Jump to content
Main menu
Main menu
move to sidebar
hide
Navigation
Main page
Recent changes
Random page
Help about MediaWiki
Special pages
Niidae Wiki
Search
Search
Appearance
Create account
Log in
Personal tools
Create account
Log in
Pages for logged out editors
learn more
Contributions
Talk
Editing
Donkey Kong Country
(section)
Page
Discussion
English
Read
Edit
View history
Tools
Tools
move to sidebar
hide
Actions
Read
Edit
View history
General
What links here
Related changes
Page information
Appearance
move to sidebar
hide
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
===Music=== {{Listen | filename = DKC Aquatic Ambience Sample.ogg | title = "Aquatic Ambience" | description = A 21-second excerpt from "[[Aquatic Ambience]]", the music that plays in ''Donkey Kong Country''{{'s}} underwater levels. The composition took five weeks to produce using a [[Korg Wavestation]] and Wise has called it his favourite track in the game. }} [[File:David Wise by Gage Skidmore.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[David Wise (composer)|David Wise]], ''Donkey Kong Country''{{'s}} primary composer]] [[David Wise (composer)|David Wise]] composed most of the soundtrack.<ref name="Rare: Scribes"/> Wise initially worked as a [[freelancer]] and assumed his music would be replaced by [[Koji Kondo]] because of the importance of ''Donkey Kong'' to Nintendo.<ref name="NYT: Wise">{{cite web |last1=King |first1=Darryn |title=The Man Behind the Legendary Donkey Kong Country Soundtracks |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/19/arts/music/donkey-kong-country-soundtrack-david-wise.html |website=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=November 19, 2024 |date=November 19, 2024 |archive-date=19 November 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241119154630/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/19/arts/music/donkey-kong-country-soundtrack-david-wise.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="SEMO: Wise" /> Rare asked Wise to record three jungle [[demo (music)|demo]] tunes that were merged to become the "DK Island Swing", the first level's track.<ref name="SEMO: Wise" /> Miyamoto was impressed,<ref name="NYT: Wise" /> and Wise was enlisted to produce the final score.<ref name="SEMO: Wise">{{cite web|last=Greening|first=Chris|date=December 2010|title=Interview with David Wise|url=http://www.squareenixmusic.com/features/interviews/davidwise.shtml|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120115042157/http://www.squareenixmusic.com/features/interviews/davidwise.shtml|archive-date=15 January 2012|publisher=Square Enix Music Online}}</ref> Before composing, Wise was shown the graphics and given an opportunity to play the level they would appear in, which gave him a sense of the music he would compose. He chose [[sampling (music)|samples]] and optimised the music to work on the SNES's [[SPC700]] sound chip.<ref name="Poly: Remaking" /><ref name="GI: Wise">{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_RNM2QlujU|title=Composer David Wise Dissects Donkey Kong Country's Best Music|date=5 July 2019|last=Wise|first=David|medium=[[YouTube]]|access-date=22 June 2020|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/v_RNM2QlujU|archive-date=11 December 2021|url-status=live|website=[[Game Informer]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Wise worked separately from the team in a former cattle shed, visited occasionally by Tim Stamper.<ref name="NLife: MakingOf" /><ref name="GI: Wise"/> ''Donkey Kong Country'' features atmospheric music that mixes natural environmental sounds with prominent [[melody|melodic]] and percussive accompaniments.<ref name="RareWise">{{cite interview <!-- Interviewee is specific to the question.-->|last=Wise|first=David|date=December 2004|title=The Tepid Seat - Rare Music Team|publisher=Rare|url=http://www.rareware.com/extras/tepidseat/music/index.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070126102515/http://www.rareware.com/extras/tepidseat/music/index.html|archive-date=26 January 2007}} </ref> Its soundtrack attempts to evoke the environments and includes music from levels set in Africa-inspired jungles, caverns, oceanic reefs, frozen landscapes, and industrial factories.<ref name="NLife: MakingOf" /><ref name="RareWise" /> Wise cited [[Koji Kondo]]'s music for the ''Super Mario'' and ''Legend of Zelda'' games, [[Tim Follin|Tim]] and Geoff Follin's music for ''[[Plok!]]'' (1993), and 1980s [[synthesiser]] film soundtracks, rock, and dance music as influences,<ref name="SEMO: Wise" /> and wanted to imitate the sound of the [[Korg Wavestation]] synthesiser.<ref name="RareWise" /> He wrote lyrics for each melody, though ''[[The New York Times]]'' noted "no one is really meant to hear them".<ref name="NYT: Wise" /> Since ''Donkey Kong Country'' featured advanced pre-rendered graphics, Wise wanted to push the limits to create "equally impressive" music and make the most of the limited memory he was working with.<ref name="GI: Wise"/> Wise found Donkey Kong "a little more brutal" than [[Mario]], so departed from ''Super Mario''{{'s}} [[Latin music|Latin]] and [[calypso music|calypso]]-inspired sound.<ref name="NYT: Wise" /> He wanted to compose in the style of [[1940s jazz]], seeking to imitate the [[Glenn Miller Orchestra]] in the "DK Island Swing",<ref name="NYT: Wise" /> but was restricted by the SPC700's limitations; he "used a lot of small samples and made [the soundtrack] very synthesised" to work around them.<ref name="Poly: Remaking" /> His colleague [[Grant Kirkhope]] said that Wise's familiarity with the SNES hardware meant he could "make it do things that people hadn't heard before".<ref name="NYT: Wise" /> "[[Aquatic Ambience]]", the music that plays in the underwater levels, took five weeks to compose. Wise was inspired by a recent breakup, which made him feel as if he was drowning.<ref name="NYT: Wise" /> He considers the track his favourite and the game's biggest technological accomplishment in regards to the audio.<ref name="GI: Wise"/> The boss theme was inspired by the [[Nine Inch Nails]] song "[[March of the Pigs]]" (1994), and K. Rool's theme was influenced by [[sea shanties]], [[barrel organ]] music, and the work of [[Iron Maiden]].<ref name="NYT: Wise" /> For the title screen theme, Wise [[remix]]ed Nintendo's original ''Donkey Kong'' theme to demonstrate Donkey Kong's evolution.<ref name="GI: Wise"/> Wise said his primary focus was to make the most of the SPC700, and he input the music by hand to save memory. He noted the process was easier than composing for the NES due to the larger number of sound channels.<ref name="NLife: MakingOf" /> [[Eveline Novakovic]] contributed seven tracks, including the world map theme, as her first SNES project.<ref name="Rare: Scribes">{{cite web|title=Rare: Scribes|url=http://www.rareware.com/extra/scribes/scribes_content.html|publisher=[[Rare (company)|Rare]]|access-date=13 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051227091731/http://www.rareware.com/extra/scribes/scribes_content.html|archive-date=27 December 2005|date=21 December 2005|quote=Let's see. Once he'd polished off the new DKC3 GBA score Dave found the time to dig up a full list, and it looks like this: Robin did Funky's Fugue, Eveline did Simian Segue, Candy's Love Song, Voices of the Temple, Forest Frenzy, Tree Top Rock, Northern Hemispheres and Ice Cave Chant, and the rest was the doing of Mr. Wise. Hot damn! It always makes me feel empowered when we can provide actual, genuine, non-fabricated information.}}</ref><ref name="FanByte: Novakovic">{{Cite web|last=Yarwood|first=Jack|date=22 June 2021|title=A 'Rare' interview with ''Donkey Kong Country'' composer Eveline Novakovic|url=https://www.fanbyte.com/features/a-rare-interview-with-donkey-kong-country-composer-eveline-novakovic|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220120152552/https://www.fanbyte.com/features/a-rare-interview-with-donkey-kong-country-composer-eveline-novakovic/|archive-date=20 January 2022|access-date=22 May 2022|publisher=FanByte}}</ref> Novakovic was inexperienced with the SNES hardware and Wise helped teach her as they worked together. She attempted to provide the levels a sense of purpose and drew inspiration from film composers like [[Alan Silvestri]] and [[Klaus Doldinger]].<ref name="FanByte: Novakovic" /> Funky Kong's theme was originally written by [[Robin Beanland]].<ref name="Rare: Scribes" /> According to Beanland, the track was intended for an internal progress video about another Rare game, ''[[Killer Instinct (1994 video game)|Killer Instinct]]'' (1994), before Nintendo decided to use it in a ''Donkey Kong Country'' promotional trailer. Beanland said Tim Stamper liked it and wanted to include it in the game,<ref name="BeanlandFugue">{{cite tweet|number=1098977575341301762|last=Beanland|first=Robin|title=Thanks π Yes it was originally written for an internal update/progress video for KI. @NintendoAmerica liked the track enough to use it for DKC promotion at E3...Tim loved it on the promo video and wanted it on the game. Here's the original version π|user=TheRealBeano|date=22 February 2019|access-date=13 June 2020}}</ref> so Wise adopted it.<ref name="NLife: MakingOf" />
Summary:
Please note that all contributions to Niidae Wiki may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see
Encyclopedia:Copyrights
for details).
Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)
Search
Search
Editing
Donkey Kong Country
(section)
Add topic