Greeting Adventurers!

The importance of audio in creating an immersive experience in Black Desert cannot be expressed in words.  

Last week the GM note about the remastered graphics was posted for our Adventurers to see. This GM note is for our Adventurers to hear about the remastered audio.

◈ Remastered Ambient Sounds

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  Endings added for soundtracks played in fields

  
  


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  Able to admire the ambient sounds as it plays after the soundtrack ends

  
  


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  Diversified ambient sounds

  
  

Ambients sounds play an important role of immersing Adventurers into Black Desert. Therefore, we created endings to the soundtracks played on fields so that they’ll be played once. Now Adventurers can listen to richer ambient sounds that help Adventurers to appreciate the Black Desert world even more.

Listen to the improved ambient sounds by starting the video below.

◈ Remastered Soundtracks

The work put into the remastered soundtracks can match a major production

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  More than 220 soundtracks

  
  


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  Over 660 minutes of play time

  
  


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  7 complete soundtrack albums for each of the regions

  
  


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  Recordings of orchestras in 3 different european countries

  
  

The amount of work that went into the remastered audio matches the work put into a major blockbuster production.

After cleaning up the 240 some previous soundtracks, 220 soundtracks were reborn.

All the soundtracks together can be played for over 660 minutes. That’s over 11 hours!

We are also working on 7 soundtrack albums that are based on themes for each region.

40 of these soundtracks used recording of live orchestras from 3 different european countries.

Remastered Audio Improvements

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  Memorable melodies

  
  


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  Diverse and elegant arrangements

  
  


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  Warm performances done by real musicians

  
  


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  Added soundtracks that highlights action

  
  

The black and white soundtracks of Black Desert were colorfully transformed to be elegant. To achieve this goal, soundtracks were made with memorable melodies and diverse arrangements.

Additionally, live recordings of musicians were added to breathe life in to the soundtracks from the previous computer generated songs.

Even though action is very important aspect of Black Desert, not a lot of soundtracks were helpful at highlighting it. So we added plenty of soundtracks that can.

Changed How Soundtracks were Played

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  Riding soundtracks were removed from the system

  
  


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  Created Audio Regions

  
  

The way that soundtracks were played in Black Desert was also changed during the remastering.

First, the riding soundtrack was removed so that the soundtrack playing before could continue playing.

Second, the soundtracks were played based on the location of the character before the remastering. This meant that depending on where your character was in a region, different soundtracks would be played. To solve this problem, we created Audio Regions.

Let’s use this image below as an example.

This is Saunil Camp in Calpheon territory.

You would hear a soundtrack fit for a battlefield in Saunil Camp. Then as soon as you get to the road on the hill, a peaceful soundtrack starts to play. This made it difficult to stay focused while fighting.

Now with the new audio regions put in place, the area in Saunil Camp and the road on the hill are both in the same region. Now you will hear the same soundtrack in this area. This will help Adventurers get absorbed into the game.

◈ Regional Themes

After the audio remastering, Adventurers can hear different soundtracks played throughout the Balenos territory. For example, the soundtracks played will feel dark  in the darker parts of Balenos. While peaceful soundtracks will be played in the peaceful parts of Balenos.

Still, you were able to recognize that the soundtracks are both from Balenos even though the two places had soundtracks that felt different.

That’s because regional themes were applied to the soundtracks.

Soundtracks also used different styles within each region.

There are 12 different styles of remastered soundtracks for each region and allowed us to create various music.

Overture

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  The 1st soundtrack of the album

  
  


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  Used in the game title screen

  
  


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  Orchestra concert

  
  

Battle of Warriors

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  Conquest War, Guild War, War

  
  


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  Portrays massive war scenes

  
  


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  Fast classical symphonic music

  
  

Battle of Domains

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  Node War, PVP

  
  


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  Portrays duels

  
  


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  Music used for movie trailer

  
  

Battle of Shadow

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  Summoned Bosses, powerful hunting grounds

  
  


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  Portrays fast and intimidating enemies

  
  


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  Music used in chase scenes

  
  

Battle of Apocalypse

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  Field Bosses, World Bosses

  
  


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  Portrays a world in chaos

  
  


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  Extremely terrifying music

  
  


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  Modern classical music with the twelve-tone technique

  
  

Field

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  Out of combat

  
  


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  Matches the atmosphere of each place

  
  


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  Produced at least 13 different soundtracks

  
  

On the Path

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  On a peaceful road during a journey

  
  


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  2 types of music used for the day and night themes

  
  


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  Music that harmonizes with ambient sounds

  
  


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  Meditation music style, usually played by a single instrument

  
  

Base

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  Cities, towns, and important camps

  
  


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  Played in locations where players spend most of their time

  
  


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  Emphasis on melody

  
  

Enemy Base

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  Portrays the feeling of being in an enemy territory and surrounded by enemies

  
  


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  Some of the soundtracks were an attempt at rock music

  
  

The Combat on the field

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  Fighting monsters out on the field

  
  


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  Certain portions of hunting grounds

  
  


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  Portrays a primitive man hunting

  
  


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  Has lots of percussions and feels like folk music

  
  

Busking

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  Street performer NPCs

  
  


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  Ethnic music like the Celtic or something similar

  
  


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  Later minstrel or bard music will be added

  
  

Listen to the remastered soundtracks in the video below.

These are the Battle of Warriors style soundtracks that are to portray massive battlefields with fast tempo classical orchestra music.

These soundtracks fall under Battle of Apocalypse. They portray a world in chaos.

They are difficult modern classical music made with the twelve-tone technique.

These are Base soundtracks that are played in cities, towns, and important camps. They are to be played for a long time in locations that Adventurers stay in for various reason. These soundtracks usually have distinct themes and strong melodies to make them more enjoyable.

Unfortunately, not all the remastered audio will be implemented in a single update.

You’ll be able to hear the new soundtracks for Balenos, Serendia, and Calpheon regions first. Regions like Mediah will have their new soundtracks playing at a later update.

Thank you.