It was recommended I post these here.

I've created a YouTube channel with CD-quality uncompressed recordings of the GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark (currently in progress) sound tracks (for Nintendo 64) here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG1p2qHnVfOIuRKOpePIgAA

These are not remixes or remasters. These are the original songs but with uncompressed samples.
These have not previously been released anywhere else.

On Nintendo 64 games, to save space, most samples are first downsampled to 22.050 KHz or lower, and then further compressed via ADPCM. This introduces distortions most noticeable in higher frequencies, and generally muddies the overall sound.

Here, the original samples were used prior to compression—a mix between 44.1 KHz and 48 KHz samples—and recorded at 44.1 KHz. The sound is mostly preserved if you would like to listen via YouTube, and a high-quality 320-kbps MP3 pack can also be downloaded here: http://lspiroengine.com/Misc/GoldenEye%20007%20Full.rar

Currently only the GoldenEye 007 tracks are in a pack. I'm having some technical difficulties with the Perfect Dark tracks, but eventually they will be fully uploaded and packed as well.

To give you an easy comparison, here is a previously released recording:
https://youtu.be/oqETz242PsY

Here is a sample from my release:
https://youtu.be/uPNzjM7WddI?list=PLHVyFE50l5iP5OM2WGjqfm7zDExeoUUN 7


I hope everyone enjoys.
L. Spiro

i dont see a difference between this and the ost you can dl anywhere or the actual cd ost.

i thought this was like the final fantasy tactics advance ost or ff3 and 4 ds,, that had the actual score and not the shitty resampling to fit the carts.
but good effort, they sound louder than my actual cd so ill save my favorite tracks

The difference is in the quality, primarily in the samples.
The game, CD releases, and sound fonts all use downsampled and compressed samples.

So if you listen to the game, you get a muddy sound plus static from the analog signal.
For the CD, sound font recordings, and emulated recordings (for example USF players), you get a better version because the static from the analog signals has been removed, but in all 3 cases you are stilling hearing 22.05 KHz samples and ADPCM compression.

These are the only recordings that use the original uncompressed samples. You will hear the difference fairly easily if you listen to any of these songs next to the CD version or other releases online.


L. Spiro

The difference is in the quality, primarily in the samples.
The game, CD releases, and sound fonts all use downsampled and compressed samples.

So if you listen to the game, you get a muddy sound plus static from the analog signal.
For the CD, sound font recordings, and emulated recordings (for example USF players), you get a better version because the static from the analog signals has been removed, but in all 3 cases you are stilling hearing 22.05 KHz samples and ADPCM compression.

These are the only recordings that use the original uncompressed samples. You will hear the difference fairly easily if you listen to any of the songs next to the CD version or other releases online.


L. Spiro

well, Perfect Dark has a soundtrack made with uncompressed samples already (although not complete, which is the 2 disc Soundtrack) and the XBLA version of the First Perfect Dark.

I don't believe the CD release of Perfect Dark actually uses the uncompressed samples. Most (or all) of the CD releases to games I know of use emulation (USF, NSF, etc.), except in cases where they completely remaster or even remix the songs (the Killer Instinct CD for example).
I'm not terribly familiar with the sound in the Xbox Live Arcade version, but some people have compared them: https://perfect-dark-fanclub.deviantart.com/journal/Perfect-Dark-and-GoldenEye-music-in-Crisp-Quality-706946925


L. Spiro

The difference is in the quality, primarily in the samples.
The game, CD releases, and sound fonts all use downsampled and compressed samples.

So if you listen to the game, you get a muddy sound plus static from the analog signal.
For the CD, sound font recordings, and emulated recordings (for example USF players), you get a better version because the static from the analog signals has been removed, but in all 3 cases you are stilling hearing 22.05 KHz samples and ADPCM compression.

These are the only recordings that use the original uncompressed samples. You will hear the difference fairly easily if you listen to any of these songs next to the CD version or other releases online.


L. Spiro

i dont think i understand what youre saying. do you mean these tracks play like they were recorded with the actual instruments? or just has a high quality spec?

to make a better comparison, think conkers bad fur day. while the ost in the 64 version is amazing, its heavily compressed. but the xbox version has the unaltered soundtrack where you can hear the instruments as they were recorded.
if what you are saying is that these tracks present real instruments, they dont.

These are not meant to imitate real instruments, nor even “similar” instruments. These are recorded with the original uncompressed samples using better hardware than either the Nintendo 64 or Xbox.
My recordings are clearer than what I hear in this video of an unreleased GoldenEye 007 for Xbox Live Arcade: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRRuhviJGMQ
Compare the opening to mine: https://youtu.be/FS7-UehEBkU

Of course, the original GoldenEye 007 was not released outside of Nintendo 64.

From what I hear comparing Maian Tears on Xbox Live Arcade (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=062seWAsRQk) to its Nintendo 64 counterpart (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scha3QWOLDU), they haven’t just used higher-quality samples (at most the same quality as mine), they have re-engineered the songs. Some of the samples sound entirely different, and at least some equalizing has been done.

My recordings are the songs as they appear on the Nintendo 64 versions of both games (no re-arranging or otherwise), using the original samples prior to compression, run through dedicated music production hardware (pitch-bends, reverb, chorus, etc. are production quality rather than using the simpler algorithms found on consoles and PC software packages).

One of the composers has even said that these are the clearest he has ever heard the songs.
I hope this clarifies things.


L. Spiro

Interesting. How'd you manage to do this? Incidentally, Grant Kirkhope actually released a few GoldenEye songs from his original compositions (before the switch to N64 samples) on his webpage. Thread 126796

What Grant Kirkhope released is in a kind of grey area where it is not really a remix and not really a remaster. He recorded his songs with higher-quality samples that are “close enough” to the original and in some cases he extended some songs with new a chorus etc.
If you are looking for high-quality songs and don’t mind that it is not strictly true to the original songs, those are your best bet. But he only did this on songs he composed.


As for how I did this, there are 2 parts: Obtaining the samples and the recording process.

There were a few games in my childhood that influenced my life. Final Fantasy VII and Chrono Trigger made me want to work at Square (Enix), and GoldenEye 007, Perfect Dark, Killer Instinct, Donkey Kong Country, etc. made me want to work at Rare. I pursued both goals (with a caveat in Rare’s case). I eventually joined Square Enix and was a senior graphics programmer on Final Fantasy XV. I also worked on Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness and another undisclosed Final Fantasy game.

I decided I did not want to work at Rare after they got bought by Microsoft, but I did still move to the UK after Square Enix and lived/worked near Rare. I am friends with many people from Rare, past and present.



As for the recording process, the original uncompressed samples were loaded into a Yamaha MONTAGE 8, Yamaha’s flagship synthesizer, at 44.1 KHz or 48 KHz depending on the sample. All properties of each sample (attack time, decay time, tremolo, pan, volume (note that each sample can have a pan and volume, separate from the track pan and volume during MIDI playback), etc.) were mirrored on the Yamaha MONTAGE 8, so basically the entire sample set/sound bank was replicated exactly on the Yamaha MONTAGE 8.
The MIDI files were extracted from the original games and the tracks hooked up to the appropriate patches on the Yamaha MONTAGE 8.

The MIDI playback was sent to the Yamaha MONTAGE 8, which acted as a tone generator, playing back the samples and applying production-quality reverb, chorus, filtering, etc.

The output from the Yamaha MONTAGE 8 was recorded digitally and then unmodified (no volume adjustments, no mastering, etc.) The result from the Yamaha MONTAGE 8 is what you hear on the YouTube channel and in the sound pack.



In summary, these recordings are using the highest-quality samples that exist for the original GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark games prior to any compression, and are being played back with the exact MIDI data as in the original games, through Yamaha’s flagship music hardware.


Once again, I hope everyone enjoys the release.


L. Spiro

All posts by L. Spiro

I don't understand the technical aspects of this, but having listened to the 320kbps tracks you posted, I can say one thing for sure: these are FAR superior in quality to the "real" soundtracks floating around for Goldeneye. I see from the narrative that thanks to your connections, we're very fortunate to have these, and I for one say many thanks for taking the time to bring them to us.