Music Compositions
These tracks were made using various programs on my computer, including Magix Music Maker (older stuff), Sonic Foundry's Acid 2.0 (sort of recent stuff), and now Sony's Acid Music Studio 6.0. The vast majority of the tracks and samples incorporated are royalty free, the exceptions being samples made from various movies and anime. I encourage everyone interested in making their own music, particularly electronic music, to look into programs such as these. They are fairly easy to use and do not require a huge financial outlay to get started. Not counting the computer, I've only spent around $450 on software and tracks over the past ten years. Check it out, eh?
Recent Works
Chip Chop
August 2010 | 9600 kb | Drum and Bass | 4:05
This one is encoded at 320 kbps. It's pretty hard-edged, to say the least, and aggressive as well. Certainly it's a departure from most of my previous works in this respect. Also, unlike many of my previous works, I put it together in one night in one sitting. Hopefully it does not suffer because of that, rather I feel it's the result of inspiration. In this case, I'd just watched a documentary on the Chiptunes scenes (which was good, and I like), so this was a bit of a response to that.
Shadowy Path
August 2010 | 4995 kb | Dark Ambient | 3:33
Just something I've been working on and off on over the past couple months. It's more or less unchanged for a month now so I've decided it's finished. It's kind of a spooky type of song and is a bit low key, but it's a nice little background piece.
2nd Theme From Drunk Tank
July 2010 | 1713 kb | Drum and Bass | 0:43
This one is encoded at 320 kbps, as well. So this is now my second submission to Rooster Teeth, the guys who create Red Vs. Blue, for use as a theme song for their podcast which is called The Drunk Tank. Apparently they don't want anything real long, so I came up with this. I can see myself expanding it to a full length track at some later date.
Theme From Drunk Tank
August 2009 | 6298 kb | Electronica | 2:40
This one is encoded at 320 kbps, just fyi. Anyway, this was my submission to Rooster Teeth, the guys who create Red Vs. Blue, for use as a theme song for their podcast which is called The Drunk Tank. So there you have it. The ending is truncated a bit, but I figured I didn't need to go crazy making a seven minute theme song either.
Flight
September 2007 | 6118 kb | Ambient | 6:31
Flight, as in a bird's flight, not running away. This one's been percolating for awhile, finally just decided I was finished with it. I think it's a nice track, though maybe nothing special. Good background music, as most of my ambient stuff is.
Labyrinth
September 2007 | 4020 kb | Industrial | 4:17
So one day I just sat down and said: I bet I could make an industrial track. I guess I was really feeling it, because it came out pretty quick. A few tweaks here and there, tightening it up, and here it is. I almost named it Minotuar because of how the last part of the song goes, but I think that's kind of implied in the name Labyrinth anyway. I'm not referring to that awesome Jim Henson movie by the way.
Lament For the Future
April 2007 | 4994 kb | Drum & Bass | 5:19
Certainly the most aggressive song I've created yet, perhaps in reaction to not only the music I've been listening to lately, but also various world events. Sometimes you make music, and sometimes it just happens.
Forgotten Love
December 2006 | 5288 kb | Dark Techno | 5:38
A darker song than some of my more recent works below, I am tempted to label it industrial (I hesitate to use the G word), though Dark Techno probably fits it best. The title is actually taken from one of the samples that I used in constructing this work, which seemed oddly appropriate.
Reverie
October 2006 | 6878 kb | Ambient | 7:20
This is a really easygoing, mellow track. It's written in the key of D (like Effloresce) which has given me some really good results. I can listen to this for an hour at a time and just relax, maybe even fall asleep.
Laidback
July 2006 | 7166 kb | Ambient | 7:38
Another song that came about rather quickly for me. This one is pretty, well, laid back - hence the title. It came out rather longer than I initially thought/expected, but all in all I'm happy with it.
Longing
June 2006 | 4798 kb | Ambient | 5:07
Though it started out as a sort of tribute to Asahina Hiroko (from Rahxephon), it finally evolved into this. Not so much a lament as I originally envisioned, but somewhat more wistful...longing.
Effloresce
March 2006 | 5814 kb | Ambient | 6:12
This one came about pretty quickly, for me at least. It actually surprised me how well it went, but it's one of my best to this point, I believe. The title works on multiple levels.
Wandering
Oct 2005 | 7411 kb | Ambient | 7:54
Long time between completed songs, but this one had been percolating for a while now. Very slow and somber work, and I hope not too boring either.
Escape?
Jul 2004 | 5770 kb | Drum & Bass/Dark Techno | 6:09
Hopefully the haunting atmospheric sounds address the lack of any real melody, but they really I think they sound much more appropriate in this song format. The idea here is one's flight from some preternatural aggressor and the unfortunate but eventual capture.
Stargazing
Jun 2004 | 6833 kb | Ambient/Space | 7:17
A very ambient, spacy kind of song. Very relaxing to listen to I think.
Lain-inspired music
Identity
Aug 2004 | 4543 kb | Dark Techno | 4:50
Another dark techno track featuring Lain samples. Not a whole lot of variation in the song once it gets into it, but that's to not take away from the samples that are being overlaid. Kind of the same idea as The Only Me, but darker and a little more aggressive.
The Only Me
Mar 2004 | 3944 kb | Dark Ambient | 4:12
Another track taking samples from the dub of Lain, this one is more of a dark ambient techno style and sort of laid back. Kind of spooky too...just like Lain. Actually I still am going to polish it a bit, eventually. For instance I think in retrospect that I made Karl's vocal sample way too loud.
Wired
Dec 2003 | 5459 kb | Techno/Breakbeat/Aggro | 5:49
Well really I don't know how to classify it, but I think it's one of my best works to date. It takes samples (without permission, but it's not like I'm selling this) from the dub of Lain and incorporates them into the track.
Lain
2001 | 3499 kb | Techno | 3:43
This is the first song that I made that was inspired by Serial Experiments Lain. I'm not as happy with it as I used to be, though it's still somewhat interesting.
Selected Older Works
Awakening
1999 | 3348 kb | Techno | 3:34
The second song that I ever completed. Not much else to say...
Drifting
2000 | 4718 kb | Ambient/Space | 5:02
I had an interesting time weaving together some of the sounds for this one, pay close attention to the underlying sounds, rather than the cymbals and guitar samples which I thought were way loud and now it's too late to change.
Musik
1999 | 3125 kb | Techno/Industrial | 3:20
The first song that I completed. Not having a clue what to call it, I just named it Musik, the German word for music. That way it's not quite as much as a cop out as calling it "Music". Keith, one of my office-mates from grad school, likened the sound to Nine Inch Nails. Without any polish of course.
Musik v.2 (Deep Thought mix)
1999 | 3125 kb | Techno/Industrial | 3:20
Very nearly the same as the previous song, but with a twist. My computer, which at the time I was calling Deep Thought after the computer in Hitchhiker's, decided to not save the file correctly one day and ended up leaving out a number of elements from the track. The result is this, which I sort of think is better than the original.
Searching
2000 | 5800 kb | Ambient | 6:11
Kind of an anomaly among these other works, but a very easygoing track.
Sunrise
2001 | 2746 kb | Ambient | 2:55
Hmm, kind of a study in the different deformations I was able to do with various sounds. I rushed through it a bit and this was the last of the original batch of songs that I finished.