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 26th April, 2008 | | Dear SMC visitors, |
I am very pleased to announce a special release from SMC. As you know, most releases "simply" involve me recording music and editing files and putting MP3's on the web.
This one's a bit different. |
Presenting.. Freddy Pharkas, the limited edition release CD! |
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Alistair was in contact with original composer Aubrey Hodges (now head of EA Sports' audio department), who talked with him at length and also offered to master the recordings Alistair made (a big deal since he's a professional with expensive equipment). From there, he also spoke with Josh Mandel, and last week, Al Lowe, who both gave unique insights into the process of creating the game, and information. |
Since this CD involved a lot more than the usual Sierra soundtrack recording process, and Alistair has had access to the "big 3", creators Josh Mandel and Al Lowe, and composer Aubrey Hodges, this limited edition CD is being presented for sale for a brief time, with money raised mostly going to cover the costs of making it, and any residual money going towards getting Alistair's music equipment shipped from Australia to the US (very expensive!). |
To explain further, here's what you'll get if you purchase the CD: |
- The soundtrack will be presented in 2 single standard cases, each containing 1 of 2 CD's of Aubrey Hodges' masters of Alistair's CD (currently 58 tracks in total*).
* NOTE: Aubrey Hodges has contributed 4 remixes to the project and may create more before the time of the CD shipping out, in which case there will be more tracks. This has not been finalised as Aubrey is very busy. |
- NOTE: ALL CD's will be burned from the master copies of Aubrey's remasters of Alistair's CD, meaning they will be the highest quality possible. |
- NOTE ALSO: The 2 CD's (and later 1 DVD, see below) used will be of the highest quality available, ensuring an accurate CD-burn of the audio as recorded and edited by Aubrey and myself. | | - Each case comes with cover art, back cover art with the relevant CD's track list, and an inside cover featuring the FPFP Team photo mentioned below (in colour)- SIGNED by Josh Mandel and Al Lowe themselves! The covers will be made by SMC and professionally printed here in the United States. |
- Printed liner notes written by myself (and Josh/etc. if they have time)- also printed in the United States. |
- A personalised note from Alistair with dedications and a signature (no good to sell on eBay, but part of the package  )- also printed in the United States. |
- There will be bonus files, on an optional extra DVD also:
| | - Alternate soundtrack recording- Alistair's original master recordings of FPFP (mastered by himself, as in normal SMC releases). | | | - Interviews- Interviews with Aubrey Hodges (text summary) and Al Lowe (digital audio).If there's time to talk to Josh Mandel it will be included also. | | | - MIDI Music - The original General MIDI soundtrack of FPFP, plus Alistair's cache of FPFP goodness, including extracted music resources, and enhanced final MIDI files used to make the CD. | | | - Photos - A photo of the FPFP team in Western gear, a photo of Aubrey's studio where he did the mastering, a photo of Alistair's studio where he recorded it, and some behind-the-scenes shots of Alistair recording FPFP. |
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- NOTE: The alternate soundtrack will be in WAV format, from the master copies of Alistair's original FPFP recordings, before Aubrey mastered it. |
- NOTE: The optional extras DVD incurs an additional $2 surcharge to cover the cost of materials used. |
The CD is currently in the process of being finalised and it is at this time that we accept pre-orders.
25 copies are currently available, and 12 have been currently pre-ordered, meaning 13 is left.
If demand is sufficient, 25 more will be added, and if demand is crazy 50 more will be.
Beyond this ONLY the 2 CD's and optional DVD will be available for sale, in case with no art or signatures, and an online version of the notes, for $5 plus shipping. |
Pre-orders MUST be made through email to Alistair's email address (you can see it here on the front page, on the left: Team/Contact Info), and NO MONEY is required at this time. Any money sent now *will be refunded*. |
You can get the above for the price of $10.99 (US dollars)- $12.99 if requesting the optional DVD also, plus shipping.
We ship worldwide- anywhere the USPS will ship.
Payment is only accepted through PayPal, unless otherwise negotiated with Alistair via email. |
Once the CD is finished, you will receive a PayPal invoice from Alistair, including shipping costs to your destination.
SMC charges only exact shipping costs and you will receive a refund if it is too high. |
And for those of you who aren't interested in the limited edition release, for whatever reason- don't worry, the music will still be available on SMC for download in the usual fashion, with a webpage, in roughly a month's time, to give the CD a chance to sell to cover SMC's costs in making it. |
Beyond this novel release, we're still hard at work bringing you soundtrack goodness from those fabulous days of Sierra On-Line. So expect more from SMC soon- a remastered GK1 score with bonus tracks is coming soon, for example! |
Thanks for your patience and support- if you have any questions or comments, please don't hesitate to contact Alistair or post on our forums, where you can become a Gold member and have a say and receive previews about projects like this one!
The SMC Team-
Alistair, Stephane and Jan | |
April 1st, 2008 | | Dear SMC visitors, |
(This is not a April Fools joke, by the way!) | | So much for the September "31st" update! But today I can announce some good news- SMC is well on the way to updating. The past 6 months have been very complicated for me, and SMC- first with a long period of illness, then with my move to the United States. | Now that I'm pretty much settled in I can let everyone specific good news- the Freddy Pharkas, Frontier Pharmacist soundtrack has been recorded and is now in the final editing stages.
Not only that, but it has been a collaboration between myself and the original composer, now head of EA Sports' Audio department, Aubrey Hodges. It's gonna be 2 CD's of rollicking, old-time Western fun (with an interview and old photos to boot!).
For behind-the-scenes info and previews, join SMC Gold (just post on the forums and I'll approve you) today. |
In other news, the long overdue update that was meant to come about the time I got sick (September 30th), will come after the FPFP-related update. Why? Well, with being sick and the move over here, I haven't been able to do the complex editing that parts of the update require. Plus, since being in the US, I haven't had a chance to set all my software up. But once FPFP is done, I will, and I'll finally have that update up also (sometime!). |
Also, over the past 12 months, I've been in contact with various composers and received various pieces of music and soundtracks. So expect plenty of music from SMC in 2008- we'll keep trying if you keep listening! |
The SMC Team-
Alistair, Stephane and Jan | |
September 22nd, 2007 | | Dear SMC visitors, |
We'd like to apologise for the update being delayed, but both Alistair and his wife have been ill the past week and in addition, Alistair's been having talks with composers regarding an upcoming release. These two factors mean that the update will need to be delayed until the 31st of September. But we can tell you at least 3 soundtracks will be released by then, with more to follow soon after. | | If you want the latest, visit the SMC forums and become a Gold member! | | Thanks for your understanding at this busy time, and look for SMC's update by month's end! | | - Alistair, Stephane and Jan- co-administrators of SMC | |
September 8th, 2007 | | SMC celebrates the 21st birthday of our founder, Alistair! |  | | 21 years ago today, the world received the self-proclaimed "God's gift to the ladies" that would eventually become one of the game music industry's biggest fans, and God's gift to at least one lady. | | And how does one celebrate such a big day? Alistair says he wants to "go to the fair, get cotton candy, and eat dinner." I think we can handle that. | | Alistair says he wants no gifts, but if you feel you must send one anyway, address them to Skeen, and remember that she likes chocolate. | | We all wish you a very happy birthday!!! | |
February 14, 2009 | | Hello to all SMC visitors and a Happy Valentine's Day from the team! | | Just wanted to let you guys in on where we're at at the moment. | | We currently are in the process of working on 2 projects; | - Finishing the long-overdue Freddy Pharkas Limited Edition CD, which is still available for email pre-order (no money required for the pre-order), and
- The newly announced Space Quest 6: The Spinal Frontier double CD, coming soon, after FPFP is completed. More details coming soon. | | Freddy Pharkas is almost done, some final editing is underway, and we should be shipping them before Easter- so get your orders in soon!! | | Other than that, I hope everyone's enjoying the New Year we're in (I still can't believe it's 2009!) and I wish all our visitors a belated Happy New Year. Please keep visiting, now that I have a house in the States and studio, we will have more music for you. | The SMC Team-
Alistair, Stephane and Jan
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August 31st, 2007 | | Happy 5th Anniversary SMC! | | Ladies and gentleman, | | I'm very pleased to announce that SMC's 5th anniversary is today, Friday the 31st of August. | | The celebrations and music that were designed for today will be ready next weekend sometime, which is my birthday (8th September), as this week I've been unwell. | | I also have a second September update in-the-works. | For the moment, please visit the SMC forums, and get excited for next week's belated anniversary update!
(Unless of course you're a SMC Gold member, in which case you'd know all about it!) | | On SMC Gold, I've relaxed the membership rules, so it's never been easier to become a member. Sign up today! | | Finally- to everyone who's supported us, by downloading our music, or posting on the forums, or contacting us just to say hi- thank you, all of you. SMC would not be around today if it wasn't for each and every one of you. Please continue to support SMC and I think the second half of 2007 could be the best period for SMC yet. | Regards, and I'll see you next week!
- Alistair | |
July 6th, 2007 | | SMC goes retro with funky older CD's, and now has MP3's | | Dear SMC visitors, | | As part of our commitment to providing more soundtracks than ever before, we've decided to finally release some of our older completed works, namely, the 2003/04 "Quest for Glory IV" double soundtrack CD and the 2003 assorted "SMC Sierra Music Volume One" single soundtrack CD. | While old, they're definitely Alistair's best older works, and well worth a listen!
(Discuss this on the SMC forums!) | We've also given the community a bit of a shake-up by announcing that SMC will now offer soundtracks in both MP3 *and* Ogg Vorbis formats, as well as offering copies of lossless master CD's shipped to your door for those who want perfect quality! So you can get convenience and your vintage soundtracks the way you want them, today.
(Discuss this on the SMC forums!) | | Finally, look for more releases soon- we'll try for another update (perhaps two!) before the end of the month! | | And I should point out that SMC Gold members have already had access to this music, and more, for over a month! Become one today (through the forums), if you haven't already. | Regards, and thanks for visiting,
- Alistair, Stephane and Jan- co-administrators of SMC | |
April 24th, 2007 | | SMC forum goes SMF! | | Dear SMC visitors, | | It's with great pleasure that we're able to announce the grand opening of the new SMC forum, now located 'in-house' on the SQ7.org server! | | After a week of difficulties (which we apologise for), the 'brains trust' of Colin Davis (SQ7.org head), Stephane and Alistair were able to rig up the new forum. | The new URL (update your bookmarks!) is:
http://smc.sq7.org/forum | So if you're an old member, please continue to be part of this growing community, and if you're thinking about joining, please do so today!  Everyone's welcome, and the new SMC Gold idea is continuing to improve SMC and its' community, not to mention that the new forum style (SMF) has a lot more options which makes it tons more user-friendly! | | The previous forum had banner ads put in place as effectively the time was up on our free forum (would you believe, we'd had it from Jan 2003! Alistair feels old now). | | So, there's never been a better time to be a part of SMC! We'll see you at the forums. | Regards,
- Alistair, Stephane and Jan- co-administrators of SMC | |
April 15th, 2007 | | SMC hopes update causes many Pitfall's (CD's to be downloaded) | | Hey everyone, | | Just updating to let you know of a few changes. | | Most notably, the Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure webpage is now complete, with front/back cover art, and detailed track commentaries (well, more about the game than the music, but so what ). | | Additionally, SMC got a generous donation this week, courtesy of SpaceQuest.Net webmaster Frans van Hofwegen. Go thank him on my behalf today, or better yet, donate yourself! | | To reiterate from the last update, the SMC forum change should occur sometime within the next week, so don't worry if the forum goes into maintenance mode- it has to for Boardnation to export the data. | | Also, although SMC's next update won't occur until a month or more (likely early June), I'm predicting it will be a big one. Potentially 10 soundtracks, or more! Make sure you sign up at the forums and become a SMC Gold member to receive the soundtracks today- there's already 4 exclusive SMC Gold soundtracks which are available to SMC Gold members! | Other minor changes include:
- SMC is now fully HTML 4.0 compliant, so all browsers (95% of them) should experience no issues with SMC.
- The Misc. section is now gone (it only had LOK1 in it) | | I'm also proud to announce that as of the 13th of April, I've been married to Shannon (Skeen on the SMC forums) for 15 months. Best 15 months of my life- thank you, my sweetheart! (Quote from Stephane "All my wishes of happiness for every year to come. Cheers !!!") | Regards, and become a SMC Gold member today!
- Alistair | |
April 12th, 2007 | | Hello to all you Sierra (and other game) music lovers out there- today is an especially good day for you! | | Why? SMC is updated again! After another hiatus (which went on too long and won't happen again), the site has got new music, and bold new plans for the future as well. | Possibly the most exciting development is the introduction of "SMC Gold", a bold new vision for the future of SMC, laid out today by site owner Alistair Gillett (me ;) ). To summarise, I've laid out a plan where people who participate in the community and in the work SMC does (whether creation or review/feedback, or anything else) are not only doing something beneficial (and essential, in my view), but are recognised and rewarded as such.
SMC Gold is based around special offers, and added perks for firstly registering, and secondly posting, at the SMC forums. Such perks roughly include exclusive releases first, before they come to the site, plus other deals such as special SMC Gold-only member contests and discounts on having SMC CD's shipped to your door.
I should point out that you don't need to be some forum veteran to benefit from SMC Gold, you only need be a registered member who posts and then contacts me via email. That's all, it's a free service. | | You can read more about this concept at the SMC forums, and have your say. | Secondly, the long-awaited (non-Sierra) "Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure" Soundtrack CD is now available for download!
The excellent Activision soundtrack is a 'soundtrack remake' from the Windows 95 release (the best release), based upon the original SNES game audio, composed by the very talented composer David Knuepper. If you like the music, please contact him! He loves talking about the old days and deserves most of the credit, but unfortunately his thunder was stolen by the company he was working for, Soundelux, who are credited for the SEGA CD/Windows 95 release (same audio in both) when they only 'arranged' his original work (if you listen to some of the SNES soundtracks floating around the web, you'll hear what I mean!).
Still, either way, the soundtrack is also a testament to Soundelux. They made the game and original score come alive, and what I think is the greatest platform game ever made also as a result has one of the finest game scores ever sequenced and subsequently arranged. If you're a video game music lover, check it out without delay! You'll love every minute of the jungle, falls and temple sounds. | | Once more, feel free to comment about this excellent soundtrack at the SMC forums! | | I've also recorded the original soundtrack from Realms of Chaos, a quality 'underdog' platformer by Apogee, from 1995. Due to their (3DRealms's) extremely draconian views on copyright and intellectual property (for example, they stopped a fan making a doll of a game character, Johnny from Monster Bash, and sending it to another fan, for copyright reasons), I've not made this soundtrack available publically. But if I get enough emails requesting it (simply hit the Realms of Chaos link under 'non-Sierra' under Soundtracks to bring up an email form), I may consider doing so. In the meantime I'll be happy to upload the music for those who request it, at locations not made public. | | Feel free to start a topic about Apogee, 3DRealms or Realms of Chaos at the SMC forums! | On a related note, the menu has been changed to incorporate the non-Sierra soundtrack focus of SMC as well. While our focus is on Sierra soundtracks, I won't be letting that limit my focus, either- other games I've played or like the music from will get attention (as well as public requests).
Also, the menu has been updated to include a direct link to the SMC forums, which you should check out for all your SMC-related info, including behind-the-scenes information I only put on the forums. | | On the subject of the SMC forums, expect a move within the next week. Please don't be concerned if the page hits an error, or something happens (likely scenario is nothing will change, but in case). The new forum will be up and running in a week's time (or sooner, hopefully), and a brief SMC update will explain it. | One other thing we've done with the menu is to incorporate donations, which after a long debate we've decided to institute. SMC members overwhelmingly were in support of such a move, where members of the public may voluntarily donate through PayPal or other means as they see fit towards SMC, for proceeds such as sound equipment, which cost SMC lots to invest in, and are in constant need of upgrading, repairs and so on and so forth. :) Please, if you can afford it, support SMC. Every donation will make a significant difference.
If you're not sure, please visit the donation page, I've explained my reason for asking for donations in much more detail there. | | Finally, on that note, I have various Sierra games for sale- the vast majority in box, good condition. If you buy some, you'd really be supporting SMC, not to mention freeing up space and especially, getting Skeen (my wife and SMC's artist) off my back! Please email me for the list today. | Regards, and look for a lot of updates next month, we're really going to revolutionise SMC!
Alistair and Stephane
Sierra Music Central owner and webmaster
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January 9th, 2007 | | And a big hello to all Sierra (and other) game and game music fans! It's been too long a time between drinks, but I, and SMC's new webmaster, Stephane (a.k.a Bountice), are *very* proud to announce the rebirth of SMC! | | The new SMC ("version 2.0" ) has a new webpage as you can see, plus new content. (Please direct any suggestions/comments about our layout to the SMC forums!) | | The webpage hasn't been updated for far too long, and we apologise for that. But I'm proud to announce our new webmaster Stephane is very dedicated and multitalented, and has worked very hard (in an amazingly short amount of time) to bring you the new SMC design you see today. Thank you so much, Stephane. (Thanks also to SMC's previous webmistress, Jeysie, who laid the foundations and kept SMC alive all these years. A present is in the mail for you!) | | So. In 2007, expect more from SMC. We'll try to do our best for you, the public! | | Onto the new content. | | It's been a long time coming, but I am very proud to announce the release of the Legend of Kyrandia 1 CD , that wonderful soundtrack composed by Frank Klepacki! | | The CD is of very good quality and a reasonable improvement over the former one. Please check it out today! | | Secondly, I've finally sorted Mother Goose out, and the Mixed-Up Mother Goose Deluxe official soundtrack CD, by Sierra composer Guy Whitmore, is also available for download! | | The files are encoded in high-quality Ogg format and closely match what the original CD sounds like. Again, check it out today! (Various familiar mid-90's Sierra voices are present.) | | Finally, if you want to discuss anything about SMC, Sierra music, Sierra at large or anything going on in the world, please join the SMC forums! As well as being a fun place to visit and keep in touch with SMC news, it's also a place where you can get files for download earlier than the public and have a say in what's next on SMC's Sierra music menu, and the future design/content of the site generally-speaking. | | Please enjoy the updates! It's been a lot of work bringing them to you, but it's also long overdue. We only hope old visitors can get some faith back into the website from these updates, and some new ones visit too- and that mainly, you all enjoy the music. | Regards,
- Alistair (and Stephane) | |
September 29, 2005 | | Dear SMC visitors: | | We're proud to announce the release of the long-awaited Eco Quest II Soundrack CD! This CD has been delayed by various factors concerning SMC's admin, and we apologise for that. However, the high quality CD, SMC's first "proper quality", release is now available! Check it out and listen today. | | To compensate we will also release an official Sierra release Soundtrack CD, from Mixed-Up Mother Goose Deluxe. Look for this in the coming weeks! | | And as always, discuss this news and anything you like on the SMC forums. It's the first place news items get discussed, as well as a lot of interesting Sierra-related conversation, so why not sign up today? | Regards,
- Alistair | |
June 28, 2005 | | A big hello to everyone out there, whether it's summer for you in the Northern Hemisphere, or winter like me in the Southern Hemisphere! | Not much has happened out front here for SMC for a while now (I've just finished midyear exams), but behind the scenes, it's on. Various soundtracks are being compiled and new equipment has been purchased (received today, even!) for the purposes of higher quality digital recordings. It'll mean my mixed Sierra tracks will sound much better than they have before, which is very exciting!
(Discuss this news item!) | | While some of the long Sierra "Soundtrack CD" projects I'm working on get finalised (news on them to come in the next updates), I'll be working behind-the-scenes on an assorted 80-minute Sierra music CD, called "SMC Sierra Music Volume Two" ("SMC Volume One" was released a while ago on the forums), and hopefully it will highlight the new direction SMC will be taking. Although many tracks have been decided upon, requests are still welcome! | | Thank you for your patience. SMC will try and release various works later this year. | Regards,
- Alistair | |
May 10, 2005 | | Greetings to all you first Sierra music lovers out there! | | Firstly, my apologies for the fact that there's been no website updates for 4 months now. I've been struggling to keep recording (it takes time) and study full-time, as well as hold the other commitments in my life! | | But onto the good news. My recording techniques have dramatically changed again. I can now say (with some degree of confidence) that the quality of my recordings are what they should be; that is, approaching the same as that of other people in the video game music area (i.e. Quest Studios). Which basically means for you, the fan, that SMC is now much less of a redundancy (than perhaps it has been). I can quite happily say that now my "soundtrack CD" recordings of game soundtracks are of "CD quality". | | On that note, a lot of behind-the-scenes music has been recorded over the months. Various projects have been added to SMC's list, although I'm only working on a few core projects at the moment. (Check the SMC message board to keep up to date with my various soundtrack CD projects, each with their own detailed thread!) | | The Legend of Kyrandia 1 soundtrack CD will be restarted to make way for my new recording techniques (I still get a LOT of requests and questions about this game's soundtrack) and will be out later this year. It'll be well worth the wait! (Same applies for the Police Quest 1/2 soundtrack CD.) | | The Eco Quest 2 Soundtrack CD is being currently beta-tested by myself and SMC regulars (thanks Jacek, Skeen!) and should be released within the month, or at the start of June. (Also in the works, with a fair bit done, is a Space Quest 5/6 double CD.) | | One final tidbit - after Eco Quest 2 is finished, I will be working on the King's Quest 7 General MIDI soundtrack for Quest Studios, and will then work on the eagerly awaited KQ7 double CD (another game I get a lot of requests about). | Plenty to be excited about! Expect to see lots of releases in 2005 by SMC. Stick around, you won't be disappointed.
- Alistair (Discuss this news item!) | |
January 20, 2005 | | Seasons Greetings to all you Sierra Music fans out there! | SMC is pleased to kick off 2005 with its first proper soundtrack CD release. The Gabriel Knight 1 digital soundtrack CD has been finished and is now available!
(Discuss this news item!) | | Additionally, other CDs of game music can be expected in the near future, with Police Quest 1 & 2 and the non-Sierra score Legend of Kyrandia 1 as the next two single CD releases on SMC's list. | | On a related note, a new subsection has been added to the SMC forums for everything relating to SMC's Soundtrack CD releases, including status reports for current projects and information fans will need to burn CDs. | | I hope everyone enjoys the GK1 music as much as I did recording it, and that everyone has a happy and safe 2005. It should be a good year for SMC. Stick with us. | Regards,
- Alistair | |
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SMC is owned by Alistair Gillett as of August 2002, and as of December 2006, Alistair Gillett and Stephane Mainil. Any reproduction of music files/other content is fine, subject to contacting Alistair first (please, we do this for free, don't leech or steal our content)..Full Legal Disclaimer | |
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Soundtrack CD's
