Black Desert Online has been out for slightly more than a week and one of the most talked about features of the game is the sound track. Which is not typical in a triple A MMORPG such as Black Desert.
In an interview by MMOGames with Ryu Hee Man, he stated some important pieces of information regarding the foundations of the sound track.
Ryu Hee Man: Initially, when I started working on the music, Dai Il Kim, who is the producer and director of Black Desert Online, told me that the music of the game should be a: “Middle Age Noir” type genre. I’ve therefore been trying to produce audio, which mimics a heavy, eerie-like atmosphere when players enter the game.
Korean players appreciate sound emphasis on effective hits. In order to make the sounds seem as real as possible, we have gone through a series of thorough steps to ensure overall, realistic sound quality. As a result, we ended up with a very satisfying, hard-hitting sound. However, this specific sound may be too “exaggerated” for our Western audience. Statistically speaking, I don’t know if these sounds will receive a positive response. Should the NA and EU players feel uncomfortable with this sound, they will be able to choose between “exaggerated” and “non-exaggerated” sound versions, at a later stage.
Some of the environmental audio used was taken from the existing sound archives, but forest sounds and noises were actually recorded in the field. Also, in order to improve the overall surround sound system quality, we have purchased sound effects from Boom Library, which is one of the top class, sound effect companies. We plan to change and update these gradually.
The music is as he puts it is Western music, created by a team of Asians and that is just fine in our book.