Hello, my name is (obviously) Michael, i've been surfing the web for ages trying to find a serious project to work with, and to grow as an individual myself by working with a team, a certain setting and much of that. I haven't had much luck and so i'm posting here to maybe interest some possible employee's, and/or get some feedback on my tracks. I do all kinds of music, depending on the situation, mood and employer's request, i've got a site with some of my newer tracks on it, but i thought i'd post some of them songs i'm really not sure what people think of them here. I'm willing to dedicate myself for a project, and dedicate alot of time for accomplishing perfection. Gimme an email at shiro [at] rollinit [dot] com if you're interested in giving me a position.. Anyway, enough rabbling, here's the music. This is a track made out of Drum 'n Bass and crispy synths. Hopefully it doesn't sound too bad. Set in a world where you're shooting bugs in the system, an alien blaster. Inspired by screenshots of "Alien Swarm: Infested", an upcoming mod for Half-life2. Found at "http://www.blackcatgames.com/swarm/screenshots_asi". Shiro - Deep Space Impact Second song made with the AS:I Screenshots in mind, this a bit more of horror and a feeling of pressure. Shiro - Shellshock [Version 2] Here's an RPG-sounding track, set in a village in a deep exotic forest, with a sense of japanese culture to it, requested by a person on www.rpg2knet.com Shiro - Akuba Village Here's an orchestral march i did after i served military time, first time playing around with velocity, kind of an old track too, but it might be fun to listen to. Shiro - Tiger's spirit Feedback much appreciated, haven't had much feedback at all, to be honest. Thanks in advance, michael

In my experience, if you want some serious work, look for jobs around where you live. Getting solid connections is like anything else in life, starting at the bottom, working some small time gigs, and connecting with people face to face who will later refer you to bigger dogs. I recommend getting out and meeting people. The best projects usually are funded by the bucks, and if you were in charge of the bucks.. would you feel comfortable writing a check to a composer who lives in a different city than you, oh and whom you have never even seen?

Internet = Land of the Free. You can find free everything on the internet. It is a great place to get started and gain some experience, but let's be honest... The very few good projects packaged together on the internet are too competitive to break into, and sorry, but reality can't afford blank checks for faceless cowboys.

Yeehaw- Now I'm gonna go tip over some cows!

First, I'll comment on the music.

Nicely done! Deep Space and Shellshock have a definite arcade vibe. I wouldn't say I got a feeling of horror from Shellshock, but it did have a solid pulse.

Akuba village was nicely composed but the patches gave it a little bit of a sterile feeling. Perhaps you need to humanize the velocities of the percussion a bit, but I felt the piece went in one and only one direction, as nice as it was.

Nice use of percussion on Tiger. That's good use of velocity variations. Even though the phrase was repetitive, it works because it feels human.

To kind of respond to Douglas, starting out can be tough, but you don't need to be localized where the dev teams are. Sure, bigger budget projects have a better/harsher filtration system for freelance contractors than an indie game or mod project, and they do like to physically meet, but more and more they are able to rely on remote productions for outsourcing as communication technology increases.

My biggest paying gig I never even met the guy ONCE. My career is really picking up and I have only met one of my clients. I have clients in LA, Canada, NY, Sweden, Australia, Miami...anywhere and everywhere. Now it did take a few student projects and freeware ventures on my resume for these people to trust me but it can happen.

I'm not looking to start a debate on this, as I do agree with your reply. I just like to leave words of encouragement for Michael and anyone else reading.

Tony

Thanks for the feedback, to be honest i haven't really put my soul into anything except tiger's spirit and maybe deep space impact, mainly because i just play around with different kinds of music, ways to emulate sounds and effects.. I understand what you're saying Douglas, I don't think that, for example, EA would go into this forum, listen to freebies and recruit, but a serious project is a thin line.. i don't think i mentioned any kind of payment ;-)

Ok, so to clear things up, i want a solid structured project, doesn't need to be fancy, I'll work for free, if the case is that the other members are aswell, i just want something to do :)

I'm currently doing some straywork for a site that deals with RPGmaking, but to be honest, making only RPG music bores me, hence my sudden spam of D'n'B songs that seem to come back into my mind in between different styles of music. It's very relaxing to make D'n'B in my opinion, so it's kind of like letting all loose and just doing it by your heart and not your brains :)

I'll make sure to check the velocity in Akuba village, see if i can come up with a more varying melody and such, not very pleased with that song anyway..


Oh, and another song added.
A track inspired by oriental dance music, although some say it has an RPG feel to it, at the same time as being Drum'n'Bassy. I dunno, do i even know what kind of genre my tracks are? xD

Shiro - Otoxic V.3

[Edited by - Michael_somnes on March 30, 2006 1:34:53 PM]

Hi Michael. I just listened to Tiger, You have a very cool melodic style. Very flowing and natural. For this piece however, the drums could sound a bit better, imho. I believe you could drag them to the back of the mix and add some reverb to achieve a bit better effect. The snare sound is a bit too raspy and unnatural sounding. Use reverb and velocity changes to obscure the fact that the drums are computerized. I really like the feel of the tune. I also really enjoy the exploratory nature of your composition. It is very asian or at least eastern sounding. Reminds me a bit of Hitoshi Sakimoto's style. This piece could be very good in my opinion. The musical materials sound good.

Quote: Original post by Michael_somnes
It's very relaxing to make D'n'B in my opinion, so it's kind of like letting all loose and just doing it by your heart and not your brains :)

Ah. I oftentimes compose a bit too much with my heart. Music as with any art, is therapy. It is the human being's greatest tool to look within with eyes unclouded.

I like to feel myself when composing...within reason of course. :)

Cool man.

Ryan

Tiger's spirit, updated with current knowledge and resources-

Shiro - Tiger's spirit [Version 2]

Michael- My favorite one is Deep Impact, I like all the movement within the piece. It's hard to not make that sound too 80s and I think you achieved that (not making it sound like that).

Tony- that is some great insight into some of your previous dealings, thanks for sharing!

Quote: Original post by Michael_somnes
Tiger's spirit, updated with current knowledge and resources-

Shiro - Tiger's spirit [Version 2]

Night and day. :) The drums sound a million times better and everything blends together oh so well. What changes did you make to the original piece?

Quote:
Night and day. :) The drums sound a million times better and everything blends together oh so well. What changes did you make to the original piece?

I changed the drumsamples to something better, from sonic's library pack "Reality drums", added more tight up reverb, added a slight hint of a melody, changed instruments on the strings, flute and brass, added more velocity changes to the drumrolls, switched the melody into something less repeating, added roll-ins, fixed the break-drums and a little this and that :)

Oh, and i also changed the volume on nearly all instruments to make it fit better for a real sounding piece, with panning of drums and less loudness on the timpani.

Well congrats. It sounds 100 times more realistic. :)