Darren Korb was born on November 5, 1983. He is an American songwriter, composer, and voice actor. Korb is most famous for creating the music in the video games Bastion, Transistor, Pyre, Hades, and Hades II. These games were made by an independent game company called Supergiant Games. In the last two games, Korb also provided the voice for a character named Zagreus.
Early life and career
Korb began participating in musical theater at the age of five and continued through high school. While attending Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose, California, Korb met his longtime friend and collaborator, Logan Cunningham. During his childhood, Korb also became friends with Ashley Barrett, who later worked with him on music for Supergiant's projects.
Korb studied music production and music business at New York University. Before working with Supergiant Games, he contributed to small projects in television and film. He played bass and keyboard for the New York-based power pop and punk band Audio Fiction. Later, Korb co-founded the independent band Control Group. When not working on projects related to Supergiant, he performs with this band.
Work with Supergiant Games
Darren Korb works as the audio director and composer for Supergiant Games, an independent video game company. He became friends with Amir Rao, one of the company's co-founders, during childhood. Korb was chosen to create the music for Bastion, the company's first game. In this role, he records the voices of actors, sometimes with the help of Greg Kasavin, who is the creative director of Supergiant's games.
Korb's music for Supergiant's games has received praise from critics, who often describe his soundtracks as some of the best, especially among independent games. His compositions have appeared on lists that highlight the best soundtrack albums. Kotaku's Ari Notis wrote that "the music is always a character" in Supergiant's games.
After joining the team for Bastion, Korb was responsible for all of the game's audio, including its music, sound effects, and voiceover recordings. For the voiceover work, Korb asked his roommate, Cunningham, if he would take the lead voice role. Cunningham agreed, and Korb set up a microphone in a closet for him to record his lines. Korb said his work on Bastion's sound design was a "trial by fire," as it was the part of the game's audio production he had the least experience with.
Korb described the music on Bastion as "acoustic frontier trip-hop," combining "heavily sampled beats in layers, along with acoustic elements." For Bastion, a longtime friend of Korb's, Ashley Barrett, provided the voice of Zia and sang on the soundtrack. Budget and expertise influenced Korb's approach to the game's music. These limitations led to the acoustic nature of Bastion's soundtrack. Korb explained in an interview with Spin that "all of the music I made had to be stuff I could make in my apartment. I couldn't really have other musicians, I couldn't record acoustic drums, so I used an acoustic guitar and these samples." Korb said Supergiant envisioned Bastion as a "frontier-sy fantasy thing, like what if Cormac McCarthy made a fantasy video game?" With this idea in mind, Korb aimed for a "sort of down-tuned open guitar — a bluesy guitar" sound.
The music of Bastion was well received. Matt Cox of Rock Paper Shotgun called Korb a "wizard," writing "the way Bastion marries its music to its story is spellbinding." Tom Phillips of Eurogamer stated, "the game's musical score and innovative narration are stand-out elements." In a retrospective discussing Bastion as one of the best games of the 2010s, Malindy Hetfeld of Eurogamer praised Korb's soundtrack as "fantastic."
Additionally, Bastion won the Spike Video Game Awards for Best Original Score and Best Song in a Game for "Build That Wall (Zia's Theme)." A physical CD version of the soundtrack was released on September 2, 2011. The soundtrack sold 30,000 copies by November 2011. Rapper Ab-Soul sampled "The Bottom Feeders" from the Bastion soundtrack on his song "Terrorist Threats."
After the success of Bastion, Korb composed the music for Supergiant's second game, Transistor. Korb said he struggled to replicate his approach to aim for a specific genre as he did with Bastion. However, he described the genre of Transistor's soundtrack as "Old-world electronic post-rock." Korb said he and his team "spent a lot of time prototyping the art and audio to make sure that they were 'of a piece' this time. That was one of our goals. Bastion, I thought, turned out really nicely, but a goal on this project was to more seamlessly integrate the look and feel of the art with the feel of the audio." Some of the music on the soundtrack was composed to create feelings of tension. Korb stated: "GameSpot noted that Korb used 'dissonant chords in the upper range to create unease.'"
On the instruments used in Transistor, Korb said, "there is a lot of heavily delayed electric guitar and sampled drums, but I also tried to include a number of 'old-world' instruments: accordion, harp, mandolin, etc." Korb worked with Barrett again on Transistor, as she voiced Red, the game's protagonist. On their collaboration, Korb said, "after working with Ashley on a couple projects now, I feel like I've gotten a better sense of how to write for her voice. For me, that's the main consideration that affects my writing process. Our sessions are pretty laid back. If a melody line doesn't feel quite right in her voice we will change it on the fly."
Like Bastion, Transistor's music received positive reception. Tasos Lazarides of TouchArcade wrote, "Darren Korb's music is astounding, rich and evocative as it echoes across the game and perfectly complements the bright yet mysterious world of Transistor." Additionally, the music in Transistor earned several industry award nominations. The soundtrack album was released simultaneously with the game on May 20, 2014, selling 48,000 copies in its first 10 days of release.
Korb served as the composer for the 2017 Supergiant release Pyre. Video game critics praised Korb's composition on Pyre, calling it "gorgeous." Kirk Hamilton of Kotaku wrote that Pyre "feels organically built around [Korb's] playful, tonally varied soundscapes," and added that the game's visual novel storytelling approach "allows for a much more clear-cut use of the interlocking segments of Korb's music, which gives
Artistry
Korb plays many different musical instruments, with the guitar being his main instrument. He has also played bass, drums, ukulele, banjo, and mandolin. Korb has used special electronic instruments, such as "weird circuit bent synthesizers," modified "toy synthesizers from the 1980s," the Casio SK-1 keyboard, and the theremin on the Casio SA-2. Korb explains that the instruments he chooses depend on the type of sounds needed for a game. He enjoys writing music on instruments he is not very skilled with because it helps him avoid relying on muscle memory for familiar chords and instead focus on listening carefully. Music writers have noted that Korb's style changes from project to project. Natalie Clayton from Rock Paper Shotgun wrote that Korb "has a very playful and unique way of using different music styles, from the acoustic trip-hop in Bastion to the Ancient Greek metal riffs in Hades."
When starting to compose music for a game, Korb focuses first on the overall "vibe" or feeling of the sound. He says, "If I start with a specific feeling in mind, it helps me decide many aspects of the music right away, like the tempo, the style of production, the tone (such as happy, sad, major, or minor), and gives me clear guidelines for how to move forward." An example of Korb's work is using song lyrics in video game soundtracks to help players understand a character's emotions and motivations.
Korb has mentioned that during his teenage years, he listened to artists and bands such as Weezer, They Might Be Giants, Radiohead, Björk, Ozma, Spiraling, and Led Zeppelin. He has also expressed admiration for Lena Raine, Vulfpeck, and Louis Cole of Knower.