Tweex Music 1 Year Anniversary: Alter Ego Album Giveaway

Hello my people.  Long time no see.  The wedding went wonderfully and the honeymoon was fantastic.  It has been a busy week being back in the studio/office, but there have been some AWESOME developments so stay tuned.

However, this week, we are focusing on the one year anniversary of the T|M website.  There have been quite a few updates, projects, and site advancements since then.  New airline commercials including Delta and US Air, new animations from some of the top animators being produced today, new original music and themes, and new media series to show people what I do exactly.  Well, it’s time to celebrate!

I’m going to be giving out 3 free copies of my debut album, Alter Ego!  Not only that, but I will be giving out a preview track from a new project I’m working on.  Without releasing too much, I can tell you that it’s current being called Project: Binary.  Outside of that, I won’t release any more information.  The 3 winners will get a very special sneak peek at what’s to come, and believe me, you don’t want to miss it!

The rules are simple:

1. Send an email to contest@tweexmusic.com
2. Make the subject line something about the contest
3. Include your first name and the country you live in

And THAT’S IT.  I’ll accept emails up until Thursday, August 5th, 12:00 AM EST and then choose 3 winners at random.  I’ll announce the winners on Thursday or Friday and send out the emails with the copy of the album!

In the meantime, enjoy the site and all the media that’s now on it!  There are some awesome additions coming out soon, so don’t stray too far!

T|M Produces New Radio Commercial for Video Game:
Racers’ Islands – Crazy Racers

Welcome back everyone.  Apologies for the lack of post last week.  The ol’ schedule is getting crazy.  The wedding is this upcoming Saturday, which keeps us quite busy.  And just a warning, please don’t expect a post early next week; Amber and I will be on our honeymoon.  However, I’ll be back closer to the end of the week, so I’ll try to post then!

On to the news!  This week brings an exciting addition to the list of advertisements that T|M has worked on.  Gaming Union signed an advertising deal with Zallag, a video game publisher based out of France.  They have several games coming out, but for the month of July, they are advertising one game called Racers’ Island – Crazy Racers.  GU and I sat down and discussed how we might best do this, and we came up with two commercials: a 15 second and a 30 second.  We had a load of fun making these and it was a lot of fun to act as the producer.  Each spot features new and original sound design.  It was a great eye opening experience for the GU staff to learn just how difficult it can be to fit in a lot of information into a tiny amount of time.  However, the results were really fantastic!  Check them out here:

15 Second Spot:

30 Second Spot:

The spots are being aired in all of the GU podcasts for the month of July, so be sure to check them out!  We also have more commercials coming, so don’t go far.  I’ve also been working on 2 new animation films, a flippin’ cool DeFranco remix, as well as a new/original track.  We’ve got LOTS of stuff coming up, so check back soon!

New Remix Under Review Installment:
Sephiroth’s Wake

Well, needless to say, it has been a busy week and a half since the last time I posted, but now I’ve been able to steal away for a short time to post again!  This week, we’re returning to Remix Under Review with a new track to look into!   Not too far back, I reviewed a piece from Final Fantasy 7 called Frozen Landscape. That arrangement was done for the OC Remix project Voices of the Lifestream.  Well, this time around, I’ll be reviewing the other remix I did for the project: Sephiroth’s Wake.

Source:

Remix:

As you can hear, the original source material doesn’t really lend itself to much interpretation.  Nobuo Uematsu really used the piece to create a very dark and ominous feel to this particular section of the game.  He didn’t seem to use any kind of tempo or rhythm scheme, so that was left up to me.

At the time of doing this remix, I was going though a major Harry Gregson-Williams kick and was really vibing his work on the Metal Gear Solid series.  Harry has a very particular style of music that he does very VERY well.  I classify it as the “infiltration” genre.  Check this YouTube Video to hear what I’m talking about.  After listening to this style from HGW a bit, I decided I wanted to try it.  From that idea, this remix was born and my goal was simple: What would it sound like if Harry Gregson-Williams composed music for Final Fantasy 7?

I never really anticipated being able to replicate the genre as well as I did, so I was extremely happy for how it turned out.  This piece was done in the late winter/early spring of 2007 which means this was in the day of me using nothing but Reason for any music I wrote.  I ended up primarily using the samples that come with the program when you buy it.  There were a few samples that I used from the Total REX sound library that really helped with the ambiance in addition to some ethnic drum samples from the Sonic Refills: World Percussion sample set.  The french horn sample came from a sample package I bought called Quantum Leap Brass (this is the same company that makes the orchestral sample package I currently use.  QL Brass is an OLD sample package they produced long ago).

As many of you know, I am a huge fan of incorporating orchestral elements in different genres, so you can imagine I had a great time with this piece!  The string samples came from Reason’s default library, and while they are certainly not the best things in the world, I’m still very pleased with how well they worked.  I’ve contemplated going back into this piece and replacing the orch samples with the awesome library I now have.  Create Sephiroth’s Wake 1.5, if you will.  That may happen, but maybe not.  Either way the track was a major stepping stone in my growth as a composer, programmer, and arranger and it has stood the test of time so far.  You can see what OTHERS HAVE SAID about the mix too!

T|M is working on several animations, original tracks, and in the process of planning a new potential project.  Be sure to check back very soon as there will be some very exciting updates on the way!

Original Track Composed for Video Game:
Jason’s Gallery

For those of you who may not remember, a few weeks back I announced that the Tweex Music site had been redesigned in some areas (read the original announcement HERE).  Along with the redesign, there were many new music pieces released.  This week, I want to officially release one of those and bring it to the forefront!

Spring semester of 2005, I was involved with a 3D game design class at The University of Georgia.  I was brought on to compose original music for the game that the students decided to make.  It was quite an ambitious class with a lot of great talent.  The students came up with the concept of a 3D gallery space that could feature various forms of art.  To say the very least, I was very surprised by this decision as most of the classes before this one did some kind of action game.  However, the opportunity FORCED me out of my typical comfort zone and the idea that I came up with ended up being a pretty decent concept!

Now, I openly admit that my real “birth” into electronic composition didn’t start until Spring of 2006 (more than a year later) so the piece I’m showcasing this week is NOT the original, but rather the rearrangement of the piece.  My execution of the original was decent for the time I did it, but it certainly doesn’t hold a candle to the new arrangement.  I’m sure I’ll do a Before/After installment for this piece in the near future, so be sure to watch for it.

However, onto the music.  The piece was inspired by some of the softer acoustic pieces that Jason Mraz had written around that time, but being as big of a fan as I am for orchestral fusion, I wanted those elements in there as well when I originally wrote it.  Now that my library of samples is much more advanced, I was able to turn this piece into what I had envisioned over 5 years ago!  See for yourself:

The piece really turned out well and, if I ever have the opportunity, I would love to be able to put this into the original game.  C’est la vie I suppose .  Until next time, enjoy the music!

New String Arrangement for Skid Row Cover:
18 and Life

Tweex Music is back again with a very exciting update!  Fans of 80’s rock will love this as it covers one of Skid Row’s classic songs, 18 and Life.  People who generally despise 80’s rock will love this as it doesn’t sound anything like an 80’s rock song!

A very talented pianist and vocalist, Tucker, is working on an album of tracks and this cover is to be released with it.  Tucker, along with his producer, Ryan Sutton, decided to pull some Skid Row into the mix and originally planned this to be a simple piano, string, vocal arrangement.  Well, one thing led to another and the track evolved into this awesome OneRepublic vibe!  Check it out here:

The string arrangement was a blast to work on.  If you listen to the words of the original, it’s actually quite a depressing song.  So with that in mind and after talking to Jason about it a little, I set out to make the strings somber and emotional, but still with a small ray of hope.  The end result was a massive success with all of the other elements in there: the electric guitar, the flawless piano playing, the driving drums, and the beautiful vocals!

Enjoy the music and check back soon for some exciting releases!

Tweex Music Website Gets New Design!

T|M is back this week with some exciting additions!  Website redesign, new music, new videos, and a new sleek look is what has been brought to the table! After spending some time looking over the site, there have been some changes that have been screaming at me, so I decided to go ahead and work on redesigning a few of the pages.

First challenge was the MUSIC Page.  The old version was stale and contained a lot of text.  Most importantly, it didn’t showcase the music that T|M has done over the past few years at all, really.  So, after some thought and hard work, the page has been completely over hauled to allow listeners to hear a LOT of the work that Tweex Music has produced most recently.  You can check out the “Commercial Music” section that features music from advertisements, film, TV, theatre, podcasts, and much more.  If that doesn’t tickle your fancy, “Personal Projects” will allow you to listen to pieces that I’ve done for fun here and there!  And if all else fails, “Video Game Remixes” will let you escape in nostalgia to a time you may have spent as a kid!

Some of you may have already noticed that the old SFX Page has suddenly disappeared.  Fear not!  This was by design…or re-design rather.  What has replaced it is the new and sleek VIDEO Page.  All the audio work that T|M has done for a video can be found here!  Thumbnails for all the different productions has been made to help get rid of the wall of text that plagued the old SFX page.  The new layout really helps show the diversity of the productions that T|M has worked on!

Finally, the CONTACT Page was tackled!  A brand new layout very similar to the new VIDEO Page helps show everyone the MANY ways that you all can contact me to talk about productions you may be working on, projects that may need audio, or just to chew the fat about the latest episode of Grey’s Anatomy…uh, I mean the Speed channel.

All the pages have never before seen/heard content on them.  Check out the new music and videos and enjoy the brand new layout!

SFX Design and Music Pages on Tweex Music Temporarily Down

Hello all!  This is a short message to say that the Music and SFX Design pages are temporarily down for the time being.  They are undergoing maintenance and redesign but they will be back up and running very soon with some very cool additions!

Don’t go too far!

Tweex Music Writes New Music and Shound Design for Animation:
Marcel et Marceau

Tweex Music brings a very exciting update this week: a brand new animation short film entitled Marcel et Marceau.  The film was directed and animated by a man named Manuel Escotet, a very talented animator and recent graduate from Animation Mentor.  This piece was his final thesis project, and it turned out exceptionally well!

The film follows the story of two mimes: Marcel and Marceau.  They find themselves competing with each other on the same river walk area in Paris.  What starts out as a competition to win the crowd quickly turns into a bitter rivalry between them and hilarity ensues!

Manuel and I began working together back in April so we could begin brainstorming how the sound and music would tell the story.  Manuel was very interested in the idea of having French music be the primary genre.  In addition to the French sound, I had the idea to infuse other genres in the piece.  Latin/flamenco, orchestral, and heavy metal all made an appearance in the film.  The eclectic mix of genres helped breath more life into the story!  See for yourself:

The animation was submitted to an animation film festival and we are still waiting to hear back.  Any news we hear will be posted here on the T|M website, so don’t go far!  As always, you can find the animation on the SFX Design page.  There are exciting project updates coming very soon!  Until then, enjoy.

New Before/After Media Series Installment!

Tweex Music is FINALLY back this week with a new Before/After installment for you!  There have been a few project in the last few weeks that has had the studio going full speed.  I’m looking forward to presenting it all soon!

In the meantime, T|M brings you a great Before/After example coming from the “Dawg Talk” project that Tweex Music worked on.  When T|M signed on with the production, the theme song was the concentration.  After talking with the director of the project, we decided that we wanted something simple, but also something that sounded like a marching band.  We went through a lot of different ideas, but the melody concept we finally found came from a simple piano recording.  From there, the production took form.  Listen to the Before/After here:

As you can hear, the two sound very VERY different.  They even convey different tones/feelings.  There aren’t many directors out there who have the ability to imagine what something like this would sound like with just a piano representation, but John Kundert-Gibbs is one of those.  The final product came out splendidly and the evolution of the piece is nothing short of monumental!

Be sure to check back VERY soon.  A couple new projects are about to be released and you will not want to miss them!

T|M Composes New Theme Music for Podcast Series:
LiveWareNetwork

Tweex Music brings new music and the announcement of a new GU and T|M podcast series this week!  We have been in the process of developing a new podcast show for a while and Friday was the day that the pilot episode was released.  The show is called LiveWareNetwork and it focuses on the VG industry, but in a very different way.  LWN reports, previews and reviews downloadable/indie games from the Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, and the WiiWare Channel.  If the game industry follows the paths of the music and movie industry, independent games have quite the future ahead of them, and we want to make sure people know what to look for!  The show will air every other Friday, so expect to see another episode on April 30th.  You can listen to the show or you can subscribe to the iTunes channel.  I highly recommend iTunes as it will let you download each episode as SOON as they are released!

When we were discussing the concept of the show, I began to think about what kind of music would match the tone.  Indie music is only defined by how diverse it can truly be, so one particular genre would never fully define it.  I found inspiration from the Katamari Damacy franchise and the truly incredible music that has come from it.  From that spawned the idea for the theme song that we are now using.  I wanted to create a track that was ridiculously catchy, memorable, and that had infusions of many different genres in it.  Well, I am quite happy with what we have as it contains acoustic guitar, electric guitar, vocals, mandolin, electro drums, acoustic drums, human beat boxing, organ, piano, orchestral strings, synth leads, a horn section, and whistling.  To hear just how well this worked, take a listen here:

Like the other podcast shows that GU has, we wanted to create internal cues for the episodes to help accent the change in segments.  LWN required 4 different cues that all came out very well!  Each cue represents a certain section of the main theme.  And before any of you comment, yes, I know that the beginning of the fourth cue sounds like the beginning of “Free Bird”…..it wasn’t intentional .  Take a listen to them here:

LWN has already been received VERY well and we are excited to see how it will grow.  In the meantime, enjoy the music, check out the podcast, and subscribe to the iTunes channel!  Also, check back here soon as T|M has a couple new projects that will be released.  You can look forward to a new string arrangement for a old pop song and a new animation with custom sound and music!  Don’t go too far!