Need for Speed II (1996)
Composer
This was our first try at writing and implementing an interactive music system. Each section of each song would have 3 levels of intensity, and the game would choose the intensity based on how close to first place you were in the race. The songs here are how we wrote them, as linear songs. They were then edited on the fly by the game engine.
My wife Angela features on Headless Horse. My brother-in-law Chris features on Coroboree on the digereedoo and the usual Sak-meister sheds as usual.
Jeff… is there a full and longer song for the main title screen with the cars racing each other?
The intro video features a remixed version of the song “Gore”. Saki and I wrote and produced it, but the remix for the intro was done by our good friends Traz Damji and Ken Marshal.
Nashat was one of the best pieces for me, especially the part from 4:22 – 4:59, which I called the “Headbanger.” Was Angela in on the vocals on the part, as well as the beginning?
No, that wasn’t Angela…I think it was a sample we found in a library somewhere.
HUGE fan of NeedForSpeed II and HUGE fan of Jeff Van Dyck, no surprise he is behind TotalWar music as well (which I also love).
A BIG THANK YOU for all the stuff you have offered us all these years! Keep it up!
Salutations
Dang where are the downloads ={ I was hoping for the NHL tunes too as the PS1 ones are watered-down and don’t wish to resort to 240p youtubes ..
I can’t believe having the chance of talking to the guy behind Need for Speed II music! I have been such a fan every since 1996 :D… By then I was a little kid and still found the way of extracting the tracks from the game just to listen to them… I still listen to these tracks frequently, I really appreciate and enjoy your work. Thanks!
Totally agree and I still listen to all that music too
favourite soundtrack!
Hey Jeff,
You don’t have HeinerKlingle listed on here, why is that? You composed that awesome music track!
That song I had named as “Castle”…not sure why, it was so long ago now…I think cause you drove through a castle? Thanks for pointing that out 🙂
What drums did you used in “Gore” (sorry for asking but i’m extremely curious)? I’m still searching for drums to sound that good like it sounds in “Gore”! The drums were a part from an electric kit, from a keyboard (like many keyboards have nowadays) or they were truly from an acoustic kit recorded with microphones? Please respond if you can! It’s very difficult to guess and they sound marvelous. I mean it, i have never heard a drum kit to sound better!
These drums were samples, using SampleCell II and layering samples together to get large fat sound.
Hah, that’s funny… listening to Gore, now all I can think of is how much it sounds like a high-fidelity version of a song that could’ve been in Skitchin’! Great work 🙂
why are need for speed 2 songs at 128kbps mp3??? I would be extremely grateful if you post all your soundtracks in at least 256kbps or preferably in lossless FLAC.
Anyways keep up the good work, Love all your soundtracks in various games 🙂
Then again, it may be “Hell-bent on Lederhosen”…
Any chance I could purchase the score to “Heinerklinge”? I LOVE that composition!
You can find it here or everywhere over the net 🙂
Great Work! Thank you for providing the tracks for download. I enjoy listening to your music since the early days.
Oddly enough, even though I’ve played both games – NHL 97 and NFS 2 – I realize now while listening to some tracks that they sound similar in a way. I guess it is because of the instruments you used these days. I have not noticed it then.
Hey what keyboard did you used on the NFS II series? Its just awesome how does it sounds and i am in a continuous searching for it! Please respond! I love your work! Especially “Gore” blowed my mind!
Glad you like it 🙂 I had several synths. I used a SampleCell, K2000, Nord Lead, Novation BassStation, and a custom analog modular synth that we borrowed from SFU.
Glad you replied so fast! Its been so long, sorry for not reading it! So then i suppouse all the drums used in all of your songs of NFS II are analog modular. I though they were actually some drums from a keyboard. I mean “Gore” had an amazing drum-kit and i thought that how was that possible on that times a keyboard to have such an amazing and realistic drum-kit? I am obsessed to find the best drum-kit on a keyboard! Not even today’s Tyros cannot entirely reproduce a very cool drum-kit! Then, when i first heard your synths and special sound effects in “Gore” and the rest of the songs i was convinced you were using a NordLead 🙂 Totally convinced! And then what ruined my mind was that how could all of the songs you and your mates composed have such a high-quality? I guess this is the magic of mixing 🙂 Totally a fan of your songs for life, i extremely apreciate you made my childhood with your work, and now i can be a follower! You are my inspiration! I am also an amateur composer, good at mixing at composing songs by playing every instrument and not using styles or samplers! Thanks for everything you do, i really really appreciate every song you did! Wish you all the best!
Can you reply to another question please? I’m glad you replied. But i want to ask you if you were on the crew on NFS III HIgh Stakes. If you did, did you use the same keyboards? Some tracks from there sound so professional and are in the highest quality! 🙂 I mean at least Nord Lead was still there. Then it seems i still dont know a lot about synths and their power! They have to be used at their full capacity like you guys did! 🙂
This is one of my favorite game soundtracks! You did an AMAZING job here, and the addition of Saki Kaskas in some tracks just makes them even more amazing. I have to say, you kick ass; your musical sense overall is out of this world. Someday I’ll work with you, mark my words! xD Jeff van Dyck, you’re the man!