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  Interview with Inon Zur (BGII - ToB)

Interview with Inon Zur (BGII - ToB)
conducted by Garrett 2001 06 04

 

With Throne of Bhaal being released any minute, we has the chance (thanks Charles) to ask a few questions to the composers of this expansion’s soundtrack. After the recent Interplay D&D games all offered fantasic scores (especially Jeremy Soule’s Icewind Dale score and Baldur’s Gate 1 & 2’s by Michael Hoenig & Howard Drossin, we introduce the composers of TOB to you — today it’s Inon Zur (http://inonzur.com - please come back tomorrow for Howard Drossin’s answers):

RPGDot: Please introduce yourself and tell us about your musical career. How did you get into the computer gaming business? Do you do other non-computer-game related music as well?

Inon Zur: I arrived from Israel in 1990, after studying composition in the Rubin music academy of Tel Aviv. Here in L.A., I studied composition at the Grove school of music, then film scoring with film composer Jack smalley and then I transferred to UCLA in the program of film scoring.

In 1994 I composed the sound track for the movie "The Yellow Lotus" (director:Tony Bui), which  had won many awards including Best Picture at the Telluride Film Fest and was presented at the Sundance Film Fest in 1995.

In 1996 I started working for the Fox Family Channel. Since then I have scored over 250 T.V. episodes, among  them Beetle Borgs, Power Rangers, Escaflowne, Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog, The Big Guy, Rusty the Boy Robot and many more.

Recently  I’m scoring the new Fox Family prime time show "State of Grace" starring Francis McDorman. During the years 95-02, I also scored many T.V. movies for The Fox Family Channel.

Among them are: Aupair, Aupair 2, St. Patrick the Irish Legend, Rusty the Great Rescue, North Face and more. I also co-composed the score for Casper, a spirited beginning and more.

 

RPGDot: What did you work on in the past?

Inon Zur: In 1998 I was offered to compose the music for the computer game "Klingon Academy."

It was a different and refreshing experience. I loved the musical freedom that had been given to me and the search for interesting musical styles for this game.

Since then I was engaged in more composing for computer games.

A few titles from my recent works: Fallout Tactics, Starfleet Command 2, Star Trek New World and Baldur Gate 2.5.

For more information and music log on to http://inonzur.com.

 

RPGDot: What exactly did you do for the Throne Of Bhaal Soundtrack?

Inon Zur: I composed the main title for TOB, and a large part of the in game music. I also composed few of the movies presented in the game.

 

RPGDot: What were your feelings on composing the soundtrack of TOB? Any track, you especially like or any memorable scene while composing them?

Inon Zur: Composing for TOB was a serious challenge for me, working on a game that is already known and much expected, since it was preceded by 2 successful previous versions, with a strong musical content. I like the Melissan music and The Pocket Plane cue best of all.

 

RPGDot: Michael Hoenig did the music on BG 1 & 2 - did his work inspire you or was it more of a burden? Did you use some of the original BG tunes in the TOB themes?

Inon Zur: I did not use any of the previous tunes from BG 1 & 2, although I tried to stay as close as I could to the style Michael Hoenig used in order to keep the homogeneity of the game music.

 

RPGDot: I am always wondering how the making of movie or game music takes place in terms of fitting into the scene. Do you see the scene in advance and compose the track acc to it or is it vice versa and you shorten or lenghten the track afterwards?

Inon Zur: Composing for movie is completely different technique then writing game music.

When composing a score for a movie I’m watching the scene that needed music and then trying to enhance  the dramatic events, describing the overall mood for one, but also locking the music to the actual picture.

Music for games is usually less specific because it has to cover more then one scene or event, but since that has to capture the sole idea behind the section it is composed to and also be interesting enough cause it’s going to be played over and over again.

 

RPGDot: How long does it take to write the music, from the very scratch until the songs are finished and mixed down?

Inon Zur: For me, once I have the basic thematic idea for a musical piece, the process of composing the actual piece could be quite fast. What usually takes most of the time is to come up with the right concept for each piece. This process is usually a joined effort of the composer and the developers of the game.

RPGDot: Your musical influences, favourite artists and composers, your favourite records and movies?

Inon Zur: I like to have a large scope of musical influence, since the projects I’m working on are so different  one from each other.

For me, in the deepest center will always be Bach, Beethoven, Brahms and Prokofiev, but I’ll always look for more ideas listening to great composers in all the musical fields - Jazz, Pop, Rock and modern classical style.

 

RPGDot: Thank you for the interview!

 





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