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[Score.] VGM Composition Blog - [Score.] Musicworkshttp://www.scorevgm.com/blog/Sat, 21 May 2016 12:43:10 +0000en-USSite-Server v6.0.0-11033-11033 (http://www.squarespace.com)Journey through the scoring process and gaming industry life of music <br/>composer Gregory Weaver.scoreVgmBlog-scoreMusicworkshttps://feedburner.google.comIllusions, Michael!Gregory WeaverSat, 21 May 2016 13:02:34 +0000http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scoreVgmBlog-scoreMusicworks/~3/RUeHDU6oQKk/illusions-michael51b6083de4b02af346a7b330:51b76539e4b0869c89512273:574057de62cd9402346885c0Much has happened in the two years since my last blog post! A summary inside.It's both surprising and not that my last update was over 2 years ago. It looks as if I fell off a cliff musically when I started my full-time job, but thankfully, that's not really the case! I'll do a quick recap of 2014-2015 and then get into the now:

2014: The Void

In January of 2014 I started working at CustomInk, which has been great in a lot of ways. However, I did spend most of my time focusing on getting better at my job and getting 'normal' life stuff together. Musically, however, without a tangible focus and goal, I found myself treading water at best.

The bit of composition that I did in 2014 was for the Global Game Jam, at which my friend Nick Wasilewski (who has been one of the main forces behind Videoball, I might add) and I made a short game called the Eye-mazing Sneeze Extravaganza. I composed the tunes and, strangely, did the 'art' - for the project. You can listen to the tracks and read more about the experience in my last blog post.

2015: Escape

Skipping ahead all the way to early 2015, my friend Natalie Parisi asked if I would be interested in composing music for her new company Locurio's escape room in Seattle. I was very excited to accept, of course. Not only had I been itching to sit down to compose after a long break, I was excited to collaborate with Natalie, someone who has an amazing spirit and is very driven towards living her dreams.

And so, months went by, music was composed, and edits were made. In the summer, The Vanishing Act was open for business, and my music was featured in the only escape room in Seattle known to have its own original soundtrack. The tracks for this project are all long loops and I have yet to make short cuts of them, but I will be updating the site soon with those cuts for you all to hear.

In October, I capitalized on an opportunity to relocate to Charlottesville, VA, which was truly the last place I had felt connected to a music scene.

2016: Back into The Swing

The end of January marked my last days in Northern Virginia. I accomplished a lot and ultimately can look fondly on my time living there, but I'm very happy to be back in Charlottesville. Already have I accomplished much of that which I had sought upon moving:

  1. I have been listening to a lot of live music. The scene - especially the jazz - is vibrant and easily accessible.
  2. I have been playing live music. At the beginning of May I started a weekly gig at a local restaurant on Tuesdays. It just so happens, too, that many of my mates from college have also returned to the area, so it has been beyond great to reconnect with them and form an official musical collective.
  3. I have found greater peace. The hustle and bustle of city life has never been for me, and even though I lived outside of the city proper in NoVA, the lifestyle still felt too fast-paced. Slowing things down, breathing the fresh mountain air, and listening to the sounds of silence has been great for my spirit.

At the moment I am focused on keeping up the momentum of playing live music and developing my skills in that realm once again. These skills allow me to connect with music on a deeper level and fuel new, more creative compositional directions. With the group gigging regularly, my attention turns to an arrangement project that I have been dreaming up for the past few years. As this project develops, even though I'm keeping the details on the DL, I will certainly provide some teasers and updates.

More original video game-inspired compositions will come, and my dream of writing for games is still very much alive. I'm really excited about the direction things are going right now and look forward to sharing more music more regularly with you.

As always, thanks for reading--see you back here soon!

Illusions, Michael!http://www.scorevgm.com/blog/2016/5/21/illusions-michael
Global Game Jam 2014CompositionNewsGregory WeaverTue, 28 Jan 2014 17:17:17 +0000http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scoreVgmBlog-scoreMusicworks/~3/7X4r4plmGPQ/global-game-jam-201451b6083de4b02af346a7b330:51b76539e4b0869c89512273:52e7e06ce4b0007de5b5fd74Friend and programmer Nick Wasilewski and I teamed up for the 2014 Global Game Jam this past weekend and created The Eye-mazing Sneeze Extravaganza  at the George Mason University jam site.

The 2014 iteration of the Global Game Jam, a worldwide blitz to form a team at a local site and create a game in 48 hours, took place this past weekend. On Friday, my good friend and game programmer Nick Wasilewski came up from Virginia Beach and together we headed to George Mason University to participate in the event.

If you’d rather just try to play the game without me talking about it, you can head to our page on the GGJ website or just go straight to the game itself. If you happen to have played the game on Sunday or even yesterday afternoon, you should probably play it again—Nick tweaked and added some features (including a rotating camera, which is very helpful).

Finding the GMU site was a nightmare, but thankfully, after a twenty-minute drive and an hour-and-a-half of wandering and asking mostly clueless undergrads where a certain building is located, we made it in time for the theme reveal (“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.”) and brainstorming session. Nick had been wanting to incorporate a game mechanic that involved blinking with the triggers on a controller, so aside from a few other ideas, that dominated our thought process for the allotted half-hour. At some point, I brought up the myth that if you sneeze with your eyes open, your eyes will pop out of your head, and Nick had said something about doing something with different-colored contact lenses, to which we tossed around the idea of the different lenses revealing certain pathways in a level, akin to how you have to use the red film thing to use those old Sierra game hint books.

While the ideas were out there, nothing completely gelled, and we decided to listen to the other people’s pitches. Sometime near the end of them, Nick had a eureka moment and came up with the idea for our game: the character would sneeze his eyes out and have to replace them with new, colored eyes in order to reveal the pathways in a maze. The idea, too, made a little sense with the theme, since there is a complete maze despite the character only being able to see what s/he (GGJ genderless diversifier: check!) is able to due to which color s/he is seeing at any given time. Thinking this great, but with no time to pitch it to anyone, we went off on our own to make it happen.

I ended up doing all of the audio and art for the game, the latter of which is funny because I am clearly neither graphically nor visually artistic, as you can see from my work below. It was a lot of fun drawing the stuff, though, and I learned a good amount of tricks in GIMP by the end of the weekend.

As far as audio goes, I created three tracks for the game and a handful of sound effects. The music was a bit difficult to come up with conceptually (within a period of an hour, at least) because, really, the mood of the game was hard to read. My thoughts were like such: ‘We’re exploring a tomb to find the secrets of being able to sneeze with your eyes open, so that’s adventurous, but the game is rather silly… I could do a generic EDM-type thing, but eh, again, silliness…’

I spent a while just tinkering with instruments and ideas before sticking with a retro sound. In fact, the title and end screen theme, “Eye-ced,” was born from this experimentation, though in reality I decided to use it last of all. A simple groove is all it is, and knowing that the player would click through our title screen in a jiffy, that was all that was needed.

The level theme, “Eye-Cycle,” features a Logic Pro synth using the bitcrusher plug-in. Creating a rather silly tune using that combination seemed like the way to go. The tune is kept short for reasons that include both the fact that I didn’t have much time to compose anything and that I knew the player would be losing his or her eyes often, which would trigger the third and final piece of the game.

I won’t say that I was trying to make a piece inspired by Yuzo Koshiro’s Beyond Oasis OST, but I certainly wanted to. The result is a tune grounded in the use of half-steps and 12-tone rows. If you ask me, while it does the job and I’m satisfied with it, it’s pretty uninspiring from a compositional standpoint. That’s okay, though—I wasn’t going for a masterpiece; I just needed to complete my music for the jam!

I ended up using Soundtrack Pro (something that came with Logic 9) for most of my sound editing, and I’m excited to look into its features even further. The only sound that's worth talking about here, I think, is the sneezing sequence. Though I love the first sequence, which was modeled off of what you may find in the old Sierra games, it was way too lengthy to be practical in-game.

The mental side of the GGJ was certainly interesting to experience. For me, though I got my big stuff done in plenty of time for the deadline, I was exhausted (and have been sleeping plenty since). Usually when making tunes, I can spend some time away from them, especially between the writing and producing phases. This was not the case at the GGJ, and the mental fatigue was compounded by hopping directly from one tune to the next to doing sound effects, which is my least favorite part anyway. However, I don’t think I’d change much about my approach for next year; my pacing was good and my decisions to roll with things that weren’t ideal or perfect stuck. That said, I do think having an artist on your team can make a huge difference in your final product, so I’ll be staking one out next time.

All in all, we ended up having a great time and are very pleased with our game. Other people liked it, too—out of the 22 other games made at the GMU site, ours placed 5th in the community voting! Woo, we’re famous!

You should definitely check out the other games made at our site. Those that were crowned the top four there were IRONE (1), A False Sense of Self (2), Don’t Get Torn Apart by Invisible Wolves (3), and Celestium (4). Two of my personal favorites were the horrifying Project Funhouse (wear headphones) and the extremely silly Legal Crush (complete with Twinkie Doge poster).

I hope that your frustrations don’t overwhelm you and you have a fun time playing our game. Let us know what you think!

Global Game Jam 2014http://www.scorevgm.com/blog/2014/1/28/global-game-jam-2014
MAGFest XII RecapNewsGregory WeaverThu, 23 Jan 2014 22:05:18 +0000http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scoreVgmBlog-scoreMusicworks/~3/LJK6Q2Tf5KI/magfest-xii51b6083de4b02af346a7b330:51b76539e4b0869c89512273:52e1839fe4b0af0fe20077a9MAGFest XII: Another year of awesomeness.

When the end of December rolls around, most people know that Christmas and New Year’s Day will be occupying their time and that their vacation time will need to be strategically planned around these days.  Well, for my friends and me – and for thousands of other folks –, MAGFest (Music and Gaming Festival) has been tacked hard onto that list. Being our fifth and fourth MAGFests respectively, Jen and I headed to National Harbor, MD, from Thursday, January 2, through Sunday, January 5, to take part in the action once again.

Thursday started with a surprise: In the years prior, it took relatively no time at all to get through the pre-registration line and grab our badges, but this year, things had changed. Even though it was Thursday, the five o’clock hour proved to be treacherous—MAGFest’s popularity had boomed so much that we stood in line for probably over half an hour to get our credentials. Madness!

The good part about the long line was that I was able to begin to get acclimated to a part of MAGFest that was new to me: the world of 3DS StreetPasses. Having bought a 3DS around Thanksgiving and loving the StreetPass feature ever since, I had been looking forward to MAGFest being a treasure trove of puzzle pieces and Find Mii warriors. It certainly didn’t disappoint, as from the point of being in line forward I had to empty my StreetPass queue continuously. Over the course of four days, I collected 357 passes and increased my Mii Plaza to a population of 405 (!!!). If I had stopped paying attention to my friends to make way for more 3DS action, I could have gotten hundreds more—easily.

After getting our badges, Jen and I got settled and headed to dinner at where-else-but Nando’s Peri Peri. We had Groupons for the restaurant and were excited to capitalize on them and their happy hour, which notoriously had half-off pitchers of sangria. To our dismay, we got there too late that night, and to our further dismay, they had removed Friday from the happy days, so no uber sangria deals were to be had. BOOOO, Nando’s, BOOOO!

MAGFest 2014 - 03 - Challenge Banner.JPG MAGFest 2014 - 02 - Challenge Prizes.JPG MAGFest 2014 - 05.JPG IMG_1771.JPG

When we got back, we did the requisite sweep of the game room and essentially waited, during which I stopped by the Challenges for a little bit. I ended up spending the whole time fixated on trying to beat the Bubble Bobble Bust-a-Move one, which was embarrassingly difficult (only because this one wasn’t tagged with “… and don’t get hit!” or anything—it was just plain hard!). Beating that challenge landed me a Challenge badge (pictured), and I made it my goal to beat 30 Challenges this year. Well, in the end I only wound up beating 5 to get a set of buttons, crushing Contra, Ninja Gaiden, Link to the Past, and Super Mario All-Stars: The Lost Levels. Not having other friends obsessively interested in beating more and having to wade through a list of games that I didn’t have too much interest in ultimately put a damper on Challenge mojo, though I’ll still look forward to whatever they have in store for next year!

Mallard and Mary? Together!?

Mallard and Mary? Together!?

Takeshi-Oh-Seven boogyin' down!

Takeshi-Oh-Seven boogyin' down!

That's more like it.

That's more like it.

Love Cannon looking snazzy

Love Cannon looking snazzy

At the stroke of midnight, MAGFest hosted its first ever prom. We were pretty excited to see what this held in store, as were two of our good friends, Stephen and Amanda. Jen and I reprised our roles from our hit feature film Genki III while they got super fancy, as you can see in our mandatory photos under the gazebo. The actual prom itself was fun, but a bit lackluster. Jen and I were expecting chiptunes or something of the sort to be played, when instead they hired a bluegrass band that covered pop tunes. Though a fun theme at first, it was not only an odd choice for MAGFesters, but also a rather boring one as it felt a little gimmicky and stale after the first few tunes. There was only so much ho-downing this guy could muster up for a late-night soirée!

My impeccable cameramanship lives on. L->R: Tommy Tallarico, Darren Korb, Josh Welchel, Brenden Becker

My impeccable cameramanship lives on. L->R: Tommy Tallarico, Darren Korb, Josh Welchel, Brenden Becker

Panels were at a premium for me this year. There were plenty that I had a slight interest in, but none were mandatory after Austin Wintory (Journey) ended up not being able to make it due to illness. In fact, if there was one place that I think MAGFest really fell short this year, it was in the exclusion of a huge composer. Sure, they had some big ones like Tommy Tallarico (Earthworm Jim), Darren Korb (Bastion), and Austin, but compared to the previous three years of bringing in Yuzo Koshiro, Hiroki Kikuta, and Nobuo Uematsu, I felt unfulfilled. I think each one of the guests this year had something that didn’t make them feel so huge: you can see Tommy annually at Video Games Live!; Darren Korb has composed one game soundtrack (albeit it’s great and is super popular); and Austin is similarly new to the game world. As a result, I saw the “Composers Q&A” panel and that’s it. In hindsight, I probably should have gone to Tommy’s panel at least, though I did see him in the one I attended.

 Amanda and Stephen in their first heat

Amanda and Stephen in their first heat

 Stephen dominating. Notice Pink putting up a zero--that happened often.

Stephen dominating. Notice Pink putting up a zero--that happened often.

 Kat vs. Stephen, Round 1

Kat vs. Stephen, Round 1

 Round 1 Winner: Kat

Round 1 Winner: Kat

 My third round. Locked in.

My third round. Locked in.

 Stephen getting eaten by Pac-Man in the Championship, feat. Pink being Pink.

Stephen getting eaten by Pac-Man in the Championship, feat. Pink being Pink.

 Kat vs. Stephen, Round 2: The Championship

Kat vs. Stephen, Round 2: The Championship

 The final score! Doesn't do justice to just how tight the race was. Meanwhile, Pink finally scored!

The final score! Doesn't do justice to just how tight the race was. Meanwhile, Pink finally scored!

 Amanda, me, Stephen, Kat, and Pac-Man fever!

Amanda, me, Stephen, Kat, and Pac-Man fever!

I did, however, compete in my first ever tournament at MAGFest: Pac-Man Vs. Having loved this game for years, I was super excited about the tournament and made the decision not to go to Darren Korb’s panel (made easier by the fact that I have interviewed him twice already). Four friends (Stephen, Amanda, Kat, and Brandon) and I played together, and three of us wound up in the final two rounds. In our first heat, I took 2nd place to Kat, and then I ended up having to win three times in a row to take the losers’ bracket, netting me an original piece of art from artist Annamarie Mickey (when she finishes I’ll post it for all to see!). Unfortunately, after attempting some risky moves, I was knocked out upon my re-entry into the winners’ bracket; but, in a dramatic finish to the tournament, Stephen ended up barely edging out Kat for the win. The tournament was so exhilarating—I can’t wait to do it again!

We attended a handful of shows, but two were of particular note. First was the Professor Shyguy set, which took place in the hall outside of the concert space and was recommended by my buddy Ben. You can check out his whole set below, though I’ve commanded the video to start at the best part, which was when the professor brought Dr. Robotnik on stage to help out with a particular song. He ends up getting super into it at about 19:07 and looks really awesome. Mega-Ran also performs a familiar song with Shyguy at 25:23. Sweet.

MAGFest 2014 - 24 - DJ Cutman.JPG MAGFest 2014 - 25 - DJ Cutman 2.JPG

Saturday evening featured the headliner Machinae Supremacy, who hails from Sweden. We heard that they were going to cover Zelda tunes, but our pre-gaming landed us in the show about halfway through, and by then they were just rocking out. The show was great, there was some moshing, and my Finn sword wound up in some pictures online (yessss!).

The sword appears! Mathematical!

The sword appears! Mathematical!

Brandon, Me as Finn, Jen as Marceline, and Jake!

In conclusion, I think that every year of MAGFest has held its different themes and focuses for me. 2011 was The Year of First, 2012 was The Year of Uematsu, 2013 was The Year of Challenges, and 2014 turned out to be The Year of Friendship. This year I spent more time simply relaxing and playing games with friends than ever before, which was pretty refreshing. In a year we’ll be doing it all over again and a new focus will emerge—I already can’t wait for that day to come. Hope to see you all there in 2015!

 Yeah, not only is this a giant Marlboro, it's actively using Bad Breath (save us, Cactuar!)

Yeah, not only is this a giant Marlboro, it's actively using Bad Breath (save us, Cactuar!)

 The Eeveelutions, Professor Oak, and Ash

The Eeveelutions, Professor Oak, and Ash

 This Bass was killing it

This Bass was killing it

 Andrew and I relive our old days as DDR All-Stars

Andrew and I relive our old days as DDR All-Stars

 The sweaty aftermath, complete with jelly legs

The sweaty aftermath, complete with jelly legs

 Alex and I played this co-op "beer" game that was actually a lot of fun

Alex and I played this co-op "beer" game that was actually a lot of fun

 The indie dev space was much larger and the booth presentation was 5x better this year

The indie dev space was much larger and the booth presentation was 5x better this year

 Jen, Alex, Stephen, and my beautiful Ticket to Ride board. I squeaked out the win.

Jen, Alex, Stephen, and my beautiful Ticket to Ride board. I squeaked out the win.

 Brandon kicking butt in Fighting Mania

Brandon kicking butt in Fighting Mania

 The Tron arcade game. Ultra fun and super sleek-looking.

The Tron arcade game. Ultra fun and super sleek-looking.

MAGFest XII Recaphttp://www.scorevgm.com/blog/2014/1/23/magfest-xii
German Whale of MysteryGregory WeaverMon, 25 Nov 2013 01:49:12 +0000http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scoreVgmBlog-scoreMusicworks/~3/cH-bZU5_3mU/german-whale-of-mystery51b6083de4b02af346a7b330:51b76539e4b0869c89512273:5292aca2e4b070ad8eec43d3Covering the music I composed for the 2013 Baltimore Indie Games game jam original, "German Whale of Mystery"!

As I mentioned in my last blog post, I decided to participate in a month-long Game Jam sponsored by the Baltimore Indie Games group. The theme of this jam was “Random Name Generator,” and thus each group was tasked to click a button to receive a name, and if they liked the name, make a game out of what they were given. My group decided to generate about ten names we liked, which we voted down to three, which we voted down to one: “German Whale of Mystery.”

Before I get into the details of the game, my team consisted of my friends Stephen and Andrew, a group of three computer science students from American University, and me. Stephen was charge of the art, I did the music and sound, and the others worked on programming. Some of you may be thinking that a six-person group is quite large for a game jam, but it worked for us because our programmers didn’t have a ton of experience in game design. It ended up working well for us!

As for the game itself, German Whale of Mystery is a stealth platformer set in World War II, where a whale is infiltrating the Nazis’ base to defeat (who else but) Hitler. In order to successfully reach Hitler, the whale must avoid guards by hiding behind objects and donning costumes to move from level to level in the Nazi stronghold. If a guard catches you, you meet your end in gruesome fashion.

If you’d like to play our game, do so here! Be sure to read the description at the bottom of that page for the controls.

Focusing solely on the music, I ended up creating five tracks for this game:

1. The Duke of Whales

“The Duke” was my first track for the game both in concept and in creation. If you played the game, you probably thought it strange that the level theme had such a definite ending—there’s a reason for that strangeness. This tune was originally intended to serve as its title theme, but after seeing the animation of the whale moving, I swapped it with “Blubber Blues,” which you’ll hear next.

My original concept was that, since we were doing a game set in World War II, I should write a big band piece. In order to represent the whale, I decided to make the bari sax the featured instrument. Now, I wouldn’t say that the tune is a period piece by any means – it wasn’t done particularly in the style of big band tunes from the ‘40s – but it gets the point across.

This tune, like most of the others, was written in Finale and features no production edits. Not only did I want to keep the tunes sounding “lo-fi” due to the game’s art style, it was in my best interest in terms of time to keep the production value low.

2. Blubber Blues

Though the title suggests that it might be a traditional blues, it’s really just a blues-tinged piece. As I mentioned above, I wrote this one as a level theme, thinking it should be good sneaking music. It turned out, however, that the whale walked quickly and with confidence, so the tune no longer fit. Luckily, it went well with the art on the title screen.

3. Folk Whale

The first costume that the whale encounters is the lederhosen garb. I set out to write a polka and came up with this, which is more of a polka-esque romp that captures the utter silliness of the game.

4. Scotch and Ginger Whale

The second costume we came up with was a fancy suit, complete with top hat and monocle. I went with a harpsichord on this one as opposed to something more complex like a string quartet because I needed to bust something out relatively quickly. It wasn’t necessarily “fast” to write a solo piano piece, but it did save me some time. To extend the tune’s length without writing all new sections, I wrote an alternate left hand part and sandwiched it between two instances of my original idea.

5. Fin (Game Over)

This tune turned out to work well for both the “You Died” and the “You Win” screens. I had written some goofy lyrics for it and thought to record myself singing in four-part harmony, but didn’t have the time, unfortunately. I spruced this one up in Logic because the Finale vocal samples were just too horrible and the program’s mix wasn’t passable.

There you have it! I’m going to work on cleaning up these tunes a little bit in Logic so that I can be prouder to have them up on my website, but otherwise, I’m happy with the way they – and the game – turned out. I can’t wait for my next game jam challenge!

German Whale of Mysteryhttp://www.scorevgm.com/blog/german-whale-of-mystery
Enter: The D.C. Indie SceneNewsPersonalGregory WeaverWed, 23 Oct 2013 15:49:11 +0000http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scoreVgmBlog-scoreMusicworks/~3/ltuSZX-TE38/enter-the-dc-indie-scene51b6083de4b02af346a7b330:51b76539e4b0869c89512273:5267e357e4b0eea0b50bc6a7Meeting local developers and living to tell the tale!

Since sending out my demo to who-knows-how-many indie game companies, there hasn't been too much to talk about on the business sides of things. In the most basic of recaps, responses were few and far between, and the positive ones just featured a few e-mail exchanges ending with a more-or-less "maybe later when we start a new project." That's all good, by the way--I may have expected a bit more in the way of response quantity, but I understand that companies get many e-mails a day from those like me who are trying to burst their way onto the scene. No matter how much I am confident that my music must stand out amongst a large percentage of that crowd, nothing really beats the power of exasperation and avoidance on the developers' side in this case.

Jen made this cake for me for my birthday!

Jen made this cake for me for my birthday!

Being that I haven't found projects to sustain myself - as I believed would be the case when I started on this journey, so no surprises there - I have been spending my time looking for full-time work and substitute teaching. Once I land that job, by the way, I will write a full recap of my sabbatical, going further into detail about my thoughts on it; for now, though, I will focus on that side of business which I have been moving forward with: that of making face-to-face connections.

I view GDC as the cream of the crop in the way of meeting people, but since that's still a few months off yet, making local connections is where it's at. If you're unaware - as I was until I had already been up here for a few months - many major cities harbor chapters of an organization called the International Game Developers Association, or IGDA for short (I like saying it "ig-duh," but apparently that's not a thing--people just pronounce each letter individually). The closest chapter to me is the D.C. one, and it contains developers from all areas around D.C. that aren't closer to Baltimore or Richmond. From what I've seen, the number of active members isn't enormous, but it's certainly nothing to scoff at either.

My first encounter with IGDA D.C., aside from simply becoming a card-holding member via the internet, was through an event of theirs called Indie Con D.C. This event was the first of its kind and was held in early August on the second floor of a bar in northwestern D.C. At the con, local game devs set up screens and laptops to showcase their latest creations, allowing anyone who wanted to come by and test the fruits of their labor the ability to do so. Naturally, not only did I want to go to check out local talent, I wanted also to pass out a few of my cards.

Both the attendance of the gamers and the attendance of the developers were impressive. The shot above shows the con early on, but by the evening, the space was pretty packed.  Jen, our friends Krystle and Andrew, and I had a great time chatting with people and simply playing games. Some of the folks we met - and whose games we played - were Melanie Stegman, who was being funded to create a game on the immune system; Taro Omiya of Omiya Games; Martin Smith, a developer for Undead Overlord  and Callen Shaw, creator of Super Dwarf Madness . Those last two links are to Kickstarter campaigns, by the way--check out their pages, and if you like what you see, send them your support!

After the event I marked my calendar for the next couple of IGDA D.C. meetings, both of which were great. Andrew and I attended the August meeting, which featured a local developer's highly successful kickstarted creation, Barkley II , and a presentation on how to run a Kickstarter campaign successfully. We also went with our friend Stephen to the September meeting to listen to Mark Barlet speak about the Able Gamers Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to bringing all games into the homes of those gamers that have disabilities. If you are a dev, I highly recommend checking out their document, Includification , not only to to make yourself aware of just how many gamers around you are disabled and need your help to make games accessible to them, but also to read how easy it is actually to make your games accessible to a large percentage of disabled gamers.

While there was no October meeting, Andrew, Stephen, and I attended the Baltimore Indie Games Game Jam kickoff meeting, which we're participating in with a few other people. Instead of being your typical weekend-long jam, this one takes place over the span of a month, which is perfect for those of us who a) are working on the artistic sides of things, and/or b) are there to learn as much as they are there to have fun by making a game (presumably with their fair share of fresh faces!). I'll be posting more on this event as it progresses, so you can look forward to meeting my team and hearing my work for our title weekly.

Until then...!

Enter: The D.C. Indie Scenehttp://www.scorevgm.com/blog/2013/10/23/enter-the-dc-indie-scene
Musings on "The Blitz"PersonalGregory WeaverMon, 01 Jul 2013 19:37:07 +0000http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scoreVgmBlog-scoreMusicworks/~3/Z9G0hAYV7II/musing-on-the-blitz51b6083de4b02af346a7b330:51b76539e4b0869c89512273:51d1da85e4b05d425c869c98In sending out tons of cold call e-mails to companies to try and get gigs, I learn a lot companies just from their websites.Note: All of the pictures are of stuff I've been listening to recently--they have no real relevance to the actual content of the post.

Hitoshi Sakimoto & Masaharu Iwata - Final Fantasy Tactics OST

Hitoshi Sakimoto & Masaharu Iwata - Final Fantasy Tactics OST

Since putting the finishing touches on my demo and constructing my new website, I’ve been on an “e-mail blitz,” cold-calling every game company whose contact information I can get my hands on to get myself out there and nail down a gig.

It’s been an interesting experience. Hopping from one website to another, you get to see many business types and practices. For instance, I thought it would be relatively easy to go on a company’s website to find contact information and the name of the person whom it would be best to contact. Most companies have either a contact page or an e-mail address listed, but some you really have to dig for. I’m not talking about just industry giants like Capcom or Rockstar Games, either, which is a bit strange.

What I find most surprising, maybe, is that lack of information about the developing team, especially with smaller companies. Though it’s certainly not a deal breaker, I am more inclined to feel good vibes about a company that enjoys putting their talented staff out in the open on their website, even if there’s just a list without any fancy pictures or silly profiles. Maybe it’s a bit old-fashioned or something, but I expected it, maybe due in part to my old employer having a full staff listing on its website. Now, having every staff person’s e-mail address and work number up *did* bring in its fair share of unsolicited, zany calls and e-mails, so maybe that website isn’t the best model to follow; however, there is a happy medium to be found.

Maria Schneider - Winter Morning Walks

Maria Schneider - Winter Morning Walks

There are two other types of websites that I really like. First, you have the websites that look effing awesome. My favorite one so far has been the website for Untold Entertainment (hover over “About” to see the best part). Even though some of the links don’t work, I’m willing to look past the site’s flaws and am happy to hunt for the information I need.

Second, you have the websites that link to other developers that they like. Having the want and will to publish those links of apparent competitors says a lot about the company to me; it says that they’re interested in being part of the larger game community and that they exist not only for themselves—those are the kind of companies that I really want to write for and help succeed.

On the other side of the coin, you have the companies that scream “avoid” right off the bat.These companies are the highly corporatized online flash game developers and their siblings. You know immediately if the company of the website you’re looking at is of this mold, and if you’re like me, you feel a little dirty sending them your stuff. If I lose a gig for saying such a thing, by the way, so be it, but I have a sneaking suspicion that my cover letter about creating art won’t speak to these types. More likely they’re going to buy stock music, anyway.

Yoko Shimomura - Legend of Mana OST

Yoko Shimomura - Legend of Mana OST

Then there are the companies that post the disclaimer that if you send them a file it becomes their property. I really appreciate them being up front about such things and will only send them to my website instead of sending them my demo directly, but man… what a policy.

One website I ran across said on their contact page something to the effect of: “If you’re an audio designer, do not contact us for we have no need for you at the moment.” Hilarious. I really respected them for that—saves us both time.

So, the real question is, how do I streamline making quality contacts? Right now I’m using the Game Dev Map because it’s easy and bears much fruit, no matter if the fruit is sometimes poor in quality or fails to exist. Following links from other developers has been great, and I’ve been thinking about looking through Steam Greenlight… but outside of those options I’m not coming up with much. Luckily, I still have a ways to go before I exhaust the ideas that I do have, haha. If you have any suggestions, please don’t fail to enlighten me.

Now, I realize that the best way to make contacts is to network by meeting people in person or through forums. I’ve been decently active in a couple different forums, but I need to ramp activity up a bit because this isn’t GDC season, to say the least. As my friend reinforced to me the other day, people would much rather hire from the inside or those that exist just outside of the inside—making meaningful relationships within the industry will be my best bet not only to get a gig in general, but also to get in contact with those companies with whom I’d prefer to work.

Steely Dan - Aja

Steely Dan - Aja

This all being said, I’ve had a decent experience reaching out to people so far. Whenever I get an e-mail back from someone,it feels great, even if it’s just a simple reply. Knowing that someone has taken the time to read – or better yet, read and listen – is always great.

None of the e-mails I’ve gotten so far have bared wonderful news, but I’ve received a few compliments on my demo, some people have been interested in keeping in touch, and others have chatted with me for a bit. A large amount of special thanks goes out to these companies—without them,, I would be pretty downtrodden right now. Instead, I continue to have an eagerness to keep on keeping on, as they say.

‘til next time…!

Musings on "The Blitz"http://www.scorevgm.com/blog/2013/7/1/musing-on-the-blitz
New website and official demo!NewsGregory WeaverWed, 12 Jun 2013 18:20:33 +0000http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scoreVgmBlog-scoreMusicworks/~3/ILiFyrY6Qk8/new-website-and-official-demo51b6083de4b02af346a7b330:51b76539e4b0869c89512273:51b8ba20e4b0fed3ca1ef9a3On the new website and the decisions that I made when compiling my demo!

If you're viewing this on the new website, this might be a bit more meta than you were asking for.

If in the last few hours you scrambled to find out if there've been any goings ons on this blog by going directly to scorevgm.com, you may have found yourself in uncharted territory that looks exactly like the picture above.

I know it's a little frightening, but please DON'T PANIC.

What you stumbled upon is my new website, which I created over the last two days using Squarespace. Before I go into details about the why, please note that if you follow my blog using WordPress, everything will be just fine.

Or, at least, it should be fine, heh. I'm going to continue to use WordPress as my main blogging tool, seeing as I can easily import my blog posts into my new site from here. Not to mention, I wouldn't want to lose any of you, dear readers. Many of you have been following [Score.] since its beginnings, and I would certainly never want to alienate you from my stuff, or me from our interactions!

The idea for a new website for [Score.] came about after I finished up my demo late last week (more on that later). I thought, 'Okay, I'm finally ready to send my content out to developers--let's do this,' but then came to the realization that my site was really just a blog and not an actual website, per se. To increase the professional look of my business, I needed the site to be focused around what my business is about and what I offer, not just around blog posts about constructing my compositions, reviewing other people's work, and the like.

So on Monday, I was scrambling to get a site together. Luckily, my friend Matt Pollard suggested a while ago that I create a portfolio website for myself and recommended Squarespace to me. Squarespace is a pretty user-friendly, powerful website construction platform. Any frustrations that I have had with it so far I've been able to work around, and I think that I've only touched the tip of the iceberg of what it offers at this point. The main thing that I still need to do is edit my old blog posts because the special embed codes that you can use on WordPress didn't magically change over to useable code when being imported to Squarespace like I desperately wanted them to. Otherwise, most everything else seems to be running pretty smoothly! I'm happy with the results.

One other thing of note is that I've decided to register my business officially as "[Score.] Musicworks" because, well, [Score.] alone doesn't really say anything and "Score Productions" already exists and has been around since the '60s!

I may be a month off my initial target, but my demo has been created and is ready to be presented to unsuspecting developers!

Any of you who have been following this blog regularly probably won't be surprised by the tracks I included in the demo. The setlist is as follows:

  1. "Demo 2013 Sampler" (a track that includes 15-30 second clips of all of the tunes on the demo)
  2. "Mr. A.C. (Keep Your Cool)"
  3. "Behemoth"
  4. "Fanfare and Jubilee"
  5. "Monday's Theme"
  6. "Hypothesis 209"
  7. "A Binding Harmony"
  8. "Heart of the Woods"

Now, I know that some of you out there maaay be saying, "But what about 'Happy-Go-Lucky'--I love that track!" or something very similar regarding another one of my tunes. The truth is, while I would love to have just crammed in as much music as possible on the demo, it's just not very practical. There were certain self-inflicted rules that I followed when compiling the tracks. I decided that I needed to answer such questions as:

  • Which tracks best show off the diversity of my ability?
  • Which tracks are the most solid compositionally?
  • Which tracks will best grab the attention of the listener?

That last one was especially important, and it factored in to the order of the demo as well. While I'd like to think that whoever puts in my disc will take the time to sit down and listen to each tune, giving them all a meaningful listen, I cannot afford to think that way. I need to play to the the listener with the least amount of time and the shortest attention span.

In order to achieve success in taking up his or her time, I created the sampler track and ordered the tunes in a way that I think would keep the listener's interest. If you'd like, go ahead and give it a listen:

  • "Mr. A.C." was an obvious choice for the first tune because of the pick-up hit in the beginning. It also is one of my favorites because it's significantly different from the other tunes, plus I have a definite interest in making that kind of sound work in games.
  • "Behemoth" is next because it was made to sound like tunes that are often found in modern games. It's romping vibe was written to be a crowd-pleaser.
  • "Fanfare and Jubilee" has, to me, a very likable and exciting 'hook,' so I wanted that to be in the mix as early as possible.
  • Though I would rather have had "A Binding Harmony" next because it's one of my favorites, I needed to make sure that the track diversity stayed strong. "Monday's Theme" and "Hypothesis 209" are the tunes most unlike any of the other ones, save for "Mr. A.C.".
  • I like "Heart of the Woods," but it was the obvious choice to play last simply because it's another orchestral track. Not to mention, the end is of the tune is probably the most fit to close out the demo.

So there you have it! I have a couple of more tasks to fulfill before I send out my packets, but it's finally getting to be that time. Thanks for listening, reading, and any other support you've thrown my way!

Special thanks goes out to my parents; my girlfriend, Jen Doo; my other family members; and my friends for all of their love and support. Thanks also to Natalie Parisi for all of  hard work she's done creating and manipulating my logo!

New website and official demo!http://www.scorevgm.com/blog/2013/6/12/new-website-and-official-demo
"Behemoth"CompositionGregory WeaverWed, 29 May 2013 20:31:30 +0000http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scoreVgmBlog-scoreMusicworks/~3/qPZW5ZF-Y0M/compositions_behemoth51b6083de4b02af346a7b330:51b76539e4b0869c89512273:51b7657fe4b0869c8951282e"... So because the music started to sound more like a game I decided to think of it in the context of a game. The original sound was intended to be “epic battle;” thinking about games, some of the most epic battles take place when you’re fighting bosses. Thus, I started to imagine a giant beast – specifically that which looks like a behemoth from the Final Fantasy series – bursting into a room ready to chomp you in half. And with that…"

A Behemoth from Final Fantasy IX

Creative Commons License

The work below is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License and ©2013 Gregory Weaver.

About a month or so ago I was thinking about what kinds of tunes I hadn’t yet written that I should write for my demo. The most obvious of the missing genres was a film-like tune—an epic tune fit for cinema in the ilk of Lord of the Rings or even the soundtrack to Skyrim.

Granted, my tune sounds absolutely nothing like the Skyrim tune above, haha, but I was certainly thinking in terms of having that BIG sound… a big, epic sound with a lot of brass and space and all that good stuff.

I’m sure that you’ll get that impression from the beginning of my tune, "Behemoth," but it kind of devolves from sounding like a film piece into sounding more like a piece of game music. I committed to this transformation right after I wrote in a part that sounded game-y, especially because it opened up new possibilities and allowed me to put in ideas that wouldn’t have made sense if I wanted to continue to think in terms of film. Very early on you’ll hear the entrance of some pointy-sounding flutes, for instance—those came from the removal of the film restriction that I had put on myself.

So because the music started to sound more like a game I decided to think of it in the context of a game. The original sound was intended to be “epic battle;” thinking about games, some of the most epic battles take place when you’re fighting bosses. Thus, I started to imagine a giant beast – specifically that which looks like a behemoth from the Final Fantasy series – bursting into a room ready to chomp you in half.

And with that…

[audio http://scorevgm.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/behemoth-display-mix-fade-out.wav|artists=Gregory Weaver|titles=Behemoth]

"Behemoth" on SoundCloud

While the brass is more representative of the “epic beast boss battle,” I wrote the woodwinds as if they were harbingers of insanity or twistedness. They’re meant to put the player on edge or even scare him or her a little. This idea was almost assuredly influenced by a couple of different Final Fantasy tunes.

“Kefka’s Theme” from Final Fantasy VI will always come to mind when thinking of a tune that is supposed to represent someone truly evil and insane. On its own, one may not hear those villainous attributes, yet when the player hears the theme played as Kefka, for example, poisons Doma, it really gets under his or her skin. In affecting the player in such a way, the true genius of Uematsu ‘s writing comes out. Start the below video at 6:01 to see what I mean.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/53uXNM7NUws?t=6m1s] The other influence was the Final Fantasy Tactics soundtrack (one of my favorites of all time). I’ve started the below video at the point where composer Masaharu Iwata terrorizes the gamer using – among other things – shrilly strings and bellowing brass. While I didn’t use strings in my own piece, I tried to create that feeling by writing dissonant and rhythmically unbalancing woodwind parts.

When you hear this music in the game, it’s when you’re fighting boss battles against humans that have willingly transformed themselves into horribly disfigured, power-lusting demons.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/gbI8CE-ABSg?t=1m12s] Since I felt that the influence of the FFT OST was so strong, I decided to put the music to a part in that game when you fight one of those demons. The video is of someone playing through the game and arriving at the demon battle that is most memorable to me, especially in terms of story. I believe it’s also just notorious to all gamers for its difficulty.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lkt0rCuKWSk] As I usually mention some points of difficulty in the compositional process in these kinds of posts, I’d like to give a shout-out to the critic of my “Fanfare and Jubilee” production work, Zack Parrish of the TIGSource forums. In response to my rebuttal of his criticism of my work, he mentioned a way that he overcame some problems of the sound library that I use, EastWest Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra Gold (yeah, it's totally a mouthful), that really helped me when writing this tune.

I have big issues with some of the articulation patches in the library. One glaring example is that when you want your trombones to play a note with a strong attack and then sustain that note for a measure or two afterwards, you can’t just use the marcato patch because the trombone will die in the middle of the suspension of the note at certain attack velocities. Why is this and why do very similar things happen in other patches? I don’t know the answer, and it’s really frustrating when it happens, but I now know how to work around the problem.

Yoshitaka Amano's depiction of a Behemoth

Yoshitaka Amano's depiction of a Behemoth

Zach had mentioned that he overlays patches in order to get through these problems. Having remembered that, in Logic I created two trombone tracks despite there not being two different trombone parts in my music (same goes for the horn part) and had one play the patch with a strong, articulate attack and the other play the patch that sustained the note with the sound I wanted at a reasonable volume so as not to make things sound all wacky. Remember this strategy, fellow composers!

Another frustrating part was that at 2:55, when the woodwinds play those softer lines, the clarinet patch was acting up, noticeably attacking each note harshly even though I had set it to the legato patch and also had overlapped the end of one note and the beginning of the next a little. Usually that stuff works, but not this time. After having gone a bit crazy, I solved the problem by putting the line in the upper octave of the bass clarinet instead using clarinet patch for it so that the bass clarinet plays both its own middle-range line and that clarinet line in its upper range as well.

Yay for tricks!

By the way, speaking of the forums, I added reverb to the master track after being told by both Parrish and fellow former elizabitcrusher that I should utilize it with my other tunes. I still am not very confident in my ability to use it well, but I’m going to try from this point forward. My intention is to go back and add reverb to and mess around with other tracks that need it. Hopefully you’ll get to hear that stuff soon, but for now…

… it’s time to go on to compiling my first official demo. Woohoo!

You’ll hear again from me soon as I work to get it ready and push it out the door. Thanks for listening (and reading)!

Adding to the 'finished' stack...CompositionGregory WeaverThu, 16 May 2013 02:54:30 +0000http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scoreVgmBlog-scoreMusicworks/~3/QB7hcReGPZk/adding-to-the-finished-stack51b6083de4b02af346a7b330:51b76539e4b0869c89512273:51b7657fe4b0869c89512829Features the remastered version of "Fanfare and Jubilee" and a new track, "A Binding Harmony"!Creative Commons License

The works below are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License and ©2013 Gregory Weaver.

Hey! It’s been awhile. I’ve got two tunes for you to check out.

Fanfare and Jubilee (Remastered)

This was actually completed about three weeks ago...

If you compare it to the original versions of the tune you’ll find some changes in the actual composition (as opposed to the sound), but nothing too significant. Mainly, I made the ending shorter so that the listener wouldn’t lose interest. I had thought before that the buildup to the large section that features all of the instruments playing together would be a good idea; however, even I as the composer was fatigued by hearing just one instrument come in at a time. Also, you’ll notice that the trombone starts off the buildup instead of the trumpet, and the percussion doesn’t take extra time to build up either. I think you’ll agree if you compare the two that it was in every listener’s best interest to shorten that section.

NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: The issues in the below paragraph have been handled! What you hear above is the corrected version.

While this tune is technically final, having sought out some criticism of it I learned from other composers that they find the mix too dry. While I set out for a drier mix, I am going to run with the suggestions and see how I can improve the sound of the piece by altering the reverb to give it more depth.

A Binding Harmony

This next tune was written for the TIGSource Musical Challenge XXIII. You might recall that I entered one of the challenges a while back with my tune “Mr. AC (Keep Your Cool).” For that tune, the challenge was to make a thirty-second looping battle theme; for this, things were a bit less constricting. The challenge was, simply, to create a love theme.

Imagine, if you will, that two lovers had been separated against their will, and after many months or years or however long, they spot each other in a large, crowded area. Having locked eyes they push through the crowd and wind up in each other’s arms once again. Suddenly, the world around them seems simply to vanish as they revel in their reunion.

I’m happy with how this tune turned out. It didn’t take me long to write and produce it, for one, and I think that I learned a lot in the span that I did work on it.

Originally, the tune was going to feature brass instruments with a trumpet or horn taking the main melody. After trying that for a little bit, it wasn’t meshing well with my ideas, so I went back to focusing on writing with ye olde piano, where I got down every part with the exception of the bass clarinet solo, which I wrote on a whim using the bass clarinet samples themselves. Another interesting tidbit is that I kind of wanted to make the main theme have more of a jazz ballad feel using a drum kit with brushes, but my current sample library won’t allow for that to be of the quality that I’m looking for.

Anyhow, I ended up knowing that I wanted to feature the woodwinds, especially after feeling like I’ve had good successes in the past in writing for them. What I did this time, though, was sit down and listen to a handful of famous cinematic love themes to try and internalize how the parts around the themes moved to create such luscious sounds. I think that led to me doing more with less—that is, creating more movement by limiting the number of voices sounding in certain phrases and having them all come together in others. Moreover, I started focusing on weaving melodies between instruments and in and out of textures.

NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: The issue noted below regarding reverb has been fixed, and the version you hear above is indeed the updated version!

I’d say that this tune is done, but it’s because I want to do more with it that I won’t. I would like to add in more brass and even a string section, arranging the piece for full orchestra. In fact, that was a suggestion I got from one of my fellow challengers. She, Elizabitcrusher, also suggested that I take more advantage of reverb (clearly my production-based nemesis at this point). So, I think it’s safe to say that in the future you’ll be hearing more of this tune—it’s just the when that’s in question.

From here, I’m working on finishing up a “large boss” fight tune, and after that, I’m going to compile my first demo and start getting my stuff out there to indie companies. Being that I’ve surpassed the halfway point of my sabbatical, I need to get my music out there and try to grab projects as soon as possible. The most ideal situation would be for me to have enough work to be able to keep moving forward as I am, but it’s more likely that I’ll be on the job hunt again soon, hoping to land a fulltime gig as the projects start trickling in.

On a more fun note, my pal Natalie of Clavis Cryptica asked me to do some voice acting for her upcoming D.C. puzzle hunt, The Famine Game (based after a best-selling novel with a synonymical title). It was so much fun! I hope that somehow I can get roped into being paid for voice acting services one day, haha. Maybe I’ll make a demo reel for that, too…

Thanks, as always, for listening and reading! Questions and critiques forever welcome in the comment section below.

‘til next time…!

Adding to the 'finished' stack...http://www.scorevgm.com/blog/2013/05/15/adding-to-the-finished-stack
Mid-April Status UpdateDraftsPersonalGregory WeaverTue, 16 Apr 2013 22:15:42 +0000http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scoreVgmBlog-scoreMusicworks/~3/66nCfOtbYwM/status-update_april-1651b6083de4b02af346a7b330:51b76539e4b0869c89512273:51b7657fe4b0869c89512826Catching you up on the latest in terms of my music and how my new lifestyle is panning out!

Jen and me checking out the Cherry Blossoms in D.C.!

Hey everyone,

I haven't posted in about a week and a half, so I thought I'd better give you an update.

First, the music stuff: I am in the process of both remastering old tunes and writing new ones. In fact, I have a list of two tunes to remaster and nine tunes to finish writing, which is a lot of stuff. You might think that I may have spread myself too thin and to that I say you might be correct, haha.

The dilemma is one that isn't old; namely, I'm caught between wanting to finish up tunes and churn out new ideas. Finishing is two-dimensional problem that I imagine many of us aspiring artists have: one, I always ask myself, 'Is this even worth finishing?', and two, I sometimes feel like I'm spending too much time on one idea rather than creating fresh ones, which makes me think of number one's question again. The answer to that question, by the way, is 'YES' 95% of the time simply because I need to practice finishing writing as well as the whole production gig. I refuse to abandon these tunes even though I get scatterbrained and succumb to writing new ideas instead often. The answer to the second? Simply get better and faster, which is done by finishing tunes, and stay focused. And you may think that have a list of nine tunes to finish would warrant me saying enough is enough, leading me to blast through finishing one or two, but no... no, that doesn't work; no urge to create new things is assuaged.

But hey, the remastered version of "Fanfare and Jubilee" is coming along. Check out what it sounds like at the end of today. Lots of work still needs to be done, of course, including adjusting dynamics, volume levels, articulations, and more, but I think you'll like it.

NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: Actually, the remastered version you hear below is the final version because I just replaced the old file on SoundCloud!

As for new stuff, one point of note is that I'm trying to write tunes that are a little longer, have more space, and are less dependent on being driven by one stand-out melody. I've been listening to some film scores recently (Lord of the Rings and Jurassic Park, to name a couple) for some inspiration. Not all of the new stuff is like that, but it's important to have a grasp on writing more film-y sounding scores for video games these days (not to mention, it's good practice if I ever get the chance to write for film or TV).

As for non-music stuff, I'm trying to get out a little more and trying to stop myself from snacking all day long (I have neither the metabolism nor the funds). It's hard to get inspired when you're sitting in a room all day, and while baseball season is awesome and I love watching it at night, it doesn't really help churn the creative butter. So, I like to go take walks during the day (the weather has been gorgeous recently) and I've been trying to do some other activities. A few examples: as you saw above, Jen and I went to see the cherry blossoms last Wednesday with her coworker and her coworker's son, which was really nice; we started playing Sunday night softball on a team that is half comprised of people we don't know; and I started a nine-week "Adult Beginner's Gymnastics" course last night (yup, and it's pretty cool).

That's pretty much it for now! I hope to be done with the remaster soon and will have some new stuff for you to check out shortly therefore. Until then...!

Mid-April Status Updatehttp://www.scorevgm.com/blog/2013/04/16/status-update_april-16
Woods Theme (Remastered)CompositionGregory WeaverFri, 05 Apr 2013 19:11:10 +0000http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scoreVgmBlog-scoreMusicworks/~3/eCtmDNHbfhQ/composition-woods-151b6083de4b02af346a7b330:51b76539e4b0869c89512273:51b7657ee4b0869c89512823"It's been a long time coming, but I finally got around to remastering the first track that I ever did for this blog, 'Woods Theme'..."Creative Commons License

The works below are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License and ©2013 Gregory Weaver.

It's been a long time coming, but I finally got around to remastering the first track that I ever did for this blog, "Woods Theme" (or "Theme for the Woods," as I called it in earlier posts).

NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: I *now* call it "Heart of the Woods"!

I've said it once and I'll say it again: I usually do my larger-scale compositions in Finale first, which doesn't have quality sound samples. So, I always aim to go back and remaster the tracks I write in Finale by putting them into Logic and using better samples, as well as by making my own mix instead of using what Finale does automatically.

It feels good to get one under my belt. It's definitely not my favorite part of the creative process, but it certainly is fulfilling when you finally feel satisfied with a mix. There's so much to be very meticulous about, and if you don't have a ton of experience in that world, it can be maddening. Luckily, I have the time right now to stop, let my ears rest, and then resume later, which makes things better on the mental side. Arguably, there's always that looming "just get it done!" approach that is very effective for the mind and for productivity [which I skimmed right over]; however, at least for this tune, I wanted to make everything perfect. And I kept on learning up until the last bounce as a result.

Original (Finale):

Remastered (Logic):

I even set the remastered version to someone's walkthrough of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, below:

While you all have heard some of my other final cuts on tunes that have been produced in Logic, you hadn't yet heard an orchestral piece. As you might imagine, it can take longer to do the production on a piece the more instruments one has because s/he has to make sure that everything is the right balance in every section of a tune. When conducting, a live orchestra, one has the benefit of the musicians knowing what dynamics to play when. They also know how hard to play notes and how to emote passages in the best manner. Everything melds together well due to a combination of the players' training, what's written on the score, and what the conductor is doing.

The computer doesn't know squat. The computer says, "Tell me what to do;" it needs to be babied. How do I play this note? How loud do I play this note? How do I express this note? Oh wait, you mean I express the same passage in the same way the next time I play it? How do I make myself sound good when playing with other instruments? Working with a Digital Audio Workstation like Logic instead of a live orchestra, the composer has to puppeteer the computer to make it do what it needs to do to sound the best it can. Every single instrument needs to be told all of these details. "Woods Theme" has a piccolo, flute, english horn, violin, viola, cello, and contrabass. That's seven instruments (really, the strings are all sections), not to mention there are two different parts for a few of those instruments.

Now, of course, the amount of time it takes to finish a tune can be longer or shorter depending on how musically the composer wants the computer to play the notes. For example, I have the ability of inputting every note, making it perfectly in time, and have every note be played with the same attack and loudness. Conversely, I have the ability to just how each note should be attacked based on my knowledge of how to play passages well and how I want them to sound; I can also choose to play all of the parts in real time as opposed to inputting everything in perfect time to make things sound more human.

Heart of the Woods in Logic

Heart of the Woods in Logic

For this tune, I decided to play everything in real time and then adjust the attacks and the time of each note afterwards. Until I get much better at playing keyboard, I don't think I'll be doing that again, haha. Despite things taking much longer, I'm glad I did it this way for the first remaster because I now have a much better idea of how the notes should look when editing them in the piano roll (for those that don't understand, see the graphic above--literally, you can draw notes in that bottom section, which functions in the same way that an old player piano does).

Anyway, I hope that you enjoy listening to the remastered version of "Woods Theme!" More remasters are in the works, as are some more new tunes, so keep an ear out.

Woods Theme (Remastered)http://www.scorevgm.com/blog/2013/04/05/composition-woods-1
Interludes: Happy TunesCompositionGregory WeaverWed, 20 Mar 2013 18:12:44 +0000http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scoreVgmBlog-scoreMusicworks/~3/tRHpgU_d3uQ/interludes_351b6083de4b02af346a7b330:51b76539e4b0869c89512273:51b7657de4b0869c89512800On the path to finishing older tunes of mine, I finalize "Monday's Theme" and also wrap up a tune new to the blog, "Happy-Go-Lucky"!Creative Commons License

The works below are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License and ©2013 Gregory Weaver.

Being that I'm a little over two weeks away from entering into the third month of my sabbatical (crazy to think about that), I decided that I need to get serious about finishing and mastering some of my older ideas.  I've got a couple of new tunes in the oven, but cranking out tunes in Finale that sound synthy doesn't do me very much good in terms of marketing myself in this day and age.  Here are two tunes that I recently finished, both of which might be a bit uplifting:

Mario Kart Title

I wrote most of "Happy-Go-Lucky" a while back, but had a lot of cleaning up to do with it. Originally it didn't include drums and it sounded very bare. There was just too much space! I thought that I needed some chordal textures at first because the bass sound was holding down a rhythmic base, but I was completely wrong--drums were the answer, and I knew it immediately after I put them in. Gotta give a shout-out to my old professor, Robert Jospe, since I knew what rhythm I wanted to use. Thanks for teaching me how to groove, Jos!

This tune is meant to be the title screen of a racer, and while I was thinking more "F-Zero" at first, David Graey commented on my SoundCloud, saying that the tune reminds his of the Mario 64 race theme (though he's not sure why, and I'm not totally sure why either, to be honest, haha). I decided to make the picture that of a Mario Kart title screen as a happy medium between his interpretation and my own.

"Monday's Theme" (final edition)

A Scene from Harvest Moon

A Scene from Harvest Moon

*Bonus points to whoever locates and correctly identifies the musical quote in this tune!

You might remember this little diddy back when I first posted about it last January. From that post:

"'Monday’s Theme' is a very lazy, easy-going tune.  I imagine that if there were actually people playing this, the banjo player would be sitting in a rocking chair on a porch, hat over his or her face with a long piece of wheat hanging out (or something equally as stereotypical).  The whistler would be working out in the field, harvesting, gearing up for a long, hard work week, but not getting into things too quickly.  Since everyone is so laid back and unworried, they’re just strumming along, not particularly worried about being exactly in time."

 That still holds true here. The big difference between the old version and the new version is that I added solos for both the banjo and the bass. Furthermore, influenced by Kenley's suggestions in the comments of the original post, I looked to shake up the banjo part a bit. If I weren't just trying to knock this tune out, I'd take some more of Kenley's ideas for a spin, not to mention add even more variation in the banjo part.

Thanks for listening.  Feedback is always appreciated!

Interludes: Happy Tuneshttp://www.scorevgm.com/blog/2013/03/20/interludes_3
Sabba4 (Draft 1.0) & Eliminating EmptinessAnalysisCompositionDraftsGregory WeaverTue, 05 Mar 2013 03:37:15 +0000http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scoreVgmBlog-scoreMusicworks/~3/KwO8kvalc8o/composition_sabba4_v151b6083de4b02af346a7b330:51b76539e4b0869c89512273:51b7657de4b0869c895127f2While composing my latest jazz-tinged VGM tune, I learned an important lesson about filling a negative audible emptiness.Creative Commons License

The works below are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License and ©2013 Gregory Weaver.

The year is After Colony 195...

The year is After Colony 195...

When I’m feeling a little down about new stuff that I’m making on a certain day, sometimes I tell myself to go work on a jazz-influenced piece since that’s the music that I have the most experience performing and listening to.  Sometimes forcing myself to work on a jazz piece produces the beginnings of a new tune that I like and sometimes it doesn’t; but when the results are positive, I end up with tunes like “Mr. A.C. (Keep Your Cool)” and my latest, the tentatively titled “Sabba4” (short for Sabbatical Tune #4, but I’ve also come to like it as a title ‘cause it sounds all space sector-y).

Here’s what I have so far for the first part of it:

I pretty much got the first 30 seconds over and done with one day and then moved on to do the next bit a day or two later.  Using Finale I wrote the vibes melody first and then created the harmony, etc., and when I put it in Logic I noticed something: there was a distinct emptiness in the second part that wasn’t in the first (or so my ears told me—you may disagree).  Take a listen to the parts I’m talking about back-to-back:

Do you hear what I hear?  There is a significant energy to the piece that seems to drop out starting at :10, and it’s not because of the lack of a piano as a whole.  I chalked it up to the bass duplicating the vibes too much, the open feel of the drums, and the downward harmonic movement of the guitar chords leading into the open sound of the line after it (i.e., everything).

The question of whether it sounds fine as a piece of music wasn’t what was bothering me because yeah, I think that the old cut sounds good.  However, I think there is just too much space and the energy suffers due to it.

Writing for a game, that’s a problem.  Or, at the very least, writing a piece like this without a particular situation in mind from the beginning, it’s a problem.  Music for a game needs to continuously add to whatever the player is experiencing because it is tied to and thus affects that experience directly.  If the music somehow shifts the mood to an odd gear in the middle of a situation, it most certainly has the ability to detract from the situation and make it less believable or authentic.

In this particular piece, there is an energy and a drive in the beginning up to the point in question.  In the old version, there is so much space starting at :10 that, if placed in a game where the situation called for excitement, it would be out of place.  For example, if you listen to the whole “real” clip, think of a situation where you’re in a ship approaching a mysterious space colony.  Suddenly, you’re shot at by unidentified flying objects.  The situation you find yourself in is one of desperate survival as you are outmatched.  Now, with that in mind and with remembering the feelings you had, listen to the old clip and see if your emotions change.  Mine certainly did while writing the piece.

There are a couple of things that I did to “fix” the track, and the fixes have to do with the bass movement and piano part.  In the old version, the bass has more movement in that it anticipates the guitar’s chords by playing one chord tone per chord a half a beat ahead of the guitar; in the new, I left out the anticipation but didn’t have it play the guitar’s bass notes, which where melodically moving downwards.  Instead, the bass starts the movement a chord later than the guitar and then inverts some of the intervals of the guitar’s bass notes when it comes in (i.e., instead of playing down a M2, m2, M3, M2, the bass plays up a m7, down a m9, up a m6, down a m2).  Then, the piano creates upward melodic movement with the chords and doubles down on the mood it creates at  :12 of the full versionby playing open chords, two of which are arpeggiated.

The upward movement here does two things.  First, it, as upward movement, naturally pushes the listener forward and allows the energy of the previous bars to be carried further.  Next, as a result of that carry, it shortens the distance between the held note at :09 and the lines at :13, which are more open because the bass doubles the line played by the vibes.

Speaking of the openness of the part at :13, you’ll notice that I did a couple of things to try and add energy there, as well.  The guitar was originally meant to just hold a single chord, but I decided instead to add a little more rhythm by having it chunk out the chord in its different inversions (with upward melodic movement, mind you).  The other change is that I increased the tempo of this section, which was done because, in fixing the rhythms in the old version – which saw more than one instrument rush –, it seemed to drag a bit.

I hope you enjoyed listening to "Sabba4."  I’ll be working on a few more edits to the section you hear here (mostly dealing with the drums) and will continue on!

Sabba4 (Draft 1.0) & Eliminating Emptinesshttp://www.scorevgm.com/blog/2013/03/04/composition_sabba4_v1
Interludes, 2/25/13CompositionGregory WeaverTue, 26 Feb 2013 02:16:26 +0000http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scoreVgmBlog-scoreMusicworks/~3/TEa-3yOlS5A/interludes_251b6083de4b02af346a7b330:51b76539e4b0869c89512273:51b7657ce4b0869c895127efThree tunes of varying genres for your listening pleasure!Creative Commons License

The works below are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License and ©2013 Gregory Weaver.

The day that I started writing "A New Horizon" was a day that bore more fruit than just that tune.  In fact, I ended up producing skeletons of two other tunes, each with its own, different feel.  Throughout the week I've been touching up those tunes and today I finished up my work with them; plus, I wound up mixing one other tune that I had started a while back but never got around to revisiting.  Let's take a look!

Jungle ruins

As you probably have read before, I enjoy exploring new instruments and sounds by loading up the samples on Logic and just playing around with them using my MIDI controller.  "Kalimba" was birthed that way; I established the groove of the piece by using none other than a kalimba sample and cruised from there.

The tune was built the same way that you hear it develop.  One groove was made, then I thought of what should go atop that, etc.  I really like the Logic sample "South African Singers" and it seemed to fit right into the sound of the kalimba, so I wrote that vocal part (though, it's more of a different texture than a 'vocal part').  Really, this was one of those tunes that just fell together.  If you get the chance, listen to it with headphones--I had a good time playing with the panning, and I think it adds more to the atmosphere if you can experience that element of the piece.

The only thing that took some time was mixing it and getting it to sound the way I want it to.  Interestingly enough, I'm still not sure if I like how it's mixed, and the reason for that is I'm not really sure how the tune sounds on the 'general device.'  I know what it sounds like through my Sennheiser HD598s, I know what it sounds like through my Apple display, and I know what it sounds like through my MacBook Pro speakers.  The issue is that my headphones are fantastic and the Apple products' speakers are horrible; therefore, while the mix may sound great for stereo headphones, I don't really know what it sounds like in the open air on normal speakers.  I'm especially worried about the volume levels... If the mix sounds crazy or terrible on your device, definitely let me know what you're hearing!

"Hypothesis 209" (Sabbatical Tune #2)

Kuzo Koshiro killing it at MAGFest XI

Kuzo Koshiro killing it at MAGFest XI

Back in middle and high school, I really liked to play "Dance Dance Revolution," and that resulted in me having a sort of 'techno phase.'  Flash forward to now, I finally have written my first techno tune, and I had a blast doing it.  Again, "Hypothesis 209" began with me playing around with the synth sounds in Logic.  The difference from this instance and "Kalimba" is, however, that I wanted to play with the synth sounds because I wanted to make an electronic piece, not just because I wanted to play around with a new sound.

The challenge with writing electronic tunes is that their production value is such a huge part of their overall sound.  I felt like the tune needed to sound immersive and so I took a lot of care to place each sample used in its own place sonically--if I'm in a club to dance (...'cause I, uh, do that a lot... yup...) I want to feel completely enveloped in the sound of the music, so of course I'm going to do my best to make my listeners feel the same way.  To that extent, this is another 'best with headphones' piece, unless you have a nice set of stereo speakers.

One other thing that I was sure to do with this piece is to go back afterwards and edit my drum part so that the beat isn't one static line.  Yes, I could have done much more to vary it, but I wanted more focus to be on the melodic lines, leaving the drums to pulse along.  For this tune, the beat's infectious enough to me as it is, though I will constantly keep in mind the need to switch things up for future pieces.

PS:  My favorite part was writing in the organ.  I really wanted to find a place for it!

"Lullaby" (Sabbatical Tune #3)

"Lullaby" was more like a nightmare to me (har).  It started off with an improvisation using the "Blues Acoustic" guitar sample on Logic, and I pretty much had the whole tune written after a bit of doing that.  However, I don't read piano rolls well, so I really felt the need to input the tune into Finale before continuing in order to see a score in front of me.  Problem number one was that the improvisation was extremely messy, and to make any sense of it I had to listen to the mess a lot more than I would have liked, pick out what was good, and then shape that good stuff into something that makes sense.

You know what's painful?  Shifting from Logic to Finale and back to Logic and then back to Finale to write a score.  I wound up buying another USB connector so that I could use my old M-Audio controller with one computer to write on Finale while using my main setup to use Logic.  This made things only a little easier at the time (though it will make other things a lot easier in the future).

It still was a painful process because of what I mentioned above.  Clearly, this wasn't supposed to be a big undertaking--it was only meant to be a simple rubato solo guitar melody, which made working with it all the more frustrating.  Yet, even after I fished out the good stuff and manipulated my Finale score to make things more cohesive, I had to input more new stuff and edit more old stuff even more in Logic.  Then, I had to fix the velocities of most of the notes in the tune so that the dynamics sounded smooth and natural.

Okay, I'm done complaining.  This piece is very simple, but it required a lot of work.  All in all, I'm glad I put the time into it because I learned a few Logic functions along the way and I think I improved my understanding of how to best edit note velocities, not to mention I'm glad I wrote for solo guitar.  If you would like the sheet music, I'd be happy to supply you with it!

Thanks for listening!  Let me know what you think in the comments section below!

Interludes, 2/25/13http://www.scorevgm.com/blog/2013/02/25/interludes_2
Sabbatical Tune #1 - A New Horizon (Draft 1.0)CompositionDraftsGregory WeaverTue, 19 Feb 2013 01:00:25 +0000http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scoreVgmBlog-scoreMusicworks/~3/zm3MST2Ma3U/composition_newhorizon_v151b6083de4b02af346a7b330:51b76539e4b0869c89512273:51b7657ce4b0869c895127ea "The idea behind the tune's a bit corny: I wanted to sit down and write the first thing that came to mind while thinking about this new adventure that I've set out on. Not only was it the easiest thing to think about at the time to get myself simply to write (after all, I'm in a brand new place living a completely different lifestyle), but that situation is often relatable to video game characters."

View of the sunrise from atop Fuji-san

Creative Commons License

The works below are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License and ©2013 Gregory Weaver.

This week has already started off better than last in terms of productivity as it pertains to my sabbatical. While last required a lot of housekeeping and getting settled in to my new place, this week should lean a lot more on the music side of things, and to kick this productivity cycle into gear, I've decided to share with you an early draft of my first sabbatical tune, "A New Horizon."

The idea behind the tune's a bit corny: I wanted to sit down and write the first thing that came to mind while thinking about this new adventure that I've set out on. Not only was it the easiest thing to think about at the time to get myself simply to write (after all, I'm in a brand new place living a completely different lifestyle), but that situation is often relatable to video game characters. The way it's come out, I think that this particular tune could be used situationally (e.g., the main character makes his or her first step in their new quest) or even possibly as a "world map" sort of theme.

Per usual, please excuse the poor instrument samples, as I am writing this first in Finale. There're also bits of dynamics and articulations added here and there, but they're not really to be taken seriously at this point. Sometimes when working in Finale you have to force yourself to add the details before you're done with your first complete sketch to make up for the muddiness of the samples, etc.

As is the idea, the theme's a bit cheesy, too. If you don't think that, then awesome, but as I was sketching it out in a reduced piano form, I was honestly a bit uneasy about releasing the idea to the public, haha. I wanted to stick with it, though, because not only did I just want to practice my orchestration, I thought that maybe I could orchestrate the piece in a way that enhanced it to the point where the listener would forget or become unaware of the cheese. As a result, I'm happy with what I have so far and am eager to continue working on it.

Let that be a lesson to all you would-be composers out there! Making the parts behind and around your lame melody cool can negate most of your dissatisfaction and can even make you learn to love your piece.

The one thing that I'm most interested in doing with what I have is inputting it into Logic and using my good sample libraries to listen to my orchestration. The beginning of the tune sounds especially muddy with all of the instruments, but I've convinced myself that it's mostly the product of the sounds and Finale's way of mixing them. It'll be a while before I prove myself right or wrong, though, because I'd like to finish writing the tune and then come back and tweak as necessary.

In other news, I've written about three other ideas for tunes that I hope to share with you soon. There's a "lullaby" for solo guitar, another orchestral piece, and – to spice things up a bit – an electronic number. What gets the O.K. to get fleshed out more remains to be seen...

Thanks for listening, and, as always, let me know what you think! In the meantime, I'm going to keep playing Ni No Kuni in hopes that Joe Hisashi's beautiful soundtrack rubs off on me a little.

Sabbatical Tune #1 - A New Horizon (Draft 1.0)http://www.scorevgm.com/blog/2013/02/18/composition_newhorizon_v1
MAGFest XI Recap: Saturday & SundayNewsGregory WeaverSat, 16 Feb 2013 03:49:35 +0000http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scoreVgmBlog-scoreMusicworks/~3/S4JtWdEpja4/magfest-xi_251b6083de4b02af346a7b330:51b76539e4b0869c89512273:51b7657ce4b0869c895127e7 * Games! * Challenges! * Kinuyo Yamashita! * DJ Yuzo Koshiro!  * MAGFEEEEEST

MAGFest XI Challenge spoils

After a grueling night of playing challenges (check out the spoils above), I returned to my quarters only to wake up the next morning at 7am to go down and play some more.  In fact, Brandon was able to make his way down to play, as well, and he had stayed up even later than I did the night before—it was great to have a buddy to share the pain with so early in the morning.

Call us crazy, but those laptops are almost always occupied, and it has long been proven that going to the game room in the wee hours of the morning is the best thing to do if you’re looking to play a specific, popular attraction.  My first year, Jen and I woke up at 5am to go down and we were able to play whatever we wanted whenever we wanted.  That’s a ProTip for you there for next year, dear readers.

Brandon and me playing some dancing game

Brandon and me playing some dancing game

Kinuyo Yamashita's panel

Kinuyo Yamashita's panel

I didn’t mention this last post, but I had a MAGFest staff nemesis during the weekend who blocked me from asking questions at both the Koshiro and Yamashita panels.  Two panels in a row, this guy dismissed my attempts at trying to get in line because in front of him was the “last question.”  GUH!

Truth be told, both times were my fault.  During Koshiro’s I waited until the line had died down enough for me to exit my row and be in the back of the line, and for Yamashita’s, I didn’t think of a good question until really late.  In case you’re wondering, I wanted to ask Yamashita: “In an interview of yours that I read, you stated that your music for Castlevania was influenced by the dynamics of how the character moved—I was wondering if such a thing still influences you and how that has changed with games morphing from 2D to 3D.”

I don’t know that she’d have an answer for that, honestly, haha, so it wasn’t a big deal; but, my question for Koshiro was important to me, so I went to a Q&A panel with him and Chris Huelsbeck later that day to get in line early and ask.  My question for Koshiro was something to the effect of: “As a fan of 20th century classical music, I enjoyed listening to your soundtrack to Beyond Oasis; I was both intrigued with it as a work for video games and absolutely terrified by it.  Could you talk about composing for that game and tell me what your colleagues’ reactions were to it?”

I got a few chuckles from the audience on saying it was terrifying (though it wasn’t meant to be funny! heh heh) and Koshiro talked about having studied 12-tone serialism and other 20th century atonal techniques.  However, he did not answer the latter part of the question, haha.  It was unfortunate, too, since that’s what I was most interested in—the idea that the team for the game accepted that kind of music and approved it for a video game.  Lest you didn’t listen to it on my post about Koshiro, head on over to check it out and prepare to be unsettled.

Some bullets from that Q&A:

- Koshiro enjoys playing Para Para Paradise - Both composers use Cubase - As for their favorite VGM composers, Huelsbeck chose Rob Hubbard (Commodore 64 guru) and Koshiro stated Koichi Sugiyama (Dragon Quest series).

After eating lunch I broke off from my friends to network a bit.  One of the new features of MAGFest was a section for indie developers to set up booths and show off their games, so naturally, I wanted to strike up a few conversations.

Overall, I think that it was a success.  I was admittedly a bit shy—going up to a developer’s table to hand them my card and make a connection instead of playing their games was weird.  For one, I even tried playing their game first and then telling them that I write music for games, and I think that was even weirder.  Ultimately, though, I just had to do my thing.  I think it’s one of those situations that I tend to over-think because if I were in their shoes, why wouldn’t I want another potential composer in my back pocket?

I met a handful of people and companies and exchanged cards.  It was cool to come home and find some e-mails in my box during the week from some of these folks.  While I didn’t get a job off the bat (not that I was expecting to), now I feel actually connected with these folks and am not afraid to do some follow-up work when I have my demo reel polished.

That evening my friends and I gathered in my room for some friendly rounds of the highly underappreciated Pac-Man Vs., Dogfish Head beer (Fort, Bitches’ Brew, and Chateau Jiahu, all of which were great), and Domino’s pizza.  We also spent time with this little guy, a Christmas gift to Jen and me from our pal Stephen that, as you can see, Brandon loved.

Brandon meets Draggy

Brandon meets Draggy

Our evening activities included two shows, the first of which was The Protomen.  Natalie is a huge fan of theirs and got Jen into them, so we listened to an album of theirs on the way to MAGFest.  I was lukewarm on it, the same that I was when I first heard them from my pals Ben and Sarah (who hardcore follow them) a number of years ago.  That being said, the show was pretty great; they are certainly a group to see live.  If I hadn’t heard the record beforehand, I’d’ve been tempted to buy it afterwards.  The playing was tight, the amount of energy emitting from each member was enormous, and the aesthetics of the performance really made their time on stage a show to remember.  I’d see them again!

The Protomen

The Protomen

Jen and me rockin' the pixel glasses

Jen and me rockin' the pixel glasses

The second show was one that many MAGFesters had been waiting for all weekend: the Midnight Dance Party feat. DJ Yuzo Koshiro!  Koshiro is the man, seriously.  He was nervous because he had never DJed for an American crowd – nor he had done so for a crowd of that size – before.  There were admittedly a few hiccups, such as when the audio would completely cut out while he was trying to transition between tunes, but Koshiro took it in stride with an enormously supportive MAGFest crowd that adored him.

The set started out with some chiptunes from Act Raiser and morphed into a techno/house/trance club scene over time.  Naturally, Koshiro played tunes from the Streets of Rage series as well as the Wangan Midnight games, and people ate it all up.  I had a great time cutting loose with my friends.

Yuzo Koshiro greets his adoring fans

Yuzo Koshiro greets his adoring fans

Startin' up the jams

Startin' up the jams

Getting into it...

Getting into it...

Koshiro kills it

Koshiro kills it

Saturday was a late night that led to an early morning (as always).  The great thing about the Gaylord, though, is that their check out is killin’.  You have to be out earlier than you’ll ever want to wake up on Sunday (11am), but all you have to do is pick up the receiver in the room and press a button and bam! You’re all checked out.  Also, I’m not going to spoil it for you, but there’s something funny about checking out by phone—heck, I think I’d stay at a Gaylord again just to do check out!  Make sure next year you heed my advice.

So Jen and I checked out, got all of our stuff to the car, helped others do the same, and then spent more time with everyone in the game room.  Yes, challenges were involved, and this was the time that Jen strutted her stuff on Castlevania.  But that’s basically it aside from us going to lunch and me getting ultra sick and having to stay at Jen’s until the next day, missing out on work.  Success!

Jen and DJ Yip Yips

Jen and DJ Yip Yips

Brennan, me, and Brandon after a MAGFest well played!

Brennan, me, and Brandon after a MAGFest well played!

In short, MAGFest was awesome, as expected. I’m already looking forward to another year of friends, games, challenges, and concerts. Wherever you live, be it in Kenucky or Korea, you should seriously consider making the trip to National Harbor if you’re serious about having great times with thousands of people like yourself!

MAGFest XI Recap: Saturday & Sundayhttp://www.scorevgm.com/blog/2013/02/15/magfest-xi_2
Moved in!NewsPersonalGregory WeaverWed, 13 Feb 2013 04:23:48 +0000http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scoreVgmBlog-scoreMusicworks/~3/kqQSeG2enWE/moved-in51b6083de4b02af346a7b330:51b76539e4b0869c89512273:51b7657ce4b0869c895127e4I have landed in Arlington!

This weekend I took the first steps on my sabbatical—that is, I made the move to my new apartment in Arlington, VA!  It’s been a pretty exciting last couple of weeks, from having one last ultra-busy hurrah at my now old job at the Virginia Arts Festival to getting approval to move into the apartment to preparing to leave to getting settled.  If that sentence was exhausting to read, then good—in that case it well emulates how things have been going for me. After a bittersweet last day in the office, I readied my things to go at home.  Some of the work was already done, but the big things, like, oh, dismantling my computer desk and bed, weren’t.  It’s a good thing I used my last “personal day” for work on Friday, else things would have been really dicey.  Everything was packed and/or gathered, however, by Saturday morning, and my parents and I made the 200-mile trek north.

I was aiming to get to my apartment by three o’clock at the latest so that I could make best use of my freight elevator reservation and so that I could meet the Comcast guy to get my internet set up.  The elevator situation was just fine; however, the Comcast gentleman had gotten there before three, and we arrived about 10 minutes after due to a missed turn.  Plus, unfortunately, I had to fill out all of my paperwork before he could start getting to work, which made him have to wait around even longer.  Yikes.  Needless to say, he wasn’t too happy.  BUT, Mom saved the day by mentioning our trip from Virginia Beach and, for some reason, jazz.  Luckily, he’s a jazz lover and instantly warmed up to us—he even told me what radio station to check out and a club to go to if I wanted to play in a jam session.  By the end, he left calling us “friends.”  Awesome.

Alex... dead?

Alex... dead?

Jen and our friends (/her longtime friends from the area) Ryan, Ben, and Alex came out to help clear the U-Haul.  All in all, with their aid, clearing a full truck and my car took maybe an hour, I think, which was pretty great, especially since my dad was trying to get the truck to a drop-off location before it closed.  While my parents took care of the truck, all of us youngins organized and built stuff.

My parents needed to get back on the road afterwards, so we hugged goodbye and the rest of the crew and I went out to dinner at this Chipotle-esque Mediterranean restaurant called Medi.  First meal in Shirlington: success.  Afterwards we made use of Saturday night by going back to the guys’ place and playing Rock Band.

All in all, it was a great move-in day.  Now three days [and a multi-hour trip to Ikea] later I have finally cleaned everything up and am ready more or less to be productive.  I still have a few administrative tasks to complete as far as things I need to buy and take care of (here’s looking at you DMV—and not in a particularly good way, either!), but otherwise I am set.  I even got a keyboard stand today and started practicing piano a bit (hooray!).

Ash Wednesday is tomorrow—a fitting day for seriously starting the musical part of this journey.  Let's get to work!

Moved in!http://www.scorevgm.com/blog/2013/02/12/moved-in
MAGFest XI Recap: Thursday & FridayNewsGregory WeaverThu, 17 Jan 2013 02:33:05 +0000http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scoreVgmBlog-scoreMusicworks/~3/A51Ts4FlXZM/magfest-xi_151b6083de4b02af346a7b330:51b76539e4b0869c89512273:51b7657be4b0869c895127dcWe <3 MAGFest !!!!!! And Yoshi's Cookie !!!!!!!!!!

Disclaimer: I apologize for much of the photography—I apparently have the least steady hand in the universe.

If you couldn’t tell by “MAGFest” being in the title of two of my last four blog posts, yes, it was that time of year again.

Having done a two-day, two-night stint for the past two years, Jen and I decided to extend our trip and come up on Thursday night.  We thought (I thought) we were being baller, but come to find out, the real ballers head up on Wednesday and get the place warmed up while the rest of us toil away at work.  Drat!

After getting, mmmm, "misdirected" on the drive to National Harbor from the other side of the water (National Harbor got sucked into a black hole, according to both Jen's and our friend's GPS), Jen and I made it to the Gaylord National and were greeted with a smooth check-in.  The place was alive already, but not nearly as much so as it would be over the next few days.

The badge, some MLP cards, and a Challenge spoil

The badge, some MLP cards, and a Challenge spoil

After getting situated, we went to go get our badges and ran into a prime example why the MAGFest community is so cool.  While in line, this guy in front of us pulled out a binder of cards.  He was a brony, and he started talking about his collection of My Little Pony trading cards – of which he had a complete base set and a slew of special cards – to the guys next to him.  Jen loves MLP and got excited, so we checked them out as he flipped through he pages.  The guy asked if Jen was missing any of the cards, and we joked that she needed them all.  Well, he didn’t give Jen a set, but he flipped to the back of his binder and let her pick out a couple.  What a guy!  So Jen scored Pinky Pie and Gummy trading cards just by geeking out with another MAGFester.  That's the name of the game!

After we scored our badges, we met our friends and headed down to check out the merchandise tables and the game room.  We ran into some other friends along the way, including chiptunes guru Inverse Phase, who was glad to see familiar faces due to his inconvenient placement in the large hall.  I told him that he was in a prime position because he was placed right next to [what looked like] a load of comic longboxes.  I was quickly corrected by a passerby, who quipped, “Yeah… heh… ‘comics.’”  MAGFest has it all, folks.

At the Yuzo Koshiro Q&A

At the Yuzo Koshiro Q&A

We retired a bit early that night because we knew we had an early morning and a long weekend to enjoy ourselves.  Waking up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, we drug ourselves to the Yuzo Koshiro Q&A panel at 10am.  Having read through multiple interviews with him and compiling that information for the blog – and this goes for Kinuyo Yamashita, as well – I didn’t take too many notes during the Q&A.  However, here are some interesting things that Koshiro-san revealed to those who attended:

- When composing for Etrian Odyssey, Koshiro didn’t go straight for the PC-88; instead, he tried to use modern synth sounds at first, but those were rejected by the director, so it was at that time that he changed directions and went with the old chip’s sound.

- For ActRaiser, since the SNES chip’s PCM produced a great string sound, he wanted to be sure to utilize it.  To get himself in the mood for writing his first-ever orchestral pieces, Koshiro turned to the sounds of Star Wars and Gustav Holst.

- All of the tunes he's ever written on the PC-88?  Composed using a program he made himself.  No big deal.

- Someone thought he heard the sounds made by particular synths in Koshiro’s early-'90s techno writing, but Koshiro claimed never to have used physical instruments to compose that music—it started and ended with his PC-88.

- Part of the reason that the gentleman asking the previous question probably heard sounds similar to the instruments he stated was because Koshiro would go to the club every week to get influences for his house soundtracks—I reckon that he naturally absorbed those sounds and created like-sounds subconsciously on his own instrument.  Furthermore, Koshiro was in L.A. at the time of composing for Streets of Rage, and he would tune into MTV to listen intently [because they actually played music on it back then, if you’re too young to recall such a time], so I'm sure that affected the sounds he created, as well.

- If he had the choice of composing for any modern game series, he would like to write for Street Fighter.  Make it happen, Capcom!

The best part of the session by far was when some guy asked Koshiro to play a tune from ActRaiser on his little plastic keyboard.  Jen filmed it; check it out:

Speaking of Inverse Phase, we went to check him out after getting out of the Koshiro show and aiding our friends Brandon and Brennan with getting their badges.  Brendan (confused yet?) was killing it up on MAGFest’s new stage.  The music hall was tight—super roomy (er, I meant "tight" as in "sweet"), and the stage must have been twice the size that it was last year.  As you can see, they kicked up the light show, as well, making the atmosphere really hip.  The only problem was that the lights atop the scaffolding beamed directly into the audiences’ eyes often; otherwise, that was the place to rock out.

Inverse Phase doin' his thang

Inverse Phase doin' his thang

The light work was unbelievable this year

The light work was unbelievable this year

After eating lunch at Elevation Burger, we met up with our pals Nick and Natalie Parisi to watch Nick compete in the Rock Band 3 drums tournament.  His opponent was good, but Nick won best of three while being photographed by some dude with an impressive tripod.

Next stop was a tournament that Jen’s friend from high school, Matt, co-hosted: Yoshi’s Cookie.  The other host, Kaz, made these awesome (and delicious) cookies both to eat and to show people how to play the game.  You can even see Yoshi’s face in one of the cookies!  So cool.

Yoshi's Cookie cookies!

Yoshi's Cookie cookies!

Alex faces his opponent

Alex faces his opponent

Get 'em, Yoshi!

Get 'em, Yoshi!

Jen's in the game

Jen's in the game

Since they needed only a couple more constants to round out their brackets, Alex and Jen were essentially voluntold to suit up and play.  Unfortunately, despite ravenously devouring the rules of the game and the qualities of each of the character options (not to mention the cookies) while others played, both were knocked out in their respective first rounds.  Jen’s opponent, in trying to be a good sport, went in for a hug after he swept her—Jen [somewhat awkwardly] did not have any of that and walked away winning a battle of her own, one might say.

Meanwhile, I played Joust on an Atari and got my butt handed to me by crazy pterodactyls.  That game is nuts!

Before our friends and we darted to catch sangria Happy Hour at Nando’s Peri Peri – a favorite – our friends started something that would live in infamy for the rest of our time at MAGFest: they took part in “A Throne of Challenges,” MAGFest’s classic video game gauntlet.  I had never had the guts to sit down at the challenge stations and try anything before this year.  Thankfully, my friends had the determination for it.

The way it works is, the staff sets up about twenty laptops that have a directory of games on them.  You choose a system and a game from that system’s list, and then you start at a saved-state point on the computer’s emulator.  When you lose the challenge, just a press of the space bar would bring you back to the start of the challenge.  If you’re interested, you can download the states to try out yourself—all of my friends and I went in cold turkey, though (that’s the best way to do it, in my opinion, unless you’re trying to get the first-to-thirty-completions prize).  Here’s a video of a guy training one of the “Unfair” challenges from Mega Man 3.  I didn’t even touch the NES Mega Man ones.

Allow me just personally emphasize how difficult these challenges are while you watch that guy get owned.  DUDES.  These challenges are CRAZY HARD.  Many of them center around “you can’t get hit” (I spent at least 40 minutes over two days on the Turtles in Time challenge, and the Mega Man X ones were popular with my group), while others were “collect X amount of points” or “beat these bosses with weak weapons.”  Some were simply “win” (seriously—I’m looking at you, Warlords).

I ended up beating 15 challenges, most normal, some hard.

NES: Castlevania, Castlevania 3, Jackal, Legend of Zelda, Little Nemo, Shatterhand, Super Mario Bros. 2 Genesis: Crusader Centy, Earthworm Jim, Sonic the Hedgehog SNES: Mega Man X (both Sigma's face and the spider), TMNT IV, X-Men Atari: Barnstorming

- Most glorious wins: TMNT IV and Mega Man X “Face” (actually harder than “Spider,” despite what the difficulty says)
- Easiest wins: Crusader Centy and Jackal (proving that everyone can beat at least one challenge)
- Most annoying: Barnstorming (Atari games… gotta love how terrible some of them are)
- Most difficult that I tried but didn’t beat: Link to the Past

As exhilarating as these challenges were, the best part was to do them around my friends.  Cheering and getting cheered… feeling the sharp pang of losing time after time within seconds of each loss and watching my friends agonize, as well… feeling so awesome about winning and then high-fiving as my friends’ cards got punched… pushing each other to keep on grinding the most impossible challenges… The feeling of doing these tasks is akin to playing a team sport with your friends and getting into a very close game where you end up just barely pulling out ahead.  It was that plus an old feeling of playing classic games with pals.

Cheers to Brandons W. and R., Brennan, and Nick for dominating these things.  Some notables: Brandon W. thought he beat challenges multiple times and got his card punched for them only to find out soon thereafter that he had not finished the whole of those challenges BOOOO (he sincerely felt bad and tried to make up for it, but the Kirby challenged proved to be too much, sadly); Brennan beat the Turtles in Time challenge that was ailing me first try (I was pissed, haha); and Nick beat the Link to the Past one (watching him get better and better until he finally won out was a blast).  Jen even got in on the action and almost beat the Castlevania challenge; in fact, she figured out something about beating it that I didn’t realize, which ultimately lead me to victory after having already written it off.

Good game, guys!

Head on over to my review Saturday and Sunday!

MAGFest XI Recap: Thursday & Fridayhttp://www.scorevgm.com/blog/2013/01/16/magfest-xi_1
Know Your MAGFest Moguls: Yuzo KoshiroBiosNewsGregory WeaverThu, 03 Jan 2013 03:05:31 +0000http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scoreVgmBlog-scoreMusicworks/~3/cZWcMprScLc/moguls2_yuzo-koshiro51b6083de4b02af346a7b330:51b76539e4b0869c89512273:51b7657ae4b0869c895127cd “Arguably the greatest game-music composer of the 16-bit age." - Nintendo Power , 2006

Crowned “arguably the greatest game-music composer of the 16-bit age” as recently as 2006 by the now-tragically deceased publication Nintendo Power, Yuzo Koshiro was born in the city of Hino in Tokyo, Japan, on December 12, 1967 (1).  At the age of three, Koshiro’s mother started teaching him piano, and he went on to study with Mamoru Fujisawa – better known as Joe Hisaishi, composer for many Hayao Miyazaki films, including My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, and Spirited Away – for three years when he was eight.  A multi-instrumentalist, Koshiro picked up the violin when he was five and later learned to play cello and guitar as well (2, 3).

As a schoolboy, Koshiro would cut his classes and head to the arcades, where he would spend his time feeding Namco, Konami, and Sega machines (2).  Although he really wanted to be a game programmer, he had a knack for creating music, and so he made mockups of the music that

he heard in the games he played on a PC-8801 soundboard (3).  Having been influenced by the sounds of Gradius, Space Harrier, and Tower of Druaga, one of his goals was to bring the high quality of arcade game music to the PC since, to that point, there wasn’t much in the way of great, inspirational PC game music (4).  It was by sticking with that vision and producing high quality music on that soundboard that he caught the attention of those that worked at the game company Nihon Falcom.

During summer vacation, at the age of eighteen, Koshiro spotted a job listing for an opening within Falcom in a PC magazine (2).  Since the company was close by, he applied and scored the job.  In fact, Falcom loved the music demos that he sent so much that they even used some of those demo tunes in his first game project, Xanadu Scenario II (1985).  The rest of the soundtrack was pieced together similarly—instead of writing music off a visual, Koshiro wrote music that he liked and then applied that music to parts of the game that seemed a fit, giving the music an “unexpected quality” which, to him, “created the game’s unique worldview” (3).  On composing this music, he states in an interview with Square Enix Music Online:

“… I was a mere beginner, so I composed blindly, as if in a trance. I didn’t have a special approach; I just wanted to create PC game music with the kind of drive that I liked in arcade game music, and that was my main motivation.”

Other works he composed during his years with Falcom were the critically acclaimed soundtracks to the first two Ys games – on which he was a member of the development team – in 1987-88 and Sorcerian (1987) (2).  According to Koshiro himself, these years were when he “enjoy[ed] making game music the most.”  His affinity for the times is evidenced by his work on Sorcerian, for which he wrote about fifty or sixty tracks even though they only used thirty-nine of those and filled in the rest of the music with other composers’ works.  Though Koshiro does not known copyrights to any of his music for these games and thus doesn’t receive royalties for the many arrangement project releases that have been and are released, he feels “very much grateful for… the franchises because so many people heard [his] music through them” (3).

After leaving Falcom, Koshiro’s writing style hit a significant turning point.  Instead of continuing to compose rock and fusion VGM, he turned to dance music – such as Eurobeat and House – for inspiration, evident in his work for The Scheme (1988), The Revenge of Shinobi (1989), and Misty Blue (1990) (1,3).  In fact, Koshiro would explore writing in many different styles from then on.  His successes in his expanding his horizons did not just happen naturally—he attributes his success taking the time to study music of the different genres down to their roots.

While The Scheme and Misty Blue were both for the PC, Koshiro entered the Sega Genesis market when he composed for The Revenge of Shinobi.  His transition to the Genesis went smoothly, as the sound chip for the system is so similar to that of the PC-88 that for Shinobi, he first wrote the music on the 88 and then ported it straight to the Genesis (2).

However, things did not go as smoothly when writing for the Super Nintendo at first2.  The development kit was not kind to Koshiro, but he was in luck: the director of his first SNES game, Masaya Hashimoto, was a programmer for the Ys series.  Knowing that Koshiro would not be content with doing less than he knew he was capable of doing, Hashimoto created a sound driver that was much easier for him to use.  The result was the soundtrack to ActRaiser (1990).  Though he was not originally aiming to make an orchestral soundtrack, Koshiro could not help himself since the SNES could produce a string sound more easily than other systems with which he had worked (3).  Amazingly enough, having not composed such a score before, ActRaiser was written “entirely by instinct.”  This soundtrack ended up being one his favorite works (4).

Koshiro’s family founded a company called Ancient that worked mostly on Genesis titles in the 16-bit era, and as a result he would not write for many more SNES games (though he would work on more, including Super Adventure Island in 1992) (2).  Ancient would produce Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Master System in 1991 (to which Koshiro wrote three new tracks) as well as Streets of Rage 2, a game that held another one of Koshiro’s favorite works (3,4).

Koshiro’s music for the first and second Streets of Rage games (1991-1992) would once again thrive on his dance music composition chops.  By then, early '90s house and hip-hop music was on the rise, and it fueled Koshiro while he wrote the soundtracks (3).  For Streets of Rage 3 (1994) there was an extra element added to Koshiro’s own musical workings: using C++, he created a program that would generate randomized sequences, adding a new flavor to a familiar feel.

Alongside being waist-deep in writing dance music, Koshiro submerged himself in classical styles in the mid-nineties.  The first result was an experiment in 20th century atonality and polytonality: the soundtrack to Beyond Oasis, a 1994 Genesis title (3).  This music is horrifying.  I don’t think anything says my true feelings about it like my initial reaction in a chat to my friend, Brandon.  Note the extreme tension, disarray, and disjointedness in my type (rated PG-13):

me: this ost scares the shit out of me I feel like I’ve been listening to it for 30 minutes But really I’ve only listened to it for like 15 max wait maybe 20 maybe I have been listening to it for 30… it’s seemed like hours forget that I said 30 earlier HOURS 30 HOURS

Brandon: this is crazy Carol is not amused her initial reaction “a swamp. fire. dire fight scene.”

me: lol so crazy the whole soundtrack is like I don’t know it’s hard to listen to I don’t know how anyone ever approved it for a game i’d guess that they were like “do your thing” and then the game needs to be released the next day and he comes in with that shit and they’re like “o.o umwhatthefuck umiguessokaylet’sjustuseit”

Don’t confuse my terror for thinking that it’s bad.  Yes, it’s crazy.  Yes, I believe everything I said above.  I have absolutely no idea how Koshiro got away with this soundtrack because it is so unpleasant to listen to casually that I don’t see anyone approving it.  He wrote geometry here.  And the sounds of the Genesis amplify that geometry.  Squares to cubes.  Cubes to hypercubes.

He continued his studies and applied them to future titles as well.  For instance, he notes in the Square Enix Music Online interview that the sequel Legend of Oasis (1996) and two other games, Merregnon (2000) and Lost Regnum (2008), utilize late romanticism (3).  Studying for the first Oasis title aided him in producing those sounds, as well.

The aughts found Koshiro studying another type of music: trance.  Until he started to work on the Wangan Midnight series (2001-2011), he had yet to explore that world, yet he caught on quickly due to his proficiency in other techno styles (3).  Ever learning, he continues to use the latest trance styles in each of the latest Wangan games.  Wangan Midnight Maximum 2 is one of his favorite recent body of works (4).

He also wrote his first song in 2005, the theme to Namco x Capcom4.

Koshiro’s career seemed to have come full circle in 2007 when he started to compose for the Etrian Odyssey series (the most current title in the series was released in Japan as recently as July 2012).  The original director of the series, Kazuya Niinou, approached Koshiro about writing music for the series because he wanted to create a sense of nostalgia within it (3).  Thus, Koshiro naturally went back to his first electronic instrument, the PC-88.  The music in the game, however, was not composed solely on the PC-88; rather, Koshiro sampled the sounds of the PC-88 and pulled them into the digital audio workstation Cubase to compose.  He thought that the “sounds of the DS would make the music really boring and flat, so [he] mixed in PCM [pulse-code modulation] and other new sounds to add thickness.”

The man

The man

Throughout his years of being in the business, Koshiro has an affinity for old game music (4).  He prefers the unique sounds of older chips, such as PSGs, FM synths, and low-frequency samplers.  Some of his favorite modern game soundtracks are those for PaRappa the Rapper, Space Channel 5, and Rez.

His secrets to success?  Learning a multitude of instruments, listening to all types of music, and “[trying] not to limit [himself] since [he] was little” (3).  When composing a new soundtrack he has many inspirations, from buying lots of CDs to listening to different styles of music, watching movies, and "[eating] tasty food” (4).  Most recently he draws inspiration from playing outside with his son on the weekends and taking him to different places.

If you’d like to learn more about the technical side to Koshiro’s approach, check out the Video Games Daily article, linked below.

Yuzo Koshiro will be at MAGFest this weekend.  On Friday he will host a live Q&A session at 10am; on Saturday he will be in a panel with Chris Huelsbeck at 12pm and one with Huelsbeck and Kinuyo Yamashita at 2pm; and at midnight on Sunday will DJ a dance party.

 See you there!

1 “Yuzo Koshiro.” Wikipedia. 12 Dec. 2012. 1 Jan. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuzo_Koshiro>

2 Greening, Chris, Don Kotowski, Shota Nakama, and Ben Schweitzer. “Interview with Yuzo Koshiro” SquareEnix Music Online. Ed. Chris Greening. 2011 Feb. 1 Jan. 2013. <http://www.squareenixmusic.com/features/interviews/yuzokoshiro.shtml>

3 “Yuzo Koshiro Interview.” VideoGamesDaily.com. 2005 Oct. 14. 1 Jan. 2013. <http://archive.videogamesdaily.com/features/yuzo_koshiro_iv_oct05_p1.asp>

4 Parish, Jeremy. “Keeping the Classic Sound Alive: An Interview with Yuzo Koshiro.” 1UP.com. 20 Sep. 2012. 1 Jan. 2013. <http://www.1up.com/features/keeping-classic-yuzo-kushiro-interview>

Know Your MAGFest Moguls: Yuzo Koshirohttp://www.scorevgm.com/blog/2013/01/02/moguls2_yuzo-koshiro
Life Changes / Looking to 2013NewsPersonalGregory WeaverThu, 03 Jan 2013 00:51:39 +0000http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scoreVgmBlog-scoreMusicworks/~3/o0huxVS3MhU/sabbatical51b6083de4b02af346a7b330:51b76539e4b0869c89512273:51b7657ae4b0869c895127c8Today I quit my job.

Workin' at the VAF with my pal, Mr. Buffalo

Dear Readers,

Today I quit I my job.  Well, really I just put in my leave notice [but the prior sentence is a lot more dramatic].  For those that haven’t read my AutoBio page, I have been working fulltime at the Virginia Arts Festival in Norfolk, Virginia, for the past three years.  February 8th will be my last day at work there and my last day living in Virginia Beach for the foreseeable future, as I will be moving up to the Northern Virginia/D.C. area (exact location TBD).

For my first few months in NoVA I will be jobless, taking a sabbatical to work on my musical endeavours.  I will be treating each day as a workday, adhering to a strict schedule of composing, practicing, and interacting with the gaming community more via this blog, social media, and internet forums.  For you that means lots more to listen to and read—[Score.] should be a thriving aural paradise by late February!

The goal is that I will have a complete demo of my best work ready to ship out to every game company ever by May at the latest.  Best-case scenario: someone loves my work so much that they’ll pay me handsomely to write for them.  Wishful-case scenario: I land a project or two that gets me going.  Worst-case scenario: I will have learned a ton and developed my techniques, allowing me to continue to create more great music with which to try and dazzle game companies.  In any case (besides the best case where I’m showered with money), I will be looking for a fulltime job again in May.

I’ve actually been looking for alternate work in NoVA since October and have struck out (you know, like in that game where it’s fifty strikes and you’re out).  That’s wound up being a sort of blessing in disguise—even though I will be in a hole financially, I wouldn’t have the chance to be so focused and devote so much time to my craft had I gotten a gig that pays (funny how that works).  Working 40 hours a week, I’ve found it difficult to get a lot done musically, and finding a job would have put me back into a scenario similar to the one I’m in now despite presumably having more cash to spend on new gear and what have you, which really does me no good if I don’t have the time to utilize those phantom new purchases.  For those that are concerned that I will just strike out another fifty times, that’s okay because I have until July to find something before I’m really in trouble financially.  That alone will likely extended my threshold to at least 300 strikes since I will have all day every day from May-July to find a paying gig.  If I don’t find one by the end of July, well, tell all of your friends that there’s a saxophone teacher out there looking for some students (you can do that anyway as I’ll be looking to pick up a few starting in February, actually).

For anyone that’s dying to dig deeper and know the answers to questions such as “why now?” and “why there?” and “ARE YOU CRAZY!?”, feel free to contact me directly.  Otherwise, just looking forward to a super exciting first half of 2013 on the blog!

Thanks especially to Mom, Dad, Jen, and Brandon – and to all of my other family and friends who already know what’s going on – for being so supportive and for believing in me and in this project.  Thanks to all of my colleagues at the Virginia Arts Festival and the Virginia International Tattoo for all of the good times over the years.

And, of course, thanks also goes to you, the reader, for devouring my prose and musical undertakings post after post.

My infamous big hair during Tattoo season

My infamous big hair during Tattoo season

Life Changes / Looking to 2013http://www.scorevgm.com/blog/2013/01/02/sabbatical