I've written a pair of blog
posts for www.bioniccommando.com in the capacity of creative director
for Bionic Commando Rearmed, but today I get to write in the capacity
of music composer.
I've been playing both roles during the
development of BCR and I've enjoyed them both immensely. Bionic
Commando was one of my favorite NES games partly because of the
gameplay but also because of the fantastic music!
It's been a
huge thing for me to be responsible for two such important elements in
the remake. Not only have I designed boss attack patterns, decided how
the weapons should behave and developed the concept of challenge rooms
- I have had the honorable task of reinterpreting the NES soundtrack as
well!
I've grinded, filtered and mixed - I've done a lot to
these primitive NES sounds - but I haven't altered them beyond
recognition. It's still the same formula - because it works.
Although
the sound of the NES audio chip may be unsophisticated, the harmonies
and melodies that the composers of the NES era squeezed out of it were
quite the opposite. It's great music, quite timeless - and if I dare
say so I think these updated tracks only prove that point. I think
these remixes can please not only fans of the NES game, but anyone who
enjoys some hard-hitting electronica.
The initial feedback on
the music has been quite positive and that really warms my heart. If
you have a question regarding the music (or anything else that I might
be the right person with an answer to) feel free to ask away in the
comments section of this blog.
Comments
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A question
Have you started the Megaman 2 and 3 remakes?And please do another podcast with the gang.
You sure like bass
I do a bit of composing myself, so I'm curious as to what software (and possibly hardware) you used to make the soundtrack?Also, as griestad said, any chance we'll hear you in the podcast again soon? ^^
stuff!!
Once again thanks for the great music, i listen to it every day. Im sure the game is going to be fantastic as well and i am really looking forward to it.I recently played through the entire 'classic' Bionic Commando game and i want to ask you if you guys have 'fleshed out' the story a bit, cause while the story in the original is pretty nice, i personally don't think it's that well explained and i would really like to see a bit more of dialouge.
Also are you in anyway involved with the next gen version? which i also look forward to very much?
A few answers
Thanks for all the kind words about the music, Hyperslug! It's huge for me, to hear someone say that they listen to and enjoy music that I have created.Now to the Q & A:
"Have you started the Megaman 2 and 3 remakes?"
Haha, nah... but we'll see what the future brings. Mega Man is, if possible, even closer to my heart than Bionic Commando. I played the first three MM games on the NES until my fingers bled when I was a kid - so that would be pretty cool to do a remake of (both the game itself as well as the music), no doubt. It'd be a daunting task too, with all the devoted MM fans who would have strong opinions... (even more so than Bionic Commando)
"I do a bit of composing myself, so I'm curious as to what software (and possibly hardware) you used to make the soundtrack?"
I use a normal PC, the modern tracker program Buzz and a library of fat drum samples. Buzz is a bit like an "ugly" version of Reason, but it works really well. All the bass lines, pads and acid stuff is all software synths from Buzz. (Download it at www.buzzmachines.com - it's freeware!) ...and yes, I like bass. Evil, distorted bass.
"Any chance we'll hear you in the podcast again soon?"
I guess I'd be coming back once BCR is really back in the spotlight again, which it'll be once it is about to be released. We'll keep you posted.
"I want to ask you if you guys have 'fleshed out' the story a bit"
Yes, there are some more story elements in BCR compared to NESBC. We have added a new supporting character that is featured prominently in the game, and through dialogs with this character as well as the MA-1, MA-2 and MA-3 agents you get to know a few details about Spencer and the world of BC.
"Also are you in anyway involved with the next gen version? which i also look forward to very much?"
I made all the music and the sound effects for the BC prototype, which is the early version of the game on which Capcom based their decision of whether or not Grin was up to the task of making the full game. Some of my work from that early phase are still in the game. Once we went into full production of BC we hired two new sound designers who took over the sound production of that title while I went on to work on BCR. Now that the work on BCR is pretty much done I'm going back to BC to help out there wherever I can - I won't necessarily be working on the sound though. Lately I've been responsible for the enemy speech system (how they comment on seeing Spencer as he comes swinging, how they taunt him while fighting him, how they report back to "HQ" if they manage to kill him, etc.) and that's gonna be really cool in BC! It'll really make even these common enemies come across as quite bad ass!
Speech system
That sounds very interesting, no pun. I always found enemy speech patterns to be kinda lacking in most action games. Repetitive and boring, usually. Very curious to hear what you gonna do there. But it would be a shame if you didn't do more of the soundtrack in BC.Great¡¡
I`ve always loved when a sequel of a game includes the music of the previous ones (i.e. castlevania) so i jumped when i heard the sound on the trailer of BCR. Now I understand that this is because it was made by a REAL fan instead of another bussines-man. All I say it`s that without knowing you before, I am glad that you are doing all that and I`m sure the final product will be fantastic.From now on I`ll look for the name 'Simon Viklund' on the credits of the games..
Soundtrack CD
Will there be a soundtrack CD release for BCR? If not, can you make sure there is a soundtest option in the game itself? Love the remixed music used in the trailer. Any chance that version (with the NES music merging into the remix) could be released online (without the sound effects that are in the trailer)?@Bcass in space
Yeah, I thought of adding a sound test (old school style) but unfortunately we were at a point where everything we added meant an extra month delay so I had to cut it and just go with a soundtrack instead.I am trying to get a packaged version of the soundtrack out but it will be a limited run if we are able to do it so grab it while it's hot. It will probably be around Comicon (Late July) that we get this out if at all. I am pushing for it though...
Ben
Additional (from bcass in space)
Hi Ben,I had to register again under a different email address, as the site wouldn't let me log-in again, no matter how many times I asked for a password reminder.
I liked your music so much that I downloaded iTunes so I could purchase your remixes. Upon installing iTunes, my laptop stopped outputting all audio, even after re-installing the audio drivers. Basically, I spent time and money on something I admire that I can't listen to. I can't even copy the files accross to my main PC because that has a Windows 2000 installation and iTunes is incompatible with W2K. I appreciate that the CD is going to be limited, but why make even the low-quality audio files so hard to obtain? Not really the way forward given how tech-savvy your potential retro-audience is.