How to Create a Soundtrack in a Mongolian Setting If You're Not Mongolian

How to compose music for a game in a Mongolian setting if you are not a Mongolian? I started working on a new project with this question. In this article, I will tell you what kind of project it is, how we got into it, and what we ended up with. Video version of the article Here

Hello everyone, my name is Nazar. I am a composer and founder of a sound production studio. Music we DeserveMy team and I are working on music for the game. Golden Horde.

Context

The Golden Horde is a first-person action RPG set in the Middle Ages. The game is dedicated to historical events in Central Asia in the 13th century. This is a story about how a national hero was able to repel the Mongol invaders. A very relevant topic. The Golden Horde YouTube channel has released new trailer.

How I got into the project

On one of the gaming publics I came across an advert for recruitment to the development team. The list of required specialists included a vacancy for a composer, which is not common. I decided to study the issue in more detail: I read public materials about the game, looked at pre alpha trailer gameplay. The project impressed me. It became obvious to me that the game had great potential and I wanted to participate in it! I wrote to the project manager and offered our help. At that time, I already had a team together, which became one of our advantages. We called the manager, who also turned out to be a musician. We found a common language quickly. I understood what was required of us and received a test assignment. We had to make 3 tracks

Working on the soundtrack

Technical specifications and reference search

Before composing anything, you need to understand what and how to do it. I made a technical task for myself. In the technical task, I indicated all the information necessary for the project: musical time signatures, scale system, characteristic rhythmic patterns, etc. All this information will help me better get into the setting.

The project manager provided me with a list of musical references. This became a starting point for my broader research.

I started looking for sources of inspiration. Music is closely connected with everyday life and traditions. To understand the music of a people, you need to study their culture. The environment is also of great importance. In this case, we are dealing with steppe nomads. The way of life of the 13th century nomads is well conveyed in the film Sergei Bodrov “Mongol” (2007).

In addition, I watched several documentaries about Mongolia, to better understand Mongolian life without artistic exaggeration.

I was looking for suitable references in games. The Golden Horde era is poorly covered in gamedev. There weren't many examples of game music, but I found something interesting. I was impressed by the soundtracks from the game Total War: Attila

The Hun tribes were also steppe nomads, so there are similarities in the Hun and Mongol cultures. Soundtracks in Total War: Attila Hollywood-style big, epic and scary. However, I did not rely on them entirely. My main source of inspiration was Mongolian folk songs. The most reliable examples of musical culture can be found in its speakers.

Selection of tools

Let's move on to the project. I understood what kind of music we need, now we will think about the instrumentation. Instrumentation is the composition of musical instruments in the soundtrack. I set myself the task of creating a composition close to how it could sound with a live ensemble in the 13th century. I did not want to create a Hollywood epic. In my opinion, this is inappropriate for this setting.

Mongolian music is strongly associated with throat singing and morin khuur (the most common and highly revered string instrument in Mongolia). These instruments will be the basis of the composition. For the bass line, I will use a type of morin khuur in a lower tuning. The track will have rich percussion: jaw harp, tambourine, Mongolian drums, gong, tam-tam and much more.

For a bit more down-to-earthness, I will also use the sound of horseshoes, the clanking of weapons and wooden blocks as percussion. This will create a rich and voluminous sound, but without the excessive pathos of cinematics. Let's listen to how a fragment of a track with only percussion sounds.

As you can hear, percussion alone already provides dynamics, energy and expression!

Creating Mongolian flavor

The galloping rhythm strongly resembles a horse ride, and the horse is not only a means of transportation for the Mongols. The sound of the morin khuur in Mongolian poetry is compared to a horse's neighing or to the breath of wind in steppes. I decided to combine these two elements and create a rhythmic hook on the morin khuur. Here's how it sounds on its own.

I supported this rhythmic pattern with morin khuur from other libraries, for greater breadth and enrichment of timbre.

Polyrhythm and multilayering

And this is what the entire string section with percussion sounds like

Unobtrusive musical theme

I decided not to create a catchy theme song because I wanted to focus on the rhythm. The flute and morin khuure melody does not steal the show, but adds a pinch of drama.

At this point the track already sounds cool, but something is missing. And what is missing is the most important element I mentioned at the beginning – throat singing. Without throat singing the composition will not sound convincing. The same musical fragment, but with a vocal group.

Dynamic contrasts

It would seem that we could stop here and repeat it 3 more times. But even the most experienced rider sometimes needs a rest from a wild gallop. I tried to emphasize this idea in the structure of the composition. Constant pounding is tiring and if the music stops developing, then the desire to listen to the end disappears. When the music reaches the limit, instead of continuing like this until the end, I make a dynamic decline. Horses and people need rest, especially after a rapid gallop.

How I Became a Musical Lead

A month has passed since my team and I received the technical specifications. During this time, we have deeply immersed ourselves in the setting, studied Mongolian culture in general and music in particular. The issue of final approval of the musicians was being resolved. We sent 3 finished tracks to the director.

You can listen to our tracks Here

I was confident in the result, but there was a certain amount of excitement. In the end, our work was accepted and, according to the manager, we fit the setting better than anyone else. This news made me happy, but I decided to consolidate my success. I offered my candidacy for the role of music lead. I already had experience in management. My enthusiasm was appreciated and this finally tipped the scales in favor of my team. Now, in addition to composing music, I had to establish work with other composers, set tasks, monitor their implementation and give competent feedback. However, nothing new.

Results and plans

I really enjoyed working in a new setting for myself! I have always been fascinated by history. I received a powerful boost of inspiration by connecting my passion for music with my fascination with history! Our team is currently working on music for the demo version of the game. Our new music will appear on the Golden Horde YouTube channel

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