Music

Music has been a life-long passion for me. It has brought me endless joy when life was good, and it has been my sanctuary when life was bleak. People like me--those who have found themselves so heavily under the spell of music--chose to venture beyond just listening; we must take part in its creation in order to feel fulfilled an happy.

I love a wide range of musical styles--from orchestral, electronic, jazz, rock, pop, ethnic, scores for film/televison and games, to various sub-genres out there such as industrial, goth, trip-hop, IDM, prog rock, acid jazz, metal, bossa nova...etc.

I have written songs for popstars and composed scores for film and video games. I make music for my personal projects when between clients.

My primary instruments are keyboard, guitar, drums/percussion, and bass. I also play some secondary instruments like harmonica (diatonic and chromatic), melodion, recorder...etc.

DAW (Digital Audio Workstation): I'm running all kinds of software on networked PC's--from sequencing hosts, sample libraries, to virtual instruments/effects plugins. I love trying out different sequencers, softsynths, effects, sample libraries..etc, and I participate in the VST/sample library development communities, where members are constantly releasing free plugins, samples, and innovative new tools. My current sequencer host DAW of choice is Cakewalk Sonar X1 Producer Edition

New music

These are the latest tracks

Galactic Melee - Main Title (2011 Version)

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Genre: Soundtrack

Mood & Instrumentation: Dramatic, evolving, orchestral strings, acoustic & electronic drums, percussion, electric bass, distorted guitar, synths

Descripton: This is a track from a score I composed for a multiplayer game called Galactic Melee (MMO space shooter), and used for the main menu.

Shadowstorm - Opening Title

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Genre: Soundtrack

Mood & Instrumentation: Ominous, majestic, orchestral, electronic

Descripton: I scored this opening title for a scienc-fiction short film called Stormshadow. The version used in the film is different--I took out the woodwinds and the synths and focused on the brass and strings for that version since the director wanted a more majestic orchestral vibe.

End of the Story, and the Beginning of Another

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Genre: Electronic

Mood & Instrumentation: Uplifting, driving beat, synths, orchestral strings

Descripton: Central focus for this track is to have lush, sweeping orchestral strings playing on top of an electronic arrangement and a driving beat. The story behind the music was to encourage someone to let go of the past and look forward to the next phase in life.

Sample Clips

These are short snippets from various projects and personal work

What You Don't Know

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Genre: Soundtrack

Mood & Instrumentation: Emotional, intimate, piano, cello, percussion

Descripton: This cue is for a scene where someone has become suspicious of a loved one. That suspicion leads to the person one day deciding to follow the suspicious party from a distance, to find answers to that suspicion. The pursuit starts out in the suburbs, then into the city. At the end of the track (climax), we find out just what dark secret is discovered.

Galactic Melee - In-game Combat 3

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Genre: Soundtrack

Mood & Instrumentation: Mysterious, ethnic percussion, synths

Descripton: For this combat cue, I used evolving pads and percussions to build up a sense of mystery and tension.

These in-game combat cues loop throughout the various levels in the game. Since the game is more about strategy and teamwork than about pure action, I wanted to go for a more hypnotic and introspective atmosphere for all the combat cues as opposed to the typical in-your-face aggressive approach that most shooter games use

Galactic Melee - In-game Combat 2

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Genre: Soundtrack

Mood & Instrumentation: Groovy, acoustic drums, electric bass, synths

Descripton: For this combat cue, I established a persistent drum groove that drives the mood and propels the strategic action forward.

Galactic Melee - In-game Combat 1

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Genre: Soundtrack

Mood & Instrumentation: Groovy, acoustic drums, electric bass, synths

Descripton: I used a square wave tone for the main melody to convey the feeling of piloting a small spaceship in the vast open space. There's a certain hollowness to that tone that just feels right for the kind of atmosphere I was after.

Galactic Melee - Credits

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Genre: Soundtrack

Mood & Instrumentation: Shimmering, melodic, acoustic drums, synths

Descripton: Since Galactic Melee has no narrative premise and is really just a fun multiplayer experience, I wanted the credit music to be more uplifting and optimistic and not dark like the rest of the score. My intention was to end the game with a feeling of "Now that the fighting has ended and we've all had lots of fun shooting at each other, let's just put our ships on autopilot and enjoy the beautiful view as we cruise the galaxy together."

Welcome to Delphie-16 Space Station

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Genre: Soundtrack

Mood & Instrumentation: Futuristic elevator music, synths, drum machine

Descripton: This is essentially futuristic elevator music for a sci-fi game. When you dock the Delphie-16 Spacestation, an announcer will greet you with a prerecorded message welcoming you to the spacestation, then give you some basic information about the station itself (population, services, safety precautions). This is the music that plays in the background during the announcement.

Just One Reason

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Genre: Electronic

Mood & Instrumentation: Groovy, driving percussion and drums, distorted guitar, synths

Descripton: A track I did to test out the capabilities of a virtual studio package called Reason.

Miscellaneous

Other stuff related to my music

Sound Design - I sometimes do sound design/synth programming. Free synth presets are available for download.

Zendrum - I'm a Zendrummer, and you can take a look at the various videos and layouts for the Zendrum LT I've made.

Myspace Music - I have a page on MySpace Music.