Austin Wintory is a film and video game music composer. In film, he is well… Read Full Bio ↴Austin Wintory is a film and video game music composer. In film, he is well known for the 2009 Sundance hit GRACE, as well as the 2008 Sundance Audience Award winner CAPTAIN ABU RAED. His score for the former garnered many horror film genre accolades, including a nomination at the 2010 Fangoria Chainsaw Awards for 'Best Original Score,' and Vision in Sound's Top Ten Scores for 2009. The latter was listed by the LA Times as a contender for the 2009 Academy Awards for 'Best Original Score' and also won Austin the Hollywood Music Award for "Best New Composer." The combined success of those films, along with several others, prompted The Hollywood Reporter to list Austin as one of 15 composers "Primed to take their place on the A-list," as well as a nomination by the International Film Music Critics Association for "Breakout Composer of the Year."

In addition to feature films, Austin has a tremendous passion for the world of game scoring. His first major game score for thatgamecompany's flOw in 2006 earned Austin a British Academy Award nomination and triple nominations at the Game Audio Network Guild awards ("Innovative use of Audio," "Best Interactive Score" and winning for "Rookie of the Year."). Perhaps most notably, his score for thatgamecompany's much lauded 'Journey' (2012) debuted as #1 in iTunes' game soundtrack charts, and made history as the only video game score to be nominated for the Grammy 2012 Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media. He also scored 'Assassin's Creed Syndicate' (2015), which won International Film Music Critics Association Awards's "Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media" award, and 'The Pathless' (2020), which won Game Audio Network Guild Awards's "Best Music for an Indie Game" award.

Austin also maintains a busy schedule writing concert music and composing/producing albums. In addition to more traditional chamber and orchestral music, in 2010 he released a meditation album entitled "Sounds of Darkness" using never-before recorded sacred Aztec chants. 2010 also saw the launch of Allogamy, an ambitious blog in collaboration with photographer Andrew Berglund which posts a new photo with a new piece of music for every single day in the year.

Since 2003, Wintory has composed over three hundred musical scores.

Delphinus Delphis
Austin Wintory Lyrics

We have lyrics for these tracks by Austin Wintory:

No Tree Grows to the Sky Áfram, Afram, Afram, undir hrímsól! Afram. Til himna teygja …
Only the Sun Has Stopped Sólin Sólin ein hefur numið staðar. Vocals by Johann Sigurd…
Onward Áfram Veginn sem sólin eilífa lýsir Og aðeins hinir hugdjörf…
We Are All Guests Upon the Land Öll erum við gestir hér á grund. Aldrei að gista á…

The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos

TRACKS

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Comments from YouTube:

Luke Warm

4y↑35

I just want to thank you for opening my eyes - or rather, ears - to the incredible world of orchestral music, and inspiring me to study music theory. You rock, dude!

Brooks Leibee

4y↑55

A masterclass in counterpoint.

Dallas Crane

4y↑5

I first noticed the lovely bassoon line at 0:53 from this video... that, and a hundred other cool details!

Austin Wintory

4y↑12

That's certainly overly generous but thank you nonetheless my friend :) I do enjoy all the lines crawling over each other!

ElderberryVA

4y↑16

Your music is my biggest inspiration to start writing, beautiful pieces like this make me feel motivated to try and make my own beauty :)

Austin Wintory

4y↑8

That makes me immeasurably happy to read <3

John Ferrie Music

4y↑12

ABZU and Journey are among my absolute favourite video game scores, the music is stunning.

I do have a question though; in the recording session did you record the entire track linearly, in one go, or record each looped section individually?

Austin Wintory

4y↑10

So not only was each individual section recorded as their portion, but each sub-component of the ensemble was recorded separately too. We did a day with strings+winds (but minus oboe, which was done on its own as the featured solo), and separately a day of the harps and a day of the choir. Additional little elements like synths, percussion etc were usually done before the big sessions.

Harry Andre Katsilis

4y↑9

Something that's always great about your music is that there's so many interesting stuff going on that one might think your score has 40 staves. Yet you manage to do that by using and combine each instrument with others skillfully. Must be really enjoyable for the performers too.

I love this track, thanks for including it in the series!

Hernani Sergio

4y↑24

I feel like Austin is a magical well, whatever comes out does exactly what it is supposed to do. Thank you Sir!

그냥 못 지나가는 나그네

He's a genius

Dallas Crane

4y↑3

@Austin Wintory throws coin at Austin I wish for Journey 2, ABZU in Space, DeFormers: Age of Squish...

Austin Wintory

4y↑13

I only wish that were true! :)

Quadry Holloman

4y↑8

You are an amazing composer bro. I played this game a few years back & as a fellow musician I had to look you up. #KeepTheMusicAlive

Neofall

4y↑11

One of my favorite tracks from you, and it's really nice to see a breakdown of the song. :)

Austin Wintory

4y↑4

Thank you so much :)

Scott Spangler

4y↑3

This is easily my favorite song from the game. The way you encapsulated the movements that a dolphin makes as it swims within the rhythm is amazing to watch. I love this new series, and I especially love the notes you are adding to them, they really tie the music and the in game-experience together. I love your work!!

Debbie Palicdon

4y↑8

I just noticed that the back gound choir ae singing 'Enuma Elish' which the game is based on, really interesting!

Trevor L.

4y↑6

The music for Abzu is absolutely amazing! While I enjoyed the gameplay a lot, it was your music that enraptured me. This piece was by far my favorite and I'm overjoyed that you did an "As Noted" for it. Because of you, I've learned to appreciate the orchestra and I'm in one now. I love to follow your music as I mature in musical performance (even though it sadly isn't my main study), so, thank you for the bottom of my heart, for you and your wonderful music.

Austin Wintory

4y↑3

What a spectacularly beautiful comment to read. I can't possibly thank you enough for leaving this messaage

You to view Music

4y↑7

I am a student who studies orchestra.
I was very interested in music while playing this game, and I am very thankful to be able to see the score.

Username

4y↑3

Thank you for sharing the notes and for the little comments you make!
And of course, your music is so beautiful

Something Clever

4y↑30

“Yo pass me the aux cord”

“Bruh it better be fire”

The fire:

Dallas Crane

4y↑7

Patrick: "Wait, but if we're underwater, how can there be fire—"

declan2535

4y↑3

Thank you so much for doing these! They're so inspiring!!

Oscar Sundberg

4y↑2

These videos really help me out when trying to compose my own music! Also, this is one of my favorite pieces from abzu, absolutely love it!

Panda-goat

4y↑2

I wish I would have gotten the LP when I had the chance, this soundtrack is a real masterpiece.

Austin Wintory

4y↑1

Sorry that they're all gone!!

GrayUnknown

4y↑4

I love this game to the bottom of my heart and it was the first game I bought and finished a whole gameplay through. What made the game so special to me was the glorious music you created, especially this one which happens to be one of my favorites. Keep creating great music like this in the future :) ❤

Joanne Moo

4y↑1

Was going to request for this but I'm so glad that everyone thinks so too. Incredibly gorgeous orchestration and the unique harp inclusion. Thank you for sharing the score. This is so inspiring.

Grahf Zero

4y↑10

I picked this game up yesterday for the very first time, was happy to see you composed the music for this.

Knew it was you after hearing it.

Great work, as always

Austin Wintory

4y↑3

Thank you so much! :)

Zeroblizero

4y↑3

This is my favourite track from ABZU, and watching the score made me realize how complex yet full of life this is. Every instrument has its line and everyone of them has meaning! This makes the fabric so strong yet so smooth, just like silk!
Also, the Debussy flows strong in this one.
Love it, 11/10, hope they study this in conservatory one day

Jean Kziozek

4y↑2

I have no words to describe how much I love this game

Kappa Bravo Music

4y↑2

Very much enjoyed the music, felt a bit of Joe Hisaishi influence in this. Really good orchestration. Totally fits the imagery.

Sean Wride

4y↑1

somebody recently watched hana bi...

Dumb Things

4y↑1

What a masterpiece. Everytime I listen to this, my mind begins to travel around and produces beatiful pictures. And at the end I noticed that I paused everything and dived completely into the music. Thank you for this truly bautiful and magical piece of music.

James Excell

4y↑1

That is such good writing!!
Highly impressed. One day I hope to have people perform my music. I need to write more!

Beautiful stuff man!

dogwithwifi

4y↑1

such a beautiful piece, it really made this part of the game a thousand times more magical. It's just so crazy to actually see all the parts and layers of it for once! I'm very glad you shared this with us ❤️

Pantofle and Staddle

4y↑1

So happy you're sharing all of your scores! ❤ I've been wanting to try and put this to violin/cello and could never find anything! THANK YOU! This is my favourite from Abzu :)

Carlos Luna

4y↑1

Long time I didn't catch up with the channel, but when I do, it just give me that calm place to be motivated and inspired.
When I use music to draw, I always make sure to have in my playlist a couple of your compositions.

Jonas Füllemann

4y↑2

I also really like this piece. So playful and yet mysterious. Thank you again for uploading this!
A really small question, as the harp has to play E-flat and E-natural in one go, where the harpist is most likely going to tune to F-flat. Do write that differently in the harp-parts or do you leave that to the player to find out?

Dallas Crane

@Jonas Füllemann You're welcome! I love Scruffy's analysis of the ABZÛ arpeggios in his video he did with us. The E-naturals are so organic and colorful, definitely one of my favorite parts of this score

Jonas Füllemann

4y↑1

@Dallas Crane Thanks for this insight! :)

Dallas Crane

@Jonas Füllemann If I remember right, I had a question like that going through the score, but stuck with the original notation for authenticity. I don't generally try to 'correct' enharmonics in the score, as that's too much editing on my end to really call it "As Noted".

Immediately earlier in the session, the harps do indeed get F-flats in their ABZU arpeggios. During Delphinus Delphis, they get E-naturals.

Jonas Füllemann

4y↑1

Austin Wintory Ah right, that makes sense. Thank you!

Austin Wintory

4y↑2

In general it's always written to help them, so an F-flat would be on the part. However it's not always the case and/or you might have been seeing a reduction here whereas those different tunings were spread out across multiple harps

Nerdroom

4y↑5

Masterpiece.

Tom Bažant

4y↑3

I think this is the best of all your songs. There are so many colors and it doesn't have a faint moment anywhere, it just keeps going and that's why I love it ❤️

Gary Salyers

4y↑2

Love it!!! Been waiting for this one.

keith chatata

4y↑1

Beautiful work that frames this chapter perfectly. Such a rich texture and vivacity that perfectly embodies the spirit of the ocean!
Is there somewhere we can download the score? Would love to have hard copies of this for easier analysis.

Austin Wintory

4y↑2

Afraid not, this is the only spot for it for now

Stefano Tallini

4y↑1

Wow thanks a lot! I was hoping to find this wonderful track in the As noted series! It inspires me so much!

HK Ko

4y↑1

Thank you very much for sharing the score with us! This is so beautiful

Miia

4y↑1

You have blessed this planet with your music :,3

Ben Shirley

4y↑1

Thank you for posting this Austin. Really a great piece of music. Thanks for the score as well.

safnhuo

4y↑1

This was my favorite composition in the soundtrack

Mark Koltunov

Absolutely brilliant. Still can’t wrap my head around all that lovely counterpoint

MKPlite

I always loved that flute and clarinet part at 1:08. That rhythm is just so cool to me, yet so simple

Hal Nordmann

3y↑1

I just love the "slipstream" segments in Abzu.

Tony Crowne

4y↑2

A few questions, if I may:
1) How did you develop such lush and thorough counterpoint, and how did you train yourself to have such emotional mastery over your music?
2) When you wrote the score, was it a step-by-step process with the head developer or did you write a fully orchestrated piece and took/added bits and pieces to enhance the gameplay?
2) How do you flesh out your ideas from in your head to on paper or DAW? Is it a slow process requiring refinement and patience or does the idea ferment in your brain until it's ready?
Thank you for your works, Austin, and thank you for bringing me, along with every other musician who listens to your works, inspiration for years to come!

Tony Crowne

4y↑1

@Austin Wintory Thank you so much, Austin! That answers it perfectly, actually. As a composer myself, your answers really help me try and get into the mind of how scoring for video games works. If it were up to me I'd ask you so many more. Thanks again, and keep writing!

Austin Wintory

4y↑1

Sure!

I'm not sure I entirely understand your question but, assuming I do: I try to vary my approach as entirely as possible from one project to the next. I'm always on guard against potentially recycling ideas, so everything changes one project to the next: my approach, my writing process, even my daily habits. And this absolutely includes orchestration.

That said I make a totally new template for each project and once it's figured out, try to stick with it very very closely for every cue therein. Cohesion internally is very important to me

Tony Crowne

4y↑1

@Austin Wintory Amazing! I have a few more, if you'd be willing to answer them.

Do you stick to a specific orchestration in each piece you write and try and adapt it to a specific style or do you change it per game but try and keep individuality? Reason I ask is because I notice that there are composers that write in different styles yet are still recognizable.

I know this game was an exception, but I figure you usually don't have that luxury. How would you compare your process of writing music for Abzu as compared to Assassin's Creed Unity?

Austin Wintory

4y↑1

Thanks for the questions Tony!! I'll do my best :)

1) I think it's mostly just a productive of writing lots and lots and lots of music over the years. The technique evolves, but I've always loved contrapuntal writing so I suppose it was inevitable that that'd be a priority.

2) Absolutely the former. 3 years of incremental steps as the game was made.

3) Very very initial sketches were on paper but probably 99% of my sketching was done in my DAW (Digital Performer). In this case it was a very slow process as I worked alongside the developers.

HE13272326

The most memorable track of the game to me. And there is no way to make it last longer because of the stream XD
Replay, replay!

Starflower Sea

4y↑1

Amazing as always! :D

Shawn van staden

4y↑1

Thank you!! The best teaching aid I’ve had in scoring...

Berke Feil

Angelic... Austin, you’re an extremely talented composer you know that right?

Anthony Dennis

4y↑1

This is awesome! Thanks for sharing

Mark L

4y↑1

Awesome stuff!

그냥 못 지나가는 나그네

3y↑1

"This is not an entertaining game,
But a playable visual-auditory art."

Worlds Most Plagiarized Man

One of my favorites.

Sans Griffin

4y↑1

Austin, is there anywhere to find sheet music of this game, specifically for bassoon?

J. L. Clodfelter

Awesome stuff!

yosoyignacio1

this is so great

quatricise

Listened to this on repeat while working on an illustration and accidentally made the whole thing look underwater.

Jay Bonn

4y↑1

This score is so LOUD but I love this track

Jay Bonn

4y↑1

@Austin Wintory I was watching a stream and apparently there was no audio setting to turn down the music. Which is only an inconvenience when commentary is kind of the focus.

Austin Wintory

4y↑1

So loud? Meaning what? In-game?

Nick Rogers

I've always wondered how these sections loop since they're recorded with an orchestra. Is it a recording of the orchestra looping it, or a literal cut and paste loop of each section?

Austin Wintory

Each section (where the markers show the breaks) was recorded separately. Further, many of the non-orchestral elements (like the choir, various soloists, electronics, the harps) were recorded individually as well, to allow for real-time manipulation of elements to facilitate smoother transitiosn

simplylogan93

The part at 2:44 almost reminds me of Harry Potter. Easily my favourite part.

pasha soofi

4y↑3

Im hearing traces of apotheosis😃😍.
Edit: its because of the triplets and the counterpoint.

Austin Wintory

4y↑3

Unintentional but unsurprising :)

Billy Palmer Music

4y↑1

As usual wow

incendio_00

3y↑1

I’m crying

Taylor Williams

Dolphin go click click

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