"Outtake II" - Liner Notes - October 31, 2001

The original Diablo II mp3s are complete! And you thought we would never get around to it. For those of you of who wondered what we actually do here at Blizzard in our marathon development cycles, this outtake provides a pretty good example of the difference another year or two can make. This track is the original tune recorded around January 1998, which became the fifth minute of what was eventually the wilderness combat music in Act 1 when I was able to take a look at her again in January 2000. The first half made it into the game with many snips, additional pedal steel and orchestral sample textures, and some mastering magic from Scott Petersen. The second half of the piece in all of its rocker glory was chucked entirely, unheard by the public until now. Much like a fine piece of california cheese sitting in the backyard sun for weeks, we will release no track before the appropriate time. This particular tune tries pretty hard to rock out, but seemed pretty silly as a background to the opening few scenes of the game.

- Matt Uelmen

Download the Bonus MP3:

Download Site [USA]
Download Site [Germany]
Download Site [World]

Estimated Download Time for 28.8 kbps data transfer: 15 minutes.

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"Outtake IV" - Liner Notes - December 6, 2000

This track, which dates back to the first pass on Act II music in early 1999, was almost the track for the Harem. It is a fun piece of music, but it is pretty easy to see why it did not make it into the final game. The Diablo universe is many things, but funky is not one of them. Like much of the music found in Act II, this piece is based on samples of Chinese and Indian instruments, with the spotlight going to a four-bar tabla loop.

The flowing triplet pattern found in the loop reminded me of some of the go-go music I enjoyed in Washington D.C. when I went to school there in the early 90's. The breakdown also reminds me a great deal of some of the music made by The Orb around that time as well, with all of it being anchored by the humming 909 kick drum. Pump up that 20hz range and visualize yourself in a minivan somewhere in East San Jose for the intended effect.

- Matt Uelmen

Download the MP3 of the Week:

Download Site [2.24 MB] - PC Only
Download Site [2.24 MB] - Mac Only

Estimated Download Time for 28.8 kbps data transfer: 15 minutes.

In order to listen to a sample in MP3 format, you will need an MP3 Player.







"Outtake III"

A rented mandolin and a Roland space echo do not a soundtrack maketh. This track was on the cusp of making it into the game, but, fortunately, I had the time to do better material in January 2000. Even though this track uses many of the elements which ended up being quite successful in the rest of the first Act, it still had more than enough problems to earn its place in the great musical recycle bin. Though I liked the sound of the mandolin, and ended up using mandolin sounds elsewhere in this Act, this piece suffered from a serious lack of harmonic development.

When you are creating a track which loops, chief among the things to avoid is a lack of harmonic movement. If you stay in the same place for too long, as this piece does with its simple mandolin open chords, you run a big risk of creating deadly monotony. This stasis earned the piece a yellow card that turned into a red card when stacked up with the echoing whisper effects which never quite worked, as they were much too obviously derived from the whispering voices used to such great effect in "Friday the 13th".

- Matt Uelmen

Download the Bonus MP3:

Download Site 1 [1.74 MB] - PC Only
Download Site 2 [1.74 MB] - PC Only

Download Site 1 [1.74 MB] - Mac Only
Download Site 2 [1.74 MB] - Mac Only

Estimated Download Time for 28.8 kbps data transfer: 15 minutes.

In order to listen to a sample in MP3 format, you will need an MP3 Player.

"Temple"

One of the most enjoyable things about the stylistic diversity of the background art in this game was the oppurtunity it gave me to do variations on certain themes. Though the choral elements, strings and heavy drumbeats used often in the Diablo music are obvious choices as material for creepy ambience, it was fun to work with instrumental textures which are not so obviously heavy or gothic. The marimba and log percussion featured in this tune are good examples of this - wheras marimbas usually suggest a fun tropical holiday, and african percussion is usually associated with a sunny, celebratory feeling, this piece tried to subvert these sounds into something much darker and more menacing.

Often, composers will exploit the stranger sounds possible with conventional orchestral instruments to get the sense of anxiety that atonality gives you. With the log drum and other percussion elements, I tried to use the naturally semi-tonal qualities found in these instruments to create a similarly menacing atmosphere. Of course, the use of these African percussion textures also helped to integrate act 3 as a whole, which had the conga-driven jungle as its centerpiece.

- Matt Uelmen

Download the Bonus MP3:

Download Site 1 [4.14 MB] - PC Only
Download Site 2 [4.14 MB] - PC Only

Download Site 1 [4.14 MB] - Mac Only
Download Site 2 [4.14 MB] - Mac Only

Estimated Download Time for 28.8 kbps data transfer: 25 minutes.

In order to listen to a sample in MP3 format, you will need an MP3 Player.