RPG Vault interviews Inon Zur

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Brother None

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RPG Vault offers an interview on the music of Fallout 3, talking to composer Inon Zur.<blockquote>Jonric: Would you tell us about the various influences that inspired or otherwise came to be reflected in these tracks, especially the main theme?

Inon Zur: Some of it was inspired by the sci-fi music of Jerry Goldsmith, but I was really trying to take orchestral elements into no man's land, so to speak, and then combine it with some weird non-orchestral ones, so it has a futuristic approach, but in a retro kind of way.

You try to capture the reference of looking back to the past with lots of longing, looking at the present dark times while trying to look forward in a heroic way to the future. You are trying to capture all of that in the main theme.
(...)
Jonric: Based on your awareness of the universe, what impressions do you have about Fallout 3, aside from the music?

Inon Zur: The universe is the same one as before, but the treatment from Bethesda is harsher. It's more story-driven, less technical, which definitely helps separate it from the others. Also, the characters are being played by Liam Neeson, Ron Perlman and some other big names, which really helps. It's very cinematic and dramatic.</blockquote>
 
From what I've heard, he seems to have done a very admirable job with the music in the game. The combat music could use a little fine tuning, but I love the overworld theme.
 
Mr. Zur's music hasn't really stuck out for me, but I've never outright disliked any of his work that I've heard.
 
but I was really trying to take orchestral elements into no man's land, so to speak
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And this is precisely what he should not have done, because some of the tracks are actually pretty good, but the orchestral part ruins most of them.

while trying to look forward in a heroic way to the future. You are trying to capture all of that in the main theme.
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The heroic part kicks the atmosphere in the balls :slap:
 
The good thing about music... is that it is likely to be the easiest thing to mod (replace) about the game.

I can see people using TeamX tools to make utilities that would merge Fallout1/2 soundtracks into Fallout3. And replacing combat music with a tiny silent file.
 
Well, the main theme has nice orchestral drum work, but the strings etc. don't really fit so well. Plus main theme sound overly heroic (-> Oblivon esque).

God i loved the music in Arroyo.
 
he's good at bringing the EPIC but sometimes cheese starts to fly everywhere :)

i liked his stuff in Crysis ... i'm not sure his "heroic" approach fits a fallout game.

i liked the original fallout scores for the restraint and aural sparsity :)
 
Did he say anything about Mark Morgan?

One of the main parts in Fallout 1&2, which made the game so damn cool, was Mark's music. Tribal-ambient-experimental-industrial-western-whatever that was, it was (and still is even after 10 years) great and inspiring.

Orchestral music fits more to superhero movies (Hulk, X-Men, etc), yes Fallout is inspired by superhero style, but Fallout wasn't only based on that. Fallout had many inspirations, and Morgan's music gave this game another, different link that made its universe so big and rich. Like Aphex Twin had sex with...I don't know...Beethoven.

Inon Zur has done music for Fallout 3 like for the masses. Most of (maybe even all) new hollywood movies out there have orchestral soundtrack. Especially sci-fi. He went for the easy way.
After listening to some of his tracks, it was like he tries to do something experimental, but then he scares and runs back to the orchestral "Ohh, no, oh noo. I'm scared, I'm scared, it hurts! Uhhh, orchestra...mmmmhh, much easier"- that's not creative!! You have done better work with Tactics you douchbag!

Heh, I remmeber when Todd once said that they want to focus more on original Fallouts, than on sin-offs: Fallout Tactics and BOS. But here we see their lies!
Tactics- Inon Zur (music)
BOS- Action RPG
Tactics- Power Armor (now Enclave has it)
Tactics- the cover is very similar
BOS- gore, gore, shooting, shooting

Or maybe they did those by mistake? Wow, that'd be odd!
 
Public said:
Most of (maybe even all) new hollywood movies out there have orchestral soundtrack.
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Wot? The trend in Hollywood right now is actually to fill a soundtrack with pseudo-indie bands, after the success of stuff like Little Miss Sunshine and Juno. Not to make your rant any less weird.
 
terebikun said:
Public said:
Most of (maybe even all) new hollywood movies out there have orchestral soundtrack.
Click to expand...

Wot? The trend in Hollywood right now is actually to fill a soundtrack with pseudo-indie bands, after the success of stuff like Little Miss Sunshine and Juno. Not to make your rant any less weird.
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I believe he is reffering to Hollywood action or war blockbusters. Fallout 3's tone isn't all that comparable to Juno.
 
I've said it once, and I'll say it again: Inon Zur is the poor man's Jeremy Soule; and both composers suck at creating music with personality. Zur makes a pathetic attempt with Megaton's theme but falls horribly short, and ends up with a mishmash piece of unrecognizable melodies and tunes.

What Bethesda has done is basically yet another fan disservice, further disregard of Fallout's incredibly rich material, which of course is done entirely on purpose to obviously cater another type of crowd. In my all honest opinion, I can't possibly conceive a Fallout game without Mark Morgan's talent behind the soundtrack. Then again, maybe I'm that demanding about it because I'm a fan of the first two games.

Just for the record, though, orchestral game music can sound unique, heroic, and full of charisma: all it takes is Michael Giacchino.
 
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