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Dragonborn: The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim Original Game Soundtrack (Review)

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It’s finally arrived. Jeremy Soule’s Skyrim soundtrack has easily been one of my most anticipated soundtracks of the year after seeing and hearing it in action at E3 [2], and while I admit that I’ve been a naughty boy and have yet to play the game (I was trying to jam through Skyward Sword [3] and have just wrapped up Dark Souls [4]), I’ve been enjoying the hell out of the soundtrack.

The Soule brothers gained a lot of attention with their scores for Morrowind and Oblivion, so how does Skyrim stack up? That comparison is hardly even fair, but I won’t spoil too much before the jump.

Check out our review!

One of the biggest complaints from fans, myself included, regarding the soundtracks for Morrowind and Oblivion were that, while they were amazing, they were too small for such massive games. Especially when it came to the heavily stylized expansion settings, the simple breakdown into exploration and combat themes for Morrowind and the addition of town themes for Oblivion simply didn’t provide enough variety for the massive landscapes fans were exploring.

That is completely rectified with Skyrim. Heck, the soundtrack alone is four discs in length, and it doesn’t even contain all of the music that was written for the game. Yes, there are exploration and combat themes, but now there are different musical backdrops depending on whether you’re out exploring the wilderness versus a forest or the tundra. Or maybe you’re doing some night time exploration; the music is different and appropriate to that setting as well. There are separate themes for castles, towns, dungeons, caves, and taverns. I know I’m beating a dead horse at this point, but this soundtrack is bigger and badder than anything Jeremy Soule has done before.

In terms of sound quality, with such a huge game franchise you’d expect a budget for live orchestra. But Soule avoids the temptation. While the Soule brothers have always been known for their technical magic, they’ve raised the bar even further with Skyrim, recreating realistic strings, brass, percussion, and guitar that all sound so vibrant and warm. Or dark, depending on the situation.

The biggest addition is the inclusion of some choral work which varies from powerful and almost intimidating in the main theme, “Dragonborn,” to angelic and serene in tracks like “Frostfall” and one of my favorite tracks on the album, “Kyne’s Peace.” The latter accompanies adventurers as they explore a forest at night, and the beautiful theme couldn’t be more appropriate.

The piece you heard in our unboxing video, “Far Horizons,” is a general exploration theme, and is another favorite with its defiant brass melody calling out over the mountains. “Ancient Stones” is more hopeful, working in some lovely reverberating acoustic guitar or mandolin, while “The Jerrall Mountains” will come as a surprise as an arrangement of “Silt Sunrise” from the Morrowind soundtrack. “Wind Guide You” is over nine minutes in length, closing the album on a contemplative note.

Then there are the amazing town or city themes. “The Streets of Whiterun” was the first piece that I was drawn to upon listening to the entire soundtrack and is still incredibly stunning. Piano and swelling strings provide a simply beautiful backdrop, making me wonder just how it works in the game. “From Past to Present,” on the other hand, is epic yet airy, and I love when everything drops out and a solo harp picks up the melody.

I’d really like to call out each and every piece on this album, as it’s all amazing, but let me just mention a few more highlights. The epic and foreboding “Dragonsreach” was one of my favorite moments on the album with its dark progression while the distant “Imperial Throne” is exotic and tense, creating an unsettling atmosphere. The tavern themes range from fun to cozy, in the same vein as some of the work David Arkenstone has done for World of Warcraft, and even Soule’s combat themes, which I’ve never been a fan of in the past, impress me here with their various approaches. And let’s not forget the night time themes which Soule has called nocturnes in the game’s file structure, each highlighting the ethereal quality of night.

That brings me to the topic of ambiance. This soundtrack is all about atmosphere. Strings do the major lifting on many of the exploration, combat, and city themes as mentioned above, but the dungeons and night time themes are much more textural. Beyond atmospheric music, Soule delves into ambient or even new age at times with tracks like “Under the Ancient Sun” with its beautiful layers of strings and then to the big surprise of the Skyrim soundtrack, “Skyrim Atmospheres.” The entire fourth disc of this collection is dedicated to “Skyrim Atmospheres,” which is a 40+ minute continuous piece centered around swelling pads and the sounds of crickets, birds, wind, and rain. It’s a real trip to hear this style of music not only on the Skyrim soundtrack, but from Jeremy Soule. He could make a name for himself in the new age music market!

I had really high expectations for the Skyrim soundtrack, and after listening to this four-disc collection over and over again, I will say that I’m not disappointed. This is some of Soule’s best and most convincing work, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this score landed him some projects in the film industry after hearing the variety and quality of this score. We already talked about the packaging yesterday, and there’s still time to get your copy signed by Jeremy Soule himself if you order from DirectSong [5] before December 23. Fans of Jeremy Soule, The Elder Scrolls, or game music in general need to check this one out.

Let us know what you think of how the music from Skyrim works in-game. Do you think it’s just as effective as an outside listening experience?

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#1 Comment By rotane On December 9, 2011 @ 5:38 pm

Nice review, and I totally agree.

I’ve been a fan of Soule’s other Elder Scrolls title themes, but on the whole both soundtracks were not that great. Skyrim is totally different, and I’m so glad they released a 4 disk edition.

As for the music in the actual game, well, it makes playing it all the more fun. The fights are more exciting, the exploring is more intersting, and you can just kick back and relax while reading some of the ingame books and listen to the music while doing so. In short, I liked Skyrim more than Oblivion and Morrowind, which is for the most part because of the music. Oh, and now that I’ve beat the game the music is on constant rotation in iTunes. Can’t stop listening. And it arrived just in time – I’ve almost had enough of the Game of Thrones score 😉

#2 Comment By Jayson Napolitano On December 9, 2011 @ 5:43 pm

Don’t get me wrong. I love the scores for Morrowind and Oblivion. There just wasn’t enough music. Regarding Game of Thrones, funny you mention that. “Dragonsreach” in particular reminded me a lot of my favorite track from the Game of Thrones soundtrack (can’t recall the title). Jeremy Soule could score the next season and it’d sound great!

#3 Comment By Stephen On December 10, 2011 @ 6:31 pm

I gotta say, I don’t think there is enough music for the game. I hear the same tracks with borderline annoying frequency. Maybe the music is so vague that I don’t notice when something different comes on, but I don’t think different stuff does play when you’re in the tundra versus the forest. I’m sure I’ve heard “Ancient Stones” and “Far Horizons” in different regions.

I anticipate this being an unpopular position, but really, I think it’s too atmospheric. I get it, world immersion, all that, whatever. I still think the game could have been better served by a less wishy-washy approach. It is possible to write music with more melody that isn’t too intrusive and does give the game some more character. Many of the pieces actually remind me of music I think would have worked better (with only a little adjustment), like that horn melody in “Far Horizons” makes me think of “Twilight Over Thanalan” from Final Fantasy XIV. Speaking of Uematsu, “Timbre of the City” from The Last Story would have made a great town theme in Skyrim that would have fit and been more music, while retaining all the atmosphere. I think Jeremy Soule may be a talented composer who just has a different philosophy than me on what game music should do, but I still can’t help but feel this was a missed opportunity. He makes elements of what I’d want and then falls back on making music that just floats there doing nothing in particular. In my opinion, a game that big and grand should have more than nebulous “background music.”

#4 Comment By Michael On December 11, 2011 @ 7:08 pm

If the vocals in Dragonborn were accompanied by a real orchestra, I think I would cry. Samples just fail to capture the “human element” of music. On the other hand, this is some of the best synthesized music I’ve ever heard!

#5 Comment By Peter On December 20, 2011 @ 2:51 pm

You know it’s interesting that you mention Soule’s affinity for electronic production. I get the impression, ever since his work with Morrowind, that Soule is very much interested in granular synthesis. In other words, it’s very important to him to control the quality of sound on a detailed level. Between the themes and motifs that he comes up with, and the interesting texture created through synthesis, and close manipulation, I think Soule has created a unique sound that is entirely his, and is especially important to my experience with the Elder Scrolls.

#6 Comment By Joe Hammond On December 21, 2011 @ 8:54 am

@Stephen, you’re not the only one who thinks that. Simon at Square Enix Music Online gave the soundtrack a negative review, stating that there are moments of brilliance but he felt that there was far too much atmospheric music.

From what I’ve heard of the music so far, I think it sounds brilliant. I am disappointed to hear that a real orchestra wasn’t used though. As good as the Soule’s are at using samples, it’s just not the same. Oh well, hopefully we’ll hear some of Skyrim’s music performed live in concert someday.

#7 Comment By Joe Hammond On December 21, 2011 @ 8:57 am

Jeremy Soule can work with a real orchestra brilliantly, just listen to Total Annihilation’s music.

#8 Comment By heidl On December 22, 2011 @ 8:16 am

there is a video game score sampler on itunes (actually there are more) with the london symphony orchestra performing the track “reign of the septims” from oblivion.
it sounds really awesome, but i gotta admit, that the somewhat-synthie-sound of the elder scrolls series developed it’s own character by now. and it’s not the elder scrolls if it doesn’t have that dreamy, atmospheric ambient vibe. therefor i’m happy jeremy soule didn’t use a full orchestra. it would’ve been kinda strange… a little bit too different.
i would love though if he would release some sort of the elder scrolls symphony played by a real orchestra! but please keep the tone and the feeling in the game series, as it had been in the past. the music makes 50% of the game for me. it’s too important to change ot in any way.

#9 Comment By Rick McGrath On January 5, 2012 @ 8:05 pm

Just wondering if some of the hilarious songs that some of the NPC’s sing in the game are on any of these discs. Thanks.

#10 Comment By Mark On January 28, 2012 @ 4:17 pm

Hmmm, how are we so certain that the score is mostly synthetic? Jeremy’s prior (high profile) work was, more often than not, a mixture of sample and live recordings. He’s revealed time and again that the primary reason he uses samples in the first place is budgetary, and would use live orchestra hand over fist if he had the option (Total Annihilation being the chief example). Though I agree that by now, it’s become a signature sound, especially given the fact that even his sample libraries are mostly custom-made. If you’re a musician yourself, you’ll drive yourself crazy like I have, wondering how he made some elements so fluid and realistic; it’s because they‘re real performances. As far as I know, he usually “sweetens” the samples with live ensembles, but in some cases, like in Oblivion, there’s no way those woodwinds are not entirely live players. It’s exactly why we’re compelled to use words like “warm” and “vibrant.” We know the choirs were recorded in LA from the behind the scenes video, but I can just smell the Bastyr University Chapel all over Skyrim too. Don’t let that guitar trick you into thinking the rest of the score is all synthetic. It’d be so great to know his exact formula, but a man’s got to keep at least some recopies secret I suppose.

#11 Comment By Jayson Napolitano On February 1, 2012 @ 10:20 pm

Almost all of his work is synthetic. The decision to use an orchestra is generally guided by the developer rather than the composer, and I think time and again Jeremy and Julian Soule are able to up their game to the point where it’s hard to discern anymore.

#12 Comment By Mark On March 5, 2012 @ 12:13 am

“With Oblivion, it was a hybrid, we had live musicians mixed with a farm computers…” Straight from the horse’s mouth, word for word from an old PC Gamer podcast where Jeremy and Jason Evigan from the Midnight Project were interviewed about Prey. Yes, orchestras are almost never used, it’s small ensembles that they frequently employ, especially on the larger profile titles, and Bastyr University in Seattle is where they were mostly recorded. No doubt they’re sample wizards, but I feel that praising that particular aspect of the Soule brothers downplays their true talent.

#13 Comment By Jayson Napolitano On March 5, 2012 @ 12:22 am

Perhaps the case with Oblivion, but Skyrim is all sample-based with the exception of the title theme.

#14 Comment By TheComposerWannabe On February 20, 2013 @ 2:32 am

I was actually disappointed by the lack of a live orchestra, but the music itself is indeed amazing (if a little disconcerting for a serious musician like me, for example when an instrument starts playing one note a split second before stopping playing the previous note–and I don’t think I’m hearing reverb). I really hope a live orchestra can do a re-recording, perhaps with video capture (as in the Zelda Orchestra videos), or even a live concert!

#15 Comment By katie On July 5, 2014 @ 2:59 pm

Hi there, first of all great review, love the soundtrack! Second, I am looking to learn the lyrics for Dragonborn. Like I know where to find the lyrics, but I am not sure how to learn the proper pronunciation. I’ve listened to the song over and over with the lyrics, it is just so hard. Any suggestions for a easier method to learn, or should I just keep on trying?

#16 Comment By Michael Hoffmann On July 7, 2014 @ 9:41 pm

Hi Katie. There’s actually a wikia page on the Dragon language that is used in the music. [6]
In particular, the page goes over how to pronounce the different vowel sounds of the language. Hope that helps.

#17 Comment By sogu On April 27, 2015 @ 7:08 am

Check it! full score rchestra

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