Sorry for being a little late on this update tonight, but here's how I'm gonna make up for it. Here's the whole damn Mass Effect set I've been working on!
This is a collection of tracks that were inspired by the Mass Effect series of video games. The first track is a main theme, meant to be played over the "press start" screen of the game.
The second is a layered track, which is designed to change based on the situation you're facing in the game!
Ambient layer is ambient, the safe layer.
Light combat layer is where enemies have engaged, but you are behind cover.
Heavy combar layer is where you're actively engaging enemies, rushing in and being proactive/awesome.
The remaining two tracks are stringers; tracks designed to cue when the player wins the overall battle, or is killed in action.
Please note that this is in no way affiliated with the actual soundtrack to Mass Effect. These are personal mockups for my own portfolio, not meant to imply I ever worked on said game. All logos, music, are names are used in a purely non-profit manner.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Red Dead Redemption: Behind the Music
Hey everyone. So things have been super busy, lately, so instead of a lesson of music theory or composition this week, I'm just gonna share this great video a friend of mine (shout out to DVG Music!) showed me about the music from Red Read Redemption. It's kind of like when the substitute teacher comes in and you just watch videos all day in class, instead of actually learning anything! Well, not exactly, this video is pretty great.
Stay tuned for Friday's release! It's another layered set of tracks!
Stay tuned for Friday's release! It's another layered set of tracks!
Friday, February 17, 2012
Main Menu Music! Mass Effect Style!
Here's this week's new track!
This is my vision for the main menu screen in the upcoming Mass Effect game. I tried to create a memorable theme (the 5 note upward climb), and since the line itself was very simple, I chose to work the chords around them in a unique way. But it also needed a bit of electronic flair, so I threw in some (very subtle) effects.
I'm also trying out the new html5 embeded players. Now you iPhone fans can listen on the go! I can't imagine why you'd ever need to listen to video game mockup music on the go, but hey, now you can!
Enjoy!
This is my vision for the main menu screen in the upcoming Mass Effect game. I tried to create a memorable theme (the 5 note upward climb), and since the line itself was very simple, I chose to work the chords around them in a unique way. But it also needed a bit of electronic flair, so I threw in some (very subtle) effects.
I'm also trying out the new html5 embeded players. Now you iPhone fans can listen on the go! I can't imagine why you'd ever need to listen to video game mockup music on the go, but hey, now you can!
Enjoy!
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Valentine's Day!
So no theory update from me this time, I need a week off. Instead, I guess I'll share something I wrote a few years ago for my girlfriend. It is Valentine's Day, after all.
A LifeLike Dedication by ryanleber
Enjoy!
A LifeLike Dedication by ryanleber
Enjoy!
Friday, February 10, 2012
Layered Video Game Music!
Here's some new music for you! It's 3 tracks, but actually it's just one! It's meant for a video game where, depending on your situation (safe, near enemies, or engaging enemies) the music changes!
Layers Mockup Set by ryanleber
Enjoy! And have a lovely weekend!
Layers Mockup Set by ryanleber
Enjoy! And have a lovely weekend!
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Western Battle Music Breakdown
Western as in "American" or "not Japanese," not as in the wild west and all that. Fact is, western video game music is starkly different from Japanese video game music. I grew up on the later, so this (actually very recent) transition in to a more western style of music was a bit difficult for me, and I took some extensive notes.
Extensive notes that you would perhaps be interested in seeing?
There's plenty of great examples of western style cinematic music, but the references I worked from were 1.) John Powell's soundtrack from "Green Zone" and 2.) Lost Planet.
First thing you notice is effects. Electronic sound effects are fantastic for filling in space where a melody would normally be. Because, unfortunately, melody isn't what intense western music is about. A Final Fantasy battle theme would have a crazy catchy melody and all that, but not here in 'Merica, I guess (haha). Well, there are some fragments of melody in this track, but that's all they are; fragments. And usually very dissonant fragments. The melody is angular, strange, and a bit jarring. All of this plays very well in to creating intensity and emotion, though.
Second thing you notice is the percussion. Just LISTEN to those layers! There's at least 4 or 5 different tracks just for percussion! There's a shaker, there's wooden hits and effects, there's taiko drum-like beats, there's OTHER taiko-like drum beats, there's a big electronic drum on the downbeat, there's deep bass drum hits, and probably some more things you can't even really hear. All this creates rhythmic variation, and a lot of syncopation, and putting these "conflicting" rhythms against each other is a great way to build intensity (and interest). So if you're going for this style of music, experiment with layering a metric ton of percussion in, and having tracks fade in and out. Can't have all 6 tracks going 100% of the time, after all, that's pretty boring. Just a little side note, the time signature isn't really that important. The layering and syncopation of the percussion creates the interest, regardless of whether you're in 4/4, 5/4, or even 7/4.
Third thing you notice is the Hollywood orchestral sound effects. I'm talking about the horn bends you hear all the time in Lost, and the clustered chords in the strings. One thing this particular track doesn't have much of, but the rest of the Lost Planet soundtrack (and most of John Powell's work) has is stabs. Orchestral hits. You know, those sharp and sudden BLURTS of sound from the horns and strings, usually on off-beats. This kind of music is big on those kinds of effects, because again, it's less about melody and more about emotion. Very primal emotion, at that.
Fourth thing you should notice is how there's really only one "chord" throughout the entire track. There's pretty much no chord progression at all, which is fine, because the intensity is built without it. The percussion, horn/string effects carry the piece along, so there's not as much of a need for an interesting chord progression, though that doesn't mean you shouldn't try to fit one in, if you can, and it works. But if you do, let me give you a tip. Focus less on chord changes, and more on key changes. And do NOT approach your key changes at all. A lot of really intense music tends to stick on the tonic of the key it's in, and if it does change to a new key, there is NO transition. It's just happens! BAM! Go ahead and try it! Try jamming over an A minor chord for a while, and then, very suddenly and without any transition or lead in, jump up to a C minor chord and start jamming on that. That's how it's done! No transition = sudden = more intense. And moving up by a minor (or major) 3rd works wonders.
Honestly, that's about it. It's a little disappointing sometimes, because it's really easy to make this kind of music once you break it down in to what it's made up of. Japanese battle music is an entirely different animal, it's about melody and crazy chord progressions, and unique instrumentation. Sadly, most western battle music is sort of bland, and all kind of sounds the same. (DISCLAIMER: I said MOST, not ALL.) There's a great interview (which you can read here) of some well-known Japanese game composers talking about Western music that pretty much echoes everything I've already said in this post. People seem to love this kind of music, though, so being able to produce tracks likes these can be a very valuable skill to have.
Well, I hope you learned something. Stay tuned for the usual new music update this Friday. I'm not sure which track I'm going to share, but I know you'll love it. :)
Have a great week!
Extensive notes that you would perhaps be interested in seeing?
There's plenty of great examples of western style cinematic music, but the references I worked from were 1.) John Powell's soundtrack from "Green Zone" and 2.) Lost Planet.
First thing you notice is effects. Electronic sound effects are fantastic for filling in space where a melody would normally be. Because, unfortunately, melody isn't what intense western music is about. A Final Fantasy battle theme would have a crazy catchy melody and all that, but not here in 'Merica, I guess (haha). Well, there are some fragments of melody in this track, but that's all they are; fragments. And usually very dissonant fragments. The melody is angular, strange, and a bit jarring. All of this plays very well in to creating intensity and emotion, though.
Second thing you notice is the percussion. Just LISTEN to those layers! There's at least 4 or 5 different tracks just for percussion! There's a shaker, there's wooden hits and effects, there's taiko drum-like beats, there's OTHER taiko-like drum beats, there's a big electronic drum on the downbeat, there's deep bass drum hits, and probably some more things you can't even really hear. All this creates rhythmic variation, and a lot of syncopation, and putting these "conflicting" rhythms against each other is a great way to build intensity (and interest). So if you're going for this style of music, experiment with layering a metric ton of percussion in, and having tracks fade in and out. Can't have all 6 tracks going 100% of the time, after all, that's pretty boring. Just a little side note, the time signature isn't really that important. The layering and syncopation of the percussion creates the interest, regardless of whether you're in 4/4, 5/4, or even 7/4.
Third thing you notice is the Hollywood orchestral sound effects. I'm talking about the horn bends you hear all the time in Lost, and the clustered chords in the strings. One thing this particular track doesn't have much of, but the rest of the Lost Planet soundtrack (and most of John Powell's work) has is stabs. Orchestral hits. You know, those sharp and sudden BLURTS of sound from the horns and strings, usually on off-beats. This kind of music is big on those kinds of effects, because again, it's less about melody and more about emotion. Very primal emotion, at that.
Fourth thing you should notice is how there's really only one "chord" throughout the entire track. There's pretty much no chord progression at all, which is fine, because the intensity is built without it. The percussion, horn/string effects carry the piece along, so there's not as much of a need for an interesting chord progression, though that doesn't mean you shouldn't try to fit one in, if you can, and it works. But if you do, let me give you a tip. Focus less on chord changes, and more on key changes. And do NOT approach your key changes at all. A lot of really intense music tends to stick on the tonic of the key it's in, and if it does change to a new key, there is NO transition. It's just happens! BAM! Go ahead and try it! Try jamming over an A minor chord for a while, and then, very suddenly and without any transition or lead in, jump up to a C minor chord and start jamming on that. That's how it's done! No transition = sudden = more intense. And moving up by a minor (or major) 3rd works wonders.
Honestly, that's about it. It's a little disappointing sometimes, because it's really easy to make this kind of music once you break it down in to what it's made up of. Japanese battle music is an entirely different animal, it's about melody and crazy chord progressions, and unique instrumentation. Sadly, most western battle music is sort of bland, and all kind of sounds the same. (DISCLAIMER: I said MOST, not ALL.) There's a great interview (which you can read here) of some well-known Japanese game composers talking about Western music that pretty much echoes everything I've already said in this post. People seem to love this kind of music, though, so being able to produce tracks likes these can be a very valuable skill to have.
Well, I hope you learned something. Stay tuned for the usual new music update this Friday. I'm not sure which track I'm going to share, but I know you'll love it. :)
Have a great week!
Friday, February 3, 2012
Intense Battle Music!
Happy Friday, everyone! Use this new original track to prepare your mind for the weekend, and whatever that might entail.
Battle Mockup 01 by ryanleber
I have no idea what I'm going to do for Monday, but I'll think of something. Thanks for listening, and stay tuned for more!
Battle Mockup 01 by ryanleber
I have no idea what I'm going to do for Monday, but I'll think of something. Thanks for listening, and stay tuned for more!
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Let's Write Something Sad
This one's gonna be a bit long, so set aside some time before you start. So let's say you're a composer working on a video game score, or maybe even a film score, and your client wants something "sad." Maybe a main character dies, or a war is lost, or something important to the protagonist gets destroyed, or whatever. How do you make something really sad, like a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10 sad? Well, it's always best to find a reference track first.
When it comes to sad music, there's one track that has always stood out to me. City of Flickering Destruction, by Yoko Shimomura, from the 1999 PSX title Legend of Mana.
Here's a later-recorded full orchestral version (which is absolutely amazing).
What makes this so incredibly sad?
Let's start at the core, the chord progression. The intro pretty much lays out what I'm going to talk about, right from the get go. The chords are Db major, Eb major, and then F minor. In F minor, this is the VI - VII - i diatonic progression. In the relative major, Ab major, it's the IV - V - vi diatonic progression. If you don't understand that yet, don't worry, I'll make a blog post about diatonic theory and parallel keys some day soon. Just understand that this progression of chords, or the use of those three chords in general, is absolutely clutch for making sad music. The piece quickly switches to Bb minor (awesome), and once it's there it stays there, and continuously dances around the Gb major, Ab major, and Bb minor chords. Again, this is VI - VII - i progression, but now in Bb minor! Listen to the track, and notice how often it dances around those three chords.
Beyond that is the instrumentation. The flowing nature of the strings in the beginning is very evocative, very touching. Even more evocative is the sudden drop of all instrumentation after the intro, and at other moments later in the piece, where it leaves the piano to carry the piece on by itself. The emotional effect is one of loneliness. We keep expecting it to pick up, and a whole orchestra to come in, but we are dismayed as it returns to a very quiet piano instead. The idea of an instrument being all alone is very powerful in music, which is why a solo violin or a solo cello is absolutely perfect for your sad melodies. Pizzicato strings punctuate this effect, at times. A friend of mine once described the use of pizzicato strings as "falling teardrops," which I feel is very applicable.
An easy way to make your music more heart-wrenching and depressing is to add tempo changes. Slow it down at the end of a phrase every now and then, so it feels like it's struggling to continue (because it's sooo sad... haha). This piece actually doesn't use too many tempo changes or slow down, but whatever, just keep it in mind. Be careful, though, it's easy to go too far with this idea. It takes a light touch.
Which brings us to the biggest point, the melody. It's very touching, and explaining why is a very difficult thing to do, but there are two things that I can explain fairly easily.
1.) Suspensions. A suspension is when you have two chords, and a melody over top, and the chord changes but the melody changes a bit later. It creates a somewhat dissonant effect, and it's very poignant. Take a look at the example below.
And here's what it sounds like:
You see, in the first half, the melody changes exactly when the chord does, and it changes to fit over the chord perfectly by landing on one of the three notes the chord is made up of. In the second half, the melody lingers on the B, even after the chord has changed to A minor. This note doesn't fit perfectly, so it's a bit jarring, but it eventually resolves down to the A to fit in. This happens twice in a row in the reference track at 0:28, and a bunch of other times throughout.
2.) Extended Chords. If you don't know about Extended Tertian Harmony, I highly suggest reading up on it. Or you could wait for me to make my own blog post about it. Anyway, this piece is riddled with major and minor 7th and 9th chords (usually the Gb major chord, or the Bb minor chord). Extended chords are, well, pretty. They just sound beautiful, and using them can really add depth and emotion to your music. But there is one more interesting thing that occasionally happens in this piece. Sometimes the melody extends the chord it's played over. Let's start after the intro, where the piano comes in and the piece really starts at 0:19. On the first 4 chords (F min, Gb maj, Ab maj, Bb min) the melody lands very safely over notes that are in the basic, triad form of these chords. BUT, once it gets to the 5th chord (Gb maj again) the melody lands on an Eb. Gb major is spelled Gb, Bb, Db. There's no Eb, so this is a bit dissonant. However, this isn't a suspension, because instead of resolving down to Db, which would fit, it goes UP to F. This is a Gb major 7 chord! Play it on your piano, or guitar, it's just lovely. Gb, Bb, Db, F. Instead of the left hand of the piano simply hammering out a major 7th chord, it lets the melody do it subtly. It's a very nice effect, and something I never really noticed until I start writing this entry.
Well, that's that. Sorry it's so long, and sorry it's also a bit late, but I've been a little under the weather lately. I have something awesome to share with you on Friday, though, so stay tuned for that. As for next monday's update, well, I'm still not sure what I'll do. Diatonic theory? How to write sneaky music? Extended chords? Who knows. Thanks for reading!
When it comes to sad music, there's one track that has always stood out to me. City of Flickering Destruction, by Yoko Shimomura, from the 1999 PSX title Legend of Mana.
Here's a later-recorded full orchestral version (which is absolutely amazing).
What makes this so incredibly sad?
Let's start at the core, the chord progression. The intro pretty much lays out what I'm going to talk about, right from the get go. The chords are Db major, Eb major, and then F minor. In F minor, this is the VI - VII - i diatonic progression. In the relative major, Ab major, it's the IV - V - vi diatonic progression. If you don't understand that yet, don't worry, I'll make a blog post about diatonic theory and parallel keys some day soon. Just understand that this progression of chords, or the use of those three chords in general, is absolutely clutch for making sad music. The piece quickly switches to Bb minor (awesome), and once it's there it stays there, and continuously dances around the Gb major, Ab major, and Bb minor chords. Again, this is VI - VII - i progression, but now in Bb minor! Listen to the track, and notice how often it dances around those three chords.
Beyond that is the instrumentation. The flowing nature of the strings in the beginning is very evocative, very touching. Even more evocative is the sudden drop of all instrumentation after the intro, and at other moments later in the piece, where it leaves the piano to carry the piece on by itself. The emotional effect is one of loneliness. We keep expecting it to pick up, and a whole orchestra to come in, but we are dismayed as it returns to a very quiet piano instead. The idea of an instrument being all alone is very powerful in music, which is why a solo violin or a solo cello is absolutely perfect for your sad melodies. Pizzicato strings punctuate this effect, at times. A friend of mine once described the use of pizzicato strings as "falling teardrops," which I feel is very applicable.
An easy way to make your music more heart-wrenching and depressing is to add tempo changes. Slow it down at the end of a phrase every now and then, so it feels like it's struggling to continue (because it's sooo sad... haha). This piece actually doesn't use too many tempo changes or slow down, but whatever, just keep it in mind. Be careful, though, it's easy to go too far with this idea. It takes a light touch.
Which brings us to the biggest point, the melody. It's very touching, and explaining why is a very difficult thing to do, but there are two things that I can explain fairly easily.
1.) Suspensions. A suspension is when you have two chords, and a melody over top, and the chord changes but the melody changes a bit later. It creates a somewhat dissonant effect, and it's very poignant. Take a look at the example below.
You see, in the first half, the melody changes exactly when the chord does, and it changes to fit over the chord perfectly by landing on one of the three notes the chord is made up of. In the second half, the melody lingers on the B, even after the chord has changed to A minor. This note doesn't fit perfectly, so it's a bit jarring, but it eventually resolves down to the A to fit in. This happens twice in a row in the reference track at 0:28, and a bunch of other times throughout.
2.) Extended Chords. If you don't know about Extended Tertian Harmony, I highly suggest reading up on it. Or you could wait for me to make my own blog post about it. Anyway, this piece is riddled with major and minor 7th and 9th chords (usually the Gb major chord, or the Bb minor chord). Extended chords are, well, pretty. They just sound beautiful, and using them can really add depth and emotion to your music. But there is one more interesting thing that occasionally happens in this piece. Sometimes the melody extends the chord it's played over. Let's start after the intro, where the piano comes in and the piece really starts at 0:19. On the first 4 chords (F min, Gb maj, Ab maj, Bb min) the melody lands very safely over notes that are in the basic, triad form of these chords. BUT, once it gets to the 5th chord (Gb maj again) the melody lands on an Eb. Gb major is spelled Gb, Bb, Db. There's no Eb, so this is a bit dissonant. However, this isn't a suspension, because instead of resolving down to Db, which would fit, it goes UP to F. This is a Gb major 7 chord! Play it on your piano, or guitar, it's just lovely. Gb, Bb, Db, F. Instead of the left hand of the piano simply hammering out a major 7th chord, it lets the melody do it subtly. It's a very nice effect, and something I never really noticed until I start writing this entry.
Well, that's that. Sorry it's so long, and sorry it's also a bit late, but I've been a little under the weather lately. I have something awesome to share with you on Friday, though, so stay tuned for that. As for next monday's update, well, I'm still not sure what I'll do. Diatonic theory? How to write sneaky music? Extended chords? Who knows. Thanks for reading!
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