Posts Tagged ‘Orchestral’

New Animation Short Film:
French Restaurant

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!

No Official Update This Week but Philip DeFranco, I Love You!

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!!

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 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.

Tweex Music Composes New Music for Delta Airlines Commercial

Tweex Music is back this week with a new airline commercial for you!  This time around, T|M presents new music for Delta Airlines.  Tweex Music did a another spot for Delta back in 2008 and had music from my debut album, Alter Ego, featured in the spot, which you can LISTEN TO and DOWNLOAD for free!

This time around, T|M was able to compose an original piece of music for the spot.  The idea was to come up with something peppy but also laid back.  Being a big fan of genre fusion, I decided to create a piece that had classical elements (chamber strings), contemporary guitar solo, electronic synths, and tribal/ethnic percussion.  If you had to categorize the piece, it would probably be in the ever so popular Classic-Hop-Contemp-Electro-World genre!  Or as we in the business like to call it, “Indie” .  The final product came out quite well.  Check it out for yourself:

As always, the spot can be found of the SFX PAGE along with all the other airline spots that T|M has had the priveldge to work on!  Tweex Music continues to keep very busy and has some exciting updates on the way so be sure to check back soon!

Interview with Shanelle Gray, Actress for Kingdom Hearts and New Music!

T|M is proud to present the first of several interviews done alongside Gaming Union!  This first interview comes from the Kingdom Hearts game series and features the talent of Shanelle Gray, who voices the character of Larxene from Kingdom Hearts 2 and Re: Chain of Memories.  Shanelle talks about her involvement in the series, how she got into the franchise, her background in voice acting, and what the future may bring for her and her fans!

GU released a promo for the interview that features a new composition from T|M.  The track is orchestral in nature and follows the same genre as the Kingdom Hearts Union main theme (which can be heard HERE).  For those of you who have played KH, the music was crafted to sound much like the battle music that might be heard in a KH game in a location like Traverse Town or something similar.  You can hear the promo here: LARXENE INTERVIEW PROMO.  And you can hear the music by itself here:

The interview can be found in several places.  You can listen to it directly here: LARXENE INTERVIEW.  You can also subscribe on iTunes to the podcast series that produces all the interviews.  GU has released a few other interviews such as Richard Epcar and Quinton Flynn, and I strongly recommend checking them out.  There are many more on the way, so subscribe so you can check them out as they are released!

New updates coming very soon!

T|M Introduces New Podcast, New Remix, and New Project Announcement!

Greetings to all!  It has been quite sometime since I last posted news here and there is much to cover.  First allow me to announce that the Tweex Music studio has officially relocated from Nashville to Atlanta, GA.  The move went smoothly and quickly and I was “down” for less than 48 hours which is much better than I expected!  Now that things are back up and there is a slight lull in project work, let’s play some catch up!

T|M has been very busy working with Gaming Union for the past couple weeks and has produced several new podcast episodes and several new pieces of music, but more on the music in a future post (coming soon).  However, GU released Final Fantasy Union Episode 35 yesterday and it is quite the special show.  The episode is GU’s focus on Final Fantasy XIII (13), which was released about a week ago.  Also, in this episode, I (Brian) was a guest on the show and sat down with the guys to discuss Square Enix’s recent decision to terminate its music department.  It was great to be on the show and talk about an area of the music/sound industry that I have really been experiencing in the past couple of years: outsourcing/freelancing.

Episode 35 also marked a debut remix/rearrangement from Final Fantasy XI!  I released the first FFXI rearrangement back in July of 09, Battling Despair as Dawn.  This new Remix is entitled City of the Humes and comes from the source tune, The Republic of Bastok.  For those not familiar with the game, this is the theme for one of the major cities.  The original song is unbelievably catchy and the rearrangement turned out exceptionally well.  In the show, the hosts asked me a few questions about the process of making the mix and why I did it.  Be sure to check the full episode out.  For those of you are are interested in hearing the section of the show that I’m in, you can can find an edit of it here: Podcast Edit with Brian.  And make sure that you check out the new remix which is here:

The debut of the remix also marks the first “announcement” of a project that T|M is working on.  Details will be forthcoming, but there is much more on the way!  Anyone who is a fan of Final Fantasy 11 or orchestral/cinematic music will be pleased with what’s to come! Take a listen to the show to get a little more info!

There are several new projects that T|M has recently completed and will be announced very soon!  A new string arrangement for a classic song and a new airline commerical are among a few of them but more info on that soon.  Don’t go too far as there will be more updates VERY soon (i.e. the next day or two)!

Tweex Music Composes Theme Music for New Educational Web Series

Monday is here again, and T|M brings a new project for you to hear!  Tweex Music has composed the main theme for a new educational web series call Dawg Talk.  The project is being completed by professors at The University of Georgia.  John Kundert-Gibbs, the writer, director, and editor, is a professor in the Theatre and Film Studies Department and has spearheaded the creative production.

The project has been funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the series is meant to inspire thought on issues in today’s society.  The first video entry deals with the ever growing problem of our economy and its effect on peoples lives.  The series is meant to be portrayed as a “web cam” type production.  The show is hosted by a college student who is going out to find answers and interview different people.

When talking with John about the creative direction of the music, he conveyed an interest in something that would be upbeat and that sounded like a marching band.  Since not all episodes will be focusing on issues this intense, we agreed that the music needed to be peppy and catchy!  Well, T|M answered the call with just that:

The video is still being completed and is not ready for release quite yet, however, when it’s finished, we will post details on how to view it.  Having seen the edit so far, the production is excellently done and really does make you think on the issue.  This first installment is the “trial run” for the series.  We are hoping to take this concept on to new heights with the help of the NSF.

Enjoy the music and check back soon for details on how to see the movie as well as new T|M project news!