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…  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!

(Originally posted on THIS 1.0 on 11 Aug 2005)

“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.

(Originally posted on THIS 1.0 on 12 Aug 2005)

“A Memory Away” is one of the few songs that – from inspiration to composition – changed hardly at all.  After writing “Faith,” I found myself trying out various variations on that same chord progression but not finding anything that worked.  It wasn’t until I heard “Not Enough” by OLP (Our Lady Peace), which uses the same chord progression as “Faith” and “A Memory Away,” that I realized the kind of style I wanted to try to achieve with MIDI.  I’d never heard an intelligent pop-rock instrumentation in MIDI, so this was a bit of a gamble.  I worked off the instrument mix OLP used and put together what I guess is really a variation on “Faith” with a strong OLP presence.  Go figure.

As soon as I heard it, I knew this would be a perfect female character theme for the lead character of Defiance, one of the story premises discussed by the video game team I was working with at the time.  The protagonist of the story was a girl named Cara, who I see being comparable to the main character in “Underworld” (if you haven’t seen the movie, you should – it’s good).  Cara was a strong, action-oriented girl who ends up falling in love with a man she thought she was saving.  Thus the song is a – perhaps odd – mix of electric guitar and other rock instruments but with a mellow melody.

Technically-speaking the song may not be anything outstanding, but I’m pleased that my first attempt at trying to produce a realistic alternative-type song using nothing but MIDI instruments worked out.  The mp3 version uses a mix of soundfonts and multiple VST effects to create a very nice, surprisingly realistic sound.  I think you’ll like it.

(last updated 10 March 2010)

“Remember” is a simple remix of the 2nd half of “Cyaron’s Gate” – which tells you how long ago I wrote it (~1999).  Despite its age, I still find it to be one of my more majestic themes.  I wrote this song for piano probably a good year or two before I used it as part of Cyaron’s Gate, and a short piano version of it is available for anyone curious about what it originally sounded like.  Email me if interested.  :)

I’ve not done much to change it from the piano version to the MIDI version, and I don’t know that I’ll ever change this theme much.  There’s something invariably nostalgic about compositions from early in your career, and messing with songs from that era just seems…wrong, you know?

(Originally posted on THIS 1.0 on 24 Apr 2005)

“Fate, it seems, is a funny thing, in how it creates both nightmares and dreams…

What once was black may now be white, as blinding dark becomes brilliant light…”

The only way to really understand this song is to understand Clint V. Franklin …and I don’t think anyone – Clint included – really understands that.  Kinda like this song, I guess.  It’s not really meant to have a unified theme or style or feel or anything of the sort.  It’s meant to be…”different.”

You may recognize the theme at the end (if you don’t, I won’t spoil it for you).  It was included because Clint said that particular song was the only one of my compositions that “really stirred his soul…”

Whatever, Clint.

(Originally posted on THIS 1.0 on 24 Apr 2005)

Yeah, this theme is amazing.  I’m forgoing all humility and openly admitting that this song is a MIDI masterpiece.  Seriously, I sat down at the piano one day and this just rolled off my fingers.  If only that happened more often…

Anyway, I love the acoustic sound this song draws out of terrible MIDI acoustic instruments.  The ocean SFX were an afterthought that seemed to match the flow of the melody, and I think it comes together nicely.

I would love to someday do an epic orchestration of this piece but have yet to amass the soundfonts to do it correctly.  When I do, it’s gonna win an award.  It’s just that good. :)

(Originally posted on THIS 1.0 on 24 Apr 2005)

“Crossroads” was written well before the Britney Spears movie, lest any of you think there’s some kind of connection between the two.

There isn’t.  I promise.

“Crossroads” has been the character theme of several unfinished game characters.  Generally, it seems to embody a secondary party member who – in typical fashion – has something to prove but not necessarily the means to prove it.  Using what was, for a time, my trademark mix of instruments (gotta love the ol’ charang), this is another harmonically simple piece with a simple but catchy melody.  I firmly believe that the best “theme” songs are actually thematic in nature…something often lost in modern video game and film scores.  Theme songs should have a recognizable “theme”, i.e. something that you could sit down and plink out on a piano and know right away what it was from.

I’d like to think that “Crossroads” has such a theme.  Something simple, something memorable.

(Originally posted on THIS 1.0 on 24 Apr 2005)