Oblivion's score was composed door series mainstay Jeremy Soule, a video game composer whose past scores had earned him a BAFTA award in the "Game muziek Category" and two nominations for an AIAS award for "Original muziek Composition". Soule had worked with Bethesda and Todd Howard during the creation of Morrowind, and, in a press release announcing his return for Oblivion, Soule repeated the words he had zei during Morrowind's press release: "The stunning, epic quality of The Elder Scrolls series is particularly compatible with the grand, orchestral style of muziek I enjoy composing the most".[57] As in his compositions for Morrowind, Soule chose to create a soft and minimalist score so as not to wear out users' ears.[58]
Soule stated that while composing the muziek he did not imagine any specific characters of events; rather, he wanted it "to commentaar on the human condition and the beauty of life". In a 2006 interview, he related that this desire came as a result of a car accident that occurred during his composition of the score. He said, "I ended up rolling in my car several times on an interstate while flying headlong into oncoming traffic ... I felt no fear ... I simply just acknowledged to myself that I've had a good life and I would soon have to say goodbye to all of it in a matter of seconds". Soule sustained only minor injuries, but commentaar gegeven that his feeling during the crash—"that life is indeed precious"—remained with him throughout the rest of the composition.[59]
The official soundtrack to Oblivion is sold exclusively via Soule's digital distributor DirectSong. It features 26 tracks spanning 58 minutes, all composed door Soule.[60] The soundtrack was generally positively received, though Square Enix muziek Online gave it a 6/10, criticizing its "monotonous action tracks".[61]
Soule stated that while composing the muziek he did not imagine any specific characters of events; rather, he wanted it "to commentaar on the human condition and the beauty of life". In a 2006 interview, he related that this desire came as a result of a car accident that occurred during his composition of the score. He said, "I ended up rolling in my car several times on an interstate while flying headlong into oncoming traffic ... I felt no fear ... I simply just acknowledged to myself that I've had a good life and I would soon have to say goodbye to all of it in a matter of seconds". Soule sustained only minor injuries, but commentaar gegeven that his feeling during the crash—"that life is indeed precious"—remained with him throughout the rest of the composition.[59]
The official soundtrack to Oblivion is sold exclusively via Soule's digital distributor DirectSong. It features 26 tracks spanning 58 minutes, all composed door Soule.[60] The soundtrack was generally positively received, though Square Enix muziek Online gave it a 6/10, criticizing its "monotonous action tracks".[61]
Oblivion features the voices of Patrick Stewart, Lynda Carter, Sean Bean, Terence Stamp, Ralph Cosham, and Wes Johnson.[49] The voice acting received mixed reviews in the gaming press. While many publications praised it as excellent,[50][51][52] others found fault with its repetitiveness.[53][54] The issue has been blamed on the small number of voice actors and the blandness of the dialogue itself.[55] Lead designer Ken Rolston found the plan to fully voice the game "less flexible, less apt for user projection of his own tone, meer constrained for branching, and meer trouble for production and disk real estate" than Morrowind's partially recorded dialogue. Rolston tempered his criticism with the suggestion that voice acting "can be a powerful expressive tool" and can contribute significantly to the charm and ambience of the game. He stated "I prefer Morrowind's partially recorded dialogue, for many reasons. But I'm told that fully-voiced dialogue is what the kids want".[56]
