We're back with another exclusive insight into developer Okomotive and the FAR universe! This is our third Deep Dive into the inner workings of development of the game. You can catch up here on Deep Dive 1 and Deep Dive 2.
This time we're joined by Joel Schoch, musician, and composer for the FAR games, to discuss the music and sounds of FAR: Changing Tides and how they came to be.
The soundtrack was a huge part of the emotional storytelling in FAR: Lone Sails, why was this so important to you?
For me, the soundtrack in FAR: Lone Sails as well as in FAR: Changing Tides aims to strengthen the emotional bond between the character and their vehicle. Since both games have an unobtrusive form of storytelling, this also gives room to suggest a story through music.
What or who were your biggest inspirations for creating the soundtrack?
The sketches and drawings by Don Schmocker, the lead creative, are certainly a great source of inspiration, as they already carry a lot of the atmosphere of the game. I also get inspired by trying different real instruments and searching for new sounds that they can make. My musical idols range from Tigran Hamasyan and Radiohead to great impressionists like Maurice Ravel. In music for games, I was so fascinated by the soundtrack to "Samorost III" by Floex aka Tomáš Dvořák, that I even wrote my master's thesis on it.
What were your biggest challenges in producing the soundtrack to FAR: Lone Sails?
The biggest challenge was knowing when to do what in the process. When is something fixed and how long can certain things be open? Since the game and the music grew more or less at the same time, it is a challenge to remain open to the fact that a game can develop in different directions and the impact that this can have on a soundtrack.
And what challenges did you face creating the music for FAR: Changing Tides during a pandemic?
I live in a shared flat in Zurich, where suddenly all my flatmates were working from home. I didn't want to constantly blast the poor guys with my music, so I bought a really good pair of headphones pretty quickly! Since I was used to working alone, the pandemic didn't have a huge impact on my work, although distancing myself from people I like wasn't always easy or great.
What was your favourite part of creating the soundtrack for FAR: Changing Tides?
The best thing for me was to work with a team that I know and trust. So again, it felt to me like I could make the music for this game that I imagined. To have this artistic freedom and to know that your work is trusted is probably the best feeling ever for a composer and musician as it is not always commonplace in the games industry. In the process itself, I love learning about and recording new instruments to find my own personal blend of sounds for the game.
Do you have a favourite instrument that was used?
Of the many new instruments used in FAR: Changing Tides, two were particularly great:
My good friend Dominic Röthlisberger was given an organ with about 400 wooden pipes from an estate not long ago. This organ was built by a hobby organ builder at home in the attic over his lifetime. To play and record this already visually beautiful instrument was extraordinary.
I also had Jim Double – an inventor of musical instruments - build me a "Chromatic Aquarion", a kind of xylophone made of glass. Since it took some time to build, this sound was added at the end of production and it gave me the feeling of finding the missing piece of the puzzle in the orchestration of FAR: Changing Tides.
What software/tools did you use for the production of the soundtrack and why?
For sessions with musicians, I compose on Dorico. For recording, producing, and mixing, I use Ableton. Since individual tracks can be gigantic with up to 300 tracks, changing the DAW (That's "Digital Audio Workstation") would take too much time anyway. To make the music for the game dynamic and to let it react to the game and the player, I work with FMOD Studio. I love the clarity but the almost infinite creative scope that FMOD offers me.
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