Music
Song: Nevermore (Game Over)
Hopefully this song doesn’t make you feel too bad, but it’s not exactly a happy song. It was originally a “game over” theme so I couldn’t make it too gleeful. :) Some unique instruments (including a celesta and glass bottles) make this a particularly unique one, so enjoy it…as much as it’s possible to enjoy a song this depressing. :)
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.
Song: Home
“Home” is short, simple, and peaceful. I hope that listening to it brings back a comforting feeling – like coming home after too much time away…
Song: Hidden Tears
“Hidden Tears” was originally designed as an a capella choir piece, but because it lost so much in transition to MIDI I added string accompaniment to the 2nd half and filled out the choir (to try and make it sound more full). For a MIDI choral number I’m impressed with how well the harmony is preserved. The emotion of the piece is striking (largely a by-product of the simplicity of the arrangement) and if I ever get the means to record a real choir doing the original version, you can bet it will show up here first…
Song: Halls of Despair
“Halls of Despair” was my first attempt at a fully mixed horror theme. Because of this, it was also the first effects-driven song I ever wrote. Part of me thinks the effects are almost too much, but another part of me kinda likes how they work together to totally disorient you. This song is best listened to at a quiet volume, so the effects are more subconscious than explicit…
Song: From Here
There are a lot of cool features in this song, the main one being that this song uses only three (yes, three) different chords. Written in C# minor, all I used was the VI, VII, and i chords – repeated in the same pattern throughout – as part of an experiment to see what I could accomplish with a minimalist chord structure… And even I was surprised at the outcome. This song is epic. This song is beautiful. This song is grand.
Song: Lost Islands
Truth be told, much of the percussion in this song came into existence via random mouse-clicking. At the time I wrote this piece, I was totally frustrated by the way my percussion tracks had all started to sound the same…so I resolved to write a percussion track unlike anything else I’d ever done. Several hundred mouse clicks later, the first rendition of “Lost Islands” was born…
Song: Find You
“Find You” is a return to the roots of classic RPG music. Originally designed as a main theme (or main character theme), this song was probably my first real non-battle orchestral theme. The melody itself is purposefully short and simple, and the three levels of orchestration (duet -> trio -> epic) are pretty standard for an RPG theme. The counterpoint between the oboe and brass in the final section worked out particularly well, and – fun fact – this song spans almost the entire physical range of the oboe.
Song: Fate (Clint’s Theme)
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.”
Song: DragonFyre’s White Knights Remix
DragonFyre was the second composer working on the score of the legendary TGP/TLA project. His music has a crazy ambient vibe to it (something foreign to my traditional line of composition) so I wanted to take one of his songs and rework it in classic Helland style. “White Knights” seemed the best choice as it was one of DragonFyre’s more thematic songs…
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