Fans of Gearbox's Borderlands series know it well for the irreverent tone and sense of humor that's been central to the series since the first game released in 2009. But Vault Hunters the world over may not be quite as familiar with the work that goes into the games' soundtrack and audio.
Borderlands 3 composers Brian Lee White and Brian Trifon shared some of the processes that went into building the latest entry's music, including finding sounds in unusual places like a creaky oven door and an incredibly cheap cello. Speaking with PCGamesN in an interview on Borderlands 3's soundtrack, White and Trifon counted sounds of scraping metal and dollar store toys among the stranger items they used to craft the music that would punctuate moments in the game.
Working together as Finishing Move Inc., Trifon and White previously made music for games like Crackdown 3, Halo 2 Anniversary and Halo Wars 2, and made contributions to both of the previous main Borderlands games. Their work is also set to be featured in the upcoming Microsoft Flight Simulator, and the pair also returned for Borderlands 3's DLC packs.
The duo made use of a large private library of sounds collected over the years during production on the songs for Borderlands 3, and one sound that saw several uses was a recording of a creaky oven door. "In my old apartment, the oven door made a squeaking sound, and it was kind of a constant pitch," Trifon said. " So at one point, I recorded that and then just processed it, so the pitch was a little bit more even, and then mapped that out as an instrument. It’s haunting and beautiful, but in other contexts it can also be a harsh, aggressive metallic sound."
White and Trifon also made use of a cello that they found on Craigslist from a builder in southern California for $150, a significantly lower price than the thousands of dollars similar instruments are usually worth. "It actually works pretty well, but I don’t know how to play the cello at all, so I used it to make a lot of low, stringed, scraping sounds. It’s more using it as a way to make musical sound design, rather than to play Bach’s cello suites or Elgar’s cello concerto or anything like that," Trifon said.
PC, PS4, Stadia and Xbox One players can try Borderlands 3 for free this weekend. All progress made during the free weekend rolls over to the regular game if players choose to buy. The game's fourth expansion pack and an updated content roadmap still haven't been revealed, but Gearbox still appears to be set on supporting BL3 as it nears its first anniversary. Much like Borderlands 2 before it, we wouldn't expect this loot shooter to wind down any time soon.
Borderlands 3 is out now for PC, PS4, Xbox One and Stadia.
Source: PCGamesN