Game Skyrim Forum

No matter where I look, I can't find the name of the guy who created daggerfall's awesome midi tunes.

Anyone know?

http://heberlingmusic.com/. I wish he made the music for the newer TES games, instead of the Soule junk.

EDIT: How dissapointing -_- After reading his website he's currently working as a "Slot machine Sound Designer" in Las Vegas. No more video game music from him.

I agree... the main theme for Morrowind made me nauseus. Why do they always play the same boring ambient songs in the newer games? No matter where you are you always hear the same old crap and it really kills the atmosphere.

lol im listening to some of his casino music... even 'bikini salsa' is more enjoyable than that soule drivel.

Oblivion's music does change depending on whether you're in wilderness, town, or dungeon, but I agree that there's still not as much variety as in Daggerfall.

I'm not surprised. Heberling, as far as I know, has always focused primarily on sound rather than music in the games he's worked on, so I'm not particularly shocked that he isn't composing now. It's still pretty unfortunate though.


Variety isn't really my problem with Soule, it's emotion. Heberling had a gift for making music that's both emotional and atmospheric, where the sparse tones of the dungeon tracks did a great deal to increase the tension and the slow, mellow music that played at night evoked an incredible sensation of loneliness that worked particularly well with the dark, shadowy, empty surroundings that created the same general reaction. He not only had multiple tracks for multiple places, but each seemed to associate itself with an appropriate feeling (whether it was the generic excitement of setting out on a new adventure that you got with the regular overworld music or the magical feeling of being surrounded by that soft, white powder with the snow music) and match the environment in which it played (be it the dark, ominous, and mysterious depths of the Mages Guild or the forboding and authoritative halls of the various castles). Even the most generic (the overworld music) seemed custom-tailored to its given situation, that of traveling across wooded plains in search of adventure.

The thing about Soule is that he doesn't do that. It doesn't matter how much or how little variety he's given, he still won't do it. Instead, he always goes for the same wannabe "epic", emotionless, soulless fantasy-style compositions every single time (seriously, even Total Annihilation's soundtrack sounds like it belongs in a fantasy game).

What rabish said. *nods*

Instead, he always goes for the same wannabe "epic", emotionless, soulless fantasy-style compositions every single time

Not to mention how for OB he ripped off Klaus Badelt in the most utterly shameless way. It's clear that he finds video games beneath him.

He's a guy with a gift...he just seriously doesn't know how to use it properly. Or maybe he's saving his good ideas for movie scores he may someday get to do.

I agree with the sentiments about Jeremy Soule. He really is a bland composer. I've not really liked any of his stuff because it sounds so generic and-forgive the pun- soulless. Shame about the DF composer though, I really like that soundtrack .

Agreed. If TESV should take place in the Summerset Isles after all, we know who we'll need to call for the soundtrack.

Slot machine jingles? At least we know who sold their soul, if I may continue those horrible "Soule" puns.

Those are just part of the bait that draw people in and take the money out of their pockets.

It seems that all the original Elder Scroll team was banished after Daggerfall, or what? LeFay, Peterson, Heberling, all worked on Arena on Daggerfall and not on Morrowind and Oblivion, though Peterson did write some of the Morrowind books. It seems evident why the Elder Scrolls are so different now...

Wow, although I've only played Morrowind and a tiny snippet of arena, I love this guy. And now, I have an idea: A petition! lets try to get back the best composer for the elder scrolls there's been so no.V will be amazing!

I liked Morrowind's music.. I thought it fit the game perfectly :shrug:

Though they definitely made a mistake when they decided not to vary the music based on towns, dungeons, outside. That ruined the impact.

Some of the recreations of the old Daggerfall midi's are brilliant. A guy Robert Hood was working on them for a recreation project, but it looks like he has slowed down a bit on the rest of the music .

Just check out 'Trending Winter'. It's a different take on a classic that you'll recognize. I absolutely love it. Especially the build up at the end.

http://www.rhmusic.net/dfmusicproject/mp3s/old/RobertHood_DF-TreadingWinter.mp3

It would be awesome if you could replace tracks of the game with these ones! Damn I love his songs, you can listen to them even without playing and it let's you dream.

Yeah! Petitions! Great idea, sure to be effective.

Hello, Eric Heberling here. A forum member has sent me a link to the recent posts which I have just read. So let me set a few things straight.

I very humbly and gladly accept the praise given me by readers of this forum but I just as equally reject your criticisms of Jeremy Soule. I have nothing but admiration for his music and his skills as a composer.

For those who bemoan me for selling my soul to a slot machine company, you need not feel sorry for me, I am being as creative and productive as ever. (Go to www.heberlingmusic.com/audio to sample some of the music I've written in the last few years. It's only the tip of the iceberg). Also, the perception that I am more a 'sound designer' than a composer is a mistaken one. For many years the two disciplines have gone hand-in-hand. The skills I've developed using the technical tools to manipulate audio lend themselves as well to creating sound effects, soundscapes and recording voice-overs as it does recording and mixing music. I happily do both, it keeps me employed in an occupational field that is rare to make a living by.

It's truly quite interesting and rewarding to receive email time to time from fans who appreciate the Daggerfall soundtrack. I'm amazed really. And it's even more astonishing when I hear that most of you experienced it with a SoundBlaster. (I originally composed using a Roland GM Sound Canvas and then converted files to the blaster). I can only assume the reason for its enduring popularity lies in the strength of the game's design, which is a credit to Julian Lefay, and the folks at Bethesda Softworks.

Hey, is this Daggerfall month? A few weeks ago I was contacted by a musician who leads a 'game music club' at the Berklee School of Music in Boston, seeking information about how the music was written. Out of that conversation came a plan to have some of the Daggerfall music arranged for his nine piece ensemble and for a 34 piece chamber orchestra. I have just finished an arrangement of 'Oversnow' for the smaller ensemble and am considering pieces now for the chamber orchestra.
So, you see I'm quite busy, and when I'm not writing and recording at my Bally studio facility I'm writing a sci-fi novel. But I could put that aside for awhile to score another video game should a company want to contract me, . . . so yeah, do that petition thing, that would be great because I don't do all the lobbying that I used to when I was freelance.
By the way, I love the re-arrangements that Robert Hood has produced of several of my Daggerfall pieces. I was totally unaware of them.

Eric Heberling - composer/sound designer

That's really cool! B) And welcome to the forums! ^_^

I've done some Daggerfall remixes, but they aren't special. Not many changes, and just used fairly good instruments & reverb.

Some examples:
http://www.bahnhof.se/wb462449/DaggerfallMusic/Daggerfall_CozyHome.mp3
http://www.bahnhof.se/wb462449/DaggerfallMusic/Daggerfall_CozyNight.mp3
http://www.bahnhof.se/wb462449/DaggerfallMusic/Daggerfall_Dungeon.mp3
http://www.bahnhof.se/wb462449/DaggerfallMusic/Daggerfall_SneakingInTheNight.mp3
http://www.bahnhof.se/wb462449/DaggerfallMusic/Daggerfall_SnowingDay.mp3
http://www.bahnhof.se/wb462449/DaggerfallMusic/Daggerfall_Tavern.mp3

Will you sing the Tavern Song for us? :wub:

Heh, I remember when mods could still use HTML in posts and I could hide the store MIDI in people's posts

I use a Roland SCB-55 sound canvas daughter board mated to a Aureal MX300 sound card for Daggerfall on my win98 comp and it sounds fantastic. When I play on XP with DosBox I use Roland Virtual sound canvas software for the sound and its great considering its only emulating the real Sound Canvas, anyway thank's for writing the Daggerfall music, without the superb Midi music it wouldn't be half the game it is.

...

Lucky bastard

I wish I could spare the $20 it would take for me to get an Aureal sound card. I had one for a few months way back when, and it definitely kicked the pants off of my Soundblaster.

@Eric Heberling - While I think you've gotten the gist of the community's admiration for your music, I personally would like to say "thank you" for the timeless music you've composed. There is something to be said of music that I can listen to literally hundreds of times (Daggerfall is a big game ) and not tire of.

Second what Taemos posted.

And thanks for taking the time to post here

Nice to see that you're aware that so many of us love your music, Eric. It'd be a shame if you'd been going all these years without knowing how much we appreciate your work.

As for its popularity, I think you're quite right to give Lefay and the team who worked on it some of the credit, but the compositions themselves are still absolutely stunning. You seem to be one of the few composers in the industry who's actually realized that music shouldn't take center stage from the game itself, and yet can still be extremely well done, and the result is something that meshes so incredibly well with the games that it creates a tone and level of atmosphere that's virtually impossible to find elsewhere. I'd be really curious to find out how closely you worked with the development team when composing the tracks for the original Elder Scrolls games, because if there was a lot of communication then you deserve great congratulations for your ability to create tracks that so perfectly compliment the games they feature in, and if it was primarily something that you did on your own without a great deal of input then your talent is utterly astounding. I guess that maybe I'm gushing a bit here, but there's good reason: even as my overall enjoyment of both Arena and Daggerfall wanes with time and play, your music remains as fresh and inspiring as the first time I heard it.

I'll spare you the dozens of questions I'd want to ask and just say thank you for spending the time to actually address your old fans like this. It's not something that everyone would do, and it's greatly appreciated.

I dunno, I think I could get into the slots if you could win with 3 Hermaeous Moras and it playes the Tavern Song really loud if you lose. Maybe they could make a fancy fiberglass one shaped like the pixely fat tavern owner in ES1&2. :hehe: