Wie entsteht Musik für Computerspiele?
Ein Special von Ubisoft und GRDB
Habt ihr euch schonmal gefragt wie die Hintergrundmusik der Spiele, die ihr im Regal habt zustande kommt und wer dahinter steckt? Einen kleinen Einblick in das Sounddesign professioneller Gaming-Produktionen gewährt unser Q&A zum Thema Musik zum erscheinenden Rollenspiel-Kracher "Dark Messiah of Might & Magic".
Hello, first of all could you introduce yourself?
[Erwan] Hi, I'm Erwan Le Breton, Associate Producer of Dark Messiah, and coordinator for the rebirth of the Might & Magic universe here at Ubisoft.
As such, I'm responsible for building a common "identity" for this world: a tone, an atmosphere, a style that will permeate all the facets of any future Might & Magic games, from the global concepts (dramatic treatments, general mood, etc.) to the more specific details (graphic codes and symbols, musical themes and leitmotivs, etc.).
[Sylvain] I am Sylvain Brunet, Music Supervisor for Dark Messiah. My job was to imagine and produce the musical identity and atmosphere of the game.
I already worked on producing music and sounds for more than 50 games, including Far Cry, Silent Hunter, Heroes of Might and Magic V or Rayman series.
"Sylvain Brunet"
What kind of music were you looking for? Did you have any reference in mind?
[Erwan] We wanted this new world of Might & Magic to be more "mature" in its themes and treatments. And for that, we chose to ground it in what we call the "Dark Fantasy" genre. Obviously, when you play Dark Messiah, you realize that the settings are mostly dusky, and your enemies are well as bald pallid Necromancers clad in dark leather. But by "dark", we mean more than a simple cosmetic varnish.
This "darkness" applies to the game's landscapes, designs and atmospheres, but also to the story's themes, characters and dialogues, to the brutal, visceral non-concession treatment of the gameplay, to the soundscapes, to the music…
In short, we were looking for the perfect balance of epic and tragic, horror and wonder.
So, in terms of musical references, we wanted something close to what Howard Shore did for the Lord of the Rings, or to what Danny Elfman did for the Tim Burton's movies.
[Sylvain] We wanted the music to be as dark and deep as the game, a strong and brutal score, something in between orchestral music and organic atmosphere. My goal was to create a unique score which can be immediately recognized by the player.
A part of my musical references are movies music scores. I wanted to get the kind of musical texture that Harry Gregson Williams use in his music production, a perfect mix between synthesised atmosphere and orchestral stuff.
Danny Elfman was a good reference too, for the musical production and the "over produced" scoring.
What made you decide to work with Sascha and Cris?
[Sylvain] The first time I listened to their demo, I was very impressed…it was very powerful. When we began speaking about the game, I realised that we had exactly the same idea on the kind of score we wanted for Dark Messiah. Actually we had the same musical references and we also like the same movie composers…
So, Sascha and Cris were just the perfect musical choice for the game.
Who had the idea of using a real orchestra for the score? Why was it important for the game?
[Sylvain] I had this idea when the producer, Romain de Waubert de Genlis, asked me about a way to improve the musical score of Dark Messiah. In fact, a real orchestra is important to get a powerful and human score, because synthesiser and sampler machine can't reproduce the feeling and the energy of 52 peoples playing and singing together.
At the end we got the best of both worlds in one score, this synthesised atmosphere and real orchestra.
Anything you would like to add?
[Erwan] We are really awed by what Sascha and Cris did for our game. When I listen to their score, it's not just sequences of a video game I visualize; it's much more like a rush of vibrant pictures, worthy of a blockbuster movie set in the world we've created.
[Sylvain] I want to thank Sebastien Gaillard, the sound designer of Dark Messiah, who did such a great job in integrating and setting up all the music and sounds in a perfect way.
And like Sascha and Cris say, I think that in the end we managed to get the "Dark Messiah sound".