Music composer Lorian Testard had no history of working on the major video game soundtrack before his work on Claire Obeskur: Expedition 33. Developer Sandfall found his work on SoundCloud and brought him on board. During the five years, he composed 154 songs for the game, and if you played Claire Obeskur, you know how important music is for the overall experience of the game.
We had the opportunity to talk with the testard on e-mail about their work on the game, how Sandfall found him, his approach to music, and the ability to work more in the future more Clair Obser, in which he said, “Tomorrow is still unwritten!” You can find full interview below.
Sports information: Is it true that this is your first major video game project, and the team found your work on SoundCloud in Sandfall?
Lorian tester: Yes it is true. I was composing a track per week and posting it on the soundcloud. After about a year, I shared my work on an Indie Game Forum, and when Guelume came beyond it and gave me the opportunity to make music for my game project. I am really grateful that the stars align that day and brought us together!
The songs in the video game soundtrack are not specific. What affected your decision to include them so prominently, and what was the song writing process liked?
Songs and voice are important to me. They are a personal and direct way to share the spirit with the player. Through the song, I can share a vision of the story and express my emotional sensitivity to specific scenes in the game. This makes an intimate relationship between the player and the world.
Often, the song is not seen immediately during the gameplay, they mix in the atmosphere. But for those who take time out to listen, or go back and read them, they will discover the layers and secrets hidden in words.
I enjoy writing songs for the game, and I like the reactions of the players very much when they realize what the words are saying. It seems that we have created a bond together through music and sports.
For the song writing process, I chose to write in many languages - mostly French, English and an invented language – based on the feeling I wanted to express and the feeling that I wanted to share with the players.
Even without its tone, Claire Aubskur has a very different sound that ranges from classical to rock. Why did you decide to use these special styles? How did you go about the musical identity of the game?
I did not really think of the music style or overall music identity of the game. I directed myself to what I felt for every character or place. I am thinking of sports like a huge empty canvas, which is filled with small pictures, which depicts music. This was the character and the world that inspired music ideas.
This is why the soundtrack changes independently-wires from and wire for gums, mini-marks on the gastral beach for saxophone, or to vocals with electric guitars when the characters need it.
In recent years, many large RPGs have moved to a multi-composer approach, where 3-4 people teams write a large-scale soundtrack together. Was it a single attempt to you to a large extent, or did you have additional musicians in your team? For the tracks where you worked with many musicians, how does it affect your process?
I was lucky that I joined the first stages of the project, which gave me the opportunity to discover the world and the story of the campaign 33. This allowed me to start composition of the soundtrack long before the production phase began. It is possible for me to take the vision of production and music in all ways to the end of this mass project.
In this process, about one and a half years, (Ellis Duport-Persian) included me to cooperate in vocal songs. He has an incredible talent and the voice of an angel. He wrote most of the vocal lines in the game.
Alice Duport-Persere (left) and Lorian Testard
Most of the time, our process worked in this way: I will start by composing the instrument version of the track, writing songs and sharing my feelings about the song and sharing my feelings about her emotional reference. She then makes her vocal line directed by her sensitivity and what the song felt.
She came to my studio once a month to record with me, and we continued that rhythm for three years.
This is not a complaint, but sometimes the sound mixture in the game seems to be in favor of music. As, the dialogue would be slightly greater than music. Was it deliberately?
No, it is not intentional. Mixing the audio of the game was a huge venture, and everything was custom. For each cutscane, sound effect, song, or dialogue line, it is always about finding the right balance between all elements, which we think it is important to share with the players in that moment. The audio team worked to be very careful throughout the development to ensure that the mixture felt balanced and appropriate in every situation.
You made 154 songs for the game during five years. Why was the process so long, and how did you write so many songs?
I quickly had a vision of a large scale score that would require the project, so I wrote my ideal settist for OST. To make it the world’s immersive and really reflective, I decided that each level would require many environmental tracks, battle themes, unique boss themes and custom music for cinematics.
This gave me a huge list of tracks to compose, and I enjoyed working through it, songs by song, five years of development.
Can you share your favorite video game Soundtrack, RPG Soundtrack and especially RPG Battle Theme?
I love Soundtrack for example Zelda and Mario Series, Major masks and Mario Sunshine, but I also listen and enjoy a lot of music and artists who are not from the world of video games.
Claire Obeskur goes forward and back between the disastrous, humor and everywhere in the middle. How do you compose for so many tonal shifts while maintaining a harmonious sound?
The use of tune and lameotiff helped with it – bringing back the theme of a character in a different arrangement or style made a link between different moments in the game, even when the emotions changed. There are many connections between the tracks.
War music often seems more contemporary and electronic than orchestrated main themes. Was this a deliberate option?
Yes, it was a deliberate option, but not because they are for track fighting. It was more with the feeling that I met with the specific enemy who is facing the player. Whether you are fighting with Sakpet or Siren, the music cannot portray the same picture around the boss. Each song reflects the atmosphere and personality of the enemy that is facing the player.
What devices do you use to create and create music? Can there be any tools in the score that can surprise the audience?
I use a software called Nuendo to create tracks with various vsts. For real and biological devices, I play guitar, little bass and some piano. We also recorded many incredibly talented single musicians for the OST, and the soundtrack has a good variety of whole devices, some of which you can’t hear every day, such as Saxophone, Acordian, Bavu, or Combus.
Claire Aubskur is many, distinctively French in many ways. How did you apply French beauty in the soundtrack?
I did not deliberately try to bring a particular French aesthetics to Claire Obeskur, but the Belle époque theme and all my life I heard throughout my life is definitely a part of me.
He said, I enjoyed making more deliberate node with the subject of Mimes. I insisted, wholeheartedly, that the Akardian was particularly part of that song and part of that song.
How did Sandfall describe the game at the beginning of development?
For the first time, Guilaum told me about the project, he said something: “You arrive at the beginning of the game when the heroes have already lost.” He sets the tone.
Looking at the soundtrack on platforms like Spotify and YouTube, you see which tracks are the most popular and most drama. Is there any surprise there?
Since the music follows the experience of the game closely, the most standing tracks in the soundtrack are often tied to each player’s journey through the game. But still, I am surprised.
I like to feel how the music is individually connected to the players. I get the messages to share the tracks that are with them and touched them, and the variety in their choice is unreliable, almost no track is left behind. Everyone feels that he finds someone he speaks. It is moving for me to feel that our music resonates with that kind of players.
Will you be open to returns for the sequel? Or composition of a possible adaptation like a film?
Tomorrow is still unwritten!
For more on Claire Obeskur, read Sports informationKlair Obeskur: Expedition 33 Review, look at our characteristics, such as if you like Expedition 33 to play other games, then why is it not a great game to play at home with a newborn baby, and we liked the beginning so much.
