new track from escalated strange! This one's super chill & a bit emotional ;  __ ;
https://soundcloud.com/calumbowen/night

there will be a midway point in the game where you chill and this guy will play you a song

edit:

i can confirm that this is one of the most tranquil places to be.

I wouldn't start looking at video game music, and comparing it to John Williams in the same breath either though, or even No doubt and the likes.

One is often made to just sit in the background, help add a bit of mood, but not grab to much attention from the actual gameplay. The other is for actual musical consumption and focus. I think the qualification of "Great" changes a lot when you look at the actual usage of the music.

edit: oops yeah, petertos already replied to this but...

I think you can and ought to compare yourself to John Williams. Since his concert music is no where near as well-known, I'll assume you're talking about his film music. I see no reason why there's any need to make excuses for game music. If anything, film music (animation aside) is more relevant to your description of sitting in the background and not grabbing attention due to the fact that films more often deal with "realistic" portrayals of their subject and games more often deal with more "unrealistic" portrayals of their subject. The former generally lends to less obtrusive music.

anyway, that's totally off topic. All of that said, I think it is probably most helpful to look at models of success from video games. I'm not sure about this hand of God description - seems to me most of these people were just working hard and eventually by putting themselves in good positions, opportunities arise. Sounds kinda like well-worn and clichéd advice but i think that's the only way (in a very vague sense).

Specifically though, I've heard a lot of people get a fairly big fanbase via youtube by doing covers/remixes. Aivi Tran seems to be quite succesful at the moment and she's making great music! I wouldn't be surprised if she got those opportunities through having a strong fanbase from her VG piano covers. A lot of people from OCRemix have found a fair amount of attention through Video Game remixes and that has opened good opportunities for them to do originals. Outside of actually doing game soundtracks, that seems like another good move.

make a lot of good music

I think this is the most essential thing I think - being in as many positions of opportunity as you can and being good enough to really bowl the important people over when they do hear your work. Work hard at doing those two things and it's kinda just a waiting game.

There's 2 routes you can go - as gavin was saying there are TONS of really quite successful composers who have next to 0 internet presence. That's because they're doing business and working kinda behind closed doors. A lot of TV composers don't seem to have much of an internet presence. Game music composers often do but sometimes they don't... you don't need to be constantly scouring for fans if you're getting paid by the producers or whatever it is you're doing. On the other hand, there's composers for which having a strong internet presence is paramount to their success. They're both nice ways to go and they're both possible through doing lots of work and making sure it really impresses people.

I'm kinda just repeating what others are saying but hopefully it's helpful maybe.

It reminds me of the hub music in Mario Galaxy 2 in several ways. Coincidence ?

Those pizz chords were definitely inspired by the hub music (one of my fave game tracks ever!)

Thanks fark!

thank you petertos!

Thief Story - Titles
new OST in the works, it's gonna be 100% jazz... with some chips.

Thank you so much. Oh my god yessssssssssssssss.

hahaha

looks super pretty!

Oh, was that trumpet the Chapman Trumpet?? Or EWQL?

And funny that the Sax turned out so well... we had initially planned on releasing that as a joke for a developer contest, so I recorded myself playing in the booth for only a short amount of time -just as ridiculously and cheesy as I could (lol) ..but it actually turned out much better than we thought...hah

But yes, you mannage to bring out the best in each VI!

Ah, you're right. In good morning & good evening it's EWQL. But the solo trumpet in Good Night is chapman!

Haha wow! It turned out great! It's quite fun just to jam out with since it glides all over the place and instantly sounds killer! (if only for ten minutes!)

Haha yeah, the jubal flute & chapman trumpet were my main melody instruments throughout! :~) Thank you for the compliment and for making the instruments!

Oh yes, I love the old sensual sax - it has so much life in it!

Looking forward to the mail (although perhaps I beat you to it since I'd been e-mailing alex this morning).

Thief Story - Titles
new OST in the works, it's gonna be 100% jazz... with some chips.

This is great too. My only thought is that you cycle through the two different motifs really fast. Did you have to fit it in a minute or something? Cuz otherwise I would love to hear you linger on the first motif longer.

It's actually a 30 second loop which is repeated in the soundcloud version. It's for the titles of the game so people'll probably skip it fairly soon - just wanted to whack in as much as poss in a small space of time :~)

Thief Story - Titles
new OST in the works, it's gonna be 100% jazz... with some chips.

we are family

[the soundtrack is going pay what you want for a week along with a price drop in the gameSo if you didn't pick it up before, now's the time! :~)))]

I have been waiting for the Embertone Solo Violin for a long time too! Do you know how much it will cost? I've been really curious about it.

here's the embertone details, man :~)

Also, the soundtrack is going pay what you want for a week along with a price drop in the game

So if you didn't pick it up before, now's the time! :~)))

http://calumbowen.bandcamp.com/album/marble-time-official-soundtrack

THANKS EVERYONE!

ok so this isn't a new track necessarily but i've just started a new alias - plzzzzzzzzzzzz follow me  the song'll probably new to some!

oh wait, I DO HAVE SOME NEW MUSIC!!
fuck knows what this is
shortthing1
shortthing2
stoopidgenres

:~) lovesong :~)

I'm going to somehow convince Calum Bowen to do the music for this. OH I WILL

i am convinced!

Hey zoe,

I think this thread might be fairly useful to compare and contrast what others are doing and the advice given to others (by me as well haha, i guess i'd probably be echoing what i said there so i might as well post a link to that thread).

Nathan in there says 2 minutes is the best and then having an extended one for those interested in hearing more is another thing you can do. Sounds like you already had that idea! :~)

I have a stupidly long showreel, need to get rid of it or make a new one.

I think you're only as good as the weakest track in your showreel so if you're not 100% on a track, I'd say leave it out. Brevity is good. I know from experience that the feeling's kind of: "Oh, i'll just put that one in there. HOW CAN I LEAVE THAT ONE OUT!" so this is advice to myself really but having some restraint and really only presenting what's necessary and the best of your work is my number 1 advice.

good luck!

[MY TURN: Here's my boss theme for super ubi land which I've just finished. I'd love some really harsh crit to get this 100% perfect! (and despite telling off the previous track for cutting off right at the end.... mine also does this at the loop point cos i'm lazy!)https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/11811680/Ubi%20Boss%20Loop%20Final.wavHit me with all you've got!]

Ok, here's a short little diddy I finished recently that I'd be curious to hear people's thoughts on:
https://soundcloud.com/broken-sounds/find-my-heart

sounds very nice. I think the glock has too much mid/low on it - like the hit of the stick against the glock is quite loud in comparison to the note. The note also doesn't ring out for as long as I'd like. Perhaps you've turned the release down on whatever glock you're using. If not, perhaps look for a glock with a long tail which would suit this piece in which it's only really playing sparsely.

The guitar is lovely, very nice double tracking and panning and throwing little variations in each ear and stuff - it works very well.

I mean, this is corny as hell but I don't know what you're going for really. I could imagine this on a dating website advert or a guy talking about a girl he used to date in highschool in some romantic film.

The cello could perhaps do with a little more low end as it sounds a tiny bit thin and background to me. At the same time you don't want to risk people thinking that the cello is playing bass-notes cos it's not. It's difficult. That's me getting really nit-picky but the cello just sounds a tiny bit thin to me. I presume it ends so suddenly cos it's a loop but I'd probably want to have a nice ending if this was being shown for clients or something like that.

MY TURN: Here's my boss theme for super ubi land which I've just finished. I'd love some really harsh crit to get this 100% perfect! (and despite telling off the previous track for cutting off right at the end.... mine also does this at the loop point cos i'm lazy!)

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/11811680/Ubi%20Boss%20Loop%20Final.wav

Hit me with all you've got!

Hey Trystin,

you should tell us exactly where you're at before we start bombarding you with advice. Had any formal training in composition or on any musical instrument before? Can you read music? Have you ever used digital audio software before? If so, you could post something you've made before.

Looking forward to your response! :~)