Uranium brings more than heavy metal to Ballerium

by Louis Bedigian

 

Ballerium composer “Uranium” aims for a unique sound with their first video game soundtrack.

 

 

When developing a massively multiplayer online real-time strategy game (MMORTS), you absolutely must have a great soundtrack.  It’s not just for the gamers – how would you like to be a sound programmer working on a bad soundtrack?  Not only do you have to hear it, but the other developers, along with the poor beta testers, will have to hear it as well.

 

On the last episode of As The Game Turns, the supposedly well-known band “Infected Mushroom” was signed on to compose the music for Majorem’s MMORTS, Ballerium.  Little is known why the deal fell through, but in Infected Mushroom’s place is a band that’s dying to be different: Uranium.

 

Some might call it fate: Majorem makes a game called Ballerium.  Then a band with a similar-sounding name jumps on board to make this game sound as different as it’ll play. 

 

I have yet to hear any of Uranium’s tunes, but their confidence and song explanations are definitely intriguing.

 

Uranium is

Smite: Guitars.

Conspirate: Keyboards / Synth.

Nome Farsphere: Bass.

Mike Lynx: Drums and samplers.

Shay Hugi: Group Manager.

 

Introduce yourself to our readers.  Who is Uranium?  How did it come to be?

 

Shay: Uranium is a new band that was founded in early 2002 and currently [has] 4 group members.

 

It all began in Los-Angeles 2001, when each of the members was busy doing self-projects. The primary goal of the Uranium's members was finding new directions for a unique music style. At the end of 2001, Smite (23) (the guitar player of Uranium), met Cons Pirate (24) who eventually ended up being the Keyboard player in L.A, when they was performing with their own stuff. Actually, they met before and knew each other’s skills and never planned to play together.

 

They started to compose and play together and after a while they decided to ask Nome Farsphere (20) to join them as bass player. Nome is Smite's brother.  He was always with them when they played and the decision was clear due to the facts that he knew the band well, and his skills were adequate.

 

After playing for few months and gathering new ideas for compositions, they knew they'd need a talented drummer that would be able to play their kind of music, as it was going to be something unique. After doing some auditions for drummers, Uranium didn't find exactly what they were looking for.  Smite thought that it would be a good idea to talk with Mike Lynx (22), who played with him 3 years before the lead singer (Crag Kano) joined later, and the music was more cohesive.

 

They started by doing a few shows in England and in Germany.  In 2003 there were problems with the singer, and all the group members decided to kick him out of the band.  At these days, Uranium is auditioning for a new singer permanently, while working on their debut album.

 

You guys are said to have developed your own music style.  Could you tell us about that?

 

Smite: It's a very difficult question to answer because I really can't explain exactly what our music is because it does not correspond with any of [today’s] existing styles.

 

I'd say it has Rock / Metal rhythms combined with classical melodies / harmonies, atmosphered with electronic envelops, which creates somehow a very unique style. Though I must add it's hard to criticize your own music and in this case I would leave this question to the crowd.

 

Mike: It's music for the acute ear, played as one unit of rhythm and melodies intertwined with deep powerful harmonies. That is more than stimulating to the feelings of the listener, it carriers him beyond the boundaries of one self.

 

 

The standard techno tracks just won’t do for this awesome-looking game.

We thank you, Uranium!

 

 

How do you guys make your music?  What instruments/equipment do you use?

 

Uranium: We work in our private studio, so we really don't have limitations. We play live where all group members are participating in the music creation.

 

We are using live instruments such as electric and acoustic Guitars, Bass guitar, Keyboards, Synthesizer, custom drums which have electrical pads combined with live cymbals, Samplers, and basically whatever we need to create our music. We are always looking for the right sound that will give our music the quality it needs.

 

Uranium is writing the music for Ballerium.  It sounds like it was meant to be.  Did you anticipate – or at least hope for – such an incredible opportunity?

 

Uranium: When we first heard of Ballerium we thought it's a very original idea for a game, as they were RTS on the market and MMO D&D games, but there was no combination between MMO & RTS, after reading the game concepts about the 7 races, we really wanted this opportunity to compose the soundtrack as the music should be interesting and ambitious like game is.

 

Although we knew that a known band already signed with Majorem (Ballerium's developers), we had no doubts that we were going to compose the entire soundtrack for the game.  We prepared a music sample that represents the races character and Ballerium's world, and went to their offices so they could listen.  After listening they knew that this was the right sound for the game, and decided to sign us to compose Ballerium's soundtrack.  This was exactly what we've wanted. We had other projects to do and other offers that we have rejected because we just had the right reasons to compose for Ballerium.  For example, this game is mainly about fantasy and has a world of it's own so we think this reason alone is worth the thrill of composing for it.

 

Have you played Ballerium yet?

 

Smite: Yes, I'm registered as Beta player.  I can see the improvements and the hard efforts the developers are doing, the graphic engine works for me and it's comfortable to control the units easily.  I just hope they will release the final version soon enough so more people could sign and participate on the servers

 

Nome: Not yet, but I guess I'll play it when it'll be released.

 

Plan, attack, and win!

 

 

Where did your inspiration for the game's music come from?  What was it in the game that sparked ideas and encouraged you to write?

 

Uranium: Our major source of inspiration was the concept of the game itself, relating to all kinds of mystic elements.  The concept art of Ballerium helped us considerably in the making of the soundtrack.  The story line also added another general point of view that represents the atmosphere of a dying world, each races philosophy compelled us to compose different tracks of different natures for each race with it's characteristics.

 

The music that you've written for Ballerium – is it a taste of what you guys have done in the past and plan to do in the future, or does move in a different direction artistically?

 

Uranium: Yes, there is a part of our artistic philosophy in all of the tracks composed for Ballerium, although different in nature and much more subtle than musical material which was composed for live shows, which is respectively much more aggressive in nature and of course much more progressive in composition.

 

Considering the nature of the project itself, we were required to produce a not so aggressive sound line that would fit RTS gaming rather than a dominant music that was meant for listening to independently.

 

Now that you've had your first experience working in the video game industry, what would you say is the hardest part about making music for a game?

 

Uranium: The hardest and both enjoyable part was composing 7 tracks in a short period of time.  [We had to deal with] a different sound and characteristics for each song, while still maneuvering between different sound sets.  It provided us with a challenge, which was a pleasure to deal with.  And of course as I said before, restraining ourselves from composing a soundtrack which is more aggressive.  During the composition of the soundtrack we were also preoccupied with Uranium tracks for our debut album, which added a level of difficulty dealing with two projects at the same time.

 

Some artists want total freedom when writing music because even the slightest restriction holds them back.  Other artists like restrictions because they believe it pushes them to write songs that they would not have written otherwise.  Which kind of artist are you?

 

Uranium: We believe that, like most artists, we would like the maximum amount of freedom for composing / performing our original music.  But restrictions are an imperative part of any kind of project considering its nature.  Each artist must compromise in a way dealing with projects for third party companies such as: Games, Films, etc.

 

Is any of your music currently available in stores?  Is any of it available to download on the Web?

 

Uranium: Right now we are working on our own music, and we guess that a Uranium album will be available within a short period. We are going to update our online resources for people who wants to hear our music and Ballerium's soundtrack short samples will be available to download and will give people the chance to listen both for our music and Ballerium's music even if they're not beta players.

 

 

A fortress waits for enemy arrival.

 

 

Have there been any discussions about the possibility of releasing the full soundtrack from Ballerium?

 

Uranium: Yes, we have considered releasing the soundtrack LP separately from the game itself because we have already received requests from beta testers for purchasing the soundtrack, the soundtrack will be released considering the framework of the contract with Majorem and only after the title Ballerium will penetrate the market, justifying the LP release."

 

Do you guys have a site that our readers can visit to learn more about your music?

 

Uranium: Yes we do have a website, http://www.uranium-online.com/.  It is still under construction and we will update more details about the band soon, as well as music samples, member pictures, and tour information.

 

What are your future goals as an artist?  Where do you hope to be in 10 years?

 

Uranium: Hopefully, in the future we are willing to present the audience with a new type of music, although it is very difficult to anticipate what will happen in 10 years from now.  Our goal is to eventually be a leading member of the international musical community.  We want to bring it as far and as high as possible.  We will participate in any projects that would help make our seal upon the industry.

 

In the meanwhile we hope to draw the audience’s attention to a new and original type of music, which was not introduced yet.

 

Thank you for your time.