The Music of Blizzard Entertainment

[Reidor]

Hello guys, my name is Alexander and im from Russia, i founder of the first russian fan club dedicated to Blizzard Entertainment composers + i that guy who published Warcraft Adventures, maybe you remember this story..

In general, I like Blizzard games, but music in their projects i love bigger.

So that, i gradually collect music collection dedicated Blizzard, digital and physical and i would be very glad, if would you can to help me.

In the current time i'm looking for these albums, so that, if you know where i can buy their or if someone can give their as gift, please respond me

You can write in this topic or on my email - [email protected]

My collection in current time - Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

Albums which i'm looking:
1996 - Mr. Tom & Got Show - Warcraft: The German Mixes (German release, CD);
2000 - StarCraft Game Music Vol. 1 (Korean release, Cassete);
2000 - Diablo II Soundtrack EP (CD);
2000 - Diablo II Soundtrack (CD);
2000 - Diablo II Soundtrack (Unknown version, CD);
2000 - Diablo II Soundtrack (Spanish, CD);
2000 - Diablo II Soundtrack (Polish, CD, Ver 2);
2001 - Diablo II Soundtrack (Germany, CD);
2001 - Diablo II: Lord of Destruction Soundtrack EP (Pre-order bonus, CD);
2001 - Diablo II: Lord of Destruction Soundtrack (CD);
2001 - Diablo II: Lord of Destruction Soundtrack (Polish version, CD);
2002 - Mystical Tales: The Sound of Warcraft III (Flyer);
2002 - Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos Soundtrack (CD);
2003 - Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Soundtrack EP (Pre-order bonus, CD);
2004 - World of Warcraft Soundtrack EP (German pre-order bonus, CD);
2004 - World of Warcraft Soundtrack (CD);
2007 - World of Warcraft: Taverns of Azeroth Soundtrack (Blizzcon 07, CD);
2007 - World of Warcraft: Taverns of Azeroth: Happy Holidays From the Blizzard Audio Team ("Handmade" design from Blizzard Audio Dept, CD);
2007 - StarCraft Soundtrack (CD);
2009 - World of Warcraft: Mosaic Soundtrack (Blizzcon 09, CD);
2010 - StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty Soundtrack (CD);
2010 - Revolution Overdrive - Songs of Liberty (Blizzcon 10, Vinyl);
2011 - The Music of Diablo 1996 - 2011: Diablo 15 Year Anniversary (Blizzcon 11, CD);
2012 - Diablo III Soundtrack (CD);
2013 - World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Soundtrack Volume II (Blizzcon 13, CD);
2013 - StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm Soundtrack Volume II (Blizzcon 13, CD);
2014 - Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Soundtrack (Dev version, CD);
2014 - World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor Soundtrack (CD);
2015 - StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void Soundtrack (CD);
2016 - Lucio - Synaesthesia Auditiva (Promo soundtrack from Overwatch Recruit Kit, Vinyl);
2016 - Warcraft Movie Soundtrack (Vinyl)

 

[Kyrbi0]

Woah. Mini-celebrity.

Good luck.

 

[StoPCampinGn00b]

Woah, at first I came across your thread thinking it was borderline spam. But your Imgur photos are just awesome! I think that's a great, unique hobby.

Same with Kyrbi0, I hope you find what you're looking for.

 

[Justicebringer]

Respect m8!

 

[pyf]

Just pointing out, Glenn Stafford personally distributed a zip file containing the official midi arrangements of Warcraft II.

More info here:
Warcraft 2 MIDI files - Wowpedia - Your wiki guide to the World of Warcraft


** Update **

Attached what I believe to be the original, unmodified zip file.

 

[Reidor]

Just pointing out, Glenn Stafford personally distributed a zip file containing the official midi arrangements of Warcraft II.

More info here:
Warcraft 2 MIDI files - Wowpedia - Your wiki guide to the World of Warcraft


** Update **

Attached what I believe to be the original, unmodified zip file.

Thx for archive, added him in my digital library - Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

 

[Reidor]

Update first post.

Thx one guy from South Korea for two rare CD.

2000 - StarCraft Game Music Vol. 1 (Korean release, CD);
2003 - Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Soundtrack EP (Korean Version, CD);

 

[Kyrbi0]

Ooh, Starcraft? Jealous.

 

[pyf]

For some, it is Christmas Day already.

 

[Reidor]

Collection complete on 44%
Every new release in collection +2 percent.

 

[Reidor]

Btw who know from where this cd?

 

[deepstrasz]

Btw who know from where this cd?

Diablo II Soundtrack
https://www.discogs.com/Matt-Uelmen-Diablo-II-Soundtrack/release/527363
Blizzard Entertainment:Blizzard Music:Diablo II
Don't know if that is authentic.

 

[Reidor]

I seen polish, spanish and US version (on photo)

But don't know where from version from the top photo

 

[pyf]

The W7092910 catalog number is indeed not on VGMdb:
S7100360 | Diablo II Soundtrack - VGMdb

On this page in French, it is said :
"A la fin de l'année 2000, Blizzard a décidé de sortir des Versions Limitées de Diablo II. Plusieurs pays recevront ainsi "leur" édition spéciale. L'Exclusive Gift Set est la première Edition Limitée de Diablo II qui est sortie dans le commerce, en dehors de la fameuse Collector's Edition. Mais le plus important réside dans le fait que si les versions limitées vendues en Europe se ressemblent assez fortement, la version US est très différente, tant au niveau du contenu (pas de DVD mais le jeu Diablo et son guide sont inclus) qu'en ce qui concerne la boîte (bien plus grande)."

Therefore, it is my guess this Audio CD comes from one of these Limited Editions. But from which country? Looks like an interesting little mystery to solve.
@hive: the game's afoot.

I am sure Blizzard's sales department and distribution worldwide, could help us here.

 

[Reidor]

I think need ask guys from Blizzard

 

[pyf]

Catalogue Number W7092910 mentioned here:
Game music base - database of Games, Games music and soundtracks

Also, what is this?
Diablo II Original Game Soundtrack

 

[deepstrasz]

Also, what is this?

Well, what is it then? Isn't it a link to a site that says something about the D2 OST?

 

[pyf]

Diablo II Original Game Soundtrack
Published by Azeroth Music, Digital Release, 01:01:08, Game Soundtrack - Official Release

Diablo II Soundtrack
Published by Blizzard Entertainment, Catalog number S7100334, CD, 01:01:00, Game Soundtrack - Promo / Enclosure

 

[deepstrasz]

Promo / Enclosure

What the heck is that?

 

[Reidor]

Btw someone have this polish version?

 

[pyf]

Hope someone has it.


Do you have a copy of these?
Index of /pub/blizzard/diablo2/Mp3ofTheWeek

Official page:
The Arreat Summit - Files: MP3s
dl link broken; backup file from Internet Archive sadly does nor allow to get the full ZIP

 

[Reidor]

Yes i have, i also have full sheet music for 3 tracks from alpha version Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos)


Btw, guys, who have this flyer and this CD (german)?

My collection in current moment (Year - Catalog Number - Release):

1996 [575 831-1] - Mr. Tom & Got Show - Warcraft: The German Mixes (German release, Vinyl);
2000 [DYCD-1103] - StarCraft Game Music Vol. 1 (Korean release, CD); Soon receive
2000 [nothavenumb] - Diablo II Soundtrack (Polish version, CD);
2001 [P0012658] - Diablo II: Lord of Destruction Soundtrack (Spanish version, CD);
2002 [P0012864] - Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos Soundtrack EP (CD);
2002 [583 930-2] - Mystical Tales: The Sound of Warcraft III (German release, CD);
2003 [unknownnumb]- Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Soundtrack EP (Korean Version, CD); Soon receive
2007 [S0030445] - World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Soundtrack (CD);
2008 [EMIN-00001] - Echoes of War: The Music of Blizzard Entertainment (Legendary Edition, CD);
2008 [EMIN-00002] - Echoes of War: The Music of Blizzard Entertainment (Standart Edition, CD);
2008 [S2210332RU] - World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Soundtrack (CD);
2009 [EMIN-00003] - Echoes of War: The Music of Blizzard Entertainment (Standart Edition ver 2, CD);
2010 [MUJ1423] - World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King - Fall of the Lich King Soundtrack (Blizzcon 10, CD); [SIGNED]
2010 [S23195] - World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Soundtrack (CD);
2012 [72854300RU] - World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Soundtrack (CD);
2013 [72856491RU] - StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm Soundtrack (CD);
2013 [P863232E] - Diablo III The Music of Tristram (Music sampler, CD);
2014 [72914300RU] - Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Soundtrack (CD);
2014 [unknownnumb]- Diablo III: The Haunted Sounds of Sanctuary (CD);
2016 [72985300RU] - Overwatch Soundtrack (CD);
2016 [BLM0642] - Warcraft Movie Soundtrack (CD);
2016 [S7298716] - World of Warcraft: Legion (CD); [SIGNED]


Add on my site wish list - Wish List

 

[Arrinao]

Not sure if this belongs here but I'm looking a for a single particular track from Warcraft 3 soundtrack (both Reign of Chaos and Frozen Throne have it) called Blackrock & Roll in HQ. The highest I can go it seems, looking around the Internet, is 320 kbps .
Now I don't want to buy a CD just for a single track, especially since I don't really like the rest, but from what I've seen so far, it's either the full package or bust. Even Deezer, on which I was counting, because I found many game soundtracks there turns up empty as far as Warcraft 3 goes.

Do you guys have any tips?

 

[Hermit]

Not sure if this belongs here but I'm looking a for a single particular track from Warcraft 3 soundtrack (both Reign of Chaos and Frozen Throne have it) called Blackrock & Roll in HQ. The highest I can go it seems, looking around the Internet, is 320 kbps .
Now I don't want to buy a CD just for a single track, especially since I don't really like the rest, but from what I've seen so far, it's either the full package or bust. Even Deezer, on which I was counting, because I found many game soundtracks there turns up empty as far as Warcraft 3 goes.

Do you guys have any tips?

Is this it?

 

[Arrinao]

Is this it?

Of course it is

Though your version is the ingame one (game rip I presume) with different intro. I'd actually prefer it over the intro from version in Warcraft 3 OST, which is the YT vid I provided in my previous post. From what I gather though, the only HQ version that exists is the OST one. Ingame music is 128 kbps iirc.

 

[pyf]

Not sure if this belongs here but I'm looking a for a single particular track from Warcraft 3 soundtrack (both Reign of Chaos and Frozen Throne have it) called Blackrock & Roll in HQ. The highest I can go it seems, looking around the Internet, is 320 kbps .
Now I don't want to buy a CD just for a single track, especially since I don't really like the rest, but from what I've seen so far, it's either the full package or bust. Even Deezer, on which I was counting, because I found many game soundtracks there turns up empty as far as Warcraft 3 goes.

Do you guys have any tips?

Maybe:
- Blizzard Entertainment: Blizzard Music: Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
- Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (Original Game Soundtrack) by Glenn Stafford, Derek Duke, Jason Hayes & Tracy Bush on Apple Music

More music from Blizzard:
Blizzard Entertainment: Games: Blizzard Music

 

[Arrinao]

Itunes doesn't sell music in lossless quality.

 

[pyf]

Do they use the Apple Lossless (ALAC) format? Which bitrate do they use for their m4a files? (which are in fact MP4 containers btw)

Some info about m4a files:
MPEG-4 Part 14 - Filename extensions - Wikipedia

The highest I can go it seems, looking around the Internet, is 320 kbps .

This is CD Audio quality. Therefore why the sad face?

 

[Arrinao]

No idea. Everyhwere I looked it only lists it as M4A which doesn't tell me anything.

320 kbps is CD Audio quality?? You're joking right? 320 kbps is MP3, compressed format which is therefore definitely not lossless. Lossless audio quality formats are FLAC WAV AIFF ALAC, which are running at 1411 kbps (at least in WAV case)

 

[pyf]

For Audio CDs, streams are LPCM, 2 channel, 16 bit @ 44.1kHz, 1411.2 kBps.

1411 kBps might not be up to today's standards for audiophile listening. After all, the CDDA/Red Book audio CD standard (ratified as such in 1987) was first designed in... 1980. And it was designed for a physical medium in mind.

Nowadays, raw uncompressed Audio streams may be of higher quality / bitrate (like, 24 bit @ 96kHz, 4608 kBps).


WAV and AIFF are the format of choice for uncompressed raw audio for computers. They simply append their header to the LPCM stream iirc; hence their file size.
As a side note, WAV may contain compressed audio, since it is a container. For example, it is possible iirc to store an MP3 inside a WAV file.

Lossless audio codecs are ALAC, FLAC and some others. Their bitrate is generally somewhere around 800-1000.

Lossy audio codecs are AAC or MP3 among others. Common MP3 encoding is @128kbps, but one may decide to use higher bitrates. Modern lossy audio encoding (read: AAC) @320 kBps would be perceptually nearly on par with an Audio CD, though audiophiles may strongly disagree.

As another side note, my Tomb Raider audio files are MP3s @192 kBps, and I can not tell the difference from the original CD Audio tracks. But hey, I do no have great audio hardware, nor a golden ear.
This song was used as one of the reference files, to help better refine the MP3 algo when it was first being designed.


m4a is an MPEG-4 container with only audio in it. Afaik, Apple's m4a files may use either:
- AAC (lossy)
- ALAC (lossless)

You wrote you found 320 kBps files on the Internet. It is safe to assume they use lossy audio coding.


Some interesting reads imho:
Archimago's Musings: MEASUREMENTS: Do lossless compressed audio formats all sound the same?
(AAC/MP3 @192/320 kBps vs lossless)
Blind Test Results
(a blind test, taking the participants' age into account)

Not sure if this belongs here but I'm looking a for a single particular track from Warcraft 3 soundtrack (both Reign of Chaos and Frozen Throne have it) called Blackrock & Roll in HQ. The highest I can go it seems, looking around the Internet, is 320 kbps . [...]

Do you guys have any tips?

So all this being said, what kind of 'HQ' are you looking for?

 

[Arrinao]

Well you already know the answer don't you?

I should have expressed myself better though, I'll give you that. FLAC or WAV (or some another lossless format) is what I'm looking for. I'm not a super audiophile, but even with what I have at my disposal I can tell the difference in this particular type of music (epic, horns, tubas etc). Not to mention my main goal which is cutting out the mid part (02:20 - 03:20) and make a fade out fade in parallel with the remaining two parts. Which is something I definitely shouldn't do with an MP3.

 

[Reidor]

Special videos for my club