Command and Conquer Composer Talks Fan Contributions to Remastered Soundtrack
Many video game franchises live and die by their fans, and some of the best among them allow those communities to help make decisions. For example, Niantic lets Pokemon GO players vote on Community Day events. One franchise with a dedicated fanbase is Command and Conquer, a series of (mostly) real-time strategy (RTS) games that helped establish the genre with its first title, now subtitled Tiberian Dawn, in 1995. Fans and newcomers alike can experience Tiberian Dawn, its 1996 prequel Red Alert, and their expansion passes with a fresh coat of paint thanks to the Command and Conquer Remastered Collection.
On top of having updated, 4K-capable graphics and quality of life updates like the ability to access all missions across branching paths, improved UIs, and a map editor with available source codes and mod support, the collection has over seven hours of music remastered by original composer Frank Klepacki. Now the audio director at Petroglyph Games, the studio responsible for the Remastered Collection, Klepacki also recorded 20 bonus tracks with a live band called the Tiberian Sons comprised of fans. Game Rant sat down with Klepacki to talk about the Command and Conquer Remastered Collection's official soundtrack, available now, and how the community contributed to the project.
Klepacki began performing as a drummer with his parents in Las Vegas casinos when he was 11 years old, and he expanded his repertoire to guitar, keyboard, and more as a part of rock bands throughout high school. He started working at Westwood Studios, the developer of the original Command and Conquer games, around when he was finishing high school in 1991. The opportunity came when he took a summer job as a tester and leveraged his experience digitizing music through means like four-track recorders for fun to get a "trial period" from the developer's audio director Paul Mudra.
"I wasn't a very good tester if I'm being honest. I was distracted a lot wandering around and checking out what everyone else was up to, because I was so excited about it," Klepacki said. "It was like being on a movie set or something, getting to see behind the scenes how video games are made."
After "kicking off" the RTS genre with Dune II, based on Frank Herbert's sci-fi novel getting a new film adaptation, Westwood Studios tackled an original IP using the same mechanics with Command and Conquer: Tiberian Dawn. The game follows a global world war over control of a mineral resource called Tiberium, letting players choose a side between the United Nations-designated Global Defense Initiative (GDI) and the militant Brotherhood of Nod. A number of ideas were conceived for its soundtrack in early roundtable meetings according to Klepacki. It was very "experimental," and there was freedom to be creative, which led to a soundtrack with a mix of metal, synth-rock, hip-hop, orchestral, ambient, and industrial sounds that "magically worked."
Though the team didn't narrow down the original game's score, its follow-up Red Alert was more "refined." It branched out of "Hell March," the first track Klepacki composed for the game that Westwood Studios' President Brett Sperry loved so much he made it the theme song, and kept the "upbeat, modern edge" that helped define Command and Conquer. Red Alert's soundtrack was widely beloved, earning Klepacki recognitions like "Best Original Game Score" from Gameslice Magazine and PC Gamer Magazine in 1996. Up to that point he said he had no idea there would be a community into video game music to that extent.
"I was more used to the world of rock bands and stadium tours ... That's what I thought people connected the most to. I never thought people would have connected to a video game soundtrack the same way — let alone one I created."
One fan who latched onto Red Alert's soundtrack was Tony Dickinson, who reached out to Klepacki years later to ask for advice on an "over-the-top crazy, symphonic version of Hell March" for a contest. Klepacki said he only had to offer a few notes about mixing the track, which wound up winning the competition. Dickinson, who Klepacki describes as an "outstanding" professional musician in his own right, went on to create a band called the Tiberian Sons alongside Connor Engstrom, Max Noel, and Travis Moburg that performs video game remixes. They would eventually play at the Washington music festival MAGFest, which encouraged Klepacki to consider attending after hearing about it from other industry peers.
Klepacki said he initially reached out to MAGFest organizers intending to "feel things out" and see about taking part in a panel, but wound up pitching a Command and Conquer set with a live band that became a headlining act at the 2019 event, packing a 5,000-person ballroom. He worked with the Tiberian Sons and visual artist Nate Horsfall to put on a "real, full-on rock concert." Jim Vessella, lead producer on the Command and Conquer Remastered Collection from EA, attended the event and insisted they add the set into the game, which was announced to be in development at Petroglyph in 2018.
Klepacki and the Tiberian Sons recorded twenty tracks in a studio for the Command and Conquer Remastered Collection and its official soundtrack alongside the remastered in-game music and unlockable bonus tracks that were left out of the original games because they "weren't deemed the right fit at the time." The collection of live tracks included a community choice, "Just Do It Up" from Tiberian Dawn. Klepacki said the developers asked fans what their favorite songs were, and that was the only piece listed in the top ten that wasn't already a part of their live set, so they decided to add it in.
"It's kind of a cool story in that one thing that inspired some young guys to pursue music and video games ended up with them being part of the very thing that kicked it off in the first place."
While it still surprises Klepacki how popular his work has been, he said it is hard to narrow down his favorite songs because they have become his "composing legacy" thanks to the fans. He said he was fortunate enough to find his calling early in life, and to find a style that became synonymous with his work, much like composer Akira Yamaoka's work is synonymous with Silent Hill. Though he says he could do a lot of different things, he's "fortunate that fans have responded the way they have."
One of the things Klepacki likes about the Command and Conquer Remastered Collection's soundtrack is that it is the first time ever the games' scores will be available in their entirety in high quality — as opposed to keeping things retro, like when Wayo Records re-released Yuzo Koshiro's Streets of Rage soundtracks on cassette last month. He said he knows fans have wanted high quality versions for years, and that he hopes people appreciate taking a trip down memory lane with music that can be experienced in a new, modern way. The tracks he has performed live with the Tiberian Sons, in-part chosen by fans, are certainly a stand-out piece of that.
"It's cool to have that as a bonus because it's how we would do it today," Klepacki said. "It's how we actually perform the music."
Command and Conquer Remastered Collection is available now for PC.
Reviewed by Unknown
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June 13, 2020
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