Interview with composer Marc Derell
Sia' Garrett' Manzari, 2004-02-13

We had the chance to conduct an interview with talented composer Marc Derell, who contributed to the recently released Joan of Arc and is about to finish other scores. For more information on Marc, check out his webpage here.

Marc Derell: Well, my name's Marc Derell as you might have found out already :) I'm a young and quite new composer currently living in Germany. I really love to do music because it's one of the best ways to express emotions and to enchant people's hearts.

Marc Derell: After a lot of applying... Like everywhere else... :)

Marc Derell: I love games...and I love music. What's better than doing music for games then? Of course, I'm enjoying any kind of soundtracks and would really love to score a movie or TV series as well. Both sides have their Pros. The fascinating thing about games is the possibility of musical freedom. We're painting an atmosphere to a scene, not to a picture and therefore got more flexibility but we have to be careful as well, of course.
One thing, though, that I love in movies but am really missing in most games nowadays are emotions. I'm not talking about your daily soap opera but about feelings (regardless which ones) in general. Most games are still too cold or concentrate on one single emotion. Therefore our music is often stuck to that as well. I'd really love to see more expression, emotion and soul in games and their music - speaking as a gamer and musician.

Marc Derell: At the moment, I'm finishing work on Combat Elite (BattleBorne / Acclaim) as well as Warlords Battlecry 3 (Infinite Interactive / Enlight).

CE is a 3rd person action game using the Snowblind engine (the one used for Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance) - it looks really impressive - and is being developed by guys who have worked on Fallout2, BG:DA, Ghost Recon among many more. You really should check out its trailer (at http://www.combatelitegame.com ). WBC3 should be familiar to most of the readers because Warlords is one of the oldest strategy franchises out there and I'm sure a lot of fantasy fans are looking forward to play this RTS sequel.

Both are nearly done, though, and I'm just polishing works to make sure everyone is pleased :) As far as future goes, there are a few projects in the talks but I can't say more...

Marc Derell: There are plenty, but I think someone's heart and soul should be the biggest influence when writing music. We have to create emotions and you can't do that properly without being emotional yourself (in connection to the project). Well, that's my point of view, at least.
If you want to hear a few names I would have to count typical, modern Hollywood composers (Hans Zimmer, Danny Elfman, Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams, Randy Edelmann, Basil Poledouris,...) as well as the old classical "Great Ones" (Bach, Vivaldi, Beethoven, Mozart, Dvorzak...). In the end, our music is coloured by all those musical spirits of past and present.

Marc Derell: At the moment I'm working with a sampled orchestra, so yes: sequencer, virtual instruments and stuff. Modern technology allows us to get very close to the real thing, if we want to, that is :) I'm using the tools the way I want.
On the other hand, I would love to work with a real orchestra and choir if budget allows it. Plenty of musical individuals breathing life into your music is a wonderful thing and it's always unique.

Marc Derell: Indeed... I love different kinds of music, may it be acoustic or electronical. Besides, it's always fun to mix Rock or electronical stuff with an orchestral sound - trying to create something unique.

Marc Derell: Sure I can throw in a few shorties of different styles. Here we go...

The first three are excerpts of my work for Combat Elite (more can be heard at the official website):

CombatElite-sample1 (26secs)

CombatElite-sample2 (23secs)

CombatElite-sample3 (17secs)

The other tracks are demos I've made during the last weeks/months.
The first two of them fit into a fantasy setting:

Shrine (66secs)

Rising (24secs)

...whereas the last three are more electronical and experimental to create another kind of atmosphere:

Oasis (50secs)

Shadowed (39secs)

Floating (38secs)

Marc Derell: Well, the music is, of course, similar to previous titles because Steve Fawkner and I share the same vision of music. I guess, it's best being described as a mixture between 13th Warrior, Lord of the Rings, some buccaneer feeling, your typical Warlords sound as well as own things :) Beta testers really like the half hour of music so I'm pretty sure most of the readers are going to enjoy the score as well.

Marc Derell: Well... At the moment I'd love to score something that is playing in the desert (like The Mummy/Scorpion King), in Space, in a fantasy world or on Sea (i.e. pirates). But even more important: My dream project really should be epic, i.e. story- and emotion-rich. Regardless of movie or game but something like that really would be cool because it offers a lot of musical possibilities. Of course, I don't mind other projects. I enjoy doing music whenever I'm able to do it :)

Marc Derell: My pleasure :)