Keeping Track of Jade Empire’s Jack Wall, The Composer Chats About His New OST

by Louis Bedigian

“Music outlines the emotions where sound design highlights the reality of the soundtrack at any given time.” 

It seems like only yesterday we talked to Jack Wall about his exciting new venture, Video Games Live.  That’s because we did talk to Jack Wall about Video Games Live!

Conducting the Future (Part 1)

Conducting the Future (Part 2)

You might think that after all that he’d have nothing left to say.  Guess again.  This is Jack Wall we’re talking about, the International Man of Masterpiece Compositions.  In many ways he’s like Austin Powers: always daring, always original.  His music will take you to places you never expected to go.  And what isn’t more attractive to Felicity Shagwell than a man who can conduct an army of musicians?

In our last interview you said that when developers are excited about a game you get excited about it and become more inspired to write music.  When you first met with the Jade Empire team, what was that like?  Were they far enough along that you couldn't help but be excited, or was it their vision – their dream for what could be – that got you pumped?

Jack Wall: Mostly it was their track record mixed with their absolute desire that I write great music! They make really great games and I wanted the music to suit their vision for this next game. Also, they just always challenged me to do my best work. I appreciate that from the people I work with. It shows passion and a desire to do great things.

How did you come to work on Jade Empire?  Were you in competition with other composers?

JW: Yes, they wanted to see what a variety of people would do on it. It was an audition of sorts so that they could see some different styles to choose from.

Walk us through the process following your first meeting with the development team.  They tell you what they're looking for – where does it go from there?

JW: I actually didn't meet with them until after they chose me as the composer. I flew up to Edmonton from LA and we had a couple days for me to get to know the team and their vision for the game. There were some levels to play and also some very focused attention from the team as well as an extremely detailed music list. After that meeting, we agreed on a budget for recording the live musicians, I tweaked the music design they had done based on our meetings and then I set to work on the score.

Which songs are you most proud of?  Which songs were the most fun to write?

JW: It's funny – on this one I don't have songs that stick out as my favorites. It's more that it's a body of work that is very cohesive and really conjures up this universe to me. That said, I really like Hills and Fields and Dance of the Babbling Brook. The Tea House is cool because it was one of the first ones I wrote. I wrote it in such a traditional Chinese style that the team didn't know what to do with it at first - then about 3 months later, they told me that the team really loved it and wanted to use it for the Tea House. I originally wrote it for the City Theme (which is now called Metropolis). Clearly they wanted a different direction for the City than this very traditional treatment.

I also like all the battle pieces with all the Taiko drumming. I got some great stuff out of Steve and Irwin and the others for this. For many of these pieces I really was using percussion as melodic instruments. These are pieces of music that are only percussion. I really enjoyed limiting my palette to just perc on these. Everyone at BioWare really supported this idea and I think it was really very different. I guess I like being different! 

Scenes from the Taiko drums recording session.

Is it weird writing music for things like the title screen?  Players will hear that song every time they turn the game on...  Does that worry you?

JW: No, as long as it's the signature piece – which for Jade it is. Why, does it bother you?  ;) Seriously, I never wrote a title screen piece for Jade. We just collectively thought it would be a good idea to write a Main theme which I ended up using for the Waterdragon and also parts of it for other themes as well. It ties everything together nicely.

How much do you prepare before starting work on a particular soundtrack?  Do you conduct any research, perhaps to discover a new sound or a new use for an old one?  Or do you do something else entirely?

JW: I really, really like to prepare for a good amount of time. I consider this time the key to coming up with something new and different that really fits the worlds I'm working in. I love doing research – especially for a game like Jade Empire that has such depth and clearly a Chinese influence. I ended up hiring and working with Zhiming Han who is a Chinese multi-instrumentalist. He was able to help me translate my music to Chinese music notation for the authentic Chinese players I worked with.

When working on Jade Empire (or any game), what do you see?  Do you envision specific characters, levels, story sequences, anything?  I know that a lot of the time composers don't get to see much of the game while they're writing the soundtrack.  I'm not a composer, but when I hear a beautifully written piece that isn't connected to a particular story, I envision my own characters, my own worlds.  At times it's like the characters almost come to life and I begin to understand what game and film directors see.  Does something similar happen to composers like yourself who write these beautiful pieces?

JW: I tend to think very much in terms of the universe of the game – what I think the place might sound like. For that, it's about finding what that sound might be and then honing that throughout the process of writing the score. From there, I come up with specific melodies for characters and areas. By and large the best part for me is creating the sound I want to hear for the universe by carefully choosing my instrument palette and style for the score. This can be one of the most time-consuming parts of the process.

The Jade Empire OST has finally been released.  Can you tell us which songs are included?

JW: Well, there is about 95 minutes of score in the game and from that, I spent a few days editing together similar pieces that were related to make them work in a stand-alone soundtrack. Nothing's worse than getting a soundtrack with 40 – 30 second clips which are taken right from the game. In games, sometimes we have to write a lot of those short pieces, but for the listening experience of a soundtrack, it has to develop over time. I consolidated as much of it for the Jade Empire soundtrack as I could. It is about 72 minutes of music.

Where can we buy Jade Empire and other soundtracks you've released?

JW: The Jade Empire soundtrack is available at Sumthing Distribution: http://www.sumthing.com/catalogue_ItemDetails.aspx?p1=214

and the BioWare store:

http://store.bioware.com/products/jade_empire/soundtrack.html

The Myst IV Revelation soundtrack is available at the Ubistore: http://store.ubi.com/item.jsp?item=99153

The Myst III: Exile soundtrack looks like it will be back in print in the next few months! I'll announce on my website (www.jackwall.net) when I know more.

I've played through a couple of less-than-perfect games just because of the music.  I've never played through any game just because it had pretty graphics (few gamers have), yet graphics are what makes bad games sell. Will this ever change?

JW: Not sure. I think that music plays an enormous role in the quality of games, but I also think that great gameplay is the most important thing. That's why so much of what makes music great in a game is the way that it gets implemented in the game. I generally like to spend at least as much time on that aspect as the composing and production of the score!

The real Taiko Drum Master.

What are your thoughts on the concept of interactive music?  Few games have it.  Most commonly a song will change on-the-fly, nothing more.  Do you think that music should evolve and become a greater part of the interactive/gameplay experience?  Or should it stay the way it is now: satisfying to the ears, powerful to the emotions?

JW: I think there's a happy medium between the two. I also believe firmly that "interactive music" if overdone can actually effect gameplay negatively. The only thing that should be apparent to the gamer is that the music is driving the action and that it enhances the gameplay and follows in a natural way what the player is doing. If the player ever gets the sense that, "okay, if I do this, the music does this," then we're in trouble and in danger of taking the player out of the experience. If the music merely seems to follow the emotions of what a character is up to, then this is a good thing. That's the extent to which we as composers have to take the interactivity. Essentially, the music score should work like it does in a film, but be able to follow the player's actions in the emotional sense. Music outlines the emotions where sound design highlights the reality of the soundtrack at any given time.

Your music is very popular so your games get soundtrack releases.  How would you go about writing a soundtrack that isn't supposed to be released separately from the game?  Would there be changes in what you write or the way that you write?

JW: Not really. We didn't decide to release Jade Empire until almost a week before the game's release, so I wasn't sure whether it would get its own release. Certainly, it would have been better if we'd planned on the release well ahead of time – that's the only thing I would have done differently is made the effort to get the OST ready earlier so that we could have release with the game. But, that's a tall order when you're scrambling to get all the music into the game properly. Getting the music into the game is the most important thing.

I agree that it’s better to release things as soon as possible.  On the bright side, the wait gave more gamers the chance to play through the game before listening to the soundtrack.  Part of the joy of owning a game soundtrack is the memories that follow when you listen to it separately from the game.

Thank you for your time.

Soundtrack Review - http://xbox.gamezone.com/news/08_04_05_01_23PM.htm

Jack Wall website:

www.jackwall.net

Listen to samples from the Jade Empire Original Soundtrack here:

http://store.bioware.com/products/jade_empire/soundtrack.html