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beckett007

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Posts posted by beckett007

    N64 - The World Is Not Enough - Re-Recording the ENTIRE score

    in Post Your Game ReMixes!

    Posted

    Thanks, glad you dig it so far... and thanks for your support here at OCR! I've got another remix in the judging process right now, a quirky departure for me based on Zombies Ate My Neighbors. Be sure to follow me on youtube (link in my sig) as I've got a handful of other remixes there that aren't listed here at OCR.

    Good luck with your remixes man, and keep plugging away at music in general. Took me the better part of 8 years to acquire the sample fire power I utilize these days, so be patient on that front too :).

    Rich

    35 Minute original JAMES BOND album..

    in Post Your Original Music!

    Posted

    Being the HUGE james bond fanatic I am... recently I finished a 35 minute original bond score called The Golden Bullet. The score itself is based on a darker / grittier daniel craig version of The Man With The Golden Gun... which doesn't exist.

    First, a few short demo cues so you can decide if you wanna download the entire album below:

    "Find Him First 007"

    http://richdouglas.net/bond/goldenbullet/FindHimFirst007_demo.mp3

    "One Inch Senor Lazar"

    http://richdouglas.net/bond/goldenbullet/OneInchSenorLazar_Demo.mp3

    "Identity Crisis"

    http://richdouglas.net/bond/goldenbullet/GB_IdentityCrisis_Demo.mp3

    DOWNLOAD THE FULL ALBUM HERE (complete with correct ID3 tags and embedded artwork.. featured below):

    http://richdouglas.net/bond/goldenbulle/TheGoldenBullet_RichDouglas.zip

    GoldenBullet_Cover_SM.jpg

    Final Tracklist:

    *Contains portions of The James Bond Theme

    1.Gunbarrel and Scaramangas Dangerous Game (3:10) *

    2.Find Him First 007 (3:57) *

    3.Lebanese Hospitality (3:33) *

    4.4.2 MM Gun - Scaramangas Theme (3:05)

    5.One Inch Senor Lazar? (2:21) *

    6.Tracking Anders (2:35)

    7.River Chase (3:47) *

    8.Debriefing (2:00)*

    9.Down at the Bottoms Up (1:35)

    10.A Proper Education (2:33)

    11.Identity Crisis (2:05)

    12.End Titles – The James Bond Theme (3:29) *

    Featuring "The Rich Douglas Orchestra" consisting of the following "players" (for those curious):

    Strings - LA Scoring Strings

    Brass - Sonic Implants Symphonic Brass

    Guitar - Rich Douglas

    Bass (synth / guitar) - Spectrasonics Trillian

    Percussion - BT and Rich Douglas

    Synths / Electronics - Spectrasonics Omnisphere

    N64 - The World Is Not Enough - Re-Recording the ENTIRE score

    in Post Your Game ReMixes!

    Posted

    If you're familiar with my remixes here at OCR, then you know I like to take older material and make it uber cinematic. Veca had crafted some AMAZING themes based on the TWINE score by David Arnold... it's amazing what I little updating can accomplish.

    Coming Soon:

    TWINE64_RD_Cover.jpg

    Here's what I've done so far:

    Menu Music:

    http://richdouglas.net/bond/twine64/TWINE64_MainMenu_RD.mp3

    Pause Menu:

    http://richdouglas.net/bond/twine64/TWINE64_PauseMenu_RD.mp3

    LaChaise:

    http://richdouglas.net/bond/twine64/TWINE64_LaChaise_RD.mp3

    Bilbao Bank Escape

    http://richdouglas.net/bond/twine64/TWINE64_BilbaoBankEscape_RD.mp3

    I'll start a new thread when the album releases!

    Trying to get good enough to remix.

    in Post Your Original Music!

    Posted

    Sounds pretty damn good to me kid, keep it up!

    You're totally approaching this the right way.... figure out a type of music (in this case electronica) and stick with it until it sounds killer then move on to another genre.

    I speak from experience because I was trying to do everything at once when I started 10 years ago then eventually found orchestral / electronic was my calling.

    Rich

    Can I be a programmer and a game music composer at the same time?

    in Music Composition & Production

    Posted

    Okay, lets clarify here.

    You can be a programmer and a sound guy at a game company.. the position is officially called an Audio Programmer. Just totally remove any ideas in your head of being a full time composer for a game company... doesn't really exist outside of a few exceptions (like Bungie).

    Composing for games is EXTREMELY competitive and is outsourced about 99% of the time...and is currently being outsourced for the most part to established film / game composers making it that much difficult to break into it. That said the safer bet would be to go with programming and then learn audio design on the side. After that, you might be able to weasel your way into composing a handful of tracks on a project if you have the chops to do so. Thats exactly how I got into composing for games.. I was the lone audio guy for a THQ company and then kept pressing them to let me compose music for our current game... which at the time was Stuntman Ignition. Our hired composer was exceptionally slow, so I picked up his slack and ended up composing half the music heard in the game. Crazy.

    I'd suggest checking out my now dead blog about being a composer in the game industry... lots of good info there to answer tons of questions, I just don't have the time to keep it updated.

    http://richvgi.blogspot.com/

    Best of luck!

    Rich

    The Stranger - CMC 35

    in Post Your Original Music!

    Posted

    Just finished up my next entry for the conceptual music competition here at OCR. I started writing and couldn't stop... the cue ended up right around 6 minutes.

    You can hear it via MP3 here:

    http://www.richdouglas.net/ocr/RichDouglas_-_TheStranger_CMC35.mp3

    I also took a couple of photos that really help to nail down the vibe I'm going here. It's definitely more The Road than The Road Warrior:

    STRANGER_SMALL.JPG

    STRANGER_SMALL2.JPG

    Here's the background:

    The Stranger is a FICTIONAL film that doesn't exist. I created the idea to compose music around for a music competition. The basic idea behind the film is that it is a post apocalyptic western in which a stranger comes to the rescue of a small town being raided by "enforcers" (raiders). Think The Road Warrior with a western twist :). I utilized Project Sam Symphobia for nearly all of my orchestration, a german monochord, heavyocity evolve and EWQL gold for a handful of other instrumentation.

    Rich

    Evochron Mercenary - Download my entire score for the upcoming game!

    in Post Your Original Music!

    Posted

    If you're a fan of Wing Commander, Freelancer, or space combat / trading games in general... definitely do yourself a favor and follow Evochron Mercenary:

    http://www.starwraith.com/evochronmercenary/index.htm

    The game is a VERY ambitious indie title due out in September and I composed just over 30 minutes of original adaptive music for it. You can download the entire score I composed for the game here:

    http://www.richdouglas.net/evochron/Evochron%20Mercenary%20Soundtrack.zip

    Enjoy!

    Rich

    Shadowgate AND Rush n' Attack ORCHESTRATED

    in Post Your Game ReMixes!

    Posted

    If you guys are familiar with the 4 other remixes which are officially posted here on OCR, you'll know that I have a certain epic flare. If you haven't heard my remixes which have made it through the judging process and are a fan of film scores... look em up, and check em out. So far I've re-orchestrated Flashback, Super Metroid, Splatterhouse 3, Wolfenstein 3D, and now Rush N' Attack and Shadowgate.

    My version of the Rush N' Attack menu and level 1 cues didn't make it through the judging process, but I figured I'd post it here anyhow:

    http://www.richdouglas.net/ocr/RushNAttack_Invasion_RichDouglas.mp3

    As for my shadowgate cues, I haven't submitted those yet, but figured I'd give you guys a taste of what I may be submitting. I orchestrated the menu and "the great hall". Honestly, it's amazing just how James Hornerish / Willowish the shadowgate material can sound when played by an orchestra:

    http://www.richdouglas.net/ocr/shadowgate/Shadowgate_1_JourneyToShadowgate_RD.mp3

    http://www.richdouglas.net/ocr/shadowgate/Shadowgate_2_TheSearchBegins_RD.mp3

    Enjoy!

    Rich

    Want to help score a film?

    in Recruit & Collaborate!

    Posted

    I'm definitely VERY interested in this!

    I sent you a PM. I've scored a handful of films so I'm very familiar with the scoring process and scoring to picture. Also, I've done music for around 6 AAA game titles, check out my website for more info:

    http://www.richdouglas.net

    So you can get an idea as to how my music works within the context of a film, there's even footage up from the last film I scored, Nero Bloom (the score was released on iTunes) here:

    http://www.richdouglas.net/projects/nero.php

    And you can view another film I scored called CANDY in it's entirety from here:

    http://www.richdouglas.net/projects/candy.php

    A suite of some music I've done for a Half Life 2 mod recently thats darker / ambient (after the action cue at the start that is):

    http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=c3VK_ZK9O14

    That should give you a heck of an idea as to what I'm capable of. No need to have multiple artists score this project, as you'll hear, I can handle any genre you throw my way. Hope to be able to help out.

    Rich

    New Blog - How to break into doing audio for games!

    in Music Composition & Production

    Posted

    Thanks guys!

    A humanesque no BS approach is EXACTLY what I'm going for here and I'm so glad that you're all enjoying it!

    For those of you that have subscribed via the RSS or email. It's through feedburner. That said, I'm still working out the kinks so if you don't get an update daily please let me know here or shoot me an email... thanks!

    I plan on posting... at least something... once a day so stay tuned.

    Rich

    Epic Soundtrack

    in Music Composition & Production

    Posted

    Dan is totally right. Start listening to film scores and dissecting them... listening to exactly how that specific composer is utilizing instruments within the orchestra. I would highly suggest listening to some Jerry Goldsmith scores as part of your education. Scores such as Total Recall and Rambo First Blood 1 and 2.... outstanding action writing there and he always utilizes synths in such creative ways. The only problem with learning epic instrumentation this way is that you'll never watch a movie the same way again... you'll always be distracted by trying to figure out what the composer is doing musically :).

    I learned music theory mainly from Goldsmith and Zimmer and am 100% self taught... if I can do it, trust me, so can you!

    I also have to say the obligatory "you need epic sample libraries to sound epic as well" phrase. People hate hearing it cause they get so expensive... but if you seriously want an epic sound, upgrade your sample libs. A few I would suggest are Stormdrum 2 (AMAZING huge percussion), Project Sam Symphobia (HUGE tutti orchestra samples) and Symphonic Choirs.

    You also need a decent reverb, and I would highly suggest you track down a convolution reverb. A really good / cheap alternative that I use on a daily basis is Reverberate. Great quality and I think it's only like $50.

    Showing off said reverb and sample libraries listed above.. check out a couple of my recent pieces of music. They're pretty epic.

    http://www.richdouglas.net/evochron/EvochronLegends_NoWarp.mp3

    http://www.richdouglas.net/evochron/Revenge.mp3

    Just as Dan said, post away and I'm sure a handful of us will give you some feedback.

    Rich

    New Blog - How to break into doing audio for games!

    in Music Composition & Production

    Posted

    No worries.

    First and foremost, it's a blog...not a gaming site like gamasutra. So not ALL of my posts are going to be considered formal info on how to get into the biz.. but 80% or so will offer at least a look inside to what goes on behind closed doors with game composers / sound designers... like my zimmer article. Some of it will just be me posting some recent music and chatting about the likes of retro game audio, and some of it will be slightly more formal lessons... which aren't going to be as negative as you're thinking for sure. For the most part, I know it's info a ton of people will benefit from and is all stuff I wondered about before I got my start.

    I never said you will not make it, just a damn hard process is all.. and damn right I got lucky.. it's all luck these days... but there are steps to take in order to make your own luck and I'll discuss them. Is it a gamble? Yup! Do you have to invest in decent sample libs to be competitive? Yup! Thats just the way it is and if someone isn't willing to take a risk, then they'll never make it. Tha's my whole point with the first lesson and Overcrowditation... it's a gamble... prospects need to know this so they know exactly what it is they're getting into.

    Honestly, and all of my friends who do audio in the industry agree with me, game audio / music is THE HARDEST area to break into.. hands down. What may seem to you as common sense, most peeps haven't thought of... sounds like my blog isn't for you man, but I tried :).

    Unfortunately.. I'm going to be doing both... a little attacking and a little helping and I don't see a problem with it personally. The industry is more than a little messed up in how it operates sometimes... and if you ever work within it.. you'll see what I mean. That's why the blog is called Rich VS the game industry. Every industry has problems sure... but for some reason the game industry doesn't seem to be exposed as much. If you, for some strange reason, are insulted (which isn't my goal), then my blog isn't for you.

    Now, don't get me wrong. I love the game industry and have truly enjoyed my time in it despite how hard it is to start working in it. The satisfaction of getting a game out and seeing it on store shelves is priceless and when a team works well, the sense of comradery is an amazing feeling! It takes a rare breed to be in the industry... if any of what I've said bothers you... stay the hell away from the game industry as you most likely won't enjoy your time within it.

    What you think is me being negative... is just an insider (yup, the zygote) telling you how it really is and what I did to get where I am. Is what I'm saying a sure thing? Nope, but at least it'll put some on the right path.

    Rich

    New Blog - How to break into doing audio for games!

    in Music Composition & Production

    Posted

    Point taken, and I totally understand what you're saying here.

    The fact of the matter is.. the industry isn't full per se, but it's damn close.. and before I start really and truly giving advice to you guys as to how to break into it... that fact has got to be known. It's an ALMOST impossible feat to break in as a composer (not totally impossible), any other game composer will tell you the same thing. There are steps that can be taken to get into the industry... all of them positive... and all of which I'll cover starting next week. The first lesson is negative... subsequent lessons are much more useful, I promise.

    Man, I can't tell you how many posts, emails, and websites I've seen where people claim that after college they're just going to waltz into the industry as a composer... never happens like that. Takes tons of time, some skill, and a whole lotta luck for sure. That's why I've posted what I have thus far. The truth hurts, and the game industry is a tough place with absolutely no job security. These things have to be laid out on the table first as I want anyone interested in this biz to really know what they're getting into... lord knows I didn't have a clue what the game industry was really all about when I got into it back in 2004.

    If the blog isn't for you, it's not for you...but just stick with it for a while and you may just be surprised :)

    At the very least, some of my posts.. like today's.. may entertain you.

    I wrote a new blog today about the modern warfare 2 score by hans zimmer (which wasn't really by Zimmer). Check it out:

    http://richvgi.blogspot.com/2010/01/modern-warfare-2-will-real-composer.html

    Hope this helps explain my position a bit more.

    Rich

    New Blog - How to break into doing audio for games!

    in Music Composition & Production

    Posted

    Hey Guys,

    Some of you are familiar with my over the top epic / cinematic remixes I've done here at OCR for games like Flashback and Super Metroid. Some of you also know that I do music and sound for games professionally and have reached out to me in order to get some advice.

    Well... in order to make things simple, I've decided to start a blog which I'll update on a regular basis with tips on how to break into the game industry as an audio guy / composer as well as update it with recent projects and music I'm working on. Give it a shot and become a follower... I think at least a handful of you might find my advice useful!

    http://richvgi.blogspot.com/

    Rich

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