Thanks to our lovely friends at Vivendi we have an interview for you with World in Conflict composer and sound designer Ola Strand.
Enjoy.
What process does a song go through, from initial idea to the finished song we hear in the game?
I try to write concept music as early as possible in the production process. We often have at least a couple of songs long before the actual design is finished. These serve as a guideline - a reference to what we want, or what we do not want.
Much later, when the design and story of the game is finished, I sit down and write the full score. Because of my early involvement, it usually doesn’t take more than a couple of weeks to write the full score. In the case of World in Conflict, the single-player story was a great inspiration! Our story writer, Christofer Emgård, helped me out with all the twists and turns in the game.
When all the music is done, it’s time to record. I usually need help with arranging and putting together an orchestra. The recording sessions last two to three days, and then it’s back in the studio at Massive to mix everything together. This is where I cut the music into smaller pieces, edit loops and create all the event driven parts for the game.
Are there a lot of limiting factors when composing music for videogames?
I would say that the biggest “limitation” of composing music for games is the virtually endless array of possibilities. To me, it’s important not to get carried away with technological mumbo jumbo, but to concentrate on what is important for the game. Of course there is a huge difference to composing for film - where you always know what’s going to happen in the next frame. Music is linear – gaming is not (with the exception of some FPS games). You cannot be certain of what the player is going to do next. But then again, do you really want the music to reflect every movement of the player or give away that enemy around the corner? To try and make the game experience that cinematic is simply wrong to me. A game is a game, so let it be just that.
How much was made purely in the in-house studio, and how much was recorded at Gula Studion?
Probably around 95% of the music in World in Conflict has something recorded in Gula (strings and brass). They have this amazing sounding room for strings, and some really great microphones. I hope to record there again.
Percussion and woodwinds were recorded at my parents’ farm house. The rest – guitar, bass or pure electronic music – was composed and recorded in Massive’s studio in Malmö.
We already know that there are some licensed songs in World in Conflict, but how many of the tracks are in fact your creations?
That’s a hard question to answer. There are around 30 original songs in the game. But these are then edited and remixed to make up a lot more music. Our sound assistant, Simon Koudriavtsev, helped out making some of the remixes for the action sequences in the game. I think there is around 120 different edits of the score for in-game use. On top of that there is another hour or so of music for menus, cutscenes, cinematics, etc.
What are some of the central themes we can hear on the World in Conflict soundtrack?
There is, of course, a World in Conflict theme. But you will not hear it very often (not even in the main menu). Then there is a piece I wrote simply to back the feeling of a Soviet invasion (Incursio) and another one for the situation in Europe (European march). But most of the music is created around more specific characters and situations.
Has composing and sound designing changed over the years? Have new hardware and software made your job easier, or at least more satisfying?
For every gain in technology you raise the bar. To me it is not more complex, it is simply more.
Tell us a bit about the main theme, “World in Conflict”. Was it always meant to be the main theme and what do you think makes it qualify for such a role?
I never set out to write a main theme for World in Conflict. My experience told me that it’s better to just concentrate on the whole game and see what comes out. Then, if there is a suitable piece of music – fine, let’s call it a main theme. I wanted to have a different approach to what we did in the Ground Control series - where you just grew tired of the pompous music after a couple of plays.
What makes it qualify as a main theme: You’ve just cleared the last level, and this is the music you really want to hear.
“Incursio” seems to be very evolving, with different sections sounding differently. Is this because it was written for a specific scene?
The second half of Incursio started out as something I wrote for an early trailer for World in Conflict. It had different instrumentation and was more electronic sounding, although some people will probably recognize it. When I later needed a theme to back up the Soviet invasion, I tried putting these two in sequence – I just figured they fit well together – and so they were recorded as one single piece. The music is put together in a way that allows me to make different edits for in-game events, so you will probably never hear this exact version of it in the game. Then again, you might.