American musician, video game music composer and sound director
Frank Klepacki (; ) is an American musician and video game composer, best known for his work on the "Command &amp; Conquer" series. Having learned to play drums as a child, he joined Westwood Studios as a composer when he was 17 years old. He has scored several games there, including the "Lands of Lore" series, Westwood Studios' "Dune" games, "The Legend of Kyrandia" series, "Blade Runner", and the "Command &amp; Conquer" series. His work in "" won two awards.
He lives in Las Vegas, where he has shaped a solo career and played and produced for several local bands. His personal and band work touches upon several genres, including orchestral, rock music, hip hop music, soul music, and funk. He has dubbed the style of music he writes as "Rocktronic". His work has appeared in various media, including the Spike TV program "The Ultimate Fighter".
Klepacki is currently the audio director of Petroglyph Games, where he scored '. Klepacki was contacted to score ', but was too busy with Petroglyph to take the project, and declined to mention the offer. Klepacki composed three songs for "" by EA Los Angeles. His solo CD entitled "Viratia" is packaged with a comic he helped produce.
Early life and career.
Klepacki was raised by a family of musicians of Polish and Italian descent who played on the Las Vegas strip. He drew art as a hobby, but music prevailed in his early interests. He received his first drumset at age 8 and began performing professionally by age 11. Among his early influences were electronica and heavy metal groups, including Depeche Mode, Afrika Bambaataa, AC/DC, and Iron Maiden. Seeking to master guitar, bass, and keyboards, he formed local bands and created a demo tape of original material by age 17. His impetus for diversifying his instrumental abilities was "not being able to communicate with other band members on ideas...for original songs." His first piece of audio gear was a TASCAM 4-track cassette recorder, which he used to record demos, band practices, and live shows.
After learning to program BASIC on a Tandy 1000 and becoming interested in computer and video games, he applied for a job as a game tester at Westwood studios. He submitted his demo tape—described as "an acoustic guitar song with electric guitar leads and keyboard strings, and raining sound effects"—to the company's audio director. The growing company enlisted him as a composer for the NES port of "DragonStrike" and the computer game "Eye of the Beholder II". He later composed with MIDI sequencing for several other "Dungeons &amp; Dragons" games. In 1992, he helmed the audio of "Dune II", attempting to complement the music of the original "Dune". He later noted that he pushed the sequencing program on his Amiga to the limit while scoring the game. While working on "Disney's The Lion King" in 1994, he and the Westwood team were shown sketches of the unfinished feature film. Film composer Hans Zimmer later praised Klepacki for reworking his scores. After finishing the third entry into "The Legend of Kyrandia" series, "Malcolm's Revenge", Frank Klepacki met with Westwood leaders to discuss the upcoming game "Command &amp; Conquer", the first in a series which would bring him wider fame and critical acclaim.
"Command and Conquer" series.
In 1994, Klepacki met with Westwood Studios developers to discuss the soundtrack of the company's next project", Command &amp; Conquer". To define the game's style, Klepacki listened to a number of bands, including Nine Inch Nails and Ministry, which would supply the iconic industrial style found in the majority of the songs. He combined various elements of this music and added his own touch to create a unique sound. With the company's recent shift to 22 kHz audio, Klepacki composed with an Ensoniq ASR-10 sampler, a Roland S760 sampler, a Roland JD-990 synth module, and an electric guitar. The first few songs he composed for "Command &amp; Conquer" contained voice samples, including the notable pieces "Act on Instinct" and "No Mercy" (which featured wild declarations from "Bill &amp; Ted's Bogus Journey"). The samples were later found to interfere with the game's spoken audio, and were replaced with versions lacking the voices, although the original versions (and several other unused pieces) can still be found on the DOS "C&amp;C" and "Covert Operations" discs. Complete versions of the songs later appeared on the game's commercial soundtrack. He would continue to sample clips from film and other media throughout his career, using a quote from "The Brain from Planet Arous" in the "Yuri's Revenge" track "Brainfreeze", for example. Klepacki next composed instrumental pieces for "Command &amp; Conquer", drawing influences from orchestral, house, heavy metal, and hip hop music. For the credits, Klepacki wrote "Airstrike", featuring a hook later used in "" for the Global Defense Initiative. Conversely, the Brotherhood of Nod ending used the song "Destructible Times", written by Klepacki's local band, I AM. The developers requested the song because it "reflected the war aspect and bad-ass vibe of Nod's side." The "C&amp;C" expansion pack "The Covert Operations" featured seven new ambient pieces, all of which were also included on the disc in high quality CD Audio format. Though the soundtrack was not released through retail, Westwood sold it by special order through its website and in game catalogues.
While working on "Covert Operations", Klepacki composed "Hell March", from the idea of "a rock tune to marching boots," finishing the song in one day after inventing the guitar riff. Upon listening, director Brett Sperry insisted this song be used as the signature theme of "Command &amp; Conquer: Red Alert". Originally intended for use with the Brotherhood of Nod, it features militaristic samples—including marching, industrial sounds, and a commander shouting orders. Klepacki initially scored "Red Alert" with sci-fi camp in mind, but early songs were shelved. He switched gears to write gritty pieces, prompting the "Red Alert" team to expand upon the style of "Command &amp; Conquer". In preparing to compose, Klepacki acquired new sample libraries for unique and strange sounds. Particular creative moods would result in a few songs at a time. He first wrote heavy songs like "Workmen" and "Crush", then composed neutral, synthesizer-laden music, such as "Vector" and "Roll Out". Klepacki also composed "Fogger" and "Mud", one of his personal favorites, before finishing with "Militant Force" and "Radio 2". He took breaks from working to make cameo appearances as a Soviet soldier killed by Kane and an Allied commander in the cut scenes of "Red Alert". He previously appeared as a Nod soldier and the voice of the commando in "Command &amp; Conquer" and would voice bit parts in future Westwood games.
After completing "Red Alert", he took a short break to review his work. He concluded that some songs could be enhanced, but "Red Alert" had already gone gold, precluding new versions. These remixes later appeared on the unsuccessful "Command &amp; Conquer: Sole Survivor". "Red Alert"'s soundtrack was voted best video game soundtrack of 1996 by "PC Gamer" and "Gameslice "magazines, defeating Trent Reznor's score for "Quake". Reviewers called it "fun to listen to" and "second to none." As of 2005, "Red Alert" was listed in the "Guinness Book of World Records" for selling several million units, bringing Klepacki his widest audience. He wrote additional music for the game's expansion packs, "Counterstrike" and "Aftermath". He attributed the success of "Red Alert" to an infusion of modern styles not found in other games. Klepacki initially wrote off the popularity of his music, assuming that his music "must only appeal to die-hards." He considered it "very surreal" to realize his soundtracks had gained him fame, and has since embraced his fans and critics.
Later Westwood games.
In 1997, Klepacki scored a "Blade Runner" adaptation. Though Westwood acquired the rights to use the original film score by Vangelis, the company was not allowed access to the original master recordings, and Klepacki had to recreate the themes by ear. Developers were satisfied by his attention to detail, feeling that his digital recreations sounded clearer than the originals. In 1998, Klepacki composed the soundtrack for "Dune 2000". He attempted to update the music from "Dune II" into "this non-blip stuff," and worked in homages to the original style of the films as composed by Toto. "Dune 2000" was panned by critics, though Klepacki's score was praised for adhering to the traditional "Dune" style. Klepacki considered "2000" to be a more definitive work than "Dune II", which was constrained by software and hardware limitations. He then composed the soundtrack for ' with Jarrid Mendelson, with whom he would later collaborate on '. He began by writing "Stomp", an energetic rock piece intended to recreate the effect of "Hell March" for the new game. Coincidentally, one of the trailers for "Command and Conquer 3" featured "Stomp" as the soundtrack. Westwood instead wanted "Tiberian Sun" to feature darker, more moody music, and "Stomp" was shelved in favor of the current sound. Bereft of ideas due to the stark change in direction, Klepacki asked Mendelson to collaborate; he regards tracks they both worked on as the best. "Tiberian Sun" ultimately featured dark, ambient techno music and ambient space music suited to the game's post-apocalyptic and futuristic setting. Klepacki cited the piece "Mad Rap" as his favorite. An avid "Star Wars" fan, he enjoyed scoring cut scenes featuring James Earl Jones, the voice of Darth Vader. The scenes also allowed him to integrate the "Airstrike" and "No Mercy" themes into the game's score, despite the aforementioned shift. With the expansion pack "Firestorm", he attempted to "set things right" by writing more upbeat songs and including "Stomp", which would also appear in "Command &amp; Conquer: Renegade".
He next scored "Lands of Lore III" and '. Klepacki defined "Red Alert 2"'s style with heavy metal guitar and fast-paced beats. Klepacki scored the game with a Korg TR Rack, Novation Nova desktop, and Roland XV-5080. "Red Alert 2" included a remix of "Hell March". The return to high-energy songs was owed in part to fan criticism of "Tiberian Sun". Klepacki maintained the energetic style in "Red Alert 2"'s expansion pack "Yuri's Revenge". For ', the next entry in the series, Klepacki tried to update the style of the original "Command &amp; Conquer" by making it "hipper and more elaborate." Several "Command &amp; Conquer" mainstays appear as reworked versions, including "Target (Mechanical Man)", "Industrial", "Act on Instinct" and "No Mercy". The main theme's melody comes from "C&amp;C 80's Mix", a piece composed for "Covert Operations", but which was scrapped before release. Klepacki's last contribution to Westwood Studios was the music of "Earth &amp; Beyond", comprising four albums of material. Acquired by Electronic Arts in 1998, Westwood was liquidated in 2002 and the remaining employees were relocated to EA Los Angeles. Several Westwood founders left the company. Though Klepacki offered to score "", and submitted a demo to EA, he was not offered the job. When asked in 2002 whether he'd continue scoring music after ten years in the business, he exclaimed, "ten down, next ten to go!" After Westwood's closure, he reflected on his past work at a dinner held by Joseph Kucan and other former employees.
Petroglyph Games.
Klepacki took a brief hiatus to work on solo albums, then joined Petroglyph Games as full-time audio director in 2004. He prepared by becoming versed in the job's requirements and demands. His first task was scoring "", Petroglyph's launch title; he also helped select voice actors. A die-hard fan of the "Star Wars" franchise, Klepacki enjoyed complementing John Williams's style as he worked with sound effects used in the feature films. He worked closely with programmers to ensure perfect aural functionality. Though most of the game's score is John Williams's work, Klepacki estimates that he contributed 20% original material. Apart from the main theme, he aimed to minimize his editing in order to retain the classic "Star Wars" sound. He chiefly composed for new areas of the "Star Wars" universe only found in "Empire at War". He calls his work on the game "the peak of my career," and felt he had spent his entire life grooming his abilities for that soundtrack. As a perk of composing, he visited the Skywalker Ranch and Industrial Light and Magic, and took pride in having his name associated with an official "Star Wars" product.
For the "Forces