Today is homework day for me. I have a !@#$load of work to do so I’m basically going to just go until I can’t take it anymore.

What I have complete:

• Notation test where I looked at a score and analyzed it
• Worksheet where I had to point out errors in notation and labelling

What I need to complete:

• Project where I write a 4-part harmony using outer-voice counterpoint
• Vocal performance where I have to sing scales and prepared melodies
• Keyboard performance where I have to play scales and chord progressione

I think I can at least finish the project today. I am not thrilled about the performances though, as those take time and many tries. Luckily, I’m fairly good at singing and not bad at doing basic keyboard stuff. The problem is I keep getting distracted by random ideas that pop into my head and also the urge to browse stuff about upcoming Diablo 3 and Guild Wars 2. They aren’t even out yet and they’re already ruining my productivity.

Since I’ve had some people ask me lately how I make my music, I will give a little bit of insight, although it’s absolutely nothing special, whatsoever.

The primary software I use for my music is Logic Pro. I love Logic. I hate Pro Tools. I hate it, man! I feel like Logic is a really great tool for creating music, and Pro Tools is a big jumbled mess of bullshit tools you don’t really need but would be cool if you were like cutting up and sliding and dragging and flexing random stuff. Anyway, I also use Audacity for creating sound effects. It’s fantastic for that sort of thing, and I like the effects and stuff that come with Audacity.

As far as plug-ins and sound libraries, I have Komplete 8, so I use Battery for my drums and Kontakt for all of my instruments. I do use the GarageBand instruments for a lot of stuff. I also use Plogue Chipsounds for my chiptune music, but also occasionally use Sam Chip32 and YMCK Magical 8-bit Plug. They are all great. 

I can say from what little experience I have, that being good at what you do is more important than what you use to do it, if that makes sense. I mean, having a great sound library and easy to use software that enables you to make music is great, but it really boils down to how good the music is.

Maybe in the future I will give tutorials on how I do certain things, but I think about all I have going for me right now is the uniqueness of my music, so I won’t be giving away anything too crazy. I will, however, keep the tunes coming at you the best I can.

Hey everybody!

I’ve updated my Bandcamp site! That’s right, now it has some tunes that weren’t up there before, but it’s still missing a lot. I will be adding more of the soundtracks for games I’ve done in the past, and you can even download them for free! (or you can give me money for them, but let’s be honest here) Currently, I think only Spacejunk and Nanonaut (competition version) are up as of now.

Either way, just wanted to announce that. Also reformatting my website, which sadly is a major pain seeing as how iWeb is a worthless piece of software that makes perfectly nice pages look like crap once you actually access them in-browser. I will wait on my personally designed web format done by Alex, who actually likes doing web design.

Here is my Bandcamp. Enjoy!

EDIT: Fixed my website problems. Check it out!

As some of you might know, I’m in a band called The Haunts. We play horror music, mostly punk rock and death rock with some other stuff thrown in. We have been taking (admittedly) a very long time recording our first “album” of original content, Vigor Mortis, all done out of our own homes using my recording equipment. We are almost wrapping up recording after months of scattered recording sessions, with just a bit of vocals left to go.

I am going to say this album will be done mid-May if everything goes well. Since we aren’t a serious band, we aren’t taking the release too seriously - it’ll be on our Bandcamp to download for about $8 and we may sell physical copies in jewel cases. We are all about DIY so this has basically been as DIY as it gets.

I love playing with these guys and this album will be a good way to document our years as a band so far. Who knows how much longer we will remain together, but at least this album will serve as a testament to what we are right now, and where we have come from.

This past weekend I participated in my first ever Ludum Dare, which happened to be the 23rd in the event’s history. I worked with Alex Larioza (code) of PixelSquid games, my friend Thomas Jackson (sprites), and a fellow I had never met before named Travis Lucia (background art). I, of course, supplied audio and music!

It was a very fun experience seeing something so great come together so fast, especially since my job was mostly limited to audio and helping brainstorm ideas and helping with the design. I did my best to make valuable suggestions that helped the game be better, though my reach was limited. The game looks amazing, plays very well, and (I’m hoping) sounds great too!

The thing is, we didn’t get to implement everything we wanted, so the game is very open-ended at the moment. Things don’t make much sense yet, but that’s because there is no goal or direction for your character. There will be in the post-compo version, which we are currently brainstorming ideas for.

The music was somewhere between a breeze and a challenge to compose. For the main theme, “Planetside”, which plays when you are out in space, I instantly thought of a bright, uplifting piano part that ended up being the backbone of the song. I then decided that a theremin would be a good choice as a throwback to classic sci-fi space flicks like Forbidden Planet. Piano and theremin form the basis of the entire soundtrack. My biggest game musical influences I suppose were Super Mario Galaxy’s soundtrack and Animal Crossing’s soundtrack. The chilled out, relaxed music of AC had an influence on the music “Shipside”, which plays during the title and while on the protagonist’s ship. 

Sound effects were really fun to create for this project. I can’t even tell you how much more fun it is making effects for little sprite characters and monsters than it is to make sounds for random stuff that can’t really be visualized as easily. I love the style of game that Nanonaut embodies.

Hopefully we can get to work next week and expanding Nanonaut and making it more fun. My biggest complaints with this version is that the enemies are overpowered and, as I put it, “rape machines”. They have ridiculous speed and ludicrous damage, but as Alex said, this isn’t a bad thing, as a challenge is always accepted. The biggest problem is that our protagonist has a weak, slow weapon compared to them, and no upgrades at the moment. Any other criticism revolves around the lack of any goal, but that is soon to be remedied, so no need to get into detail with that. The basis for a great game is in place, and now we can flesh it out.

Play Nanonaut here. Also feel free to check it out at Ludum Dare’s website if you participated in the event and give us a rating! We are very proud of our work, and want more people to check it out, even if it isn’t finished yet.

The past few days I’ve felt extremely down and out. I think part of it feels like I’m living in some dark, grey, dystopian world because of all this internet censorship crap, and the awful weather, and being sick.

Believe it or not, I play in a horror punk band. We are (slowly) recording our first album ourselves. It’s going good but we are working on the second song at the moment, recorded everything but the vocals tonight. Will work on that soon.

Gridnet is getting wrapped up on the coding side of things, which means I need to actually do more work on recording music for it. I am still so unsure of where I want to take everything with the music. I have some good lasers, but need to make boomgasms and other cool sounds.

Once my Christmas break starts, hopefully I will feel a little more upbeat. I am definitely feeling good compared to last night.