Intervju sa KaiRom o muzici u G3
Kai Rosencrantz muses on the soundtrack of Gothic 3
Kai Rosencrantz searched the globe to bring in a wide-ranging group of musicians who could fill the world of Gothic 3 with music. As Lead Composer and Sound Designer for developer Pirahna Bytes, Rosencrantz has eight years of experience working on the Gothic series. He sat down with us to tell us why this soundtrack will be his best yet.
To download three free tracks from the Gothic 3 soundtrack, visit
www.gothic3soundtrack.com.
What are your responsibilities at Pirahna Bytes?
I’m in charge of the audio sector. In addition to my actual work as a composer and sound designer, I’m creating the visual effect and the website. We’re a small team and everybody is somewhat involved in every area of responsibility. I enjoy that very much. Working in several creative fields helps to keep up the many-sidedness of the job and that’s the whole fun of it.
How long have you been with the developer, and what other projects have you worked on?
I started working for Piranha Bytes while taking my final school exam, composing the music at home as a freelancer. That’s eight years ago in a very early stage of Gothic 1. Since then, I’ve worked on all the Gothic installments. I’m deeply grateful to Piranha Bytes for giving me the opportunity to develop during those eight years. For the original Gothic I had to stick to synthetic sounds and a virtual orchestra and I was always leaping at the challenge to work with a real orchestra one day or the other. Now, three installments later, I have done that plus so much more, and I really appreciate Piranha Bytes’ openness to a music production of this scope. A lofty mission, I know, but I worked hard to accomplish it as good as possible.
When you began to compose the music for Gothic 3, what were your goals?
I had three major goals. First I wanted to maintain the musical atmosphere I had established in the previous games of the series and make the music sound familiar and refreshingly innovative at the same time. Secondly I wanted to create a score that can take on big-time Hollywood soundtracks any time in terms of the emotional impact and the mere recording quality. Thirdly I wanted to blend the orchestral quality with the game’s interactive gaming experience. This means that the music changes according to the player’s actions without any audible transitions even though it was a linear orchestra recording in the first place.
What were your inspirations for the Gothic 3 soundtrack? Did you look at other games, or possibly movies, for inspiration?
There are some film music composers that I particularly like and I can’t avoid some indirect influence. It took me several years to develop my own musical style and on my way there I was surely influenced my favorite composers and other artists. I can’t say I looked at other games or movies intentionally, but I might have picked up certain stylistic means and worked them into my own musical approach.
When thinking about the different tracks, did you have specific gameplay elements in mind for each one?
Absolutely. Every single track serves a certain purpose in the game, be it to accompany an intense action scene, an outing into a spooky forest or dungeon, a picnic in an idyllic scenery or one of these heroic “you’re the man”-moments. I had these situations in mind when I composed the music and it helped me to find the right tone.
With planning music, how do you work the rest of the development team to make sure the music fits with the rest of the game?
Since I had hired so many musicians from all around the globe, the scope of the soundtrack production demanded a lot of organization and planning. Thus, I had to start very early with nothing but a few concept artworks and a well-established basic musical idea from the previous installments. I worked together very closely with the conceptual artists, which proved to be the right thing to do. Concept art is perfectly suitable for me as it is designed to evoke a certain emotion rather than being a strict design guideline. Music is all about emotion so an emotional reference I can relate to is way more important than a half-finished 3D model of the scenery. It is absolutely vital that every member of the team internalized the game’s overall mood and it applies to me in particular.
In the course of development I examine every bit of visual data very closely and see if it suits my music. When the designs for Nordmar and the desert region shaped up, I had to add some more ethno elements at the very last minute. I’m glad it all turned out alright in the end.
Tell us about the orchestra that performed the soundtrack?
The Bochum Symphony Orchestra is a greatly respected German concert orchestra. Besides their popular classical concerts they have done some film music as well, but they didn’t have any experience with music for games. This turned out to have a positive effect on the music as they didn’t stick to the common Hollywood way of playing. They rather brought the music to life with their own approach. About 70 people performed the 60-minute orchestral score.
GOCOO is a Japanese taiko band, which appeared in “Matrix Reloaded” and “Matrix Revolutions” with its intense percussion tracks. For Gothic 3 they have performed some powerful taiko patterns, which fit perfectly for the Orcs, and some spiritual moments.
Lisbeth Scott is a singer based in LA who sung on so many blockbusters: “Munich”, “Passion Of The Christ”, “Kingdom Of Heaven”, “Shrek 1 & 2”, “Spy Game”, “Atlantis”, “Sleepy Hollow”, “Scorpion King” and many more. You can hear her beautiful voice in Gothic 3 mainly in Varant, the desert region, and in some cutscenes.
The Prague FILMharmonic choir contributed to the Gothic 3 soundtrack with their both rousing and gentle vocal performances. The choir mainly consists of members of the Czeck National Philharmonic choir, one of the best choirs in the world. Plus, the S.A.M. Gospel Choir and the Joyful Voices Choir performed some enchanting phrases.
Solo musicians from around the world played ethno instruments such as Daduk, Saz, Sitar, Tampura, Ud, Pipes, Fujara, Bawu and other strange gizmos.
I needed this stylistic diversity in the music to emphasize the game’s many-sidedness. Listening to the Gothic 3 soundtrack album is an exiting musical journey through many different cultures.
Is there anything else that you would like to say about the music within Gothic 3?
Talking about the soundtrack album: It should be available shortly after the game hit stores. Check it out.
