BioWare Video - Scoring a New Galaxy: The Music of MEA

You are referring to Jeremy Soule, and he has been called the "John Williams of video games." Not only has he done Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim, but he's also done Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Guild Wars 1 & 2, as well as plenty of other projects. Without a doubt, he's best known for The Elder Scrolls, where his iconic soundtrack really begins with Morrowind. He's without a doubt one of the best composers in the industry, and probably my favorite as well.

As far as the OP, I felt as if I must have bought a different game. I didn't find any of the music to particularly to be that memorable anyway, but it just rarely played to start. Perhaps it was a bug or just poor execution on the part of the Audio team. BioWare really needs to step up the music in DLC and the next game.

The soundtrack is one of the weak areas of the game. Unlike the soundtracks to the first three games, most of it isn't very memorable. It's just there.

Bioware also seems to have gone with DA:I's approach of having the open world exploration be accompanied by ambient sounds rather than music. That was a mistake in DA:I and it is a mistake in ME:A. No matter how interesting the sound effects of the open world maps, they cease to be interesting after a minute or two. The lack of music for long stretches while exploring makes it feel much more like a drag than it should.

Indeed. I didn't know he did KOTOR 1 either for the longest time. He's always praised for The Elder Scrolls, so his contributions to that game is always overlooked.

I'd love to see him do a soundtrack for either Mass Effect or Dragon Age. His attention to detail and world-building through music is truly unrivaled. Given the last two composers BioWare has picked up were exclusively outside of the video game industry, I'm a bit skeptical they'd be interested in going with another video game composer, especially one they worked with in the past. Who knows though?

I suspect Bethesda has him locked down to do The Elder Scrolls VI, so it would likely come down to his schedule and whether he would have time.

Music was totally forgettable (if even there.)  The OT featured such memorable music (see my other thread about this) -  bsn.boards.net/thread/7850/face-andromedas-music-lacking

A real shame they dropped the ball here. Another reason why I didn't enjoy ME:A much. Bring back Jack and Sam!!!

Yeah DAO and DA2 had the best music! If he returned, it would be amazing! I admit the music in the DAI DLC was great though, but we need music that has a real RPG feel and not movie composers imo. MEA needed that fantasy and sci-fi feel of exploration and space.

Yep. Zur's soundtrack was unique and special, which was great for establishing Dragon Age as a franchise. The DAI soundtrack was just too generic Hollywood for my taste. The Inquisitor's theme was good, but the rest of it I could have done without. The soundtrack doesn't have to be epic and blaring at all times for me to appreciate it. The music just needs to feel right for the experience it's crafting. I do think one of MEA's biggest mistakes was making a departure from synthesized sounds and relying more on strings and orchestral scores. It's good, but it doesn't give off that Mass Effect feeling we all know and love.

We can only hope. If I had it my way, BioWare would never have replaced Inon Zur with someone new for DAI. Jack Wall and Sam Hulick would have also never been replaced. When you have a specific composer who truly creates a special sound for your franchise, it's better to hold on to them than go with someone else. John Williams is the sound of Star Wars. Jeremy Soule is the sound of The Elder Scrolls. Marty O'Donnell is the sound of Halo. Koji Kondo is the sound of The Legend of Zelda, as well as most of Nintendo's other iconic properties. It's an incredibly daunting task to come after these giants, and oftentimes many fall short.

There's nothing wrong with bringing in new talent with a unique perspective, but you should always respect the music that came before it. Completely toss it out and you've lost much of the spirit and soul of that franchise.

Likewise. If there's one thing I can say about Skyrim, it's that the music is pure brilliance and never gets tiring. I always have a smile on my face whenever I listen to the official soundtrack or play Skyrim.

That's too bad. Although, I'd argue DAII was an unusual case given its incredibly short development cycle. I can't exactly say I blame Zur as creativity and excellence cannot be rushed. He did do one of the bard songs in DAI, however, so that bridge may not be beyond repair. I doubt he'll be the main composer again, given BioWare never seems to stay with any composer for too long.

I think I'm the odd one out in regards to Dragon Age soundtracks as I'm meh about DA:O and DA2's soundtracks, but I love DA:I soundtrack.

I couldn't hear the music over SAM's incessant nagging...