months. In the meantime, please feel free to re-visit our previous Matron Maestras articles or perform some searches of your own with these new options in the VGMdb.

If there are woman composer or artist that you would like to see covered in OSV’s Matron Maestra series? Please let us know!
Featured, Game Music, Reviews

Wish Granted! LittleBIGPlanet 3 Soundtrack Exists! (Review)

April 29, 2015 | Patrick Gann | Comments Off on Wish Granted! LittleBIGPlanet 3 Soundtrack Exists! (Review) Share this

At the tail end of 2014, when we looked back on the year in our annual OSVOSTOTY celebrations, I lamented that the soundtrack to LittleBIGPlanet 3 might not see the light of day. The game was new to the market at the time, and while it was (and still is) suffering from some technical issues, its aesthetics were as brilliant as previous entries in the series. The music was more eclectic than ever, due in large part to the wide array of musicians taken on for the game’s single-player campaign levels.

Lucky for me, a soundtrack did finally arrive. It wasn’t an exhaustive collection of the game’s music, but it was a full 70 minutes of music, on iTunes, for nine bucks. I wasn’t going to pass that up.

After the jump, I’m going to pinpoint, as best as I can, what makes me love this music so much. Hint: much of it is thanks to a wonderful lady whose name starts with a W. (more…)
Featured, Game Music

Matron Maestras – Winifred Phillips (Spotlight)

December 19, 2014 | Patrick Gann | Comments Off on Matron Maestras – Winifred Phillips (Spotlight) Share this

When Brenna first unveiled OSV’s Matron Maestras series, I was over the moon. Gender politics and volatile gaming culture aside, there’s no denying that the world of game music production is dominated by men. I don’t have a full database from which to do calculations (vgmdb doesn’t allow advanced artist search with filters on artist gender and artist type, such as composer arranger performer etc). Anecdotally, however, it seems to me that the West has an even harder time of it than Japan. I can easily name a dozen women composers from Japan; I would be hard-pressed to do the same among American and European VGM composers.

In wanting to support this new article series, I felt it best to highlight the contributions of the award-winning Winifred Phillips. This is a woman who is blazing a trail in the industry, and teaching others how to do it at the same time. No, really, she wrote the book on the matter (the first English-language book on the topic I’ve yet seen). This, in my mind, makes her both a scholar and a visionary, as she is able to adapt from formulaic composition to out-of-the-box creativity as needed.

After the jump, I’ll give you some examples to show you what I mean. And you’ll also see a list of recent accolades Ms. Phillips has received, demonstrating that I’m not the only one recognizing her talent.

(more…)
Featured, Game Music

A Composer’s Guide to Game Music (Book Review)

May 2, 2014 | Michael Hoffmann | 4 Comments Share this

Today Original Sound Version has its first ever book review! You may be wondering why a site focused on videogame music is reviewing a book. Well, this book happens to deal with the process of writing game music as its subject matter. There have been only a handful of books on the subject of composing music for games. Some of them have focused on the technical side of sound production, while others have taken on the business aspect of the job. Today we are looking at a very recent release of the book A Composer’s Guide to Game Music. This new book aims to introduce the reader and aspiring game composers to the many intricacies of composing and incorporating music into a game.

A Composer’s Guide to Game Music comes to us from author and composer Winifred Phillips. Many game music fans may recognize Phillips’s name from her work on several big name game titles. The projects that she has worked on include God of War, Little Big Planet 2, and Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation. She’s also won numerous awards for her work, including five Game Audio Network Guild awards and two Hollywood Music in Media Awards. With so much experience and so many accomplishments in the game music field, we clearly have the right person to guide us through the world of game music composition. Without further ado, let’s take a deeper look at this guide. (more…)
Featured, Game Music, Reviews

Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation Soundtrack (Review)

December 26, 2012 | Patrick Gann | 9 Comments Share this

Purchase: iTunes

There’s been a big to-do over Ubisoft’s popular Assassin’s Creed series, especially with the October release of Assassin’s Creed III. The game, the setting (American revolution), the concept and the music (Lorne Balfe, taking the reins from Jesper Kyd) were all recognized and praised in their own right.

But for me, the truly exciting piece of the AC franchise is the Vita-exclusive side-story Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation. The game takes place in a tumultuous New Orleans, affected by the French and Indian War. The game’s protagonist, Aveline de Grandpré, is a French-African assassin (and a woman!). I am soon to be getting my hands on a Vita, with this game, and I am truly anxious to get started in this special chapter of the AC franchise.

The game’s soundtrack, also composed by a woman (the talented Winifred Phillips), is getting a lot of end-of-year attention. It’s already won one award (Hollywood Music in Media), and has been nominated for awards in various categories at GameZone, IGN, and X-Play.

After the jump, I’ll give you my impressions on this award-winning soundtrack. (more…)
Game Music

Winifred Phillips, LBP2 and Toy Story: Triple Win!

September 9, 2011 | Patrick Gann | Comments Off on Winifred Phillips, LBP2 and Toy Story: Triple Win! Share this

Hello OSV friends. Missed me? I missed you too. I won’t be writing nearly as much as I used to, but I’ve always been too big a fan of game music to disappear forever, and Jayson was gracious enough to allow me to do some guest contribution articles.

I return to tell you about some new work from one of my favorite composers, Ms. Winifred Phillips. It’s not a big chunk of music, but it leaves a lasting impression. What is it? Well, as the graphic above indicates, it’s some original music for the Toy Story DLC for LittleBIGPlanet 2.

Alongside music producer Winnie Waldron (more “win,” with thanks to Charlie Sheen), Ms. Phillips put together three pieces of music, each with six unique layers that fade in and out depending on the environment and what all is going on within the game. So while the music may only be three tracks, one could look at it as an amalgam of 18 miniature themes, in 3 different styles, layered together.

Interested in more? Check it out after the jump. Oh, I’ve missed saying that… (more…)
Game Music, Reviews

The Shortest Path To Ga’Hoole! Legend of the Guardians Game OST (Review)

November 24, 2010 | Patrick Gann | 1 Comment Share this

Winifred Phillips is no slouch as a game music composer. Not only did we give her high marks for her score to Spore Hero (an offshoot of the Spore franchise), but Music Connection Magazine named Ms. Phillips among a host of other well-known musicians in the November 2010 cover article “Superstars of Videogame Music.” Martin O’Donnell, Jesper Kyd, and Jason Graves are all counted as her peers.

Her most recent project is the score for the videogame adaptation of the film Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole. The game is available on all current console platforms (as well as a modified handheld version on the DS). With the help of producer Winnie Waldron (handy that they have the same name, but one goes formal and the other a nickname), this game-based-on-movie comes to life with a rich, textured orchestral score.

Our full review of the soundtrack comes after the jump. Be ready for owls, magic, and magic owls. (more…)