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From: Simon Eriksson Sent: 13 August 2022 12:31 To: Al Boorman Subject: Looking for Alan Boorman - Composer for Lego Rock Raiders (1999) |
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Hello! I'm a digital archivist currently researching older Lego video games, and among those is, "LEGO Rock Raiders", which released in 1999. In the credits, the name Alan Boorman appears as a contributor of music. First I'd like to ask if you happen to be the person who did in fact make the music for this game? My research has led me to you as you go by that name and seem to have been active all the way back to the early 2000's in the UK, where LEGO Media and Data Design Interactive (the studio who created the game) resided, so I made an assumption that you might be the person I'm looking for. As I know it's possible to forget one's own tracks after 25 years, especially ones made for a children's game, here are the potential in-game tracks that you might've composed: Music for the intro cinematic Track 1 Track 2 Track 3 Atmosdel (atmospheric Main Menu theme) Score screen (a shorter section of a PlayStation track) There is also a PlayStation game with 9 separate tracks that you might've worked on, here's a playlist of them all. The reason we don't know who worked on what exactly is that the credits are vague and shared between the PC and PS1 game, despite them being completely different games. In your case, it simply says they're "thanking Alan Boorman for their musical contribution" in both titles. Please get back to me if this sounds familiar. I'm a huge fan of the music for this game and would love to see any stories or material has been saved, like uncompressed master tracks. Thank you. Best regards, [S]imon |
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From: Al Boorman Sent: 16 August 2022 00:16 To: Simon Eriksson; MArll Subject: Re: Looking for Alan Boorman - Composer for Lego Rock Raiders (1999) |
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Hey Simon, Yeah I made Track 1, 2 & 3 (ice, rock and lava?) with Mark Boobyer (cc'd) in Brighton UK, back in 1998... between us we could probably remember the gear used if it’s of any interest ?! Funny - I was going through some old stuff in the studio the other day and found the Master for these… haven’t got round to listening to it though, so cheers for the links! Nice to hear them after all these years.. Al |
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From: Simon Eriksson Sent: 16 August 2022 01:23:08 BST To: Al Boorman Subject: Sv: Looking for Alan Boorman - Composer for Lego Rock Raiders (1999) |
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Thank you so much for getting back to me! Exciting to have confirmation these are your tracks, and fantastic to hear you are still in contact with Mark. I am a huge fan of Lego Rock Raiders and its music, and these tracks in particular. Ever since I played this game as a kid, it always had a magical vibe and the music was a huge part of that experience. It is incredible to hear that you have the master tracks still! As you may hear from the YouTube links, the final CD tracks were using certain compressed samples - As I've replayed the game over the years, I've always dreamt of hearing them in their intended quality without any compression or frequency mirroring, if such a recording even existed. So, my most essential question: Is there any way you would be willing and able to share the master tracks? I would be greatly interested in hearing them to see if their quality is better than what's on the final CD, and archiving them for the purpose of gaming history. I know a lot of other fans of this game that would love to hear these tracks in the original quality too. Let me know if this is a possibility, and if you would need any assistance in digitizing the tracks, if they're stored on older media formats like tapes. I would be very interested in knowing more about the gear and methods (and samples, if you save those) used too! We have no idea how these tracks were created, so any info you could share there might be valuable. And about your "ice, rock and lava?" note - were the 3 tracks originally inspired by each biome? (in the released game they were shuffled during gameplay, and there was no indication the tracks were intended for specific biomes) Please let me know what you would be able to share and I'm looking forward to hear back from you soon. Best regards, Simon |
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From: MArll Sent: 16 August 2022 17:01 To: Al Boorman Copy: Simon Eriksson Subject: Re: Fwd: Looking for Alan Boorman - Composer for Lego Rock Raiders (1999) |
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Hey Al ( and Simon?) Blige! I don't actually have any copies this. In fact, I cannot even find my copy of the disk.. I don't think I ever opened it... There is also a few videos on YouTube by fans of the game. Some of the comments are sweet. Nice that it made an impression to some degree :) The actual cut-scenes were done by someone else. I also remember we didn't really get a proper credit, just a 'thanks for you contribution'-type thing. I am also still in contact with Tom ( he is recovering from covid at the mo). Could always ask him if he has any stuff connected to this). If you have a copy of the tracks AL, maybe send me them? Talk to you in a bit hopefully Marl x |
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From: Simon Eriksson Sent: 16 August 2022 20:09 To: MArll Subject: Re: Sv: Looking for Alan Boorman - Composer for Lego Rock Raiders (1999) |
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Hi Mark, thank you for getting back to us! Sorry I forgot to hit reply all - I will do that from now on. Correct about the credits, it was a bit of a mess, and until now Rock Raiders fans had no idea who were supposed to be credited with what when it came to music. In this video showing the credits, at 0:53 it credits John Saull, Jon Harrison and Joseph Harper for "Sound and music", while at 1:42, the very end it says "Thanks also to Mark Boobyer and Alan Boorman for their musical contribution", which is quite an understatement after your fantastic work. This made the music credits quite some guesswork when researching the game, and as far as I'm concerned only Jon Harrison has ever been contacted out of these (but he's now not been responding for a few months). The cutscenes were made in-house by Data Design Interactive, in their Artworld department, but people from there are hard to get a hold of. [...] About Tom, if you're referring to Tomas Gillo, I'd love to hear more and potentially get in contact with him! Me and a few others have been trying to reach him over the last few years - supposedly he has some incredibly interesting items to show off, but the only person who has managed to get in contact with him decided to keep what he got sent to himself. If you could help me get in touch with Tom you would do me a great service, we may be able to finally see what he has left from the Rock Raiders project. Covid is nasty business though, hope he recovers alright! About the music: How did you cooperate in creating the tracks? Did you do separate parts of the tracks, or separate tracks altogether? Best regards, Simon |
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From: MArll Sent: 17 August 2022 17:24 To: Simon Eriksson Copy: AL Subject: Re: Sv: Looking for Alan Boorman - Composer for Lego Rock Raiders (1999) |
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Hi Simon, No worries. AL forwarded me your mail although I didn't see it until this afternoon. I can't find my my own copy the tracks we did anywhere. It's been a while since then : ) Al and I made the music together. Al has golden ears so he gave it the polish.( my mixing skill aren't so great). It was made with Al's Atari running cubase but I don't recall what outboard stuff there was. There may have been a sampler involved and a small mixing desk.. It as a good project. Maybe Al has a better memory than me... regarding what was used etc... [...] Maybe Al has copies of the music. If I come across any stuff here I'll let you know Regards Marl |
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From: Simon Eriksson Sent: 18 August 2022 01:50 To: MArll Subject: Re: Sv: Looking for Alan Boorman - Composer for Lego Rock Raiders (1999) |
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Hi Marl, first, could you please let me know if your name is written "Marl" or "Mark" so I am writing it correctly? Did you change your name or did DDI write it wrong in the credits? If the Master tracks are archived in any way I'd like to be able to credit your name correctly, as the only name you'll encounter in connection to Rock Raiders is "Mark Boobyer", so it's good to get the records correct. Al said he found his Master tracks (please see the second email, from the bottom) so I hope there is a way to retrieve these master tracks digitally soon, although I'm not sure if they are stored on tapes or similar media not readily accessible. But considering I have waited years for this, I can definitely stay patient for whatever might come. Wow, Cubase, that program really has been around forever. Do you guys still have source files for such old projects, or do you save those at all over time? I realise samples might not all be saved, but with source files one might be able to do a full "remake" of the track with new samples, just a thought! 🙂 Do you remember if there was anything with regards to the music for the game that was shelved or cancelled? Did LEGO Media/DDI only commission exactly 3 tracks from you or did you do several concepts they could choose from? I'll send an email to Tom later this week and see if he's willing to chat, thank you! Best regards, Simon |
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From: MArll Sent: 18 August 2022 17:48 To: Simon Eriksson Copy: AL Subject: Re: Sv: Looking for Alan Boorman - Composer for Lego Rock Raiders (1999) |
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Hi Simon, Hope all is well. Marl Boonyer is my preference. I'll catch up to Al at some point ( think he has his hands full at the moment) and find out what we used. Good to know I can get a copy of the music for my own though. I doubt very much that anything we used ( i.e. floppy discs) would be useful today although I guess if you had an old Atari then I see no reason why. We did do a few extra tracks one which was a totally different ( and quite funky as I remember) remix and another track which was considered a bit to 'dark'. (That will be my doing probably!) And, yes, we were asked to submit three tracks. ( Tom sent us some sound fx from the game ( you can hear various machine-like and ambient sounds esp. on the Ice track)... Marl |
at this point a new email chain is started...
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From: Al Boorman Sent: 22 August 2022 20:38 To: Simon Eriksson; MArll Subject: Rock Raiders original tracks |
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Hi Simon, We've uploaded the Rock Raiders tracks on Soundcloud here : https://bit.ly/3PL10ou Hope you enjoy hearing them in their original uncompressed form! Makes sense to me to archive them on Mark's Soundcloud, as his melodic influence is strong in the 'raiders tunes, and as you've spotted - it's still there in his stuff now ;) Hopefully more people will come and check his stuff out. Other rock raiders tracks : Unfortunately we don't have anything apart from these 3 - and I've looked everywhere.. I do remember one track getting rejected but have no record of it.. Back in the mists of time when we recorded these, it was using Cubase on an Atari ST 1040, Akai samplers (S20 and s2000), either an Ensoniq or Kawai synth (neither of us can remember) and mixed down live through an analogue mixer straight to minidisc ! (we didn't have a working DAT machine at the time..) None of the original cubase files or sample discs have survived the various studio moves and rebuilds over the years, so what is on that link is the only material we have from those sessions. Other unreleased material : I don't have anything else unreleased I'm afraid; but as you've found, I started releasing Wevie Stonder material from 1999 on Skam Records (which is all still available) and began working on commercial music/sound projects full time in around 2014 as my 'day job' Rock Raiders was one of the first music commissions I did, and although would love to work on another game, neither of us have as yet (!) -- Thanks for your interest in our old tracks, and for keeping the 'Raiders flame alight ! Cheers Al & Marl |
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From: Simon Eriksson Sent: 22 August 2022 21:32 To: Al Boorman; MArll Subject: Sv: Rock Raiders original tracks |
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Thank you SO MUCH, I listened in awe the entire way through with a stupid grin on my face. I can't believe this, the versions of the tracks that ended up on the disc sounded nowhere near this majestic! I think Data Design Interactive maybe lowered the quality because of the in-game sound effects used in some of the tracks? It is too bad you didn't find any more material, but if you ever do, please let me know, I'd be so stoked to hear the rejected tracks! I would like to ask a few things before I'd consider the topic of the master tracks concluded: (and you guys have been so nice to me - I don't really want the conversation to be over...)
I'll prepare to share the link with other fans in the meantime! I'm sure many will be in absolute awe at hearing how the music is supposed to be - but ideally with the download button enabled so people can put these in their local playlists... 😉 Thank you so much for everything. It is really hard to put into words how much this means to me. I still can't quite believe it. Thank you. Best regards, Simon |
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From: Simon Eriksson Sent: 22 August 2022 21:32 To: Al Boorman; MArll Subject: Sv: Rock Raiders original tracks |
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Quick follow-up: I dropped the SoundCloud link yesterday in my Rock Raiders server and people have been losing their minds! Hundreds of plays of the Rock Raiders tracks, some have even tried remixing them to replicate the CD tracks exactly, and people have even been modding in Marl's Fractal Shoreline into the original LEGO Rock Raiders! 😉 By far I've gotten most requests from audiophiles and audio engineers, asking you to either enable downloads on SoundCloud, or share the source files directly, or set up a Bandcamp (some said they'd happily pay for the tracks) and there was even someone asking for them to be put on Spotify... Or all of these! Lots of requests from lots of people. Overall the reception has been amazing regardless, haven't seen the community so excited in a long time 😄 Anyway, hope the influx of fans isn't overwhelming, especially with more of them to come, and I really hope you decide to bless us with the original files! I would also perhaps suggest, if you would allow fans to use these tracks non-commercially, to add something like the Creative Commons Non-commercial rights to the SoundCloud uploads? (Edit -> Metadata -> License -> Creative Commons). It's a more permanent solution to allow fans to remix and use these in fan content, instead of giving singular people like me permission to use the tracks - Creative Commons seems like the perfect choice. Thank you so much, again. Best regards, Simon P.S: I'd love downloads enabled for the Fractal Shoreline and the other music too, and maybe adding them to Spotify - you've found quite some fans overnight, and there'll only be more as this link spreads further! Got about 5000 people in the server, so the tracks have only been seen by a fraction of the community yet 😉 |
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From: MArll Sent: 23 August 2022 16:34 To: Simon Eriksson; MArll Subject: Re: Sv: Rock Raiders original tracks |
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Hey Simon, Excuse the belated reply. I haven't spoken to Al today but will do at some stage. I just wanted to say, using my Soundcloud is only temporary. I'm going to look at hosting on Bandcamp. I'll email you about that later on Catch you later Marl |