Thursday, July 17th, 2008 |
(Originally posted on THIS 1.0 on 14 Oct 2006)
<Original THIS 1.0 Description>
Okay - I’ve finally had it. 
I have listened to so many mediocre arrangements of this song that it’s finally time to write a good one.
For those who don’t know (and how could you not?!), Aeris’s Theme comes from quite possibly the greatest game of all time: Final Fantasy VII. The theme is beautiful, and many artists have attempted to arrange it in a variety of styles. Most are terrible; a rare few turn out very nice. I hope that this intermediate-level arrangement fits the latter description… 
I hesitated to post this song since it is, as described, an impromptu performance. I didn’t edit this MIDI at all. What you hear is straight how it came outta my fingers, sloppy runs and all. But I feel like it’s important to post a good, original, live arrangement of this piece on the internet since most of the amateur versions out there sound like they came out of a Lv3 Alfred Book. Argh. This is certainly a more varied, lively performance than the ones I’ve heard so far. (And no, I haven’t heard the Piano Collections arrangement of this, unfortunately. I imagine it’s quite good!)
It is probably also worth mentioning that this was arranged by ear, without any source notation. The mp3 file is soundfont-generated and IS NOT from an actual piano. I apologize for that, but alas - no recording studio yet! Someday!! 
Comments/requests for additional FF arrangements are welcome.
Posted in Final Fantasy Remix, Music | No Comments »
Thursday, July 17th, 2008 |
(Originally posted on THIS 1.0 on 24 Aug 2006)
<Original THIS 1.0 Description>
After reading Eragon by Christopher Paolini, I was struck by the beauty of a teenager making the New York Times Bestseller list with his first book - and in such a magnificent, emphatic way. If that’s not living the “American Dream,” I don’t know what is.
Anyway, the book is quite good and I am very impressed by Chris’s accomplishment. So in honor of him and his first novel, I’ve written a piano tribute to my two favorite parts of the book: the world of Alagaesia and the protagonist Eragon. This piano piece begins and ends with an Alagaesian theme while the middle section is a tribute to Eragon. I hope it does both justice.
This was recorded off my old Roland HP-30006 keyboard and synthesized via the Personal Companion 5.1 soundfont. A live recording would fix a lot of the volume and velocity woes (keyboards emphasize certain notes funnily), but this will do until I can afford a Yamaha Disklavier…
Posted in Music, Tribute | No Comments »
Thursday, July 17th, 2008 |
(Originally posted on THIS 1.0 on 14 Oct 2006)
<Original THIS 1.0 Description>
Planet Source Code is one of my favorite open source programming sites on the internet. I’ve been involved with PSC since the late 90’s, and still like to drop in every now-and-then. I was doing this just last week when I came across “Wild Waters” (follow the link above), a freeware 2d game written in VB by Trent Jackson. Trent was looking for music for the project, so I looked around and found this old (but good!) song sitting on my hard drive and offered it to Trent as a theme song for his project. It seems to fit!
Known as “It Begins.mid” back in TGP/TLA days, this song is a simple arcade-style theme song. I based it loosely off “Cold” by matchbox twenty and I’m still fond of it even though it hasn’t been online for several years. I don’t know why I never uploaded this before - it’s a decent theme!
Posted in Music, Theme, Ubuntu (Linux) | No Comments »
Thursday, July 17th, 2008 |
(Originally posted on THIS 1.0 on 9 Dec 2006)
One of my favorite Christmas songs in epic video game style. Happy Holidays!
Posted in Christmas, Music | No Comments »
Thursday, July 17th, 2008 |
(Originally posted on THIS 1.0 on 23 Aug 2006)
<Original THIS 1.0 Description>
As is becoming typical in my work, this song relies heavily on its mp3 mix for sound quality. MIDI instruments just don’t do it justice.
I wanted this piece to be a simple, catchy town theme - not the typical dull background piece associated with that style of VG music. I like the instrument mix and pace and am pretty darn happy with how it’s turned out so far. Perhaps in the future I’ll lengthen it, since this version is unfortunately short…
Posted in Music, VG Town | No Comments »
Thursday, July 17th, 2008 |
(Originally posted on THIS 1.0 on 11 Aug 2005)
<Original THIS 1.0 Description>
Ah, it’s nice to have this remix done. While I enjoyed writing the original “Journey” midi, this song has been in desperate need of an mp3 mix for awhile.
There are several noticeable differences between this and the original; I’ve tried to rewrite some of the weaker sections without changing the song too much (it is, after all, a theme song hehe). Also, the change of the lead instrument to a Spanish trumpet turned out as good as I could have hoped for. Spanish trumpets are awesome!
Many thanks go out to Kroc for all he’s done to help me out these past few years. This song - as well as Leaving Millie and Retribution are my small way of saying thanks!
Posted in Character Theme, Music | No Comments »
Thursday, July 17th, 2008 |
(Originally posted on THIS 1.0 on 12 Aug 2005)
<Original THIS 1.0 Description>
“Leaving Millie” is an interesting addition to the theme of Kroc’s life (my source material for this “Kroc’s Symphony” experiment; see also Retribution and The Journey). In spring 2005, Kroc shared with me a series of remarkable stories. One of the recurring characters in these stories was a girl named “Millie,” and she is the inspiration for this song.
My hope for this was to accomplish several things. I wanted a piece that sounded pretty and pleasant (not dark or dreary), but I didn’t want to go so far as “happy,” per se. I wanted it to be the kind of song you could contemplate to. I also wanted it to start simple, but progress into a more complex ending that stayed true to the simpleness of the melody. It’s designed to be a sort of musical conundrum. :) I’m rather fond of it.
Again, thanks go out to Kroc for all he’s done to help me out. This song, as well as The Journey and Retribution, are my small way of saying thanks.
By popular request, I have also included a “live piano” version of this piece. In this version the piano track was recorded as MIDI through my keyboard and recreated via soundfont - so it’s not entirely “live”, but the notes are an exact replica of me at my keyboard. In my opinion, this version has more grandeur than the all-electronic version, and although there are some dissonant notes at the end (oops!), I find this to be a nice improvement on an already excellent song.
Posted in Character Theme, Love, Music | No Comments »
Thursday, July 17th, 2008 |
(Originally posted on THIS 1.0 on 15 Aug 2005)
<Original THIS 1.0 Description>
Retribution is my favorite rock/battle theme to date. It’s a great mix of old and new RPG elements, and the whole feel and pace of it turned out better than I could have hoped for.
The mp3 version of this song is a must-download; while I like the MIDI version, it won’t sound nearly as good as the mp3. Soundfonts are a wonderful thing. :) Also, if you have reverb effects on your sound card you may want to ramp them up for this song.
Posted in Music, Rock, VG Battle | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 9th, 2008 |
Several months ago I had the enjoyable - and enlightening - experience of reading through some 20+ excerpts at the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest (ABNA). It was very interesting to see firsthand the vast difference in raw talent among aspiring writers. Some of these people make you wonder why they’re not published already while others make you wonder why they’re writing at all.
Anyway, after returning and glancing through several particularly boring entries, I’ve decided that many aspiring authors could stand to listen to a bit of music while they work.
So as a courtesy, here’s some recommended listening for your genre of choice:
Science Fiction Music
Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through The Eyes of Madness
by Coheed and Cambria
While every Coheed and Cambria album is worthy of your listening, I found IV a particularly good album for writers. For those who don’t know, Claudio Sanchez (the band’s lead singer) is also a comic book author. C&C’s music tells the story of Claudio’s comic book series The Amory Wars, an epic space opera. Each album covers a wide array of styles; some songs are almost pop, others punk, some are really pretty acoustic numbers, and C&C’s classic metal sound is hard to beat. Even cooler is the band’s near-use of leitmotifs, as recurring themes throughout each album appear depending on the events and speakers.
Every C&C album is brilliant. Do check them out.
Fantasy Music
Final Fantasy S Generation
Anything Nobuo Uematsu, but I especially like Final Fantasy: S Generation
If you’ve lived this long and never heard of Final Fantasy, you’re lame. No really - you’re totally missing out on some of the most original music to come out of Japan in the last twenty years. Uematsu (the series’ long-time composer) was named as one of Time Magazine’s “Innovators,” and the recognition was well-warranted. Uematsu’s scores draw from a wide variety of styles and he’s done more to make video game music legitimate than perhaps anyone else in his field.
S Generation is a fantastic orchestral remix of songs from Final Fantasy 7, 8, and 9 - the games for the original PlayStation. I’m particularly fond of the beautiful orchestral arrangement of Aeris’ Theme, and the piano remix of Eyes on Me is second-to-none.
The otherworldly nature of fantasy writing could draw a lot of inspiration from the mystic beauty of Uematsu’s work.
Action/Adventure Music
Phobia
by Breaking Benjamin
This is perhaps the most epic rock album you’ll ever own. If you enjoy bands like Foo Fighters, Fuel, Evanescence, and 3 Doors Down, this album is especially likely to impress you.
Phobia is one of those rare albums where you can actually listen to the entire album start-to-finish without skipping a single track. Even stranger, the headline tracks from this album (Diary of Jane and Breath) aren’t even the best songs BB has to offer - Dance with the Devil and Evil Angel are both masterpieces, and the acoustic version of Diary of Jane almost eclipses the original.
This is perhaps my favorite hard rock album of all-time, and I wrote every action scene in The Zargansk Wars while listening to this killer CD.
More genres to follow in the future.
Posted in Essays, Ideas, Music, Writing | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 24th, 2008 |
(Originally posted on THIS 1.0 on 24 May 2005)
<Original THIS 1.0 Description>
“King of the Desert” is kind of a new endeavor for me. In experimenting with some new soundfonts, I’ve really wanted to bust out a powerful rock ‘n roll number. This is what came.
This chord progression has been in the back of my head for awhile, but until this song I’d never found a good use for it. While I like the melody and structure of “King of the Desert,” the real masterpiece, however, is the countless subtle effects used throughout. The strum of the guitar, the pitch fades on the high power chords, realistic harmonics on the guitar solos (I’ve never heard a synthesized song use them correctly until this); this song is a product of a lot of carefully implemented effects. I love way it all came together. Hopefully this song is indicative of a new style I’ll be able to put to good use in some future songs…
Posted in Music, Rock | No Comments »
