Matt Uelmen

[sourtimes]

Hello folks, very much looking forward to Torchlight 2 and the fun it promises to bring. I've really enjoyed what I've seen of it in the beta.

I was just listening to some old Diablo 2 music tonight sort of lamenting a disappointing game that released a few months ago. Honestly the music in Diablo 2 is really so beautiful (odd word for Diablo, but taking it out of the Diablo context) It's powerful and imparts a degree of emotion to the game experience like nothing else. I've listened to the upcoming Torchlight 2 soundtrack and Matt seems to have gotten even better with age. My favourite music from when I used to play World of Warcraft was The Burning Crusade expansion's soundtrack. I love gaming and have been a gamer for 25 years now and never have I heard any music within a game so impactful as anything Matt Uelmen has done.

First time on these forums and I have no idea if the developers and inner sanctum of Runic peruse it, but, I just wanted to send a message of thanks to Matt for giving the perfect accents to some of my best memories and a degree of emotion and nostalgia no hobby or past time of mine has ever rivalled.

And, of course, D2/LOD will always reside in the inner sanctum of my most cherished games. I'm sure Torchlight 2 will join those hallowed halls in a few months.

Thanks.

[Amtemn]

First off, welcome to the forums! =)

Secondly, I totally agree that Matt Uelmen is one of gaming's greatest as far as music is concerned. Artists like him, Jeremy Soule, and Knut Haugen really understand how to draw people into a game with their epic/atmospheric musical scores. =)

[Glass]

The good news is, @Runicgames tweeted a few hours ago that the soundtrack has been submitted to iTunes.

http://twitter.com/RunicGames/status/231554908300648448

[blackout23]

Yes he pretty much immortalized himself with the icon tunes from Diablo. Having his work in TL2 makes it worth more than 20 USD alone.
With most games the first thing I do is to turn the music level to 0 with only a few exceptions Diablo, Trochlight 1 and The Elder Scrolls Series.

[Kilg]

Welcome

Uelmen is a legend!

I found this article just yesterday on page 9, and its of when they were recording it in Slovakia, even has one of the tracks and a video.. really good stuff

http://www.torchlight2game.com/news/201 ... hlight-ii/

[Cosmia]

I'm really amped for this game so I decided to register and check out the community. On topic: Uelmen is a genius and could score for any genre he wants to, and do it extremely well. His work is just as responsible for getting/keeping me into a game as anything else. I can't believe I'm getting this game for only $20. I agree with the post above that Uelmen's contribution alone makes this worth twenty bucks.

/end fanboy rant

[Zeku]

Some of the best game composers are Americans.

Trent Reznor just knocked the quake 1 soundtrack out of the city, it's the very best of all ambient soundtracks, by my opinion.
Jeremy Soule has made a lot of very mediocre efforts, but he's also got some standouts, like Secret of Evermore. He started young and writes tons of stuff.
Laura Barratt is a virtual unknown, she made a lot of incredible songs for Simtex including the Moo2 soundtrack. (Did you know Steve Barcia worked on both Master of Orion/Magic and Metroid Prime? This blew my mind since they're both such powerful sci-fi experiences)

And so forth, there are simply too many to list. And countless Japanese as well, Uematsu, Koji Kondo, Kenji Yamamoto, etc. The woman who wrote a lot of significant Castlevania 1 sountracks, Kinuyo Yamashita, (one of the most powerful of all game soundtracks) continued to compose, but nothing else she did ever stood out that much. MMX3 was impressive, and as good as the original, but she followed the existing style very closely.

I wish I had the ability to understand music. It affects me, possibly in a way that is unlike what the composer was experiencing himself. But to create it, I simply feel nothing, I hear nothing. My internal sound is not rhythmic or harmonic.

[Warsmith]

I agree, Uelmen is an excellent composer.

On the topic of soundtracks in general, who here has listened to the Bastion soundtrack?

I love that music.

[CheesyPeas]

All of the best game composers are humans, and come from lots of places.

Had to adjust that a bit if you don't mind; I'm a rather large fan of old-school 8/16bit goodness ... If I could get Chris Huelsbeck, Martin Galway, the Maniacs of Noise, Bjorn Lynne, Jereon Tel and Rob Hubbard into a room together I'd go all gooey.

I love Uelmen's work though, it's those iconic little phrases that do it for me.

vvv Guys, Skynet is using humans now. vvv

[Kilg]

On a side note since other composers were mentioned, Hitoshi Sakimoto (Final Fantasy XII / Tactics, Valkyria Chronicles etc...) is doing an AMA at reddit, if anyone wanna check it..



http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/xndgw/i_am_hitoshi_sakimoto_video_game_composer_final/

[adoomgod]

Matt Uelmen's da bomb.

When I played with him in the beta I was surprised how down to earth he was for a deep musician.

Stereotype = broken

[Aeydon]

The good news is, @Runicgames tweeted a few hours ago that the soundtrack has been submitted to iTunes.

http://twitter.com/RunicGames/status/231554908300648448

Out of curiosity does this mean that the music files won't be inside the game folder?
Also, I'm all for a physical copy of the soundtrack being sold as well.

[Jenniph34r]

Out of curiosity does this mean that the music files won't be inside the game folder?
Also, I'm all for a physical copy of the soundtrack being sold as well.

I hope they are, finding those tracks in your game folder is like another Christmas, cept without giving anyone presents.

[Chthon]

The good news is, @Runicgames tweeted a few hours ago that the soundtrack has been submitted to iTunes.

http://twitter.com/RunicGames/status/231554908300648448

Out of curiosity does this mean that the music files won't be inside the game folder?
Also, I'm all for a physical copy of the soundtrack being sold as well.

There are a bunch of .ogg files inside the beta; I presume they're not taking any steps to DRM those for release. However, my understanding is that they have been compressed rather heavily to reduce the download size of the game. The soundtrack on CD would be uncompressed, and would therefore sound better. I don't know what format would be sold on iTunes, but I would fear that it's going to be just as badly compressed as the files in the game.

[Zidders]

The good news is, @Runicgames tweeted a few hours ago that the soundtrack has been submitted to iTunes.

http://twitter.com/RunicGames/status/231554908300648448

-_-

Why just itunes? http://bandcamp.com/ ftw. Ugh..I hate anything that forces you to be tied to it. DRM ftl

[seti42]

The d2 music is easily findable. I got it all years ago, and it's on my mp3 player.
Hopefully the TL2 music will be available for purchase. or d/l.

I agree. fk itunes.

[Aeydon]

The good news is, @Runicgames tweeted a few hours ago that the soundtrack has been submitted to iTunes.

http://twitter.com/RunicGames/status/231554908300648448

-_-

Why just itunes? http://bandcamp.com/ ftw. Ugh..I hate anything that forces you to be tied to it. DRM ftl

This. Bandcamp is pretty good for choice.

[Daxz]

I have been a fan of Matt Uelmen's work since Diablo and StarCraft. His work on Diablo II still rules supreme in my book
Runic is really blessed having Matt onboard again

[ThatMountain]

All of the best game composers are humans, and come from lots of places.

Had to adjust that a bit if you don't mind; I'm a rather large fan of old-school 8/16bit goodness ...

Have to high five you for that. Some of the greatest BGM was from the 8/16 bit era. Just google Shatterhand or listen to the music from many Castlevania games and you will be in musical nirvana.

But yeah, Uelmen is a legend among legends.

[Amtemn]

All of the best game composers are humans, and come from lots of places.

Had to adjust that a bit if you don't mind; I'm a rather large fan of old-school 8/16bit goodness ...

Have to high five you for that. Some of the greatest BGM was from the 8/16 bit era. Just google Shatterhand or listen to the music from many Castlevania games and you will be in musical nirvana.

But yeah, Uelmen is a legend among legends.

To be honest, my favorite soundtrack from any of the Castlevania games was Bloodlines/New Generation from the Genesis/Megadrive. Any composer (Michiru Yamane) that can make the ugly old Genesis sound like THIS deserves all of the props in the world. I just wish the musical loops were longer. =P

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPGZJhxI ... E2F7F450FC

Back OT, though, I was trying to think of what my favorite Matt Uelman song would be (besides Tristram, of course), and my first thought would be the Harem music from D2...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GI4iHTR_FUM

After hearing some tracks from TL2 on Youtube, however, I can tell that a lot of thought and effort has been put into them... So I'm going to wait until I hear all of the TL2's tracks before I would say that thought is final. Until then, it's Harem for me. =) what about you guys/gals?