arrangers:
- link: artist/2538
  names:
    en: Kenneth Keyn
catalog: OCRO-0002
categories:
- Game
category: Game
classification: Original Soundtrack
composers:
- link: artist/9156
  names:
    en: Troy Keyn
- link: artist/2538
  names:
    en: Kenneth Keyn
covers:
- full: https://media.vgm.io/albums/80/20408/20408-1280214320.jpg
  medium: https://media.vgm.io/albums/80/20408/20408-1280214320.jpg
  name: Front
  thumb: https://media.vgm.io/albums/80/20408/20408-1280214320.jpg
discs:
- disc_length: '12:08'
  name: ''
  tracks:
  - names:
      English: Awaiting Orders (Menu)
    track_length: '3:00'
  - names:
      English: Have at Thee! (Intro)
    track_length: 0:16
  - names:
      English: The Engine of War (Standard)
    track_length: '3:18'
  - names:
      English: Dead of Night (Losing)
    track_length: '1:12'
  - names:
      English: Der Scharfschütze (Defeated)
    track_length: 0:45
  - names:
      English: Battle at Dawn (Winning)
    track_length: '1:31'
  - names:
      English: Victory at Dawn (Victorious)
    track_length: 0:40
  - names:
      English: Iron Crosses (Credits)
    track_length: '1:24'
  - names:
      English: Achievement
    track_length: 0:01
  - names:
      English: Promotion
    track_length: 0:01
link: album/20408
lyricists: []
media_format: Digital
meta:
  added_date: 2010-07-26T23:02
  edited_date: 2011-01-08T12:26
  fetched_date: 2026-06-06T01:05
  freedb: 1
  ttl: 86400
  visitors: 4788
name: Trenches Original Soundtrack
names:
  en: Trenches Original Soundtrack
  ja: Trenches Original Soundtrack
  ja-latn: Trenches Original Soundtrack
notes: 'Trenches Original Soundtrack [OCRO-0002]

  Trenches developed by Thunder Game Works (http://thundergameworks.com) for the iPhone

  Track 1 composed and produced by Troy Keyn, additional orchestration by Kenneth
  Keyn (a.k.a. Abadoss)

  Tracks 2-9 composed and produced by Kenneth Keyn, additional instrumentation and
  performance by Troy Keyn

  Contact: [email protected]

  Composers'' comments:

  Trenches brings together music reminiscent of the European nationalist composers
  - prevalent in the years leading up to World War I - with electric guitars and modern
  percussion. My brother, Troy Keyn, was initially approached about composing the
  soundtrack on Trenches on his own. Troy decided to bring me into the project because
  of my experience with orchestration and because it would be an incredible opportunity
  for me in my career pursuits. Michael Taylor, CEO of Thunder Game Works, charged
  us with the task of creating a soundtrack that would enhance the game, without sacrificing
  substantial and meaningful composition. I am responsible for the primary composition
  and orchestration on all tracks, except "Awaiting Orders" - which Troy composed
  - and "Promotion" - which is just a drumroll. Troy recorded the percussion and guitars
  and is responsible for the final sound production. I used Finale 2009 to compose
  each track and Garritan Personal Orchestra and Finale''s built-in MIDI SoftSynth
  for the orchestral samples. Troy used Sonar for recording and final production.

  "Awaiting Orders" -- Troy wanted to compose at least one piece on the soundtrack
  and chose to do the menu/title music. There are a couple versions of this track
  that Troy tried out - one sounding very much like something out of Pirates of the
  Caribbean. In the end, this version won out. I made a few orchestration changes
  to give it fuller sound, but this is ultimately Troy''s track.

  "Have at Thee!" -- This little intro plays every time you start a new game. The
  difficulty in writing this fanfare was avoiding anything cheesy or cliché. In addition,
  it''s a fanfare of war, so I had to consider what might be heard on a battlefield
  and embellish it a bit. I decided to get in as much dissonance as I could to represent
  the cacophony of war. On the technical side, I had to process the track with Finale''s
  MIDI SoftSynth, as Garritan was unable to adequately perform the quick articulations
  I had written.

  "The Engine of War" -- This track took the longest time to develop out of all the
  tracks. I started out by first figuring out the main theme - roughly at 0:43. After
  that, I simply composed a ton of different sections that could be dropped or picked
  up and developed into the final track. The main trick was finding a balance between
  the repetitive nature of looping a track and wanting to have a recognizable theme.

  "Dead of Night" -- Michael wanted the losing music to clearly let the player know
  they were in trouble. Troy and I decided that something dark and more frantic would
  be the best choice. I borrowed a section from the second movement of my first symphony
  as the basis for this piece. While I was reluctant to use it, the section worked
  too well to ignore it.

  "Der Scharfschütze" -- I wanted this track to be as dark and heavy as I could get
  it to reflect utter defeat. I felt an organ would be best suited for the task. Just
  for fun, I wrote the organ part in the style of Johann Sebastian Bach to represent
  the Germans winning.

  "Battle at Dawn" and "Victory at Dawn" -- Both pieces are based on the first and
  last sections - respectively - from a piece I wrote in October 2005, also called
  "Victory at Dawn", for the Thematic Original Music Competition. I played this piece
  for Michael, as a possibility for the winning and victorious music, uncertain if
  it would be a good idea since I wrote it with cavalry in mind at the time. He thought
  it was a perfect fit, so it''s in the game.

  "Iron Crosses" -- The credits proved challenging for me, as I only had 0:50 to work
  with - which I found out after I''d worked on a full version. Michael liked what
  I''d written, but it needed to be cut down significantly. After a number of edits,
  I was still barely too long. Troy had to find a spot where it wasn''t jarring to
  cross-fade between two sections and make the cut before it came down below 0:50.

  "Achievement" -- This track was surprisingly difficult for something so short. Michael
  wanted this fanfare to be simple and to avoid cluttering up the soundscape. I tried
  various number of horns, different chords, all sorts of different articulations,
  and rhythms before landing on the current version through a lot of trial and error.
  As with "Have at Thee!", this track was processed in Finale''s MIDI SoftSynth. In
  this case, the trumpet samples just sounded better for some reason.

  "Promotion" -- Yup. It''s a drumroll.

  My thanks to:

  My brother, Troy Keyn, for giving me this opportunity and working with me on this
  project.

  Michael Taylor, for putting together a fantastic game and believing in us.

  Jennifer Cameron and Jim Day, for helping me find the tools and confidence that
  made this possible.

  Larry "Liontamer" Oji, for encouraging me to release this as an EP and for putting
  up with my delays.

  David "djpretzel" Lloyd, for creating and maintaining a community that I am proud
  to belong to.

  zircon, bLiNd, DarkeSword, Mazedude, OA, Level 99, audio fidelity, and Josh Whelchel
  for even considering the crazy request that I made of you, let alone actually attempting
  to pull it off. You guys are awesome, fantastic people.

  And everyone at OverClocked ReMix, for being damn cool...

  P.S. - I do accept commissions. :P

  Kenneth Edward Keyn

  [email protected]

  http://abadoss.net'
organizations:
- &id001
  link: org/47
  names:
    en: OverClocked ReMix
    ja: OverClocked ReMix
    ja-latn: OverClocked ReMix
  role: publisher
performers:
- link: artist/9156
  names:
    en: Troy Keyn
picture_full: https://media.vgm.io/albums/80/20408/20408-1280214320.jpg
picture_small: https://medium-media.vgm.io/albums/80/20408/20408-1280214320.jpg
picture_thumb: https://thumb-media.vgm.io/albums/80/20408/20408-1280214320.jpg
platforms:
- Apple iOS
products:
- names:
    en: Trenches
publish_format: Commercial
publisher: *id001
related: []
release_date: '2010-07-29'
release_events: []
release_price:
  price: Free
reprints: []
stores:
- link: http://ocremix.org/album/id/19/trenches-original-soundtrack/
  name: ocremix.org
vgmdb_link: https://vgmdb.net/album/20408?perpage=99999
votes: 0
websites:
  Official:
  - link: http://ocremix.org/album/id/19/trenches-original-soundtrack/
    name: 'Album: Trenches Original Soundtrack (OCRO-0002) - OverClocked ReMix'
