arrangers: []
catalog: N/A
categories:
- Game
category: Game
classification: Original Soundtrack
composers:
- link: artist/1326
  names:
    en: Dave Govett
- link: artist/1324
  names:
    en: George Sanger
- names:
    en: Herman Miller
covers: []
discs:
- disc_length: '84:29'
  name: Disc 1
  tracks:
  - names:
      English: Soundtrax Logo (OriginF/X)
    track_length: 0:32
  - names:
      English: Fanfare (Wing Commander Main Theme)
    track_length: '5:20'
  - names:
      English: Arcade Theme - PingBeeper
    track_length: '1:22'
  - names:
      English: Arcade Death - Lost Quarter
    track_length: 0:07
  - names:
      English: Arcade Victory - Big Kid
    track_length: 0:07
  - names:
      English: Swing Commander (Rec Room) - V1.1 [unused]
    track_length: '3:27'
  - names:
      English: Swing Commander (Rec Room) - V1.0 [unused]
    track_length: '3:19'
  - names:
      English: Swing Commander (Rec Room) - V1.7
    track_length: '3:19'
  - names:
      English: Barracks - Go to Sleep, You Pilots
    track_length: '4:13'
  - names:
      English: Briefing ~ Scramble Through Launch Medley
    track_length: '2:00'
  - names:
      English: Flying to Dogfight
    track_length: '1:35'
  - names:
      English: Dogfight - version A [unused]
    track_length: '3:02'
  - names:
      English: Dogfight - version B [unused]
    track_length: '2:48'
  - names:
      English: Dogfight-Regular Combat
    track_length: '2:14'
  - names:
      English: Dogfight-Tailing an Enemy
    track_length: 0:57
  - names:
      English: Dogfight-Being Tailed
    track_length: 0:50
  - names:
      English: Dogfight-Intense Combat - This One Really Counts!
    track_length: '1:12'
  - names:
      English: Dogfight-Your Wingman's Been Hit
    track_length: 0:19
  - names:
      English: Dogfight-Ally Killed
    track_length: 0:20
  - names:
      English: Dogfight-Missile Tracking You
    track_length: 0:45
  - names:
      English: Dogfight-You're Severely Damaged-Floundering
    track_length: 0:55
  - names:
      English: Dogfight-Target Hit
    track_length: 0:12
  - names:
      English: Dogfight-Enemy Ace Killed
    track_length: 0:12
  - names:
      English: Dogfight-Overall Defeat
    track_length: 0:25
  - names:
      English: Dogfight-Overall Victory
    track_length: 0:13
  - names:
      English: Dogfight-Extra, Long Victory [unused]
    track_length: '1:16'
  - names:
      English: Dull Patrol [unused]
    track_length: '3:31'
  - names:
      English: Grim Defense or Escort Mission
    track_length: '1:19'
  - names:
      English: Strike Mission - Go Get 'Em!
    track_length: '1:36'
  - names:
      English: Goal Line - Defending the Claw
    track_length: '1:43'
  - names:
      English: Eject - Imminent Rescue
    track_length: '1:20'
  - names:
      English: Eject - Lost in Space [unused]
    track_length: '1:19'
  - names:
      English: Hero's Funeral
    track_length: '1:46'
  - names:
      English: Returning Defeated
    track_length: '1:07'
  - names:
      English: Returning Normal [was "Returning from Dogfight"]
    track_length: '1:04'
  - names:
      English: Returning Triumphant
    track_length: '1:10'
  - names:
      English: Landing
    track_length: 0:21
  - names:
      English: Medium Damage Assessment
    track_length: 0:58
  - names:
      English: Good Damage Assessment [unused]
    track_length: 0:50
  - names:
      English: Damage Assessment-Lounge (Sketch) [unused]
    track_length: '1:26'
  - names:
      English: Debriefing - Unsuccessful
    track_length: '1:34'
  - names:
      English: Debriefing - Successful
    track_length: '1:51'
  - names:
      English: Commander's Office Visit
    track_length: '1:55'
  - names:
      English: Medal Ceremony - General - version 2
    track_length: '1:06'
  - names:
      English: Medal Ceremony - Purple Heart
    track_length: '1:06'
  - names:
      English: Medal Ceremony - Minor Bravery
    track_length: 0:52
  - names:
      English: Medal Ceremony - Major Bravery
    track_length: 0:51
  - names:
      English: Victory (unused) [was "Medal Ceremony-General - version 1"]
    track_length: '1:58'
  - names:
      English: Fanfare (Wing Commander Main Theme) - constant tempo [unused]
    track_length: '4:39'
  - names:
      English: Briefing Intro - isolated cue
    track_length: 0:39
  - names:
      English: Briefing Middle - isolated cue
    track_length: '1:08'
  - names:
      English: Briefing End - isolated cue
    track_length: 0:40
  - names:
      English: Scramble Through Launch - isolated cue
    track_length: 0:31
  - names:
      English: Wing Commander - Surf version
    track_length: '2:49'
  - names:
      English: Barracks - Go to Sleep, You Pilots - vocal version
    track_length: '2:19'
distributor: &id001
  link: org/965
  names:
    en: Bandcamp
    ja: Bandcamp
    ja-latn: Bandcamp
  role: retailer
link: album/117715
lyricists: []
media_format: Digital
meta:
  added_date: 2022-01-15T18:19
  edited_date: 2022-11-29T09:48
  fetched_date: 2025-11-17T02:26
  ttl: 86400
  visitors: 1059
name: Wing Commander I - Complete Original Soundtrack - MT-32 archival edition
names:
  en: Wing Commander I - Complete Original Soundtrack - MT-32 archival edition
  ja: Wing Commander I - Complete Original Soundtrack - MT-32 archival edition
  ja-latn: Wing Commander I - Complete Original Soundtrack - MT-32 archival edition
notes: 'Music produced by The Fat Man, George Alistair Sanger

  Composed by Dave Govett and George Sanger

  Composer breakdown:

  George Sanger and Herman Miller: 01

  David Govett: 02, 10, 12~26, 33, 37, 41, 42, 44~54

  George Sanger: 03~09, 11, 27~32, 34~36, 38~40, 43

  George Sanger and David Govett: 55

  Album produced by Xeen Music

  Concept, Research, Curation, Track Notes, Recording, Editing: Andrew Harrington

  www.patreon.com/xeenmusic

  www.youtube.com/xeenmusic

  Album Cover: CaesarZX

  "ABOUT THIS SOUNDTRACK

  More people bought new computers to play Wing Commander in 1991 than for any other
  reason.

  For a while. At least that’s what I heard. I also heard that it was the hit of the
  trade show at which it was released, and folks crowded around and stayed crowded
  around to watch the demo play—and to hear it. It was one of just a few games to
  use the Roland MT-32 soundcard—that alone gave a huge sonic advantage over almost
  every other game. Because, before that, game music kind of went dow-dow-dow-dow-dow-boo-boo-boo-boo-boop,
  instead of consisting of orchestral music noises.

  The MT-32 was a huge breakthrough in synthesizers. It wasn’t so much for the excellent
  tone, as much for the number of voice you could get. You could run eight different
  instruments at the same time and a drum kit. You could theoretically get 32 different
  notes at the same time (which you really couldn’t). But that in an affordable package
  was just crazy good. Because a synthesizer used to cost thousands of dollars. A
  synthesizer that could do two voices was unheard of. And here’s this little box
  that could do all these things. So, I was using that to make arrangements for people,
  and it eventually led me to getting the Wing Commander gig.

  Wing Commander was also the first time that a game was heralded for a soundtrack
  that reacted to battle situations. (Although in the version people were raving about
  on the trade show floor, the music wasn’t really reacting to any situation—that
  hadn’t been implemented yet. The music was just playing through linearly in sync
  to a recorded clip of dogfighting action. But people thought it was reacting, and
  eventually that was implemented into the game.) And, it seems bizarre to say, Wing
  Commander was the first game to imitate a John Williams-style orchestral sound.
  All those decisions were made brilliantly by the game’s always forward-thinking
  and ambitious producer, Chris Roberts, who asked us to do a cross between the theme
  music for Star Wars and Star Trek the movie--both films that relied on the sound
  of a big orchestra.

  Now add to all that: the amazing compositional ear of David Govett, and you’ve got
  maybe the biggest upward leap in quality that game music ever experienced on a single
  platform. Of course it’s debatable, and I’ve got no perspective on it, but check
  around and see what you find out.

  It was Chris’ idea to have a tune for you chasing a missile. Have a tune for the
  missile chasing you. Have a tune for when your wingman’s been hit. He had no idea
  what the best situation would be or the musicality of it, but fortunately, David
  wrote the interactive battle music, as well as the main theme for Wing Commander.
  He kind of already had battle music going in his head. And so he arranged that for
  an MT-32. I brought it in. Chris liked it, and that was significant, too, because
  nobody had tried to implement orchestrated music like this before for a game. Now
  everybody does it. But for us, it was a great challenge. I’ve got to say, Govett
  nailed it. Even though the quality of the tones available for vidogame music are
  better today, the composition really is no better than what Dave did for that game.

  I can tell you this from experience: Years after the release of Wing Commander,
  the most common request for music composition would become “something like John
  Williams or Danny Elfman.” But for a while, game composers were instead inundated
  with producers’ requests to imitate the music of Dave Govett and Wing Commander.
  I’ll confess that I had the idea that being this early and influential in the game
  audio game would lead to Govett’s scoring games with full orchestras someday. That
  hasn''t happened for us—YET. But every once in a while I''ll run across somebody
  else’s arrangement of his music being played with a live orchestra and it reminds
  me of not just how far ahead of things Dave was, but how well those compositions
  of his hold up in the field of orchestral movie music.

  Because of Dave’s melodies and intent and heart, most people enjoyed the Yamaha
  FM translations of those compositions. That success was also hugely due to the wizards
  at Origin; Herman Miller, whom I believe came over and jammed on flute and sax at
  our studio a few times, and consummate Game Audio Guy Marc Schaefgen (also my blues-playing
  pal and bandmate in our nerd band The Captains of the Chess Team). Dave and I just
  provided the tunes in MIDI format--Herman and Marc had the grueling task of implementing
  the music into the code, sometimes by hand, and sometimes by building their own
  tools to do it.

  While the Yamaha FM sound cards were new, and people felt happy to hear the music
  through that hardware, very few people got to play the soundtrack on the far superior,
  expensive and exotic MT-32 soundcard to hear it in its full glory, the way Dave
  and I heard it when we composed it. Until now. To make it even better, Andrew Harrington
  has meticulously vetted and rendered these versions, sometimes splitting the MIDI
  files and using double passes and other fancy techniques, all to avoid dropouts
  and distortion that could sometimes creep in during gameplay.

  So in a way, Dave Govett and I are hearing this music at its best for the first
  time.

  Your turn!

  --George

  ABOUT THIS RELEASE

  This "archival" release is the result of my finally yielding to many years of Andrew
  Harrington''s relentless hounding. It was entirely his vision to put out a thorough
  and complete "once-and-for-all" release of every single MIDI file from the game,
  with as much documentation as could be mustered. And my hat is off to him and I
  am grateful, for he has brought us all, me kicking and screaming, to a very pleasant,
  very listenable, and very final-feeling version of the music for Wing Commander.
  Thank you, Andrew, this is your baby.

  Similarly, I was overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of the massively talented artist
  CaesarZX in Shanghai, who insisted on mocking up album covers for all my the games
  I composed for, even before he knew I was releasing music.

  Come to think of it, my early journey with Dave Govett was much the same. An enthusiastic
  guy, calling me to ask if he could come over to see what kind of gear I was using.
  I had him write a couple of tunes for me, and he was the first member of Team Fat
  (besides me) before I even knew he liked orchestral movie music. When I handed him
  the assignment to do the demo for Wing Commander, I was met with the surprise of
  a lifetime.

  Hey, World, take this hard-won advice down: Collaborate. And here''s how. When you
  find somebody enthusiastic, who makes you feel good about who you are when you''re
  around them, find out if they have talent and skill. If they do, turn them loose
  and get out of the way. It''s like riding a wild horse--you don''t know exactly
  where you''ll end up, but it will be one wild ride."'
organizations:
- &id002
  names:
    en: The Fat Man and Team Fat
    ja: The Fat Man and Team Fat
    ja-latn: The Fat Man and Team Fat
  role: publisher
- *id001
performers: []
picture_full: https://media.vgm.io/albums/51/117715/117715-b9b8ff86e429.jpg
picture_small: https://medium-media.vgm.io/albums/51/117715/117715-b9b8ff86e429.jpg
picture_thumb: https://thumb-media.vgm.io/albums/51/117715/117715-b9b8ff86e429.jpg
platforms:
- PC
products:
- link: product/1653
  names:
    en: Wing Commander
    ja: Wing Commander
    ja-latn: Wing Commander
publish_format: Commercial
publisher: *id002
related:
- catalog: SID-8905
  date: '1999-03-09'
  link: album/62640
  names:
    en: WING COMMANDER - original soundtrack
    ja: WING COMMANDER - original soundtrack
    ja-latn: WING COMMANDER - original soundtrack
  type: live
- catalog: N/A
  date: '2007-08-13'
  link: album/6044
  names:
    en: Wing One - Music from Wing Commander 1
    ja: Wing One - Music from Wing Commander 1
    ja-latn: Wing One - Music from Wing Commander 1
  type: game
release_date: '2022-01-14'
release_events: []
release_price:
  currency: USD
  price: 10.0
reprints: []
stores:
- link: http://thefatmanandteamfat.bandcamp.com/album/wing-commander-i-complete-original-soundtrack-mt-32-archival-edition
  name: Bandcamp
vgmdb_link: https://vgmdb.net/album/117715?perpage=99999
votes: 0
