POSITION FILLED! THANKS TO ALL APPLICANTS!http://www.aloftstudios.net/hazelnutbastilleDescription of the work, its history, and its creators is avaiable on our presskit page:
http://www.aloftstudios.net/hazelnutbastillepress---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The actual tehcnical parameters of these tracks:The entire project is very much rooted in a 16-bit aesthetic, and pains are being taken to ensure that the visuals, mechanics, and structure of the work feel authentic to this period. The music would naturally follow this spirit. We intend for the music to be written as though for the audio chipset Sony made for the SNES and later (with only very small modifications) for their PSX console. This chipset supported 8-note polylphony. The actual voices were a combination of native synthesizing osscilators, and a sample bank soundfont. In those days, the entire soundfont was quite small. Chrono Cross' soundfont is 600kb, and features about 70 instrument samples. The sample quality normally ends up sounding a lot like Midi soundfonts do today, which some would take to be a negative, but in a way their synthetic timbre gives them a strange purity too. Another major quality of music from this era is its incredibly charming economy. I feel that many game music arrangements today are much too large, and feature too many instruments. The listener, rather than being able to pick out the fundamental harmonic voices, and follow the path of indivudal instruments, is buried in a wall of orchestral sound. The max 8-voice polyphony constraint stops this from even being a possibility. The SNES composer must write a focused and clear arrangement, with a clear focus on the qualities of indivudal instruments and their dynamics and vibrato.
The stylistic goals of the tracks:The most direct references for our soundtrack, in terms of medium, song structure, character, mood, harmonic complexity, and content are the "JRPG" soundtracks of the early-to-mid 90's. Notable examples would include Chrono Cross and Secret of Mana, and lesser known works such as Terranigma. The things which stand out about these works, and make up the associations with JRPG soundtracks as a concept are: their necessary economy of simaltaenous instruments; the often sweet, saccharrine quality alot of them have; the simplicity and centrality of their melodies and basic harmonies; the tendancy for the melodies to be well within human singing range, and to thus feel quite lyrical (and also heavily memorable); and finally the "foreground" nature of the soundtrack, which engages the player as a primary design element, as opposed to the tendancy for modern games to de-emphasize the music.
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We are looking for someone with the following traits:-Has either demonstrable music education, or a history of work on several game-related projects, or an extensive portfolio of sample tunes.
-Several years of composition experience
-Has composed work which is in the style of, or heavily influenced by the common JRPG sound of the early 90's onward, or has some samples which show a skillset that transfers well to that genre of music
-Has also worked across several other genres, and has solid understanding of the theory universal to all western music
We have already been contacted by many gifted composers, but we are looking for a person who has a particular skillset and interest invested in studying and composing this kind of music.
If you are interested in applying for this work, in order to quickly evaluate your fit for the project, please send us links to your past work, including:
-2-5 Sample tracks which most clearly demonstrate either this exact aesthetic, or transfer well. If you don't have anything like this in your portfolio, you may also compose a short demo (under a minute) as a substitute.
-1-2 Sample piano or keyboard-focused compositions which demonstrate your skill in composing limited arrangements with high skill and refinement. We want a feel for how you compose leads, harmonies, what sorts of chord sequences you come up with, the degree of holistic planning that goes into your work, how well the parts serve the whole, how well you handle dynamics, your skill in writing memorable, singable melodies, your voice-leading skills, and your skill in leading the listener with your interval tensions, and capturing their attention (remember this kind of music is very foreground in the games it appears in, as opposed to the un-obtrusive sound western game music favors). Again, the closer to the principles common to a JRPG aesthetic these are, the better, but the piano pieces can be written in any genre.
If you are someone who fits most of the above, we look forward to hearing from you!You can contact us via email, at:
[email protected]
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