Tomb Raider Tribute by film composer Douglas Edward

Composer, orchestrator and Tomb Raider fan Douglas Edward has provided MoTR with an exclusive edit (as scouted by our contributor Tudor Tulok) of his Tomb Raider Tribute - an orchestration reel utilising Nathan McCree's original Tomb Raider motif. It is a variant of an unrelated piece composed by the talent post-tribute, "Road Not Taken", with the Tomb Raider theme substituting the original thematic material:

"The Tomb Raider Tribute was something I did for fun. I've always been a huge fan of the franchise especially TR2 and TR3. Exploring different places like the opera house, the jungle, and even places like Lara's mansion were some of my favorite aspects about the games. The melody Nathan McCree wrote for the series was so simple and yet quite effective. Anytime I hear an oboe playing a single note above an ensemble it's hard for me not to think of Tomb Raider (which is definitely a sign that I played those games way too much). The tribute was basically my homage to the TR theme. The original music is such a bold reminder of the games for me, so I thought it would be cool to re-create it to an extent. Doing something like that was new to me, and despite all the video games I've played in the past, Tomb Raider is still the only one I've created a tribute like this for." - Douglas Edward

"At 0:14 you can hear me singing the theme the oboe usually plays. At 0:33 is a live performance of a classical guitar I had recently obtained. I think this is the first time I recorded it. At 1:14, I break off from the theme and build to the next section. I bring the theme back at 1:41 with a sampled choir sound of my voice I had created. 2:04 has the theme played with sampled french horns. I'm back singing the theme at 2:44 accompanied by a high live violin. At 3:25, a live viola joins the classical guitar and takes us to the end." - Douglas Edward

Douglas Edward is an accomplished festival and award-winning film composer as well as a classically trained violinist/pianist whose works include Sanitarium (starring Malcolm McDowell, Robert Englund, and Lou Diamond Phillips), Adopting Terror (starring Sean Astin and Samaire Armstrong), Meteor Apocalypse (starring Joe Lando and Claudia Christian), and The Boys of Ghost Town (starring Danny Trejo).

The composer started taking piano and violin lessons in the 3rd and 5th grade respectively: "Funny story - after taking 2 years of piano, I looked at a violin and thought this will be easy. Boy was I wrong! I continued taking lessons on both until college where I joined a choir and studied mostly Piano and Music Composition. I picked up Guitar somewhere along the way as well. Since college, I've written original scores to a number of films and productions."

Please feel free to explore more of Edward's works via the portfolio below. If you're interested in submitting a fan tribute piece to feature on MoTR, head over to our contact page for the full details.

Douglas Edward
Website | Film/TV Score Reel | Space Shuttle Sign-off: The Last Flight - a documentary edited and scored by Edward | Tell Me Why - music video from a film scored by Edward