Orchestral Recordings
I was extremely forturnate to be able to conduct and record with the Seattle Symphony & Choir for a MMOG project I worked on recently.
I composed pieces for each starting city with unique thematic elements to help support the races and environments.
After the recordings were complete I layered in the orignal sample-based tracks that were used to create the orchestrations and arranagements before mixing and mastering the final versions.
While the game had a combined total of over twenty hours of music, only one hour was recorded with the orchestra and choir. These tracks are presented here.
There were three main in-game continents patterned after real world locations found in Asia, Europe, and Persia.
The final three tracks are songs written for each of the three elvish cities sung in languages created for each clan.
All of these tracks can be found on the Vanguard: Saga of Heroes soundtrack disk that shipped with the collector's edition of the game.
Cars Race-O-Rama
This was an interesting project for me as I directed the audio along with being the Senior Producer in charge of the game from start to finish.
The music for the world is well established; basically staight ahead country rock and blues, but we added some new environments which allowed me to create some new music for the franchise. We introduced the areas of Motoropolis, Autoiva, and santa Carburera which have a distinctly modern feel.
The closing theme was orignally written to be the opening theme and I composed it prior to the game being built. It was my attempt to predict what I thought the game would end up becoming. As the game changed and evolved over time we ended up going with something more soothing and passive that worked better. It was a fun experiment none the less.
I dusted my guitar off for a few of these tracks and got to play some pretty hard rockin' stuff which is always fun.
The last three tracks were written by Andy Powers who is a brilliant multi-instrumentalist who performed all of the instrumentation on the tracks. I recorded, mixed, and mastered the final versions for inclusion in the game.
Globs of Doom
Globs of Doom is a game based on a combination of Nickelodeon franchises all coming together and joining forces. Both heroes and villains are included and many are playable here for the first time.
The story has a real 1950's sci-fi feel, hence the use of the theremin spread across many of the game's tracks.
The closing theme is a variation of the main theme played with more modern instrumentation. I was able to sneak in some 7/4 sections into the main theme which always helps mix things up a bit.
I based most of the tracks on the existing franchise music, but I took several liberties including the use of heavy techno instruments when the characters leave the world and head into space.
I tried to give each environment and boss encounter a unique feel to help build suspense and tension.
Vanguard: Saga of Heroes
I composed twenty hours of music for Vanguard over a period of about two years. During that period I wrote every day without fail which really helped me nail the size and scope of the massive game world.
The music for this game was designed and composed in a modular fashion for each distinct environment and was created to be interactive. Each piece is composed of twelve layers that are triggered on and off by a series of in-game events or actions by the player; as well as environmental variables such as time of day and the length of time the player spent in a region. Each region also had ten layers of combat music which was seamlessly transitioned when the player was in battle.
I had a personal goal of composing at least half of the pieces outside of standard 4/4 timings, so many of the pieces are written in 5/4. 7/4, 6/8, 11/8, and other non-standard meters. I also experimented with whole tone scales, and twewlve tone row composing.
The game world inhabitants were as culturally diverse as our real world, so I was able to use instruments and voicings from around the globe.
I enjoyed working on a game which offered so many opportunities to the composer to experiment and push the envelope.
During the last eighteen months I stepped in to join the production staff and get the game focused and shipped before moving on.
Crash Nitro Kart
I was contracted to do Crash Nitro Kart just after leaving Vicarious Visions and returning back to California from New York.
Universal was so happy with the music that they asked me to remix a custom soundtrack disc that was part of a special package deal with WalMart. This was the second time a game I composed for received a soundtrack release and everyone was very pleased with the results.
Propellerhead had recently released Reason and I used it extensively in my writing. I believe this was my first entirely digital score; where the tracks never left the digital domain.
The Crash Bandicoot series has a very recognizable sound palette and it was fun working with lots of percussiive tonal instruments to create this score.
This was also one of the first games that supported an entirely 3D score; where the music was delivered in 5.1 surround sound formats.
Snocross / Whiteout
Snocross was an interesting project for me as it provided me with an opportunity to really cut loose creatively.
While there is a heavy techno bend to the entire score I was able to crank up the guitars on several of the tracks as well.
This was the last project I used a Mac computer on, and it was all written using Digital Performer. I had purchased a Roland MC-505 when the project started to help provide the tech feel.
I was living in New York at the time and my good friend Corby Gallegos came out to visit me. While he was in New York he came to the studio and helped lay down the vocals for the final two tracks. We had a request for a Rammstein influenced piece so we did the best we could creating Der Wanderpries. We had a lot of fun creating that track.
One of the best things about working on this game was taking a trip up into the mountains of Vermont where I spent the day riding Snowmobiles to get a feel for how they operate.
Terminus
Terminus was my first large scale project and I poured my heart and soul into the compositions.
The game was a space flight and combat simulator for PC, Mac, and Linux. The creators were big fans of Babylon 5 so I did quite a bit of research into the music of the show which was written by former Tangerine Dream founder Christopher Franke.
The music became a fast paced blend of orchestral instruments layered over heavy percussion with some techno elements sprinkled in. Terminus was one of the first titles to ship with a separate soundtrack disc included with every copy of the game.
I recorded the project using Digital Performer and the main instruments were a Roland JV-1080 and a Roland D-70. I included some guitar on a few tracks where it seemed to fit; mostly minor melodic lines played using an ebow.
Once the score was complete I was asked to become the Audio Director for start-up company Vicarious Visions who created and funded the game.
Personal Music
In between projects i will often sit down and write music. Most of the time I am learning new software or hardware, or simply experimenting.
These tracks are a mix of trance, world, jazz, electronic, and industrial styles all mixed and mashed together. If someone asked me what my personal musical style is, I would refer them to this page and allow them to draw their own conclusion.
These tracks are not particularly polished, arranged or orchestrated with any precision, as they are not client based recordings so please keep that in mind when listening to this page.
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