Austin Wintory

On December 5, 2012, Journey received a Grammy nomination for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media, becoming the first video game score to receive a Grammy nomination, sharing the category with John Williams' The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, Ludovic Bource's The Artist, Hans Zimmer's The Dark Knight Rises, Howard Shore's Hugo, and Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross's winner, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Journey's nomination occurred in the wake of Christopher Tin's "Baba Yetu" (originally composed for Civilization IV) winning a Grammy the previous year for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s), and it was Tin who first made Wintory aware of his Grammy nomination via a phone call. Prior to the Grammy nomination, Wintory described video games as having evolved into "a full-blown art genre that is right alongside literature and any other form of storytelling."

Most of the soundtrack revolves around a group of soloists (cello, bass/alto flute, harp, viola and serpent), plus a string orchestra (the Macedonia Radio Symphonic Orchestra) and various sound effects. Wintory approached the soundtrack as "essentially a cello concerto." Cellist Tina Guo, who worked with Wintory on several scores, has been praised by Wintory as "a cellist of the highest caliber" and was the first person Wintory thought of for the soundtrack on the day he first spoke with Thatgamecompany founder Jenova Chen about the game. In April 2011, Wintory wrote "Woven Variations," a miniature cello concerto for Guo inspired by Journey's score, which the two performed together in Los Angeles.

Chen discussed looking for a central musical idea that would span the entire game, which ultimately took the form of the score's first track, "Nascence," recorded in April 2009. Wintory credited the inspiration of hearing Chen discuss the project for how quickly the first musical ideas clicked in his mind. According to Wintory, the primalness of Thatgamecompany's games, which are heavily influenced by Joseph Campbell's hero's journey, appeal to a broad audience through the story of mankind rather than a more esoteric story. He did not consider the abstract storytelling of Journey as more or less difficult to score than other projects, only different. he also described the experience of scoring in an abstract, parallel way as taken to a new level by Journey.

Austin Wintory (born September 9, 1984 in Denver, Colorado) is an American composer who composes scores for films and video games. He is particularly known for composing the scores to the acclaimed video game titles Flow and Journey, the latter of which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media (the first for a video game). His film efforts include the scores to the 2009 Sundance hit Grace, as well as the 2008 Sundance Audience Award winner Captain Abu Raed. Wintory has composed 300 scores since 2003.

Austin Wintory was born in Denver, Colorado in 1984 and started learning piano when he was ten years old, after he was introduced to composer Jerry Goldsmith by his teacher. Before the age of ten, Wintory did not play any instruments and barely listened to music. By the age of sixteen, Wintory started writing for and conducting the Cherry Creek High School Orchestra during their performances of the "Spirit of the Cosmos" pieces. Two years later, at the age of eighteen, Wintory conducted the Utah Symphony during its recording of "Cosmos", which became one of his most popular projects, although he refers to it as "atrocious garbage". Since 2003, Wintory has composed over three hundred musical scores.