The below is an interview with Robin conducted by the Conker Community

Will you share a little of your background with our readers? Please tell us where you were born, where you learned your craft, and how long you have been in the game business.

Robin: I was born in Leeds. I started playing trumpet when I was seven, achieving the ABRSM (Associated Board of the Royal School of Music) grades 3 through 8. I also have an O level in music, played in various orchestras, concert bands, and big bands. The most fruitful part of my education was writing and playing in rock bands. I’ve been in the game business for 11 years.

How long have you worked for Rare?

Robin: Eleven years! I did try getting into the industry about two years [prior to that] but [was treated unfairly] by a few companies (Richard Underhill I hope you’re reading this) . Lucky for me my first job in the game business was at Rare and I’ve never looked back since!

What is your favorite game genre? Why?

Robin: Action adventure. Why? ‘Cause I like a bit of action and a smidgen of adventure.

What are your favorite games of all time (choose as many as three)?

Robin: Only three? Okay, here goes: Zelda, Splinter Cell, and Halo 2.

What games do you currently play for fun?

Robin: [I play] Halo 2, Links, [and I’m] just about to start playing Time Splitters Future Perfect as my very good friend Mr. Noz (Graeme Norgate) gave me a free copy. Cheers, Noz!

Can you tell us briefly about your role on the Conker™: Live & Reloaded and Conker’s Bad Fur Day® team?

Robin: I’m the audio lead on Conker™, but I mainly write the music. Any new sound effects and speech that have been done for Live & Reloaded were created by the very talented Martin Penny. Cheers, man, you’re a life/sanity saver.

What is your favorite part of the job?

Robin: Writing the music.

What is the worst part of your assignment?

Robin: Getting something to work (usually interactive music) and then loading up the latest version of the game only to find it’s broken and [we] have to fix it again.

How was the music for Conker™ selected?

Robin: Chris Seavor would say we need a tune for this and I would write one.

Do you have one in-game song that is your favorite?

Robin: I’m really happy with the new versions of the Conker’s Bad Fur Day® tunes, but I’m even happier with the multiplayer tunes (mainly because I think my writing has come on since I wrote the N64 tunes). I suppose if I had to pick one I would go for the main multiplayer “Lobby” tune which is kind of the main title for the Live part of the game. And, if I had to pick one tune from the single player (I think I should, seeing as we’ve done two games), I would probably go with the “Surf Punks” tune (the one where you chase after the uggas on surfboards along a river of lava) as I’m really pleased with how the drums turned out and I absolutely love what Nile Rodgers, Dweezil Zappa, and Dave Clynick did with their respective parts on it. Cheers, dudes!

Is there one that will send you ‘round the bend if you hear it one more time?

Robin: I have to say (and this won’t be a popular choice) [that] I would probably go with “Sloprano,” mainly because I think it works as a piece of game play audio but not something I would want to sit down and listen to. You won’t believe the amount of trouble we had trying to get that to work again (and the number of times we had to sit through it).

How much audio did you record for the game compared to how much of that audio made it into the actual game?

Robin: Pretty much all of the audio we recorded made it in. Chris runs a pretty tight ship and doesn’t like waste.

Did you work with the actor who recorded Conker’s lines?

Robin: Yes, it was Chris Seavor.

How did those recording sessions work? Who was in charge? How long did the recording sessions run?

Robin: Myself and Chris would go into the studio and Chris would briefly go through what the game play task was all about and then we’d hit record and start batting ideas back and forth to try and get spontaneous funny ideas until I had something (usually about an hour’s worth of material) that could be edited down (about two minutes ) into what you hear in the finished game. This worked better than going in with a script and Chris reading it out word for word. I think doing Conker that way would have been a bit staged and cack!

Is it easy to work with Conker? We’ve heard he’s becoming something of a diva.

Robin: Yeah, he’s pretty easy to work with—as long as he gets his bottles of Cobra and chicken chat puri every couple of weeks.