The internet is a wild and wonderful place. It can also be extremely disgusting - for example, if you accidentally type “roids” instead of “droids” into Google Images - but I digress. Today we’re discussing pleasant things. And would could be more pleasant than a Super Nintendo game known as Spanky’s Quest?
Working with Dan Milican at S-Films, and Paul Cavazos at Olah, I composed and performed this music for the Two Days in Texas soundtrack. There is an internet-edit in my portfolio, but I’ve posted the long version here.
Here is a track that will appear in a film project I will posting in the portfolio soon. It’s a bluesy piece with traditional orchestration backing it up (strings, woodwinds) and some acoustic guitar.
The acoustic guitar was recorded with a RODE NT-1A condenser mic, mixed with a little bit of the acoustic’s built in pickup. Most of the other instruments are software instruments, except for the electric guitar. The orchestral stuff was from the Miroslav Philharmonik plugin. I was tempted to use the lush East West QL libraries, but they ended up being too dense / heavy in the mix.
This project was heaps of fun - big shoutout to Paul C on this one.
Here is a little ditty I worked up a while back and then forgot all about. I rediscovered it while digging through some files on my machine. Actually I rediscovered a lot of half-finished ideas and songs, which I really should get to some sort of completed state, just so I can post them here.
You might ask why I post unfinished ideas at all. I like to archive my ideas on this site so that when I am working on new projects, I can use it as a reference library of sounds, phrases, mixes, and ideas. Its much easier to browse things here than on my hard drive, inside a maze of folders, etc.
Hence the “journal” title of this website. I am working on a portfolio of work though, which I should be able to launch later this month - stay tuned!
Back to this track: I am not really sure what this would sync well with. The bongos are reminiscent of a tiki-torch party on the beach, but the guitar is more like something you would hear in a dark smokey jazz club. Then there is the mysterious and ethereal song structure…which is out of place in both of those settings. But the end result of these combinations is something else entirely. If I had to pick, I would say it would fit with some sort of Vegas casino theme. Maybe a fashion scene in a heist movie…
Haven’t posted in a while - here is a recent track I was commissioned to make for an animated presentation - complete with some “whoosing” when stuff flies on and offscreen. If this video goes online I will post a link to it here later on…
Tools: Logic, Superior Drummer, various compressor plugins. All performed, except for 1 blippy sample which is so low in the mix you probably won’t hear it.
Lots of things in the works, new music, site redesign, and more. Its all going to have to wait until I can make some time to do it the right way, but Fall 2009 looks like an achievable deadline. Stay tuned…
Gabriel Jeffrey is a very talented man, so I was pleased as punch when I got the chance to collaborate with him on a video short. This work was commissioned by Lisa Kirk, a New York City artist, to be shown at her gallery exhibition. The show opens on the 20th at Invisible Exports in NYC.
This is a proof-of-concept / idea I submitted a while back, to a friend who is working on a very exciting video project. Since the piece I am posting here was recorded, we have improved on it, but I wanted to keep the original version around for posterity.
Bonus points to anyone who can guess what late 70’s TV show inspired parts of this music and melody.
When the project is finished, I will embed it on this site, along with all the info, credits, etc.
Here is another soundtrack for a corporate-related video. This is a more worldly company, as you can tell from the slightly “world” rhythm track. Again, some breakdowns and build-ups that are based around interview segments and news clips.
This was my first time experimenting with Stylus RMX from Spectrasonics. It was very useful - I was able to quickly establish the basic rhythms I wanted, and get to the arrangements earlier than usual. If I can find a way to smoothly trigger Stylus RMX with my MIDI drums, it would be pretty hawt. But the Stylus RMX interface is not really geared for this, so we will see if I can work it out.
Posting soundtracks without the video is a drag, but I’d rather log my work here than wait for the video permission, etc. So here is yet another tune I did for a corporate client who shall not be named. Imagine lots of bright stage lights, some talking heads, footage of live performances, etc. Anytime there is a slow segment, chances are that is a person speaking over the track.
In this mix I am experimenting with some of the PSP Audioware plugins - they make some compressors and EQs that are quite nice, and really bring some excitement into the mix. The audio instrument / plugin field is bursting with options these days, and I am in the process of trying to find out what I need, what is useful, and what sounds like crap.
This is a piece I created for a video that was to be shown at an executive annual meeting for a company who shall remain nameless (but whose products you almost certainly own). I wish I could post the video here - but I think it was for “internal use only”. I will find out for sure and post it if I can.
UPDATE: You might want to turn down your volume down a bit, because this track is a bit louder than the others for various reasons.
I think this funky / rockin track would go well with a movie or video game about bank robbery, or a casino heist (a la Ocean’s 11/12/13). I think it could also work with a sports game. I can visualize it to the intro cut sequence of the players walking onto the field, and then clashing together in the game as the music starts rocking.
I organized it into the following sections: Intro: Men in Suits Walking in Step / Big Time Player Theme / Neon Breakdown / Big Time Player Theme End.
With the exception of one drum loop in the background, all of these tracks were played by me, mostly using MIDI devices, but the guitars and bass are “real”. The drums aren’t programmed, I played them on my Roland MIDI kit. I mastered and re-mastered this track quite a lot, trying to make it “hot”, and the end result turned out pretty well I think.
This is a track I arranged and recorded with some close friends over 10 years ago. It is a re-interpretation of the timeless Super Mario Brothers Theme. I always wanted to put an animated sequence to this music: Imagine poor Luigi, living forever in the shadow of his more charismatic, successful brother Mario. Of course, I’d be sued in a heartbeat. All these instruments are real humans! No computers or programming. Me: guitar, pedal effects, and arrangement. The talented Jordan Siegel: Drums. The funky Micah Roark: Bass. Recorded in 1996 at Asleep at the Wheel Studios (Bismeaux) in Austin, Texas.
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I was pleased to be hired by OysterCatcher Studios to contribute some music to an excellent film about the SEA Semester study program.
So here is a more traditional version of the song (see this post for the other version).So I abandoned the West-Side-Roll feel (apparently being from Austin isn’t good enough, you have to be from San Antonio to make it work) and modeled the song into a more train / blues feeling. The idea still works well. I tossed a solo in there as a placeholder for the vocal track.
I had this idea for a song that was heavily inspired by a Sir Douglas Quintet tune, but the more I tried to go for that feeling, the trickier it got. Instead of a 1-4-5, I wrote a 1-4-1-6m-6# (?) sort of thing.
It’s sort of feisty, which I like. But the keyboard part is too ‘Baba o’Reilly-meets-the-circus’. Maybe I’ll take it out.
This was the first sketch of a tune that the Naturals are doing now, and I prefer the live version to this initial draft. But the basic idea is the same. I like to roughly sketch out the sections of music, and play with the transitions at home, then take it to a live situation and see where it goes.
I’ll post a live YouTube version of this song sometime to show the difference…
Here is a snip of a tune I am working on for Nathan & the Naturals. I’ve been on the fence about what direction to take this song in. Right now it seems like it’s on the verge of being an upbeat Bill Withers tune (Good!) or one of Michael McDonald’s later works (maybe not so good).
(Guilty admission: I love Keep Forgettin’.
All instruments by me (guitar, midi instruments, samples. Software: Logic).
This is a track from the first demo EP I was ever involved with. My friends (Jordan, drums/background vocals; Micah, bass) and I recorded three songs at Bismeaux studios in Austin, TX. Our band name was “Any Volunteers”, which I still think is a pretty damn good name. I think this was in either 1996 or 1997, but I am not sure.This song is called “Cast Out” and the lyrics are inspired by a dream I had. Something about a Death Clock, and a conversation with an old man (who was maybe me?)…I can’t really remember.