darkSpyro

OK, so here's where we can discuss, why did Insomniac have Stewart Copeland. It's a looooooongggg way.
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OK, let's lay a few things first. Firstly, Spyro was owned by Universal, so it's very unlikely Insomniac had the money or position to hire such great talent.

Secondly, Universal has many branches, Universal Interactive, Universal Music Group and such.

Now, I found something interesting about how the developers of Crash and Spyro(since their closely associated and are owned by Universal) met with their music composers. According Josh Mancell, who worked for Mutato Muzika for Crash, Universal actually found Mutato Muzika, and so, they were assigned to work with ND. MM decided to do work with ND until Jak.

Now, do you think the same case was for Stewart Copeland and Insomniac? Why couldn't Insomniac just hire an in-house composer? That is the question.

So, was Insomniac's case the same as Naughty Dog's case?

I'm not going to make the assumption that you don't like Stewart Copeland, but...who wouldn't want his music IMO?

I don't really know the answer to your question, but 1998 was the time where music was beginning to be composed for games through other mediums other than a synthesizer or computer. For example, recorded orchestral music was first used in games on that year. Maybe Insomniac believed Stewart had a lot of potential for bringing their games to life (as well as the added bonus that a relatively well-known person is composing music for video games). Or maybe Insomniac just took an extra risk to hire someone other than their in-house music composers. I think Insomniac realized that there was greater potential for video game music than there was previously, so they hired him.
Stewart recorded some orchestral pieces in Utah for the original Spyro game (e.g. Toasty's level), and IMO he really brought out a quality of music that I haven't heard in video games before that time. In the end, I think that having him compose the music for the original Spyro series was a great choice.

Apparently, Copeland had been composing the scores of many types of soundtracks since the Police's break up. I guess Insomniac got lucky and managed to snag him. Also, to expand on bmah's little spiel about his work on the STD soundtrack, I found this passage searching his name in Google:

"All music was composed and performed on a keyboard inputted to a computer with software managing the recordings and compositions. Being a passionate drummer, Copeland brought the music to life with drum tracks that used actual recordings of the instrument, such as cymbals and his famous snare.

Copeland made a music track for each level in the game (except for Toasty and Gnorc Gnexus, which share the same music track), giving each level their own feel according to the natural surroundings, architecture and inhabitants of the place. For example, in the Artisans world of shepherds, sheep, medieval towers and endless green hills, the music is layered with an oriental-sounding mixture of bells and elusive percussion whereas the Beast Makers' midnight swamp has a solid rhythm layered with the melancholy calls of owls. The Spyro riff (the tune featured in the "Opening Theme" at the start of the game) crops up in many disguises throughout the soundtrack.

None of the tracks on this game were given clear audible vocals, however, the track to Wild Flight contains obscured vocal-sounding voices layered on top of the guitar, organ and drums. Some of the tracks varied where the game was bought. In the American versions of the game, the music track to High Caves is a remixed version of the music for the Tree Tops level. In European releases of the game, High Caves is played with a much more upbeat track similar to that of one of the games general tracks (sometimes referred to as Beast Makers Alternative or Beast Makers (Reprise)).

Sounds that gave Copeland's tracks clear uniqueness were the high pitched twinkling sounds similar to those of a glockenspiel or a harpsichord. Also, the use of a vibrating rock organ in nearly all tracks make the tracks quite unique when combined with the twinkling sounds. In addition, progressions of strong electric guitar chords enhanced the excitement of some tracks and the sound of a banjo appears occasionally to support the melody. Every piece is supported by interesting percussion tracks which give it a high-energy quality which adds emensly to the character and sound of the music.

The music has been compared to that of Mutato Muzika's score of the original Naughty Dog Crash Bandicoot games. The music has never been released on CD except for one track, "Jacques" (which Copeland named "Rain" during production), on his CD which is a sample of his work over the past decade."

Hmm, so that explains the "(home world) Alternate" tracks I found when I got the music for this game. They were European!

Wow, what's the source for that info you've got there? So much interesting stuff I didn't know about.

Quote: bmah

I'm not going to make the assumption that you don't like Stewart Copeland, but...who wouldn't want his music IMO?

Who said I didn't like it? Were talking about Stewart Copeland and how he was hooked up with Insomniac.

Oh, it's just that you made it sound like you'd prefer a different artist to make the music instead. Anyways, do you have any thoughts so far to the above comments?

Not really.
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If you people didn't understand what I said, I may have to ask you to read it again. No kidding.

Wow, way to halt discussion. :/

I'm pretty sure I didn't halt any discussion.
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OK, so if Insomniac DID NOT sell Spyro out to Universal, then do you think Steward Copeland would work as their composer?

It's not like, Insomniac would have the money in their wallets to hire such a guy.

Quote: bmah

Wow, what's the source for that info you've got there? So much interesting stuff I didn't know about.

IGN article. <.<;

Quote: HIR

Hmm, so that explains the "(home world) Alternate" tracks I found when I got the music for this game. They were European!

I wouldn't be too sure about that, Sir Jester.

I have a European copy and the music isn't the alternate ones I've found on YouTube. I've had a couple pop up, however, when I had the music change as it does after a few repeats of the track. They're either that Copeland couldn't decide which one to use so entered both, entered more tracks than needed, or decided to make tracks for each world in the game since he wanted to. You may notice that the alternative tracks contain small parts of all music in its world, yet in a softer tune. For example, I noticed a couple of refrences to the Wizard Peak track in the Magic Crafters alternate track.

The only alternate one I really like is the Beast Maker's Alternate anyway. That one's so soothing for some reason. <.<;