Rogue Trader - About Sound and Music

Learn more about the sound and music of Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader:

Religion and Synthesizers

Every component of a game matters. An engaging story, believable and memorable characters, balanced gameplay, unique features, and an impressive visual aesthetic are all prominent aspects that grab players’ attention. However, there’s one more element that binds everything together and brings immersion to the next level. Music and sound design are one of our studio’s signature touches. Today we’re going to tell you a little about this process and all the creative and inventive ways our composers used sound and music to bring Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader to life. We now go over to Paweł Perepelica, one of the project’s composers and the writers of the game’s main theme.

The Main Theme
Every track of the game’s musical score was the result of long and meticulous work. Each theme went through a strict vetting process both at our studio and Games Workshop. It took us about five months to find the right sound for the main theme. The other composers and I tried many different versions, scrapping the ones we disliked, trying again and again. That search left me with some extra time on my hands, which I put to use getting started on the game’s space battle themes. One of those themes became a sudden hit and caught everyone’s attention, so much so that a decision was made to transform this track into the main theme.
As a long-time Warhammer fan, I’ve always wanted to work on something set in this universe. Imagine my excitement when I got the offer one day to work on Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, finally having a chance to turn my ideas into reality! I always knew that if I were to write music for the Warhammer universe, I’d make sure to try and bring together two things: religion and synthesizers! Those two words are what come to mind when I imagine music from Warhammer 40,000.

The choir is the main theme’s centerpiece. For the orchestral version, we recorded a live professional choir. But here’s a fun fact: for the earlier version, I used my own voice layered on top of itself several times over. We needed the choir to sound natural and human, which you don’t always achieve with digital samples. That’s why in the beta, as well as in the version of this track shared earlier on YouTube, the vocals you hear are mine. A choir of Paweł Perepelica clones, if you will.

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Thanks Couchpotato!