Listen to the Enhanced Battle Music Coming in WC4 Fan Remake (August 23, 2022)

[ChrisReid]

Although the WC4 Fan Remake team just released the Remastered Demo, they're not slowing down at all. ODVS has published a new article at WCRespace.com about their resident musician, Greg “FilmCompos3r” Nicolett. You can read all about how he got started with Wing Commander, what his inspirations are for the remastered tracks and some thoughts on the future here. There's also a new video showing off the new battle music below!

Our resident Composer-In-Chief, Greg "FilmCompos3r" Nicolett, isn't just bringing the original score of Wing Commander IV up to modern snuff for our project. He's also extending it and improving on it where the technical limitations of 1996's audio technology fell short of George Oldziey's original vision for the game's soundtrack.

Here's a prime example: the game's original battle music was only 45 seconds long - which could get grating and repetitive during extended dogfights. As well as reorchestrating the music to bring the quality up to modern standards, FilmCompos3r added new varitations which allowed him to double the loop's duration and add variety.

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Original update published on August 23, 2022

 

[Wedge009]

The biggest set-back of the original score, for me, was the monaural recordings used in the final game. The lack of spatial texture that we are accustomed to with stereo audio really made the music feel flat. If I recall correctly, the sampling rate was also limited 22 kHz which cut off the higher frequency sounds. I can't remember if the early Command and Conquers were also monaural recordings but I'm pretty sure they were also 22 kHz sampled.

At any rate, using what re-orchestrations Mr Oldziey has already done as a starting point is a great idea even if those resources are limited. Has anyone in the team been able to contact George about his thoughts on this project or whether or not he can offer any advice with respect new arrangements? I understand he's probably very busy but given his community interaction with the previous re-orchestration projects, I wonder if he'd be open to occasional consultations. I just think of something like the Tiberian Sons being born out of collaboration between the original composer and fan musicians.

For the demonstration presented, I really appreciate the extended arrangement remaining faithful to the spirit of the original score - while sometimes new compositions can complement existing pieces well, music is pretty subjective and I don't often like it when they stray too far from the original material. The transition to the start of the original score is also seamless which is a superb effort.

 

[DefianceIndustries]

Hi @Wedge009, yes we did contact Mr. Oldziey regarding using his re-orchestrations for the remaster. He was fine with it as long as the tracks are not in an easily reproducible format. Pedro has the details there. But we wouldn't use them without his permission at any rate.

 

[ODVS]

Hi all,

Just for funsies, here's a comparison of Greg's work against the original in-game music: