One of these days I’ll reprogram the flash mp3 player I wrote and integrate it into this design. Until then, though, you’ll have to make due with the old version.

A note on my lyrical style: I like LOTS of consanance. Alliteration is nice too, but, when singing, the vowels are very pronounced so I try to focus on bringing those out. This is similar to the style of Rob Beckley from Pillar.

Composition Info

Electronic/Dance

Engraved

My first foray into this genre was based on a friend I had in an online game. He had some medical issues that caused a lot of people to not like him. It’s amazing how people immediatly lose their tolerance when dealing with someone who is bipolar. In any case, he was a very admirable person most of the time. I basically took him as a “fictional” character, took his experiences to the extreme and “heroized” him.

Leaving

Leaving was written almost 2 years ago mostly on inspiration alone. I wanted to see if I could integrate all my programs and midi devices together into one piece. Though the mix is pretty bad, the end result is probably my best example of songwriting I have produced thus far. The lyrics are about 2 people in love dealing with the same tragedy from their own perspective. The tragedy being unexplained in the song, I feel it only fair to tell you what I envision:

It was meant to be a nice trip to the beach, and it probably was, until the girl he loved collapsed in the sand. He rushed her to the hospital, but the outlook was grim. As she’s lying there in the bed he’s remembering the moment she collapsed, and crying over the pain she’s experiencing. However, these thoughts are painful to the singer as well. Hence, their feelings are bound by this event, and their hearts entwined by their love.

Obviously, the focus is mostly on the singer’s perspective, but it’s important to remember that all tragedy has 2 sides. Eventually I hope to find a female singer to interject in certain key places, and to sing the chorus.

Hope is Alive

This was actually a commission from the friend on which “Engraved” is based. The little screwball still hasn’t paid me either. In any case, he wanted a song for his female friend who lived in Texas at the time. She was having difficulties with her family and life in general. She was going to move to New York but was afraid of this transition. This song is basically my imagination of what the trip would have been like for her.

How Great

This was first attempt at using Reason as a songwriting tool. It’s mostly just a tech demo, and the only remix i’ve done to date. I based it on Skillet’s version from their worship album.

Bring it Back

This is an instrumental song plagued by bad mixing and poor structure. One day I’ll go fix it, since I think the musical content still has potential.

Songs

First Best Destiny

I was challenged to write a love song by members of my Final Fantasy Linkshell, after they heard my orchestral compostions. This was the result. It’s also only the second song I ever wrote. And I need autotune BADLY on the recording. If you can make it through without laughing you’re either very disciplined or very boring.

Orchestral

The Final Wedding

When FFXI introduced the ability to marry someone in game, many in our linkshell wished to get hitched. Our local video wizard, Alger, comissioned me to write a piece for use as a score to the wedding videos. Aside from the basic decision list, I was free to do what I wished. I opted for combining the classic wedding piece of “Pachelbel’s Cannon in D” with the FF crystal and victory themes, the only pieces of music to appear in most of the games thus far.

SN Demo

This is the first demo for the full length theme music for my Final Fantasy XI linkshell, the ShirtNinjas. This was also the first piece I wrote using my Opus One patches from the Vienna Symphonic Library. I gave up writing this piece after our leader and founder, Greg Dean of RealLifeComics.com, left to use his time in other manners.

Happy Healing: Theme of the White Mage

Pretty Self explainitory. I started writting theme music for the various jobs of the FFXI world. I have only published a few of the finished verisions. This is just a demo.

Astral Flow: Theme of the Summoner

This one needs to be rewritten. For one, I discovered that the thematic elements are basically identical to the score for “The Castle in the Sky,” a japanese Anime film. Also, since SMN has been updated I want to show more of the different sides to the job. For example, the piece just isn’t violent enough to make you think of a damage dealer.

The Wanderer: Theme of the Samurai

This is one of my favorites of the Job themes. This one is complete, but will probably be remixed using my new VI patches. Oh, and my RI for the drums. I’ll also be adding in a Koto and Shakuhachi. The idea here, is to express Samurai as a calculated job. It strikes accuratly and with deadly force. Think of the first section as the build up of TP, and the end as the skillchain.

Theme of the Red Mage

I can’t remember the actual title for this one right now. I’ll update it later. Anyway, it was based on an old theme given to me by a linkshell member who was a Red Mage. This was the first job theme created, and was extremely badly mixed, as you can tell. This will be one of the first ones I fix with my new VI patches.

Theme of the Dark Knight

Another title I can’t remember. This one has vocals, and an organ. But I think I’m going to rewrite the whole thing. I don’t like the theme I ended up with.

Theme of the Paladin

Continuing the trend of forgetting my titles, I bring you the Paladin theme. This one was built for regality. But I need to update it, add a key change at the end and some more development in the middle. Some people that had quit the game actually came back to play again after hearing this. I think that is probably the greatest compliment I have ever recieved.

Theme of the Bard

The version of the Demo of this that I have included in the player above was my first attempt at using GS3 and gigapulse. That’s one of the reasons the flute sounds so very authentic. Also, the build at the end is worth sticking arround for.

Score to Shocolate

This is my score from the short “Shocolate.” It was premiered at the Alabama “Sidewalk” film festival. It wasn’t very well recieved, but I think most people liked the music. As you can probably tell, it has a western theme.

SN Demo 2

My favorite. The one I included here is from a point in the middle of the ShirtNinja theme, and was built after I upgraded to gigastudio 3 and had access to some better orchestral patches. This is also the Dragoon theme.