AngelCityOutlaw

What I was talking about was actually just shifting notes in a phrase to intervals of a different mode within the scale and how that more or less implies a chord progression I guess. I'm just thinking way too deep into it like usual.

This is a concept that, I kinda have a grasp on but am not sure I fully understand and I'm sure I make a bigger deal out of than need be. To speak in a rock music context: If I were to play some sort of "riff" in the rhythm section in which all the notes were from the Phrygian Mode (let's say E Phrygian) as so often heard in metal music, and all my notes and power-chords pull back to that E, but then I changed what mode I was focusing on (say to A aeolian) is that "modal" in the modern sense of the word? Doing what I just described is different from the idea of simple chord progressions in which every chord serves a specific purpose is it not? You know like, i - VI - VII - i played in that order, one chord per measure kinda deal. Can some one who really knows their stuff when it comes to what I'm trying to talk about both elaborate and simplify this for me?

People keep saying the game industry has crashed/is crashing again. and it's news like this that makes me realize they're right.

I've been watching Stand Alone Complex and yeah, it's seven different kinds awesome.

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/1560534/slayer-guitarist-jeff-hanneman-dead-at-49 I was never much of a Slayer fan, but I do love metal and respect the influence Jeff and his band had on the genre. \m/

This didn't happen to me, it happened to my friend a few weeks ago. It's a video game story worth sharing in this thread. Few weeks ago, the power went out in several neighborhoods. My friend lives over in this apartment building a few blocks away. He said it went totally pitch black and when he went into the hall, the red light from the emergency lights and the footsteps all around was just damn creepy. He described it like Silent Hill 2. So he went back into his darkened apartment and did what any rational person in this situation would do....Open up the window, listen to the rain outside and play ClockTower - The First Fear for SNES. There is this one part where you approach a box and either Scissorman or a cat will jump out at you. As far as I recall it's random as to which it will be. So he's just about to walk by the box in the game and just as he does Scissorman jumps out and BAM! At that exact moment, all the power comes back on and the fire alarms in the building start ringing. My friend immediately turned the game off. I assume he then went to change his underwear.

Have to agree with the others. This sounds like a classic case of indie-dev inexperience which can (not always though) lead to disappointment for all involved. Music, voice actors sound effects, etc. are pretty much the last things that games need. After being burned a few times in the past, I have this policy that I believe all composers, voice actors and sound people in general should have: Don't agree to do the project unless it is mostly finished and at a stage where it actually needs you. Since it's your first game SJ, I would suggest saving up a few bucks and licensing some cheap, royalty free tracks; there are tons out there. That way, you have music and no third parties have to worry about the project not being released. The downside for you is that you don't have an original, high quality, exclusive score. Just some thoughts to consider. Good luck!

In your face, Jak and Daxter! Seriously though I think it could be good.

People will always find a way to persecute or be resentful toward straight white men though. So it works both ways.

"Nano-machines, son"

Just because it was character driven and had symbolism doesn't mean that it was good.

Damn. Your mixing and mastering always blows my mind, dude. No complaints here, fucking righteous remix.

As cool as XCOM was, it was buggy as hell. I managed to kill a sectopod, more or less the toughest stock enemy in the game, at point blank range with my last troop using only a pistol. The pistols only do 1 damage and the sectopod has like 30-40 hitpoints. My troop only had 1 hit point left so I figured "screw it, I'll just go die". But no, for 30-40 turns, the sectopod always missed with its powerful beam weapon and I killed it from full health with the weakest weapon in the game. There's no way it was just chance either. The various kinds of bugs and errors in this game is just sad. I hope they patched it. I swear they didn't even play-test the game.

Yep. "Classical" (we'll lump Baroque and Romantic eras in with that as well) is great for learning how to write melody, counterpoint (Bach's your man for that one) and of course there ain't no better place to learn 'bout extended harmony than Jazz. That's why, if I could go back in time, I think I'd start with a genre other than metal and rock music. There are a lot of bands in that genre who don't really know much of anything when it comes to theory; they just play whatever sounds cool to them. Not only that, but as Kip Winger said before, highly distorted electric guitars are a lot of fun to listen to but put limitations on the instrument. Musically, you can do a lot more without the distortion. Love the music, but if I'm being honest, it's not necessarily the best place to start if one is serious about composing music and being versatile in doing so.

I was thinking about this today: These days, I find that I can't bring myself to write original material unless I have picture, video, lyrics or something like that to put music too. Years ago, whenever I'd learn some new music theory concept, I wrote music for the sake of putting that theory into practice and making something that didn't suck. Do you find that you need some sort of motivation to compose music, or can you just sit down and do it without any existing audio/visual inspiration? Or do we all subconsciously compose music that is inspired by something else and we just don't realize it? Share thy thoughts.

Thanks Gar! I shall look into that.

https://soundcloud.com/angelcityoutlaw/horror-film-style-dont-run Forgive my lack of audio engineering skills. Anyway, this is actually two themes I wrote separately put into one song. It's inspired by imagery from the horror classic video game "clock tower". The sound toward the middle of the song that sounds sorta like a siren is actually just my guitar playing tri-tones and being run through a gate and flanger. Sounded cool, I thought.

That's why I'm studying marketing in the fall term =D Learn how to promote my own music better and also be able to get a "real" job in the film/game/music etc business. Two birds; one stone.

Fair enough

I disagree for the most part with that first bit. Many of those musicians buried themselves in books, playing their instruments, videos, private instruction and spent enormous amounts of time jamming with other musicians. Also, when I say "formal" I mean school; you're always going to be taught things from other musicians regardless. Which is essentially what happens at school anyway. Take for example Jamie Christopherson (Metal Gear Rising OST). He has a Master's degree in music composition, but his biography says, to quote directly "his real musical education came from playing at night in the local scene with jazz, funk and rock bands." I had the opportunity to go to college for music and I turned it down after I talked to various instructors and friends of mine. Many of whom have music degrees and diplomas. You'll be investing a lot of money and time towards a degree or diploma for something that is far less likely to get you a job than almost anything else you could study. What's worse, is that what they're teaching you can be learned elsewhere for a lot less money if you're really serious about it. Ultimately, you just need to consider where you're at with your music now and evaluate how fast you are learning and if it's taking you where you want to go with your music or not. Just as self-education (which also involves learning from other sources) isn't for everyone, "academic pursuit of music education isn't for everyone" as the head of my college's music department told me.

No. In fact, some of the most successful music composers for film, tv and video games have no formal training. Hell, I've heard several times that Vangelis can't even read notation (not sure if that's true). Regardless, there are so many ways you can go about learning to compose music these days. Musical textures, chords, melodic movement, orchestration etc. are easily the most important aspects of composition and you can often learn them from studying existing works.

Speaking of, I've been watching Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040. So far it is badass and I almost never describe anime as such. Haven't saw the 80s series though.

Well, I can't say anything about production value since I don't know anything about that kinda stuff. But it's not that exciting for a dance track. First thing is, the overall harmony and accompaniment is rather basic and repetitive. More extended harmonies, variation and some counter-melody would add a lot I think. Also, the guitar's phrasing and overall melodic motion could use a lot of work. So those are some ideas.

Still sounds killer to me.