| |
 |
|
 |
| |
|
 |
|
 July 04, 2011 | | Happy 4th of July with the Freddy Pharkas Soundtrack CD! |
Hello everybody! Alistair here. Today is a special day in the Sierra music community, and depending how many are left in it (I hope many), the wider Sierra community at large. Why you might ask? Well, because my friends, the Freddy Pharkas Soundtrack CD is finally released to the public. | Yes, that ol' labor of love, my old sweetheart, that dandy musical refrain, the lil' project that could.. well, you get the idea.
It's the third year, third month and third day of the anniversary of the recordings being completed (and of me leaving my home country, since they were completed a few hours before, but that's another story). Good things come in threes, you know.
For those who don't know about it, it features a very good recording by SMC, and then remastering of the SMC digital tracks by the original composer, Aubrey Hodges (the EA Sports head audio man!), not to mention some bonus recordings by the great man himself to round off the second disc. | | Anyways, it's here and I have no more (bad puns) to say, except: Take a listen, pardner, and you can comment on/read about the project here. | Also, to all the fans out there who have stayed with me through this arduous process getting this score out there, I apologise, and it will never happen again. Unfortunately, that probably means a special project like this one will never happen again, but I may be able to make a compromise in the future.
To those who supported it financially, I appreciate you beyond what words can describe here and you will not be forgotten. | | In other brief news, SMC is working on the Quest for Glory III: Wages of War soundtrack. Track the progress and be part of the discussion on the SMC forum (which, by the way, may soon be upgraded!) here. |
Thanks and enjoy the music. If you like the music, please consider joining the forums and commenting (you will have to email me asking for approval, due to a problem with spambots), or emailing me directly. While I don't record the old music purely for praise, feedback is definitely always appreciated. | Regards, and enjoy your holiday weekend,
- Alistair and Stephane, the SMC team | |
January 05, 2011 | Season's Greetings!
| Hello to all you Sierra (and other) music fans,
Alistair here with a long update on what's going on. I've split it into a few parts for convenience:
- Freddy Pharkas update
- Ogg Vorbis support discontinued
- New music for 2011
| 1. Freddy Pharkas update
For those not familiar with the scenario, back in 2007/08 I arranged to release a "Limited Edition" special release of the Freddy Pharkas soundtrack (you can read more on the SMC forums to learn about it if you're not familiar). |
Long story short, the project was much more time consuming than I ever anticipated, and the cost far outweighed any money I made on the deal. Money not being such an issue, I'm not in it for that, I love the music! But the time it took to release the project has been years, not months, and to do this all myself (making music, mastering music, editing music, making CD art, cutting CD art, organizing original creators to be involved, shipping all over the world, and much more) was kind of impractical and ambitious. That said, the project is a very cool one that the 20 or so who purchased it will hold as a prize portion of their collection. Remastered by the composer, Aubrey Hodges, signed by Josh Mandel and Al Lowe, you get the idea. |
Anyway. The upshot to all the fans and public out there: the soundtrack will be released, hopefully this month, after all the people who donated money to me for the project have received their CD in the mail. January, or worst case, February. The webpage has been ready for years.. ;) To quote my old friend Roger Wilco from my last soundtrack release, "D'oh!". But we'll get there yet. |
2. Ogg Vorbis support discontinued
I've been meaning to post this for a very long time, but SMC hasn't been updated often enough to cover this. Now with the New Year, it's a good a time as any. |
Essentially, SMC will no longer provide soundtracks in Ogg's 'Vorbis' format. There are several reasons, but in short this is what's happening/is going to happen:
- Originally SMC copied QuestStudios' move to utilise Ogg, as it was a higher quality format and took up less hard drive space, although MP3 was ubiquitous and people's format of choice
- The MP3 format, particularly the LAME codec, has since developed rapidly while Ogg has stagnated, and the two are about comparable according to the limited research available. Filesize with today's harddrives are no longer an issue and lossless soundtracks are now available upon request (more on this later).
- Having two formats is redundant and since MP3 is vastly more widely used, especially iTunes/MP3 players, it is the obvious choice for hosting lossy (compressed) soundtracks.
- Lossless soundtracks are available from SMC by emailing me and putting in a special request for either a zipped/RAR'ed upload, or by mailing a master CD or DVD in the post (can be plain or with artwork). I do ask that you donate via PayPal to cover my shipping costs, however. |
I don't think this should negatively affect the website or the quality of the music presented, if anything, it will make SMC more accessible to the wider community. |
You can expect to see MP3 versions of older soundtracks as I get free time over the year. If there's one you really would prefer, email me! |
3. New music for 2011
I really shouldn't even post this section, because I always mention 5 or 6 (well, maybe 10 :P ) scores for release in a calendar year, and you might get 1 if you're lucky. But this time I'm only mentioning 2, and you'll get them both, soon. |
The first is obviously Freddy Pharkas, Frontier Pharmacist. The score will be released as mentioned above, when the donating fans receive their mailed copies, likely later this month or worst case in February. |
Second, and this is new. I don't think I've mentioned this to anyone but my wife.
It's a bit of a shock I think- Leisure Suit Larry 5. I've recorded Larry scores before, but never released one, never been satisfied with the quality. Such great games and music, you have to do them justice. |
There is a back story to this project, but I'll save it for the forums.
Bottom line for those who don't want to look- Most of the project was completed about 5 years ago, in early 2005. The project is being revisited, restarted actually, but some of my best work recorded was in those demos for LSL5 in '05, and much like SQ5 which was revisited from '05 in '09, I'm building on the good work with the new technology at my disposal, and new techniques I've learned for "enhancing" (possibly the most subjective/misleading term to describe what I do, but it works) and building upon the basic MT-32 and General MIDI Sierra scores. |
So. You can expect to read more on the SMC forums shortly, and hopefully we're looking at early March or April for a release of this soundtrack CD. I will say as a teaser- this is a major rearrangement of Braymen and Safan's score... |
OK, there's more news, but that's enough for today! Look for more updates on the SMC forum come later this week, and for more news, including SMC's new studio equipment and setup, to come in the following weeks of 2011. |
Before we forget, a *belated* very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and all the best for 2011 from us at SMC,
Alistair, Stephane and Jan
The team at SMC | |
September 04, 2010 | Quick news update from Alistair today.
First of all, happy birthday to SMC, for those of you who weren't aware, SMC's 8th anniversary was this past week, August 30th or 31st, depending on what timezone you live in. Normally I update on that day but I have been in the middle of changing jobs (still am for that matter) and haven't really had the opportunity. |
As well as changing jobs, I changed email address. Please click here for the latest email address. |
To celebrate the anniversary 3 projects will be released, not all simultaneously, but over the coming months, all going to plan.
I can't say anything just yet, aside from the obvious one, Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist (as soon as the poor people get their CD's in the mail). But you can expect the number 6 a couple of times, if you're a Questing sort of person, and plenty of Roland Sound Canvas (that's General MIDI for you laypersons out there) goodies in the mix. |
Finally, for those who haven't heard the Space Quest 5 Soundtrack CD, and the sort of thing SMC is capable of, please do check it out, especially if you can compare it with some of the in-game music or original recordings from SpaceQuest.Net or QuestStudios. It will surprise you with at least some of the tracks, I guarantee it. |
So, happy anniversary to SMC, and I will be updating more on the coming music as projects get closer to completion.
In a sort of incidental note, if anyone:
- is willing to work on CD art
- is willing to draw Sierra stuff via PC or drawing and scanning their own art
- has a reasonable stash of Sierra art or high-quality scans of various covers or CD inserts,
please get in touch with me at my new email address. It would be greatly appreciated. |
Keep in touch, I try and reply quickly on the forums or via email, sometimes even IM.
Thanks for all the support I get from people out there (I dislike the term "fans", but you know who you are ;) ), and let's all keep the Sierra dream alive.
Happy 8th Anniversary, may there be many more.
The SMC Team- Alistair and Stephane
(On this day, we honor those who were formerly part of the team, who we miss:
MusicallyInspired, Jan, e1ven, Jeysie- Thanks for your help over the journey, folks.)
| |
April 30, 2010 | | What's been going on? | Since our last update, so much has happened that I don't have the space to list it all!
Let me instead sum it up like this: |
- August 2009: started recording again after an 18 month hiatus. Recorded PQ1VGA beta CD and wasn't too happy in the end.
- September 2009: recorded a few pieces from different games, started LSL3 beta CD, wasn't happy with it either. Worked on FPFP release.
- October 2009: recorded the first half of the SQ5 soundtrack.
- November 2009: became employed once again (thank goodness!)
- November 2009 - February 2010: was working retail over the holidays. 'Nuff said. SMC on hold again.
- February 2010- present: Resumed SMC. Finished SQ5 soundtrack, close to finishing FPFP for release. Working on more behind-the-scenes stuff.
Space (Quest)-y goodness |
So. I can announce today that the Space Quest 5 Soundtrack CD is finally ready, and available for download. Not only is it SMC's first completed soundtrack since February 2008 (FPFP), it's our first released soundtrack since January 2007.
It is largely reorchestrated, meaning I went with a lot of advanced sounds, trying to capture both the orchestral feel of the score as well as the synth/space element that is present in most tracks. There are some previously unrecorded themes, some reprised themes and dare I say, some sound effects. Not to mention awesome art by Bountice and Akril!
I've always thought SQ5 and 6 were some of the closest games Sierra got to an interactive movie. The way I recorded it this time around definitely represents that, it's a lot more bombastic than the original MIDI files (which can be found at QuestStudios.com). So sit back and enjoy!
If you haven't heard anything I've recorded in the past few years- you will be very surprised at just how good some of the tracks sound. |
I can only apologise for SMC's lack of updates over the past few years, and try to rectify this situation for the future. I am sitting on a lot of projects, some of them very ambitious, and we should start to see some come to fruition in the near(ish) future. |
More from all of us soon. Thanks for visiting and above all- enjoy the music!
The SMC Team- Alistair and Stephane | |
August 31, 2009 | | Greetings to all SMC followers, old and new, | Alistair here with a news update on this, our 7th anniversary.
Although I don't have any music on our anniversary, I do have news relating to such, and solid news too. Being a special occasion I have decided to disclose details that I normally reserve for the private member forums. If you want to see this sort of thing on a regular basis, sign up or email me today. | First off, a project is almost ready to be released, an unofficial one noone was aware of- the "Police Quest 1 VGA- In Pursuit of the Death Angel" soundtrack. At roughly 60 minutes in length, it's an hour of rock music you won't believe was originally a relatively dull-sounding MT-32 score! Polished up, it sounds real nice. Look for it next week.
(Although Space Quest 6 was originally slated to be SMC's release to follow Freddy Pharkas, the long length of the project caused it to be pushed back to allow more music to be released in the meantime. But you can expect it this year or next, work has commenced on it.) | Secondly, I have left RadioShack (tip: Don't work for them!), and in my interim between employment, I am finalising some things I haven't had the opportunity to.
Obviously, my first priority is the as yet unreleased, but mostly completed, Freddy Pharkas project. I have ordered some specialty art paper that has come in that I will be using for artwork. Since people are paying for this (and if you want a copy and haven't, email me fast), I want it to be the best quality I can afford.
So after successfully printing artwork (which has, as yet, delayed the project for months) then Josh is signing it, and the CD's and its' goodies will at long last be burned and sent out (with the extra stuff of course). | | Look for that stuff in September, I'm trying to have PQ1VGA done by my birthday, September 8th. | Finally, last, but surely not least, I am going to announce the holiday season as themed months, to balance my major projects I'm working on with some fun, but requested, minor projects.
So, to start- October will be "Dynamix Month".
I will be releasing the Adventures of Willy Beamish and Rise of the Dragon scores for CD in their original MT-32 soundtrack formats, with slight improvements to the arrangement (panning alterations, etc), but no input from other modules. A mix CD for both may be created at a later time. | | Later months have ideas but nothing will be shared yet. Consider today's announcements the last for now, at least until a completed project is released. | | Hopefully this has given some people some hope of yet hearing a new Sierra soundtrack CD in 2009- I promise you will, and it'll be good, too! | As always, please discuss this news and more at our forums, the heart of SMC:
http://forum.sierramusiccentral.com | | Feel free also to shoot me with emails containing questions, comments, or if you just want to chat about William "Blade" Hunter. | Regards, the SMC Team-
Alistair, Stephane and Jan | |
|
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 | |
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
Soundtrack CD's
