Happy September everyone.  Where the heck did August go?  Well, T|M is back this week with an exciting update on a small project I announced a few weeks back: a mashup between B.o.B and Fort Minor.

The main track comes from B.o.B and is called “Airplanes“ which features Hayley Williams from the band Paramore.  I’ve been a big fan of this song since I first heard it on the radio.  There have been a lot of mashups inspired from the song, to say the very least, but one morning when I was listening and thinking about the words of the chorus, I realized that tracks from the Fort Minor album would work extremely well!  The subject matter that Mike Shinoda raps about on the album worked frighteningly well with “Airplanes”.  It originally started with one track from FM, but I kept on finding additional tracks from The Rising Tide that worked just as well.  One thing led to another, and the complete version of the track included SIX different Fort Minor tracks, all from the debut album!  The list of tracks, in order, are:

Right Now
Remember the Name
Feel Like Home
High Road
Be Somebody
Slip Out the Back

Check out the music video I made for the mashup.  Unfortunately, there isn’t any video footage for three of the six tracks from Fort Minor, so I condensed the video down just four FM songs!  Watch it:

For those of you who want the FULL version of the song with all six tracks, check it out here!

Well, there you have it!  You can see the video over on the VIDEO page and hear the full song at the MUSIC page.  As always, I’ve got some great new project announcements coming soon, so don’t stray far; more to come!

Hello my friends!  Welcome back for another week of Tweex Music updates.  This time around I have a VERY exciting announcement.  I was given the privilege to work on an awesome animation short film where I did sound design and composed original music!

This film comes from another one of the extremely talented animators from Animation Mentor.  For those of you who have followed my updates for any length of time, you’ve seen that I’ve done work for quite a few AM students (Spotlight and Marcel et Marceau just to name two).  I am pleased to add this short to my library of work!  The film was created, directed, and animated by a man named Daniel Vasconcellos, a great animator based out of Sydney, Australia!  Daniel had the idea to create a film based around a server in a restaurant and the unexpected hardships that he might face.  To say the very least, hilarity ensues!

When Dan and I started talking details, he said that he was very open to the sound and style of the music.  For me, that was music to my ears (horrible pun).  I love hearing and composing music that has an orchestral influence fused with another genre.  Jazz/lounge music felt it would be the best fit for the piece, but I really wanted to try incorporating more orchestral elements as you really don’t hear that a lot with this style of music.  I’m quite pleased with how it all turned out!  But don’t take my work for it, check it out:

As always, you can also see it over on the VIDEO page.  For those of you who would like to hear the main musical themes by themselves, go no further!  I have that for you:

You’ll also find the music over on the MUSIC page.  Be sure to check out Daniel over at his website as he will be updating with new projects as he finishes them!  This update is just the beginning of some awesome new projects that will be released VERY soon.  Don’t stray too far; you don’t want to miss this!

Hey everyone.  I hope everyone is having a great week so far.  Two days until the wonderful weekend is here, so hang in there.

I just wanted to drop a quick line saying that there isn’t going to be an official T|M post this week.  I’ve had several projects to work on and one surprise project that fell in my lap on Monday.  We’re planning on releasing this project in the next couple weeks so you won’t have to wait long, but I’ll leave it at that.  I’ll have more updates on this new production, Project: Binary, animations, and more starting next week, so be sure to tune back in!

On a completely unrelated note, some of you may know that I’m a fan of Philip DeFranco.  I found him on YouTube back in early 2008, but when I moved up to Nashville, I forgot about the show and his name slipped my mind.  A few months back, I just happened to click on one of his show links and since then I’ve been catching up on his videos, all 500+ of them.  Well, I’ve finally reached the end and I have to say that I love him even more.  If I wasn’t married…well….never mind.  Phil, I don’t know if you’ll ever read this, but if you do, I want to show a small sample of something I’ve done in your honor (don’t worry, it’s nothing “too” creepy ).  Here is a sample of a full orchestral remix I’ve been working on that’s taken a couple of the music themes that Phil has used in his shows in the last years.  I’m still perfecting it, but here is a little preview:

Have a great Thursday and Friday everyone!!

Hey everyone.  I usually don’t do multiple posts in one week, but this one is just too good to wait.  I’ve been working a small mashup track using the song Airplanes by B.O.B. (feat. Hayley Williams)and taking multiple parts from multiple tracks from Fort Minor, one of my favorite hip hop groups!  I’ve had a man crush on Mike Shinoda for a very long time and it was great to be able to do this.  I’m still working on the piece and I’m contemplating making a movie for it, but I haven’t decided yet.  I wanted to make a post with a small sample so you guys can listen to the direction of the piece.  It is REALLY bitchin’!!  Take a listen:

And here is just an audio version. You can get better audio quality in the YouTube player if you select 480p instead of the standard 320p. Why YouTube doesn’t let you default to 420p is beyond me, but here is just the audio for those of you interested!

And there you have it for now.  The final version will be coming out soon.  This sample only has a snippet of one Fort Minor song (Remember the Name), while the full thing will have SIX different Fort Minor tracks!  It’s not to be missed, so check back soon!

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Once again, I want to throw out another special thanks to everyone who entered the anniversary contest.  Emails went out last week, so if anyone who entered didn’t receive one, let me know!  Project: Binary is rocking along really well, so stay tuned for new updates.

This week, we have two new commercials for you to hear!  We released two new advertisements for two games that have been produced by our friends over at Zallag.  This time around, we have an ad for Crazy Racers and Gods vs. Humans.  The GvH add used the voice of Fozzie, one of the popular hosts from the many GU podcasts.  Fozzie is extremely talented and did a wonderful job with the goddess voice!

The CR commercial was also a ton of fun as I was one of the voices.  A very good friend of mine (one of the best men in my wedding) acted as the other announcer.  I really enjoyed using some music from the T|M library on this one.  The first track you hear (during the “hello kid” section) comes from the library.  Instead of me talking about it, how about I let you hear it :

Gods vs. Humans

Crazy Racers

And there we have it!  We still have a couple more commercials to be released in the near future, so check back soon for new adverts.  More updates on new projects, productions, Project: Binary, and more coming very soon!  Don’t stray too far!

Happy Friday everyone!  Many of you may remember that last week I announced a contest in which 3 lucky winners would win a free copy of my debut album, Alter Ego, and a preview of a new project that I’m working on, only know now as Project: Binary.  Well, this week, the three winners have been chosen at random and I’m here to announce them!  Without stalling any longer, the winners are:

Kira, UK
Joseph, Australia
Melissa, USA

The winners have been sent an email to claim their prize.  However, since there was so much support and interest in the contest, I didn’t want you all to go away empty handed!  So, I decided to make a second very small sample of another piece from Project: Binary.  This piece is still in the conceptual phase, but I wanted to give a little something back to you all!  The piece will be available for streaming here on the site, but I will email all of the contestants an MP3 copy that they can download to put on a CD, iPod, etc.  Take a quick gander at this:

And there you have it!  This has been a big week here at T|M.  Congratulations to the winners of the contest and many many thanks to all those who entered!  There are some very exciting additions coming to the site very soon.  I’m just waiting to receive master copies of some projects, so be sure to check back very soon!  We’ll be back with a new update early this next week, so stay tuned!

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!

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!

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!

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!