New Interview with Darkest Dungeon Composer, Stuart Chatwood

The Darkest Dungeon II soundtrack has expanded yet again! Our third Kingdoms adventure module, Curse of the Court, released at the end of August, and came with more incredible music from Darkest Dungeon composer, Stuart Chatwood. The hair-raising new track will accompany your journey as you fight back against the vampiric Crimson Courtiers, and find a cure for the dreaded Crimson Curse.

We joined Stuart Chatwood at Armoury Studios in Vancouver and spoke to him about composing for our Kingdoms game mode. Read on for the full interview!

Can you talk about the process involved in composing the new track ‘Curse of the Court’ -  did you draw upon any specific inspiration?

Chris Bourassa, Red Hook’s Creative Director, provided a direction that referenced the Crimson Court DLC music from the first Darkest Dungeon game. We wanted a reimagining of that music so inspiration came from going back to fully digest all the music that was used in the area, including the two trailers.  The trailers had some strong melodies, but unfortunately the main trailer theme was a waltz, which made it challenging for me to incorporate the 3/4 meter of the waltz into the 4/4 time of the combat music. Initially, I had the tempo slowed down slightly for the new piece and I had also lowered the key signature, but I abandoned both of these ideas about a quarter of the way into the work for various reasons.  

Often the key of the song is dictated by the instrumentation that is used as certain instruments only go down to certain low notes and those low notes tend to be important to powerful cues like the combat music in all of the Darkest Dungeon games.  With the combat-waltz-combat meter alignment issue there are a few tricks to avoid “pulse confusion” in the listener.  I chose to ramp down the main tempo using a triplet feel that prepared the listener for the jump in tempo and the repositioning of the pulse away from the rigid 4/4 meter. To get out was a process of ramping up subtly with a shocking hit section followed by an intense ‘mosquito’-esque musical break. 

Another aspect was the idea of the Courtiers belonging to the French court and speaking French. I snuck in 4 relevant French dialogue lines which provide a reinforcement of the enticing power of the blood thirsty enemies. 

How does this piece differ from the songs composed for the Darkest Dungeon: Crimson Court DLC?

The two pieces of music are certainly related in tempo, key and some melodic parts but the original piece was a heavy industrial tinged assault that had a few repeated main melodic motifs.  With the new piece my goal was to push past 7 minutes with a musical journey and more dynamics that would stand up better to the issue of player listening fatigue.  I knew the waltz transition and the crazy melody from the Forbidden Tannin trailer at 3m31s would break things up nicely so my road map was as follows: reinterpret the intro, start fresh in the first few passages, reintroduce some of the original melodies next, expand on those melodies, hit that big bridge, add a giant exit focal point, introduce dynamics and subtlety, a bit of the old and a bit of the new with a powerful ending. 

How do you know when a piece of music is working for you? 

I have to be engaged and excited myself for the music to be delivered and I feel there’s now a relatively higher bar with the other Kingdoms pieces of music being so well received. In a way I do have a Hans Zimmer approach meaning that I need a touch of sound design that he often describes to trigger things.  Without that little touch of ‘vibe’ or uniqueness most composers could pretty much replicate each other's work and I have a goal for the music to stand apart from some of the other OSTs out there that perhaps play to formula a bit too much.  A good example is the Catacombs where I stumbled upon some sound design elements that got me excited but it unfortunately lead me to me discarding an original attempt I had worked on for about three weeks as it just didn’t grasp that underground, almost swamp like feel, that Chris described to me when he was mapping out the area.

You’ve composed a new song for each of the Kingdoms modules and the Inhuman Bondage DLC which was released earlier this year. Which was your favourite track to work on and why?

If I had to pick favourites, I would qualify my answer in the following way: I enjoy the slow methodical vibe and contrasting piano of Beneath the Kingdom/Catacombs Combat. I love the power of the aggressive cellos in Hunger of the Beast Clan/Beastmen Combat.  I love the different shifts and the soprano vocals of the Curse of the Court/Bloodsucker Combat.  My favourite is perhaps Secrets of the Coven/Coven Combat as it has some great melodies that stick with you.  Melody is such a strong part of my sound and I tend to write melodies whilst doing the most mundane things.  If I told you that many ideas come from the empty mind that allows new ideas to come forward when I’m washing dishes you might not believe me!

I understand you typically record from your home studio - what drew you to the Armoury for this piece.

I’m fortunate to have a house that will accommodate my home studio, which makes me a better parent, as you will experience 16 hour days at times whilst working on music. For drums, larger string recordings and occasionally vocals I will utilize one of Vancouver’s amazing recording studios.  In addition to Bryan Adams excellent Warehouse Studios, I have worked with the equally amazing Armoury Studios on several occasions with my rock band The Tea Party. The studio was expanded when Aerosmith/ACDC/Bon Jovi producer Bruce Fairbairn purchased it and it’s truly world class. I knew I needed a space to work with the vocalist on the new music around a piano and then rush into the vocal booth and the Armoury was the perfect choice.

The original cue had some soprano samples and some incredible soprano vocals from Christine Williams who performed with my band on an orchestral tour of Australia in 2017.  With the new cue I felt it was time to update and replace those parts and supply some new melodies.  I was lucky to have known the extremely talented soprano Chloé Hurst from Vancouver, who joined me at the Armoury Studios to lay down the new parts.  In addition I had some last minute vocal parts that I was able to work on with my daughter Elizabeth who also has an excellent voice. This resulted in new parts that relied less on any pre-recorded samples.

Before closing I did want to bring some special attention to Jeff Tangsoc at PowerUp Audio who in addition to providing the world class sound design, is the secret ingredient who has the role of a Music Designer.  He takes my music stems of different instruments and blends, combines and alters them in a way that provides the true score underneath the gameplay.  I am proud to work with the whole team with Chris feeding my inspiration and direction, and Jeff providing the rock solid implementation of my music ideas.  It’s a great partnership. 

I hope everyone is enjoying the new music and gets a chance to pick up the OST or at least hear it in the game or on Youtube, and I look forward to writing more in conjunction with Chris, Tyler, Jeff and the rest of the team at Red Hook.

You can play Curse of the Court, our 3rd Kingdoms adventure module for Darkest Dungeon II now. The new track, also called Curse of the Court, is available on the Darkest Dungeon II original soundtrack (disc 2), and can be listened to on Youtube.

Photo Credit: All photos taken by Erich Kohlweg