Age of Conan Soundtrack Interview
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What do you look to for inspiration? What makes a piece of (Age of Conan) music?
My inspiration comes from a lot of places. A good piece of music or a movie with a good score inspires me. It gives me new ideas and makes me want to be a better composer. Working with and learning from live musicians is a huge inspiration booster. Getting new sound libraries opens up new possibilities and fills me with a lot of new ideas. Learning new compositional techniques or production methods makes you think in new ways and is also very inspirational.
As a general rule, I think the most important aspect of a piece of Age of Conan music, is that it should not sound too sophisticated or complex. The harmonic progressions, melodies and rhythms should be well defined and easy to grasp. It should sound ancient, primeval and natural. The instruments, scales, harmonic progressions and rhythmic elements in the score have all been carefully selected with this in mind. At the same time it's very important that you use a musical language that the listener understands and that is rich enough to be able to convey all the emotional nuances needed for the different parts of the game.
The world of Age of Conan is so varied. There are a lot of very different cultures, landscapes and moods in the game and the music has to reflect and underline all these differences. So typical Age of Conan music can be many different things: it can be dark and sinister, alarming and dangerous, sexy and seducing or lush and beautiful. The music varies in style and expression as well as in scope. You will find everything from simple folk music pieces to large orchestral works.
