[caption id="attachment_158" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Gears of War 2"][/caption] I played tenor and bass trombones on the Gears of War 2 soundtrack for the XBox 360.  Working with the incredibly talented musicians up at George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch is always an INCREDIBLE experience. I had the pleasure to work with San Francisco Opera’s Mr. David Ridge (bass trombone and contra-bass Trombone), and freelance trombonist Mr. Bruce Chrisp (tenor trombone).  They are both incredible musicians, and two of my favorite people to play with.

It's truly exciting to see more video games using live symphonic orchestras for the game soundtracks. The video game industry is quickly growing--their budgets easily rival blockbuster movies and game production can take several years from conception to final publication. This past weekend I played the game for several hours with my brother in law, and I can attest that having the depth of a symphonic orchestra truly takes game immersion to a new level. I hope that this trend not only continues, but becomes the standard for game development to come.

I’ll followup with more information shortly, but am very excited to see the score published commercially- the music was fun to play, and features some pretty beastly sounds from the brass section.  An article at Music 4 Games.net features pictures of the session and an interview with the composer, Mr. Steve Jablonsky.  Mr. Jablonsky has also composed music for Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Transformers and other movies.