Music of Dragon Age: Origins

Inon Zur served as the game's composer.

Origins features an original score. The game's score accompanies the gameplay and alerts players at specific times such as combat sequences. Inon Zur explained in an interview with GameSpot that the main role of video game music, like its movie and television counterparts, is to support the emotional element and to enhance the drama. He said in another interview that he was enthusiastic about being asked to score the Dragon Age franchise by BioWare "because it was known to be a high profile project from a great developer", and it featured the elements he enjoys writing for, noting that in the role playing game (RPG) genre he can contribute a lot in his style to complement the game.[1] Zur described the process of composing a scene for the series as follow: he starts by identifying and focusing on what exactly the characters in the scene are feeling, and then move on to other details such as their location, number of hostile enemies, the pace of the narrative, and so on. He would then proceed to write the score with the information he is provided, and at the same time he is open to other information such as the color and/or flavor of the setting. Zur described the creative process as being "a very close collaboration with a lot of creative freedom" and noted that the score for Origins was about creating its universe and establish a style for the game.[1] They had to cover a lot of different stories for the game, which featured six possible origin stories for the player-created protagonist, and he had to go through many routes to find the origins and what they are.[2] He said he plays the games he is hired to compose to comprehend its tempo and rhythm, which would inform his experience when it comes to tailoring his score.[2] He noted that the story of a video game is the biggest influence in his score writing; he praised the narrative for Dragon Age as being very effective and immersive, noting that there are "lots of human elements, none of the characters are perfect, even the hero".[1]

Zur said that the most memorable moment for him working on Dragon Age, was "trying to capture what's going on in the character's mind as opposed to the player's mind".[2] He observed that a story of a RPG is typically more complicated compared to other genres like first person shooter games, and that in Origins players get to make decisions all the time, such as siding with one faction over the other, which is influenced by their own opinions.[2] Zur had to frame the player's feeling or to create a feeling by evoking sensations such as motivation, fear, or excitement because it is not possible to predict the exact manner in which players will respond to each scenario in Origins due to its branching narrative.[2] He described scoring the Dragon Age games to be like "stepping on eggs" in that he needed to work with emotions without forcing it too much, and that he was careful not to compose the score in such a way that would manipulate the player into making a specific decision. Zur's finalized score for Origins is meant to evoke the feel of the game, which he described as "proud and beautiful" and "very dark, but also very epic and huge in size".[2] Zur would balance the dark tone and mood of the score with occasional heartfelt music, or introduce comic relief as a prelude to a dark cue; he explained that, "there's a point when you’re painting a black canvas, going darker and darker, where it can lose impact".[1] He described the sound palette established in Origins as orchestral, combining low brass and bass string instruments with ancient drums to express a feeling that is both heroic and demonic.[2]

Aubrey Ashburn revealed in an interview with GameSpot that Origins was the first project Zur hired her for, and that the main Dragon Age: Origins theme Zur wrote was the piece that won him the contract to compose the game's score.[3] Ashburn recalled experiencing a "sort of spiritual experience" while recording the song, and said she still enjoys listening to the song and won't change a thing about it.[3] She noted that "Leliana's Song", misspelled as "Lelianna's song" on the official album track listing, was created early on in the process and it was "a slam-dunk type of piece" as a producer wanted a song for a very specific purpose.[3] The writing team provided Zur and Aubrey with elven lyrics that indicated a certain phrasing; Aubrey noted that Zur came up with a context "almost instantly" and she only had to "coax the phrasing a bit and perform it". The song was composed in under 24 hours.[4] Aubrey considered the song to be one of her favorite songs/performances.[3] With regards to "Love Song", a track performed by Ashburn which plays when the player character engages a party companion in a romantic scene but was not included in any version of the soundtrack albums for Origins, she credited Zur with writing the music; together they placed the "pseudo-Elven" language she came up with and finished composing the song on relatively short notice.[3] Though surprised by its positive reception, she noted that the song has "a certain vulnerability about it" that captures the listener.[3]

The soundtrack was recorded by the performance of a 44-piece orchestra, recorded twice and merged to sound like an 88-piece orchestra.[4] It was performed by the Northwest Sinfonia; one of the soundtrack's performers, woodwind soloist Chris Bleth, has worked on numerous notable films such as Up, Star Trek, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and the Fast and the Furious series.[4][5] The soundtrack was presented at a panel in the Hollywood Music in Media Interactive Conference in 2009[6] and was performed as part of the September 26 "A Night in Fantasia 2009" concert in Sydney, by the Eminence Symphony Orchestra.[7]