August 18, 2009

Storming the Castle:  Behind the Music of Wolfenstein
by Alex Van Zelfden

Composer Bill Brown talks with us about writing the darkly powerful score for the latest Wolfenstein, and shares three exclusive clips of music from the game.

The seemingly endless stream of first-person shooters set during the Second World War has become a frequent butt of jokes within the gaming community, but Activision’s latest offering neatly sidesteps conventions and runs full-tilt towards the Twilight Zone.  Mixing the last century’s greatest conflict with a healthy dose of gaming’s other major food groups – science fiction and fantasy – Wolfenstein lives in a world where Nazi mechs and occult scholars had better watch themselves when you have an MP40 in your hands.  And as with its acclaimed predecessor from 2001, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, the music of composer Bill Brown will be right there, drenching the place with atmosphere.

Brown has been a popular name in the game industry for years, graduating from Berklee in the early 1990s before going on to score everything from Tom Clancy franchises like Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon, to Lineage II and Command & Conquer: Generals.  At the same time, he’s also found plenty of work in Hollywood, contributing music to films like Any Given Sunday and Ali, and most recently scoring the first five seasons of TV’s CSI: NY.  But as rewarding as it is to work with big-name directors like Michael Mann, there’s no denying the appeal of a good game assignment.

“Return to Castle Wolfenstein was one of my favorite projects, so it was really great to hear that Activision wanted to hire me to compose the music for Wolfenstein,” enthuses Brown.  “I was excited to dive back into it, even before I knew anything about the project!  And the game exceeded my expectations for sure.”

March of the Brown Shirts

Work on the music began in March of last year with conversations between Brown and Kevin Schilder, Lead Audio Designer at developer Raven Software.  “We wanted players to make a connection that told them they were back in the Wolfenstein universe,” Schilder says.  “Having created a previous musical palette for Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Bill was able to comfortably bridge the gap into the newest Wolf.  We talked about the general mood and atmosphere of the game as well as the types of events our players would encounter.  Bill put together some prototype pieces to define those music moments and we used those all over to see if we had a fit.  From there, Bill went to work on the final scores.”

While exploring musical options for the new game, Brown originally looked to things like the score from Raiders of the Lost Ark for inspiration, but didn’t end up following that path.  “Writing a traditional ‘heroic’ theme, (like the Indy theme from Raiders) just wasn't sticking to anything in the game, so I went in other directions,” Brown notes.  “I finally realized that going really old-school, back to Bernard Herrmann and the film music of the 1940s and 1950s (basically 20th century modern composition) was really the most evocative music direction for this game.  So those 'modern' devices and that style became the backbone of the score.”

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Schilder agrees.  “I think of the music as being somewhat in the ‘action hero’ style, but it has some darker and more complex elements that set it apart,” he says, concerning the finished product.  “There are some orchestral instrumentation elements that tie it into the 1940s period.  It defines the game action well, while remaining in the context of game world.”  Plus, the opportunity for Brown to create bolder melodies in some of the areas definitely added to that heroic adventure vibe.

The New Berlin Airlift

With Raven’s headquarters in Wisconsin making it difficult for Brown to visit frequently as the game progressed, the development team brought the studio to Brown by providing him with a steady stream of material to work from.  Early on in his involvement Brown worked from the story outline and artwork, writing about twenty minutes of music for the game to establish the tone and making sure everything felt right.  As development progressed, however, Raven was able to send gameplay videos showing the various situations and events in the game to give a more complete picture of the pacing, atmosphere, and other elements the music would be working with to form a complete experience.

In the end, Brown completed about 60 minutes worth of music for the game, from the linearly scored scripted events, to the more free-form battle music that adapts to the player’s actions.  “For the most part, we wanted to score Wolfenstein like a movie,” explains Schilder.  “We looked for significant music ‘moments’ in the game and designed music cues to accentuate the mood or action.  Our aim was to score the game as uniquely as possible.  We did use a dynamic music system in the hub maps where the player encountered more random combat.  The system was better able to adapt to those surprise encounters.”

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Sadly, the production budget didn’t allow for a live orchestral recording of the music, but with the high-quality samples Brown used, he thinks it should be hard to tell the difference much of the time.  But live or not, Brown paid special attention to the orchestration, focusing on the darker textures – so players shouldn’t expect to hear a lot of lilting oboe solos.  “It's classic 1940's orchestration and is big, dark, brassy and muscular.  I did re-discover using xylophone within the orchestra with this score though, and odd-meters play a big part in the design,” he says.

Returning to Return to Castle Wolfenstein

While most of the music was written to support the new locations and situations in the game rather than specific characters, fans of the last title should recognize some familiar material from time to time.  “Yes, you'll hear themes from Return to Castle Wolfenstein,” smiles Brown, “most obviously I think in the opening cinematic, where it was really fun to pay musical tribute to my score from the opening cinematic of Return to Castle Wolfenstein!”

That said, there should be plenty of new favorites as well.  Brown is particularly fond of the set of themes from the Airfield level that exemplifies the game’s intense, angular, melodic style.  Schilder has a harder time playing favorites, though.  “I like everything Bill did for the game,” he says.  “There are a number of stingers that are only 10-15 seconds that feel like full pieces.  They all work together well and yet have enough variety to keep you listening to catch new things.  I do like how well the cues used for the Hospital defined that dark environment.”

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“The best thing about Wolfenstein is that it’s a world where the extraordinary mixes with the ordinary,” Schilder says.  “There’s an opportunity to let the music make the game play experience bigger than life, because it fits the game.  It’s also just pure action/adventure entertainment.  Hearing how well the music reinforced those emotions made it really satisfying every time we put a new piece into the game.”

Brown is currently gearing up for the sixth season of CSI: NY, but Wolfenstein still stands out as one of his most interesting recent projects.  “A lot of thought and care was put into every aspect of this game, and since I was a big fan of Return to Castle Wolfenstein, it was wonderful to visit this world again.”

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