All Evil / Villain Articles
Song: Honky-Tonk Villain
Honky-Tonk Villain has a bit of a history behind it. I was originally commissioned to write this piece for a flash animation parody of the silent-film era. After finishing that project, I didn’t do much with this song – after all, it’s not exactly fitting for video game composing, which is what I mostly focus on. However, while working on the same game project associated with the aforementioned “Daybreak,” I needed to come up with a character theme for a particularly bad-ass villain character (appropriately titled “The Dragon”). You can imagine the response when I submitted this piece for consideration…
Song: Purgatory’s Mansion
This piece uses a really simple mix of instruments – four pianos and a drumset – to create a driving yet haunting theme unlike anything you’ve heard before. The simplicity of “Purgatory’s Mansion” is remarkable, and I think that’s why it’s such a dramatic piece despite its lack of orchestration. With the piano being my favorite instrument and the one I’ve studied the most, you’ll notice it shows up in almost every one of my compositions for at least a cameo appearance. “Purgatory” is one of the few pieces that really uses it front-and-center, and I like it…
Song: March of the Zargansk
“March of the Zargansk” is a very bass song. (That’s not the correct usage of “bass”, but I’m using it anyway. :P) Over 90% of the song takes place below middle C. There’s something ominous about the bass clef and I like exploiting that. And, MIDI instruments sound best in the low bass range because the human ear isn’t as precise in those low wavelengths – so the synthesized instruments sound more realistic than, say, a piccolo or flute in its natural range.
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