World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Interview

GameZone recently caught up with Cataclysm composer David Arkenstone for a brief Q&A about his work on the World of Warcraft expansion, other projects he has in the pipeline, and more.
GameZone: What music, specifically, did you work on in Cataclysm?

Arkenstone: Basically, when we first started plotting out the music for it there were four or five composers involved, so we all had a meeting and sort of started picking zones. The minute I heard there was going to be an underwater zone, I threw my hat in for that because I thought that would really be fun, and it was. Then, we each ended up with 10 or 12 different zones because the game is just absolutely huge. I was really interested in doing a couple of new zones, which Vashj'ir was, and the majority of Hyjal was new. So, I tried to latch onto that.

Then, I also did the Mulgore music and Grimtotem, Plaquelands, Feralas, Stonetalon and Durotar. I did a new theme for Orgrimmar incorporating the old themes. Then, I got to do a pirate song, which was really cool. Then, I did some music for the Tanaris Desert and Thousand Needles. There's probably a couple other zones I'm forgetting now. Then, I just did some random songs. I did a war march and then I did something called "Aftermath," which we cut up. It's in the game in several places. But it's really an adventure making music like that because, at the beginning, there's very little to go on except a few pieces of concept art. So, there was a lot to do. I did 46 pieces for Cataclysm. It's pretty amazing.