It’s the first sense that’s turned on in the womb, and, unless something breaks with your hearing, it’s on for the rest of your life. We’re a visual society we take our hearing for granted unless it’s taken away from us. Sound and music aren’t always an essential part of gameplay, but Blizzard wouldn’t ship a game without them, just like we wouldn’t ship a game without great cinematics.

A healthy portion of our players can’t imagine a Blizzard game without what we do. Is there anything you’d like to tell players about what your team does?Ī (Russell Brower): I believe our players already have a great appreciation for the role of sound and music in games. Q: The role of sound and music in games, even in our games, isn’t always clear. To provide more insight on the development of this auditory (pandaren) feast, we sat down with Senior Director of Audio Russell Brower to talk about the making of the Mists of Pandaria soundtrack and his views on the purpose of music in games. When you visit the page, you’ll be able to read notes from the soundtracks’ composers, listen to song samples, and download albums and individual tracks directly through iTunes.

The Blizzard Music section has been updated to include the soundtrack to World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria.