Final Alex Brandon Q&A came in. Michiel got back to me too, but he's still pretty busy. Here's the interview! Hopefully someone can find some place to stick it on Beyondunreal, like the Liandri Archives or somewhere else.
Authorship Identification (AB's notes in parentheses)
UNREAL 1995 TECH DEMO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlbrSfjoZgQ - "UNREAL.S3M", also used as "Undrwrld.umx" in the Unreal 1998 beta version (myself and Michiel, first iteration)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vwr8UUFZ6Uo - "UNREALS.S3M" (me)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ED7eCGfxYc - "UNREALT.S3M" (me, yuck… not bad for the time I guess J)
UNREAL 1998 BETA VERSION
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgcD_YnP0QI "Orchtest.it", Commencement, has same beginning with "Escape from Na Pali" from RTNP but gets really different (yeah this was mine, too “happy” at first so I edited it a bit)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNmLyP0BDPg "Orch3.it", Vantage Point (me, this was one of my favs, but never got in, don’t even think the level made it into Na Pali either)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR4dLfD-p1A "New3.it", Secret Area (guessing it's Alex from the name/style) You guessed right!
UNREAL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzUbvdaJS54 "WarLord.s3m", Warlord Theme (Michiel)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqlOpwtoegg "Opal.it", ALF (me, borrowing Michiel’s style liberally)
UNREAL - RETURN TO NA PALI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuMPTmz_ZpE "Starseek.s3m", Star Seeker (DAMN I haven’t heard this in ages! Yep, mine… thank heavens for you people for keeping this stuff alive)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1x9HrGFWp8 "Title.it", Return to Na Pali (Michiel and myself)
UNREAL TOURNAMENT BETA VERSION
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z4oFw3TOy4 "menu2.it", "XYZDMenu2.it" (ugh, this was mine)
UNREAL TOURNAMENT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_iPYnVtJ24 "Cannon.s3m", Cannonade (me again)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iI4Ljd-nn34 "Lock.s3m", Lock (me)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTzZSY4REBU "Nether.s3m", Nether Animal (cmon dude, this is clearly Michiel working serious electronic magic. J)
General Q&A
1. How did you first get contacted to work on Unreal? Were you noticed because of your involvement in the MOD community?
I actually approached Tim Sweeney with Michiel Van Den Bos on one of his visits while his team was working on Age of Wonders. We said we wanted to do the music for Unreal, it looked like it was going to be big. He’d worked with us both before and liked our stuff, so he simply said “ok”. Ah, the good old days.
2. Unreal had a medium-long development process, spanning 1995-1998. In what period did you compose most of your songs? Did the development time give you a lot of time for revision, or did it force you to wait for developer input on what you should compose?
I’d say it was off and on throughout that period of time. Not much revision took place at all. We just kept writing music. Around an hour of ambient music at least, but the total including combat and other segments probably goes well over two hours.
Sometimes we would get specific requests, but most of the time we’d look at levels and just write based on what we saw.
3. A lot of people in the community love how your style meshed with that of Michiel van den Bos. How'd your working relationship evolve over the development period?
Michiel had a much more solid command of clean electronic, and he also made more grand steps into using orchestral instrumentation. I was in between, using synths in a sort of fantasy style derived from the graphical inspiration. Sometimes we’d write different patterns and swap the MOD back and forth and sometimes we’d collaborate on the entire thing, adding bits and pieces here and there. It was fun, Michiel is a great composer to work with.
4. A lot of Unreal and UT songs draw on the same samples/soundfont, and this gives both titles a coherent musical aesthetic. Where did those samples come from? (It was fun seeing Andrew Sega's Orchard Street pop up in the samples for Jazz Jackrabbit 3's songs!)
The samples are literally from all over God’s green earth. Some from old Korg synths, some from my Trinity synth, some from old movie soundtracks, some from other MOD files. We unashamedly constructed our sample set but didn’t make a point to rip too much, just here and there. Yeah, I’ve used plenty of Necros samples over the years. I think he MAY have used one of mine at one point. So we’re even. Hah!
5. What was the compositional process like? Were you told by the developers what to make, and shown the level the song would be used for? Or was it a more general process?
As mentioned earlier some level designers would be very specific with their ideas. Inoxx was one (Cedric Fiorentino) and Myscha (T. Eliot Cannon) were two of the most vocal of the designers, and Inoxx’s requests led to one of the most interesting pieces, Ghost.it I think it was called, though I’m not at all sure what level it was for or what the final filename is. Myscha worked very closely with Michiel on the crashed spaceship and it’s multiple levels, and I believe he was very happy with it.
The scene everyone seems to remember from Unreal is when the lights go out and the Skaarj emerges. Gotta give Cliff credit for that, he wanted to increase tension through in-game cinematic sequences, which was pretty advanced for the time. Obviously it was shot into the stratosphere by Half Life’s techniques, but in those cases Cliff requested sound effects, not so much music.
In most cases though we just wrote based on inspiration from the beta levels. I submitted a piece for the first outdoor level and its designer, Pancho, responded with “I don’t know but the music just keeps getting better. Dusk.it is awesome.” And that was Dusk Horizon, to this day one of my favorites, but not so much because of the music itself. It fits the level in a way no game music has before or since. I think that’s the most egotistical thing I’ve ever said, but I really believe it’s true, even with its dated sound, it generated something really unique.
6. What was the most frustrating thing about writing music for Unreal and Unreal Tournament?
Hm, tough one. The whole process was great really. I mean, we’d be up against deadlines and since Epic was a newborn babe as far as product development goes, things would get out of hand at times with miscommunication and such. But overall I don’t remember being frustrated. Just inspired with what everyone was doing as a team.
I was amused at one point when Cliff made a request for a piece that was a combination of “Carmina Burana” and “White Zombie”. But that’s part of his style. To this day he’s made bat**** crazy music requests, but regardless he’s still one of the best designers in the business. Jazz Jackrabbit blew the doors off the whole “find the colored key, open the same color door” gameplay mechanic Apogee had driven into the ground, for example, not to mention the cover tactic system in Gears of War.
7. How did the other guys (Andrew Sega, Dan Gardopée, and the other Scandinavian guys on UT, plus Paul Schultz on Return to Na Pali) get involved? And was there any buzz or anticipation in the MOD community of your work on Unreal?
I brought just about everyone in, except Paul Schultz. Maybe I’ve forgotten but the name is unfamiliar to me. They’re all people I know, except Tero, who Skaven brought aboard. And oddly enough MOD composers really didn’t react much to Unreal, at least that I’m aware of at the time.
8. Did you ever get to play any beta builds of Unreal or Unreal Tournament as a perk?
Well, yeah! We saw builds of Unreal back when it was just a means of displaying customized Silicon Graphics models that James Schmalz created. From day one the window bar title said “Unreal”. It was awesome that it never changed because we all thought it was a great name, even if it also was the name of a PC demo.
9. Unreal has a very dark, mystical, and sometimes electronic feel to it; it's a very atmospheric game. Was this one of your strong-points going in to the writing process, or did you work to build your skill in this kind of music?
I had never written music like that before, and I guess for some reason it came naturally, but again, the game generated most of the inspiration, along with the concept art. Tim had books of Roger Dean and Rodney Matthews in his office, and I’d never seen that artwork before. It was incredible. Plans were under way to make levels that looked like that, but design-wise it was ludicrous. Think of how far you’d walk in quite a few Unreal levels. As something to gawk at its great, but unless you’re planning on skiing like you do in Tribes, not a good idea. Anyway the music was borne out of that style, which found its way into the game.
10. Likewise, Unreal Tournament has a very sleek soundtrack; was this closer to home?
I’m not so sure UT is sleek as much as it is “appropriate”. Music doesn’t match the levels in quite the same way. The music was more or less designed to reflect the action packed nature of the gameplay, with one or two exceptions by Michiel. His more trance-style Nether Animal and Skyward Fire in the vast space-filled levels fit those environments like a glove.
I branched out and desperately tried to make pieces with more guitar, primarily because of how great Razorback was. It kinda worked but it didn’t really approach that level of polish. I think Three Wheels Turning is my favorite piece from that game that I did.
11. Did you have any new thoughts upon seeing the finished Unreal and Unreal Tournament in action, or getting to play through the maps and hear your music?
I didn’t expect UT to win the war with iD. Epic had thrown down the gauntlet with those guys with Unreal vs. Quake 2, and Quake 2 still took the top spot. Then when UT emerged somehow it bested Quake 3, despite Quake 3’s better graphics engine. When I hear the songs I wrote (and the other composers) I’m still pleased with how they sound. They’re just unique. I mean nobody did that style before and really no one’s done it since. Kind of a shame really.
12. What was your reaction when you heard that the Unreal multiplayer add-on was going to be released as a separate game, UT?
I thought it was cool and a good idea. In fact the original plan was to have UT be like Madden, with one released every year. Problem is, you’ve REALLY got to put a lot of people and time into that, and Epic is more of a company that just builds something until its satisfied. Like Valve, I suppose.
13. And how were you retained for Deus Ex?
I sent a demo to Warren Spector and started pestering him and Chris Norden, the lead programmer. Eventually I got the gig. Bless ‘em.
14. Did you get to meet any of the Epic team, or share any good times? (Like a release celebration, maybe)
I lived close to Epic so we spent a good deal of time at the offices. At first it was this little 6 or 7 room space in Rockville with Cliff, Tim, Arjan (programmer for Jazz) all in one room. Cliff was a really funny guy, a lot more humble than he is now that he’s posed for Entertainment Weekly
. Tim was quiet and very very intelligent (well, still is of course), not just with engineering but with business. And when he had busy time he’d simply close his door with a sign saying “**** off”. It was appropriate. When you’re a lead engineer as well as the head of a business it’s hard to find time to do both.
I didn’t participate in a release party, but I did see someone at Ion Storm wearing a leather Unreal Tournament jacket which was really, REALLY nice. So I asked Cliff and Tim if I could have one and they said “sure”. I got it, then at GDC that year in an elevator a woman was looking at me suspiciously. She finally asked “where did you get that jacket?” She might as well have had her hands on her hips scolding a thieving teenager. When I responded it turns out the woman was Anne, Epic’s accountant / office manager. We shared a good laugh with that one.
15. Sort of obligatory, but if you can remember, what's your favorite song from Unreal? From UT? What about your favorite Michiel song from Unreal & UT?
Hoo boy. Favorite Unreal song would be Crypt, even if it’s mine I gotta be honest. UT would be tough. Mech 8 and / or Razorback and / or Skyward Fire. Michiel’s best in Unreal would be the Chizra piece. I worked on it with him but he did like 90% of it. His UT tune would be Skyward Fire.
16. If you're still gaming, what kind of games are you into lately?
Still gaming, but when you’ve got a wife and three kids and a full time job (even in gaming), it gets harder to find the time. Halo 3 is still played, along with Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3, Splosion Man. Half Life 2 is probably my favorite game of all time, and the music is stupidly sparse in it. Go figure.
17. Did you hear the reinterpretations of UT songs on Unreal Tournament III, and what did you think? (the Go Down remix is at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-r3If2zwEA in case you need a refresher)
I did hear them, and nearly collaborated on it. However I ended up getting way too busy at Midway. I do regret not being able to at least get one song on there. But I was on the phone with Mike Larson at Epic quite a bit. He would wax lyrical for quite some time about the goals of the music, some of which ended up getting used. Overall I like the soundtrack and with utmost respect to Kevin Riepl I think it’s better than UT2003 and UT2004, but all of them since the original lack some of that unique quality that made the originals what they were. I admire Rom and Jespyr for taking the time to remix all those pieces and not turn them into hash.
18. As time goes on, a lot of people feel nostalgia over their first communities. What do you feel looking back on the MOD scene? (I get this awesome sense sometimes when I see all the shout-outs in the sample comments for songs...) Did most of its most competent musicians get in to professional music-making like you did?
I’d say so. The MOD community was a great starting point for learning to write music. It involves far more complexity with understanding composition than using notation. What it doesn’t do is teach instrument skill, and that’s something I’m working on now. I have a huge amount of nostalgic thoughts often about the Amiga world, MODs, and just older gaming in general.
20. Were there any random chance happenings or other fond memories for the Unreal/UT days?
Eh, a ton of stories but those are best told over a beer J I could go on for quite awhile about Mark Rein. Funny stories (“I think Jazz should be a squirrel!”) but that he can also kick ass when it comes to protecting people. A guy was accusing Andy Sega of ripping off Mechanism 8. He had a website that claimed he wrote it and everything. Total fraud. Mark (professionally of course) ripped him a new one. Great to know he had our back.
21. Have you kept up with Michiel, Andrew Sega, Dan, and the others since those days?
Yep, though more with Michiel and Andy than with Dan. Dan is at Kush games I believe working on sports titles for 2K. Michiel is still working with the AoW team on games like Overlord 2. Andy has his own company, Diffusion Games, and is making Flash games for the web.
Song Q&A
22. Organic.umx -- what was it originally intended for in Unreal Tournament? Was it an influence in making "Conspiravision" for Deus Ex and "Jack of Spades" for Jazz Jackrabbit 3?
Good ear, there. It’s influence was in all three and in all three I was still finding footing with this style, stumbling through using similar samples and such. And yeah Organic was written specifically for UT.
23. Who composed the Unreal Euro Dance Mix for the tech demo video/OST?
I did this with Bryan Rudge (Sirrus, in the MOD community).
1. I plan on asking Dan this, but in case you know, what was Cyrene (or Moros - Dark Presence) going to be used for in the Unreal beta? (It's at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1BXL3Ya5JU)
No clue, several pieces would be submitted and then matched to a level. Several would be custom written based on early versions of the level.
2. Dusk Horizon, the beta version, has a really upbeat combat subsong. I'm guessing Epic asked you to make it a little more intense and dangerous sounding, but just curious; which do you ultimately prefer?
I much prefer the ambient segment of Dusk Horizon. The action sequences were intended for fights with Brutes that take place on approach to the elevator to the top of the mesa.
3. Deep Chill, from the Unreal beta, is perfect for that cryogenic ship level that was scrapped. Did you search out any new samples to try and achieve that icy sound, or did the ones you have work well?
Good question, but unfortunately I can't remember where I got those samples. Makes it sound suspicious but in those days samples came from other MODs more often than not, so technically I probably ripped 'em. <gulp> The piece was written on very specific requests from Cedric (Inoxx).
4. What was Magnus, from the Unreal beta, going to be used for? (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymR2D8ApkDM if you need a refresher)
I even remember that it went into a level, but sadly can't remember which one.
5. Ditto for Secret Area (New3.umx).
Once again you got me on this one. I just remember I was on a kick to write tunes like Drew Neumann (Aeon Flux composer, who I eventually exchanged emails with and nearly collaborated with). This got used in a secret area but I don't remember the level or where it was.
6. And the same question for Orchtest (Commencement) and Vantage Point (Orch3). A couple people at BeyondUnreal got really curious about this after they heard you were the composer.
These were VERY early pieces when we were feeling out the game stylistically. Definitely more "Neverending Story" sounding and less edgy. They never ended up going anywhere.
7. What was Skycity going to be used for? (Can't find a youtube link for this, so let me know if I should upload it)
There was a level that was called Sky City and Michiel started writing for it. I think there was a level that someone started designing but it didn't make it into beta.
8. Same question for Starship One (StarOne.umx).
I think that Michiel and I had a sort of competition for who would write the theme for ISV-KRAN. Michiel won over Myscha. No bitterness, Michiel did a whole slew of pieces all related to each other in a neat little "Kran Pack" that sounded brilliant.
9. And again for Unreal Suspense (Suspense.umx;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hy-7OjdIuAU, sounds like it's got some of the Bluff Eversmoking sound going on)
And here's where I get mine.
Unreal Suspense was the second song ever written for Unreal. I still like it a lot, but it was used EVERYWHERE. Cliff got so tired of hearing it he asked for it to be replaced. Stupid in hindsight but it kinda lived on in Bluff Eversmoking. Glad that Michiel got inspired in that way. A lot of these samples are from my Korg Triton, so thankfully not ripped.
10. Unbab.umx, Black Wind - Unreal '96, shows up in RTNP as Bounds of Foundry, but we've always been curious why the pitch is so much lower for this Unreal beta version. Did you compose it with this pitch originally?
Ho boy, wish I could answer that. No clue whatsoever why that is. Weird!
11. What was Underworld going to be used for?
I think it was used in some extremely early levels not even in any videos or alpha versions. It got taken out because it really was kinda random and didn't work that well as a contiguous piece. We really should have polished it, it had some great ideas and was a very successful collaboration.
12. Unreal2.umx turned into the action subsong for Bounds of Foundry in RTNP, but was it always planned for this?
Yep, I'm pretty sure it was.
UNREAL
1. For Flightcastle, did they show you that beautiful introduction flyby and say, "compose something for this"?
Yep! Took a lot of cues from Michiel's Age of Wonder comping style, but I timed it out fairly roughly.
2. IIRC, Nightvision was an original tracker scene composition of yours, so was it easy to cut up the relevant parts for inclusion in Unreal?
Yes. Inoxx liked it and it went well into one of his spaceship interior levels.
3. Did you compose Surfacing after getting to see the skybox used for those sky levels? (Those amazing purple skies, the other Nali floating islands in the distance...) Like Dusk Horizon, it's one of Unreal's most awesome feelings to step out of the lift and see that atmosphere.
I'd say so but again this is a case where I wish I could remember what the inspiration was.
4. How did you and Michiel work together to make the main title?
I did that entirely, except as mentioned I remember taking a few samples and stylistic cues from Michiel's Age of Wonders title theme, which was sweeeeet.
RETURN TO NA PALI
1. Twilight Horizon has a subsong called "Aftermath" that's new. Did you originally compose that with Dusk Horizon, and did you have to come back and make it for RTNP? (it must have been cool adding something new to one of your favorites)
David Kelvin, the designer on Na Pali, asked for this. It took several revisions but I finally got it where he wanted it, and it worked out great I think.
2. In my experiences discussing these soundtracks, a few people have agreed that Foundry, and Bounds of Foundry sound the most like "new" Alexander Brandon, ca. 1999 or 2000, compared to your other work on the games. Is it true that these were composed later than most of your work, or are we just sort of assuming they're new since there are a few similarities with the Deus Ex style?
Kind of. Foundry, which I believe is Black Wind, was written after Andrew Sega (Necros) wrote Babylon, a piece that I took some samples from to form the basis of this piece.
3. Interlude II and Intermission always come up in "favorite songs from the Unreal series" polls; any notes on these?
For Interlude II, I did this one and had no idea they put it in. At the end of it you can hear a tribute to the Wing Commander theme (by Dave Govett at Team Fat).
UNREAL TOURNAMENT
1. Credits.umx (Trophy, Room of Champions) was left unused; instead the trophy sequence gets Ending.umx (Into the Darkness). Was this an accident or just style change by Epic, who left in Credits.umx in the music folder?
Good question, it was probably one of the designers. We just sent the songs in and they used 'em or didn't.
2. Ending.umx is perfect for the trophy sequence; did you compose it after first seeing that beautiful, dark trophy map, or before?
Cliff sent a lot of requests for this and it was a lot of back and forth until they got something they liked. So no, we didn't see the trophy map as far as I can remember, it was written beforehand.
3. Go Down is one of the most enduring UT songs; did you compose it with any map in mind, like DM-Hyperblast? And how did the hook come to you?
Cliff again specifically requested a song like the one in The Matrix where Neo and Trinity bust in and rescue Morpheus. I wrote Go Down, and Michiel wrote something that sounded SO MUCH like the Propellerhead song that people laughed and said "BOY are we gonna get sued!".
4. Lock and Phantom both have a sort of tribal feel from the samples; was this based on the maps or your own inspiration?
Own inspiration.
5. I plan on asking Andrew Sega a few questions about Mechanism Eight, but damn, what a fantastic track; what was your reaction when you first heard it?
"This ****ing rocks".
6. Phantom.umx has been exposed to most players through its use in CTF-Thornsv2, a really popular fan-made CTF map. What did you originally compose it for, and what did you and Michiel have in mind?
Michiel threw it out there, we collaborated as we had before. People compared it to the Macarena a lot, but really it stands well on its own.
7. In Phantom, at 3:55, the song breaks to this different part, with that airy sample going in the background. Just curious; was this part of Michiel's basic track or your suggestion?
Michiel and I collaborated on that one. I believe he started it off and I added the insane cacophony that starts at :50 or so, then he brings it back to reality later in the piece J
8. The music folder has Save Me (used in DM-Morpheus) and Save Me G, which has a different intro and doesn't appear in the game. What was Save Me G originally composed for?
Hah. Another stumper. Can't remember.
9. Underworld II, your Egyptian track for UT, has a really awesome transition when it's looped. What kind of considerations go in to deciding whether and how to loop certain songs, especially with tracker?
I did a lot of work to loop things in certain ways by using varied pattern lengths as well as instruments that would continue playing in an open channel when the song loops. You learn a lot of tricks in the tracker trade.
10. UT Menu has probably been heard more than any other track in the game; what did you have in mind while composing it?
Just the visuals, the gameplay, the same kind of feel as the original Unreal because originally it was written for something called the Unreal Bot Pack, a glorified multiplayer version of the original game. When it broke into UT, the music style just went with it.
11. How did you and Michiel mesh for the Unreal intro flyby?
The UT flyby? We just wrote it together before seeing anything, and the song was meshed into it fairly well timing-wise.
12. Three Wheels Turning was used in, IIRC, a volcano map in the ChaosUT map, and it sounded perfect given that voice sample that sounds like a Polynesian tribal yell. What did you have in mind while composing it?
Can't remember, but the breath was that of an ex-girlfriend's. This remains one of my favorites.
13. This is more a question for Teque and Nitro, but it might be hard to track them down and ask. Their original version of FireBr.umx has this high-pitched synth going over the "chorus", but this is missing in the UT version. A few fans are just wondering if that was just a judgment call by Epic.
It was. And Tero was rightfully very upset about it, but unfortunately that's the nature of the game biz. Your tunes go through revisions. The difference here was that I took the synth out and told him after the fact. I feel bad about it but lesson learned. He's a great musician and I hope he isn't still fuming about it.
~
Huge, massive thanks to AB! As you can see, I asked a
ton of questions, and it's great Alex got to them (while doing an interview for another site at the same time, even!).
~
About the music collection, I decided to say **** it about that Japanese doujin. I really pulled out all the stops and called in a lot of favors, but that album is really, really rare. So whatever. I'm going to get a Dreamcast soon to correctly dump the UT port's GD-ROM, and other than that, I just need the remix Strider Yoko - Alpha Omega (Unreal Tournament) originally from VGMix, and we'll say it's finished.
I was unable to find out if there's more Unreal Championship II music that the collection is missing. I dumped the entire audio folder last year to rip it, so if there's more music, it's hiding somewhere...
And FLAC conversion was really easy (doing it in foobar actually kept the tags). I verified all the FLACs' file integrity in audiotester, so it's ready to go.
