Difference between revisions of "Diablo 3 music"
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Diablo III's music is fairly similar to the music of D1 and D2. Orchestral and sweeping, with more of a classical than a rock vibe. There's a lot of variety though, as the Middle Eastern style of music heard in the cinematic introduction demonstrated. Only a few samples have been heard pre-game, many of which can be listened to right through your browser. | Diablo III's music is fairly similar to the music of D1 and D2. Orchestral and sweeping, with more of a classical than a rock vibe. There's a lot of variety though, as the Middle Eastern style of music heard in the cinematic introduction demonstrated. Only a few samples have been heard pre-game, many of which can be listened to right through your browser. | ||
| − | == | + | * [http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewRoom?fcId=289744203&id=1 Blizzard Entertainment's iTunes Store] stocks several pieces of Diablo III music, free to download. |
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* [http://us.blizzard.com/diablo3/world/environments/caldeum.xml Caldeum] | * [http://us.blizzard.com/diablo3/world/environments/caldeum.xml Caldeum] | ||
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| + | ===Diablo III Movies=== | ||
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| + | The various [[Diablo III movies]], both [[cinematic]] and [[Gameplay Video|gameplay]], include numerous sound effects and some amount of music as well. | ||
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| + | * [[Cinematic: WWI 2008|The introductory cinematic]]. | ||
| + | * [[Cinematic: Wizard]] | ||
| + | * [[Cinematic: Monk]] | ||
| + | * [[Cinematic: Demon Hunter]] | ||
| + | * [[Gameplay WWI2008]] | ||
| + | * [[Gameplay: Blizzcon 2008]] | ||
| + | * [[Gameplay: Blizzcon 2009]] | ||
| + | * [[Gameplay: Blizzcon 2010]] | ||
==Diablo's Musical Influences== | ==Diablo's Musical Influences== | ||
Revision as of 03:27, 25 February 2011
The sound effects and music in a computer game might not be as important as the visuals, but they are a major factor in the player's enjoyment and immersion in the experience, especially when done right. The Diablo series is well known for its excellent music and sound effects, much of those courtesy of the hard work by Blizzard North's Matt Uelmen.
The team working on the sound for Diablo 3 did not work on previous titles in the series, but they are skilled industry professionals and they've got years of experience producing past Blizzard titles including World of Warcraft. Also, reports from players who have gotten their hands and ears on the game have been quite positive.
Contents
Diablo III Audio Team
A few of the key creators for Diablo III's sound and music.
- Russell Brower is the Director of Audio and Video at Blizzard Entertainment. He is composing much of the music for Diablo III.
- Joseph Lawrence is the Lead Sound Designer for Diablo III. He is creating many of the sound effects, and contributes to the music as well.
Diablo III Music
Diablo III's music is fairly similar to the music of D1 and D2. Orchestral and sweeping, with more of a classical than a rock vibe. There's a lot of variety though, as the Middle Eastern style of music heard in the cinematic introduction demonstrated. Only a few samples have been heard pre-game, many of which can be listened to right through your browser.
- Blizzard Entertainment's iTunes Store stocks several pieces of Diablo III music, free to download.
Sample Compositions
A forum-user by the name of FlamangoHellfire assembled all of the samples available as of late 2009 and shared them in a forum thread. [1] All of the following links are mp3s and can be right clicked to save to your computer.
- Caldeum.mp3
- Caldeum New.mp3
- Cathedral v1.mp3
- Cathedral v2.mp3
- Characters.mp3
- Night.mp3
- Tristram v1.mp3
- Tristram v2.mp3
- World of Sanctuary.mp3
Atmospheric Soundscapes
The various "Environments" pages on the official Diablo III site have music and sounds from those areas playing in an endless loop in the background. Open a browser tab and let one of these run for a while, to get a real sense of what you'll hear on those levels.
Diablo III Movies
The various Diablo III movies, both cinematic and gameplay, include numerous sound effects and some amount of music as well.
- The introductory cinematic.
- Cinematic: Wizard
- Cinematic: Monk
- Cinematic: Demon Hunter
- Gameplay WWI2008
- Gameplay: Blizzcon 2008
- Gameplay: Blizzcon 2009
- Gameplay: Blizzcon 2010
Diablo's Musical Influences
Russel Brower replied to a fan's email about the Diablo III music with some great details. A partial quote. [2]
Diablo III's Sound Integration
The D3 Team haven't talked much about the sound or music of the game, but a few comments have been made. Community Manager Bashiok shared his feelings on the importance of the issue in a forum post from July 2009: [3]
Jay had an anecdote at ... the last BlizzCon I think, where he talked about Seismic Slam. It was one of if not the first Barbarian abilities created, actually first in the game entirely, and they were working on it and working on it, and just never really happy with it, and then one day the sound came back for it and they got it all working in game, and finally it all came together. It became this stunningly powerful feeling ability. I think that speaks volumes (nyuk nyuk) about how important sound is to the feeling of a game.
That same lesson is true through the development of the game. A new skills goes in and it seems awesome, it looks cool, but until you get the sound attached it just seems incomplete.
Just because a lot of the sounds are early renditions though, as amazing as they are, we’d need to make sure the audio engineers are far enough along where they’d want to showcase them. They’re perfectionists. So hopefully a sound feature is something we can do, but if I had to guess it won’t be for a while yet.
Sound Effects
Elsewhere, Bashiok confirmed that the sound effects were still being created in-house, in the state of the art sound studios in Blizzard's headquarters in Irvine, California: [4]
