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?
Here is a track for a non-existent video game. I’ve been doing some experiments with the Pipmak engine, and this music works well for a game in the Point-and-Click Myst-style genre.
Imagine yourself on a lonely desert planet that contains the ruins of an ancient civilization. You must solve puzzles and mysteries in order to unlock their secrets, and learn what wiped them out. Yes, its a cliche- but it works well in this genre.
0:00-0:54 - Intro sequence with Title screen menu loop
0:55-1:01 - Outro from menu into game
1:02-1:14 - Puzzle solved
1:15-3:05 - Ambient FX and music
Before I moved to Japan I used to watch a lot of anime. In particular I liked most of the Studio Ghibli and Production I.G stuff (Spirited Away, Ghost in the Shell, etc). There are a lot of musical themes that both studios return to again and again, and it really creates a vivid world for the viewer.
Anyway, this is a track that is sort of tribal and mystical. Something about this track reminds me of the forest spirits in Princess Mononoke, but there are touches of the Ghost in the Shell soundtrack, too. It is a very dramatic and open track - I tried to keep the “curve” of the arrangement relatively flat - no sudden changes or jumps - like a river flowing along.
Reading the entry for Joe Hisashi, who composes the music for many Studio Ghibli films, I was surprised to learn he was a typesetter! I think many people who are interested in graphic design are also interested in music composition - after all, arranging a layout and arranging music share many things in common. I would love to ask Mr. Hisashi what he thinks about this idea.
This is music designed to fit with a questing / fantasy game. Something along the lines of the Zelda series: cute, fun, magical. Elves, mazes, tunnels, goblins, swords and armor, magic items…that sort of thing.
As you listen, you will hear the following segments:
INTRO (0:00): The music you hear during the main menu, before you start the game
EXPLORING (0:24): The general theme of the tune…traveling, questing
PUZZLE SOLVING (0:55): Presented with some sort of test / trial / puzzle
EXPLORING REVISITED (1:12): Back to the wandering theme, but fuller, more triumphant.
BATTLE (1:51): Attacked! Imagine the clashing of swords over this segment
DEAD (2:10): You sustained one blow too many, and keeled over. Hope you saved!
All of these instruments are MIDI instruments, tweaked and played in Logic Pro 8. I am a big fan of the toy piano sounds, I think they hold the whole piece together, and give it a fun feeling.
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.
Since my wife and I are living overseas, away from our immediate family, we uploaded a video of our daughter to YouTube so relatives could see her. I was compelled to create some silly baby-esque music to accompany the video clips. For some reason I got it into my head that it needed to be a video-gamey kind of thing…
One interesting thing about being a parent is that you’re always singing - bedtime lullabyes, TV show sing-a-longs, playing pat-y-cake, etc. I enjoy it more than I would like to admit. Now if I could only keep myself from bursting into Old-Mac-Donald-Had-A-Farm when I am waiting by myself on the train platform.