Witcher 3 composer Mikolai Stroinski starts his work on each game by ‘going on a date’

In 2015, The Witcher 3 established developer CD Projekt Red as one of the world’s top AAA game studios, and Mikolai Stroinski — one of the game’s composers — established himself as one of the strongest musical talents in the industry. By contributing to League of Legends, The Disappearance of Ethan Carterand others, he has built his career in a wide range of genres.

Speaking to Polygon as part of our week-long look at the games and music crossover, Polygon FM, Stroinski recently said he was influenced by games like Manic miner And Medalhis work on the futuristic noir detective game Nobody wants to dieand his process of coming up with music for a game.

Was there a game soundtrack or song that inspired you to start making game music? Can you paint the scene of what that felt like for you, and why the music was so effective?

Actually there were two tracks that entered my subconscious that probably sent me where I wanted to go in my career. The very first one was the music for Manic miner. I must have been about 6 years old when I played that game on the Spectrum ZX. The music I heard at the time was a rendition of “In the Hall of the Mountain King” by Edvard Grieg. At the time I thought it was really catchy and it worked well for the gameplay I was experiencing. I remember realizing that video game music can be an amazing experience, even if it was 1985 or so…

The even greater and more conscious impact on me was made by Michael Giacchino’s soundtrack for Medal. What a feast of remarkable themes this is! The melodies, the orchestration, no pompous overscores and oversized orchestra, just music that creates perfect emotions. The most special song I remember was the one called “Arnhem”, which despite being very sweet and emotional, was laid over a very intense battle. The contrast it created, imbued the player with a sense of sadness and sorrow for all the lives lost in the horrific Second World War. I found myself with tears in my eyes while holding a PS2 controller in my hands.

Can you break down one of your own songs and its influences? Was it inspired by game soundtracks, other music, or something else?

I choose “Neon Wants A Drink” from my recent game Nobody wants to die. The soundtrack is a mix of noir, jazz, and Vangelis. I had some fun with one of my synths; I think it was an OB6. One of the nice things about many polysynths is that you can “lock” a combination of keys, like a chord, and play it with one key. This results in something called “constant structure”; in other words, the melody you’re playing is always accompanied by the same structure of notes underneath. So I locked in a minor 9th chord and played a progression in a way that didn’t seem to have a central key, a tonal home base. I then played a melody over it, which resulted in a fairly modern jazz sound that I was pleased to find worked well for the game. The major 9th on top of each chord makes it even harder to hit a “home chord.” The irony is that I used it when the main character entered his apartment. It helps reinforce the sense of his detachment from that place.

What were the main instruments you used to create the soundtrack for The Witcher 3How did you choose those instruments?

It’s been a while, but I’ll see what I can dig up. There was a baglama that originally came from Turkey, and we used quite a few of them. Another was a kemenche, which originally came from Greece and Turkey. Percival (the Polish folk band) built this one themselves, which makes it even more special. There was also a custom hurdy-gurdy, which instead of the usual three strings had seven, along with a large cello body. The Renaissance violin was also custom made, based on original designs. It had built-in pickups and extra bass strings to broaden the scale of the instrument. There was a yaylı tambur played by my friend Amir Yaghmai, recorded in my studio in LA, as well as his ghaychak (a bowed lute). It was found in the desert by Amir’s grandfather. He was 100 years old!

Is there anything else we should know about your approach to composing video game music?

For me, every game is the beginning of an intimate relationship. And as such, I refuse to have a recipe. I start by “going on a date”, listening and trying to understand what the game wants. This part is harder because I have to let go of any preconceived ideas or composition techniques I would have liked to use. Every fantasy RPG wants to be different and each has something special for me and for a player.

For that reason, the happiest moment in the creative process for me is when I understand the boundary that I must not cross. With clearly defined boundaries, I can be as creative as I want. That is also the moment when the musical color of the game is established and themes have passed their tests. (…)

Nobody wants to dietook me a while to become friends with. I initially wanted to limit the score to just the orchestral palette, but was advised not to shy away from my wall of synthesizers. I’m grateful for that revelation, because once the analog synths entered the game’s score, everything started to flow in the right direction.