[Master's in Computer Music Composition]

Bear with me while I jump around, here:

Out of curiosity, how was Peabody's recital a turn off?

It was a turn-off in the sense that 90% of what I heard there barely classified as music. I know you can pretty much apply the label "music" to any combination of sounds these days, but there will always be that distinction between music that the average person could enjoy and music that the average person would dismiss as garbage. Watching a guy play random multiphonics on an E-flat clarinet for nine minutes while a graphic on a screen distorts will never cut it, and that's what most of the compositions were. I talked to the department head afterwards, and while he never explicitly stated it, it seems like they're pretty encouraging of extreme experimentalism. Maybe I have misconceptions of what the focus in a computer music program is?

...being in this environment (which is what it sound like you're really interested in)...

Correct. But don't take that to mean that I think I have nothing to learn about composing, or that I'm a master of music theory. Writing for large ensembles and orchestral arrangement, in particular, are things on which I need to work.

You'll likely have less time for composition.

That's terrifying, if true. Right now, I work as a social game programmer, and the hours often border on ridiculous. Money's fantastic, but I don't really care about money. Call it a motivation problem if you want, but after spending so many hours focused on work, it's difficult to get some serious composing done. Maybe other people don't agree, but I find composing to be pretty mentally taxing.

Are there particular aspects of music making that you feel you need to work on that you think grad school will address? Do you want to teach? Are you just avoiding the real world?

1. Yes: in addition to what I said above, I need to work on pretty much every aspect on the computer side of things.

2. No.

3. Of course! The real world is pretty terrible when you spend every day doing something you hate.

I'm not afraid to admit that in addition to grad school being a good source of continued education that would let me really focus on some skills of mine that need major development, it's also a way of escaping my current situation, where I feel trapped and completely unable to put time into things that I really want to pursue. I was also hoping that maybe the years I'd spend in school would be good for networking, or getting my foot in the door of the music industry, so that after graduation I would be able to move pretty much immediately into a situation where I'd be able to at least support myself.

Thanks, by the way, for being up-front about the trials involved and the reality of the situation, and for not just saying "yeah, man, you should do it!"

[Aion]

That's awesome! If only the rest of the game were as good as the music...

[Jet Force Gemini]

I really like the Water Ruin music, and I have fond memories of this game from ages and ages ago. Maybe I'll take a stab at that one!

[Sonic the Hedgehog 3 - Ice Cap Zone remix]

Overall, I thought it was pretty sweet. It's got a good "chillax" vibe to it, like you said. I let it play through a couple of times, and didn't find myself wanting to shut it off.

At 2:39 and 2:46, you had what sounded like a sound effect from the game (Sonic skidding to a halt, maybe?). I thought that was cool; I would've liked to hear that a couple more times.

The balance was pretty good, but it probably wouldn't hurt to turn up the upper voices (does that term even apply to this genre? Maybe treble's a better word) just a tad in the spots with heavier bass voices. I lost some of the melodic material.

I will have to agree with the people who posted before me that it stagnates after awhile: there's no build-up, high point, or wind-down. Harmonically, it never goes anywhere new: you can get away with that for a couple minutes, but five minutes is too long.

On the whole, though, I definitely enjoyed it! Nice work!

[Master's in Computer Music Composition]

I'm strongly considering trying to go back to school to get a master's degree in computer music composition, and I'm wondering if anyone here has ever been through that kind of program before.

It's not so much that I care about the degree as it is that I want to put myself in an environment where I can focus on music pretty much all of the time. I'm sure the time would be invaluable in terms of building a strong portfolio.

My undergrad degrees are in music performance and computer science, and I have a decent portfolio of acoustic works already and can build one of electronic works over the next ten months or so, so I'm not worried about meeting prerequisites.

I know Indiana University, the University of North Carolina, and the Peabody Conservatory all have computer music programs, but I'm pretty much ruling out Peabody, because I went to the computer music department's end-of-semester recital awhile back and it was a real turn-off to the program. I'm sure several other schools have programs, too; I just have to do some more research.

Anyway, I'd love to hear from anyone who's in or has been through such a program: is/was it worth it? What did you like/hate about it? That kind of thing.

[What keyboard should I buy?]

Nope. MIDI has no sound by itself, and if all you're doing is transmitting MIDI and then adding sound to it, there's no need for a really high end digital piano. That said, you did mention that you have a fully functioning acoustic piano as well, so there's not much need for a digital piano if you have good enough samples.

Makes sense to me. I'm looking at the M-Audio Oxygen 88 (http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Oxygen88.html). It's kinda pricey, but I can swing it and am more than willing to if it's going to last me a long time.

[What keyboard should I buy?]

After reading the first few posts, I'm still a little uncertain as to whether I should be shopping for MIDI controllers, digital pianos, synthesizers, or workstations.

Just to warn you, I'm as far into "newbie" territory as you can possibly get.

Right now I have a computer and REAPER, which I just downloaded and am slowly learning to use. I also have some GPO instruments from years ago and I don't even know if they'll work still. In any case, most of what I write will probably be symphonic in nature and/or very piano-heavy.

I play piano on a more-or-less professional level, so I'm assuming for writing difficult, involved piano parts, I'll want a full 88 (preferably hammer-action) keys. Here's where my newbie-ness shines: does the native sound quality of the keyboard I get actually matter if I'm going to be using some other piano sample in whatever software I'm using to record? I'm guessing not. If that's correct, then I can probably rule out getting a digital piano, because I already have an acoustic piano and I don't intend on buying anything for performance, just recording.

It kind of sounds like what would work best for me is just a MIDI controller, but I want to get an experienced opinion before I go off spending money on something that's not right for me.

[The Newbie Introduction Thread: Come on in and say hello!]

Hey, my name's Dave and I'm new to the OC ReMix forums, but I'm a long-time fan of the work being done here.

Some quick background information about me: I double-majored in Piano Performance and Computer Science, so I'm both music- and tech-savvy. Though I was a pretty serious performer all through school, by the time I graduated, I'd switched my focus more toward composition, and writing music for games and/or films is now my dream.

My biggest problem is that all of my composition was done old-school-style, with a pen and manuscript paper. I'm trying to get away from that and into the whole "audio engineering" side of things, and I'm having trouble just finding a good jumping off point. I'm reading slowly through the tutorial threads, but I still find myself overwhelmed by all the stuff there is to know. Are a computer, Pro Tools, and a keyboard enough to create half-decent music, or do I need a billion other things, too (or, conversely, do I even need to spend all that money on software)?

I'm hoping to find those kinds of answers here, and I thought maybe trying my hand at a remix or two would be a great way to get into everything. Plus, everyone here really seems to know their stuff, so I'm looking forward to hopefully getting to chat with some of you!