motivemakesaman

I am super proud of this one. I wanted to share it with you all. This song really captures the idea in my head that I would call "my sound". Here you go. LINK: https://youtu.be/9kEWOTrmMvo Ace.

This song gets covered a lot, but I was really inspired to bring it down, and do something a little different with it. I hope you all enjoy it! https://youtu.be/uPNL9uf71xk

VIDEO HERE: My primary goal was to capture the feel of the original. I stayed fairly close to the source material, but with every iteration, I let it build a bit beyond where the original song went. Hope you enjoy it!

I actually transcribed this track, pulling apart the original audio. It was a huge undertaking, all for an april fools video. I hope you can appreciate the idea of covering one of the worst songs ever written for a game. https://youtu.be/ftRIa7ROwSw

As much as I appreciate feedback, I will say this: I have mixing books. The drums already have a high shelf on them, and honestly the low end is pretty tight in my opinion. When I go back to mix and master for the album, I will probably tweak the bass so it stands out a bit more...but anyways, the point of all this is, as much as I do appreciate feedback from time to time, I honestly don't post here for feedback. I post to share what I have done with fellow creators. I always find it funny when people say...this could use some mixing. Because trust me, there is a lot of mixing going on to make 12 tracks (not including a 7 mic drum setup) sound like anything other than noise. Of course there is room for improvement, and I am not claiming that I could not improve, but I was really happy with the mix on this, outside of really small things, that I am already thinking of working on for the future. Hope this doesn't come off as defensive, because I am not feeling defensive. I am just pretty happy with what I made, and hoping to share it with others.

Took a dark, dirge-like track and threw a ton of groove and atmosphere into it. Hope you enjoy it. https://youtu.be/yJWPNh2V4e4

I think getting caught up in genre conventions limits the creative potential of a track. Create what you want to create, don't worry about what "genre" you are going for. We live in a world of ever expanding creativity and crossover. Genres are becoming more and more hyphenated. I really like the tones of the drums and I agree that the contrast totally works. Let your art be your art. People can give advice, which can be helpful, but don't sacrifice what you like about a track. Be confident. You may not feel like you have the experience to stand behind your stuff (I know I struggled with that when I first started posting here) but you got something good going on here. The track is definitely coming together, and I like what you are doing with it.

RichaadEB and I team up to give this song the proper treatment. Complete with 15/16 intro!

That is interesting. To me, I was adding a lot of energy to one of the more chill road songs. To each their own, I suppose. I am really happy with the EQ on this track, so not sure what you mean by that. I wasn't planning on submitting this one, but I may. It is quickly becoming a personal favorite of mine, and I have not submitted something in a long while.

I really wanted to do a song where the focus was having fun with synths. Lots of knob turning and glitchy noisey goodness. VIDEO HERE: http://youtu.be/vlTz3MCVg6k

I also just want to mention that I had two days to arrange, record, and mix this song for the charity album. I tried to keep the arrangement modest, as to keep myself from getting too overburdened. It's a quick one, but the original does not have a ton of variation, so I wanted to extend it a bit, without going too far or biting off more than I could chew.

I was invited to be a part of a chartiy album, and ended up covering a song from a series I have not played much of. It was a lot of fun, getting to work with material with fresh ears. http://youtu.be/rvxVWkKTa2M

The saxes were definitely tough to get to sit right. I had them turned down a bit, and they got totally buried. Then I actually released the video, and pulled it because they were too loud. So this was my happy medium.

I have been doing songs from all my favorite things of 2014, so I just had to do something from the fantastic Shovel Knight. http://youtu.be/ZE14QYsCP3A

I used a mixture of analog synths and chiptune to make this rendition of sweden from minecraft. My first video to feature the use of my modded Game Boy with LSDJ. http://youtu.be/lTmyHOzGPTI

Here is my latest arrangement. I want to do a couple winter themed levels for my videos this december, so I started with one of my all time favorites. The microbrute creates the repeated pattern that runs through the song. The Moog handles the bass. I use the kurzweil for both piano and choir ahhs. The prophet is the icey lead, and I am using a mellotron plugin on the white controller for a pad. I hope you enjoy! http://youtu.be/PEUjKxA1SA0

I took a lot of inspiration from the 80s with this one. Big, Boomy drums, Classic Electronic Keyboard CP80 sounds, and that rhythmic synth bass, with all sorts of fantastic ambient sound created by the Elektron Analog 4. I hope you enjoy it! http://youtu.be/Flr0X7M1hXQ

Here I am with my second Zelda song of the month! I didn't get too crazy with the arrangement on this one. Just gave it a nice break-beat and some sick synth parts.I hope you enjoy it! I never really noticed the counter-melody until I got to arranging it, and man is it awesome!

Soundole and I teamed up again to bring you this jazzy rendition of Dragon Roost Island from Windwaker. If banjo/electro/jazz ain't your thing, I don't blame you...but if it is, this song might be exactly what you have been looking for! http://youtu.be/bfkfv7-pN1o

I really wanted to make this song dark and dreary. I hope you enjoy it! http://youtu.be/gZKf_IXKJsI

Wanted to share my latest VGM with y'all. My goal was to add some of that piano power rock feel of stuff like Ben Folds to this classic NES track. With the addition of the horns, it almost took on a 3rd wave Bosstones style ska feel. Or maybe newer aquabats, with all the synths. Anyways, this was a song that I almost gave up on, and I am very glad I did not because after a lot of hard work, I think it turned out great. http://youtu.be/8KzLI7FOk0c

Ain't that one heck of a compliment! There are many more collaborations to come. I love working with others, so as much as possible I will be reaching out and hopefully putting together some great collaborations.

This video was super fun for me, because I got to collaborate with Peter of Soundole VGM Covers. When I first presented him with the various songs I had been thinking of covering, he mentioned making Forest Interlude funky, using some fun patches for his EWI, and the idea stuck. I really to take the groove of the original, and make it more upbeat. Lots of fun syncopation and a beat that gets more spastic as the song goes on. Getting to collaborate was really refreshing. Check it out, and if you want to make some music together, let me know! http://youtu.be/IpXM72dvLmU

Hello again! VIDEO HERE: http://youtu.be/1JLQ5kjQGmM I wanted to keep the melody and chord structure the same, but move a lot of the arpeggiated piano to more glitchy, sporadic synths. And then keep the chords in more lush, ambient pads. I hope you enjoy it and let me know what you think! I know this is a favorite song of many, so hopefully my deviations won't disappoint the die-hard fans.

This video/song was made entirely using a Dave Smith Instruments Tempest, which is a six voice analog drum machine. I recorded 6 different tracks worth of Tempest, creating a chill, layered song. I gave myself one big limitation, I used no drum sounds. I wanted to show off the synth side of this incredible machine. I hope you enjoy! http://youtu.be/eKBClYtwbvo