Derek Duke

Game Music, Reviews

StarCraft II: Being Liberated Never Sounded This Good (Review)

July 30, 2010 | Gideon Dabi | 3 Comments Share this

“If Raynor can seem to pull his revolver a little faster, or if Tychus Finlay’s presence can feel more imposing due to a theme or flourish in the music, then the composers and musicians have truly called down the thunder.” – Russell Brower

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, arguably the most anticipated game of the year, arrived in stores and digital download this week and ActiBlizzard/Blizzardvision is sure to have another monster success on its hands. Although it is quite in fashion to bash the gaming evil empire, I must say that the treatment the soundtrack has received is exceptional from all fronts. The production values, sound quality, and iTunes LP treatment (digital liner notes with videos, track descriptions, etc.) are all top-notch and make the listening experience truly an experience. A tremendous amount of dramatic energy is added to the tracks as a summary of the contextual inspiration for the tracks is presented for each track.

But, even with all the pomp and circumstance of a wonderful presentation, a soundtrack is not much without quality music. So, do Russell Brower, Derek Duke, Glenn Stafford, Neil Acree, an co. deliver us with a soundtrack of rich minerals? Or has it come and gone like a bad case of Vespene gas? Read on as we conquer the galaxy! (more…)
Game Music

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty Soundtrack Included in Collector’s Edition

April 12, 2010 | Jayson Napolitano | 1 Comment Share this

Dear Blizzard, oh how we love thee. It looks like there will be a soundtrack release for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty which will come packed in with the impressive collector’s edition of the game that will also include a 176-page art book, a 2 GB flash drive, a behind-the-scenes DVD, a comic book, an in-game pet for World of Warcraft, and exclusive Battle.net content. Sounds pretty sweet to me!

From what we know, the disc will contain 14 tracks mostly composed by Glenn Stafford, who’s handling the core Terran themes. With only 14 tracks, however, I do wonder if all of the music from the game will be featured, but we’ll have to wait and see. I also take the announcement of this disc to mean that there will likely be similar releases for the upcoming chapters in the StarCraft II series, and this announcement is made even more great by the fact that the original StarCraft didn’t even receive a soundtrack release until 10+ years later, and was distributed in such limited quantities that it’s one of the most sought after game music albums to this day. Not this time!

You can check out our impressions of some of the game’s preliminary music in our BlizzCon 2009 coverage along with an interview with Russell Brower that touches on the game. Are you looking forward to the game and its soundtrack?
Game Music, Reviews

Another Blizzard Soundtrack You’ll Never Own: World of Warcraft Mosaic Soundtrack (Review)

September 4, 2009 | Jayson Napolitano | 2 Comments Share this

BlizzCon just wouldn’t be complete without some super-rare CD release to leave all of you who couldn’t attend jealous, right? This year it was the World of Warcraft: Mosaic Soundtrack which we briefly discussed in our interview with Russell Brower at BlizzCon. As he stated, the album contains tracks from the various free updates that occurred between expansions, and were selected by the team as well as by the fans through polls on the Blizzard forums.

So, is it any good? It’s actually quite good (unsurprisingly), with some great production values that put it up there with the Collector’s Edition releases that we’ve seen in the past. Similar to those releases, the tracks here all flow into one another, creating a flowing musical journey that takes you through mostly tense territory. I admit I don’t play the game, but titles like “Black Temple” and “Fury of the Sunwell” definitely jump out at me as I know they were sizable updates.

Hit the jump for our review of the BlizzCon 2009 exclusive World of Warcraft: Mosaic Soundtrack. (more…)
Game Music

BlizzCon 2009: StarCraft II is Sounding Pretty Good!

August 24, 2009 | Jayson Napolitano | 2 Comments Share this

I can’t believe it’s already been a year since BlizzCon 2008. The Blizzard sound team has certainly accomplished a lot, however, including live rock recording sessions and orchestral sessions at the Skywalker Ranch for the 2010 release of StarCraft II.

We had the opportunity to check out a bit of the single-player campaign and hear one theme from each race in the skirmish mode, and I’m quite impressed with what they’ve done. With Glenn Stafford and a host of live players handling the Terran, Derek Duke on the Zerg, and Russell Brower on the Protoss, I think you should rest assured that they’re on to something here.

Read our impressions of the game and the various themes from the BlizzCon 2009 build after the jump. (more…)
Game Music, Reviews

Wrath of the Lich King’s Exclusive iTunes Tracks: Difficult Decisions Ahead (Review)

December 15, 2008 | Jayson Napolitano | Comments Off on Wrath of the Lich King’s Exclusive iTunes Tracks: Difficult Decisions Ahead (Review) Share this

Remember the three exclusive tracks we mentioned in our review of the collector’s edition Wrath of the Lich King Soundtrack? Well, we didn’t want to leave you in the dark about what was being offered through iTunes, and figured it’d be nice to tell you a little about the three exclusive tracks that can’t be found on the physical release.

One each from composers Glenn Stafford, Derek Duke, and Russell Brower are featured, and I must say that I’m having trouble deciding which trio reigns supreme! It’s almost as difficult as having to choose between Sylvanas and Alexstraza in the photo above if you know what I mean (actually, they’re both kind of creepy). Perhaps you’re going to have to treat yourself to both releases, or maybe you can use our impressions to determine which set suits you best.

Read our thoughts on the iTunes exclusive tracks after the jump. (more…)
Game Music

Wrath of the Lich King Soundtrack: Meet Pedro’s Duduk and Cajsa’s Nychelharpa

November 21, 2008 | Jayson Napolitano | 3 Comments Share this

Seven hours of music. That’s a whole lot! If you read our interview with Russell Brower and the audio team last week, then you know that’s how many hours of music are featured in the latest WoW expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. We also told you guys that the collector’s edition shipped with a soundtrack album, and after being thoroughly impressed with the soundtrack album from The Burning Crusade, I was excited to get my hands on this one.

The album definitely does not disappoint. As one would expect from the harsh lands of Northrend, the score ranges from abstract and sparse to warm and epic. A slew of performers along with the Northwest Sinfonia Orchestra make their mark on Wrath of the Lich King, and show yet again that Blizzard doesn’t slack off when it comes to polishing every aspect of their games. Even more, there are three exclusive tracks featured on this album that are not available on the iTunes release, which has three exclusive tracks of its own.

So, what do we think of the Wrath of the Lich King Soundtrack? Hit the jump for our review. (more…)
Game Music

Wrath of the Lich King Audio Team Interview: Russell Brower, Derek Duke, and Glenn Stafford

November 13, 2008 | Jayson Napolitano | 1 Comment Share this

This game has a seriously kickass title. I’ve always dug lich’s in general (Daggerfall, anyone?), so it’s cool to have a game that focuses on one. The pieces that many of us heard in the beta version of the game is only a fraction of the expansion’s massive 7 hours of music, so we’ve been fortunate to gather up composers Russell Brower, Derek Duke, and Glenn Stafford to tell us more about the game’s music.

We discover their inspirations as well as the names of the musicians and instruments that were recorded for the score, as well as get confirmation that the Wrath of the Lich King soundtrack will be hitting iTunes with three exclusive tracks that will be different from the Collector’s Edition soundtrack’s exclusive tracks. Way to tease us, Blizzard!

Read the interview with the Blizzard sound team after the jump. (more…)