I always thought they were recorded strings? Well I guess my next ten years are going to be real annoying

I just invisioned synths ie mass effect

I got the impression they were synthesized. I could be wrong.

Eitherway I have complete faith that the music will be great. Infact I have complete the whole game will bring me 200 hours of tons of fun.

That's not fan boi ism either. Every es game has had it's fair share of flaws but I always enjoy it

Meh, I prefer Jason Hayes, Russell Brower, and Inon Zur:

Jason Hayes - A Call to Arms
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbTon3KGgGU[/media]

Jason Hayes - Legends of Azeroth
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kD_-sIjRq5c[/media]

Russel Brower - The Burning Legion
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xznzQXjlGY[/media]

Inon Zur - Dragon Age: Origins
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWFEVbfCcOY[/media]

Bethesda rarely has the music actually tied to specific events, apart from combat.

If they have the music tied to a specific event, like, say, some guy in front of you getting his head cut off, THAT's when I'd expect the music to get dramatic. But that's not Beth's style. So J.S. has to write music that isn't intrusive and contrary to what might be playing on the screen.

As long as the music is as epic as Morrowind's theme I'll be happy. It still gives me chills and take me on an emotional and memory filled journey.

I disagree about Inon Zur. His DA main theme was great when listened to in combination with the game intro, but outside of the game, it doesn't work as well, sounds much blander. The rest of the score was similar to OB's to my mind in the way that I can't remember any of it. I think both of them fail at giving their music a certain warmth and richness that would approach the quality of Hans Zimmer's work. However, these movies require music that is a deal more epic throughout, whereas in ES music needed to work with the amount of action that was happening in the game, and it wouldn't be good for a player to stop and listen to music that was so epic and intense it was distracting. On the other hand, I think Soule managed to achieve that power somewhat in his Skyrim theme (if he was indeed the one who composed it). It immediately reminded me of Zimmer, see here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jH_Oy-evAI8 - from 7:50
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uszK5a1bZ-A - from 2:25

There are other examples, but I can't be bothered. Check out Zimmer's King Arthur OST as well.

I like Soule's music in the context of the games, but it is a bit too cheesy to stand out on its own. He basically attempts to write Renaissance music. As far as the ambient aspect of the soundtrack is concerned, I'm afraid to say he is not that good for the job. Ideally, you'd hire a real dark ambient producer for that, like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SeG0AlxRkI perhaps.

I'd be happy with Jeremy Soule, not just because he uses the cello a lot (my favorite instrument), but because he made games like NWN, Morrowind, and OB so memorable. Not hating on Hans Zimmer, though. His pieces in Rome:Total War and about twenty other movies are brilliant.

My favorites of Soule from YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gjl3li-n_Y&feature=related

Morrowind
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wQw45WVeek&feature=related

Guild Wars
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Mc0OSVrhoE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FBuxs6oxZ4&feature=related

Neverwinter Nights
Rich house theme
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_RobPq0JJk&feature=related
City slums
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Awx7cY5Ulpk&feature=related
city docks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3zItgaIBGA&feature=related

And how would that work in a game like Oblivion? ES doesn't have a dark atmosphere, it doesn't need dark music, except maybe in dungeons, where it already has one adjusted to the overall tone of the game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qO7uv0tT0nE

It would work in a game like Fallout. And I never said that they have to use that exact track.

No, but you gave it as an example, so that's what I was going off of and I haven't played Fallout so I was only commenting on what would work in the ES.

Jeremy Soule is the God of soundtrack composers.

The Oblivion soundtrack is beyond fantastic.

I'm no fan of either Jeremy Soule or Inon Zur, and would much rather see someone else compose the soundtrack (like Adam Skorupa behind The Witcher soundtrack for example). But I would be surprised if Bethesda didn't use Jeremy Soule for this.

I hope so. Nobody can craft an Elder Scrolls soundtrack better than him. And his ES music still sounds awesome after putting in 500 hours to Morrowin/Oblivion!

The Witcher's soundtrack is amazing. It's always impressed me how well it fits the theme and tone of the game it was created for. Great job by the composer.

I'm hoping they do something like New Vegas' use of older music and put Blizzard and/or Oversnow in there somewhere.

Soule is fantastic. Both Morrowind and Oblivion had amazing soundtracks. I'm pretty sure he'll be doing this game's soundtrack because the song in the trailer sounded like his style.

I seriously wasn't aware of the fact that there are people who don't like Jeremy Soule :unsure2:

If you can believe it, there are people out there that don't even like bacon. I mean, c'mon, it's bacon!

Not that I'm comparing Soule to bacon. They're quite dissimilar. Bacon is saltier, after all.

I'm usually listening to Tool or Quarashi, when I'm playing TES. Sets the tone well. Who's this "Soule" guy?




Rob Dougan did http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpvO-vT7oUs. I feel like I'm riding with T.E. Lawrence, listening to this one. Have him compose. Or Vangelis.
Just make a game centered around these guys' compositions, because the soundtrack is so important.

There are composition overhauls for Oblivion and Fallout which do a much better job with atmosphere and emotion, imao.

I think Jeremy Soule has done some nice sounding work, but really I prefer the likes of Inon Zur. Music like this, for example, really gets me enthusiastic for a fight with a dragon:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V6ayeiKkT4

No friggin' way!? Bacon-haters? The next thing you'll tell me is that there's someone out there hating Justin Bieber.

Btw, listening to Morrowind soundtrack at the moment - a masterpiece.

I think he did a good job with OB and MW, the music just seems to sit and purr gently in the background while you play. He's a solid composer imo, well worthy of Skyrim. No Nobou Umatseu (that how you spell it?) but still solid as i said.

PS: listen to the track "peace at last" from MW. One ofmy personal favourites.

Oblivions soundtrack? It had much more variety than Morrowinds. Sure, MW main THEME was better but the overall soundtrack was repetitive, unlike Oblivions. I guess it's a matter of opinion though.