On 28th April 2009, Sean Lee, representative of renowned music production studio, Sonar Eclipse, announced that the studio will be working with Bluehole Studio on its maiden MMORPG, TERA, for the music production of the upcoming MMORPG.
Sonar Eclipse, made up of around 20 talented music producers, has worked before with Blizzard, EA and THQ on various games. Some of the games include Prince of Persia, Hellgate: London, Guitar Hero 3, Lineage 2 and many more.
Here is a short recent interview with 2 of the main people behind TERA’s music production, Inon Zur and Rod Abemethy, done by Korean gaming site, GameMeca.
GameMeca: What was your thoughts about TERA after having a look at it for the first time?
Rod: I was very excited, the combat system and creative background designs really left a deep impression on me. The game is very beautiful, and with the colorful characters and background, it gave us an inspiration on how to make the right music for the game. TERA should be the best piece of work I have seen so far.
Inon: When I first received details about Bluehole Studio’s TERA, I found out that the core team was the people who created Lineage 2, which our production team had worked with before. THe first thought after seeing TERA was out of this world… It just blew my mind. I especially like the graphics of TERA, the game made really good use of the Unreal Engine. Of course, I will feel some pressure to create music suitable for this masterpiece.
GameMeca: Other than TERA, what have you guys worked on for Korean MMOs ?
Rod: NCsoft’s Lineage 2. I worked on the OST for one of its promotional trailer.
Inon: NCsoft’s Lineage 2 and Exteel. While Lineage 2 is your typical large scale project, Exteel required much lesser work. Nevertheless, it was a really enriching and fun experience working with all the various music people and on the games.
GameMeca: Which Korean game’s music left you with a deep impression ?
Rod: Inon’s music score for Lineage 2, its very well done and mesmerizing.
Inon: Lineage 2’s OST, even though there are also good music in most games.
GameMeca: Which music you produced is your favorite ?
Rod: Too many to choose from… If an answer is needed, I will say its TERA’s.
Inon: This is a very hard question… I put in 100% in all my work, so I can’t really just choose 1.
GameMeca: What diffenrece is there when choosing the equipments for making music of different backgrounds, for exmaple, space and nature ?
Rod: Yes, we do use different musical instruments for different game backgrounds. For example, the guitar and long flute is more suitable for a forest environment, while for space, I will personally prefer electrical instruments.
GameMeca: We understand that BlueHole Studio has their own in-house music team. How do you guys work together in terms of dividing the work ?
Inon: While I am not very sure how their in-house music team works, our team works directly with TERA’s producers. Our Sound Design Team and Voice Over Team are the ones working with Bluehole’s music team.
GameMeca: When working with Bluehole Studio, were there any special requests from TERA’s development team ?
Rod: I would not say special, but rather, strict requests, like the timing, specific instruments and the various keys. Its all for making TERA a better game, we actually appreciate their help.
Inon: While there is much freedom, I am in-charge of making music for the Humans, High Elves and Amans. Its really stressful to make unique music for each race, and not forgetting my music can’t be too similar with the rest of the races I am not working on. Rod and I really had a hard time, but we always strive to exceed our limits.
GameMeca: Is there any difference making music for TERA compared to other games ?
Rod: Well, we have a different team each time we make music for different games. While sometimes we might have different opinions, TERA is shaping up to be a very good game along with the excellent music. It all boils down to our team work.
Inon: I find that TERA actually has several touching moments compared to other games. I am really impressed with Bluehole Studio’s creativity and boldness.
GameMeca: In order to make TERA’s music, you will have to have an understanding about the game. How did you guys immerse yourself with TERA’s lore and background ?
Rod: Other than the various trailers and videos, we also played the game ourselves and took down alot of notes to help create the music.
Inon: Of course, we also looked into the game’s lore, its history and the game structure. Its important we can draw inspiration from all these.
That’s all for the interview. Look forward to more news on TERA at its official website ~!
Official English Website – http://tera-online.com/
TERA Fans (fansite) – http://www.terafans.com/
