#chance thomas

[chetrax]

[mrjolkienrolkienrolkientolkien]

LOTRO Challenge: Day Seven! "Favorite music from the game?" Okay, you guys. Chance Thomas is a genius. I get such nostalgia whenever I go back to Ered Luin (where I made my first character) simply because the music is so breathtaking. Every region seems to perfectly encapsulate the feeling of the people there and the environment. SO good. All in all, I'd have to say my absolute FAVORITE song would have to be the Theme for Rohan. The melody soaring over the driving force of the lower tones GAH SO GOOOOD. Every time I hear it I wanna jump on determinedly ride into battle with the rest of the Horse Lords. Don't even get me started on Eowyn (such a badass goddess inspiration)

[chetrax]

i’m a goddamn sucker

[chetrax]

[practiceapps]

I was at Sierra On-line at the time and we had just started working on J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth On-Line. And they asked me to create the music score and honestly I didn’t really know where to start. So I thought I’m going to go back to the books and I’m going to find out as close as I can what did the old professor have in his mind when he envisioned the sound of his world because the literature is just covered with songs. You know, elves are singing. Dwarves are singing. The hobbits are playing fiddles. There’s just music everywhere. So I went through each of those books *Fellowship of the Ring*, *The Two Towers*, *Return of the King*…I even got into *The Silmarillion* a little bit. And I made reference to every time song, music, voice, instruments anything like that was mentioned. I made note of any time that music had an influence on the environment or on other people and tracked what kind of influence that was. Anyway, sifted through all of this stuff put it together and built what I call the Tolkien Music Style Guide.

Level with Emily Reese: 35: Chance Thomas

[thedunedainlotr]

The Lord of the Rings Online™ - Mines of Moria Soundtrack™ Released On: November 17, 2008 Composed By: Chance Thomas, Stephen DiGregorio Arranged By: Chance ...

The Lord of the Rings Online™ - Mines of Moria™ Soundtrack

Released On: November 17, 2008 Composed By: Chance Thomas, Stephen DiGregorio Arranged By: Chance Thomas, Stephen DiGregorio Published By: Turbine

The Mines of Moria music, composed by Chance Thomas (whose work includes Quest For Glory V, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and others) and Stephen DiGregorio, is strong enough to rival the film score. In some ways, this music is superior to the film score, in that one can listen to it over and over without getting bored. This is, of course, the distinguishing trait between film score and game music: the ability to repeat many times without annoying the listener. Full orchestra, as well as smaller chamber-music groups, were used to record some of this score. From the clamor of drums and brass to the serenity of flutes and sweeping strings, the initial impression of this album was “this is a film score.” But as mentioned above, the soundtrack serves better for a game than for a film. Why? Because the music can handle being repeated without leaving the listener unsatisfied. These pieces aren’t set to specific moments within a film, and as such, Thomas and DiGregorio were able to write fully-developed music for each and every track, instead little one-minute clips of music that have abrupt starts and ends. “The Golden Wood” is a beautiful piece, and it is great music for relaxation. In the context of the soundtrack, and in the game, it serves best as a short reprieve between the swift and steady movements of battle and dungeon exploration. One wouldn’t expect much beauty in the Mines of Moria (you remember what happened there, don’t you?). But in The Golden Wood, the region of Lothlórien the Elven forest found not too far away from Moria, there is a chance for respite. LOTRO - Shadows of Angmar™ Soundtrack

LOTRO - Mines of Moria™ Soundtrack

LOTRO - Siege of Mirkwood™ Soundtrack

LOTRO - Riders of Rohan™ Soundtrack

[thedunedainlotr]

The Lord of the Rings Online™ Shadows of Angmar™ Original Soundtrack Released On: April 24, 2007 Composed By: Chance Thomas, Harry Chase, Brad Spear Arranged...

The Lord of the Rings Online™ Shadows of Angmar™ Original Soundtrack

Released On: April 24, 2007

Composed By: Chance Thomas, Harry Chase, Brad Spear

Arranged By: Chance Thomas

Published By: Turbine

Chance Thomas, a game composer known for his ability to take licensed work (be it film, television, book, comic book, whatever) and create a unique score for that franchise's game. Thomas had done soundtracks for other Lord of the Rings games, but if you really want to see him shine, you'll want to listen to the music composed for the MMORPG "The Lord of the Rings Online." The initial release of the game, "Shadows of Angmar," has a full OST that has been released in many formats, and in multiple regions (a German version of the game got its own soundtrack printed, but it is identical to the American version).

The music is very much orchestral, and when not orchestral, then certainly "provincial," and always live instrumentation whenever possible. Chance prefers to work with real instruments in place of synths, so the vast majority of this soundtrack was recorded in a studio with a variety of instrumental performers. For example, "Home From the Hunt," features some very enjoyable acoustic guitar work, and "Bree-Land Jig" sounds like a Scot/Irish outdoor dance party. There's no question that Chance Thomas has a strong grasp of ethnomusicology and is able to work it into his compositions without much struggle. That said, the "ethnicities" represented here are mostly of a European nature, as is fitting for a Lord of the Rings soundtrack.

LOTRO - Shadows of Angmar™ Soundtrack

LOTRO - Mines of Moria™ Soundtrack

LOTRO - Siege of Mirkwood™ Soundtrack

LOTRO - Riders of Rohan™ Soundtrack

LOTRO - Helm’s Deep™ Soundtrack

[tesalionlortus]

The Old Forest is so nostalgic.

Hey now, still with questions? Tom's way is to take the bad and make it good. Old Man Willow, that mean streak in his heart has grown wider for many a day now, and he could do with some cheering. Go to old Willow-man and dance, and lighhten his mood! Then you will know what it is to share Tom's interest in all creatures, both good and bad!

Seriously, The Adventures of Bingo Boffin are awesome. ^^